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 aRoyal Walnut Moth; or, possibly, Hugh has developed wings andflown away. None of these things would greatly surprise me; but inthe first case I must take action, while in either of the others Ican finish this seam. " "Continue your prosaic labours!" said the girl. "The dress ismine, and I want it. " She sat down, and fanned herself with her broad straw hat. "It ishot!" she announced with emphasis. "And that is the news?" said her mother. "Astonishing! I shouldnever have guessed it, assuredly. " "Madam, you are a tease! The big yellow house is let, and thefamily is moving in today, at this moment! NOW, how do you feel?" "Much the same, thank you!" was the reply. "Slight acceleration ofthe 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, housemaidand seamstress, two dogs, two cats (at least the basket mewed, soI infer cats), one canary bird, and fourteen trunks. " "Do I understand that Miss Grahame has been looking through thegap in the hedge?" "You do, madam. And oh, mammina, it was such fun! I really couldnot help it; and no one saw me; and they came tumbling in in sucha funny, jolly way! I rather think we shall like them, but it willbe 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 meabout them. " "Hildegarde, you are becoming a sad gossip, " said Mrs. Grahame, severely. "I think you would better sit down and work thesebuttonholes at once. " "So that I can repeat the gossip to you, " said this impertinentyoung woman, kissing her mother lightly on the forehead. "Precisely, dear madam. Where is my thimble? Oh, here! Where arethe buttonholes? Oh, there! Well, now you shall hear. And I fear Ihave been a gossip, indeed. "It began with obedience to my elders and betters. You told me togo down and see how Mrs. Lankton's 'neurology' was; and I went. Ifound the poor old thing in bed, and moaning piteously. I am boundto say, however, that the moans did not begin till after I clickedthe latch. It is frightful to see how suspicious a course of Mrs. Lankton always makes me. I went in, and the room was hermeticallysealed, 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, andprotested, with such breath as I could find; but she said, 'Oh, Miss Grahame, my dear! you don't know anything about trouble orsickness, and no need to before your time. A breath of air, mydear, 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, sinceshe must breathe some kind of air; but she only shook her head andgroaned, and told me about a woman who got into her oven and shutthe door, and stayed there till she was baked 'a beautiful lightbrown, ' as Mrs. Lincoln says. ''T was a brick oven, dear, such asyou 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, nowMr. Aytoun's dead and gone. Not but what your blessed ma is amother to me, and so I always tell the neighbours. ' "Do you want any more, missis? I can go on indefinitely, if youlike. I stayed as long as I dared, and managed to hold the dooropen quite a bit, so that a little air really did get in; and Igave her the liniment, and rubbed her poor old back, and then gaveher a spoonful of jelly, and ran. That is the first part of mytale. Then, I was coming home through the Ladies' Garden, and Ifound my Hugh playing Narcissus over a pool, and wondering whetherfreckles 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! Andthen 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 onthe other side, and a man's voice whistling. This was amazing, andI am human, though I don't know whether you ever noticed it. Ilooked, I did; and so would others, if they had been there. Awagon stood at the back door, all piled with trunks and bags andbaskets; I liked the look of the baskets, I can't tell exactlywhy. And at that very moment a carriage drove up, with twodelightful brown horses, and a brown man who looked delightful, too, driving. I know it must be Mr. Merryweather, mammy, and I amsure we shall like him. Tall and straight and square, with clearblue eyes and broad shoulders; and handled his horses well, and--what are you laughing at, Mrs. Grahame, if I may be permitted toask?" "I was only thinking that this charming individual was, in allprobability, the coachman, " said Mrs. Grahame, with mildmalignity. "Mamma!" cried Hildegarde, indignantly. "As if I didn't know acoachman when I saw him! Besides, the Colonel--but wait! Well, andthen there was Mrs. Merryweather--stout and cheerful-looking, andI should think very absent-minded. Well, but, mother, " seeing Mrs. Grahame about to protest, "she was dressed for driving, not to saytravelling, 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 girlswere pretty, and one of the big boys was so full of fun hetwinkled all over. A handsome boy, with red hair and dark blueeyes; but, oh, such a pity! his name is Obadiah, for I heard theother call him so. How can intelligent people call a boy Obadiah?" She sewed for some minutes in silence, her needle darting in andout with thoughtful regularity, then went on. "All the family seem to have strange names. The other boy iscalled Ferguson, and one girl is Toots, and another is Chucky. Idetest nicknames; but these people all seemed so jolly, and onsuch good terms with each other, that I felt a sort of warming tothem. The girl named Toots tumbled out of the wagon, and theothers all laughed, and she laughed, too. She dropped everythingshe was carrying, and she was carrying a great deal, --a butterfly-net, and a mouse-trap, and three books, and a bandbox, --andeverybody seemed to think that the best joke of all. One calledher medicine dropper, and another drop-cake, and another droppedegg, and so on; and away they all went into the house, laughingand shouting and tumbling over each other. Such a jolly family. Mamma!" "Yes, my dear, " said Mrs. Grahame, very quietly, but withoutlooking 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 ofsunbeams, 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 withyour feelings behind the hedge; but you have not told me how youcame to know about our new neighbours. Did Colonel Ferrers joinyou at your peep-hole?" "He did, mamma! He did just precisely that. I saw him coming alongthe road, swinging his stick, and frowning and humming tohimself, --dear thing! And when he came near the house, and heardthe voices, he stopped and looked, and began to go softly andslowly; so then I knew that he, too, wanted to see what was goingon. So I slipped to the gate and beckoned to him, and he came inon tiptoe and joined me. Such fun we had, --just like twoconspirators! He could see over my head, so we could both look atonce; and he kept muttering scraps of information in my ear, sothat it quite buzzed. Yes, I know you are shocked, dear madam, butit really could not be helped; and you said once to Jack--poor oldJack!--that his uncle was a criterion of gentle breeding andmanners! So now, Mrs. Grahame!" "Well, " said Mrs. Grahame, "since matters are so, I may as wellhear what my criterion had to say about our new neighbours. Apretty state of things, truly! the magnate and the maiden, spyingthrough bushes on these unsuspecting strangers. Say on, unhappygirl!" "Of course he said, 'Hum, ha!' first, a good many times; and welaughed at each other, under our breath, and were very happy. Andthen he said, 'Miles Merryweather, my dear! Excellent person!Heard he had taken the old house, but had no idea he was coming sosoon. Eminent scientific man, manager of the new chemical works atBrompton, over yonder. Met him once, some years ago; glad to renewthe acquaintance. Large family, I see, yes, yes; hum, ha! Boyabout Hugh's age; inferior to him in intellect, my dear, I'll beta--I should be tolerably certain. Astonishing lad, my Hugh! Ha!Mrs. Merryweather, presumably; literary, I hear, and that sort ofthing. Don't care for literary people myself; prefer their books;but looks amiable. Pretty girl that, Hilda, my dear! the tall slipwith the fair hair! Yes, yes! "A pretty girl's the noblest workof"--you remember? What's that? "An honest man, " in the original?Now, will you hear this girl setting her elders to rights? Iwonder 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 greatacquisition to the little neighbourhood. We must call as soon asit would be in any way decent, mustn't we? Oh, but wait! I musttell you the end. We had been so interested in watching thechildren, and in seeing them go tumbling down and up into thehouse, that we had lost sight of Mr. Merryweather himself. Isuppose he must have driven round to the stable and left thehorses there; for suddenly, almost in our ears, we heard a deepvoice saying, 'A fine hedge, but needs clipping badly; we must setthe boys to work in the morning. ' We started back as if we hadbeen shot. Colonel Ferrers turned purple, and I felt every colourin the rainbow flooding my cheeks. We made sure we had been seenor heard, and I think Colonel Ferrers was on the point of steppingforward like a soldier, and apologizing; but I held his arm for amoment, in pure cowardice, and the next moment we saw Mr. And Mrs. Merryweather, arm in arm, gazing calmly at the hedge, andevidently unconscious of any guilty crouchers on the other side. Oh, mammy! if you could have seen us stealing away, how you wouldhave 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 embarrassmentand suppressed laughter, and looking over his shoulder at everystep, as if he expected to see Mr. Merryweather come burstingthrough the hedge in pursuit, --oh, it was too funny! When we gotround the corner we both sat down on the steps and giggled, liketwo infants; and then he said he was deeply ashamed of me, andbade me go in and make confession to you for both of us. So now Ihave done it, dear madam, and you are to forgive all our sins, negligences and ignorances, please, and the Colonel is coming totea, with his compliments. " CHAPTER II. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW. It did indeed seem that the advent of the new neighbours mightmake a great difference in Hildegarde Grahame's life, if, as shehoped, they were the right kind of neighbours. She was an onlychild. 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 inher life; but her mother often longed for another daughter, or apleasant girl in the neighbourhood, to be a companion for her dearone. True, Hildegarde had one young friend, Hugh Allen, the wardof Colonel Ferrers, their kind and eccentric neighbour; but Hugh, though a darling, was a little boy, and could not "dovetail" intoa girl's life as another girl might. Perhaps Mrs. Grahame hardlyrealized how completely she herself filled Hildegarde's idea of afriend and companion. The daughter was enough for her; her ownlife seemed full and running over with joy and work; but for thechild she wanted always more and more. So her hopes, as well asHildegarde's, rose high when she heard of the pleasant-lookinggirls 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 tallcolumns and broad piazza. The house was yellow, the columns white, and the cheerful colours were set off by the dark trees, elms andlocusts, that bent over it and almost hid it from the road. Asmooth stretch of lawn lay between the house and the hedge, through which Hildegarde and the Colonel had made theirobservations: a good lawn for tennis, Hildegarde thought. How goodit would be to play tennis again! She had been longing for thetime when Hugh would be big enough to learn, or when Jack Ferrers, her cousin, would come back from Germany. How surprised Jack wouldbe when she wrote him that the yellow house was inhabited. Whatfriends he might make of those two nice-looking boys, unless hetook 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 towardthe Ladies' Garden, on the day after the new arrival. This was afavourite haunt of hers, and she was very apt to go there for aseason of meditation, or when she wanted to find Hugh. It was acurious place, --an old, neglected, forgotten garden, with high, unclipped box hedges, overhung by whispering larches. Hildegardehad dreamed many a dream under those larches, sitting beside thelittle stream that plashed and fell in a tiny rocky hollow, orpacing up and down the grassy paths. For the child Hugh, too, thisplace had a singular fascination, and he would hang for hours overa certain still, brown pool at the foot of the garden, thinkingunutterable things, occasionally making a remark to his dog, butfor the most part silent. Knowing his ways, Hildegarde was themore surprised, on this occasion, to hear the sound of voices inlively conversation. Whom could the boy have picked up and broughthere? He had no friend of his own age; like herself, he was a lonechild; and it was with a little pang, which she almost laughed tofeel, that she drew near, and softly parted the branches that hungbetween her and the pool. The first step was fatal, she thought, and she was apparently condemned to be a peeper and aneavesdropper for the rest of her days. Hugh was sitting beside the pool, but not in his favouriteNarcissus-like attitude. His knees were well up in front of him, his hands were clasped over them, and facing him, in precisely thesame position, was a boy in blue jean overalls, with a shock ofblack 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 meanwhat 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 allowfishing? I thought you said they were nice people!" and my lordshowed 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 underthe brown water. Sometimes they have crimson spots, like drops ofblood, or ruby stones. Look! there is one now, a ruby-spottedone!" "Oh, my crickey!" cried the strange boy, jumping up, and dancingfrom one foot to the other. "It's a trout, you idiot! Gimme aline! gimme a net, or something! Gimme--" He snatched off his cap, and made a frantic effort to catch the trout, which flipped itstail quietly at him, and withdrew under a rock. The boy sat down, breathless, and stared at Hugh with all hiseyes. "What's the matter with you?" he asked, at length "What kind of afellow 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 exchangedan ardent gaze. Hugh's eyes were bright, with the brightness of ablue lake, where the sunbeams strike deep into it, and transfusethe clear water with light; but the eyes of the strange boytwinkled and snapped, as when sunshine sparkles from ripple toripple. He was the first to break the silence. "Where do you go to school?" he asked. "How old are you? how farhave 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 threeat Roseholme. One is carved ivory, carved all over with dragons, and of course one could not play with that; and there are twocricket balls that the Colonel had when he was a boy, and he saysI may play with those some day, when I know enough not to breakwindows. Perhaps you have learned that, if you are used to havingnine balls. " The stranger stared again, with a look in which despair wasdawning. "You must be loony!" he muttered. And then, aloud, "Can'tyou play anything? What can you do?" "I can run, " said Hugh, after another pause of reflection, "andswim, 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 Ihave outgrown my first foil, and the Colonel has given me a newone, almost full size. " "Who's the Colonel?" "Colonel Ferrers, the gentleman I live with. My great-aunt is hishousekeeper; and he is my dearest friend, except my Beloved andher 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 havingmade a deep impression on him, but he looked more puzzled thanever. "How do I talk?" asked Hugh, in return. "This is the way I DOtalk, you see. And my Beloved is Miss Grahame, and that is whatyou have to call her; but I call her my Beloved, because she isthat; and she is the most beautiful--" But here the young gentleman was interrupted; there was a hastyputting aside of the branches, and Hildegarde, with pink cheeksand a guilty conscience, stood before the two boys. They bothjumped up at once, having good manners; but Hugh's rising was calmand leisurely, while the black-eyed lad scrambled to his feet, anddarted swift looks here and there, preparing for flight. "How do you do?" said Hildegarde, coming forward quickly andholding out her hand. "You are not going, are you? I think youmust be one of our new neighbours, and we ought to makeacquaintance, oughtn't we?" The boy smiled, a little quick, frightened smile, "just the way abird would do if it could, " Hildegarde thought, and laid a smallbrown paw timidly in hers. "This is my Beloved!" said Hugh, by way of introduction. "So youcan 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 befriends, for it is so nice to have friends of one's own age, andHugh has no one. You, of course, have brothers and sisters, andthat is the best of all, isn't it?" There was no resisting Hildegarde's smile; the young Merryweatherwavered, smiled, smiled again, and in five minutes they were allseated together, and chatting away like old friends. It appeared that Master Will was pleased with his newsurroundings, but that the absence of a base-ball nine was atragic thing, not lightly to be contemplated. The house was "noend;" the dwelling they had just left was entirely too small forthem. "You see, " he said, "when we went to that house we weren't born atall, most of us; that is, there was only Bell and the boys. So itwas big enough then, and they had rooms to themselves, and allkinds of things. But then we began to come along, and at last itgot so small that the boys had to sleep in the barn, and whenthere 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, andyou slide off all night; so father thought we'd better move, andwe came here. " "Is Bell your eldest sister?" asked Hildegarde, not sure how farit would be right to question this frank youth. "Yes, that's Bell. She's no end nice and jolly; and she's incollege, you know, and we have such larks when she comes home. " In college! Hildegarde's hopes fell. She knew she could not get onwith college girls, though she had great respect for them. Dearme! Probably Bell would be very learned, and would despise her asan "unidead girl. " Cruel Dr. Johnson, to originate that injuriousepithet! 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 aconscience-stricken look. Hildegarde nodded eagerly, hoping thathis request had not been heard. Just beyond the Ladies' Garden wasa high board-fence which separated Braeside from the neighbouringplace. 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 ofHildegarde. "Oh, I beg your pardon!" she cried, hastily. "I didn'tknow, --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 amHildegarde Grahame; so now we are introduced, and let me help youover, do!" Hildegarde delivered this breathlessly, and held out both hands tohelp 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'soutstretched hand. "Of course I didn't know I was trespassing, butI'm glad I came. And oh, what a lovely place! I didn't know therewas such a place out of a book. Oh, the hedges! and the brook! andthe trees! How can it be real?" Hildegarde nodded in delight. "Yes!" she said. "That is just theway I felt when I first saw the place. It was some time before Icould feel it right to come here without apologizing to theghosts. " "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 ofher mother's, who left it to her at his death. "Oh!" said Miss Merryweather; then she considered a little, withher head on one side. Hildegarde decided that, though not abeauty, the new-comer had one of the pleasantest faces she hadever seen. "On the whole, " the girl went on, "I am rather glad that my theorywas wrong. The truth is less romantic, but it makes you much morereal and accessible, which is, after all, desirable in a countryneighbourhood. " "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 greenwith old turf, that when I saw you this morning walking under thetree, I made up a romance about you, --a pretty little romance. Youare quite sure you don't mind? You were the last of an ancientfamily, and you were very delicate, and your mother kept you inthis lovely solitude, hoping to preserve your precious life. Andnow, " she burst into a clear peal of laughter, in which Hildegardejoined heartily, "now I see you near, and you are no more delicatethan I am, and you are not the last of an ancient family. Atleast, I hope you are not, " she cried, growing suddenly grave. "Oh! do you like to make romances?" cried Hildegarde, with readytact waiving the last question. "It is my delight, too. No, I amnot in the least delicate, as you say, and we have only been heretwo years, my mother and I; yet it seems like home, and I hope weshall always live here now. And are you beginning to feel at allsettled in, --I don't know any name for your house; we have calledit just the 'Yellow House' as it had no special interest, beinguninhabited. But I suppose you will give it a name?" "If we can decide on one!" said Bell Merryweather, laughing. "Thetrouble is, there are so many of us to decide. I want to call itGamboge: brief, you see, and simple. But one boy says it must beChrome Castle, and another votes for Topaz Tower; so I don't knowhow it will end. " "When I was a little girl, " said Hildegarde, "I had a book, thedearest 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 nevercould be perfectly happy till you could live in a pumpkin? And tothink 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 onlybecause 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 havefifty thousand things to do! But, --I am so glad to have met you. " "And I to know you, " cried Hildegarde, warmly. "I hope we shallsee 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, allowme 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 Ihave them Crusaders a good deal of the time. " "Mine are blue, " said Hugh, "and sometimes they are Americans, andsometimes they are Greeks and Trojans. Will you be my friend, andshall we fight great fights together?" "All right, " said Will Merryweather, shyly. "We will plan a campaign, " cried Hugh, his eyes shining withardour. "Yes; but now you must come in to your music lesson, " saidHildegarde, taking his hand, and frowning at herself for feelinganother little pang, as Hugh's face turned toward his newacquaintance. "Read the Talisman?" cried Will. "I'll be Saladin, and you beRichard. " "Come along, Will, " said his sister, taking him by the shouldersand marching him toward the fence. "Lots of sand that will do for Palestine!" "Plains of Marathonover beyond the stone wall!" "Turbans and lances!" "Horsetailhelmets and real armour!" Still shouting, Will was pitched bodily over the fence by hisstalwart 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 necksshall be clothed with thunder, and we shall say, 'Ha! ha!' amongthe 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? Thecover of the washboiler will do beautifully for a shield. " "So it will!" said Hildegarde; and they went into the housetogether. CHAPTER III. PUMPKIN HOUSE. When Mrs. Grahame and Hildegarde went to call on their newneighbours, two days after the meeting in the garden, they foundthem already entirely at home, the house looking as if they hadalways lived in it. The furniture was plain, and showed marks ofhard usage; but there were plenty of pictures, and the right kindof pictures, as Hildegarde said to herself, with satisfaction; andthere were books, --books everywhere. In the wide, sunny sitting-room, into which they were ushered by a pleasant-faced maid, lowbookcases ran all round the walls, and were not only filled, butheaped with books, the volumes lying in piles along the top. Thecentre-table was a magazine-stand, where Saint Nicholas and TheCentury, The Forum and The Scientific American jostled each otherin friendly rivalry. Mrs. Merryweather sat in a low chair, withher lap full of books, and had some difficulty in rising toreceive her visitors. Her hearty welcome assured them that theyhad not come a day too soon, as Mrs. Grahame feared. "My dear lady, no! I am charmed to see you. Bell has had suchpleasure in making friends with your daughter. Miss Grahame, I amdelighted to see you!" and Mrs. Merryweather held out what shethought was her hand, but Hildegarde shook instead a small moroccovolume, and was well content when she saw that it was the "GoldenTreasury. " "Bell has had such pleasure that I have been most anxious to shareit, and to know you and your daughter. Shall we be neighbourly? Iam the most unceremonious person in the world. Dear me! isn'tthere a chair without books on it? Here, my dear Mrs. Grahame, sitdown here, pray! It is Dr. Johnson himself who makes room for you, and you must excuse the great man for being slow in hismovements. " With a merry smile, she offered the chair from which she had justremoved a huge folio dictionary. Hildegarde found an ottoman whichshe could easily share with a volume of Punch, and Mrs. Merryweather beamed at them over her spectacles, and said againthat she was delighted to see them. "We are getting the books to rights gradually, " she said, "but ittakes time, as you see. I have to do this myself, with Bell'shelp. She will be down in a moment, my dear. We have establishedan overflow bookcase in a cupboard upstairs, and she has just goneup with a load. Ah! here she is. Bell, my dear, Mrs. And MissGrahame. So kind of them to come and see us!" Bell shook hands warmly, her frank, pleasant face shining withgood-will. "I am so glad to see you!" she cried, sitting down byHildegarde 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, thebooks; they are part of the family, and we want to be sure thatthey have places they like. I suppose Punch ought by rights to gowith people of his own sort--if there is anybody!--but one wantshim close at hand, don't you think so? where one can take him upany time, --when it rains, or when things bother one. Do youremember that Leech picture?" and they babbled of Punch, theirbeloved, for ten minutes, and liked each other better at every oneof the ten. "Bell, I want Mrs. And Miss Grahame to see our other children, "said Mrs. Merryweather, presently. "Where is Toots, and where arethe boys?" "Toots is upstairs, poor lamb!" Bell replied. "When Mary came totell me of our visitors' arrival I was just putting away Sibbes's'Soul's Conflict, ' and various other dreadful persons whom youwould not let me burn; so I dumped them in Toots's arms, and ranoff and left her. Being a ''bedient old soul, ' she is probablystanding just where I left her. I will go--" But at this moment Toots appeared, --a girl of fifteen, tall, shyand blushing, and was introduced as "my daughter Gertrude. " Sheconfessed, on interrogation, that she had dropped Sibbes's "Soul'sConflict" 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 isso dry, I am sure a wetting would do it good!" "Sit down, my dear!" said Mrs. Merryweather, comfortably. "One ofthe boys is sure to be about, and will bring in the book. SibbesIS a little dry, Bell, but very sound writing, much sounder than agood deal of the controversial writing of--bless me! what's that?" Something resembling a human wheel had revolved swiftly past thewindow, emitting unearthly cries. Hildegarde blushed and hesitated. "I--I think it was your brotherObadiah, " 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. "Youwill have to make full confession, Hilda, " she said. "I do notthink Mrs. Merryweather will be very severe with you. " "It is a dreadful thing to confess, " said Hildegarde, laughing andblushing. "I--to tell the truth, I happened to be walking in ourgarden, on the other side of the tall hedge, just when you droveup, 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 boycalled Obadiah. " The Merryweathers laughed merrily, and Mrs. Merryweather was aboutto speak, when a voice was heard in the hall, chanting in asingular, 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), GeraldMerryweather was brilliant scarlet when he rose to his feet andsaluted the strangers; but he was also atwinkle with laughter, thewhole lithe, graceful body of him seeming to radiate fun. Oneglance at Bell, another at Hildegarde, and the whole party brokeinto peal on peal of merriment. "How do you do?" said Scarlet to Crimson, holding out a strongbrown hand, and gripping hers cordially. "Awfully glad! Pleaseexcuse me, Mrs. Grahame, for coming in like that. I thought therewas no one here but the mother, and she is as used to one end ofme as the other. " "So you are Gerald, and not Obadiah. " said Mrs. Grahame. "Icongratulate 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 eachother by their rightful names is a family mystery; but so it is. " "Is your brother Fer--Philip like you?" asked Hildegarde, feelingsure that he was not, as the other boy she had seen certainly hadnot red hair. "Not a bit!" replied Gerald, cheerfully. "No resemblance, Ibelieve. 'Beauty and the Beast' we call each other, too. SometimesI am Beauty, and more times I am the Beast; depends on which hashad his hair cut last. " "Or brushed, " said Bell, glancing at the curly hair, which wascertainly in rather a wild condition. "Oh, yes! beg pardon!" said Gerald, glancing ruefully at themirror, and running his hand through his curly mop. "Beast this time, and no mistake. Grass rather long, you see, andtore my locks of gold. Happy thought! Desiring to tear your hairin 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. "Isee! Dropsy, you are a genius; that's the trouble with you. " A long gray leg appeared at the open window, and after wavingwildly 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 himbefore. " Sure enough, in a few moments another tall boy entered, lookingpreternaturally grave, with his hair scrupulously smooth. "Been upstairs, you see, " said the irrepressible Gerald, "andslicked himself all up. Quite the Beauty, Fergs. " "Gerald, do be quiet!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "This is Philip, myother 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 longtime to get settled, don't you think so?" "Oh--yes!" said Hildegarde, struggling for composure, andconscious of Gerald's eyes fixed intently on her. "But you alllook so home-like and comfortable here. " "Especially Ferguson!" broke in Gerald, sotto voce. "Howcomfortable he looks, doesn't he, Miss Grahame? No use, Fergs! Wemarked your little footprints in the air, my son. " "Oh!" said Philip, looking much discomposed. "Well, I'll punchyour head, Obe, anyhow. " "Suppose we come out and look at the tennis-court, " said Bell. "Iam sure you play tennis, Miss Grahame. " "Indeed I do, " said Hildegarde, heartily. "I have often lookedlongingly at that nice smooth lawn, and I hoped you were going tolay it out for a court. " "Phil, " said Gertrude aside to her brother, who was still blushingand uncomfortable, "you needn't mind a bit. Jerry came in walkingon his hands, right into the room, before he saw them at all; andthey are so nice, they didn't care; they liked it. " "Did they?" said Phil, also in a whisper. "Well, that's somecomfort; 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 anangry cow. He'll punch my head, and kill me dead, Before I havetime 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 abouther room. She had been setting it to rights, --not that it was ever"to wrongs" for any length of time, --for Bell and GertrudeMerryweather were coming to spend the morning with her, and shewanted her own special sanctum to look its best. She was very fondof this large, bare, airy chamber, with its polished floor, itswhite wainscoting, and its quaint blue-dragon paper. She had madeit into a picture gallery, and just now it was a flower-show, too;for every available vase and bowl was filled with flowers fromwood and garden. On the round table stood a huge Indian jar ofpale green porcelain, filled with nodding purple iris; the greenglass bowls held double buttercups and hobble-bush sprays, whiletwo portraits, those of Dundee and William the Silent, werewreathed in long garlands of white hawthorn. The effect wascharming, and Hildegarde might well look satisfied. But BellMerryweather, when she came into the room, thought that its ownerwas the most beautiful part of it. Hildegarde was used to herself, as she would have said frankly; she knew she was pretty, and itwas pleasant to be pretty, and there was an end of it. But toBell, in whose family either brown locks or red were the rule, this white and gold maiden, with her cool, fresh tints of pearland rose, was something wonderful. Hildegarde's dress this morningwas certainly nothing astonishing, simply a white cambric powderedwith buttercups; but its perfect freshness, its trim simplicity, made it so absolutely the fit and proper thing, that Bell's honestheart did homage to the lovely vision; there was something almostlike reverence in her eyes as she returned Hildegarde's cordialgreeting. As for the young Gertrude, all the world was fairylandto her, and Hildegarde was the queen, opening the door of a newprovince. The most important thing in life was not to fall or dropanything on this first visit to the strange and wonderful oldhouse, as all the Merryweathers persisted in calling Braeside. Gertrude was always falling and dropping things. At home nobodyexpected anything else; but here it was different, and the poorchild was conscious of every finger and toe as she stepped alonggingerly. Gerald's parting words were still ringing in her ears: "When you feel that you must fall down, Dropsy, be careful not tofall into shelves of china, --that's all. Bookcases are the bestthings to fall into, you'll find; and a book is the best thing todrop, too, my poor child. When you feel the fit coming on, putdown the teacup and grab a dictionary; then choose the toe youwant it to fall on, --superfluous aunt of the family, or some oneof that sort, --and you are all right. Bless you, Dropsy! Farewell, my dear!" Hildegarde took the girls directly up to her room, and theyadmired all her arrangements as heartily as she could wish. Bellexclaimed with amazement at the size of the room. "To have all this for your own, your castle and defence, " shecried. "What would the girls at college say if they could see sucha room as this, and one girl living in it! Twelve by fourteen isour 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 toeverything. It's rather good fun seeing how closely one can pack. We have sixty-five pictures in our room, my chum and I. Oh, youhave my William! I didn't know anyone else had just exactly thatportrait. " "Your William, indeed!" cried Hildegarde, laughing. "Why, he ismine, my very own, and no one ever began to love him as I do. " The two girls fell into a friendly discussion, and ran lightlyover the history of the Netherlands, with occasional excursions toItaly, the Highlands, or the south of France, as one picture oranother claimed their attention. Hildegarde was enjoying herselfimmensely, and did the honours with ardour, delighted to find thatthe "college girl" knew all about the things she loved, withoutbeing in the least bookish or prosy. "I thought you would be 'primmed up with majestic pride, '" shesaid, laughing. "I was frightened when your little brother saidyou were at college, and I instantly saw you with spectacles, andpale, lank hair done up in a bob on the top of your head. Andthen--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 herselfhad asked the day before. "You looked like an apple, --so exactlylike a nice red and white Benoni I was sure you must be good toeat. 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 Ihave 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 joyof pictures, and was backing round the walls in silent ecstasy, saw--or rather did not see--her opportunity, and fell quietlydownstairs. One special feature of Hildegarde's room was thestaircase, her own private staircase, of which she was immenselyproud. It was a narrow, winding stair, very steep and crooked, leading to the ground floor. When Gertrude disappeared down thisgulf with a loud crash, Hildegarde was much alarmed, and flew tothe rescue, followed more leisurely by Bell. "Are you much hurt, my dear?" cried Hildegarde. "Wait till I comeand 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 neverhurt myself. I hope I haven't hurt the stairs. " Bell came along, laughing. "Dear Dropsy!" she said. "Here, comeup! She really never does hurt herself, " she added, in response toHildegarde's look of astonishment. "She falls about so much, andhas done so since she was a baby, that she keeps in training, Isuppose, and her joints and bones are all supple and elastic. Thiswas a good one, though! Sure you are not bruised, little girl?" Gertrude picked herself up, declining assistance, and maintainedstoutly that she was sound in wind and limb. "If only I did notbreak anything, " she said, anxiously. "I came a terrible crackagainst the panel here, and it seemed as if something gave as Ifell past it. " Bell bent down, in spite of Hildegarde's assurance that everythingwas 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, " shesaid. "Is this your secret chamber, Hildegarde?" "Hollow?" cried Hildegarde. "What do you mean, Bell? I know of nohollow place there. " "Have you ever looked for one?" Bell inquired. "Search wouldreveal something in there, I am pretty sure. " Thrilled with curiosity, Hildegarde came down, and the three girlscrouched together on the narrow stair, and tapped and rapped hereand there. Beyond a doubt, one panel was hollow. What could itmean? Bell meditated. "What is on the other side of this place?" sheasked. "I--don't know, " said Hildegarde. "Stop a moment, though! It mustbe, --yes, it is! The old chimney, the great square stack, comesnear this place. Can there be any space--" "Then it IS a secret chamber, most likely, " said Bell. "I haveheard of such things. Shall we try?" They tried eagerly, pressing here, pushing there, but for sometime in vain. At length, as Hildegarde's strong fingers pressedhard on one spot of moulding, she felt it quiver. There was afaint sound, like a murmur of protest; then slowly, unwillingly, the panel moved, obedient to the insistent fingers, and slidaside, revealing a square opening into--the blackness of darkness. "Oh, it's a dungeon!" cried Gertrude, starting back. "Perhaps thefloor will give way, and let us down into places with knives andscythes. You remember 'The Dumberdene, ' Bell?" "No fear, Gertrude, " said Hildegarde. "Nothing more horrible thanthe dining-room is under our feet. But this, --this is verymysterious. Can you see anything, Bell?" "I begin to get a faint glimmer, " said Bell. "Of course, if it isa chimney-room there cannot be any particular light. Shall wecreep in? There is evidently a good deal of space. " "By all means, " cried Hildegarde. "But let me go first, to bearthe 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 twoMerryweathers. Growing accustomed to the dimness, they foundthemselves in a small square chamber, high enough for them tostand upright. The walls were smooth, and thick with dust; thefloor was carpeted with something that felt soft and close, likean Eastern rug. "We simply MUST have light!" cried Hildegarde. "Wait, girls! Iwill bring a candle and matches. " "No! no!" cried Bell. "Wait a moment! I think I have found awindow, or something like one, if I can only get it open. " Again there was a soft, complaining sound, and then a slidingmovement; a tiny panel was pushed aside, and a feeble ray of lightstole in. The girls' faces glimmered white against the blackness. "Something obstructs the light, " said Hildegarde. "See! this isit. " She put her arm out through the little opening, and pushedaway 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 acomparatively modern house. A square room, perhaps eight feetacross, neatly papered with the blue-dragon paper of Hildegarde'sown 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 littlecoloured wood-cuts in gilt frames, representing ladies andgentlemen in scant gowns and high-shouldered frock-coats. Therewere two little chairs, painted blue, with roses on the backs; alow table, and a tiny chest of drawers. The girls looked at eachother, a new light dawning in their faces. "It is a doll's room, " said Gertrude, softly, with an awe-strickenlook. "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 allabout it in a moment, but now let us look and find all we can. " With beating hearts they searched the corners of the littlechamber. Presently Hildegarde uttered a cry, and drew somethingforward 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 polishedmahogany, with four pineapple-topped posts, exactly like the greatone in which Hildegarde herself slept; and in it, under daintyfrilled sheets, blankets and coverlid, lay two of the prettiestdolls 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 thecoverlid, 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 rollingsilently down her cheeks; her heart was wrung, she did not knowwhy. "Hester Aytoun, " said Hildegarde, softly. "This must have been herplayroom, Bell. She used to live here; it is about her that Iwanted to tell you. But first let us see what she has writtenhere. I think she would be willing; we are girls, too, and I don'tthink Hester would mind. " There were tears in Hildegarde's voice, if not in her eyes, as sheread the writing, now yellow with age: "I, Hester Aytoun, being now sixteen years old, am putting away mydear dolls, the dearest dolls in the world. Sister Barbara says Iam far too old for such childish things; but I shall never be tooold in my heart, though I may well busy myself with householdmatters, especially if I must marry Tom in three years, as hesays. So I put away my dear dolls, and I shall shut up theplayroom, also, for I could not think to pass by it each day andnot go in to see them, and that Sister Barbara will not allow. Itmay be that no one will find my playroom till I show it myself tomy little children, if God wills that I have them, which I shallpray always, now that I may not have my dolls any more. But ifthat should not be, or I should be taken away, then I think noharm to pray that a girl like myself may one day find my playroomthat father made for me, --my own room, where I have been a veryhappy child. A man would never know what it meant, but a girlwould know, and if it should so hap, I pray her to be gentle withthe bedstead, for one leg is weakly; and if she will leave my deardolls, when she has well played with them, I shall bless heralways for a gentle maiden, wherever I be. So farewell, says"HESTER AYTOUN. " All three girls were crying by this time, and little Gertrude laidher head on her sister's shoulder and sobbed aloud. Bell smoothedher hair with light, motherly touches, drying her own eyes thewhile. Hildegarde sat silent for a while, the letter in her hand;then she folded it again, and gently, reverently laid it again inthe 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, andspeaking softly and tenderly, she told the two girls of that othermaiden 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 ofher presence, soft, fragrant, like the smell of the flowers in herown garden. "I chose my bedroom, that you like, " said Hildegarde, "because Ifelt sure, somehow, that it had been hers. I never had a sister, girls, but Hester seems to me like my sister; and sometimes"--shehesitated, and her voice fell still lower--"sometimes I have feltas if she wished it to be so, --as if she liked to come now andthen and see the old home, and give a loving look and word to thethings she used to care for so much. I am glad we found thisplace, but I don't think I shall tell anyone else about it, exceptmamma, of course, and Jack, when he comes home. " Very gently the three girls laid the white covering back over thelittle dolls, who lay quiet and rosy, and seemed as content asever was Sleeping Beauty in her tower. They peeped into the chestof drawers, and found it full of dainty frocks and petticoats, allexquisitely made; there was even a pile of tiny handkerchiefs, marked "Annabel" and "Celia. " This sight made Gertrude's tearsflow afresh; she was a tender-hearted child, and tears fell fromher eyes as softly and naturally as dew from a flower. When all was seen, they closed the little window, and with a mutefarewell to the sweet guardian spirit of the little place, --thegirl who had loved her dolls, and so made herself dear to allother girls, --the three withdrew, and softly, reluctantly drew thesliding panel after them. "I shall not forget, " whispered Hildegarde, who was the last toleave the secret chamber; "I shall come sometimes, Hester dear, and sit there, just I myself, and we will talk together, the dollsand I. I shall not forget. " The panel slid into its place with a faint click; no sign wasleft, only the white wainscoting, one panel like another, and thecrooked 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 atsix o'clock, or, to be precise, at five minutes before six, andtook the path that led to Roseholme. It was her eighteenthbirthday, and the Colonel was giving her a tea-party. This was agreat event, for many years had passed since guests had beeninvited to Roseholme. The good Colonel, always delighted to bewith Hildegarde and her mother, had still kept up his solitaryhabits at home, and save for little Hugh, who flitted about thedark old house like a sunbeam, it was a lonely place. Now, however, the Colonel had roused himself and declared that he, andno other, should give his young friend her birthday treat. TheMerryweathers were invited, all except the two youngest, Will andKitty. Mrs. Grahame was already there, having gone over early, atthe Colonel's request, to help in arranging certain little matterswhich he considered beyond the province of his good housekeeper;and now it was time for the "beneficiary, " as Gerald Merryweathercalled her, to follow. Hildegarde was dressed in white, of course; she always wore whitein the evening. Miss Loftus, her neighbour in the new stone house, sometimes expressed wonder at that Grahame girl's wearing white somuch, when they hadn't means to keep so much as a pony to carrytheir mail; her wonder might have been set at rest if she couldhave peeped into the airy kitchen at Braeside, and seen Hildegardesinging at her ironing-table in the early morning, before the sunwas hot. Auntie, the good black cook, washed the dressesgenerally, though Hildegarde could do that, too, if she was "putto 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 thedelicate laces which she "did up" for her mother. Her dress thisevening was sheer white lawn, and she had a white rose in herhair, and another in her belt, and, altogether, she was pleasantto look upon. Gerald Merryweather, who with his brother was makinghis 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 withoutenthusiasm, maintaining that there had been, in the history ofwomankind, maidens as beautiful as Miss Grahame, or even more so. Becoming warm in the discussion, the two grappled, and rolled overand over at Hildegarde's feet. She gave a little scream, and thenlaughed. "Any one hurt?" she asked. "If not, perhaps I had betterbrush 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, yousee, Ferguson is so exasperating that he disturbs my equilibrium, and then I have to disturb his, that we may continue in brotherlycompanionship. He was just saying that the sun was no brighterthan the stars. " "No more it is, I suppose, " said unconscious Hildegarde, "if youare only near enough to one, or far enough from the other. Shall Ibrush 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, MissGrahame? You cannot have the heart! We are not accustomed to it, and there is no knowing what effect it may have on my ardentnature, or on Ferguson's flabby disposition. " Ferguson extended along arm and shook his brother with calm energy, till his teethrattled 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 barreland fed through the bung-hole, --only my mother has scruples; butwe 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 alreadycome to first names, and I am sure you boys are both too jolly tobe ceremonious with; so--Gerald, here we are at the house, and nowyou really will have to stay right side up, with care. " They went together into the wide, bare hall, with its dark panelshung with family portraits. Colonel Ferrers came to meet them, erect and soldierly. He kissed Hildegarde's cheek, and greeted theboys with a cordial shake of the hand. "Glad to see you, young people!" he said, in the gruff voice whichheld 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 usedin these days. Hildegarde had secretly hoped that they would sitin the library, a delightful brown-leather sort of room, to whichshe had grown well used; but she appreciated the compliment ofopening the drawing-room, and put on her best smile and look ofpleasure. Hugh Allen left his station by Mrs. Grahame's chair, andcame running with open arms to meet his Beloved. "Oh, glory of thesunrise!" he exclaimed, as he threw his arms round her neck. "Ihope you will live fifty thousand years, and have strawberry jamevery single day of them!" "Dear me!" cried Hildegarde. "I should beg for gooseberry once aweek, dear boy, if it were going on quite so long as that. Well, my mother, you look like the Queen of Conspirators. What have youand Hugh been talking about, that you both look so guilty?" "Guilty, my dear Hildegarde?" said Mrs. Grahame, drawing herselfup. "The word is a singular one for a daughter to use to hermother. " "Yes, " said Hildegarde, "it is! and the thing is a singular onefor a mother to be toward her daughter. If ever I saw PLOT writtenall over an expressive countenance, --but no more of this! DearColonel Ferrers, how wonderful the roses are!" Surely there never were so many roses as at Roseholme. The househad been ransacked for jars, vases and bowls to hold them, andevery available surface was a mass of glowing blossoms. The girlshovered from vase to vase, exclaiming with delight at each newcombination of beauties. Now tea was announced, and this time Colonel Ferrers offered hisarm to Mrs. Merryweather, as the stranger and new-comer in theneighbourhood; but the good lady protested against anyone but the"birthday child" being taken in by the host, and the Colonelyielded, 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 quaintchandelier. Even the moose's head on the wall behind the Colonel'schair had a wreath, cocked slightly on one side, which gave awaggish look to the stately creature. The huge antlers spreadabroad, three feet on either side; the boys eyed the trophy withwondering delight. " "Oh, I say, sir!" cried Gerald, "did you shoot that moose? I neversaw such a fellow. Why, Roger shot one last year that we thoughtwas the grandfather moose of the world, but he was a baby to thisone. " The Colonel smiled, well-pleased, and told the story of hisshooting 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 thefact, for he seems like my own. He is my husband's half-brother, many years younger than he, --the dearest fellow in the world, andreally a delightful combination of son and brother. I hope he willbe here before long. And that reminds me, --have I made myhusband's apologies? I am so sorry he could not come!" "I regret it heartily, my dear madam, " said the Colonel, with acourtly bow; and he recalled how Mr. Merryweather had confided tohim the other day that he drew the line at going out in theevening, and would not exchange his own fireside for the King ofDahomey's. He thought it probable that the excellent Miles was atthis moment sitting with pipe and newspaper on the back veranda ofhis house; and if it had not been Hildegarde's birthday, theColonel might have wished himself beside him. As it was, however, he devoted himself to his guests with such hearty good-will thatthe tea-table soon rang with merry talk and laughter. The high-tea itself was beyond praise; Mrs. Beadle had seen tothat. Mrs. Grahame's Auntie herself might have been jealous of thejellied chicken; and salad was green and gold, and rolls weresnowy white, and strawberries glowed like sunset; and over allwere roses, roses, making the whole table a floral offering, asGerald said. Then, just before everybody had reached the "no more"point, the good Guiseppe, who had been standing, stately, behindhis master's chair, darted out, and in a moment returned, bearingon a huge silver salver, --what was it? Behind Guiseppe was seenthe portly form of good Mrs. Beadle, beaming under her best cap;Guiseppe's own face was one broad, dark smile. A general chorusbroke from all save the host and Mrs. Grahame; Hugh gave a squeakof joy in which was no surprise. "I knew they would like it!" he cried, clapping his hands. "I knewthey would be surprised, and that the hair of their scalps wouldbe uplifted. It is yours, Beloved; it is for you!" A cake! Who had ever seen such a cake? It must have been baked inthe biggest cheese-frame that the dairy could supply; or the rimof a cart-wheel might have been used to frame its monstrouscircle. Certainly, as Guiseppe set it down before Hildegarde, itseemed to cover the whole width of the great table. On its top thefrosting was piled high, in fantastic shapes. There seemed to belittle hills and valleys; and from among these peeped--and didthey only seem to move?--a number of tiny figures in green andgold. One sat astride of a snowy pinnacle, another lay stretchedat full length in a hollow, his pretty face only peering out; somewere chasing each other among the elfin hills, others werestanding at ease, their hands on their hearts, their forms bentgracefully as if in salutation. In the middle rose a white throne, and on this sat the prettiest fairy of all, with a crown on herhead 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 tinyblazing 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 ofthem, and every one of them wishes you good luck, my dear, andevery happiness, every blessing that Heaven can bestow. " The good Colonel had begun merrily enough, but before the end ofhis little speech his deep voice trembled, and the tears stood inHildegarde's eyes. She tried to speak, but the words did not come;so, leaving her seat, she went quietly up to the Colonel andkissed his forehead. "Thank you, dear friend!" she said; and itwas 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 mymother's; she had a poetic taste, madam. " He turned to Mrs. Merryweather, who was beaming with admiration and delight. "Shehad these little figures made long ago, --for another eighteenthbirthday, --a dear young friend of hers. Yes, yes! They have beenkept in cotton-wool forty years, madam. Little candle holders, youperceive. A pretty fancy, eh? I happened to remember them theother day, --hunted 'em up, --the result, thanks to Mrs. Grahame andElizabeth Beadle. Mrs. Beadle, ma'am, I desire that you will comein, and not skulk in the doorway there, as if you had reason to beashamed of your handiwork. My housekeeper, Mrs. Beadle, ladies andgentlemen: a good woman, if she will allow me to say so, and agood cook. Now, Guiseppe, a knife for Miss Grahame, and we willtest the quality of this same cake. Plenty of citron, I trust, Elizabeth Beadle? No little skimpy bits, but wedges, slabs ofcitron? Ha! that is as it should be. She wanted to make a whitecake, my dear, --a light, effervescent kind of thing, that canhardly be tasted in the mouth; but I refused to insult either youor my traditions in such a manner. A birthday cake, Mrs. Grahame, my dear madam, should be as rich as spices and plums, brandy andcitron, --especially citron, which I take to be an epitome of theOrient, gastronomically speaking, --as rich as all manner of goodthings can make it. You agree with me, my young friend?" He noddedto Gerald, whose eyes met his, flaming with approval. "Oh, don't I, sir!" cried Gerald. "When they talk aboutwholesomeness and that sort of r--of thing, --well, I beg yourpardon, mater dear, but you know you do, sometimes, in a manner toturn gray the hair, --when they do, I always think it's a dreadfulshame to have wholesome things on your birthday. And--oh, I say!"Here he relapsed into silence, as the first slice dropped from theside of the great cake, revealing depth upon depth of richness. The two mothers shuddered slightly, and exchanged deploringsmiles; but Hugh clasped his hands in rapture, and lifted up hisvoice and spoke. "You are King Solomon to-day, Guardian, aren't you, --instead ofother kings, as sometimes you are? And my great-aunt is the Queenof Sheba. And--'there came no more such abundance of spices asthese which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. And gold, andprecious stones, and knops and flowers'--oh, see them all! And, Guardian, --I mean King Solomon, DO you think there might be analmug tree in the garden?" When tea was over, the Colonel bowed the ladies out of the roomwith 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 acouple 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. Fatherthinks 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 noticethat, though obliged by the laws of hospitality to offer youcigars, I should have thought it unsuitable if you had acceptedthem. Thirty years ago I should have been obliged to offer youwine, also, but happily that is no longer necessary. Forty yearsago, --hum, ha! If you will permit me, I will smoke a cheroot forthe party. Your father prefers a pipe, I believe, but give me aManilla cheroot, and I am satisfied. " "Excuse me, sir, " said Gerald, "but weren't you going to saysomething else?" Colonel Ferrers smiled. "You are quick, my boy, " he said. "I wasindeed thinking of something that happened forty years ago, --of myfirst smoke. Possibly you might be amused to hear about it?" The boys seemed to think there was no doubt about their beingamused; 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 couldnot help thinking of Alice and the Mock Turtle, and wondered whatwould happen if he should get up and say, "Thank you, sir, foryour interesting story. " But he held his peace, and waited. "Fifteen years old, young gentlemen, and a sad scapegrace, I amsorry to say. My poor mother had an anxious time of it with me. Iwas in the water, or in the fire, or in the clouds from morningtill 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 hadnever forbidden my smoking, I should never have dared to suggestsuch a thing to him, for he was strict in his notions, in manyways. Not too strict, sir, not too strict, by any means, though hemay have seemed so to me then. "To make a long story short, I fell in with some lads of my ownway of thinking, and we determined to have a smoke. We gatheredsweet fern and dried it, and rolled cigars for ourselves; odd-looking things they were, but we were vastly proud of them. Whenall was ready, we chose a dry, warm spot behind a dyke (for it wasthe fall of the year, and the days growing cold), and there welighted our cigars and fell to work, puffing away in mighty finestyle. Well, sir, they were horrible things, as you may wellimagine; not one of us, I'll go bail, liked them in his heart, butwe all pretended our best, and praised the cigars, and said what afine thing it was to smoke, and thought ourselves men, as sure asif we had felt our beards pushing. "By-and-by--I have the feeling of it still, when I think of it--Ichanced to look up, and saw my father standing over the top of thedyke, looking down on us. The other boys, catching sight of myface, lifted their eyes and saw him, too; and there was a prettymoment. He said never a word for some time; no more did we. Atlast, 'What are you smoking, boys?' he asked, speaking in hisusual 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. 'Thatis poor stuff, indeed, ' he said. 'Now, if you must smoke, here issomething worth your while. Take these, Thomas, and share themwith your friends; they are genuine, and I hope you may enjoythem. ' "With that he took a parcel of cigars from his pocket, and handedthem 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 fatherpretty well, and had looked for something different; but the otherlads were in high feather, and lighted their cigars on theinstant, bidding me do likewise, and crying out that my father wasa fine old buck, and that I was a lucky fellow to have such aparent. I could not be behind the rest, so I lit up, too, and fora 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. Itwas all we could do to crawl home to our beds; and not one of usbut was sure he was dying, and cried to his mother to send for thedoctor before it was too late. " The Colonel laughed heartily, the boys chiming in with a merrypeal. "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 touchedtobacco again, and I have never smoked anything less delicate thana Manilla. " He puffed in silence, chuckling to himself now and then; the boysmeditated 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 youoffered us--were they very mild ones, Colonel Ferrers?" The Colonel looked grave for a moment, then he gave way andlaughed aloud. "Found me out, hey?" he said. "Well, since you ask me, MasterMerryweather, 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 probablyour sister Gertrude, who has broken something. " "She has no fingers to her thumbs, " added Gerald, "and the resultis destruction. " They passed into the next room, and found that there had indeedbeen an accident. Gertrude had knocked down a great pink vase, andbroken it into fifty pieces; she had also fallen over it, and nowsat among the ruins on the floor, too frightened to cry, while theothers 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. "Thisunlucky 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 bemended. " "Heaven forefend, " said Colonel Ferrers, hastily. "Is it--I canhardly hope it--is it truly the pink vase, the pink vase with thestag's head on it?" "Ye--yes!" sobbed poor Gertrude, getting up from the floor, andseeking vainly for her handkerchief. "Oh, I am so sorry!" "My dear child, " cried the Colonel, and he took Gertrude by bothhands, "my dear young benefactress, how can I ever thank you! Youhave relieved me of a heavy burden. " "Why? what?" cried all. The Colonel pointed to the broken china, and gave a great sigh ofrelief. "You behold there, " he said, "now happily in fragments, the bane of my existence. That--that horror--was given me threeyears ago by a valued servant and friend, my man Guiseppe. Hebought it for my birthday; spent ten of his hard-earned dollars onit, foolish, faithful creature that he is. What could I do? Itwas, --the enormity you perceive. I was obliged to give it a placeof honour, --fortunately, I seldom use this room when I am alone; Iwas forced to praise its tint, which I abominate, and its shape, which is wholly detestable. What would you? I could not wound mygood Guiseppe; the vase has remained, the chief ornament--in hiseyes--of my drawing-room. Now, thanks to you, my charming child, Iam delivered of this encumbrance, and my poor white and gold canappear without this hideous blot on its purity. " Gertrude wiped her eyes, much relieved at this novel view of herinfirmity, 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 Ibe blind man, at your service?" It was a pleasant sight to see the Colonel, a silk handkerchieftied over his eyes, chasing the young folks hither and thither;pulled this way, twitched that, but always beaming under hisbandage, and shouting with merriment. It was a pleasanter sight, later in the evening, to see him leading out Hildegarde for aquadrille, and taking his place at the head of the figure withstately, old-fashioned grace. Mrs. Grahame, turning round a momentfrom her place at the piano, saw his fine face aglow withpleasure, and felt a corresponding warmth at her own heart. Shethought of the gloomy, solitary man he had been a year ago, livingalone with his servants, scarcely seeing or speaking to a souloutside his own grounds. And who shall blame the mother for sayingin her heart, with a little thrill of pride, "It was my child whohelped him, who brought the sunshine into this good man's life. Itwas my Hildegarde!" CHAPTER VI. ANOTHER TEA-PARTY. It was the very day after the great affair at Roseholme thatHildegarde had her own tea-party; in fact, it had been planned forthe birthday itself, and had only been postponed when ColonelFerrers made known his kind wish. This was a piazza party. Thebroad, out-door room was hung with roses, --some of the verygarlands which had graced the dark walls of Roseholme the nightbefore; but here they were twined in and out of the vines whichgrew on all sides of the piazza, screening it from outside view, and making it truly a bower and a retreat. The guests had beenasked to come at five o'clock, but it was not more than three whenHildegarde, coming to the door by chance, saw two or three littlefigures hanging about the gate, gazing wistfully in. At sight ofher, their heads went down and their fingers went into theirmouths; they studied the ground, and appeared to know neitherwhere they were, nor why they had come. "Euleta!" exclaimed Hildegarde; "is that you, child? and Minnieand 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 tothe piazza. "I am very glad to see you, chicks, " she said. "Shallwe 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 thegarden, you see. " Euleta beamed again, and the others with her. They were sisters, and their careful mother had given them hats just alike, dreadfulmysteries of magenta roses and apple-green ribbon. Their pride waspleasant to see, and Hildegarde smiled back at them, saying toherself that the dear little faces would look charming inanything, however, hideous. Soon more children came, and yet more: Vesta Philbrook and MarthaSkeat, Philena Tabb and Susan Aurora Bulger, --twelve children inall, and every child there before the stroke of four. "Well, " said Hildegarde to herself, "the tea-table will not bequite so pretty as if I had had time to make the wreaths; but theywould rather play than have wreaths, and I should not have left ittill the last hour, sinner that I am. " She proposed "Little SallyWaters, " 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, andSusan Aurora chose Hildegarde. Down went Hildegarde on the floor, and wept and wrung her hands so dramatically that the childrenpaused in alarm, fearing that some real calamity had occurred. "Oh! oh!" moaned Hildegarde; "my young man! Go on, children. Whyare you stopping? Oh, where IS my young man?" she sobbed; and thechildren, reassured by a twinkling smile, shrieked with delight. "What shall I do?" sobbed the girl. "I--haven't--got--any youngman! Now, children, you MUST say 'Rise, Sally, ' or my foot will besound asleep, and then I couldn't get up at all, and what wouldbecome 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 handsclasped in entreaty; turned to the west, holding out her arms witha gesture of intense longing; turned to the south, --and saw astranger standing and gazing at her with a look of intenseamusement. For once Hildegarde thought that her wits were gone; she stoodstill, her arms dropped to her side, and she returned thestranger's gaze with a look of such simple, absolute dismay thathe could hardly keep his countenance. Hastily advancing, he liftedhis hat. "Miss Grahame, " he said, "I beg your pardon for breakingin in this way. My sister--I am Roger Merryweather, I ought to sayfirst--Bell wanted to know at what time she should come over, andas none of the boys were at hand, I ventured to come over with themessage. " His eyes, --they were kind eyes, as Hildegarde noticed in herdistress, --his eyes seemed to say, "I wish you would not mind mein the least, my child! Have I not sisters of my own, and don't Iknow all about Sally Waters?" It almost seemed as if the wordswere spoken, and Hildegarde recovered her composure, and cameforward, with a burning blush, it is true, but holding out herhand with her own sweet cordiality. "I am very glad to see you, Mr. Merryweather. You are very goodnot to laugh at poor Sally's distresses. Tell Bell that thechildren are all here, and the sooner she comes the better. But--will you not come in, Mr. Merryweather? My mother will bedelighted to see you. We have heard so much of you from all thechildren. " Roger Merryweather excused himself on the ground of letters thatmust be written, but promised himself the pleasure of an earlycall; and so, with another kind, sensible look, and a smile and afriendly word to the children, he withdrew, and Hildegarde saw himleap lightly over the fence, --a tall, well-knit figure, springyand light as Gerald's own. The girl drew a long breath of dismay, but it quavered, andfinally ended in a hearty laugh. "And how PERFECTLY he behaved!" she said aloud. "If one had tomake a spectacle of one's self, --and apparently it is to be myfate through life, --surely no one could choose a kinder lookingspectator. " Here she became aware of the children, standing at gaze, andevidently waiting for her next word. "Why, what am I thinking about?" she cried, merrily. "Do you thinkwe have had enough of 'Sally, ' children? I--I think perhaps Ihave. 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 youwould like best. This is your own party, you see, and it is to bethe kind of party you all think pleasantest. " Martha murmured inaudibly several times, but spurred by digs inthe ribs with several pairs of sharp elbows, finally spoke aloudwith a sudden yelp. "Oh, PLEASE!--Susan Aurora Bulger, I'll goright and tell your mother this minute!--please, 'The HighlandGates 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 upthe chorus. "'The Highland Gates to Die, ' please, Teacher!" Hildegarde repeated the words to herself, but no light came. "Idon't understand, " she said. "You will have to show me how toplay, for I never heard of the game. Highland Gates--well, I shalllearn 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. Thenshe began to pace slowly round the circle, and all the childrenbroke 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 inand 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 inquietly, and was watching the proceedings in amazement. "Don't ask me!" Hildegarde replied, "watch and listen, and learnif you can. Oh, this is tragedy, indeed!" For Euleta had thrownherself backward, not without a certain dramatic force, and nowlay 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, whileEuleta plumed herself like a little peacock, taking to herself thecredit of all the interest shown by the young ladies. "But what an extraordinary thing!" cried Bell; "Hildegarde, haveyou 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 onlyfind out!" They questioned the children eagerly, but could learnnothing. It was merely, "The Highland Gates to Die, " and they hadalways played it, and everybody else always played it, --that wasall they knew. At this moment a well-known brown bonnet was seen bobbingapologetically up the drive; the Widow Lankton had been makingfrantic 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 shewill 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 thepiazza. Here she sat, turning her head from side to side, like alean 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 rightside, and I like t' ha' died on your thrishold. Yes, my dear, " shenodded 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. "Youmay be right, dear!" she said. "I shouldn't go to contradict yourblessed 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 denyit who will. There! I feel it a leetle better now a'ready, " sheannounced. "Ah, it's a blessed privilege you have, Miss Grahame!" Without stopping to analyze these remarks too closely, Hildegardesaid a few more soothing words, and then went straight to thematter in hand. "Mrs. Lankton, can you tell us anything about a game the childrenhave been playing, the game of 'The Highland Gates?' We are verymuch interested in it, Miss Merryweather and I, --this is MissMerryweather, --and we want to know what it means. " "To be sure, my dear!" cried the Widow Lankton. "'The HighlandGates to Die. ' Dear me, yes! if ever a person could tell you--andMiss Bellflower, is it? Ah! she looks rugged, now; don't she? andlivin' 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 tothem as has you WHILE they has you. My Philena, her cheeks wasjust like yours, like two pinies. And where is she now? Ah! I'veseen trouble, Miss Bellwether. Miss Grahame here can tell you ofsome of the trouble I've seen, though she don't know not a quarterpart of it. " "Oh yes, Mrs. Lankton, " said Hildegarde, with what seemed towondering Bell rather a scant measure of sympathy; "MissMerryweather shall hear all about it, surely. But will you tell usnow about the game, please? We want to know so very much!" "To be sure, dearie! to be sure!" acquiesced Mrs. Lankton withalacrity. "'T is a fine game, and anncient, as you may say. Why, my grandmother taught me to play 'The Highland Gates' when I wasno bigger than you, Vesta Philbrook. Ah! many's the time I playedit 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 waswhy she died. Oh, my, yes! She had dyspepsy right along, sufferedeverything with it, yet 'twas croup that got her at last. Ah!there's never any child knows when croup 'll get her; girl NORboy!" 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 thekettle on, and you will be the better for your tea, so will younot tell us as quickly as you can, please, about the game? Thechildren are waiting, you see, to go on with their play. " "Jest what I was going to say, dear, " cried Mrs. Lankton. "Let 'emplay, I says, while they can, I says; for its soon enough they getthe play squenched out of 'em, if you'll excuse the expression, Miss Henfeather. " At this apostrophe, delivered with mournful intensity, Bellretreated hastily behind a post of the veranda, and even SusanAurora Bulger giggled faintly, with her apron in her mouth. Hildegarde was silent, and tried the effect of gazing severely atthe widow, apparently with some success, for after a pause ofhead-shaking, Mrs. Lankton continued: "But as you was saying, dearie, about the game. Ye--es! Well, mygrandmother, she was an anncient woman; some said she was ninety-seven, and more called it ninety-eight, but she didn't rightlyknow herself, bein' she had lost the family Bible. Burned up withthe house it was, before she came from the Provinces, and somesaid it was because of starting a new fire in the cook-stove onSunday; but I don't want to set in judgment, not on my own fleshand blood, I do not, Miss Grahame. And I remember as if it wasthis day of time, she settin' in her chair in the porch to ourhouse, smokin' her pipe, if you'll excuse me ladies, bein' ananncient woman, and I HAVE heard great ladies took their pipes inthem times, but so it is. And she says to me, 'Drusilly, ' shesays, 'Why don't you play with Salome?' and I says, ''Cause Iain'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 wetwo stood there, and Gram'ther she taught us 'The Highland Gatesto Die. ' Salome, she had been feedin' the hens, and when she comeback she left the gate open, and they all got out and went andstrayed into the woods, and my father got so mad we thought weshould lose him, for sure. Purple he used to get when he was mad, same as a late cabbage, and an awful sight. Yes, children, bethankful if you're learned to keep your tempers. So that's all Iknow, Miss Grahame, my dear, and you're welcome as air to it; andI do believe I see Mis' Auntie lookin' out the kitching winderthis minute, so if you'll excuse me, ladies, bein' I feel agoneness inside, and if I should faint away, how your blessedmother 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 whenthe sisters said "Come along, Kitty, " she had dropped her doll andflown like a bird to join them. Willy shouted after her, havingdesigns on her in regard to tin soldiers; but for once Kitty wasdeaf to her Willy's voice. Now she was as happy as a child couldbe, sitting in a nest of warm pine needles, playing at "partridgemother. " The other girls sat near her, making oak wreaths and talkingbusily. Bell was telling of some college experiences. "So we found we had not nearly green enough to trim the hall, andI volunteered to get some more, while the rest of the committeemade the garlands. I had not far to go, only to the grove, about amile beyond the campus; but it was growing dark, so I hurried asmuch as I could. I ran across Professor Thunder's yard, as thatcut 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 notconsistent with dignity and decorum. The college maiden is anawful person, I have always understood. " "You shall judge!" said Bell. "Remember that I was alone, withnone to help me carry the boughs; that I was late, it being thensix o'clock, and the dance beginning at eight. I had to get thegreens, help put them up, get my supper, dress, and be there ateight to receive the juniors. And there--there, in the clearafternoon light on the lawn, stood the professor's wheelbarrow, saying as plainly as a wheelbarrow can, 'You'd better take mealong to bring the things home in. ' Could I resist that muteappeal? I could not. I saw, I took, I trundled! The thing went ofits own accord, I believe; certainly I never before made such goodtime to the grove. Once there, it was a matter of only a fewminutes to strip the boughs and fill the friendly barrow. But, oh!I filled it not wisely, but too well. It was all so green andpleasant, and the smell of the trees was so delightful, that I didnot know when to stop. Soon the barrow was heaped high with allmanner of pleasantness, and I started to return. Well, my dear, then the trouble began. In the first place, full barrows aredifferent from empty ones. It was very heavy, and the boughs keptslipping this way, and sliding that way, and tumbling down everythird second. I got cross--oh, so cross! and presently I passedthe janitor's son, lounging along homeward, and he grinned, beingan oaf, and said, 'Better let me help ye, hadn't ye?' Oh, no! hedidn't mean to be rude, he really meant to help; but my blood wasup, 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 andgot tangled in the wheel, and while I was getting it out a twigsnapped into my eyes; and there was a stone in my shoe, andaltogether, --well, it was only a mile to the grove, but it wastwenty miles back, I can tell you. Before I reached the campus myarms 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 thegunpowder. I was going pretty slowly, so as to keep the boughsfrom tumbling out more than was absolutely necessary, --and I heardthe boy lumbering up behind me again. So, without turning round, Isaid, '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 handlesfrom me, --his own handles, mind you, of his own barrow, --andtrundled it solemnly along. I was struggling with hysterics. I amnot in the least hysterical by nature, but the combination--theprofessor taken for a lout and commanded to trundle his ownbarrow, stolen by a sophomore, the twig in my eye and the stone inmy foot--was too much for me. Besides, there seemed nothing inparticular to say. I could not begin 'Please, sir, I thought youwere the janitor's boy!' nor did 'Please Professor Thunder, thisis your wheelbarrow, which I have stolen, ' seem exactly a happyopening for a conversation. So we went on in silence, and when thebranches tumbled off, I picked them up without a word. How could Ibe such a dumb idiot? Don't ask me! If it had been any otherprofessor I might have found courage to speak; but Jupiter Tonanswas my terror and my hero; I sat at his feet, and the roll of hisdeep voice was music to my sophomoric ears. I had never spoken tohim out of class, but only that morning he had praised mytranslation, he who seldom praised anything, --and now to come tothis! "At last, after about three hours of dreadful silence, he openedhis lips and spoke: 'The greens are for decorational purposes, Ipresume, Miss Merryweather?' Oh, and I had hoped he would notremember 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 branchesfall off more than ever. Then--'The wheelbarrow, ' said theprofessor, 'amazes us by its combined simplicity and perfection. The conception of a man of universal genius and vast erudition, --Iallude to Leonardo da Vinci, the marvellous Florentine, --it hasfor upwards of three hundred years served mankind as a humble butvalued ally. In every rank of life it finds its place. Thisbarrow, for example--' "My heart came into my mouth. 'Professor Thunder, ' I said, 'thisis your wheelbarrow. I came across your lawn, and saw it standingthere, 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 Ihad taken him for the janitor's boy, and all. Girls, he wasperfectly angelic! He made me sit down on the bank to rest, andtalked 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 myhandkerchief, and he gave me his, about three square yards offinest cambric, --I shall never smell orris again without thinkingof that moment, --and said--you won't think me vain to repeat this, Hildegarde?--said that he could not have his best pupil spoil hereyes, as it would interfere with her Greek. And then we came tothe campus, and the girls standing in the door of the Gym sawProfessor Thunder wheeling the wheelbarrow fall of greens, and mewalking meekly by his side. I shall never forget their faces; onemoment, and then they turned and fled. It was base, but I couldnot blame them; the sight was not one to induce composure, as theProfessor himself would say. So I thanked him as well as I couldfor the dumbness and heat that were on me; and he took off his hatand made a grand bow, and then he shook hands--oh, so cordially!and begged to present me with the freedom of the wheelbarrow; andthen he went away. There, Hildegarde! You wanted a college story, and you have had one. " The girls laughed heartily at Bell's adventures, and Hildegardedeclared that she should never fear a college girl again, as itwas evident that they were girls of like passions, getting intoscrapes like their sisters. While talking, the girls had been busily plaiting garlands of oakleaves, and now they proceeded to crown each other, and hang longwreaths on neck and arm. "Hildegarde shall be the fairy queen, " said Gertrude "and we herattendant fays. Hail, Queen!" "Oh yes, that is all very well for you!" said Bell; "you don'tweigh 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 chapletcrowning her fair locks, and the afternoon sunlight siftingthrough the leaves, checkering her white dress with light andshade. Roger Merryweather, coming through the wood in his quietway, with his tin plant-box slung over his shoulder, thought hehad never seen a fairer sight, and paused to enjoy it beforeannouncing 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 madethe whole wood vibrate with horrid sound. The girls sprang totheir feet in terror; little Kitty ran to Bell and hid in hergown, while the older girls with one accord turned at bay, readyto face they knew not what peril. Even Roger was startled for themoment, and was about to step hastily forward, when a secondshriek rang out. He recognized the voice, and stood still, unwilling to spoil sport. And now from the thicket burst two wildforms, blanketed and feathered, uttering hideous yells, andbrandishing glittering weapons over their heads. Kitty shrieked, but after one moment Bell burst into laughter. "You imps!" she cried. "You wicked, wicked little wretches, tofrighten 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 lessonthey shall not forget. " "Huh! huh!" shouted the Indians. "Big Chief Hop-toad! bigMedicine-man Put-Squills-In-His-Tea! gobble up the white squawsfor supper! Huh! huh!" And now the quiet spectator saw a merry sight. The girls flew inpursuit, the boys fled before them. In and out of the trees, laughing, shrieking, they doubled and twisted. Hildegarde ranwell, and Bell had not had two years of basket-ball for nothing. As for Gertrude, she was lithe and long-limbed as a younggreyhound; but even so, they could not catch their tormentors. The long gray legs twinkled like lightning over the ground. Philpaused from time to time to shout his warhoop, and Gerald, when hecould find breath, chanted wild scraps of song, accompanied byfrantic 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 inthe 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, youodious redskin! I defy you in every withering term that a Coopermaiden 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 femaledead! 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 hugenut-tree, she rushed upon him, and seizing him, shook himviolently. Then she let go her hold and screamed, for it was notGerald that she was shaking. Roger Merryweather stepped forward, unable to keep from smiling ather face of horror. He felt a little "out of it, " perhaps, andtwenty-four seemed a long way from seventeen; but he should nothave watched the girls, he told himself with some severity, without letting them know he was there. Now this pretty childregarded him as a double eavesdropper and spy. But his apology wasdrowned 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, butwe shall have them all the same. Hi! there goes Dropsy!" Indeed, at this moment Gertrude tripped over a tree root and fellheadlong; as she fell she caught at Phil's ankle, just as he wasin the act of grasping Bell by the flying tail of her gown;another moment, and all three were on the ground together in aconfused heap. "Anybody hurt?" asked Roger, going to pick them up. "Oh no!" said Bell, sitting up and shaking the pine needles fromher hair. "Toots was underneath, and she makes a noble cushion. All right, Toots? and how do you come here, Professor?" The threefallen ones righted themselves, and sat up and panted; seeingwhich, the others came and sat down, too, and for a space no onespoke, for no one had any breath save Roger, and he was laughing. "I have been botanizing, " he said at last. "I was coming quietlyalong, when suddenly Bedlam broke loose, and I have been standingby 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 herfate, 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. Shebegan 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 thechances for scalping. " "Thank you!" said Hildegarde, as she wound up the long locks andfastened them securely. "I have no fancy for playing Absalom allthe way home. Have you hurt your foot, Phil?" for Phil was rubbinghis ankle vigorously, and looking rather uncomfortable. "I stumbled over Dropsy's nose, " he said, ruefully. "When she felldown, her nose reached all the way round the tree, and tripped meup. I wish you would keep your nose in curl-papers, Dropsy. " Dropsy beat him affectionately, and helped rub his ankle. Theywere silent for a moment, being too comfortable to speak, each onethought to himself. The sunbeams flickered through the leaves; thepine needles, tossed into heaps by the hurrying feet, gave outtheir delicious fragrance; overhead the wind murmured low in thebranches. It was a perfect time, and even Gerald felt the charmand 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 theforest, 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 throughthe hedge. "Where are you going?" The Merryweathers were going to ride; so much was evident. Fivebicycles stood at the door, glittering in the sunlight; fiveriders 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 willcertainly have to get a wheel and join us. Nothing like it, Iassure you. " Bell and Gertrude, in trim short skirts and gaiters, sat alreadyperched, ready for the start; and Phil and Gerald were putting alast 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 forgetthe boots, please; they are very important. " "May one inquire what boots?" asked Mr. Merryweather. "I really have no idea!" replied his wife. "Somebody said atbreakfast that you must be sure to remember the boots, and dwelton 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 isless 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 verycurious! Why--why then, I must have picked the raspberries into myhat. " 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'swife, and I fear she will be surprised. My dear Gertrude, have youlearned your Latin lesson, that I see you starting off so freely?" "Yes, mother, " said Gertrude, sadly. "I learned it, and it was adetestable lesson. I am SO tired of hearing that Titus Labienuswas stationed on a hill!" "I know!" chimed in Phil. "I remember when I was in Caesar, aboutforty years ago, and Titus Labby was on the hill then. It's mybelief he got stuck there, and was afraid to come down. " "That is curious!" said Mrs. Merryweather, meditatively. "Alwayson a hill; why, so he is! That is rather interesting, don't youthink so?" "With all respect, I do not!" said Mr. Merryweather. "I desire todepart. If Caesar had had a wheel, he would not have been sotedious. " "Oh, jolly!" cried Gerald. "Caesar commanded to let scoot thelegions through the morasses and bogges the bogs. Then cameVercingetorix on a '91 Columbia, weighing seventy-three pounds, and said, 'How in time am I to get up this hill?' Then spake tohim Caesar, and said these words, --Get out, you Ferguson!" For Ferguson, swiftly departing, had launched a kick at hisbrother in passing, nearly sending him from his seat. Geraldwhirled off in pursuit; the others followed more soberly, and thewhole party disappeared round the curve of the road. Hildegarde looked after them rather dolefully. A year ago a girlon a bicycle was a shocking thing to our heroine; she shook herlittle head severely, and said that nothing would induce her tomount one. Somehow her views had changed since she had seen theMerryweathers on theirs. She began to think that it would beuncommonly pleasant to go skimming along like a swallow, swoopingdown the hills and whirling along the levels. "The nearestapproach 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 ourFrench. " "Shall we bring our sewing out on the verandah, mammy?" askedHilda, rousing herself from a little reverie. "Ah, you have theletters, sly one, and never told me!" "I doubted if there was anything that would interest you, mylove, " said Mrs. Grahame. "Yes; let us have our work, by allmeans. There are one or two business letters that I should likeyou to look over. " Hilda smiled and departed, revolving the thought that she was aselfish and empty-headed wretch. She did not want to read businessletters; she wanted to be on a wheel, flying over the smooth road, with the wind lifting her hair and breathing cool against hercheek. And here was her mother sitting alone, and the newtablecloths to hem, and--and altogether--"If you COULD tell me whythey thought it worth while to keep you, " she said to herself, "Ishould be glad to know it. Perhaps you can tell me what P-I-Gspells. " Returning with the wide sewing basket, she found her motherlooking over a pile of letters. "It is high time, " said Mrs. Grahame, "that you began to take some interest in businessmatters. " Hildegarde wondered what was coming; her mother lookedvery grave; she held in her hand a square grey envelope. "I shallbe greatly obliged, therefore, my dear, " her mother continued, with the same portentous gravity, "if--you would--read that"; andshe gave the letter to Hildegarde. "Oh, mamma! you wicked, wicked deceiver! You frightened me almostto death; and it is from Jack, dear old Jack. Oh, how delightful!You pleasant person, Mrs. Grahame; I forgive you, though my heartstill throbs with terror. Are you all comfortable, my own? Yourlittle feet all tucked up beneath your petticoat, so that theycannot steal in and out? Don't you want a glass of milk, or acracker, or a saddle of mutton, or anything else? Then be silent!and oh, how happy we shall be!" Hildegarde settled herself in herchair, sighed with pleasure, and broke the seal of the fat letter. "DEAR HILDA: It seems an age since I last wrote, but there is somuch going on I have hardly time to breathe. There have been someawfully 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 islike--my heaven, at least--since I heard him. He played--" Here followed an accurate list of the great violinist'sperformances, covering three sheets of note-paper. "It isn't the technique and all that, though of course he is thefirst 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 itto you once, like the cheeky little duffer I was, and felt pleasedas 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 touchit! When the maestro (they call him maestro here, so you mustn'tthink me Frenchified), when he played it, the world seemed just tomelt away, and nothing left but a voice, that sang, and sang, andtold you more than you ever dreamed of in all your life before. Iwish I could describe things, but you know I can't, so you won'texpect it. But one thing I will tell you, if you'll promise not totell any living soul--" "Stop, my dear!" said Mrs. Grahame, quickly. "We must not touchupon the boy's confidences. Head that part to yourself. " "Thank you, ma'am!" said Hilda. "This mark of trust is mostgratifying, I assure you. 'Not tell any living soul except yourmother, dear. ' Now how do you feel, madam?" "Dear Jack!" said Mrs. Grahame, softly. "Dear lad! of course Ishall like to hear it. Go on, Hilda, and I promise not tointerrupt 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 wasnot there. He is often late, so I just took out some music andbegan to play over the things I had studied. There was a sonata ofRubinstein's, very splendid, that has quite possessed me lately. Iplayed 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; yourheart seems to sweep up with it, and you find yourself in anotherworld, where everything is divine harmony. I'm talking nonsense, Iknow, but that piece just sends me off my head altogether. Well, at last I finished it and came down from the clouds, and when Iturned around, Hilda, there was the maestro himself, standing andlistening. Well! you can't go through the floor and all that sortof thing, as they do in the fairy-books, but I did wish I was amouse, or a flea, or anything smaller that there is. He stoodstill a minute. Perhaps he was afraid I would behave like someasses 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, andtook bits of mud from his shoes for a keepsake; they truly did, the horrid pigs! And he just said 'Dummkopfer!' and went off andleft them kneeling there. Wasn't that jolly? Well, I say, he mighthave thought I would act like that, and yet I don't believe hedid, for he had the kindest, friendliest look on his face. He cameforward and held out his hand, and said, 'So you play the greatsonata, my son; and love it, too, I perceive. ' "I don't know exactly what I said, --some rubbish about how much Icared for it; but I stammered mostly, and got all kinds ofcolours. I guess you can tell pretty much how I behaved, though Ireally am getting to be not quite so much of a muff. Anyhow, heseemed to understand, and nodded, and said, 'Give me now theviolin, 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 methere, and playing like--like--well, I don't know how to say whatI mean, so you'll have to imagine it for yourself. He went allthrough it, stopping once in a while to explain to me, and todescribe this or that shade of expression or turn of the wrist. Itwas the most splendid lesson any one ever had, I believe. But thatis not the best, and I hardly like to tell even you the rest. Youmay think I am just bluffing, and anyhow, --but it is the truth, so--well, after about half an hour my master came in, and ofcourse he was delighted, and highly honoured, and bowing andscraping and all. But the maestro came and put his hand on myshoulder, 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, butthought I was asleep and dreaming it all. 'I will give you inexchange two others, ' he said. 'The fat English lady has shortnessof breath, and cannot keep my hours of work, and the young Russianmakes 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 aking asks for anything. And besides, Herr Geiger is so good andkind, he was really perfectly delighted at my having the greatchance, --the chance of a lifetime. So I am going this afternoon totake my first regular lesson from the great master of the world, and I don't deserve it, Hilda, and I wonder why everything is doneso for me, and such happiness given to a fellow like me, whenthere are hundreds of other fellows who deserve it a great dealmore. 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 Ishall be a better fellow in every way, and try to make somereturn. I couldn't go without telling you. Of course I wrote aline to the governor first. He will be so happy! And of course ifit hadn't been for him, I never should have had any music, or anyviolin, or anything; and without you and your mother, Hilda, Inever should have come here, that is certain. So I don't see veryclear, sometimes, when I think about you and him. "Time for the lesson now. Good-bye! I am the happiest fellow inthe world! Best love to your mother, and uncle--no! shall write tohim 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 lastletter. Of course I felt for a minute as if my gas-balloon hadbust, 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 verysweet and all that; but after all, I never saw her, and you sayshe has no ear for music, and I am afraid that would have been apretty bad thing, don't you think so yourself? So I guess it isall right, and I am as jolly as a coot. Awfully jolly about thenew neighbours turning out such bricks. Do any of them play orsing? JACK. "P. P. S. I fought my first duel yesterday, with a chap who slangedthe U. S. I got a cut on my left arm, but then, I cut a littleslice off his ear, so I was all right. J. " "Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Grahame; "a duel! The naughty, naughtyboy! Those student duels are not apt to be serious affairsnowadays, I believe, but still it seems a dreadful thing. Whatwill the Colonel say when he hears it?" "He will very likely be pleased as Punch, as Jack says, " rejoinedHildegarde. "To have his milksop fight a duel would probably seemto him a very encouraging thing. And of course, mammina, it isn'tlike a real, dreadful duel, is it? I mean, it is more a kind ofhorrid bear-play? But oh, to think of our Jack cutting off a pieceof a man's ear! It almost spoils the beautiful other part of it. No, nothing can spoil that. Dear, delightful, stupid, glorious oldJack! 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 littlecircle. See! there come the riders back again, Gerald and Philracing, as usual. Hear them shout! Certainly, never a family wasbetter named. " Hildegarde came up behind her mother, and put her arms lightlyround her neck. "I prefer my pea!" she said. And the two women laughed and kissedeach other and went on with their work. CHAPTER IX. MERRY WEATHER INDOORS. It rained that evening, so the plans for tennis were brought tonaught; but the evening was cheerful enough, in spite of thepouring rain outside. The wide, book-strewn parlour of PumpkinHouse was bright with many lamps, and twinkling with laughingfaces of boys and girls. Mr. Merryweather, cheerfully resigned to"company, " possessed his soul and his pipe (being duly assuredthat Mrs. Grahame liked the smell of tobacco), and the Colonelpuffed his cigar beside him. A little fire crackled on the hearth, "just for society, " Mrs. Merryweather said, and most of thewindows were wide open, making the air fresh and sweet with thefragrance of wet vines and flowers. The two ladies were deep inhousehold matters, each finding it very pleasant to have acompanion of her own age, though each reflecting that the childrenwere much better company in the long run. The children themselveswere playing games, with gusts of laughter and little shrieks andshouts of glee. They had had "Horned Lady, " and Willy's head was aforest of paper horns, skilfully twisted. Hugh had just gonetriumphantly through the whole list, "a sneezing elephant, a punchin the head, a rag, a tatter, a good report, a bad report, acracked saucepan, a fuzzy tree-toad, a rat-catcher, a well-greavedGreek, etc. , etc. , etc. "There are no thoughts in this game, beloved, " said the child whenhe had finished, turning to Hildegarde. "My head turns round, butit is empty inside. " "Good for Hugh!" cried Phil. "Just the same with me, Hugh. Itmakes me feel all fuzzy inside my head, like the tree-toad. " "You ARE like a tree-toad!" said Gerald. "That is the resemblancethat has haunted me, and I could not make it out, because as arule tree-toads are not fuzzy. I thank thee, Jew--I mean Hugh--forteaching me that word. My brother, the tree-toad! Every one willknow 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 weektogether at a house at Pemaquid, and Jerry left his sponge behindhim when he came away. Well, and when the captain of the tugbrought it over to the island where the rest of us were, he saidone of the boys had left it, the one as was a little wantin'. Andhe 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, andmooed in purest Attic every time I twisted her tail. And how aboutthe pitch-kettle, my gentle shepherd? Was I ever seen, I ask theassembled family, --WAS I ever seen with a pitch-kettle on my headinstead of a hat?" "Oh, Hilda!" exclaimed Bell; "you ought to have seen Phil. He hadbeen pitching the canoe, --this was ever so long ago, of course, --and he thought it would be great fun to put the pitch-kettle onhis head. He thought it was quite dry, you see. So he did, andwent round with it for a little, so pleased and amused; and thenhe saw some ladies coming, and tried to take it off, and itwouldn'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 ofhelping a fellow. And I had to crawl under barrels for about halfa mile, so that those people wouldn't see me. " "Poor Phil!" cried compassionate Hildegarde. "And did you get itoff at last?" "First we tried butter, " he said, "but that wouldn't stir it. Thenthey gave me a bath of sweet oil, and put flour in my hair, andhot water, and turtle soup, and I don't know what not; and themore things they did, the faster the old thing stuck. So at lastwe had to call the Mater, and she took the scissors and cut itoff. " "Oh, meus oculus!" cried Gerald. "Do you remember how that kettlelooked, with a fringe of hair all around it? Half his hyacinth bedon one fell kettle! He ought to have sung a 'Lock-aber no more!'" "And we ought to have sung 'Philly, put the kettle on!'" criedGertrude. "Toots, don't exhaust your brain!" said Gerald, gravely. "You mayneed it some time; there is no knowing. No knowing, but muchnosing!" he added. "Could you move the principal part of yourperson, my child? It casts such a deep shadow that I cannot seemyself think. " "Will some one please tell me what is the matter with Gertrude'snose?" asked Hildegarde, innocently. "You are always talking aboutit; 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 anexcellent 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 proudof, it is Gertrude's nose. We may not be clever, or rich, orbeautiful, but we can always fall back on the nose; there's plentyof room on it for the whole family. " "Why, " put in Phil, "the Pater has been offered a dollar a poundfor 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 wecame back, Toots hung her nose out of the window to dry, and wentto sleep and forgot it; and will you believe it? a fellow camealong and climbed right up it, just like 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, letdown your hair, ' you know. Ah! Oh, I say!" At this outrage, Gertrude rose, and fell upon her brother toothand 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" likelittle Silver-hair, and came suddenly to the floor, his head andlegs sticking up helplessly through the empty frame. The youngpeople were so overcome with laughter that no one could help him;but Roger, who had been hidden in a convenient corner with anabsorbing monograph on trilobites that had just arrived by mail, came forward and pulled his brother out. "Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Merryweather, looking up. "Philip, mydear, it is strange that none of you can remember not to sit inthat chair. " "What is the matter with the chair?" inquired Mr. Merryweather. "The seat has been loose for a long time, " said his wife. "Italways comes down when any one sits in it. " "And could it not be mended?" "Why, yes, " said Mrs. Merryweather, evidently receiving a newidea. "I suppose it might be mended, Miles. Do you know, I neverthought of that! Certainly; it shall be mended. Bell, remind meto-morrow to get some glue. That is one of the set of chairs thatcame from my father's house, you remember, Miles, and the seatswere always loose. One night my mother had a party, and your UncleFrederick went round before the people came, and set the seatsforward in the frames, so that whoever sat down would go throughat 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 thenext 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?" criedGertrude. "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, Iremember! I was measuring the whale-oil soap. Tell them, Gerty, ifyou 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 ofamusement, and that is a good thing. " "Well, " said Gertrude, "you see, we had to squirt the roses, andmamma said she would make the whale-oil mixture for us, because itis such horrid stuff, and we had some errands to do first. So Icame back after the errands, and she was measuring it out. Dearmamma! am I a wretch?" "Not at all, my child, " said her mother. "I richly deserve to beexposed; besides, one can always serve to point a moral. You see, Mrs. Grahame, the receipt said, 'half a pint of soap to a gallonof water! Now I had ten gallons of water, so I--tell what I wasdoing, cruel child. " "She had the pint measure, " said Gerty, "and she was filling ithalf full and then pouring it into the water. She was going to dothat 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, andmurmuring affectionate words. Mrs. Merryweather smiled in a happy, helpless way. "I am a sad goose, good neighbours, " she said; "but they alwaysbring me out right, somehow. There now, darlings, sit down, and begood. And, by the way, Gertrude, I am minded to heap a coal offire on your head. Didn't you tell me this morning that TitusLabienus was always on a hill, or something like that?" "Yes, " said Gertrude. "So he is, and ever will remain so. Have youtaken him down, dear mamma?" "Not exactly!" said her mother. "But I have made a ballad abouthim, and I thought it might possibly amuse you all. " An eager shout arose, and all the young people gathered in acircle 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 indisguise. " "What do you mean, dear?" inquired Bell, looking up from herdishpan. "Why, I have had so many lives. This is the fifth, at the leastcomputation. It is very extraordinary. " Quiet Bell waited, seeing that more was coming. The two girls weresitting on the end of a wharf, in the sparkling clearness of aSeptember morning. Before them stretched a great lake, a sheet ofsilver, dotted as far as the eye could see with green islands. Behind lay a pebbly beach, and farther up, nestled among a fringeof forest trees, stood a bark hut, with broad verandahs andoverhanging eaves. Hildegarde looked up and around, her faceshining with pleasure. "They have all been so happy--the lives, " she said. "But thissurely is the most beautiful to look at. You see, " here she turnedagain to her companion, "first I was a little girl, and then a bigone, at home in New York; and a very singularly odious specimen ofboth I was. " "Am I expected to believe this?" asked Bell, quietly. "Oh yes! because I know, you see, and I remember just howdetestable I was. Children are so sometimes, you know, even withthe very best parents, and I certainly had those. Well, at last Igrew so unbearable that I had to be sent away. Oh, you need notraise your eyebrows, my dear! It's very nice of you, but you neversaw 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 notstrong, so the journey was not thought best for me; and besides, dear mamma saw that if I was ever going to amount to anything Imust be taken away from the fashionable school and the set ofgirls I was getting intimate with. I wasn't intimate with mammathen; I didn't want to be. The other girls were not, and I thoughtit would be silly; think of it, Bell! Well, I was sent, a forlornand furious child (fifteen years old though, the same age as dear, sweet Gertrude), to my mother's old nurse in the country, --afarmer's wife, living on a small farm, twenty miles from a city. There, my dear, I first learned that there was a world outside thecity of New York. I must tell you all about it some day, --thehappy, blessed time I had with those dear people, and how Ilearned to know my own dearest ones while I was away from them. Iburied that first Hildegarde, very dead, oh, very dead indeed!Then the next summer I went to a new world, and my Rose went withme. I have told you about her, and how sweet she is, and how illshe was, and now how she is going to marry the good doctor whocured her of her lameness. We spent the summer with Cousin WealthyBond, a cousin of my mother's, --the loveliest old lady, livingdown in Maine. That was a very new world, Bell; and oh! I have achild there, a little boy, my Benny. At least, he is CousinWealthy's Benny now, for she is bringing him up as her own, andloves him really as if he were; but I always think of him aspartly mine, because Rose and I found him in the hospital where weused to go to carry flowers. He had been very ill, and we gotCousin Wealthy to let him come to her house to get well. Andthrough, that, somehow, there came to be a little convalescenthome for the children from the hospital, --oh, I must tell you thatstory too, some day, and it is called Joyous Gard. Yes, of courseI named it, and I was there for a month this spring, before youcame, and had the most enchanting time. I took Hugh with me, andthe only trouble was that Benny was madly jealous of him, and gavehim no peace. Poor Benny! he is a dear, nice little boy, but notlike Hugh, of course, and that exasperated him past belief. It wasjust like Lord Lardy and the waiter in the Bab Ballad, for Hughwas entirely unconscious, and would smile peacefully at Benny'sdemonstrations of wrath, thinking it all a joke. "Oh, I could talk all day about Benny and Cousin Wealthy, andnice, funny Mrs. Brett, and all of them. Well, then, two years agocame our trouble, you know. Dear papa died, and we came out here, feeling very strange and lost. It was sad at first, of course; butoh, we have had such peace and happiness together, my mother dearand I! The last year, when we had grown used to doing without thedear one, and knew--but mamma always knew it--that we must makehappiness for each other, --the last year has been a most lovelytime. But sweet and happy as it has all been, Bell, still I havealways had a small circle to love and to be with. Mamma, blessher, and at one time one set of dear friends, and at another timeanother; never many people at once, and life peaceful and lovely, but one day pretty much like another, you see. But since you allcame, 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 noiseas this. I love it, though it did startle me at first. It seemedpleasant enough to have you all next door; but then came this lastdevelopment, --Cousin Wealthy's illness, and her sending for mamma, and your mother's kindness in bringing me out to this delightfulplace. It is all like a fairy tale. I used to hear of people'scamping out, but I always thought I should hate it. Hate this!" She looked up at the brilliant sky above her, and around at theshining lake, the dark trees drooping to the water's edge, thegreen islands sleeping in the sunshine. "Oh, pleasant place!" shesighed. They were silent for a few moments; Bell was scouring dishpanstill they shone like silver, while Hildegarde thoughtfully wrungout the dishcloths that she had been washing as she talked. "I suppose, " said Bell, slowly, "life is always good, when we wantto make it so. There are so many different kinds of life, --I haveknown so many in the short time I have been alive, and it didn'tseem to make much difference about the outside of them. Some ofthe poorest and most suffering lives have been the happiest andblessedest, and again some that have money and health andeverything that so many people sigh for, are miserable, for onereason or another. I can't bear to hear girls say, 'Oh, if I onlyhad money! I would do so much, and be so good, and all that sortof thing. ' I always want to say, 'Why don't you begin with whatyou have?' I did say it once to a girl, and she has hardly spokento me since. She had been wishing that she had a hundred dollarsto 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 mustget 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 youdid!' and stalked away. Oh, I cannot stand that sort of thing, youknow! And if you are a girl, you can't knock people down when theyare cads. " Bell spoke regretfully, and Hildegarde could not help laughing ather friend's angry eyes and kindling cheek. The strong white barearms, the deep chest and square shoulders, looked as if Bell wouldbe no mean antagonist. "I should not like to have you knock me down, my dear!" saidHilda. "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 wouldbe the best argument in the world. I love fighting! and I think Iam rather a bonny fighter, as Alan Breck says. Roger taught me tobox. " Hildegarde opened her eyes a little at this, boxing never havingcome within her horizon of feminine accomplishments. "Does Professor Merryweather know how to do everything?" sheasked. "He seems to be the Admirable Crichton come to life again. " "Nearly everything, " said Bell, with judicious candour. "He cannotwrite verses, and he does not like dancing; those are the onlythings I can think of just now. " A birch canoe glided silently round the point; Roger was kneelingin the stern, paddling, Indian fashion, while Will and Kitty werecurled up like two kittens in the bow. Hildegarde thought toherself that he was the handsomest man she had ever seen, sostrong, 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 withthree hideous horned pouts, which he declared were the best fishthat swam. "Oh, pickerel! how delightful!" cried Bell, as she took thebeauties 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. Tootsmakes the best griddle-cakes, and she ought always to get supper. " "Willy, you ungrateful little monster!" cried Bell. "And you saidonly last night that my biscuits were a dream of joy. You won'tfind me baking an extra pan for you, if you are going to turn uponme in this way. " "Oh yes! so you did, sister, " said Willy, penitently. "But yousee, I am griddle-cake hungry to-day, and yesterday I wasn't. " "Come, Hilda! we'll make our little gentleman pickerel-hungrybefore he is an hour older!" and the two girls hurried into thehouse. Inside the camp was a large, low room, with a huge open fireplacefilling nearly one side. A plain table stood in the middle; twohammocks were slung against the walls, which were hung with gunsand fishing-rods. A bookcase in one corner, and Mrs. Merryweather's workstand in another, completed the furniture ofthe primitive parlour. On one side a door opened into the tinykitchen, and hither the girls now betook themselves, afterreminding Will and Kitty that it was their turn to set the suppertable. The fire was soon burning brightly in the stove, the kettleput on to boil, and Hildegarde, rolling up her sleeves, set towork mixing and moulding biscuits, while Bell devoted herself tothe stuffing and dressing of the big fish. "I wish I had Izaak Walton here!" she said, as she mixed the breadstuffing. "Father Izaak pleasant company would be at any moment, " Hildaassented; "but what do you want him for just now? To cook the fishfor you?" "Not exactly; I doubt if he was as good in the kitchen as by thebrookside; but to give me his famous receipt for cooking pickerel. I should like to astonish the family with it. I remember that ithas thyme in it, and sweet marjoram and summer savory, not tomention oysters and anchovies, a pound of butter, a bottle ofclaret and three or four oranges; he gives you your choice abouttwo cloves of garlic, and says you need not have them unless youlike. Perhaps on the whole it is just as well not to try the dishat present; the anchovies were left behind, and the orange treesare not bearing very well this year. " "Dear me!" said Hildegarde. "That is as bad as my Southern receiptfor 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, youcan add two pounds of currants and one of raisins for each poundof flour. That would make, --let me see! I worked it all out once:two hundred and seventy pounds of things, and two thousand sevenhundred eggs. What do you suppose they baked it in?" "In the well!" said Bell. "That would hold it. Or else they builta pavilion round it, and had the bride and groom dance a minuet onthe top after the ceremony. What fun cook-books are! Any morepleasantnesses in your Southern friend?" "Oh, all kinds of good things! I remember the receipt for Seminolesoup; we ought to try that out here, if we could find theingredients. '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, orthe tender top of a young pine tree, which gives a very aromaticflavour to the soup. '" "Oh, do somebody get us a pine tree!" cried Bell. "That is trulydelightful! We must try it some day. Now it is my turn. I quotefrom Mrs. Rundell the glorious. This is what she gives to thepoor; 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 potwhere salt beef is boiling and near ready; it will attract some ofthe fat, and, when swelled out, will be no unpalatable dish tothose who rarely taste meat. ' That is called a brewis, my dear;suppose we give it to our pampered family here some day, and seewhat they say. How nearly are your biscuits done? I hear thepeople growling inside, like hungry bears. Uncle Pickerel isbeginning to smell very good. " "Another five minutes will give them the requisite 'beautifullight brown'" said Hildegarde, peeping into the oven. "And the teais made, and the potatoes are tearing off their jackets inimpatience to be eaten. " "Are we going to have any supper?" asked Phil, looking in from thedining-room. "Roger has fainted with hunger, and lies a pallidheap on the floor, and Obadiah is gnawing his boots in his agony. " "As long as he does not swallow the nails, " said Bell, calmly, "itwill 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 alwaysforget the butter?" In five minutes the whole family were seated round the table, withthe lamp burning brightly above their heads. Bell came intriumphantly, bearing the mighty pickerel in their glory, on ahuge platter decorated with green leaves and golden-rod. Hildegarde followed, flushed and sparkling, with her biscuits andcoffee; 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 canalways eat more than there is; and yet there is lots!" he added, surveying the broad table, heaped with substantial victuals ofevery sort. "Ah! that's the beauty of it!" cried Gerald, spearing a potato. "The human capacity enlarges, my son, with every mile one retiresfrom civilisation. When I was a Kickapoo Indian, Willy, I ate forthree 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 onlytrying 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 starsoverhead, and took no note of the low bank of cloud in the south. Captain Roger (for Roger was in command at camp, Mr. Merryweatheronly coming out at night on his bicycle, and going in again to hisbusiness in the morning), after a critical survey of the sky, wentthe rounds in his quiet way before bedtime, making all secure, butsaid nothing to anybody. Going to bed was a matter of some labourat the camp. During the day the beds were piled one on top ofanother in the one bedroom, the blankets, after hanging in the airfor two or three hours, being folded and laid over them. Only inthe tent where Mr. And Mrs. Merryweather slept the beds remainedstationary all day, the sides of the tent being rolled high, tolet the air circulate in every direction. When nine o'clock came, or ten, as the case might be, the orderwas given, "Bring out the beds!" Straightway the boys made broadtheir backs, and walked about like long-legged tortoises, distributing mattresses here and there. The three girls slept inthe bedroom which opened off the living-room; the boys and Rogercarried their beds into the second tent, or under the trees, orinto the boat-house, as fancy suggested, and the wind favoured. Then blankets were unrolled, and the business of bed-making wenton merrily. As I said, it was clear moonlight when the girls went to bed; butsomewhere in the middle of the night Hildegarde was waked by arustle and a roar. Visions of lions ramped before her still-dreaming eyes; she shuddered awake, to find a gale raging roundthe camp. Outside was one continuous roar of waves on the shore, while overhead the wind clutched and tore at the branches, andshook the frail hut to its foundations. Hildegarde lay still andlistened, with a luxurious sense of safety amid the wild tumult. "But I am safe, and live at home!" she said softly. Then suddenlya thought came, like a cold hand laid on her heart, and she sat upin bed, her breath coming quickly. "Bell!" she said, under breath, that she might not wake littleKitty, "Bell, wake up!" "What is it?" asked Bell, turning drowsily on her side. "Not ourturn to get breakfast, you know. " "There is a storm! Hear it raging outside. Oh, Bell! the birchcanoe! Can you remember whether we put her in the boat-house whenwe 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. "Mydear, we left her; don't you remember? The boys were just cuttingwood, 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 isyours. Now a jacket; there, we are all right. Is any one sleepingon 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? Carefullynow, Hilda. I will open the door, and you must be ready to help meshut it. " The two girls stepped out into the black night, and the windclutched them. They were thrown violently against the wall of thehut, but contrived to shut the door and make it fast; then, bending low and holding by each other, they crept along toward theboat-house. The waves were dashing against the rocks, the sprayflew in their faces, half blinding them; but it was not very dark, as there was a moon behind the clouds, and they could see theirway dimly. "Do you think we shall find her?" asked Hildegarde under herbreath. "I can't hear!" shouted Bell. "Do you think we shall find her?" Hildegarde thought she was shrieking, but her friend only shookher head. "That comes of asking stupid questions, " said Hildegarde toherself; and she lowered her head and fought her way on insilence. Now, groping with their hands, they found the wall of theboathouse, and crept along in its lee, sheltered somewhat from theblast; but when they stepped out on the wharf, the wind seizedthem with such fury that Hildegarde tottered, staggered back astep, and felt the ground slip from under her. Another moment, andshe would have been in the wild water; but Bell held her with agrasp of steel, and with one strong heave lifted her bodily to thewharf again. Then she shook her gently, "to bring back yournerve!" she shouted in explanation; and the next moment recoiledherself with a shriek that rang above the roar of wind and wave. Up from the wharf rose two forms, blacker than the blackness ofnight and storm, and confronted them. The two girls clung closetogether. "What is it?" cried Bell, faintly. Now Hildegarde was in mortal terror of the storm, but she did notfear 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. "Whatare YOU doing, if it comes to that?" "Oh, Jerry! oh, Phil! how could you frighten us so? We thought, --Idon't know what we didn't think. We came to see if the canoe wassafe. We forgot to see that you put her up after tea. " "Just what we came for, " said Phil. "She isn't here; I'm afraidshe'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 andwalked in, as soon as she saw that the weather looked squally. She's a very sensible boat, but weak in the legs, if you followme. I think she's gone; and a very pretty kettle of fish she makesto 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. Itwill do no harm to look, Jerry. " "No harm in life, " said Jerry. "Just hold on to this wind, willyou, while I get in. " With some difficulty he opened the boat-house door; then, sheltered behind it, he struck a match, while all pressed eagerlyforward. 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 tellwhy; but she found herself saying under her breath, "We might haveknown he would do it; he always takes care of everything. " "Roger is a tedious person, " said Gerald, turning off hissatisfaction with a laugh. "The amount of virtue that he staggersunder is enough to swamp anybody. He will come to the gallows yet, you'll see! Human nature must assert itself some time. Whew! theregoes 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 ofthe night. Can't we have some food, to celebrate the safety of theCheemaun?" "Me, too!" cried Gerald. "I am dying, Egypt, dying! a corpse amongthe alders dank---" "Oh, do stop, boys!" cried Bell. "I'll push you off the wharf ifyou go on so. " "Oh, wouldn't us lorf, if she pushed us off the wharf!" criedGerald. "I am cross!" said Bell. "My hair is wound all round my neck, andI am half strangled. You boys think of nothing but eating frommorning till night. But I am hungry myself, so come along!" The four buffeted their way back to the house, and Phil climbed inat the pantry window and opened the kitchen door for the drippingparty. They lighted a lantern, and judicious rummaging producedcrackers 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 theirshoulders, the boys' short curls were plastered close to theirheads. "We must be a lovely sight!" said Bell. "What a pity there is noone to see us! What do you want, Jerry?" "I want raspberry jam, chiefly, " said Gerald, "but first I want tomake a speech. I propose a sentiment. Pledging the assembledcompany 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 teteabhaue!" "Take the butter-dish, " said Bell. "That will do just as well. " "I pledge the assembled company in this rich butter, " Geraldcontinued with dignity, "though it is not so comfortable to drink, and I propose, first, the confusion of Ferguson, who is apettifogger and an armadillo, and, secondly, the health of ourcaptain, Roger, the Codger, who saved the Cheemaun. Three cheersfor 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 havebeen asked to supper. " He was hailed with a chorus of shouts, and stepping in through thewindow, drew up a stool and sat down by Hildegarde. "What HAVE you been doing, children?" he asked, looking round atthe 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 hesmiled quietly as he helped himself to jam. "I wonder what you took me for!" he said, "I truly wonder. Theboat went to bed at nine o'clock, with the rest of the children. Ibeg your pardon, Miss Grahame, " he added, turning to Hildegardewith his kind, grave smile, "for naming you in company with thislawless crew of mine. " "Oh, please, " cried Hildegarde, "I like to--I wish I were--" Shestammered, and felt herself blushing in the furious way that makesa girl the most helpless creature in the world. She would havegiven her hand, she thought, to keep back the tide that surged upover throat and cheek and brow. "When there is nothing earthly toblush about, ninny!" she almost cried aloud. But Bell came to the rescue. "She wishes she were much wiser thanthe rest of us, Roger, but she doesn't think she is, and I amreally 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 sokindly that poor Hildegarde blushed again. CHAPTER XII. A-SAILING WE WILL GO. "Friends, " said Mrs. Merryweather, "the day is before us. What isthe plan of action?" "I go a-fishing, " said Roger; "and with me Willy, to take hisfirst lesson in bass-fishing. " "I tinker the wharf, " said Phil; "and with me Obadiah, to take hisfirst lesson in useful occupation. " "Verily and in good sooth, " put in Gerald, "the most usefuloccupation I can think of, my peripatetic food-absorber, would beto 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 otherpeople have a chance to speak. " "Hilda and I will make a pie!" said Bell; "'which is werse, ' saidMr. Peggotty, 'though sich were not my intentions. '" "And I have gingerbread to make, and raspberries to pick, " saidGertrude, "so Kitty must help me. " "But what do I see?" cried Gerald, in tragic tones. "A vessel inthe offing, headed in this direction. Now who do you suppose hasthe cheek to come here?" "Probably some lunatic is thirsty, " said Phil, "and wants a glassof water. You know, Miss Hilda, they come here by the boatload, asking for water, and we show them the lake and tell 'em to helpthemselves. It makes them hop with rage. They say, 'What! do youdrink THIS?' Then, when we tell them that all their water supplycomes from this lake, they grin like a dog and go about the city, --I mean depart on their imbecile way. But these people are alldressed up. Oh, Momus and Comus! There are girls on board! Comeon, Obadiah!" The twins vanished, and the others looked curiously at theapproaching craft. It was a small steam launch, gayly adorned withpaint 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 fromPollock's Cove, isn't it, Roger?" "Yes; but I see no one on board that I know. That young ladyevidently thinks she is coming among friends, however. Look! theyare 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 sawRoger, after a moment's parley, help the young lady out of theboat, which straight-way returned to the launch; before they hadtime to exchange wonderments, she was advancing toward them withoutstretched arms. "My dearest, dearest Hildegarde! Do I see you again, after so manyyears? Quel plaisir! what joy!" The young lady was dressed in the extreme of fashion, with littleboots, and little gloves, and a dotted veil, and a chiffonparasol, and Hildegarde was folded in a perfumed embrace beforeshe had fairly recognised her visitor. "Madge!" she cried, "is it really you?" "Myself, cherie! your own Madge. I heard that you were in thewilderness and flew to you. What a change, my dearest, from---" "Mrs. Merryweather, " said Hildegarde, her cheeks burning, but hervoice quiet and courteous, "this is Margaret Everton, an oldschool-mate of mine. Mrs. Merryweather, Madge, with whom I amstaying. Miss Merryweather, Professor Merryweather, Miss Everton. " "Oh, hum--mum-m-m-m-m-m!" said Madge, or something that soundedlike 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 ofmine are there, charming people, and I heard that Hildegarde washere, and of course I flew to see her. She is my oldest anddearest friend, Mrs. Merryweather. " "Indeed!" said Mrs. Merryweather, with friendly interest. "Yes, indeed. We were at school together, and like twins, exceptfor the difference in colouring. Ah, les beaux jours d'enfance, Hilda, my love! And you are quite, quite unchanged since the happydays at Madame Haut Ton's. 'Queen Hildegarde' we used to call herthen, Miss Merryweather. Yes, indeed! she was the proudest, themost exclusive girl on Murray Hill. The little aristocratic turnof her head when she saw anything vulgar or common was quite tookilling. Turn your head, Hilda, my love!" Hildegarde coloured hotly. "Please don't be absurd, Madge!" shesaid. "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 indesperation 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 walktogether. " "Surely, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Merryweather, with perhapsunnecessary cordiality. But Madge had made herself very comfortable on the verandah, andhad no intention of stirring just yet. Go scrambling about overrocks, and tearing herself to pieces among bushes? Hardly. Besides, one glance had shown her that Professor Merryweather wasuncommonly good-looking. She settled herself gracefully in herchair, and gave a pretty little sigh. "Dear child, I am a wretched walker, alas! You know I never wasstrong, and this winter's gaiety quite finished me. I am orderedto rest, positively, this summer, under the severest penalties. Itwas really a terrible winter in New York. Every one said it was awonder the girls were not killed, they went such a pace. Do younever come over to Pollock's Cove, Professor Merryweather? we hadsuch 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 hardlyin their line out here. "Not a dancing man! What a confession, Professor Merryweather! ButI am sure you really dance beautifully; doesn't he, Hilda?" "I don't know!" said Hilda, laughing. "He has never asked me todance, Madge. " "Ah! you are quizzing me. I will never believe he could be soungallant. But Hilda, I hear that really you live in positiveseclusion, like a nun without a convent. My dear, how tragic, topass your best years in this way! I told mamma that I shouldpositively implore you to come to me this winter, and she said itwas my DUTY. To think of YOU, Hilda, forswearing the world! It istoo BIZARRE! But we have not forgotten our little queen on MurrayHill; no, no, dear!" "You are mistaken, Madge, " said Hilda. "I was in New York forseveral weeks last winter, staying with Aunt Anna; but you were inWashington at the time. " "Oh, but I heard of you!" cried Madge, archly. "I heard how thewhole Hill was at Miss Grahame's feet, and how Bobby Van Sittartnearly went into a decline because she would not smile on hissuit. I heard--" "I think you heard a great deal of nonsense, Madge!" said Hildawith some asperity. "Come! you would like to see something of theisland before the steamer comes to take you back. I will get thecanoe 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. Butthere is a sailboat! I dote on sailing, and I am sure ProfessorMerryweather is a superb sailor. " Professor Merryweather rose with a smile, and would be charmed totake the young ladies out in the Keewaydin. "Oh, but, Captain Roger, you were going out fishing!" criedHildegarde, her cheeks crimson with mortification. Roger looked at her with a twinkle. "The fishes are not expectedto migrate just yet, and there is a good wind for sailing. Praycome, Miss Grahame!" Madge was already on her feet, fluttering with coquetry; andHildegarde, after a despairing glance at Mrs. Merryweather, sawthat 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 specialedification of the stranger that she had the floor to scrub andthe 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 Fergusonstanding on their hands on the piazza, waving their feet in theair with every demonstration of frantic joy. The little rowboat was unmoored, and a few quick strokes broughtthem alongside the Keewaydin. Hildegarde had never thought itcould be anything but pleasure to her to board this belovedvessel, but she found herself now wishing that sailing had neverbeen invented. She glanced timidly at Roger, but there was noexpression in his face as he handed Madge on board, and repliedgravely to her lively questions. Madge was treading on air. Theyhad told her at Pollock's Cove that she would not be able to get aword out of the handsome young professor; and here he was at herside, perhaps--who knew?--soon to be at her feet. A little absent-minded, to be sure, but they were often that way when a strongimpression had been made. As for poor Hilda, it was reallylamentable to see how utterly she had lost her savoir-faire, living in the wilderness. Here was this charming man, really withthe bel air, and distinguished in some way or other, and she wasas 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 tillerin silence. "Oh, Professor Merryweather! are you really going to trust us toHilda's steering? I am sure, now, you think girls are too ignorantto know anything about that sort of thing. I wonder at you! OURlives may not be of much consequence, because, of course, we areonly silly little girls, but to risk your own life so, really, Iam surprised. " She paused for the compliment that should follow, but Roger onlysaid, "Bear away, please!" and loosened the sheet a little. "Did your ears burn yesterday, Professor Merryweather? I am surethey must have. Everybody was talking about you at the hotel, andthey said you had done something so remarkable, --something about aprism, wasn't it? You remember, Hilda, all the prisms on thechandeliers 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, Ibelieve, Miss Everton? I think I heard the Sinclairs say they wereto 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 lastnight, and each dance was better than the last. ProfessorMerryweather, I shall give you no peace till you promise to comeover 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 thatreminds me, Hilda, Grace Atherleigh has just come back fromEurope. She has been away three years, you know; in Paris most ofthe time, --dear Paris! Don't you adore it, Professor Merryweather?And she has brought back forty-three dresses. Yes, my dear, it istrue, for I had it from her aunt, Mrs. Gusham. Forty-threedresses, all made this spring. And she had the most horrible timeat the custom-house--" "Madge, " said Hildegarde, as patiently as she could, "will youplease wait for the stories till we get back to the wharf? I mustattend 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 forgetit--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; agrating sound was heard: the boat slid forward a few feet andstopped short. "Oh, what have I done?" cried poor Hilda. "Nothing of consequence! We have run on a shoal, that is all. Sitsteady, 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 Madgewas subdued for the time, and murmured exclamations under herbreath. It was only a moment; a few vigorous shoves set theKeewaydin afloat again, and Roger leaped lightly in. "Perhaps I would better take the tiller this time!" he said. "Thebottom seems to be shoal all about here. And if you and MissEverton will sit a little forward, Hilda, you will be morecomfortable; I fear I cannot help dripping like hoary Nereus allover the stern here. " He had never called her by her name before. Hildegarde reflectedthat for once she could not blush, being already a Tyrian purple. Of course it slipped out without his knowing it; but she wasconscious of Madge's gaze, and for once was thankful for hercrimson cheeks. This incident, or something else, had a quieting effect upon MissEverton, and the sail home was a silent one. Roger was notinclined to talk, and he had a power of silence which was apt toextend to his companions; so they were all relieved when theKeewaydin glided gracefully to her moorings, and Ferguson appearedin the small boat to take them ashore. "This is my brother Philip, Miss Everton!" said Roger. "Now if youwill 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 becareful to step in the middle of the boat. In the MIDDLE of theboat, Miss Everton! Ah!" For Madge, with an airy leap, hadalighted full on the gunwale. Down went the boat; the girl triedto 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 shockof her alighting, hoping to counterbalance her weight; but he wastoo light. Now, however, he leaned swiftly forward, and caught thelittle French boots as they disappeared under the clear water. There was nothing else to be done. In this ignominious way, feetforemost, 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 arock, but his eyes dancing wickedly, proffered his aid, but waspeevishly repulsed. As for Phil, he could only try to controlhimself, and murmured broken excuses between the gusts of laughterwhich shook him like a reed. Madge was a sorry sight, all her gayplumes broken and dripping, her spotted veil in a little wet mopover one eye, her floating curls reduced to forlorn strings of wethair, her light dress clinging about her. How different from thebright bird of paradise that had so lately fluttered down on thecamp, bent on conquest! Now her only thought was to escape. Mrs. Merryweather met her on the wharf with open arms and a warmblanket, and she was brought to the camp, and dried and warmed asquickly as possible. But Madge's temper, none of the sweetest bynature, was completely spoiled; she had only peevish or sullenanswers for all the expressions of sympathy and condolence thatwere 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 betterthan 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 soforcibly recalled the "Queen Hildegarde" of old days that Madgesubsided, and whimpered to herself till the steamer came to takeher back to Pollock's Cove. When she was gone Hildegarde slipped away, saying that she wouldpick some apples for tea; and on reaching the apple tree, she satdown under its hanging branches and indulged in a good cry, a rareluxury for her. It was a comfort to let the tears come, and totell the friendly tree over and over again that he would neverforgive her; that she was the most imbecile creature that everlived, and that Madge was the only person she deserved to have fora friend, and that, now the others had found her out, the soonershe went home to her mother the better. Her mother would notexpect her to be sensible; her mother knew better than to expectthings of her. She was not fit to be with these people, who wereso terribly clever, and knew so many things: and so on and so on, in the most astonishing way, our quiet, self-possessed girlsobbing and crying as if her heart would break, utterly amazed atherself, 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 fieldswith the milk, heard this piteous sobbing, and setting down hiscans, parted the branches of the apple tree, saying in his kindestvoice: "Why, my Kitty, my Pretty, what is the matter with you? whohurt my little--I--I beg your pardon, Miss Grahame!" Hildegarde felt the hand of fate very heavy on her, but was quitehelpless, and sobbed harder than ever. What was a poor professor to do? Fortunately, Roger had plenty ofsisters, and knew that a girl did not kill herself when she cried. After a moment's thought, in which he reminded himself severelythat he was getting to be an old fellow, and might be this child'suncle, he came under the tree and sat down on the grass. "Can you tell me what troubles you?" he asked, still in the gentlevoice that was rather specially Kitty's privilege. "You have hadno bad news?" Hilda shook her head. "Perhaps if you were to tell me what the trouble is, I could helpyou; 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, perceivedthat there was nothing to do but sit and wait till the storm hadspent itself. So he picked the apples within his reach, andreflected on the feminine character. Presently a small and shaken voice said from under thehandkerchief, "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 graspHildegarde's meaning. "I ran--the--boat aground, and you jumped overboard, and got--allwet!" 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 yourfault? You were doing beautifully, if that--if Miss Everton hadlet you alone for an instant. And do you think I mind a wetting, or twenty wettings? Miss Hilda, I thought you knew better thanthat. " "I was so stupid!" said Hildegarde, wiping her eyes, and trying tospeak evenly. "I thought you were very angry, because you were sosilent. I thought you would never--" "Silent, was I? Well, you know I am in a brown study half thetime. Isn't that why they call me Roger the Codger? But thistime, --oh, I remember! I was trying to make out how that shoalcame to be there, when it is not buoyed out on the map. Come, MissHilda, 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, andwe will---we will shake hands and be friends, and eat an appletogether. 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 inthe world. CHAPTER XIII. IN PERIL BY WATER. "All aboard!" said Roger. "Ay! ay! Captain!" said Hildegarde, cheerily. She handed in thegroceries which they had bought at the little store, half a mileaway, stepped lightly into the exact middle of the canoe, and sankwith one motion to her seat. Roger nodded approvingly. "You are perfect in your entrances!" hesaid. "Some day I shall have to drill you in your exits, as I didthe girls. " "What do you mean?" asked Hilda. "Don't I get out properly?" "Quite well enough for ordinary occasions. But I made the girlsput on their bathing-dresses, and then took them out and tippedthem 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 sincethe day of Madge's visit, and had had many pleasant paddlestogether. Hildegarde looked about her, at peace with all theworld. Pollock's Cove was a thousand miles away, and there wasnothing 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 islandwith its fringe of silver birches standing like sentinels to guardthe 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 sandon which the waves were lapping gently; but she saw nothing of thewest 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 weshall get home in time. " It was a curious sky that Roger was watching. The day had beensmoky throughout, with ragged brown clouds hanging about thehorizon, and thunder muttering low in the distance. The smokyfringe might well come from the forest fires which were raging ina neighbouring district, Roger thought, and the thunder was anevery-day matter of hot weather; but now the clouds were beginningto thicken at one point, and their ragged edges turned to firmerroundings, and their hue was fast deepening to black. Rogerpaddled with strong, even strokes, and the canoe flew over thewater. The distant thunder-growl took on a more insistent voice, and every now and then came a long rolling note, which seemed topass 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 Hudsonand 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 homebefore the storm, Miss Hilda. " "It is growing dark, isn't it?" said Hilda, innocently. "Will itbe much of a shower, do you think, Captain?" "Well, --I think we may observe slight alterations in theatmospheric 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 securelyfastened?" "As securely as my head!" "That is well. Stand by, then, and be ready, for it is comingpretty near. " Roger was used to every variety of weather, but he had been whollyunprepared for the velocity of the storm which was moving down thelake. The clouds, which, a moment before, it seemed, had beenmerely a thickening of the general smoky condition, were nowgathered into a heavy mass, dense blackness fringed with a mistygleam. It came sweeping over the water toward them, devouring thesunlight. A rushing sound was heard, that rose into a roar. "Steady, now!" said Roger. "Steady, child! and don't befrightened. Here it comes!" Next moment they were struck, beaten, blinded. For a momentHildegarde struggled for breath, so furious was the onset of thestorm; she crouched low in the canoe, but remained perfectlystill. The wind tore at them as if with frantic hands that soughttheir life; the water hissed under them, raced past them madly. Nowaves could rise under the raging gale, but black flaw after flawflew along the surface of the lake. The rain fell in torrents; thefalling streams were caught by the wind, tossed hither andthither, twisted into fantastic shapes of spray, sent flyingforward, 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 drovebefore the wind. His face was streaming with rain, his fair hairtossed wildly over his brow, but his look was steadfast as ever, and now and then he glanced at Hildegarde and smiledencouragement. Bewildered at first, Hildegarde felt no fear, andpresently, seeing the quiet confidence of her companion, a wildexhilaration possessed her. She had read of this kind of thing; ithad been a dream, a picture in her mind always; now she waswrapped in the great storm, almost a part of it, borne along onits wings like the birds that beat their wings past her upon thegale. The lightning, which till now had shaken quivering lances offlame across the black water, a flash, then darkness, then again aflash, now became continuous, playing in lambent flames amid theblackness, lighting up the wild turmoil of wind and wave andcloud. The thunder rolled without pause, --overhead, around, beneath them. Crash! boom! crash! And all the while the waterhissed past them; all the while the wind buffeted and shook them, and the rain lashed their faces with stinging whips. The frailcanoe quivered like a living thing in mortal terror. What would bethe end? The end came soon enough. Hildegarde was suddenly brought downfrom her airy castle of storm-wrapped bliss by hearing Roger'svoice, high-pitched to carry across the uproar, saying with calmemphasis, "Take off your shoes! We shall very likely go over whenwe round this point. If we do, strike out at once, and swim till Iget hold of you. " Hildegarde nodded, and pulled off her low shoes; then she tried tothink how it would feel to be flung into this mad water. The nextmoment the wind, which had lulled for an instant, --or had it onlyrecoiled to take a fresh spring?--the wind rushed out of thedarkness, and caught the canoe. It was a breathless struggle, managainst the powers of air and of water. Hilda saw the powerfularms braced like steel to meet the onset, saw the quiet face setlike 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 outblindly, as she had been told, trying to keep her thoughtstogether. They said that drowning was pleasant; but she did notwant to drown. Should she ever be able to breathe again? Her dressclung about her ankles, the water hummed and buzzed in her ears, in her nostrils; but still she swam bravely. Suddenly she felt astrong arm thrown round her, and in another moment her head wasout of water. Oh, the blessed air of heaven! how she drank it in, in deep, gasping breaths! Just to be alive, to breathe, washappiness enough. Roger was swimming strongly and steadily withone arm, holding her with the other. He caught the paddle in histeeth as it floated by, and at first Hildegarde could think ofnothing but how funny he looked, like a great fair-haired dogswimming about. He had righted the canoe, and now flung the paddleinto it, and turned to Hildegarde. "All right? Thank Heaven! Takehold by the bow, and I will tow you ashore. " "I can swim, " said Hildegarde. "I am all right, truly. Can't Iswim 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 withher right. She could do little, however, against the furiousbattling of wind and wave; and Captain Roger set his teeth, andwondered whether he was going to be beaten this time. "I won't!"he said aloud to the storm; and shook his head, lion-like, andbraced his strong shoulders, and swam on grimly. A few moments ofsilent, breathless fighting, the wind screeching, like Bedlamloose, the foam driving and hissing, the lightning blazing, incessant, maddening. Could they reach the shore? Hildegarde asked herself. Was thisonly prolonging the agony, dragging this brave man to death withher, on her account? If he were not hampered with her, he wouldhave been safe on shore before this. If she were a girl in astory-book, she would loose her hold now, and sink silently; butshe was not a girl in a story-book. She was a very real HildaGrahame, and she did not want to sink. And how could our poorHilda know that the Merryweather obstinacy was roused, and thatRoger meant to save her and himself, and the canoe, too, if he hadto 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 groundbeneath her feet. She was walking, standing upright on the good, solid, blessed earth. The canoe touched bottom, grazed, floatedagain, then grounded gently and was still. "Shake yourself as well as you can, " said Roger, "while I haul herup. So, now then! under this, and here we are!" In the turn of a hand he hauled the canoe up on the sand, turnedit over, and drew Hildegarde beneath the shelter. A clump ofbushes broke the force of the wind, so they could breathe inpeace, without having to fight for every breath. For a few minutes they sat in silence, panting, dripping, gazingat each other with dilated eyes. Their thoughts were utterlyirrelevant, as thoughts are apt to be after a great crisis. Rogerwas thinking that a pretty face looked much prettier wet than dry, and compared apples and flowers; Hildegarde wondered if SaintBernard dogs could swim. "Because Newfoundlands are black, youknow, " she found herself saying aloud in an explanatory tone. "I beg your pardon!" said Roger, remorsefully. "I--I am afraid youare 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. Ishould have gone down, down, --and the water was so black. Was itever anything but black in that place?" Her voice shook, but shepulled 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 andmermaid very much out of their element. "I? Oh, I never know whether I am wet or dry. But it is differentfor you; you will take cold, or--or something, won't you?" "You are afraid I shall melt?" asked Hildegarde. She stooped downand gathered her skirt together, wringing little floods of waterfrom it. "No, I don't think I shall melt, really, Captain. Do Ilook as if I were melting?" "You look--" began Roger, and stopped suddenly, and then wonderedwhy he stopped, and told himself he was an ass. "Speaking of melting, reminds me, " he said, laughing. He felt inhis pockets, and produced a small parcel. "I hope this is notmelted. No, it is all right. Have some chocolate, and let us makemerry 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 andwhite. But has this really been nothing more than a squall, Captain Roger?" "Oh, if you like the dignities of meteorology, I think we mightvery properly call this a tornado. " "A tornado! I have been out in a tornado! And how splendid it allis!" 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 poureddown, the thunder cracked and roared and bellowed, and thelightning 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 stormhad broken there as suddenly as out on the lake. Bell and Gertrudewere out fishing, but fortunately near the shore, and they reachedhome just as the fury broke loose. Obadiah and Ferguson were blownin 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' anxioussearch, under the great apple-tree, in high glee because it wasraining apples, and the wind would mash them, and the lightningwould cook them, and there was no need of coming home to tea, withapple-sauce growing on every tree. Being hoisted on the shouldersof the twins, they changed their point of view, and turning intoArabs mounted on camels, capered joyously into the house, toescape the sand-storm of the desert. Mr. Merryweather, who wasspending a day or two in camp, came in from the boathouse, wherehe was tinkering boats as usual. The whole party sat down, wet anddishevelled, and drew breath as they looked at each other. "Well, this is a visitation!" said Mr. Merryweather. "Why didn'tsome of you tell me what was going on?" "None of us knew till we found our faces slapped and our hairpulled out, " said Bell. "This is a surprise-party, I think, got upfor 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. Butwhere are Roger and Hilda?" "Out in the Cheemaun!" was the reply in chorus. There was ageneral exclamation of dismay, then each one commented in hisfashion. "Cricky!" said Phil. "The Professor will have a great chance formeteoro-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 veryartful dodger; he carried his bones to David Jones, and asked tobe took as a lodger. " "Do be quiet, Jerry!" said Bell. "Father, can the canoe stand sucha gale as this?" "And Hilda had on her BEST DRESS!" said Kitty, with tragicemphasis. "Ho! Hilda doesn't care for dresses!" said Willy, scornfully. "Igot wheel-grease all over her skirt, the other day, and she didn'tsay a word. " "I do feel anxious, Miles, " said Mrs. Merryweather. "This is anawful gale. " "Pooh! pooh!" said her husband. "Roger knows how to take care ofhimself, and Hilda too. Boys, is the skiff well moored?" The boys knew it was, but thought it would be well to see, anddisappeared by handsprings into the darkness. A double splash, followed by joyous shouts, announced their arrival on anddeparture from the wharf; and they shortly reappeared, drippingand gleeful. "Boys, how can you!" exclaimed their mother. "This is the fifthtime you have been in to-day; besides, I have just tidied up thisroom. Go away with you, and drip in the tent. " "He pushed me off, and I pulled him in!" said Phil, inexplanation. "Very sorry, shall not occur again. " "I wanted to see how deep the water was, " said Gerald. "Veryimportant, you know, to take soundings in a storm. " "Still more important to quicken the circulation after a coldbath, " said Mr. Merryweather, taking up a leather strap from thetable. The boys shrieked, and vanished through the window in afine harlequin act. The lightning blazed incessantly, the wind howled and roared aboutthe camp, and the thunder pounded and smashed the clouds overhead. Bell and her mother drew closer together, and Kitty nestled downbetween them, and held a hand of each, "to keep herself safe. " "If the lightning strikes the camp, what shall we do?" askedWilly. "I think we shall be very likely to keep still!" said his father, dryly. "Miles, how can you?" said Mrs. Merryweather. "I wonder you canjoke, with those two children out in the canoe in this horror!" "My dear, I would gladly weep, if I thought it would be of anyassistance to Roger; as it is, I rather fancy he is quite as welloff as we are, if not bet--" Crack! The world turned to blue light, showing a ring of ghastlyfaces, looking terror at each other; then the sky fell, and allwas night. "All speak who are unhurt!" said Mr. Merryweather's calm voice;and no one would have guessed the anguish of suspense in which hewaited 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; asthe pall of darkness lifted, they entered, very pale, and holdingeach other tightly by the hand. "The big oak is struck!" theysaid. "Shivered into kindling-wood. We were just going to climbit, to look at the storm. " "We don't like this!" said Gerald. "We feel very muchuncomfortable inside us, and we want our mother. " And sure enough, the two tall fellows sat down on the floor bytheir mother, and put their heads in her lap; and she patted thecurly heads, and talked to them soothingly, and forgot that theywere not still her little lads, whom she had rocked in her armstogether many and many a time. "Your nerves are upset, " said their father. "Always the case whena stroke comes so near as that. If you ever feel inclined to climba tree in a thunderstorm again, just mention it to me, and I willsee to you. " He spoke lightly, but he took occasion to pass nearthe boys, and laid his hand on them, as if to make sure that theywere really there and safe, and rubbed their shoulders and gavethem a little affectionate slap. For a while they sat quiet, for all were still quivering from theblow that had passed so near them. Gradually the fury of the stormabated; the lightning ceased to play continuously, and though eachseparate flash was still terribly vivid, yet the pauses betweengave strength and refreshment to the wearied eyes and nerves. Thegreat shocks of thunder rolled heavily, but still farther andfarther away. The storm was moving off across the lake, and onethought was in the hearts of all--the birch canoe. How was it withthose two, alone in that frail boat in the wild tempest? It seemedhours that they sat there, waiting and listening. At length--"Itis lighter now, " said Mr. Merryweather. "Come, boys, let us godown to the wharf, and see what we can see. Hark! what was that?" For a moment every heart stood still. Then Mrs. Merryweather beganto cry, and Bell and Gertrude and Kitty all fell into her arms andround her neck, and sobbed in chorus; but the boys started totheir feet with a wild "Hurrah!" and dashed out of the house, followed by their father and Willy. For now, clearer every momentand clearer, came ringing across the water the words of the SkyeBoat 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 breakin 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, ofcourse. A--the moon is in perigee now, you know. " "Roger, " said his sister-in-law, looking up from her sewing, "youknow there is no earthly use in saying that kind of thing to me. 'Perigee' suggests nothing to me but periwig, and it is painful tothink of the moon in so unbecoming a head-gear. Are you quite surethat THAT was what you were going to say?" Roger laughed, looked a little confused, and threw stones into thewater; Mrs. Merryweather sewed on buttons and waited. "I shall be twenty-five next week, " was the professor's nextremark. "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 powerfularms. He was lying at full length on the verandah, his handsomehead propped against one of the pillars, framed in a mass ofwoodbine and trumpet-vine. Mrs. Merryweather looked at him, andthought that with the exception of her Miles and her boys, she hadnever seen a finer-looking fellow. Every line of the lithe, elastic figure was instinct with power; the face, from the broadupright brow to the firm chin, was alight with thought andintelligence. But the blue eyes, usually so clear in their gravegaze, held a shadow to-day, a curious look of shyness, one mightalmost say shamefacedness. Mrs. Merryweather gazed at him, andthought her own thoughts, but she knew her husband's family, andheld her peace. "That is a very lovely girl, Miranda!" was the Professor's nextremark. "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 couldhave heard the good lady. As for Roger, he listened with greatcomplacency. "Yes!" he said. "She is sympathetic, and unselfish, --remarkablyso, it seems to me; and--and she takes an interest in things, --Imean 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, Iknow. " "Oh, but I respect them!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "There isnothing I respect more highly than a perigee, unless it be anapogee, which always sounds like the beginning of an incantation. So Hilda likes them, does she?" "Of course, " said Roger, slowly, skipping stones over the pondwith thoughtful accuracy; "she has never studied any of thesethings, but she has really an astonishing aptitude for them. Andher hand is so steady, and she has such a true eye. " "Was that why you kept her sitting on a rock, waving a towel, forthree 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--wastaking observations, you know, and she seemed so--did she say shewas tired? Was I a brute? Of course I was!" "Don't go off at a tangent, or whatever you call the thing!" saidMrs. Merryweather. "She said she had had a most delightfulmorning, and that waving a towel had been her favourite amusementfrom baby-hood. " Roger looked wistfully at his sister-in-law. They were genuinelyfond of each other, but they spoke different languages, and hesometimes found it difficult to follow her turns of speech. He wassilent for a few minutes, absorbed in calculating the curves ofhis stones, which really skimmed in an astonishing manner. "I suppose, " he said, presently, watching a particularlyadventurous 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 merelysaid, "My dear boy, don't be absurd!" "I don't mean to be absurd, " said Roger, sitting upright, andforgetting his pebbles. "But--well, I am a kind of grandfather toall the children, you know, and she would naturally--eh? regard mein the same light. That--a--that seems perfectly reasonable, doesn't it?" Mrs. Merryweather made no reply. Roger followed the direction ofher eyes, and saw Hildegarde and Gerald coming up from the wharf. Hildegarde had been drying her hair after the daily swim, and ithung in long locks over her shoulders; the tall boy was bendingover her, pleading earnestly for something. "Just a little bit!" he said, as they came within hearing. "Oh, Isay, Miss Hilda, just a scrap. You have such lots, you never wouldmiss it. Just a little lock of hair!" Roger Merryweather's face grew very grave. He did not move, buthis grasp tightened on the pebble in his hand. "What do you want of it?" said downright Hilda, laughing andtossing her tawny mane. Mrs. Merryweather listened for thefaintest shade of coquetry in the girl's tone, found none, andlistened 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 yourballads. 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 Ithought--" "I can't spare enough for that, " said Hildegarde. "Any other usesfor my poor hair?" "The Mater has a single hair of George Washington's, done up in agold snuffbox, " cried the boy. "If you'll give me two, I will huntup a snuffbox. There's a fine old stingo in the Chemical Works whotakes snuff, and I will get his, and give him a tomato caninstead, and keep one hair in that. " "And the other?" Hilda persisted, taking the long tresses in herhand, and running them through her fingers in a tantalizingmanner, --"the other hair, Master Obadiah?" "Oh, dear! what a persistent thing a girl is! I--must you reallyknow? Because you mightn't like it, if I told you the truth. " Theingenuous youth here turned a somersault, and coming up on oneknee, remained in an attitude of supplication, clasping his handsimploringly. 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 thebass. 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 thistime. Here, give me your knife!" She stood still, and severed a long, fair tress, which she laid inGerald's hand. "There! that will make a whole swarm of flies; and if there is anyleft over, you can theek your nest with it. " At this moment she looked up and saw the Professor sitting on theverandah, watching her. Her face lighted up with the brightestsmile, Roger thought, that he had ever seen, and she hastenedforward. "Oh, Captain! I was afraid I was too late. Aren't you going totake observations this morning? And mayn't I go too? Here is mytowel, all ready. " Gerald clapped his hand to his face, with an exclamation of acutepain. "My dear boy, what is the matter?" cried his mother and Hildegardein one breath. "It is--nothing!" gasped the boy, sitting down on the edge of theverandah. "Where is the glue?" "The glue!" repeated Hilda. "Le Page's glue! My nose has become disjointed, and I would fainrepair it. I am suffering excruciating torments; but don't mindme. Go on your towelled and triumphant way, and leave the noselesswretch to pine alone!" "And make his flies!" said Hilda. "You miserable boy, you reallytook me in. Good-by, dear madam; I will get Bell, and we willsurely 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 awaytogether, "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 broadstretch of glimmering water, dotted here and there with greatstumps, and lined about the shore with dead trees. Dams built inthe river beyond have raised the level of the lake, and hundredsof trees have died. On every side is a network of gnarled and knotted roots. The blacklimbs grapple with each other; here one has dragged his neighbourover, and he lies with arms outstretched, writhen into antictwists and curves, as if he had died in torment; there, insingular contrast, are two friends, --oaks, were they once?--whohave fallen into one another's arms, and, dead, seem still toembrace and uphold each other tenderly. Here again are stumps that gleam like gray silver, bare andpolished, worn by storms and winds. The shining water is clear, and one sees the bottom covered with particles of wood, chippedfrom 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 inthe stern. As the paddle dips, bubbles rise and burst, large andround. Behind, the dark woods curve in a lovely line; between woodand water, spread like a bed for the dead and dying trees, aswamp, bright with rushes and water-weed. On the crest of a snow-white birch sits a great fish-hawk, withbent head and closed wings. What is the hunter dreaming of? Hoursof sport, most likely; long pauses on balanced wings, the arrowydownward sweep, the swift plunge, and the triumph of the upwardplunge, dripping and proud, bearing his prey aloft. Some real or fancied noise disturbs the vision; he rises, spreadsthe wide, hollow wings, and flaps slowly away. Roused by hisflight, half a dozen crows burst suddenly into talk, and protestviolently against some deadly injury, then as suddenly fall silentagain. Whirr! a kingfisher darts down with a quick splash, and back tohis bough with a fish in his beak. The canoe moves on, slowly, noiselessly; here the water is only three inches deep, but thesoft bottom yields as the strong young arms ply the paddle. Hilda lifts her hand with a warning gesture, and they aremotionless once more. Look! not fifty yards away, a group ofpretty birds play and paddle in the shallow water. Sandpipers, arethey? They might be enchanted princesses, Hilda thinks, as they gomincing along, turning their heads now to this side, now to that, admiring themselves in the clear water. One of them finds a bit ofsucculent weed, and the others come running, for all the worldlike curious girls, ruffling their pretty feathers, cocking theirpretty heads; and they peck, and chatter, and peck again, whollyunconscious of the two monsters who are drifting nearer andnearer. 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 andaway, fluttering, hopping, fairly flying at last, to hidethemselves in the deeps of the bog-land. Neither of the two had spoken during all this time. Both felt themagic of the place so strong upon them that speech seemedprofanation. The flight of the little birds, however, loosened thespell. 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 theclear shallow water. A bream was hovering over her wide, shallownest, fanning the water slowly with wide-spread wings. "Why doesshe do that?" "To protect the eggs; they are there in the sand, and she iskeeping off all the water-people who like eggs for breakfast. " They drifted on again in silence: what was there good enough tosay in such a place? Hildegarde pulled the transparent stems of jewel-weed, with theirglowing, pitcher-shaped blossoms, and twined them into a garland, which she hung over the bow of the canoe. "Dear Cheemaun!" shesaid. "She shall be decorated as Hiawatha's was. She deserves tobe hung with real jewels. " "Are there any more real than these?" said Roger. "And--you reallylike the Cheemaun, do you, Miss Hilda? and the place? I thoughtyou 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 nothingso beautiful in the world, I am sure! Have the others been here?" "N--no, " answered Roger, slowly. "I don't think they have beenhere. I--I found it one morning, when I was shooting, two or threeyears ago; and I am afraid I have been greedy, and kept it tomyself. " "How good of you to bring me!" cried Hilda. "I like it all thebetter 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, " shesaid. "If you love them, you want them to live, as you say. Oh!oh, Captain Roger, please quickly stop! Look! What wonder isthis?" Hilda's voice sank to a whisper, thrilled with excitement. There, a few yards away from them, ashen grey against the silver-grey ofa dead tree, was a great bird. To Hilda's excited fancy, it seemedthe spirit of the place, changed by some wizardry into bird form, crouching there amid the ruins of the forest where once it hadflitted and frolicked, a gauze-winged sprite. Roger, less imaginative, and more skilled in wood-lore, saw agreat blue heron, sitting huddled together on a stump, its headdrawn in, its yellow eyes glaring wild with fright. "It must be wounded!" he said softly. "Keep very still, and I willsee if we can come nearer. " Softly, slowly, the birch canoe stole through the water. Itscarcely seemed to move, yet every moment brought them nearer tothe wild creature of the woods. It made no attempt to fly, onlycrouched lower, and tried to flatten itself against the stump. "Oh, poor, poor thing!" whispered Hilda. "Can you do anything forit, 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 tobe silly, only I will turn my head away, please, Captain Roger. " Now she could have put her hand on the wounded bird, as it satmotionless, only the wide eyes of terror telling that it wasalive. The bow of the boat passed close against the log, and onbeyond. Hilda thought she should never forget the dumb agony ofthose eyes. They should not be here at all, she thought. It wasnot decent for human beings to thrust themselves into the sorrowsand 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 plashingmurmur among the reeds; then stillness again. The canoe began to move backward, and Hilda opened her eyes, whichhad been tightly closed. Neither of the two spoke until they werein open water again, and the swamp left behind. "I am sorry!" said Roger then, almost apologetically. "I am sorrythat happened. The poor creature had been shot, and was badlywounded; it would only have lingered in pain. " "Oh yes, I know; I am so glad you were there, to help it out ofthe 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, trulyI am not. I shall always think of this as the loveliest place Iknow; and--" "Well, and--what?" asked Roger. "Oh, nothing! Only--well, it is your own place, " said Hildafrankly, "and I shall always think of you here, in the dearCheemaun, 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 toyou. Will you have it?" "Oh, we will share it together!" cried Hilda eagerly; and thenbethought herself, and blushed in her usual ridiculous way, andwondered if the back of her neck were blushing too. It was, andRoger saw the crimson mounting to the pretty ears and losingitself in the fair hair; and he wondered--and wondered again, andthen remembered that people sometimes blushed when they wereangry. He was a very, very stupid Roger, in some ways; but in amoment Hilda began to talk as cheerfully as possible, and to askabout all the birds they had seen, so Roger was relieved, and theypaddled home to breakfast in a very pleasant way. CHAPTER XVI. GOOD-BY. The golden morning passed all too quickly; the mornings alwaysdid, out at camp. There was the merry dish-washing, the sweepingand setting to rights, and then all separated to their differenttasks, --fishing, boat-mending, cooking, photographing orsurveying, till the hour of noon brought them together again forthe swimming. Roger departed on his wheel, having business in thevillage. The three girls sat down before a huge basket of mending, "Threeagainst Thebes, " as Bell said, and plied their needles diligently. Hildegarde felt as if she were sewing in a dream; her fingersflew, for she could almost sew in her sleep, but her thoughts wereaway in the Lonely Cove, with the wild creatures and thestillness. She would like to go back there, she thought, with--well, she would like to go back there, and stay, long hours, tillthe spirit of the place had sunk deep into her heart. She had feltit, the touch of its hand in passing, the brushing of its robe, but that only showed her how little she knew, how infinitely morethere was to learn, to see, to love. She shut her eyes and triedto call back the scene, all grey and silver, glimmering in thefaint early light. Was not this really life, the life of nature, of the woods andfields? Would not one grow better, purer, to stay always in thislovely wilderness, where every leaf had a voice, every stoneshowed forth its steadfast lesson, every morning and evening wasfull of joy and peace? Why should one ever go back to places wherepeople talked and gossiped and made formal calls? Such new worlds, too, were opening before her! Not only this greatone of nature, but the sister world of science, which till now hadbeen only a name. She had always thought of "scientific people"much as she would of the inhabitants of Mars, never having beenthrown 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 livesalready, all beautiful, joyful beyond measure; but this strangeworld, where they spoke a language of their own, where all the menwore spectacles and long beards, and all the women short hair andspectacles, --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 tosee at least beyond the threshold, --and it was fairy-land! As forthe long beards and the spectacles, --Hildegarde laughed toherself, a little soft, happy laugh. Gerald, who was lying at her feet, looked up, and laughed too, forpure 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 yourold 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 highapproval to the ballad. "Why, here is the Codger himself, backagain. I thought he was not coming till night. What's up, Codger?" Bell and Hildegarde rose, with a vague feeling of uneasiness, andas they did so, Roger advanced to meet them. Hilda fancied helooked grave, and her heart leaped into quick alarm. "You have nobad news, Captain Roger?" she cried. "My mother--Cousin Wealthy--!" "Both well, quite well!" said Roger, hastily. "I called at thehouse as I came by, and found Mrs. Grahame there, lookingextremely well, I thought. " "Mamma there!" cried Hilda. "Why--when did she come? Why did shenot write that she was coming? I ought to have been there to meether. 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 wasnot on your account, Miss Hilda, but on our own. A letter musthave gone astray, your mother thinks. You should have heard fromher 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 sohearty, so full of distress, of affectionate concern, that itbrought the quick tears to Hilda's eyes. She smiled through thetears at Bell, who already had her in her arms, and declared shecould not let her go; while Will and Kitty pulled at her gown, andcried frantically that Hilda was theirs, and should never go away, never at all. Mrs. Merryweather smoothed her hair, and murmuredkind, understanding words in a low tone; and Gertrude sat down onthe ground and wept piteously. "Oh, " said Hilda to all these good friends, "you know it is notbecause I don't want to go to my blessed mother; of course you allknow 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 wedon'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 herelapsed into gloom. "It's a horrid, atrocious shame!" he said. "Ican't help it, and Hilda needn't speak to me again if she doesn'twant 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'twe? And you will be coming back, you know, to town some day, and Ishall hear all about the merrymakings--" But here her voice broke, and deeply ashamed of herself, shehurried into the house to put her things together. The kindMerryweathers went with her, and vied with each other in helpingher make her preparations. Since it must be, it should be ascheerfully done as possible; so Bell packed her trunk, andGertrude buttered bread with ardour, that Hilda might haveluncheon 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 andstrapped, and Hilda in jacket and hat--the first time in a monththat she had worn either--smiling as well as she could, andkissing and shaking hands, almost in silence. Mr. Merryweather had just come up from the boathouse, and joinedhis regrets to the general chorus. "And who is the captain of this black-sailed ship that carries ourlittle girl away from us?" he asked. "Are you going to drive herin, 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 wantto 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. Theboys 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 willbe a treat to him. " What could our poor dear Hilda say? What could she do but smileher assent, when she saw Phil's honest face radiant with pleasure? Gerald, after looking round in vain for his mother and Bell, whohad gone into the house to get something, did indeed mutter thathe wanted Phil dreadfully, to do something of great importance, itdid not appear precisely what; but he was promptly set down by hisfather. Roger Merryweather stood silent. The habit of giving way toothers, of letting the youngsters have all the pleasure possible, and taking the workaday parts of life for himself, was strong uponhim. And when had he refused his brother Miles anything? Miles Merryweather nodded in satisfaction, and went into the houseto get his letters. "I am going to send Phil in with Hilda, instead of Roger, " heannounced, 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 anyerrands for Phil to do?" He looked at his wife, and opened his eyes wide; for the placidwoman was ruffling all over, like an angry partridge. "Don't speak to me, Miles Merryweather!" she cried. "Don't dare tosay a word to me! You are a great stupid, stupid, --and Roger isanother! Why I ever married into such a family--" She ruffled away out of the house; Bell hurried after her withouta word, only casting a reproachful glance at her father as shewent. 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--nowwhat 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. Heactually 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 thanever. "Decidedly, they are mad!" he murmured. "Thank goodness, there isone sensible head among all these feathertops! Oh, here you are, Roger! Give these letters to Phil, will you, please, and tell himnot to forget the mail. " Roger took the letters, and laughed. His cheek was slightlyflushed, and his eyes danced with something very unlike theirusual calm intelligence. "All right!" he said. "Give me theletters, Miles. They shall be mailed. " He took the packet, andstarted to leave the room, but turned back for a moment, to layhis 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 acodger, 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 putPhil aside with a word and a smile; saw him lift Hildegardelightly into the wagon, and take his seat beside her; saw thegirl, her face bright as a flower, leaning forward to sayfarewell, and the other faces crowding round her, eager, loving, sorrowful; saw handkerchiefs and caps waving, and heard the criesof "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 thepiazza, 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 eyesof triumph on their husband and father. "Hurrah it is, doubtless, " said Mr. Merryweather, looking slightlynettled, --a rare thing in the most cheerful of men. "But MAY I askwhy my arrangements are changed without a word to me? I intendedthat 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 SOmuch!" "And were you ever young?" asked Mrs. Merryweather, no longerswelling, partridge-like, but taking her husband's arm with hersweetest smile. "And did you ever see a girl you liked, Miles Merryweather? and ifyou ever had, would you have let another boy drive her in townwhile the breath was in you? Would you?" "Oh!" said Miles Merryweather. THE END