[Illustration: "Two funny fair-haired children with their fingers intheir mouths"]

MILLY AND OLLY

New Revised Edition

BY

MRS. HUMPHRY WARD

Illustrated by RUTH M. HALLOCK

GARDEN CITY NEW YORKDOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY1914

DEDICATION

TO F. A. , IN THE NAME OF THE CHILDREN OF FOX HOW, THIS REVIVAL OF ACHILD'S STORY WRITTEN TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO, UNDER THE SPELL OF ROTHAAND FAIRFIELD, IS INSCRIBED BY THE WRITER. 

PREFACE

After many years this little book is once more to see the light. Thechildren for whom it was written are long since grown up. But perhapsthe pleasure they once took in it may still be felt by some of theMillys and Ollys of to-day. Up in the dear mountain country which itdescribes, the becks are still sparkling; "Brownholme" still spreads itsgreen steeps and ferny hollows under rain and sun; the tiny trout stillleap in its tiny streams; and Fairfield, in its noble curve, stillgirdles the deep valley where these children played: the valley ofWordsworth and Arnold--the valley where Arnold's poet-son rambled as aboy--where, for me, the shy and passionate ghost of Charlotte Brontëstill haunts the open door-way of Fox How--where poetry and generouslife and ranging thought still dwell, and bring their benediction to thepassers-by. "Aunt Emma" in her beautiful home, unchanged but for itsvacant chairs, is now as she ever was, the friend of old and young; andthe children of to-day still press to her side as their elders didbefore them. The parrot alas! is gone where parrots may; but amid thevoices that breathe around Fox How--the voices of seventy years--hismimic speech is still remembered by the children who teased and lovedhim. For love, while love lasts, gives life to all things small andgreat; and in those who have once felt it, the love of the Fairfieldvalley, of the gray stone house that fronts the fells, and of them thatdwell therein, is "not Time's fool--"

 "Or bends with the remover to remove. "

MARY A. WARD. 

September 18, 1907. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 I. Making Plans

 II. A Journey North

 III. Ravensnest

 IV. Out on the Hills

 V. Aunt Emma's Picnic

 VI. Wet Days at Ravensnest

 VII. A Story-telling Game

 VIII. The Story of Beowulf

 IX. Milly's Birthday

 X. Last Days at Ravensnest

ILLUSTRATIONS

 "Two funny fair-haired children with their fingers in their mouths"

 "'I can't do without my toys, Nana'"

 "The flowers Milly gathered for her mother"

 "So they put Olly up on a tall piece of rock, and he sang"

 "He was quite sure that h-a-y spelt 'ham' and s-a-w spelt 'was'"

 "'Suppose we have a story-telling game'"

 "Haymaking"

 "'Haven't you got a bump?' asked Olly"

CHAPTER I

MAKING PLANS

"Milly, come down! come down directly! Mother wants you. Do make haste!"

"I'm just coming, Olly. Don't stamp so. Nurse is tying my sash. "

But Master Olly went on stamping, and jumping up and down stairs, as hisway was when he was very much excited, till Milly appeared. Presentlydown she came, a sober fair-haired little maiden, with blue eyes and aturn-up nose, and a mouth that was generally rather solemn-looking, though it could laugh merrily enough when it tried. Milly was six yearsold. She looked older than six. At any rate she looked a great dealolder than Olly, who was nearly five; and you will soon find out thatshe was a good deal more than a year and a half wiser. 

"What's the matter, Olly? What made you shout so?"

"Oh, come along, come along;" said the little boy, pulling at hissister's hand to make her run. "Mother wants to tell us something, andshe says it's a nice something, and I kissed her like anyfing! but shewouldn't tell me without you. "

Then the two children set off running, and they flew down a long passageto the drawing-room, and were soon scrambling about a lady who wassitting working by the window. 

"Well, monkeys, don't choke me before I tell you my nice something. Siton my knee Olly. Now, Milly, guess--what have father and I just beentalking about?"

"Sending Olly to school, perhaps, " said Milly. "I heard Uncle Richardtalking about it yesterday. "

"That wouldn't be such a nice something, " said Olly, making a long face. "I wouldn't like it--not a bit. Boys don't never like going to school. Iwant to learn my lessons with mother. "

"I know a little boy that doesn't like learning lessons with mother verymuch, " said the lady, laughing. "But my nice something isn't sendingOlly to school, Milly. You're quite wrong--so try again. "

"Oh, mother! is it a strawberry tea?" cried Milly. "The strawberries arejust ripe, I know. Gardener told nurse so this morning. And we can havetea on the lawn, and ask Jacky and Francis!"

"Oh, jolly!" said Oliver, jumping off his mother's knee and beginning todance about. "And we'll gather them ourselves--won't you let us, mother?"

"But it isn't a strawberry tea even, " said his mother. "Now, look here, children, what have I got here?"

"It's a map--a map of England, " said Milly, looking very wise. Milly hadjust begun to learn geography, and thought she knew all about maps. 

"Well, and what happens when father and I look at maps in thesummertime?"

"Why, " said Milly, slowly, "you and father pack up your things, and goaway over the sea, and we stay behind with nurse. "

"I don't call _that_ a nice something, " said Olly, standing still again. 

"Oh, mother, _are_ you going away?" said Milly, hanging round hermother's neck. 

"Yes, Milly, and so's father, and so's nurse"--and their mother began tolaugh. 

"So's nurse?" said Milly and Olly together, and then they stopped andopened two pairs of round eyes very wide, and stared at their mother. "Oh, mother, mother, take us too!"

"Why, how should father and I get on, travelling about with a pair ofmonkeys?" said their mother, catching hold of the two children andlifting them on to her knee; "we should want a cage to keep them in. "

"Oh, mother, we'll be _ever_ so good! But where are we going? Oh, dotake us to the sea!"

"Yes, the sea! the sea!" shouted Olly, careering round the room again;"we'll have buckets and spades, and we'll paddle and catch crabbies, andwet our clothes, and have funny shoes, just like Cromer. And father'llteach me to swim--he said he would next time. "

"No, " said Mrs. Norton, for that was the name of Milly's and Oliver'smother. "No, we are not going to the sea this summer. We are going to aplace mother loves better than the sea, though perhaps you childrenmayn't like it quite so well. We're going to the mountains. UncleRichard has lent father and mother his own nice house among themountains and we're all going there next week--such a long way in thetrain, Milly. "

"What are mountains?" said Olly, who had scarcely ever seen a hillhigher than the church steeple. "They can't be so nice as the sea, mother. Nothing can. "

"They're humps, Olly, " answered Milly eagerly. "Great, big humps ofearth, you know; earth mixed with stone. And they reach up ever so high, up into the sky. And it takes you a whole day to get up to the top ofthem, and a whole day to get down again. Doesn't it, mother? Fräuleintold me all about mountains in my geography. And some mountains have gotsnow on their tops all year, even in summer, when it's so hot, and we'rehaving strawberries. Will the mountains we're going to, have snow onthem?"

"Oh, no. The snow mountains are far away over the sea. But these areEnglish mountains, kind, easy mountains, not too high for you and me toclimb up, and covered all over with soft green grass and wild flowers, and tiny sheep with black faces. "

"And, mother, is there a garden to Uncle Richard's house, and are thereany children there to play with?"

"There's a delightful garden, full of roses, and strawberries andgrapes, and everything else that's nice. And it has a baby river all toitself, that runs and jumps and chatters all through the middle of it, so perhaps Olly may have a paddle sometimes, though we aren't going tothe sea. And the gardener has got two little children, just about yourage, Aunt Mary says: and there are two more at the farm, two dear littlegirls, who aren't a bit shy, and will like playing with you very much. But who else shall we see there, Milly? Who lives in the mountains too, near Uncle Richard?"

Olly looked puzzled, but Milly thought a minute, and then said quickly, "Aunt Emma, isn't it, mother? Didn't she come here once? I think Iremember. "

"Yes, she came once, but long ago, when you were quite small. But now weshall see a great deal of her I hope, for she lives just on the otherside of the mountain from Uncle Richard's house, in a dear old house, where I spent many, many happy days when I was small. Great-grandpapaand grandmamma were alive then. But now Aunt Emma lives there quitealone. Except for one creature, at least, an old gray poll-parrot, thatchatters away, and behaves as if it were quite sensible, and knew allabout everything. "

"Hasn't she got any pussies, mother?" asked Olly. 

"Yes, two I believe; but they don't get on with Polly very well, so theylive in the kitchen out of the way--"

"I like pussies better than pollies, " said Olly gravely. 

"Why, what do you know about pollies, old man?"

"Pollies bite, I know they do. There was a polly bited Francis once. "

"Well, and pussies scratch, " said Milly. 

"No, they don't, not if you're nicey to them, " said Olly; who was justthen very much in love with a white kitten, and thought there were nocreatures so delightful as pussies. 

"Well, suppose you don't make up your mind about Aunt Emma's Polly tillyou've seen her, " said Mrs. Norton. "Now sit down on the rug there andlet us have a talk. "

Down squatted the children on the floor opposite their mother, withtheir little heads full of plans and their eyes as bright as sparks. 

"I'll take my cart and horse, " began Olly; "and my big ball, and mywhistle, and my wheelbarrow, and my spade, and all my books, and the bigscrap-book, and--"

"You can't, Olly, " exclaimed Milly. "Nurse could never pack all thoseup. There'd be no room for our clothes. You can take your whistle, andthe top, and the picture books, and I can take my dolls. That'll bequite enough, won't it, mother?"

"Quite enough, " said Mrs. Norton. "If it's fine weather you'll see--youwon't want any toys. But now, look here, children, " and she held up themap. "Shall I show you how we are going to get to the mountains?"

"Oh yes, " said Milly, "that'll be like my geography lesson--come, Olly. Now mother'll teach _you_ geography, like Fräulein does me. "

"That's lessons, " said Olly, with half a pout, "not fun a bit. It's onlygirls like lessons--Boys never do--Jacky doesn't, and Francis doesn't, and I don't. "

"Never mind about it's being lessons, Olly. Come and see if it isn'tinteresting, " said Mrs. Norton. "Now, Milly, find Willingham. "

Willingham was the name of the town where Milly and Oliver lived. It isa little town in Oxfordshire, and if you look long enough on the map you_may_ find it, though I won't promise you. 

"There it is, " said Milly triumphantly, showing it to her mother andOlly. 

"Quite right. Now look here, " and Mrs. Norton took a pencil out of herpocket and drew a little line along the map. "First of all we shall getinto the train and go to a place called--look, Milly. "

"Bletchley, " said Milly, following where the pencil pointed. "What anugly name. "

"It's an ugly place, " said Mrs. Norton, "so perhaps it doesn't deserve abetter name. And after Bletchley--look again, Milly. "

"Rugby, " said Milly, reading the names as her mother pointed, "and thenStafford, and then Crewe--what a funny name, mother!--and then Wigan, and then Warrington, and then Lancaster. Ox-en-holme, Kendal, Wind-er-mere. Oh, mother, what a long way! Why, we've got right to thetop of England. "

"Stop a bit, Milly, and let me tell you something about these places. First of all we shall get out of the train at Bletchley, and get intoanother train that will go faster than the first. And it will take uspast all kinds of places, some pretty and some ugly, and some big andsome small. At Stafford there is an old castle, Milly, where fiercepeople lived in old days and fought their neighbours. And at Crewe weshall get out and have our dinner. And at Wigan all the trees grow onone side as if some one had come and given them a push in the night; andat Lancaster there's another old castle, a very famous one, only nowthey have turned it into a prison, and people are shut up inside it. Then a little way after Lancaster you'll begin to see some mountains, far, far away, but first you'll see something else--just a little bit ofblue sea, with mountains on the other side of it. And then will comeWindermere, where we shall get out and drive in a carriage. And we shalldrive right into the mountains, Olly, till they stand up all round uswith their dear kind old faces that mother has loved ever since she wasa baby. "

The children looked up wonderingly at their mother, and they saw herface shining and her eyes as bright as theirs, as if she too was a childgoing out for a holiday. 

"Oh! And, mother, " said Olly, "you'll let us take Spot. She can go in mybox. "

Now Spot was the white kitten, so Milly and mother began to laugh. 

"Suppose you go and ask Spot first, whether she'd like it, Olly, " saidMrs. Norton, patting his sunburnt little face. 

CHAPTER II

A JOURNEY NORTH

Milly and Oliver lived at Willingham, a little town in Oxfordshire, as Ihave already told you. Their father was a doctor, and they lived in anold-fashioned house, in a street, with a long shady garden stretchingaway behind it. Milly and Oliver loved their father, and whenever he puthis brown face inside the nursery door, two pairs of little feet wentrunning to meet him, and two pairs of little hands pulled him eagerlyinto the room. But they saw him very seldom; whereas their mother wasalways with them, teaching them their lessons, playing with them in thegarden, telling them stories, mending their frocks, tucking them up intheir snug little beds at night, sometimes praising them, sometimesscolding them; always loving and looking after them. Milly and Ollyhonestly believed that theirs was the best mother in the whole world. Nobody else could find out such nice plays, or tell them such wonderfulstories, or dress dolls half so well. Two little neighbours of theirs, Jacky and Francis, had a poor sick mother who always lay on the sofa, and could hardly bear to have her little boys in the room with her. Milly and Oliver were never tired of wondering how Jacky and Francis goton with a mother like that. "How funny, and how dreadful it must be. Poor Jacky and Francis!" It never came into their, heads to say, "PoorJacky's mother" too, but then you see they were such little people, andlittle people have only room in their heads for a very few thoughts at atime. 

However, Milly had been away from her mother a good deal lately. Aboutsix months before my story begins she had been sent to school, to akindergarten, as she was taught to call it. And there Milly had learntall kinds of wonderful things--she had learnt how to make mats out ofpaper, blue mats, and pink mats, and yellow mats, and red mats; she hadlearned how to make a bit of soft clay look like a box, or a stool, or abird's nest with three clay eggs inside it; she had begun to add up andtake away; and, above all, she had begun to learn geography, andFräulein--for Milly's mistress was a German, and had a German name--wasjust now teaching her about islands, and lakes, and capes, andpeninsulas, and many other things that all little girls have to learnabout some time or other, unless they wish to grow up dunces. 

As for Milly's looks, I have told you already that she had blue eyes anda turn-up nose, and a dear sensible little face. And she had very thickfair hair, that was always tumbling about her eyes, and making her look, as nurse told her, like "a yellow owl in an ivy bush. " Milly loved mostpeople, except perhaps John the gardener, who was rather cross to thechildren, and was always calling to them not to walk "on them beds, " andto be sure not to touch any of his fruit or flowers. She loved herfather and her mother; she loved Olly with all her whole heart, thoughhe was a tease, she loved her nurse, whom she and Olly called Nana, andwho had been with them ever since Milly was born; and she lovedFräulein, and was always begging flowers from her mother that she mighttake them to school for Fräulein's table. So you see Milly was made upof loving. And she was a thoughtful little girl too, tidy with herdress, quick and quiet at her lessons, and always ready to sit stillwith her fairy-book or her doll, when mother was busy or tired. Butthere were two things in which Milly was not at all sensible in spite ofher sensible face. She was much too ready to cry when any little thingwent wrong, and she was dreadfully afraid of creatures of all sorts. Shewas afraid of her father's big dog, she was afraid of the dear brown cowthat lived in the field beyond the garden, she was afraid of earwigs. Iam even ashamed to say she was afraid of spiders. Once she ran away asif a lion were behind her from a white kitten that pulled her dress withits frolicsome paws to make her play with it; but that, Milly would tellyou, was "when I was little, " and she was quite sure she was a good dealbraver now. 

Now what am I to tell you about Olly?

Olly was just a round ball of fun and mischief. He had brown hair, browneyes, a brown face, and brown hands. He was always touching and meddlingwith everything, indoors and out, to see what was inside it, or what itwas made of. He liked teasing Milly, he liked his walks, he liked hissleep in the morning, he liked his dinner, he liked his tea, he likedeverything in the world, except learning to read, and that he hated. Hecould only do one thing besides mischief. He could sing all kinds oftunes--quick tunes, slow tunes, and merry tunes. He had been able tosing tunes ever since he was quite a tiny baby, and his father andmother often talked together of how, in about a year, he should betaught to play on the piano, or perhaps on the violin, if he liked itbetter. You might hear his sharp, shrill little voice, singing about thehouse and the garden all day long. John the gardener called it"squealin', " and told Olly his songs were "capital good" for frighteningaway the birds. 

Now, perhaps, you know a little more about Milly and Olly than you didwhen I began to tell you about them, and it is time you should hear ofwhat happened to them on that wonderful journey of theirs up to themountains. 

First of all came the packing up. Milly could not make up her mind abouther dolls; she had three--Rose, Mattie, and Katie--but Rose's frockswere very dirty, Mattie had a leg broken, and Katie's paint had been allwashed off one wet night, when Olly left her out on the lawn. Now whichof these was the tidiest and most respectable doll to take out on avisit? Milly did not know how to settle it. 

[Illustration: "'I can't do without my toys, Nana'"]

"I think, Nana, " she said at last to her nurse, who was packing thechildren's trunk, "I will take Katie. Mother always sends us away whenwe get white faces to make us look nice and red again; so, perhaps, if Itake Katie her colour will come back too, you know. "

"Perhaps it will, Miss Milly, " said nurse, laughing; "anyhow, you hadbetter give me the doll you want directly, for it is time I packed allthe toys now. Now, Master Olly, you know I can't let you take all thosethings. "

For there was Olly dragging along his wheelbarrow heaped up with toyswith one hand, and his cart and horse with a box of bricks standing upin it with the other. He would not listen to what Milly said about it, and he would scarcely listen to nurse now. 

"I can't do without my toys, Nana. I _must_ do mischief if you won't letme take all my toys; I can't help it. "

"I haven't got room for half those, Master Olly, and you'll have ever somany new things to play with when we get to Ravensnest. "

"There'll be the new children, Olly, " said Milly, "and the little riversand all the funny new flowers. "

"Those aren't toys, " said Olly, looking ready to cry. "I don't knownothing about them. "

"Now, " said nurse, making a place in the box, "bring me your bricks andyour big ball, and your picture-books. There, that's all I can spareyou. "

"Wait one minute, " said Olly, rushing off; and just then Mrs. Nortoncalled nurse away to speak to her in the drawing-room. When nurse cameback she saw nobody in the nursery. Milly had gone out in the garden, Olly was nowhere to be seen. And who had shut down the trunk, which wasopen when she left it? Me-ow, sounded very softly from somewhere closeby. 

"Why--Spot! Spot!" called nurse. 

Me-ow, Me-ow, came again; a sad choky little mew, right from the middleof the children's trunk. "Master Olly and his tricks again, " said nurse, running to the box and opening it. There, on the top, lay a quantity offrocks that nurse had left folded up on the floor, thrown in anyhow, with some toys scattered among them, and the frocks and toys were alldancing up and down as if they were bewitched. Nurse took out thefrocks, and there was the children's collar-box, a large roundcardboard-box with a lid, jumping from side to side like a box in afairy tale; and such dreadful pitiful little mews coming from theinside! Nurse undid the lid, and out sprang Spot like a flash oflightning, and ran as if she were running for her life out of the doorand down the stairs, and safe into the kitchen, where she cuddledherself up in a corner of the fender, wishing with all her poortrembling little heart that there were no such things in the world assmall boys. And then nurse heard a kind of kicking and scuffling in thechina cupboard, and when she opened it there sat Olly doubled up, hisbrown eyes dancing like will-o'-the-wisps, and his little white teethgrinning. 

"Oh! Nana, she _did_ make a funny me-ow! I just said to her, Now, Spottie, _wouldn't_ you like to go in my box? and she said, Yes; and Imade her such a comfy bed, and then I stuck all those frocks on the topof her to keep her warm. Why did you let her out, Nana?"

"You little mischief, " said Nana, "do you know you might have smotheredpoor little Spot? And look at all these frocks; do you think I have gotnothing better to do than to tidy up after your tricks?"

But nurse never knew how to be very hard upon Olly; so all she did wasto set him up on a high chair with a picture-book, where she could seeall he was doing. There was no saying what he might take a fancy to packup next if she didn't keep an eye on him. 

Well, presently all the packing was done, and Milly and Olly had gone tosay good-bye to Fräulein, and to Jacky and Francis. Wednesday eveningcame, and they were to start early on Thursday morning. Olly beggednurse to put him to bed very early, that he might "wake up krick"--quickwas a word Olly never could say. So to bed he went at half-past six, andhis head had scarcely touched the pillow two minutes before he had gonecantering away into dreamland, and was seeing all the sights and hearingall the delicious stories that children do see and hear in dreamland, though they don't always remember them when they wake up. Both Milly andhe woke up very early on Thursday morning; and directly his eyes wereopen Olly jumped out of bed like an india-rubber ball, and began to puton his stockings in a terrible hurry. The noise of his jump woke nurse, and she called out in a sleepy voice:

"Get into bed again, Master Olly, directly. It is only just six o'clock, and I can't have you out of bed till seven. You'll only be under myfeet, and in everybody's way. "

"Nana, I won't be in _anybody's_ way, " exclaimed Olly, running up to herand scrambling on to her bed with his little bare toes half way into hisstockings. "I can't keep still in my bed all such a long time. There'ssomething inside of me, Nana, keeps jumping up and down, and won't letme keep still. Now, if I get up, you know, Nana, I can help you. "

"Help me, indeed!" said nurse, kissing his little brown face, or as muchof it as could be seen through his curls. "A nice helping that would be. Come back to bed, sir, and I'll give you some picture-books till I'mready to dress you. "

So back to bed Master Olly went, sorely against his will, and there hehad to stay till nurse and Milly were dressed, and the breakfast thingslaid. Then nurse gave him his bath and dressed him, and put him up toeat his bread and milk while she finished the packing. Olly was alwaysvery quiet over his meals, and it was the only time in the day when hewas quiet. 

Presently up rattled the cab, and down ran the children with theirwalking things on to see father and John lift the boxes on to the top;and soon they were saying good-bye to Susan the cook, and Jenny thehousemaid, who were going to stay and take care of the house while theywere away; and then crack went the whip, and off they went to thestation. On the way they passed Jacky and Francis standing at theirgate, and all the children waved their hats and shouted "Hurrah!hurrah!" At the station nurse kept tight hold of Olly till father hadgot the tickets and put all the boxes into the train, and then he andMilly were safely lifted up into the railway carriage, and nurse andfather and mother came next, with all the bags and shawls and umbrellas. 

Such a settling of legs and arms and packages there was; and in themiddle of it "whew" went the whistle, and off they went away to themountains. 

But they had a long way to go before they saw any mountains. First ofall they had to get to Bletchley, and it took about an hour doing that. And oh! what a lovely morning it was, and how fresh and green the fieldslooked as the train hurried along past them. Olly and Milly could seehundreds and thousands of moon-daisies and buttercups growing among thewet grass, and every now and then came great bushes of wild-roses, somepink and some white, and long pools with yellow irises growing along theside; and sometimes the train went rushing through a little village, andthey could see the little children trotting along to school, with theirbooks and slates tucked under their arms; and sometimes they went alongfor miles together without seeing anything but the white-and-brown cowsin the fields, and the great mother-sheep with their fat white lambsbeside them. The sun shone so brightly, the buttercups were so yellow, the roses so pink, and the sky so blue, it was like a fairy world. Ollyand Milly were always shouting and clapping their hands at something orother, for Milly had grown almost as wild as Olly. 

Sh-sh-sh-sh went the train, getting slower and slower till at last itstopped altogether. 

"Bletchley, Bletchley!" shouted Olly, jumping down off the seat. 

"No, my boy, " said his father, catching hold of him, "we shall stop fivemore times before we get to Bletchley; so don't be impatient. "

But at last came Bletchley, and the children were lifted out into themiddle of such a bustle, as it seemed to Milly. There were crowds ofpeople at the station, and they were all pushing backward and forward, and shouting and talking. 

"Keep hold of me, Olly, " said Milly, with an anxious little face. "Oh, Nana, don't let him go!"

But nurse held him fast; and very soon they were through the crowd, andfather had put them safe into their new train, into a carriage marked"Windermere, " which would take them all the way to their journey's end. 

"That was like lions and bears, wasn't it, mother?" said Olly, pointingto the crowd in the station, as they went puffing away. Now, "lions andbears" was a favourite game of the children's, a romping game, whereeverybody ran about and pretended to be somebody else, and where themore people played, and the more they ran and pushed and tumbled about, the funnier, it was. And the running, scrambling people at the stationdid look rather as if they were playing at lions and bears. 

And now the children had a long day before them. On rushed the train, past towns and villages, and houses and trains. The sun got hotter andhotter, and the children began to get a little tired of looking out ofwindow. Milly asked for a story-book, and was soon very happy reading"Snow White and Rose Red. " She had read it a hundred times before, butthat never mattered a bit. Olly came to sit on nurse's knee while sheshowed him pictures, and so the time passed away. And now the trainstopped again, and father lifted Olly on his knee to see a great churchfar away over the houses, and taught him to say "Lichfield Cathedral. "And then came Stafford; and Milly looked out for the castle, andwondered whether the castles in her story-books looked like that, andwhether princesses and fairy godmothers and giants ever lived there inold times. 

After they had left Stafford, Olly began to get tired and fidgety. Firsthe went to sit on his father's knee, then on mother's, then onnurse's--none of them could keep him still, and nothing seemed to amusehim for long together. 

"Come and have a sleep, Master Olly, " said nurse. "You are just tiredand hot. This is a long way for little boys, and we've got ever so farto go yet. "

"I'm not sleepy, Nana, " said Olly, sitting straight up, with a littleflushed face and wide-open eyes. "I'm going to keep awake like father. "

"Father's going to sleep, then, " said Mr. Norton, tucking himself up ina shady corner; "so you go too, Olly, and see which of us can goquickest. "

When Olly had seen his father's eyes tight shut, and heard him give justone little snore--it was rather a make-believe snore--he did let nursedraw him on to her knee; and very soon the little gipsy creature wasfast asleep, with all his brown curls lying like a soft mat over nurse'sarm. Milly, too, shut her eyes and sat very still; she did not mean togo to sleep, but presently she began to think a great many sleepythoughts: Why did the hedges run so fast? and why did the telegraphwires go up and down as if they were always making curtsies? and wasthat really mother opposite, or was it Cinderella's fairy godmother? Andall of a sudden Milly came bump up against a tall blue mountain that hada face like a man, and cried out when she bumped upon it!

"Crewe, I declare, " exclaimed father, jumping up with a start. "Why, Olly and I have been asleep nearly an hour! Wake up, children, it'sdinner-time. "

Nurse had to shake Olly a great many times before he would open hissleepy eyes, and then he stood up rubbing them as if he would rub themquite away. Father lifted him out, and carried him into a big room, witha big table in it, all ready for dinner, and hungry people sitting roundit. What fun it was having dinner at a station, with all the grown-uppeople. Milly and Olly thought there never was such nice bread and suchnice apple-tart. Nothing at home ever tasted half so good. And afterdinner father took them a little walk up and down the platform, and atlast, just as it was time to get into the train again, he bought them apaper full of pictures, called the _Graphic_, that amused Olly for along way. 

But it was a long long way to Windermere, and poor Milly and Olly beganto get very tired. The trees at Wigan did make them laugh a little bit, but they were too tired to think them as funny as they would havethought them in the morning. They are such comical trees! First of all, the smoke from the smoky chimneys at Wigan has made them black, andstopped the leaves from growing, and then the wind has blown them allover on one side, so that they look like ugly little twisted dwarfs, asif some cruel fairy had touched them with her wand. But Olly soon forgotall about them; and he began to wander from one end to the other of thecarriage again, scrambling and jumping about, till he gave himself ahard knock against the seat; and that made him begin to cry--poor tiredlittle Olly. Then mother lifted him on to her knee, and said to him, very softly, "Are you very tired, Olly? Never mind, poor little man, weshan't be very long now, and we're all tired, darling--father's tired, and I'm tired; and look at Milly there, she looks like a little whiteghost. Suppose you be brave, and try a little extra hard to be good. Then mother'll love you an extra bit. And what do you think we shall seesoon? such a lovely bit of blue sea with white ships on it. Just youshut your eyes a little bit till it comes, I'll be sure to tell you. "

And sure enough, after Lancaster, mother gave a little cry, and Ollyjumped up, and Milly came running over, and there before them lay thedancing windy blue sea, covered over with little white waves, runningand tumbling over each other. And on the other side of it, what did thechildren see?

"Mother, mother! what is it?" cried Olly, pointing with his little brownhand far away; "is it a fairy palace, mother?"

"Perhaps it is, Olly; anyway, the hill-fairies live there. For those arethe mountains, the beautiful mountains we are going to see. "

"But how shall we get across the sea to them?" asked Milly, with apuzzled face. 

"This is only a corner of the sea, Milly--a bay. Don't you remember baysin your geography? We can't go across it, but we can go round it, and weshall find the mountains on the other side. "

Oh! how fast the train seemed to go now that there was something to lookat. Everywhere mountains were beginning to spring up. And when they hadsaid good-bye to the sea, the mountains began to grow taller and taller. What had happened to the houses too? They had all turned white or gray;there was no red one left. And the fields had stone walls instead ofhedges; and inside the walls there were small sheep, about as big as thelambs they had seen near Oxford in the morning. 

Oxenholme, Kendal, Windermere. How glad the tired children were when thetrain ran slowly down into Windermere station, and they could jump outand say good-bye to it for a long, long time! They had to wait a little, till father had found all the boxes and put them in the carriage thatwas waiting for them, and then in they tumbled, nurse having firstwrapped them up in big shawls, for it was evening now, and the wind hadgrown cold. That was a nice drive home among the mountains. How tall anddark and quiet they were. And what was this shining on their left hand, like a white face running beside them, and peeping from behind thetrees? Why, it was a lake; a great wide lake, with tiny boats upon it, some with white sails and some without. 

"Mother! mother! may we go in those boats some day?" shouted Olly, in alittle sharp tired voice, and his mother smiled at him, and said--"Yes, very likely. "

How happy mother looked. She knew all the mountains like old friends, she could tell all their names; and every now and then, when they cameto a house, she and father would begin to talk about the people wholived in it, just as if they were talking about people they knew quitewell. And now came a little town, the town of Wanwick mother called it, right among the mountains, with a river running round it, and a tallchurch spire. It began to get darker and darker, and the trees hung downover the road, so that the children could hardly see. On they went, andOlly was very nearly asleep again, when the carriage began to crunchover gravel, and then it stopped, and father called out--"Here we are, children, here we are at Ravensnest. "

And out they all jumped. What were those bright lights shining? Olly andMilly hardly knew where they were going as nurse took them in, and oneof Uncle Richard's servants showed them the way upstairs to the nursery. Such a nice nursery, with candles lit, and a little fire burning, twobowls of hot bread and milk on the table, and in the corner two littlewhite beds, as soft and fresh as nests! In twenty minutes Olly was inone of these little white beds, and Milly in the other. And you mayguess whether they were long about going to sleep. 

CHAPTER III

RAVENSNEST

"Poor little souls! How late they are sleeping. They must have beentired last night. "

So said nurse at eight o'clock, when she came back into the nursery froma journey to the kitchen after the breakfast things, and found thechildren still fast asleep; so fast that it looked as if they meant togo on sleeping till dinner-time. 

"Milly!" she called softly, shaking her very gently, "Milly, it'sbreakfast-time, wake up!"

Milly began to move about, and muttered something about "whistles" and"hedges" in her sleep. 

Then nurse gave her another little shake, and at last Milly's eyes didtry very hard to open--"What is it? What do you want, Nana? Where arewe?--Oh, I know!"

And up sprang Milly in a second and ran to the window, her sleepy eyeswide open at last. "Yes, there they are! Come and look, Nana! There, past those trees--don't you see the mountains? And there is fatherwalking about; and oh! do look at those roses over there. Dress mequick, dress me quick, please, dear Nana. "

Thump! bump! and there was Olly out of bed, sitting on the floor rubbinghis eyes. Olly used always to jump out of bed half asleep, and then sita long time on the floor waking up. Nurse and Milly always left himalone till he was quite woke up. It made him cross if you began to talkto him too soon. 

"Milly, " said Olly presently, in a sleepy voice, "I'm going right up themountains after breakfast. Aren't you?"

"Wait till you see them, Master Olly, " said nurse, taking him up andkissing him, "perhaps your little legs won't find it quite so easy toclimb up the mountains as you think. "

"I can climb up three, four, six, seven mountains, " said Olly stoutly;"mountains aren't a bit hard. Mother says they're meant to climb up. "

"Well, I suppose it's like going up stairs a long way, " said Milly, thoughtfully, pulling on her stockings. "You didn't like going up thestairs in Auntie Margaret's house, Olly. "

Auntie Margaret's house was a tall London house, with ever so manystairs. The children when they were staying there were put to sleep atthe top, and Olly used to sit down on the stairs and pout and grumbleevery time they had to go up. 

But Olly shook his obstinate little head. 

"I don't believe it's a bit like going up stairs. "

However, as they couldn't know what it was like before they tried, nursetold them it was no good talking about it. So they hurried on with theirdressing, and presently there stood as fresh a pair of morning childrenas anyone could wish to see, with rosy cheeks, and smooth hair, andclean print frocks--for Olly was still in frocks--though when the wintercame mother said she was going to put him into knickerbockers. 

And then nurse took them each by the hand and led them through some longpassages, down a pretty staircase, and through a swing door, into whatlooked like a great nagged kitchen, only there was no fireplace in it. The real kitchen opened out of it at one side, and through the door camea smell of coffee and toast that made the children feel as hungry aslittle hunters. But their own room was straight in front, across thekitchen without a fireplace, a tiny room with one large window hunground with roses, and looking out on to a green lawn. 

"Nana, isn't it pretty? Nana, I think it's lovely!" said Milly, lookingout and clapping her hands. And it _was_ a pretty garden they could seefrom the window. An up-and-down garden, with beds full of brightflowers, and grass which was nearly all moss, and so soft that nocushion could be softer. In the distance they could hear a littlesplish-splash among the trees, which came, Milly supposed, from theriver mother had told them about; while, reaching up all round thehouse, so that they could not see the top of it from the window, was thegreen wild mountain itself, the mountain of Brownholme, under whichUncle Richard's house was built. 

The children hurried through their breakfast, and then nurse coveredthem up with garden pinafores, and took them to the dining-room to findfather and mother. Mr. And Mrs. Norton were reading letters when thechildren's curly heads appeared at the open door, and Mrs. Norton wasjust saying to her husband:

"Aunt Emma sends a few lines just to welcome us, and to say that shecan't come over to us to-day, but will we all come over to her to-morrowand have early dinner, and perhaps a row afterward--"

"Oh, a row, mother, a row!" shouted Olly, clambering on to his mother'sknee and half-strangling her with his strong little arms; "I can row, father said I might. Are we going to-day?"

"No, to-morrow, Olly, when we've seen a little bit of Ravensnest first. Which of you remembers Aunt Emma, I wonder?"

"I remember her, " said Milly, nodding her head wisely, "she had a bigwhite cap, and she told me stories. But I don't quite remember her face, mother--not _quite_. "

"I don't remember her, not one bit, " said Olly. "Mother, does she keepsaying, 'Don't do that;' 'Go up stairs, naughty boys, ' like Jacky's auntdoes?"

For the children's playfellows, Jacky and Francis, had an aunt livingwith them whom Milly and Olly couldn't bear. They believed that shecouldn't say anything else except "Don't!" and "Go up stairs!" and theywere always in dread lest they should come across an aunt like her. 

"She's the dearest aunt in the whole world, " said mother, "and she neversays, 'Don't, ' except when she's obliged, but when she does say itlittle boys have to mind. When I was a little girl I thought there wasnobody like Aunt Emma, nobody who could make such plans or tell suchsplendid stories. "

"And, mother, can't she cut out card dolls? asked Milly. Don't you knowthose beautiful card dolls you have in your drawer at home--didn't AuntEmma make them?"

"Yes, of course she did. She made me a whole family once for mybirthday, a father and a mother, and two little girls and two littleboys. And each of the children had two paper dresses and two hats, onefor best and one for every day--and the mother had a white evening dresstrimmed with red, and a hat and a bonnet. "

"I know, mother! they're all in your drawer at home, only one of thelittle boys has his head broken off. Do you think Aunt Emma would makeme a set if I asked her?"

"I can't say, Milly. But I believe Aunt Emma's fingers are just as quickas ever they were. Now, children, father says he will take you out whileI go and speak to cook. Olly, how do you think we're going to get anymeat for you and Milly here? There are no shops on the mountains. "

"Then we'll eat fisses, little fisses like those!" cried Olly, pointingto a plate of tiny red-spotted fish that father and mother had beenhaving for breakfast. 

"Thank you, Olly, " said Mr. Norton, laughing; "it would cost a good dealto keep you in trout, sir. I think we'll try for some plain mutton foryou, even if we have to catch the sheep on the mountains ourselves. Butnow come along till mother is ready, and I'll show you the river wherethose little fishes lived. "

Out ran the children, ready to go anywhere and see anything in thisbeautiful new place, which seemed to them a palace of wonders. Andpresently they were skipping over the soft green grass, each holding oneof father's hands, and chattering away to him as if their little tongueswould never stop. What a hot day it was going to be! The sky overheadwas deep blue, with scarcely a cloud, they could hear nothing in thestill air but the sleepy cooing of the doves in the trees by the gate, and the trees and flowers all looked as if they were going to sleep inthe heat. 

"Father, why did that old gentleman at Willingham last week tell motherthat it always rained in the mountains?" asked Milly, looking up at theblue sky. 

"Well, Milly, I'm afraid you'll find out before you go home that it doesknow how to rain here. Sometimes it rains and rains as if the sky werecoming down and all the world were going to turn into water. But nevermind about that now--it isn't going to rain to-day. "

Down they went through the garden, across the road, and into a field onthe other side of it, a beautiful hay-field full of flowers, with just anarrow little path through it where the children and Mr. Norton couldwalk one behind another. And at the end of the path what do you thinkthey found? Why, a chattering sparkling river, running along overhundreds and thousands of brown and green pebbles, so fast that itseemed to be trying to catch the birds as they skimmed across it. Thechildren had never seen a river like this before, where you could seeright to the very bottom, and count the stones there if you liked, andwhich behaved like a river at play, scrambling and dancing and rushingalong as if it were out for a holiday, like the children themselves. 

"What do you think of that for a river, children?" said Mr. Norton. "Very early this morning, when you little sleepyheads were in bed, I gotup and came down here, and had my bath over there, look--in that nicebrown pool under the tree. "

"Oh, father!" cried both children, dancing round him. "Let us have ourbaths in the river too. Do ask Nana--do, father! We can have our bathingthings on that we had at the sea, and you can come too and teach us toswim. "

"Well, just once perhaps, if mother says yes, and it's very warmweather, and you get up very _very_ early. But you won't like it quiteas much as you think. Rivers are very cold to bathe in, and those prettystones at the bottom won't feel at all nice to your little toes. "

"Oh, but, father, " interrupted Milly, "we could put on our sand shoes. "

"And wouldn't we splash!" said Olly. "Nurse won't let us splash in ourbath, father, she says it makes a mess. I'm sure it doesn't make a_great_ mess. "

"What do you know about it, shrimp?" said Mr. Norton, "you don't have totidy up. Hush, isn't that mother calling? Let's go and fetch her, andthen we'll go and see Uncle Richard's farm, where the milk you had forbreakfast came from. There are three children there, Milly, besides cowsand pigs, and ducks and chickens. "

Back ran Milly and Olly, and there was mother watching for them with abasket on her arm which had already got some roses lying in it. 

"Oh, mother! where did you get those roses?" cried Milly. 

"Wheeler, the gardener, gave them to me. And now suppose we go first ofall to see Mrs. Wheeler, and gardener's two little children. They livein that cottage over there, across the brook, and the two little oneshave just been peeping over the wall to try and get a look at you. "

Up clambered Milly and Olly along a steep path that seemed to take themup into the mountain, when suddenly they turned, and there was anotherriver, but such a tiny river, Milly could almost jump across it, and itwas tumbling and leaping down the rocks on its way to the big riverwhich they had just seen, as if it were a little child hurrying to itsmother. 

"Why, mother, what a lot of rivers, " said Olly, running on to a littlebridge that had been built across the little stream, and looking over. 

"Just to begin with, " said Mrs. Norton. "You'll see plenty more beforeyou've done. But I can't have you calling this a river, Olly. These babyrivers are called becks in Westmoreland--some of the big ones, too, indeed. "

On the other side of the little bridge was the gardener's cottage, andin front of the door stood two funny fair-haired little children withtheir fingers in their mouths, staring at Milly and Olly. One was alittle girl who was really about Milly's age, though she looked muchyounger, and the other was a very shy small boy, with blue eyes andstraggling yellow hair, and a face that might have been pretty if youcould have seen it properly. But Charlie seemed to have made up his mindthat nobody ever should see it properly. However often his mother mightwash him, and she was a tidy woman, who liked to see her children lookclean and nice, Charlie was always black. His face was black, his handswere black, his pinafore was sure to be covered with black marks tenminutes after he had put it on. Do what you would to him, it was no use, Charlie always looked as if he had just come out of the coal-hole. 

"Well, Bessie, " said Mrs. Norton to the little girl, "is your motherin?"

"Naw, " said Bessie, without taking her fingers out of her mouth. 

"Oh, I'm sorry for that. Do you know when she's likely to be in?"

"Naw, " said Bessie again, beginning to eat her pinafore as well as herfingers. Meanwhile Charlie had been creeping behind Bessie to get out ofOlly's way; for Olly, who always wanted to make friends, was trying toshake hands with him, and Charlie was dreadfully afraid that he wantedto kiss him too. 

"What a pity, " said Mrs. Norton, "I wanted to ask her a question. Comeaway, Olly, and don't tease Charlie if he doesn't want to shake hands. Can you remember, Bessie, to tell your mother that I came to see her?"

"Yis, " said Bessie. 

"And can you remember, too, to ask her if she will let you and Charliecome down to tea with Miss Milly and Master Olly, this afternoon, atfive o'clock?"

"Yis, " said Bessie, getting shyer and shyer, and eating up her pinaforefaster than ever. 

"Good-bye, then, " said Mrs. Norton. 

"Good-bye, Bessie, " said Milly, softly, taking her hand. 

Bessie stared at her, but didn't say anything. 

Olly, having quite failed in shaking hands, was now trying to kissCharlie; but Charlie wouldn't have it at all, and every time Olly camenear, Charlie pushed him away with his little fists. This made Ollyrather cross, and he began to try with all his strength to make Charliekiss him, when suddenly Charlie got away from him, and running to a pileof logs of wood which was lying in the yard he climbed up the logs likea little squirrel, and was soon at the top of the heap, looking down onOlly, who was very much astonished. 

"Mother, _do_ let me climb up too!" entreated Olly, as Mrs. Norton tookhis hand to lead him away. "I want to climb up krick like that! Oh, dolet me try!"

"No, no, Olly! come along. We shall never get to the farm if you stayclimbing here. And you wouldn't find it as easy as Charlie does, I cantell you. "

"Why, I'm bigger than Charlie, " said Olly, pouting, as they walked away. 

"But you haven't got such stout legs; and, besides, Charlie is alwaysout of doors all day long, climbing and poking about. I daresay he cando outdoor things better than you can. You're a little town boy, youknow. "

"Charlie's got a black face, " said Olly, who was not at all pleased thatCharlie, who was smaller than he was, and dirty besides, could doanything better than he could. 

"Well, you see, he hasn't got a Nana always looking after him as youhave. "

"Hasn't he got _any_ Nana?" asked Olly, looking as if he didn'tunderstand how there could be little children without Nanas. 

"He hasn't got any nurse but his mother, and Mrs. Wheeler has a greatdeal else to do than looking after him. What would you be like, do youthink, Olly, if I had to do all the housework, and cook the dinner, andmind the baby, and there was no nurse to wash your face and hands foryou?"

"I should get just like shock-headed Peter, " said Olly, shaking his headgravely at the idea. Shock-headed Peter was a dirty little boy in one ofOlly's picture-books; but I am sure you must have heard about himalready, and must have seen the picture of him with his bushy hair, andhis terrible long nails like birds' claws. Olly was never tired ofhearing about him, and about all the other children in thatpicture-book. 

"What a funny little girl Bessie is, mother!" said Milly. "Do theyalways say _Naw_ and _Yis_ in this country, instead of saying No andYes, like we do?"

"Well, most of the people that live here do, " said Mrs. Norton. "Theirway of talking sounds odd and queer at first, Milly, but when you getused to it you will like it as I do, because it seems like a part of themountains. "

All this time they had been climbing up a steep path behind thegardener's house, and now Mr. Norton opened a door in a high wall, andlet the children into a beautiful kitchen-garden made on the mountainside, so that when they looked down from the gate they could see thechimneys of Ravensnest just below them. Inside there were all kinds offruit and vegetables, but gooseberry bushes and the strawberries hadnothing but green gooseberries and white strawberries to show, to Olly'sgreat disappointment. 

"Why aren't the strawberries red, mother?" he asked in a discontentedvoice, as if it must be somebody's fault that they weren't red. "Ours athome were ripe. "

"Well, Olly, I suppose the strawberries know best. All I can tell youis, that things always get ripe here later than at Willingham. Theirsummer begins a little later than ours does, and so everything getspushed on a little. But there will be plenty by-and-by. And suppose justnow, instead of looking at the strawberries, you give just one look atthe mountains. Count how many you can see all round. "

"One, two, three, five, " counted Olly. "What great big humps! Should webe able to touch the sky if we got up to the top of that one, mother?"and he pointed to a great blue mountain where the clouds seemed to beresting on the top. 

"Well, if you were up there just now, you would be all among the clouds, and it would seem like a white fog all round you. So you would betouching the clouds at any rate. "

Olly opened his eyes very wide at the idea of touching the clouds. 

"Why, mother, we can't touch the clouds at home!"

"That comes of living in a country as flat as a pancake, " said Mr. Norton. "Just you wait till we can buy a tame mountain, and carry it toWillingham with us. Then we'll put it down in the middle of the garden, and the clouds will come down to sit on the top of it just as they dohere. But now, who can scramble over that gate?"

For the gate at the other end of the garden was locked, and as thegardener couldn't be found, everybody had to scramble over, motherincluded. However, Mr. Norton helped them all over, and then they foundthemselves on a path running along the green mountain side. On theywent, through pretty bits of steep hay-fields, where the grass seemedall clover and moon-daisies, till presently they came upon a smallhunched-up house, with a number of sheds on one side of it and akitchen-garden in front. This was Uncle Richard's farm; a very tinyfarm, where a man called John Backhouse lived, with his wife and twolittle girls and a baby-boy. Except just in the hay-time, John Backhousehad no men to help him, and he and his wife had to do all the work, tolook after the sheep, and the cows, the pigs, the horse, and thechickens, to manage the garden and the hayfield, and to take the butterand milk to the people who wanted to buy it. When their children grew upand were able to help, Backhouse and his wife would be able to do it allvery well; but just now, when they were still quite small, it was veryhard work; it was all the farmer and his wife could do to make enough tokeep themselves and their children fed and clothed. 

Milly and Olly were very anxious to see the farmer's children and lookedout for them in the garden as they walked up to the house, but therewere no signs of them. The door was opened by Mrs. Backhouse, thefarmer's wife, who held a fair-haired baby in her arms sucking a greatcrust of brown bread, and when Mr. And Mrs. Norton had shaken hands withher--"I'm sure, ma'am, I'm very pleased to see you here, " said Mrs. Backhouse. "John told me you were come (only Mrs. Backhouse said'coom'), and Becky and Tiza went down with their father when he took themilk this morning, hoping they would catch a sight of your children. They have been just wild to see them, but I told them they weren'tlikely to be up at that time in the morning. "

"Where are they now?" asked Mrs. Norton. "Mine have been looking out forthem as we came along. "

"Well, ma'am, I can't say, unless they're in the cherry-tree. Becky!Tiza!"

A faint "Yis" came from the other end of the garden, but still Milly andOlly could see nothing but a big cherry-tree growing where the voiceseemed to come from. 

"You go along that path, missy, and call again. You'll be sure to findthem, " said Mrs. Backhouse, pointing to the tree. "And won't you comein, ma'am, and rest a bit? You'll be maybe tired with walking this hotday. "

So Mr. And Mrs. Norton went into the farmhouse, and the children wenthand-in-hand down the garden, looking for Becky and Tiza. 

Suddenly, as they came close to the cherry-tree, they heard a laugh anda little scuffling, and looking up, what should they see but two littlegirls perched up on one of the cherry-tree branches, one of them sewing, the other nursing a baby kitten. Both of them had coloured printbonnets, but the smaller had taken hers off and was rolling the kittenup in it. The little girl sewing had a sensible, sober face; as for theother, she could not have looked sober if she had tried for a week ofSundays. It made you laugh only to look at Tiza. From the top of hercurly head to the soles of her skipping little feet, she was thesauciest, merriest, noisiest creature. It was she who was always playingtricks on the cows and the horse, and the big sheep-dogs; who likednothing so well as teasing Becky and dressing up the kittens, and whowas always tumbling into the milkpail, or rolling downstairs, or losingherself in the woods, without somehow ever coming to any harm. If sheand Olly had been left alone in the world together they _must_ have cometo a bad end, but luckily each of them had wiser people to take care ofthem. 

"Becky, " said Milly, shyly, looking up into the tree, "will you comedown and say how do you do to us?"

Becky stuck her needle in her work and scrambled down with a red shyface to shake hands; but Tiza, instead of coming down, only climbed alittle higher, and peeped at the others between the branches. 

"We came down to the house when fayther took the milk this morning, "said Becky. "We thought maybe we'd see you in the garden. Only Tiza saidshe'd run away if she did see you. "

"Why doesn't Tiza come down?" asked Olly, looking hard up into the tree. "I want to see her. "

Thump! What was that rattling down on Olly's head? He looked down at hisfeet very much astonished, and saw a bunch of green cherries which Tizahad just thrown at him. 

"Throw some more! Throw some more!" he cried out, and Tiza began to pelthim fast, while Olly ran here and there picking them up, and every nowand then trying to throw them back at Tiza; but she was too high up forhim to reach, and they only came rattling about his head again. 

"She won't come down, " said Becky, looking up at her sister. "Maybe shewon't speak to you for two or three days. And if you run after her shehides in such queer places you can never find her. "

"But mother wants you and her to come to tea with us this afternoon, "said Milly; "won't Tiza come?"

"I suppose mother'll make her, " said Becky, "but she doesn't like it. Have you been on the fell?"

Milly looked puzzled. "Do you mean on the mountain? No, not yet. We'regoing to-morrow when we go to Aunt Emma's. But we've been to the riverwith father. "

"Did you go over the stepping-stones?"

"No, " said Milly, "I don't know what they are. Can we go this eveningafter tea?"

"Oh yes, " said Becky, "they're just close by your house. Does yourmother let you go in the water?"

Now Becky said a great many of these words very funnily, so that Millycould hardly understand her. She said "doos" and "oop, " and "knaw, " and"jist, " and "la-ike, " but it sounded quite pretty from her soft littlemouth, and Milly thought she had a very nice way of talking. 

"No, mother doesn't let us go in the water here, at least, not unlessit's very warm. We paddle when we go to the sea, and some day fathersays we may have our bath in the river if it's very fine. "

"We never have a bath in the river, " said Becky, looking very muchastonished at the idea. 

"Do you have your bath in the nursery like we do?" asked Milly. 

"We haven't got a nursery, " said Becky, staring at her, "mother puts usin the toob on Saturday nights. I don't mind it but Tiza doesn't like ita bit. Sometimes she hides when it's Saturday night, so that mothercan't find her till it's too late. "

"Don't you have a bath except on Saturday?" said Milly. "Olly and I haveone every morning. Mother says we should get like shock-headed Peter ifwe didn't. "

"I don't know about him, " said Becky, shaking her head. 

"He's a little boy in a picture-book. I'll show him you when you come totea. But there's mother calling. Come along, Olly. Tiza won't come downBecky says. "

"She's a very rude girl, " said Olly, who was rather hot and tired withhis game, and didn't think it was all fun that Tiza should always hithim and he should never be able to hit Tiza. "I won't sit next her whenshe comes to tea with us. "

"Tiza's only in fun, " said Becky, "she's always like that. Tiza, are youcoming down? I am going to get baby out, I heard him crying just now. "

"May you take baby out all by yourself?" asked Milly. 

"Why, I always take him out, and I put him to sleep at nights; andmother says he won't go to sleep for anybody as quick as for me, " saidBecky proudly. 

Milly felt a good deal puzzled. It _must_ be funny to have no Nana. 

"Will you and he, " said Becky, pointing to Olly, "come up this afternoonand help us call the cows?"

"If we may, " said Milly; "who calls them?"

"Tiza and I, " answered Becky; "when I'm a big girl I shall learn how tomilk, but fayther says I'm too little yet. "

"I wish I lived at a farm, " said Milly disconsolately. 

Becky didn't quite know what to say to this, so she began to call Tizaagain. 

"Swish!" went something past them as quick as lightning. It was Tizarunning to the house. Olly set out to run after her as fast as he couldrun, but he came bang up against his mother standing at the farmhousedoor, just as Tiza got safely in and was seen no more. 

"Ah, you won't catch Tiza, master, " said Mrs. Backhouse, patting hishead; "she's a rough girl, always at some tricks or other--we think sheought to have been a boy, really. "

"Mother, isn't Becky very nice?" said Milly, as they walked away. "Hermother lets her do such a lot of things--nurse the baby, and call thecows, and make pinafores. Oh, I wish father was a farmer. "

"Well, it's not a bad kind of life when the sun shines, and everythingis going right, " said Mrs. Norton; "but I think you had better wait alittle bit till the rain comes before you quite make up your mind aboutit, Milly. "

But Milly was quite sure she knew enough about it already to make up hermind, and all the way home she kept saying to herself, "If I could onlyturn into a little farmer's girl! Why don't people have fairy godmothersnow like Cinderella?"

CHAPTER IV

OUT ON THE HILLS

Milly and Olly, and the four little Westmoreland children, had a verypleasant tea together in the afternoon of the Nortons's first day atRavensnest. Bessie and Charlie certainly didn't talk much; but Tiza, when once her mother had made her come, thought proper to get rid of agreat deal of her shyness, and to chatter and romp so much that theyquite fell in love with her, and could not be persuaded to go anywhereor do anything without her. Nurse would not let Milly and Olly go tocall the cows, though she promised they should some other day; but shetook the whole party down to the stepping-stones after tea, and greatfun it was to see Becky and Tiza running over the stepping-stones, andjumping from one stone to another like little fawns. Milly and Ollywanted sorely to go too, but there was no persuading Nana to let them gowithout their father to fish them out if they tumbled in, so they had tocontent themselves with dangling their legs over the firststepping-stone and watching the others. But perhaps you don't quiteknown what stepping-stones are? They are large high stones, with flattops, which people put in, a little way apart from each other, rightacross a river, so that by stepping from one to the other you can crossto the opposite side. Of course they only do for little rivers, wherethe water isn't very deep. And they don't always do even there. Sometimes in the river Thora, where Milly and Olly's stepping-stoneswere, when it rained very much, the water rose so high that it dashedright over the stepping-stones and nobody could go across. Milly andOlly saw the stepping-stones covered with water once or twice while theywere at Ravensnest; but the first evening they saw them the river wasvery low, and the stones stood up high and dry out of the water. Millythought that stepping-stones were much nicer than bridges, and that itwas the most amusing and interesting way of getting across a river thatshe knew. But then Milly was inclined to think everything wonderful andinteresting at Ravensnest--from the tall mountains that seemed to shutthem in all around like a wall, down to the tiny gleaming wildstrawberries, that were just beginning to show their little scarletballs on the banks in the Ravensnest woods. Both she and Olly went tobed after their first day at Ravensnest with their little hearts full ofhappiness, and their little heads full of plans. To-morrow they were togo to Aunt Emma's, and perhaps the day after that father would take themto bathe in the river, and nurse would let them go and help Becky andTiza call the cows. Holidays _were_ nice; still geography lessons werenice too sometimes, thought Milly sleepily, just as she was slipping, slipping away into dreamland, and in her dreams her faithful littlethoughts went back lovingly to Fräulein's kind old face, and to thecapes and islands and seas she had been learning about a week ago. 

[Illustration: "The flowers Milly gathered for her mother"]

The next morning Mr. And Mrs. Norton were busy indoors till about twelveo'clock; and the children wandered about the garden with nurse, findingout many new nooks and corners, especially a delightful steep path whichled up and up into the woods, till at last it took the children to alittle brown summer-house at the top, where they could sit and look overthe trees below, away to the river and the hay-fields and the mountains. And between the stones and this path grew the prettiest wildstrawberries, only, as Milly said, it was not much good looking for themyet, for there were so few red ones you could scarcely get enough totaste what they were like. But in a week or two, she and Olly plannedthat they would take up a basket with some green leaves in it, andgather a lot for father and mother--enough for regular dessert--and somewild raspberries too, for these also grew in the wood, to the greatdelight of the children, who had never seen any before. They began tofeel presently as if it would be nothing very extraordinary to findtrees covered with barley sugar or jam tarts in this wonderful wood. Andas for the flowers Milly gathered for her mother, they were a sight tosee--moon-daisies and meadow-sweet, wild roses and ragged-robins, andbright bits of rhododendrons. For both the woods and the garden atRavensnest were full of rhododendrons of all colours, pink and red, andwhite and flame colour; and Milly and Olly amused themselves with makingup bunches of different coloured flowers with as many different coloursin them as they could find. There were no rhododendrons at Willingham;and the children thought them the loveliest, gayest things they had everseen. 

But at last twelve o'clock came. Nurse tidied the children, gave themsome biscuits and milk, and then sent them to the drawing-room to findfather and mother. Only Mrs. Norton was there, but she said there was noneed to wait for father, as he was out already and would meet them onthe way. They were to go straight over the mountain instead of walkinground by the road, which would have taken much longer. So off theyset--Olly skipping, and chattering as he always did; while Milly stuckclose to her mother, telling her every now and then, when Olly left offtalking, about their morning in the wood, the flowers they had gatheredand the strawberries they had found. At the top of the garden was alittle gate, and beside the gate stood Bessie and Charlie, who hadreally been watching for the children all the morning, though theydidn't dare to come into the garden without leave. 

"Bessie, we are going to Aunt Emma's, " said Milly, running up to them. "Where are you and Charlie going to?"

"Nawhere, " said Bessie, who, as usual, had her pinafore in her mouth, and never said more than one word at a time if she could help it. 

"Nowhere! what do you do all the morning, Bessie?"

"I doan't know, " said Bessie, gravely looking up at her; "sometimes Imind the baby. "

"Do you mind the baby, too? Dear, dear! And what does Charlie do?"

"Nawthing, " said Bessie again. "He only makes himself dirty. "

"Don't you go to school ever?"

"No, but mother's going to send us, " said Bessie, whose big eyes grewround and frightened at the idea, as if it was a dreadful prospect. "Areyou going to be away for all day?"

"Yes; we shan't be back till quite evening, mother says. Here she is. Good-bye, Bessie; good-bye, Charlie. Will you come and play with usto-morrow morning?"

Bessie nodded, but Charlie ran off without answering; for he saw Ollycoming, and was afraid he might want to kiss him. On the other side ofthe gate they had to begin to climb up a steep bit of soft green grass;and very hard work it was. After quite a little way the children beganto puff and pant like two little steam engines. 

"It _is_ a little bit like going upstairs, don't you think, Olly?" saidMilly, sitting down by her mother on a flat bit of gray stone. 

"No, it isn't a bit like going upstairs, " said Olly, shaking his head;for Olly always liked contradicting Milly if he could. "It's like--it'slike--walking up a house!"

Suddenly they heard far above them a shout of "Hullo!" Both the childrenstarted up and looked about them. It was like father's voice, but theycouldn't see him anywhere. 

"Where are you, father?"

"Hullo!" again. And this time it sounded much nearer to them. Wherecould it be? The children began to run about and look behind the bushesand the rocks, till all of a sudden, just as Milly got near a big rock, out jumped Mr. Norton from behind it with a great shout, and began torun after her. Away ran Milly and Olly as fast as their small feet couldcarry them, up and down, up and down, till at last there came a steepplace--one of Milly's feet tripped up, down she went, rolling over andover--down came Olly on the top of her, and the two of them rolled awaytogether till they stopped at the bottom of the steep place, all mixedup in a heap of legs and arms and hats and pinafores. 

"Here's a boy and girl tied up in a knot, " said Mr. Norton, scramblingdown after them and lifting them up. "There's no harm done, is there?"

"I've got a bump on my arm, " said Milly, turning up her sleeve. 

"And I've got a scratch on my nose, " said Olly, rubbing it. 

"That's not much for a nice tumble like that, " said Mr. Norton, "youwouldn't mind another, would you, Milly?"

"Not a bit, " said Milly, merrily skipping along beside him. "Hide again, father. "

"Another day, not now, for we want to get to Aunt Emma's. But tomorrow, if you like, we'll come up here and have a capital game. Only we mustchoose a nice dry place where there are no bogs. "

"What are bogs?" asked Olly. 

"Wet places, where your feet go sinking deeper and deeper into the mud, and you can't find any stiff firm bit to stand on. Sometimes people sinkdown and down into a bog till the mud comes right over their head andface and chokes them; but we haven't got any bogs as bad as that here. Now, children, step along in front. Very soon we shall get to the top ofthe mountain, and then we shall see wonderful things on the other side. "

So Milly and Olly ran on, pushing their way through the great tall fern, or scampering over the short green grass where the little mountain sheepwere nibbling, and where a beautiful creeping moss grew all over theground, which, mother told Milly, was called "Stags' horn moss, " becauseits little green branches were so like stags' horns. 

"Now look, children, " shouted their father to them from behind. "Here weare at the top. "

And then, all of a sudden, instead of only the green mountain and thesheep, they could see far away on the other side of the mountain. There, all round them, were numbers of other mountains; and below, at theirfeet, were houses and trees and fields, while straight in front lay agreat big blue lake stretching away ever so far, till it seemed to belost in the sky. 

"Look, look, mother!" cried Milly, clapping her hands, "there'sWindermere lake, the lake we saw when we were coming from the station. Look at that steamer, with all the people on board! What funny littleblack people. And oh, mother, look at that little boat over there! Howcan people go out in such a weeny boat as that?"

"It isn't such a weeny boat, Milly. It only looks so small because it'ssuch a long way off. When father and I take you and Olly on the lake, weshall go in a boat just like that. And now, instead of looking so faraway, look just down here below you, and tell me what you see. "

"Some chimneys, and some trees, and some smoke, ever so far down, "shouted the children. "Is it a house, mother?"

"That's Aunt Emma's house, the old house where I used to come and staywhen I was a little girl, and when your dear great-grandfather andgreat-grandmother were alive. I used to think it the nicest place in theworld. "

"Were you a very little girl, mother, and were you ever naughty?" askedMilly, slipping her little hand into her mother's and beginning to feelrather tired with her long walk. 

"I'm afraid I was very often naughty, Milly. I used to get into greatrages and scream, till everybody was quite tired out. But Aunt Emma wasvery good to me, and took a great deal of pains to cure me of going intorages. Besides, it always did naughty children good to live in the samehouse with great-grandmamma, and so after a while I got better. Takecare how you go, children, it's very steep just here, and you might soontumble over on your noses. Olly, take care! take care! where _are_ yougoing?"

Where, indeed, was Olly going? Just the moment before the little man hadspied a lovely flower growing a little way off the path, in the middleof some bright yellow-green moss. And without thinking of anything butgetting it, off he rushed. But oh! splish, splash, splish, down wentOlly's feet, up splashed the muddy water, and there was Olly stuck in abog. 

"Father, pull me out, pull me out!" cried the little boy in terror, ashe felt his feet stuck fast. But almost before he could speak there wasfather close beside him, standing on a round little hump of dry grasswhich was sticking up out of the bog, and with one grip he got hold ofOlly under his arm, and then jump! on to another little hump of grass, jump! on to another, and there they were safe on the path again. 

"Oh, you black boy!" cried father and mother and Milly all together. Wasthere ever such a little object! All his nice clean holland frock wassplashed with black mud; and what had happened to his stockings?

"I've got mud-stockings on, " shouted Olly, capering about, and pointingto his legs which were caked with mud up to his knees. 

"You're a nice respectable boy to take out to dinner, " said Mrs. Norton. "I think we'll leave you on the mountain to have dinner with the sheep. "

"Oh no, father, " pleaded Milly, taking Olly fast by the hand. "We canwash him at Aunt Emma's, you know. "

"Don't go too close to him, Milly!" exclaimed Mrs. Norton, "or you'llget as black as he is. We shall have to put him under the pump at AuntEmma's, that's quite certain. But there's nothing to wash him with here, so he must just go as he is for a bit. Now, Olly, run along and yourfeet will soon dry. Father's going first, you go next, just where hegoes, I'm coming after you, and Milly shall go last. Perhaps in that waywe shall get you down safe. "

"Oh, but, mother, look at my flower, " said Olly, holding it uptriumphantly. "Isn't it a beauty?"

"Shall I tell you what it's called, Olly? It's called a butterwort, andit always grows in boggy places; I wouldn't advise you to go after oneagain without asking father first. "

It was a very different thing going down the mountain from climbing upit. It seemed only a few minutes before they had got almost to thebottom, and there was a gate leading into a road, and a little villageof white houses in front of them. They walked up the road a little way, and then father opened a big gate and let them into a beautiful gardenfull of rhododendrons like the Ravensnest garden. And who was thiswalking down the drive to meet them? Such a pretty little elderly lady, with gray hair and a white cap. 

"Dear Aunt Emma!" said Mrs. Norton, running up to her and taking bothher hands and kissing her. 

"Well, Lucy, " said the little lady, holding her hands and looking at her(Lucy was Mrs. Norton's Christian name), "it _is_ nice to see you allhere. And there's dear little Milly, I remember her. But where's Olly?I've never seen that small creature, you know. Come, Olly, don't be shy. Little boys are never shy with Aunt Emma. "

"Except when they tumble into bogs, " said Mr. Norton, laughing andpulling Olly forward, who was trying to hide his mud-stockings behindhis mother. "There's a clean tidy boy to bring to dinner, isn't he, AuntEmma? I think I'll take him to the yard and pump on him a little beforewe bring him in. "

Aunt Emma put up her spectacles to look at Olly. 

"Why, Olly, I think Mother Quiverquake has been catching hold of you. Don't you know about old Mother Quiverquake, who lives in the bogs? Oh, I can tell you splendid stories about her some day. But now catch holdof my hand, and keep your little legs away from my dress, and we'll soonmake a proper boy of you again. "

And then Aunt Emma took one of Milly's hands and one of Olly's, and upthey went to the house. But I must start another chapter before I beginto tell you what the children saw in Aunt Emma's house, and of the happytime they spent there. 

CHAPTER V

AUNT EMMA'S PICNIC

Instead of taking them straight into the house, however, Aunt Emma tookthe children up a little shady path which very soon brought them to awhite cottage covered with honeysuckle and climbing roses. 

"This is where my coachman's wife lives, " said Aunt Emma, "and she ownsa small boy who might perhaps find you a pair of stockings, Olly, to puton while your own are washed. "

Olly opened his brown eyes very wide at the idea of wearing some otherlittle boy's stockings, but he said nothing. 

Aunt Emma tapped at the door, and out came a stout kind-looking woman. 

"Mrs. Tyson, do you think your Johnny could lend my little nephew a pairof his stockings while we get his own washed? Master Olly has beentumbling into a bog by way of making friends with the mountains, and Idon't quite know how I am to let those legs into my dining-room. "

"Dear me, ma'am, but Johnny'll be proud if he's got any clean, but I'llnot answer for it. Won't ye come in?"

In they walked, and there was a nice tidy kitchen, with a wooden cradlein the corner, and a little fair-haired boy sitting by it and rockingthe baby. This was Johnny, and Olly looked at him with great curiosity. "I've got bigger legs than Johnny, " he whispered solemnly at last toAunt Emma, while they were waiting for Mrs. Tyson, who had gone upstairsto fetch the stockings. 

"Perhaps you eat more bread and milk than Johnny does, " said Aunt Emma, very solemnly too, "However, most likely Johnny's stockings willstretch. How's the baby, Johnny?"

"She's a great deal better, ma'am, " said the little boy, smiling at her. Milly and Olly made him feel shy, but he loved Aunt Emma. 

"Have you been taking care of her all the morning for mother?"

"Yes, ma'am, and she's never cried but once, " said Johnny proudly. 

"Well done! Ah! there comes Mrs. Tyson. Now, Olly, sit up on that chair, and we'll see to you. "

Off came the dirty stockings, and Mrs. Tyson slipped on a pair of woolensocks that tickled Olly very much. They were very thick, and not a bitlike his own stockings; and when he got up again he kept turning roundand round to look at his legs, as if he couldn't make them out. 

"Do they feel funny to you?" said Mrs. Tyson, patting his shoulder. "Never you mind, little master; I know they're nice and warm, for Iknitted them myself. "

"Mother buys our stockings in the shop, " said Olly, when they gotoutside again; "why doesn't Mrs. Tyson?"

"Perhaps we haven't so many shops, or such nice ones here, Olly, as youhave at Willingham; and the people here have always been used to do agreat many things for themselves. Some of them live in such lonelyplaces among the mountains that it is very difficult for them to get toany shops. Not very long ago the mothers used to make all the stuffs fortheir own dresses and their children's. What would you say, Milly, ifmother had to weave the stuff for it every time you had a new dress?"

"Mother wouldn't give me a great many new dresses, " said Milly, gravely, shaking her head. "I like shops best, Aunt Emma. "

"Well, I suppose it's best to like what we've got, " said Aunt Emma, laughing. 

Indoors, Olly's muddy stockings were given to Aunt Emma's maid, whopromised to have them washed and dried by the time they had to go home, and then, when Mrs. Norton had covered up the black spots on his frockwith a clean pinafore she had brought with her, Olly looked quiterespectable again. 

The children thought they had never seen quite such a nice house as AuntEmma's. First of all it had a large hall, with all kinds of corners init, just made for playing hide-and-seek in; and the drawing-room wasfull of the most delightful things. There were stuffed birds in cases, and little ivory chessmen riding upon ivory elephants. There werepicture-books, and there were mysterious drawers full of cards andpuzzles, and glass marbles and old-fashioned toys, that the children'smother and aunts and uncles, and their great-aunts and uncles beforethat, had loved and played with years and years ago. On the wall hung agreat many pictures, some of them of funny little stiff boys in bluecoats with brass buttons, and some of them of little girls with mob-capsand mittens, and these little boys and girls were all either dead now, or elderly men and women, for they were the great-aunts and uncles; andover the mantelpiece hung a picture of a lovely old lady, with bright, soft brown hair and smiling eyes and lips, that looked as if they werejust going to speak to the two strange little children who had come fortheir first visit to their mother's old home. Milly knew quite well thatit was a picture of great-grandmamma. She had seen others like itbefore, only not so large as this one, and she looked at it quietly, with her grave blue eyes, while Olly was eagerly wandering round theroom, spying into everything, and longing to touch this, that, and theother, if only mother would let go his hand. 

"You know who that is, don't you, little woman?" said Aunt Emma, takingher up on her knee. 

"Yes, " said Milly, nodding, "it's great-grandmamma. I wish we could haveseen her. "

"I wish you could, Milly. She would have smiled at you as she is smilingin the picture and you would have been sure to have loved her; alllittle children did. I can remember seeing your mother, Milly, when shewas about as old as you, cuddled up in a corner of that sofa over there, in 'grandmamma's pocket, ' as she used to call it, listening with all herears to great-grandmamma's stories. There was one story called 'Leonora'that went on for years and years, till all the little children init--and the little children who listened to it--were almost grown up;and then great-grandmamma always carried about with her a wonderfulblue-silk bag full of treasures, which we used to be allowed to turn outwhenever any of us had been quite good at our lessons for a whole week. "

"Mother has a bag like that, " said Milly; "it has lots of little toys init that father had when he was a little boy. She lets us look at it onour birthdays. Can you tell stories, Aunt Emma?"

"Tell us about old Mother Quiverquake, " cried Olly, running up andclimbing on his aunt's knee. 

"Oh dear, no!" said Aunt Emma; "it's much too fine to-day forstories--indoors, at any rate. Wait till we get a real wet day, and thenwe'll see. After dinner to-day, what do you think we're going to do?Suppose we have a row on the lake to get water-lilies, and suppose wetake a kettle and make ourselves some tea on the other side of the lake. What would you say to that, Master Olly?"

The children began to dance about with delight at the idea of a row anda picnic both together, when suddenly there was a knock at the door, andwhen Aunt Emma said, "Come in!" what do you think appeared? Why, a greatgreen cage, carried by a servant, and in it a gray parrot, swingingabout from side to side, and cocking his head wickedly, first over oneshoulder and then over the other. 

"Now, children, " said Aunt Emma, while the children stood quite stillwith surprise, "let me introduce you to my old friend, Mr. Poll Parrot. Perhaps you thought I lived all alone in this big house. Not at all. Here is somebody who talks to me when I talk to him, who sings andchatters and whistles and cheers me up wonderfully in the winterevenings, when the rains come and make me feel dull. Put him down here, Margaret, " said Aunt Emma to the maid, clearing a small table for thecage. "Now, Olly, what do you think of my parrot?"

"Can it talk?" asked Olly, looking at it with very wide open eyes. 

"It _can_ talk; whether it _will_ talk is quite another thing. Parrotsare contradictious birds. I feel very often as if I should like to beatPolly, he's so provoking. Now, Polly, how are you to-day?"

"Polly's got a bad cold; fetch the doc--" said the bird at once, in sucha funny cracked voice, that it made Olly jump as if he had heard one ofthe witches in Grimm's "Fairy Tales" talking. 

"Come, Polly, that's very well behaved of you; but you mustn't leave offin the middle, begin again. Olly, if you don't keep your fingers out ofthe way Polly will snap them up for his dinner. Parrots like fingersvery much. " Olly put his hands behind his back in a great hurry, andmother came to stand behind him to keep him quiet. By this time, however, Polly had begun to find out that there were some new people inthe room he didn't know, and for a long time Aunt Emma could not makehim talk at all. He would do nothing but put his head first on one sideand then on the other and make angry clicks with his beak. 

"Come, Polly, " said Aunt Emma, "what a cross parrot you are. One--two--three--four. Now, Polly, count. "

"Polly's got a bad cold, fetch the doc--" said Polly again while AuntEmma was speaking. "One--two--six--seven--eight--nine--two--_Quick_march!"

And then Polly began to lift first one claw and then the other as if hewere marching, while the children shouted with laughter at hisridiculous ways and his gruff cracked voice. 

Then Aunt Emma went behind him and rapped gently on the table. Theparrot stopped marching, stuck his head on one side and listened. AuntEmma rapped again. 

"Come in!" said the parrot suddenly, quite softly, as if he had turnedinto quite another person. "Hush--sh--sh, cat's got a mouse!"

"Well, Polly, " said Aunt Emma, "I suppose she may have a mouse if shelikes. Is that all you've got to tell us? Polly, where's gardener?"

"Get away! get away!" screamed Polly, while all his feathers began tostand up straight, and his eyes looked fierce and red like two littlelive coals. 

"That always makes him cross, " said Aunt Emma; "he can't bear gardener. Come, Polly, don't get in such a temper. "

"Oh, isn't he like the witches on the broom-sticks in our fairy-book, Olly?" cried Milly. "Don't you think, Aunt Emma, he must have beenchanged into something? Perhaps he was a wicked witch once, or amagician, you know, and the fairies changed him into a parrot. "

"Well, Milly, I can't say. He was a parrot when I had him first, twelveyears ago. That's all I know about it. But I believe he's very old. Somepeople say he's older than I am--think of that! So you see he's had timeto be a good many things. Well, Polly, good-night. You're not a nicebird to-night at all. Take him away, Margaret. "

"Jane! Jane!" screamed Polly, as the maid lifted up the cage again. "Make haste, Jane! cat's in the larder!"

"Oh, you bad Polly, " said Aunt Emma, "you're always telling tales. Jane's my cook, Milly, and Polly doesn't like cats, so you see he triesto make Jane believe that our old cat steals the meat out of the larder. Good-bye, Polly, good-bye. You're an ill-natured old bird, but I'm veryfond of you all the same. "

"Do get us a parrot, mother!" said Olly, jumping about round his mother, when Polly was gone. 

"How many more things will you want before you get home, Olly, do youthink?" asked his mother, kissing him. "Perhaps you'll want to take homea few mountains, and two or three little rivers, and a bog or two, and afew sheep--eh, young man?"

By this time dinner was ready, and there was the dinner-bell ringing. Upran the children to Aunt Emma's room to get their hands washed and theirhair brushed, and presently there were two tidy little folks sitting oneither side of Aunt Emma's chair, and thinking to themselves that theyhad never felt quite so hungry before. But hungry as Milly was shedidn't forget to look out of the window before she began her dinner, andit was worth while looking out of the window in Aunt Emma's dining-room. 

Before the windows was a green lawn, like the lawn at Ravensnest, onlythis lawn went sloping away, away till there was just a little rim ofwhite beach, and then beyond came the wide, dancing blue lake, that thechildren had seen from the top of the mountain. Here it was close tothem, so close that Milly could hear the little waves plashing, throughthe open window. 

"Milly, " whispered Aunt Emma when they were all waiting for pudding, "doyou see that little house down there by the water's edge? That's wherethe boat lives--we call it a boathouse. Do you think you'll befrightened of the water, little woman?"

"No, I don't think so, " said Milly, shaking her little wise headgravely. "I am frightened sometimes, very. Mother calls me a littlegoose because I run away from Jenny sometimes--that's our cow at home, Aunt Emma, but then she's got such long horns, and I can't help feelingafraid. "

"Well, the lake hasn't got horns, Milly, " said Aunt Emma, laughing, "soperhaps you will manage not to be afraid of it. "

How kind and nice Aunt Emma looked as she sat between the children, withher pretty soft gray hair, and her white cap and large white collar. Mrs. Norton could not help thinking of the times when she was a littlegirl, and used always to insist on sitting by Aunt Emma at dinner-time. That was before Aunt Emma's hair had turned gray. And now here were herown little children sitting where she used to sit at their age, andstealing their small hands into Aunt Emma's lap as she used to do solong ago. 

After dinner the children had to sit quiet in the drawing-room for atime, while Aunt Emma and father and mother talked; but they hadpicture-books to look at, and Aunt Emma gave them leave to turn outeverything in one of the toy-drawers, and that kept them busy and happyfor a long time. But at last, just when Olly was beginning to get tiredof the drawer, Aunt Emma called to them from the other end of the roomto come with her into the kitchen for a minute. Up jumped the childrenand ran after their aunt across the hall into the kitchen. 

"Now, children, " said Aunt Emma, pointing to a big basket on the kitchentable, "suppose you help me to pack up our tea-things. Olly, you go andfetch the spoons, and, Milly, bring the plates one by one. "

The tea things were all piled up on the kitchen table, and the childrenbrought them one after another to Aunt Emma to pack them carefully intothe big basket. 

"Ain't I a useful boy, Aunt Emma?" asked Olly proudly, coming up ladenwith a big table-cloth which he could scarcely carry. 

"Very useful, Olly, though our table-cloth won't look over tidy at teaif you crumple it up like that. Now, Milly, bring me that tray of breadand the little bundle of salt; and, Olly, bring me that bit of butterover there, done up in the green leaves, but mind you carry itcarefully. Now for some knives too; and there are the cups and saucers, Milly, look, in that corner; and there is the cake all ready cut up, andthere is the bread and butter. Now have we got everything? Everything, Ithink, but the kettle, and some wood and some matches, and these must goin another basket. "

"Aunt Emma, " said Milly, creeping up close to her, "were you ever afairy godmother?"

"Not that I know of, Milly. Would you like me better if I had a wand anda pair of pet dragons, like old Fairy Blackstick?"

"No, " said Milly, stroking her aunt's hand, "but you do such nicethings, just like fairy godmothers do. "

"Do I, little woman? Aunt Emma likes doing nice things for goodchildren. But now come along, it's quite time we were off. Let us goand fetch father and mother. Gardener will bring the baskets. "

Such a merry party they were, trooping down to the boathouse. There laythe boat; a pretty new boat, painted dark blue, with a little red flagfloating at her bows, and her name, "Ariel, " written in large whiteletters on the stern. And all around the boathouse stretched thebeautiful blue water, so clear and sunny and sparkling that it dazzledMilly's eyes to look at it. She and Olly were lifted into the boatbeside Aunt Emma and mother, father sat in the middle and took the oars, while gardener put the baskets into the stern, and then, untying therope which kept the boat tied into the boathouse, he gave it a good pushwith one hand and off she went out into the blue lake, rising up anddown on the water like a swan. 

"Oh! mother, mother, look up there, " shouted Olly, "there's themountain. Isn't that where we climbed up this morning?"

Yes, there it was, the beautiful green rocky mountain, rising up aboveAunt Emma's house. They could see it all so clearly as they got fartherout into the lake; first the blue sky, then the mountain with the littlewhite dots on it, which Milly knew were sheep; then some trees, and infront, Aunt Emma's house with the lawn and the boathouse. And as theylooked all round them they could see far bigger and grander mountainsthan Brownholme, some near and green like Brownholme, and some far awayand blue like the sky, while down by the edge of the lake were hayfieldsfull of flowers, or bits of rock with trees growing on the top of them. The children hardly knew what it was made them so quiet; but I think itwas because everything was so beautiful. They were really in thehill-fairies' palace now. 

"Aren't there any water-fairies in this lake, mother?" whispered Milly, presently, looking down into the clear blue water, and trying to see thebottom. 

"I can't tell, Milly, I never saw any. But there used to bewater-fairies in old days. After tea suppose we ask Aunt Emma to tell usa story about a king in olden times whom the water-fairies loved; sheused to tell it to me when I was small, and I liked it best of allstories. But, Olly, you must sit still, or the boat will go tipping overto one side, and father won't be able to row. "

"Do let me row, father, " begged Olly. 

"Not yet, old man--I must get used to the boat first, and find out howto manage her, but presently you shall come and try, and so shall Millyif she likes. "

On they rowed, farther and farther from the shore, till Aunt Emma'shouse began to look quite small, and they could hardly see the gardenerworking on the lawn. 

"Father, what a long way we've come, " cried Milly, looking all round. "Where are we going to?"

"Well, presently, Milly, I am going to turn the boat a little bit, so asto make her go over to that side of the lake over there. Do you see abig rock with some trees on it, far away, sticking out into the lake?"

"Yes, " said the children, looking very hard. 

"Well, that's where we're going to have tea. It's called BirdsnestPoint, because the rocks come out in a point into the lake. But first Ithought I would bring you right out into the middle of the lake, thatyou might see how big it is, and look at the mountains all round. ""Father, " said Olly, "if a big stone fell down out of the sky and madeever such a big hole in the boat, and the water came into the hole, should we all be dead?"

"I daresay we should, Olly, for I don't think I could carry mother, andAunt Emma, and Milly, and you on my back, safe home again, and you seenone of you can swim but me. "

"Then I hope a big stone won't come, " said Milly, feeling just a littlebit frightened at Olly's suggestion. 

"Well, big stones don't grow in the sky generally, Milly, if that's anycomfort to you. But do you know, one day long ago, when I was out rowingon this lake, I thought all of a sudden I heard some one shouting andscreaming, and for a long time I looked and waited, but could seenothing; till at last I fancied I could see, a long distance off, whatlooked like a pole, with something white tied to it. And I rowed, androwed, and rowed, as fast as I could, and all the time the shouting andscreaming went on, and at last what do you think I saw? I saw a boat, which looked as if something was dragging it down into the water. Partof it had already sunk down into the lake, and in the part which wasstill above the water there were three people sitting, a gentleman, andtwo little girls who looked about ten years old. And they were shouting'Help! help!' at the top of their voices, and waving an oar with ahandkerchief tied to it. And the boat in which they sat was sinkingfarther and farther into the water, and if I had'n't come up just when Idid, the gentleman and the two little girls would have been drowned. "

"Oh, father!" cried Milly, "what made their boat do like that? And didthey get into yours?"

"There was a great hole in the bottom of their boat, Milly, and thewater was coming through it, and making the boat so heavy that it wassinking down and down into the lake, just as a stone would sink if youthrew it in. How the hole came there we never quite knew: I thought theymust have knocked their boat against a sharp rock--in some parts of thelake there are rocks under the water which you can't see--and the rockhad made the hole; but other people thought it had happened in someother way. However, there they were, and when I took them all into myboat you never saw such miserable little creatures as the two littlegirls were. They were wet through, they were as white as little ghosts, and when they were safe in my boat they began to cry and shake so, poorlittle souls, though their father and I wrapped them up in our coats, that I did want their mother to come and comfort them. "

"Oh, but, father, you took them safe home to their mother, didn't you?And do tell me what she said. "

"They had no mother, Milly, they had only their father, who was withthem. But he was very good to them, and I think on the whole they werehappy little girls. The Christmas after that I got a little parcel onemorning, and what do you think was in it? Why, two photographs of thesame little girls, looking so neat and tidy and happy, I could hardlybelieve they were really the same as the little drowned rats I hadpulled out of the water. Ask mother to show you the pictures when we gethome; she has them somewhere. Now, Olly, would you like to row?"

"Oh, father, don't bump against any rocks, " said Milly, whose thoughtswere very full of the little girls. 

"Don't you trouble your head about rocks, old woman. I know a good dealmore about this lake than those little girls' father did, and I won'ttake you into any harm. Come along, Olly. "

Olly was helped along the boat by mother and Aunt Emma till his fathercaught hold of him and pulled him on to his seat, where he let him puthis two small paws on one of the oars, and try what he could do with it. Mr. Norton pulled too; but Olly thought it was all his doing, and thatit was really he who was making the boat go. 

"Don't we go fast, father?" he cried out presently, his little faceflushed with pleasure and excitement. "You couldn't row so fast withoutme, could you, father?"

"You little fly-on-the-wheel, " said his father, smiling at him. 

"What does that mean, father?"

"Never mind, you'll know when you're bigger. But now look, children, howclose we are coming to the shore. And quick, Milly, quick! What do yousee over there?"

Mr. Norton pointed over the water to a place where some green rusheswere standing up out of the water, not very far from the edge. What werethose great white and gold things shining among the rushes; and whatwere those large round green leaves lying on the water all about them?

"Water-lilies! water-lilies!" cried Milly, stamping her little feet withdelight. "Oh, mother, look! it was on one of those leaves that the oldtoad put little Tiny in my fairy-book, don't you remember? Only thelittle fishes came and bit off the stalk and set her free. Oh, I wish wecould see little Tiny sitting on one of those leaves!"

"Well, " said Aunt Emma, "there's no saying what you may find in theseparts if you look long enough. This is a very strange country. But now, Milly, look out for the lilies. Father's going to take us in among them, and I'll hold you, while you gather them. "

And presently, swish went the boat up against the rushes, and there werethe lovely white lilies lying spread out on the water all round them, some quite open and showing their golden middles, and some still buds, with their wet green cases just falling off, and their white petalsbeginning to unclose. But what slippery stalks they had. Aunt Emma heldMilly, and father held Olly, while they dived their hands under thewater and pulled hard. And some of the lilies came out with such shortbits of stalk you could scarcely hold them, and sometimes, flop! outcame a long green stalk, like a long green snake curling and twistingabout in the boat. The children dabbled, and splashed, and pulled, totheir hearts' content, till at last Mr. Norton told them they had gotenough and now they must sit quite still while he rowed them in to theland. 

"Oh, father, just those two over there!" pleaded Milly, who could notbear leaving so many beauties behind. 

"No, Milly, no more. Look where the sun is now. If we don't make hasteand have our tea, we shall never get back to Ravensnest to-night. "

Milly's face looked as if it would like to cry, as the boat began tomove away from the rushes, and the beautiful lilies were left behind. Itold you, to begin with, that Milly was ready to cry oftener than asensible little girl should. But Aunt Emma was not going to have anycrying at her picnic. 

"Who's going to gather me sticks to make my fire?" she said suddenly, ina solemn voice. 

"I am! I am!" shouted both the children at once, and out came Milly'ssmiles again, like the sun from behind a cloud. 

"And who's going to lay the table-cloth?"

"We are! we are!"

"And who's going to hand the bread and butter?"

"I am!" exclaimed Milly, "and Olly shall hand the cake. "

"And who's going to _eat_ the bread and butter?"

"All of us!" shouted the children, and Milly added, "Father will want a_big_ plate of bread and butter, I daresay. "

"I should think he would, after all this rowing, " said Mr. Norton. "Nowthen, look out for a bump!"

[Illustration: "So they put Olly up on a tall piece of rock, and hesang. "]

Bump! Splash! there was the boat scraping along the pebbles near theshore; out sprang Mr. Norton, first on to a big stone, then on to theshore, and with one great pull he brought the boat in till it was closeenough for Aunt Emma and Mrs. Norton to step on to the rocks, and forthe children to be lifted out. 

"Oh! what a nice place!" cried Milly, looking about her, and clappingher hands, as she always did when she was pleased. It was a point ofrock running out into the lake, a "peninsula" Milly called it, when shehad been all round it, and it was covered with brown heather spread allover the ground, and was delightfully soft and springy to sit upon. Inthe middle of the bit of rock there were two or three trees standing uptogether, birch trees with silvery stems, and on every side but onethere was shallow brown water, so clear that they could see every stoneat the bottom. And when they looked away across the lake, there were thegrand old mountains pushing their heads into the clouds on the otherside, and far away near the edge of the lake they saw a white dot whichthey knew was Aunt Emma's house. How the sun shone on everything! How itmade the water of the lake sparkle and glitter as if it were alive! Andyet the air was not hot, for a little wind was coming to them across thewater, and moving the trees gently up and down. 

And what was this under the trees? Why, a kind of fireplace made ofstones, and in front of it a round green bit of grass, with tufts ofheather all round it, just like a table with seats. 

"Who put these stones here, Aunt Emma?" asked Olly, as she and motherand Mr. Norton brought up the baskets, and put them in the green placeby the stones. 

"Well, Olly, long ago, when all your uncles and aunts were little, andthey used to come here for picnics, they thought it would be very niceto have a stone fireplace, built up properly, so that they needn't makeone every time. It was Uncle Richard's idea, and we had such funbuilding it up. The little ones brought the stones; and the big onespiled them together till you see we made quite a nice fireplace. And ithas lasted ever since. Whenever I come here I mend it up if any of thestones have tumbled down. Numbers of little children come to picnic hereevery summer, and they always use our fireplace. But now, come alonginto the woods, children, and gather sticks. "

Off they ran after Aunt Emma, and soon they were scrambling about thewood which grew along the shore, picking up the dry sticks and dry fernunder the trees. Milly filled her cotton frock full, and gathered it upwith both her hands; while Olly of course went straight at the biggestbranch he could see, and staggered along with it, puffing and panting. 

"You grasshopper, you!" said Mr. Norton, catching hold of him, "don'tyou think you'd better try a whole tree next time? There, let me breakit for you. " Father broke it up into short lengths, and then off ranOlly with his little skirts full to Aunt Emma, who was laden too with anarmful of sticks. "That'll do to begin with, old man. Come along, andyou and I'll light the fire. "

What fun it was, heaping up the sticks on the stones, and how they didblaze and crackle away when Aunt Emma put a match to them. Puff! puff!out came the smoke; fizz--crack--sputter--went the dry fir branches, asif they were Christmas fireworks. 

"Haven't we made a blazey fire, Aunt Emma?" said Olly, out of breathwith dragging up sticks, and standing still to look. 

"Splendid, " said Mr. Norton, who had just come out of the wood with hisbundle. "Now, Olly, let me just put you on the top of it to finish itoff. How you would fizz!"

Off ran Olly, with his father after him, and they had a romp among theheather till Mr. Norton caught him, and carried him kicking and laughingunder his arm to Aunt Emma. 

"Now, Aunt Emma, shall I put him on?"

"Oh dear, no!" said Aunt Emma, "my kettle wouldn't sit straight on him, and it's just boiling beautifully. We'll put him on presently when thefire gets low. "

"Olly, do come and help mother and me with the tea-things, " cried Milly, who was laying the cloth as busily and gravely as a little housemaid. 

"Run along, shrimp, " said his father, setting him down. 

And off ran Olly, while Mr. Norton and Aunt Emma heaped the wood on thefire, and kept the kettle straight, so that it shouldn't tip over andspill. 

Laying the cloth was delightful, Milly thought. First of all, they put aheavy stone on each corner of the cloth to keep it down, and prevent thewind from blowing it up, and then they put the little plates all round, and in the middle two piles of bread and butter and cake. 

"But we haven't got any flowers, " said Milly, looking at it presently, with a dissatisfied face, "you always have flowers on the table at home, mother. "

"Why, Milly, have you forgotten your water-lilies; where did you leavethem?"

"Down by the water, " said Milly. "Father told me just to put theirstalks in the water, and he put a stone to keep them safe. Oh! that'llbe splendid, mother. Do give me a cup, and we'll get some water forthem. "

Mother found a cup, and the children scrambled down to the edge of thelake. There lay the lilies with their stalks in the water, close to theboat. 

"They look rather sad, mother, don't they?" said Milly, gathering themup. "Perhaps they don't like being taken away from their home. "

"They never look so beautiful out of the water, " said mother; "but whenwe get home we'll put them into a soup-plate, and let them swim about init. They'll look very nice then. Now, Olly, fill the cup with water, andwe'll put five or six of the biggest in, and gather some leaves. "

"There, look! look! Aunt Emma, " shouted Milly, when they had put thelilies and some fern leaves in the middle of the table. "Haven't we madeit beautiful?"

"That you have, " said Aunt Emma, coming up with the kettle which hadjust boiled. "Now for the tea, and then we're ready. "

"We never had such a nice tea as this before, " said Olly, presentlylooking up from a piece of bread and butter which had kept him quiet forsome time. "It's nicer than having dinner at the railway station even. "

Aunt Emma and mother laughed; for it doesn't seem so delightful togrown-up people to have dinner at the railway station. 

"Well, Olly, " said mother, "I hope we shall often have tea out of doorswhile we are at Ravensnest. "

Milly shook her head. "It'll rain, mother. That old gentleman said itwould be sure to rain. "

"That old gentleman is about right, Milly, " said Mr. Norton. "I think itrains dreadfully here, but mother doesn't seem to mind it a bit. Onceupon a time when mother was a little girl, there came a funny old fairyand threw some golden dust in her eyes, and ever since then she can'tsee straight when she comes to the mountains. It's all right everywhereelse, but as soon as she comes here, the dust begins to fly about in hereyes, and makes the mountains look quite different to her from what theylook to anybody else. "

"Let me look, mother, " said Olly, pulling her down to him. 

Mrs. Norton opened her eyes at him, smiling. 

"I can't see any dust, father. "

"Ah, that's because it's fairy dust, " said Mr. Norton, gravely. "Now, Olly, don't you eat too much cake, else you won't be able to row. "

"It'll be my turn first, father, " said Milly, "you know I haven't rowedat all yet. "

"Well, don't you catch any crabs, Milly, " said Aunt Emma. 

"Catch crabs, Aunt Emma!" said Milly, very much puzzled. "Crabs are onlyin the sea, aren't they?"

"There's a very big kind just about here, " said Mr. Norton, "and they'realways looking out for little children, particularly little girls. "

"I don't understand, father, " said Milly, opening her eyes very wide. 

"Have some more tea, then, " said Mr. Norton, "that always makes peoplefeel wiser. "

"Father, aren't you talking nonsense?" said Olly, stopping in the middleof a piece of cake to think about what his father was saying. 

"Very likely, Olly. People always do at picnics. Aunt Emma, when are yougoing to tell us your story?"

"When we've washed the things and put them away, " said Aunt Emma, "thenOlly shall sing us two songs, and I'll tell you my story. "

But the children were so hungry that it was a long time before they gaveup eating bread and butter, and then, when at last tea was over, whatfun it was washing the cups and plates in the lake! Aunt Emma and Ollywashed, and mother and Milly dried the things on a towel, and theneverything was packed away into the baskets, and mother and Aunt Emmafolded up the table-cloth, and put it tidily on the top of everything. 

"I did like that, " said Milly, sighing as the last basket was fasteneddown. "I wish you'd let me help Sarah wash up the tea-things at home, mother. "

"If Sarah liked to let you, I shouldn't say no, Milly, " said Mrs. Norton. "How soon would you get tired of it, old woman, I wonder? Butcome along, let's put Olly up on a rock, and make him sing, and thenwe'll have Aunt Emma's story. "

So they put Olly up on a tall piece of rock, and he sang "The MinstrelBoy, " and "Bonnie Dundee, " and "Hot Cross Buns, " just as if he were alittle musical box, and you had nothing to do but to wind him up. He hada sweet, clear, little voice, and he looked a delightful brown gipsy, ashe sat perched up on the rock with his long legs dangling, and his curlsblowing about his face. 

"There!" said Olly, when he had shouted out the last note of "Hot CrossBuns. " "I have singed three whole songs; and now, Aunt Emma, tell usabout the king and the fairies. Krick, please. "

"It must be 'krick' indeed, " said Aunt Emma, "if we want to get hometo-night. "

For the sun had almost sunk behind the mountains at their back, and thewind blowing across the lake was beginning to get a little cold, whileover their heads the rooks went flying, singing "caw, caw, " on their wayto bed. And how the sun was turning the water to gold! It seemed to bemaking a great golden pathway across the lake, and the mountains wereturning a deep blue, and plash, plash, went the little waves on therocks, so softly they seemed to be saying "Good-night! good-night!"

"Well, " said Aunt Emma, settling herself on a soft piece of heather, andputting her arms round Milly and Olly, "Once upon a time there was agreat king. He was a good king and a wise man, and he tried to make allthe people round about him wiser and better than they were before hecame to rule over them; and for a long time he was very powerful andhappy, and he and the brave men who helped him and were his friends dida great deal of good, and kept the savage people who lived all about himin order, and taught them a great many things. But at last some of thesavage people got tired of obeying the king, and they said they wouldnot have him to reign over them any more; so they made an army, and theycame together against the king to try and kill him and his friends. Andthe king made an army too, and there was a great battle; and the savagepeople were the strongest, and they killed nearly all the king's bravemen, and the king himself was terribly hurt in the fight. And at last, when night came on, there were left only the king and one of hisfriends--his knights, as they were called. The king was hurt so muchthat he could not move, and his friend thought he was dying. They wereleft alone in a rocky desert place, and close by there was a great lakewith mountains round it--like this, Olly. It was very cold, and the moonwas shining, and the king lay so still that once or twice his friendalmost thought that he was dead. But at last, about the middle of thenight, he began to speak, and he told his friend to take his sword thatwas by his side and to go down to the side of the lake and throw it asfar as he could into the water. Now, this sword was a magic sword. Longbefore, the king was once walking beside this lake, when he suddenly sawan arm in a long white sleeve rising out of the lake, and in the hand atthe end of it was a splendid sword with a glistening handle. And theking got into a boat and rowed as fast as he could till he got nearenough to take hold of the sword, and then the arm sank down under thewater and was seen no more. And with the sword the king won a great manybattles, and he loved it, and never would part with it; but now that hewas dying, he told his friend to take the sword and throw it back intothe lake where he had found it, and see what would happen. And hisfriend took it, and went away over the rocks till he came to the edge ofthe lake, and then he took the sword out of its case and swung it abovehis head that he might throw it far into the water; but as he lifted itup the precious stones in the handle shone so splendidly in themoonlight that he could not make up his mind to throw it into the water, it seemed such a pity. So he hid it away among the rushes by the waterside, and went back to the king. And the king said, 'What did you see bythe lake?'

"And the knight said, 'I saw nothing except the water, and themountains, and the rushes. '

"And the king said, 'Oh, unkind friend! Why will you not do as I askyou, now that I am dying and can do nothing for myself? Go back andthrow the sword into the lake, as I told you. '

"And the knight went back, and once more he lifted the sword to throw itinto the water but it looked so beautiful that he _could_ not throw itaway. There would be nothing left, he thought, to remember the king bywhen he was dead if he threw away the sword; so again he hid it amongthe rushes, and then he went back to the king. And again the king asked, 'What did you see by the lake?' and again the knight answered, 'I sawnothing except the water and the mountains. '

"'Oh, unkind, false friend!' cried the king, 'you are crueller to methan those who gave me this wound. Go back and throw the sword into thewater, or, weak as I am, I will rise up and kill you. '

"Back went the knight, and this time he seized the sword without lookingat it, so that he should not see how beautiful it was, and then he swungit once, twice, thrice, round his head, and away it went into the lake. And as it fell, up rose a hand and arm in a long white sleeve out of thewater, and the hand caught the sword and drew it down under the water. And then for a moment, all round the lake, the knight fancied he heard asound of sobbing and weeping, and he thought in his heart that it mustbe the water-fairies weeping for the king's death. 

"'What did you see by the lake?' asked the king again, when he cameback, and the knight told him. Then the king told him to lift him up andcarry him on his back down to the edge of the lake, and when they gotthere, what do you think they saw?"

But the children could not guess, and Milly pressed Aunt Emma's handhard to make her go on. 

"They saw a great black ship coming slowly over the water, and on theship were numbers of people in black, sobbing and crying, so that theair was full of a sound of weeping, and in front sat three queens inlong black dresses, and with gold crowns on their heads, and they, too, were weeping and wringing their hands. 

"'Lift me up, ' said the king, when the ship came close beside them, 'andput me into the ship. ' And the knight lifted him up, while the threequeens stretched out their hands and drew him into the ship. 

"'Oh, king! take me with you, ' said the knight, 'take me too. What shallI do all alone without you?' But the ship began to move away, and theknight was left standing on the shore. Only he fancied he heard theking's voice saying, 'Wait for me, I shall come again. Farewell!'

"And the ship went faster and faster away into the darkness, for it wasa fairy ship, till at last the knight could see it no more. So then heknew that the king had been carried away by the fairies of the lake--thesame fairies who had given him the sword in old days, and who had lovedhim and watched over him all his life. But what did the king mean bysaying, 'I shall come again'?"

Then Aunt Emma stopped and looked at the children. 

"What did he mean, auntie?" asked Milly, who had been listening with allher ears, and whose little eyes were wet, "and did he ever come backagain?"

"Not while the knight lived, Milly. He grew to be quite an old man, andwas always hoping that the fairies would bring the king again. But theking never came, and his friend died without seeing him. "

"But did he _ever_ come again?" asked Olly. 

"I don't know, Olly. Some people think that he is still hidden awaysomewhere by the kind water-fairies, and that some day, when the worldwants him very much, he will come back again. "

"Do you think he is here in this lake?" whispered Milly, looking at thewater. 

"How can we tell what's at the bottom of the lake?" said Aunt Emma, smiling. "But no, I don't think the king is hidden in this lake. Hedidn't live near here. "

"What was his name?" asked Milly. 

"His name was King Arthur. But now, children, hurry; there is fatherputting all the baskets into the boat. We must get home as quick as wecan. "

They rowed home very quickly, except just for a little time when Millyrowed, and they did not go quite so fast as if father were rowing alone. It was quite evening now on the lake, and there were great shadows fromthe mountains lying across the water. Somehow the children felt muchquieter now than when they started in the afternoon. Milly had curledherself up inside mother's arm, and was thinking a great deal about KingArthur and the fairy ship, while Olly was quite taken up with watchingthe oars as they dipped in and out of the water, and occasionally askinghis father when he should be big enough to row quite by himself. Itseemed a very little time after all before they were stepping out of theboat at Aunt Emma's boathouse, and the picnic and the row were bothover. 

"Good-bye, dear lake, " said Milly, turning with her hands full ofwater-lilies to look back before they went up to the house. "Good-night, mountains; good-night, Birdsnest Point. I shall soon come and see youagain. "

A few minutes more, and they were safely packed into a carriage whichdrove them back to Ravensnest, and Aunt Emma was saying good-bye tothem. 

"Next time, I shall come and see you, Milly, " she said, as she kissedMilly's little sleepy face. "Don't forget me till then. "

"Then you'll tell us about old Mother Quiverquake, " said Olly, huggingher with his small arms. "Aunt Emma, I haven't given Johnny back hisstockings. They did tickle me so in the boat. "

"We'll get them some time, " said Aunt Emma. "Good-night, good-night. "

It was a sleepy pair of children that nurse lifted out of the carriageat Ravensnest. And though they tried to tell her something about it, shehad to wait till next morning before she could really understandanything about their wonderful day at Aunt Emma's house. 

CHAPTER VI

WET DAYS AT RAVENSNEST

For about a week after the row on the lake the weather was lovely, andMilly wondered more than ever what the old gentleman who warned them ofthe rain in the mountains could have been thinking about. She and Ollywere out all day, and nearly every afternoon nurse lifted the tea-tablethrough the low nursery window on to the lawn, and let them have theirtea out of doors among the flowers and trees and twittering birds. Theyhad found out a fly-catcher's nest in the ivy above the front door, andevery evening the two children used to fetch out their father to watchthe parent birds catching flies and carrying them to the hungry littleones, whom they could just hear chirping up above the ivy. Olly was wildto get the gardener's ladder that he might climb up and look into thenest, but Mr. Norton would not have it lest it should frighten away theold birds. 

One delicious warm morning, too, the children had their long-promisedbathe, and what fun it was. Nurse woke them up at five o'clock in themorning--fancy waking up as early as that!--and they slipped on theirlittle blue bathing gowns, and their sand shoes that mother had boughtthem in Cromer the year before, and then nurse wrapped them up inshawls, and she and they and father went down and opened the front doorwhile everybody else in the house was asleep, and slipped out. What aquiet strange world it seemed, the grass and the flowers dripping withdew, and overhead such a blue sky with white clouds sailing slowly aboutin it. 

"Why don't we always get up at five o'clock, father?" asked Olly, as heand Milly skipped along--such an odd little pair of figures--beside Mr. Norton. "Isn't it nice and funny?"

"Very, " said Mr. Norton. "Still, I imagine Olly, if you had to get upevery day at five o'clock, you might think it funny, but I'm sure youwouldn't always think it nice. "

"Oh! I'm sure we should, " said Milly, seriously. "Why, father, it's justas if everything was ours and nobody else's, the garden and the river Imean. Is there _anybody_ up yet do you think--in those houses?" AndMilly pointed to the few houses they could see from the Ravensnestgarden. 

"I can't tell, Milly. But I'll tell you who's sure to be up now, andthat's John Backhouse. I should think he's just beginning to milk thecows. "

"Oh then, Becky and Tiza'll be up too, " cried Milly, dancing about. "Iwish we could see them. Somehow it would be quite different seeing themnow, father. I feel so queer, as if I was somebody else. "

If you have ever been up _very_ early on a summer morning, you will knowwhat Milly meant, but if not I can hardly explain it. Such a prettyquiet little walk they had down to the river. Nobody on the road, nobodyin the fields, but the birds chattering and the sun shining, as if theywere having a good time all to themselves, before anybody woke up tointerrupt them. Mr. Norton took the children down to thestepping-stones, and then, while Milly and nurse stayed on the bank helifted Olly up, and carried him to the middle of the stepping-stones, where the water would about come up to his chest. Mr. Norton had alreadytaken off his own shoes and stockings, and when they came to the middlestone, he put Olly down on the stone, and stepped into the waterhimself. "Now, Olly, give me your hands and jump in. Mind, it'll feelvery cold. "

Olly shut his eyes, and opened his mouth, as he always did when he feltjust a little frightened, and then in he went; splash! ugh! it was socold--much colder than the sea used to feel--but after a few splashesOlly began to get used to it, and to think it fine fun. 

"Oh, father, fetch Milly, and then we'll all dance about, " entreatedOlly. 

"Come, Milly, " called Mr. Norton. "Try whether you can manage thestepping-stones by yourself. " So Milly came, holding up her bathingdress, and stepping from one big stone to another with a very graveface, as if she felt that there would be an end of her altogether if shetumbled in. And then, splash! In she jumped by the side of Olly, andafter a little shiver or two she also began to think that the river wasa delightful bathing place, almost as nice as the sea, perhaps in someways nicer, because it was such a strange and funny one. They danced andsplashed about in the brown sparkling water till they were tired, and atlast Olly stopped to take breath. 

"I should think the fishes must be frightened of us, " he said, peeringdown into the river. "I can't see any, father. "

"Well, they wouldn't choose to swim about just where little children areshouting and capering. The fishes are hidden safe away under the banksand the big stones. Besides, it's going to be a very hot day, and theylike the shady bits of the river. Just here there's no shade. "

Suddenly there was a great commotion in the river, and when Mr. Nortonlooked round for a second he could see nothing of Milly, till up came adripping head and a pair of hands, and there was Milly kneeling on thestones at the bottom of the river, with just her head above water, looking very much astonished and rather frightened. 

"Why, what happened, old woman?" said Mr. Norton, holding out his handto help her up. 

"I--I--don't quite know, father; I was standing on a big stone, and allof a sudden it tipped up, and I tumbled right in. "

"First of all I thought you was a big fish, and then I thought you wasgoing to be drowned, " said Olly, cheerfully. "I'm glad you wasn'tdrowned. "

"Miss Milly! Miss Milly!" shouted nurse from the bank, "it's quite timeyou came out now. If you stay in so long you'll get cold, and you, too, Master Olly. "

Olly was not inclined to come. He would have liked to go on dabbling andsplashing till breakfast-time, but Mr. Norton hurried him out, and thetwo dripping little creatures were well wrapped up in large shawls whichnurse had brought with her. Then nurse took up Olly in her arms, andfather took up Milly, who was small and light for her age, and they setoff up the bit of road to the house. By this time it was past sixo'clock, and whom should they meet at the Ravensnest gate but JohnBackhouse, with Becky and Tiza, and his two dogs. He was just bringingthe milk, and both he and his children looked as brisk and wide awake asif they had been up and about for hours. 

Milly and Olly were very much excited at the sight of them, and Ollystruggled hard to get down, but nurse held him tight. 

"Oh, Becky! we've had such a nice bathe, " cried Milly, as she passedthem muffled up in her shawl, her little wet feet dangling out. 

Becky and Tiza looked longingly after them as they disappeared into thehouse. They wished they could have had a bathe too, but they knew verywell that their hard-worked father and mother had something else to doon a fine summer's morning than to take them to bathe, and in a fewminutes they had forgotten all about it, and were busy playing with thedogs, or chattering to their father about the hay-making, which was soonto begin now. 

That evening there were strange clouds at sunset time, and Mr. Nortonshook his head as he heard Mrs. Norton arrange to take the children nextday to a small mountain village near Ravensnest, to call on some oldfriends of hers. 

"I wouldn't make much of a plan for to-morrow if I were you, " he said tohis wife, "the weather doesn't look promising. "

"Oh, father!" said Milly, protesting. "There are some red clouds overthere--look! and Nana always says it's going to be fine when there arered clouds. "

"Well, Milly, your red clouds may be right and I may be wrong. We shallsee. "

But, alas! father was quite right. When Milly woke up next morning therewas no nice sunshine creeping on to her bed as it had done almost eversince they came to Ravensnest; but instead there was rain beatingsteadily against the window, coming down out of a heavy gray sky, andlooking as if it meant to go on for ever. 

"Oh dear!" sighed Milly, as she began to dress, "we can't go out, andthe wild strawberries will get so wet. I meant to have gathered some formother to-day. There would have been such nice ones in the wood. "

But it was no use thinking about woods or strawberries, and when Mrs. Norton came into the children's room just as they were finishingbreakfast, she found a pair of dull little faces staring out at therain, as if looking at it would make it stop. 

"Nasty rain, " said Olly, climbing up on his mother's knee. "Go to Spain. I don't want you to come and spoil my nicey time. "

"I am afraid scolding the rain won't make it go away, " said his mother, smiling into his brown face as he knelt on her lap, with his arms roundher neck. "Now what are we going to do to-day?"

"I don't know, " said Milly, sitting down opposite her mother, andresting her face gravely on her hands. "Well, we brought _some_ toys, you know, mother. Olly's got his top; I can help him spin it, and I canplay with Katie a bit. "

"That won't take very long, " said Mrs. Norton. "Suppose we do somelessons first of all. "

"Oh, mother, lessons!" said Milly, in a very doubtful voice. 

"It's holidays, mother, it's holidays, " cried Olly. "I don't likelessons--not a bit. "

"Well, but, Olly, think a bit; you can't spin your top and look atpicture-books all day, and I'm afraid it's going to rain all day--itlooks very like it. If you come and do some reading and counting with methis morning, I can give you some spills to make, or some letters totear up for me afterwards. That will save the toys for this afternoon;and some time this afternoon, if it doesn't stop raining, we'll allhave a romp. And as for you, Milly, don't you think it's quite timeKatie had a new frock? I believe I can find a beautiful bit of blue silkin my bag, and I'm sure nurse will show you how to make it. "

Milly's face brightened up very much at this, and the two children wentskipping upstairs to the drawing-room after their mother, in very fairspirits again. Olly did some reading, while Milly wrote in her copybook, and then Olly had his counting-slate and tried to find out what 6 and 4made, and 5 and 3, and other little sums of the same kind. He yawned agood deal over his reading, and was quite sure several times that h-a-yspelt "ham, " and s-a-w spelt "was, " but still, on the whole, he gotthrough very well. Milly wrote her copy, then she learnt some verses ofa poem called "Lucy Gray, " and last of all mother found her a big map ofWestmoreland, the county in which the mountains are, and they had a mostdelightful geography lesson. Mother pretended to take Milly a drive allabout the mountains, and made her find out their names, and the names ofthe towns and the lakes, beginning with Lake Windermere. Olly wasinterested too, for Mrs. Norton told them a great many things about theplaces, and made quite a story out of it. 

[Illustration: "He was quite sure that h-a-y spelt 'ham' and s-a-w spelt'was. '"]

"Why, mother, I never could go all that long way all at once--_really_, could I?" asked Milly, when they had been all round the mountains, inand out and round about. 

"No, Milly, not quite, " said Mrs. Norton, laughing, "but it's very easyto go a long way in a pretendy drive. It would only take us about tenminutes that way to get to the other side of the world. "

"How long would it take really?" asked Olly. 

"About three months. "

"If we could fly up, and up, ever so far, " said Olly, standing ontiptoe, and stretching out his little arms as high as they would reach, "it wouldn't take us long. Mother, don't you wish you was a bird?"

"No, I don't think so, Olly; why do you?"

"Because I should like to go so _krick_. Mother, the fly-catchers do flyso krick; I can't see them sometimes when they're flying, they go sofast. Oh, I do wish father would let me get up a ladder to look atthem. "

"No Olly, you'll frighten them, " said Milly, putting on her wise face. "Besides, father says you're too little, and you'd tumble down. "

Olly looked as if he didn't believe a word of it, as he generally didwhen Milly talked wisely to him; but just then he found that mother hadput into his lap a whole basketful of letters to tear up, and thatinterested him so much that he forgot the fly-catchers. Nurse cut out amost fashionable blue dress for Katie, and Milly was quite happy all therest of the morning in running up the seams and hemming the bottom. Sothe morning passed away. After dinner there were the toys to play with, and Katie's frock to try on, for nurse had taken a turn at the bodywhile Milly had been making the skirt. It fitted very well, and Millyhad only the band to put on and the sleeves to make before it would bequite finished. Then nurse promised to put a little white lace round theneck, and cut out a blue sash, that Katie might be quite turned into anelegant young lady. Tea came very soon, and when it was cleared awayfather and mother came into the big kitchen without a fireplace, next tothe children's room, and they all had a splendid romp. Mr. Norton madehimself into a tiger, with a tiger-skin in the hall, that Uncle Richardhad brought home from India, and Olly shot him all over with awalking-stick from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. When theywere tired of this, mother set them to play hide-and-seek, and Milly hidherself in such out-of-the-way cupboards, and squeezed herself into suchsmall corners, that mother said she was like a needle in a bundle ofhay--there was no finding her. 

Seven o'clock came before they had time to think about it, and thechildren went chattering and skipping up to bed, though on fine eveningsthey had been staying up much later. How the rain did rattle on thewindow while they were undressing. 

"Oh, you tiresome rain, " said Milly, standing by the window in hernightdress, and gazing up into the sky. "Where does it all come from, Iwonder? Won't it be wet to-morrow, Nana? and oh, what is that roaringover there?"

"That's the beck, " said nurse, who was brushing Olly's hair, and tryinghard to make him stand still for two minutes. 

"The beck! why, what's the matter with it?"

"It's the rain has made it so full I suppose, " said nurse. "To-morrow, gardener says, it'll be over the lawn if the rain goes on. "

"Oh, but it mustn't go on, " said Milly. "Now, rain, dear rain, goodrain, do go away to-night, right away up into the mountains. There'splenty of room for you up there, and down here we don't want you a bit. So do be polite and go away. "

But the rain didn't see any good reason for going away, in spite ofMilly's pretty speeches, and next morning there was the same patter onthe window, the same gray sky and dripping garden. After breakfast therewas just a hope of its clearing up. For about an hour the rain seemed toget less and the clouds a little brighter. But it soon came on again asfast as ever, and the poor children were very much disappointed. 

"Mother, " said Milly, when they had settled down to their lessons againin the drawing-room, "when we get back to Willingham, do you know what Ishall do?"

"No, Milly. "

"I shall ask you to take me to see that old gentleman--you know who Imean--who told you about the rain. And I shall say to him, 'please, Mr. Old Gentleman, at first I thought you were quite wrong about the rain, but afterwards I thought you were quite right, and it does raindreadfully much in the mountains. '"

"Very well, Milly. But you have only just had a taste of what the raincan do in the lakes you know, so far. Father and I have been heresometimes when it has rained two or three weeks without stopping. "

"Oh dear!" said Milly, looking extremely melancholy. "I like themountains very much, mother; but _do_ you think we'd better come toRavensnest again after this year?"

"Oh you ungrateful little woman!" said Mrs. Norton, whose love for theplace was so real that Milly's speech gave her quite a pang. "Have youforgotten all your happy sunshiny days here, just because it has rainedfor two? Why, when I was a little girl, and used to come here, the rainydays never made me love the place a bit the less. I always used to thinkthe fine days made up. "

"But then, mother, you were a nice little girl, " said Milly, throwingher arms round her mother's neck and kissing her. "Now, I don't feel abit nice this morning. It makes me so cross not to be able to go out andget flowers and wild strawberries. And you know at home it hardly everrains all day. "

"Gardener says sometimes it rains all over the road, " interrupted Olly, "and people can't walk along, and they have to go right up on themountains to get past the water place. And sometimes they have to get aboat to take people across. Do you think we shall have to go in a boatto church on Sunday, mother?"

"Well, we're a long way off that yet, Olly. It will take a good manydays' rain to flood the roads so deep that we can't get along them, andthis is only the second rainy day. Come, I don't think we've got muchto complain of. Now suppose, instead of doing all your lessons thismorning, you were presently to write to Jacky and Francis--you write toJacky, Milly, and Olly to Francis. Don't you think that would be a goodthing?"

"Oh yes, yes!" cried Milly, shutting up her copybook in a great hurry. "They'll be so much astonished, mother, for we didn't _promise_ to writeto them. I don't believe they ever get any letters. "

The children had a great deal of affection and some secret pity forthese playfellows of theirs, who had a sick mother, and who did not gethalf the pleasures and amusements that they did. And, as I have alreadytold you, they could not bear Miss Chesterton, the little boys' aunt, who lived with them. They felt sure that Jacky and Francis must beunhappy, only because they had to live with Miss Chesterton. 

This was Milly's letter when it was done. Milly could only write veryslowly, in rather big hand, so that her letters were never very long:

 MY DEAR JACKY--Don't you think it very odd getting a letter from me? It is nearly a fortnight since we came here. At first it was _very_ nice. We went up the mountains, and Aunt Emma took us in a boat on the lake. And we gathered some wild strawberries, only some of them were quite white--not red a bit. But now it has begun to rain, and we don't like it at all. Perhaps we sha'n't be able to get home because the rain will cover up the roads. It is _very_ dull staying in, only mother makes us such nice plays. Good-bye, Jacky. I send my love to Francis. Mind you don't forget us. 

 Your loving little friend, MILLY. 

Olly wrote a much longer letter, that is to say, mother wrote for him, and he told her what to say, and as this was a much easier way ofwriting than Milly's way, he got on very fast, and Mrs. Norton had towrite as quickly as she could, to keep up with him. And this was whatOlly had to say:

 MY DEAR FRANCIS--I wonder what you'll say to-morrow morning when the postman brings you this letter. I hope you'll write back, because it won't be fair if you don't. It isn't such fun here now because it does rain so. Milly and I are always telling the rain to go away, but it won't--though it did at home. Last week we went out in a boat, and I rowed. I rowed a great way, much farther than Milly. We went very slow when Milly rowed. It was very jolly at the picnic. Aunt Emma gave me some cake, and mother gave me some bread and jam. Nana won't let us have cake and jam both, when we have tea at home. Aunt Emma told us a story about King Arthur. I don't believe you ever heard it. The water-fairies took him away, and his friend wanted to go too, but the king said 'No! you must stop behind. ' Milly cried because she felt sad about the king. I didn't cry, because I'm a little boy. Mother says you won't understand about the story, and she says we must tell it you when we get home. So we will, only perhaps we sha'n't remember. Do you do lessons now? We don't do any--only when it rains. Milly's writing a letter to Jacky--mine's much longer than hers. 

 Your little friend, OLLY. 

Then came the putting up the letters, addressing them, and stampingthem, all of which the children enjoyed very much, and by the time theywere laid on the hall table ready to go to the post it was nearlydinner-time. 

How the beck did roar that afternoon. And when the children looked outfrom the drawing-room window they could see a little flood on the lawn, where the water had come over the side of the stream. While they werehaving their tea, with mother sitting by, working and chattering tothem, they heard a knock at the door, and when they opened it there wasfather standing in the unused kitchen, with the water running off hiswaterproof coat, making little streams all over the stone floor. 

"I have been down to look at the river, " he said to Mrs. Norton. "Keepoff, children! I'm much too wet to touch. Such rain! It does know howto come down here! The water's over the road just by thestepping-stones. John Backhouse says if it goes on another twenty-fourhours like this, there'll be no getting to Wanwick by the road, onfoot. "

"Father, " said Milly, looking at him with a very solemn face, "wouldn'tit be dreadful if it went on raining and raining, and if the river cameup and up, right up to the drive and into the hall, and we all had tosit upstairs, and the butcher couldn't bring us any meat, and JohnBackhouse couldn't bring us any milk, and we all _died_ of hunger. "

"Then they would put us into some black boxes, " said Olly, cheerfully, with his mouth full of bread and butter, "and they would put the blackboxes into some boats, and take us right away and bury uskrick--wouldn't they, mother?"

"Well, but--" said Mr. Norton, who had by this time got rid of his wetcoat, and was seated by Milly, helping himself to some tea, "suppose wegot into the boats before we were dead, and rowed away to Windermerestation?"

"Oh no! father, " said Milly, who always liked her stories to be asgloomy as possible, "they wouldn't know anything about us till we weredead you know, and then they'd come and find us, and be _very_ sorry forus, and say, 'Oh dear! oh dear! what a pity!'"

Olly began to look so dismal as Milly's fancies grew more and moremelancholy, that Mrs. Norton took to laughing at them all. What did theyknow about Westmoreland rain indeed. This was nothing--just nothing atall; she _could_ remember some floods in the wintertime, when she was alittle girl, and used to stay with Aunt Emma and great-grandmamma; butas for this, why, it was a good summer wetting, and that was all. 

A romp sent the children to bed in excellent spirits again. This timeboth Milly and Olly stood at the window together, and told the rain tobe sure to go to Spain that night, and never come back again while theywere at Ravensnest. 

"Or you might go to Willingham, you know, dear Mr. Rain, " said Milly; "Idaresay mother's flowers want a good watering. And there's Spot--youmight give her a good washing--she _can_ wash herself, but she won't. Only we don't want you here, Mr. Rain. "

But what an obstinate disagreeable Mr. Rain it was! All that night itwent on pouring, till the little beck in the garden was so full it wasalmost choked, and could only get along by sputtering and foaming as ifsome wicked water-fairies were driving it along and tormenting it. Andall the little pools on the mountain, the "tarns, " as Becky and Tizacalled them, filled up, and the rain made the mountain itself so wetthat it was like one big bog all over. 

When the children woke up the flood on the lawn was growing bigger, andit seemed to them as if the house and garden were all wrapped up in awet white cloud-blanket. They could not see the mountain at all from thewindow, it was all covered with a thick white mist, and the dark firtrees in the garden looked sad and drooping, as if the weight ofraindrops was too much for them to carry. 

The children had made up their minds so completely the night before thatit _couldn't_ rain more than two days running, that they felt as if theycould hardly be expected to bear this third wet morning cheerfully. Nurse found them cross and out of spirits at breakfast. Even a prospectof asking Becky and Tiza to tea did not bring any smiles to theirforlorn little faces. It would be no fun having anybody to tea. Theycouldn't go out, and there was nothing amusing indoors. 

After breakfast, Olly set to work to get into mischief, as he generallydid when he felt dull. Nurse discovered him smearing Katie's cheeks withraspberry jam "to make them get red kricker" as he said, and alas! someof the jam had stuck to the new silk frock, and spoilt all its smartfresh look. 

When Milly found it out she began to cry, and when Mrs. Norton came inshe saw a heap on the floor, which was Milly, sobbing, while Olly satbeside her with his mouth wide open, as if he was a good deal astonishedat the result of his first attempt at doctoring. 

"Pick up the pieces, old woman, " said Mrs. Norton, taking hold of theheap and lifting it up. "What's the matter with you both?"

"Olly's spoilt my doll, " sobbed Milly, "and it _will_ go on raining--andI feel so--so--dull. "

"I didn't spoil her doll, mother, " cried Olly, eagerly. "I only rubbedsome jam on its cheeks to make them a nicey pink--only some of it_would_ sticky her dress--I didn't mean to. "

"How would you like some jam rubbed on your cheeks, sir?" said Mrs. Norton, who could scarcely help laughing at poor Katie's appearance whennurse handed the doll to her. "Suppose you leave Milly's dolls alone forthe future; but cheer up, Milly! I think I can make Katie very nearlyright again. Come upstairs to my room and we'll try. "

After a good deal of sponging and rubbing, and careful drying by thekitchen fire, Katie came very nearly right again, and then Mrs. Nortontried whether some lessons would drive the rain out of the children'sheads. But the lessons did not go well. It was all Milly could do tohelp crying every time she got a figure wrong in her sum, and Olly tookabout ten minutes to read two lines of his reading-book. Olly had justbegun his sums, and Milly was standing up to say some poetry to hermother, looking a woebegone little figure, with pale cheeks and heavyeyes, when suddenly there was a noise of wheels outside, and both thechildren turned to look out of the window. 

"A carriage! a carriage!" shouted Olly, jumping down, and running to thewindow. 

There, indeed, was one of the shut-up "cars, " as the Westmoreland peoplecall them, coming up the Ravensnest drive. 

"It's Aunt Emma, " said Mrs. Norton, starting up, "how good of her tocome over on such a day. Run, children, and open the front door. "

Down flew Milly and Olly, tumbling over one another in their hurry; butfather had already thrown the door open, and who should they seestepping down the carriage-steps but Aunt Emma herself, with her softgray hair shining under her veil, and her dear kind face as gentle andcheery as ever. 

"Aunt Emma! Aunt Emma!" shouted Olly, dancing up to her, and throwinghis arms round her, "_are_ you come to tell us about old MotherQuiverquake?"

"You gipsy, don't strangle me! Well, Lucy dear, here I am. Will you haveme to dinner? I thought we'd all be company for each other this bad day. Why, Milly, what have you been doing to your cheeks?"

"She's been crying, " said Olly, in spite of Milly's pulling him by thesleeve to be quiet, "because I stickened her doll. "

"Well, and quite right too. Dolls weren't made to be stickied. But now, who's going to carry my bag upstairs? Take it gently, Milly, it's got mycap inside, and if you crumple my cap I shall have to sit with my headin a bandbox at dinner. Old ladies are _never_ seen without their capsyou know. The most dreadful things would happen if they were! Olly, youmay put my umbrella away. There now, I'll go to mother's room and takeoff my things. "

CHAPTER VII

A STORY-TELLING GAME

When Aunt Emma was safely settled, cap and all, in one of thedrawing-room arm-chairs, it seemed to the children as if the rain andthe gray sky did not matter nearly so much as they had done half an hourbefore. In the first place, her coming made something new andinteresting to think about; and in the second place, they felt quitesure that Aunt Emma hadn't brought her little black bag into thedrawing-room with her for nothing. If only her cap had been in it, whyof course she would have left it in mother's bedroom. But here it was inher lap, with her two hands folded tight over it, as if it containedsomething precious! How very puzzling and interesting!

However, for a long time it seemed as if Aunt Emma had nothing at all tosay about her bag. She began to tell them about her drive--how in twoplaces the horse had to go splashing through the water, and how once, when they were crossing a little river that ran across the road, thewater came so far up the wheels that "I put my head out of the window, "said Aunt Emma, "and said to my old coachman, 'Now, John, if it's goingto get any deeper than this, you'd better turn him round and go home, for I'm an old woman, not a fish, and I can't swim. Of course, if thehorse can swim with the carriage behind him it's all right, but I havemy doubts. ' Now John, my dears, has been with me a great many years, andhe knows very well that I'm rather a nervous old woman. It's very sad, but it is so. Don't you be nervous when you're old people. So all hesaid was 'All right, ma'am. Bless you, he can swim like a trout. ' Andcrack went the whip, splash went the water! It seemed to me it was justgoing to come in under the door, when, lo and behold! there we were safeand sound on dry ground again. But whether my old horse swam through orwalked through I can't tell you. I like to believe he swam, because I'mso fond of him, and one likes to believe the creatures one loves can doclever things. "

"I'll ask John when he comes to take you away, Aunt Emma, " said Olly. "Idon't believe horses can swim when they're in a carriage. "

"You're a matter-of-fact monkey, " said Aunt Emma. "Dear me, what'sthat?"

For a loud squeak had suddenly startled the children, who were nowlooking about them everywhere in vain, to find out where it came from. Squeak! again. This time the voice certainly came from near Aunt Emma'schair, but there was nothing to be seen. 

"What a strange house you live in, " said Aunt Emma, with a perfectlygrave face. "You must have caught a magician somehow. That's amagician's squeak. "

Again came the noise!

"I know, I know!" shouted Olly. "It's Aunt Emma's bag! I'm sure it cameout of the bag. "

"My bag!"--holding it up and looking at it. "Now does it look like a bagthat squeaks? It's a perfectly well-behaved bag, and never did such athing in its life. "

"I know, Aunt Emma, " said Olly, dancing round her in great excitement. "You've got the parrot in there!"

"Well now, " said Aunt Emma. "This is really serious. If you think I amsuch a cruel old woman as to shut up a poor poll-parrot in a bag, there's no help for it, we must open the bag. But it's a very curiousbag--I wouldn't stand too near it if I were you. "

Click! went the fastening of the bag, and out jumped--what do you think?Why, the very biggest frog that was ever seen, in this part of the worldat any rate, a green speckled frog, that hopped on to Aunt Emma's knee, and then on to the floor, where it went hopping and squeaking along thecarpet, till all of a sudden, when it got to the door, it turned over onits back, and lay there quite quiet with its legs in the air. 

The children followed it with looks half of horror, half of amazement. 

"What is it, Aunt Emma? Is it alive?" asked Milly, jumping on to a chairas the frog came near her, and drawing her little skirts tight round herlegs, while Olly went cautiously after it, with his hands on his knees, one step at a time. 

"You'd better ask it, " said Aunt Emma, who had at last begun to laugh alittle, as if it was impossible to keep grave any longer. "I'm sure itlooks very peaceable just now, poor thing. "

So the children crept up to it, and examined it closely. Yes, it was agreen speckled frog, but what it was made of, and whether it was alive, and if it was not alive how it managed to hop and squeak--these were thepuzzles. 

"Take hold of it, Milly, " said Mr. Norton, who had just come up from hiswork, and was standing laughing near the door. "Turn it over on its legsagain. "

"No, I'll turn it, " cried Olly, making a dash, and turning it over in agreat hurry, keeping his legs and feet well out of the way. Hop! squeak!there it was off again, right down the room with the children after it, till it suddenly came up against a table leg, and once more turned overon its back and lay quite still. 

"Oh, Aunt Emma, is it a toy?" asked Milly, who now felt brave enough totake it up and look at it. 

"Well, Milly, I believe so--a very lively one. Bring it here, and I'lltell you something about it. "

So the children brought it very cautiously, as if they were not quitesure what it would do next, and then Aunt Emma explained to them thatshe had once paid a visit to a shop in London where Japanese toys--toysmade in the country of Japan--far away on the other side of theworld--were sold, and that there she found master froggy. 

"And there never was such a toy as froggy for a wet day, " said AuntEmma. "I have tried him on all sorts of boys and girls, and he neverfails. He's as good a cure for a cross face as a poultice is for a sorefinger. But, Milly, listen! I declare there's something else going on inmy bag. I really think, my dear bag, you might be quiet now that youhave got rid of froggy! What can all this chattering be about? Sh! sh!"and Aunt Emma held up her finger at the children, while she held the bagup to her ear, and listened carefully. Olly was almost beside himselfwith excitement, but Milly had got his little brown hands tight in hersfor fear he should make a jump at the bag. "Yes, " said Aunt Emma. "It'sjust as I thought. The bag declares it's not his fault at all, but thatif I will give him such noisy creatures to carry I must take theconsequences. He says there's a whole family now inside him, making sucha noise he can hardly hear himself speak. It's enough, he says, to drivea respectable bag mad, and he must blow up if it goes on. Dear me! Imust look into this. Milly, come here!"

Milly came near, and Aunt Emma opened the bag solemnly. 

"Now, Milly, I'll hold it for fear it should take it into its poor headto blow up, and you put your hand in and see what you can find. "

So Milly put her hand in, feeling a good deal excited as to what mighthappen--and what do you think she brought out? A whole handful of themost delicious dolls:--cardboard dolls of all sorts and kinds, likethose in mother's drawer at home; paper dolls, mamma dolls, little boydolls and little girl dolls, baby dolls and nurse dolls; dolls in suitsand dolls in frocks; dolls in hats and dolls in nightgowns; a papa introusers and a mamma in a magnificent blue dress with flounces and atrain; a nurse in white cap and apron and the most bewitching baby dollyou ever saw, with a frilled paper cap that slipped on and off, and awhite frock with pink ribbons. And the best of these dolls was, thateach of them had a piece of cardboard fastened on behind and a littlebit of cardboard to stand on, so that when you spread out the piecebehind they stood up as naturally as possible, and looked as if theywere going to talk to you. 

"Oh, Aunt Emma, dear Aunt Emma!" cried Milly, beside herself withdelight as she spread them all out in her lap. "They're just likemother's at home, mother's that you made for her when she was a littlegirl--only ever so many more. "

"Well, Milly, I made mother's for her long ago, when it rained for daysand days without stopping, and she had grown tired of pretty nearlyeverything and everybody indoors; and now I have been spending part ofthese rainy days in making a new set for mother's little girl. There, dear little woman, I think you must have given me a kiss for each ofthem by this time. Suppose you try and make them stand up. "

"But, Aunt Emma, " said Olly, who was busy examining the mysteriousbag--how could the dolls talk? they're only paper. "

"I know nothing about it, " answered Aunt Emma, rescuing the bag, andputting it safely under her chair. "You _might_ ask the bag--but itwouldn't answer you. Magical bags never do talk except to their mastersor mistresses. "

So Olly had to puzzle it out for himself while he played with theJapanese frog. That was an extraordinary frog! You should have seennurse's start when Olly hid himself in the passage and sent the froghopping and squeaking through the open door of the night nursery, wherenurse was sitting sewing; and as for cook, when the creature cameflopping over her kitchen floor she very nearly spoilt the hash she wasmaking for dinner by dropping a whole pepper-box into the middle of it!There was no end to the fun to be got out of froggy, and Olly amusedhimself with it the whole of the morning, while Milly went through longstories with her dolls upstairs, helped every now and then by Aunt Emma, who sat knitting and talking to mother. 

At dinner the children had to sit quiet while Mr. And Mrs. Norton andAunt Emma talked. Father and mother had been almost as much cheered upby Aunt Emma's coming as the children themselves, and now thedinner-table was lively with pleasant talk; talk about books, and talkabout pictures, and talk about foreign places, and talk about themountains and the people living near Ravensnest, many of whom mother hadknown when she was a little girl. Milly, who was old enough to listen, could only understand a little bit here and there; but there was alwaysAunt Emma's friendly gentle face to look at, and her soft old hand inits black mitten, to slip her own little fingers into; while Olly was sotaken up with the prospects of the black-currant pudding which he hadseen cook making in the morning, and the delight of it when it came, that it seemed no trouble to him to sit still. 

As for the rain, there was not much difference. Perhaps there were a fewbreaks in the clouds, and it might be beating a little less heavily onthe glass conservatory outside the dining-room, still, on the whole, theweather was much the same as it had been. It was wonderful to see howlittle notice the children had taken of it since Aunt Emma came, andwhen they escorted her upstairs after dinner, they quite forgot to rushto the window and look out, as they had been doing the last three daysat every possible opportunity. 

The children got her safe into a chair, and then Olly brought a stool toone side of her, and Milly brought a stool to the other. 

"_Now, _ can you remember about old Mother Quiverquake?" said Olly, resting his little sunburnt chin on Aunt Emma's knee, and looking up toher with eager eyes. 

[Illustration: "'Suppose we have a story-telling game'"]

"Well, I daresay I shall begin to remember about her presently; butsuppose, children, we have a _story-telling game_. We'll tellstories--you and Olly, father, mother, and everybody. That's much fairerthan that one person should do all the telling. "

"We couldn't, " said Milly, shaking her head gravely, "we are only littlechildren. Little children can't make up stories. "

"Suppose little children try, " said mother. "I think Aunt Emma's is anexcellent plan. Now, father, you'll have to tell one too. "

"Father's lazy, " said Mr. Norton, coming out from behind his newspaper. "But, perhaps, if you all of you tell very exciting stories you may stirhim up. "

"Oh, father!" cried Olly, who had a vivid remembrance of his father'sstories, though they only came very seldom, "tell us about the rat withthree tails, and the dog that walked on its nose. "

"Oh dear, no!" said Mr. Norton, "those won't do for such a grandstory-telling as this. I must think of some story which is all longwords and good children. "

"_Don't_ father, " said Milly, imploringly, "it's ever so much nicer whenthey get into scrapes, you know, and tumble down, and all that. "

"Who's to begin?" said Aunt Emma. "I think mother had better begin. Afterwards it will be your turn, Olly; then father, then Milly, and thenme. "

"I don't believe I've got a scrap of a story in my head, " said Mrs. Norton. "It's weeks since I caught one last. "

"Then look here, Olly, " said Aunt Emma, "I'll tell you what to do. Go upgently behind mother, and kiss her three times on the top of the head. That's the way to send the stories in. Mother will soon begin to feelone fidgeting inside her head after that. "

So Olly went gently up behind his mother, climbed on a stool at the backof her chair, and kissed her softly three times at the back of her head. Mrs. Norton lay still for a few moments after the kisses, with closedeyes. 

"Ah!" she said at last. "Now I think I've caught one. But it's a verylittle one, poor little thing. And yet, strange to say, though it's verylittle, it's very old. Now, children, you must be kind to my story. Icaught him first a great many years ago in an old book, but I am afraidyou will hardly care for him as much as I did. Well, once upon a timethere was a great king. "

"Was it King Arthur, mother?" interrupted Olly, eagerly. 

"Oh no! this king lived in a different country altogether. He lived in abeautiful hot country over the sea, called Spain. "

"Oh, mother! a _hot_ country!" protested Milly, "that's where the raingoes to. "

"Well, Milly, I don't think you know any more about it, except that you_tell_ the rain to go there. Don't you know by this time that the rainnever does what it's told? Really, very little rain goes to Spain, andin some parts of the country the people would be very glad indeed if wecould send them some of the rain we don't want at Ravensnest. But now, you mustn't interrupt me, or I shall forget my story--Well there wasonce a king who lived in a _very_ hot part of Spain, where they don'thave much rain, and where it hardly ever snows or freezes. And this kinghad a beautiful wife, whom he loved very much. But, unluckily, thisbeautiful wife had one great fault. She was always wishing for the mostunreasonable and impossible things, and though the king was alwaystrying to get her what she wanted she was never satisfied, and every dayshe seemed to grow more and more discontented and exacting. At last, oneday in the winter, a most extraordinary thing happened. A shower of snowfell in Cordova, which was the name of the town where the king and queenlived, and it whitened the hills all around the town, so that theylooked as if somebody had been dusting white sugar over them. Now snowwas hardly ever seen in Cordova, and the people in the town wondered atit, and talked about it a great deal. But after she had looked at it alittle-while the queen began to cry bitterly. None of her ladies couldcomfort her, nor would she tell any of them what was the matter. Thereshe sat at her window, weeping, till the king came to see her. When hecame he could not imagine what she was crying about, and begged her totell him why. 'I am weeping, ' she said, sobbing all the time, 'becausethe hills--are not always--covered with snow. See how pretty they look!And yet--I have never, till now, seen them look like that. If you reallyloved me, you would manage some way or other that it should snow once ayear at any rate. '

"'But how can I make it snow?' cried the king in great trouble, becauseshe would go on weeping and weeping, and spoiling her pretty eyes. 

"'I'm sure I don't know, ' said the queen, crossly, 'but you can't loveme a bit, or you'd certainly try. '

"Well, the king thought and thought, and at last he hit upon a beautifulplan. He sent into all parts of Spain to buy almond trees, and plantedthem on the hills all round the town. Now the almond tree, as you know, has a lovely pinky-white blossom, so when the next spring arrived allthese thousands of almond trees came out into bloom all over the hillsround Cordova, so that they looked at a distance as if they were coveredwith white snow. And for once the queen was delighted, and could nothelp saying a nice 'Thank you' to the king for all the trouble he hadtaken to please her. But it was not very long before she grewdiscontented again, and began once more to wish for all kinds ofridiculous things. One day she was sitting at her window, and she sawsome ragged little children playing by the river that ran round thepalace. They were dabbling in the mud at the side, sticking their littlebare feet into it, or scooping up pieces which they rolled into ballsand threw at one another. The queen watched them for some time, and atlast she began to weep bitterly. One of her maidens ran and told theking that the queen was weeping, and he came in a great hurry to seewhat was the matter. 

"'Just look at those children down there!' said the queen, sobbing andpointing to them. 'Did you ever see anybody so happy? Why can't I havemud to dabble in too, and why can't I take off my shoes and stockings, and amuse myself like the children do, instead of being so dull andstuck-up all day long?'

"'Because it isn't proper for queens to dabble in the mud, ' said thepoor king in great perplexity, for he didn't at all like the idea ofhis beautiful queen dabbling in the mud with the little ragged children. 

"'That's just like you, ' said the queen, beginning to cry faster thanever, ' you never do anything to please me. What's the good of beingproper? What's the good of being a queen at all?'

"This made the king very unhappy, and again he thought and thought, tillat last he hit upon a plan. He ordered a very large shallow bath ofwhite marble to be made in the palace-garden. Then he poured into it allkinds of precious stones, and chips of sweet-smelling wood, besides athousand cartloads of rose-leaves and a thousand cartloads of orangeflowers. All these he ordered to be stirred up together with a greativory spoon, till they made a kind of wonderful mud, and then he had thebath filled up with scented water. 

"'Now then, ' he said to the queen, when he had brought her down to lookat it, 'you may take off your shoes and stockings and paddle about inthis mud as much as you like. ' You may imagine that this was a verypleasant kind of mud to dabble in, and the queen and her ladies amusedthemselves with it immensely for some time. But nothing could keep thistiresome queen amused for long together, and in about a fortnight shehad grown quite tired of her wonderful bath. It seemed as if the king'spains had been all thrown away. She grew cross and discontented again, and her ladies began to say to each other, 'What will she wish for next, I wonder? The king might as well try to drink up the sea as try to gether all she wants. ' At last, one day, when she and her ladies werewalking near the palace, they met a shepherdess driving a flock of sheepup into the hills. The shepherdess looked so pretty and bright in herred petticoat and tall yellow cap, that the queen stopped to speak toher. 

"'Where are you going, pretty maiden, with your woolly white sheep?' sheasked. 

"'I am going up to the hills, ' said the shepherdess. 'Now the sun hasscorched up the fields down below we must take our sheep up to the coolhills, where the grass is still fresh and green. Good-day, good-day, thesheep are going so fast I cannot wait. ' So on she tripped, singing andcalling to her sheep, who came every now and then to rub their softcoats against her, as if they loved her. The queen looked after her, andher face began to pucker up. 

"'Why am I not a shepherdess?' she exclaimed, bursting into tears. 'I_hate_ being a queen! I never sang as merrily as that little maiden inall my life. I must and will be a shepherdess, and drive sheep up intothe mountain, or I shall die!"

"And all that night the foolish queen sat at her window crying, and whenthe morning came she had made herself look quite old and ugly. When theking came to see her he was dreadfully troubled, and begged her to tellhim what was the matter now. 

"'I want to be a shepherdess, and drive sheep up into the mountains, 'sobbed the queen. 'Why should the little shepherdess girls look alwaysso happy and merry, while I am dying of dulness?'

"The king thought it was very unkind of her to say she was dying ofdulness when he had taken so much trouble to get her all she wanted; buthe knew it was no good talking to her while she was in such a temper. Soall he said was:

"'How can I turn you into a shepherdess? These shepherdesses stay outall night with their sheep on the hills, and live on water and a crustof bread. How would you like that?'

"'Of course I-should like it, ' said the queen, 'anything for a change. Besides, nothing could be nicer than staying out of doors these lovelynights. And as for food, you know very well that I am never hungry here, and that it doesn't matter in the least to me what I eat!'

"'Well, ' said the king, 'you shall go up to the hills, if you promise totake your ladies with you, and if you will let me send a tent to shelteryou at night, and some servants to look after you. '

"'As if that would give me any pleasure!' said the queen, 'to befollowed about and waited upon is just what I detest. I will go alone;just like that pretty little shepherdess, if I go at all. '

"But the king declared that nothing would induce him to let her goalone. So the queen set to work to cry, and she cried for two days andtwo nights without stopping, and at the end of that time the poor kingwas ready to let her go anywhere or do anything for the sake of a littlepeace. 

"So she had her own way. They found her a flock of the loveliest whitesheep, all with blue ribbons round their necks, and blue rosettes ontheir little white tails; and the queen dressed herself up in a red silkpetticoat and a cap embroidered in gold and silver, and then she set outby herself. 

"At first it was all delightful. She drove the sheep up the soft greenhillsides, and laughed with delight to see them nibbling the freshgrass, and running hither and thither after her, and after each other. The evening sun shone brightly, and she sat herself down on a rock andsang all the tunes she knew, that she might be just like the littleshepherdess. But while she was singing the sheep strayed away, and shehad to run after them as fast as she could, to catch them up. This madeher hot and tired, so she tried to make them lie down under a chestnuttree, that she might rest beside them. But the sheep were not a bittired, and had no mind to rest at all. While she was calling one set ofthem together the other set ran scampering off, and the queen found outthat she must just give up her way for once and follow theirs. On wentthe sheep, up hill and down dale, nibbling and frisking and trotting totheir hearts' content, till the queen was worn out. 

"At last, by the time the sun was setting, the poor queen was so tiredthat she could walk no longer. Down she sat, and the ungrateful sheepkicked up their little hind legs and trotted away out of sight as fastas they could trot. There she was left on the hillside all alone. Itbegan to get dark, and the sky, instead of being blue and clear as ithad been, filled with black clouds. 

"'Oh dear! oh dear!' sighed the queen, 'here is a storm coming. If Icould only find my way down the hill, if I could only see the town!'

"But there were trees all about her, which hid the view, and soon it wasso dark there was nothing to be seen, not even the stars. And presently, crash came the thunder, and after the thunder the rain--such rain! Itsoaked the queen's golden cap till it was so heavy with water she wasobliged to throw it away, and her silk petticoat was as wet as if shehad been taking a bath in it. In vain she ran hither and thither, tryingto find a way through the trees, while the rain blinded her, and thethunder deafened her, till at last she was forced to sink down on theground, feeling more wretched and frightened and cold than any queenever felt before. Oh, if she were only safe back in her beautifulpalace! If only she had the tent the king wanted to send with her! Butthere all night she had to stay, and all night the storm went on, tillthe queen was lying in a flood, and the owls and bats, startled out oftheir holes, went flying past her in the dark, and frightening her outof her senses. When the morning came there was such a shivering, crumpled up queen sitting on the grass, that even her own ladies wouldscarcely have known her. 

"'Oh, husband! husband!' she cried, getting up and wringing her coldlittle hands. 'You will never find me, and your poor wicked wife willdie of cold and hunger. '

"Tirra-lirra! tirra-lirra! What was that sounding in the forest?Surely--surely--it was a hunting horn. But who could be blowing it soearly in the cold gray morning, when it was scarcely light? On ran thequeen toward where the sound came from. Over rocks and grass she ran, till, all of a sudden, stepping out from behind a tree, came the kinghimself, who had been looking for her for hours. And then what do youthink the discontented queen did? She folded her hands, and hung herhead, and said, quite sadly and simply:

"'Oh, my lord king, make me a shepherdess really. I don't deserve to bea queen. Send me away, and let me knit and spin for my living. I haveplagued you long enough. '

"And suddenly it seemed to the king as if there had been a black speckin the queen's heart, which had been all washed away by the rain; and hetook her hands, and led her home to the palace in joy and gladness. Andso they lived happy ever afterward. "

"Thank you _very_ much, mother, " said Milly, stretching up her arms anddrawing down Mrs. Norton's face to kiss her. "Do you really think thequeen was never discontented any more?"

"I can't tell you any more than the story does, " said Mrs. Norton. "Yousee there would always be that dreadful night to think about, if sheever felt inclined to be; but I daresay the queen didn't find it veryeasy at first. "

"I would have made her be a shepherdess, " said Olly, shaking his headgravely. "She wasn't nice, not a bit. "

"Little Mr. Severity!" said Aunt Emma, pulling his brown curls. "It'syour turn next, Olly. "

"Then Milly must kiss me first, " said Olly, looking rather scared, as ifsomething he didn't quite understand was going to happen to him. 

So Milly went through the operation of kissing him three times on theback of the head, and then Olly's eyes, finding it did no good to stareat Aunt Emma or mother, went wandering all round the room in search ofsomething else to help him. Suddenly they came to the window, where abrown speck was dancing up and down, and then Olly's face brightened, and he began in a great hurry:

"Once upon a time there was a daddy-long-legs--"

"Well, " said Milly, when they had waited a little while, and nothingmore came. 

"I don't know any more, " said Olly. 

"Oh, that _is_ silly, " said Milly, "why, that isn't a story at all. Shutyour eyes tight, that's much the best way of making a story. "

So Olly shut his eyes, and pressed his two hands tightly over them, andthen he began again:

"Once upon a time there was a daddy-long-legs--"

Another stop. 

"Was it a _good_ daddy-long-legs?" asked Milly, anxious to help him on. 

"Yes, " said Olly, "that's it, Milly. Once upon a time there was a gooddaddy-long-legs--"

"Well, what did he do?" asked Milly, impatiently. 

"He--he--flewed on to father's nose!" said Olly, keeping his hands tightover his eyes, while his little white teeth appeared below in a broadgrin. 

"And father said, 'Who's that on my nose?' and the daddy-long-legs said, 'It's me, don't you know?' And father said, 'Get away off my nose, Idon't like you a bit. ' And the daddy-long-legs said, 'I shan't go away. It's hot on the window, the sun gets in my eyes. I like sitting up herebest. ' So father took a big sofa-cushion and gave his nose _ever_ such abang! And the daddy-long-legs tumbled down dead. And the cushion tumbleddown dead. And father tumbled down dead. And that's all, " said Ollyopening his eyes, and looking extremely proud of himself. 

"Oh, you silly boy!" cried Milly, "that isn't a bit like a real story. "

But Aunt Emma and father and mother laughed a good deal at Olly's story, and Aunt Emma said it would do very well for such a small boy. 

Whose turn was it next?

"Father's turn! father's turn!" cried the children, in great glee, looking round for him; but while Olly's story had been going on, Mr. Norton, who was sitting behind them in a big arm-chair, had beencovering himself up with sofa cushions and newspapers, till there wasonly the tip of one of his boots to be seen, coming out from under theheap. The children were a long time dragging him out, for he pelted themwith cushions, and crumpled the newspapers over their heads, till theywere so tired with laughing and struggling they had no strength left. 

"Father, it isn't fair, I don't think, " said Milly at last, sitting abreathless heap on the floor. "Of course little people can't _make_ bigpeople do things, so the big people ought to do them without making. "

"That's not at all good reasoning, Milly, " said Mr. Norton, who couldnot resist the temptation of throwing one more sofa cushion at herlaughing face. "You can't _make_ nurse stand on her head, but that's noreason why nurse should stand on her head. "

Just then Olly, moving up a stool behind his father's chair, brought hislittle mouth suddenly down on his father's head, and gave him threekisses in a great hurry, with a shout of triumph at the end. 

"Dear me!" said Mr. Norton, shutting his eyes and falling back as ifsomething had happened to him. "This is very serious. Aunt Emma, thatspell of yours is really _too_ strong. My poor head! It will certainlyburst if I don't get this story out directly! Come, jump up, children--quick!"

Up jumped the children, one on each knee, and Mr. Norton began at once. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE STORY OF BEOWULF

Once upon a time there was a great--"

"Father, " interrupted Milly, "I shall soon be getting tired of 'Onceupon a time there was a great king. '"

"Don't cry till you're hurt, Milly; which means, wait till I get to theend of my sentence. Well, once upon a time there was a great--hero. "

"What is a hero?" asked Olly. 

"I know, " said Milly, eagerly, "it's a brave man that's always fightingand killing giants and dragons and cruel people. "

"That'll do to begin with, " said Mr. Norton, "though, when you growolder, you will find that people can be heroes without fighting orkilling. However, the man I am going to tell you about was just the kindof hero you're thinking of, Milly. He loved fighting with giants anddragons and wild people, and my story is going to be about two of hisfights--the greatest he ever fought. The name of this hero was Beowulf, and he lived in a country called Sweden (Milly knows all about Sweden, Olly, and you must get her to show it you on the map), with a number ofother brave men who were his friends, and helped him in his battles. Andone day a messenger came over the sea from another country close by, called Denmark, and the messenger said, 'Which of all you brave men willcome over and help my master, King Hrothgar, who is in sore trouble?'And the messenger told them how Hrothgar, for many years past, had beenplagued by a monster--the hateful monster Grendel--half a man and half abeast, who lived at the bottom of a great bog near the king's palace. Every night, he said, Grendel the monster came out of the bog with hishorrible mother beside him--a wolf-like creature, fearful to lookupon--and he and she would roam about the country, killing and slayingall whom they met. Sometimes they would come stalking to the king'spalace, where his brave men were sleeping round the fire in the bighall, and before anyone could withstand him Grendel would fall upon theking's warriors, kill them by tens and twenties, and carry off theirdead bodies to his bog. Many a brave man had tried to slay the monster, but none had been able so much as to wound him. 

"When Beowulf and his friends had heard this story they thought a while, and then each said to the other, 'Let us go across the sea and rid KingHrothgar of this monster. ' So they took ship and went across the sea toHrothgar's country, and Hrothgar welcomed them royally, and made a greatfeast in their honour. And after the feast Hrothgar said to Beowulf, 'Now, I give over to you the hall of my palace, that you may guard itagainst the monster. ' So Beowulf and the brave men who had come overwith him made a great fire in the hall, and they all lay down to sleepbeside it. You may imagine that they did not find it very easy to get tosleep, and some of them thought as they lay there that very likely theyshould never see their homes in Sweden again. But they were tired withjourneying and feasting, and one after another they all fell asleep. Then in the dead of the night, when all was still, Grendel rose up outof the bog, and came stalking over the moor to the palace. His eyesflamed with a kind of horrible light in the darkness, and his stepsseemed to shake the earth; but those inside the palace were sleeping soheavily that they heard nothing, not even when Grendel burst open thedoor of the hall and came in among them. Before anyone had wakened, themonster had seized one of the sleeping men and torn him to pieces. Thenhe came to Beowulf; but Beowulf sprang up out of his sleep and laid holdupon him boldly. He used no sword to strike him, for there was no swordwhich men could make was strong enough to hurt Grendel; but he seizedhim with his strong hands, and the two struggled together in the palace. And they fought till the benches were torn from the walls, andeverything in the hall was smashed and broken. The brave men, springingup all round, seized their swords and would gladly have helped theirlord, but there was no one but Beowulf could harm Grendel. 

"So they fought, till at last Beowulf tore away Grendel's hand and arm, and the monster fled away howling into the darkness. Over the moor herushed till he came to his bog, and there he sank down into the middleof the bog, wailing and shrieking like one whose last hour was come. Then there was great rejoicing at Heorot, the palace, and King Hrothgar, when he saw Grendel's hand which Beowulf had torn away, embraced him andblessed him, and he and all his friends were laden with splendid gifts. 

"But all was not over yet. When the next night came, and Hrothgar's menand Beowulf's men were asleep together in the great hall, Grendel'shorrible mother, half a woman and half a wolf, came rushing to thepalace and while they were all asleep she carried off one of Hrothgar'sdearest friends--a young noble whom he loved best of all his nobles. Andshe killed him, and carried his body back to the bog. Then the nextmorning there was grief and weeping in Heorot; but Beowulf said to theking, 'Grieve not, O king! till we have found out Grendel's mother andpunished her for her evil deeds. I promise you she shall give an accountfor this. She shall not be able to hide herself in the water, nor underthe earth, nor in the forest, nor at the bottom of the sea; let her gowhere she will, I will find a way after her. '

"So Beowulf and his friends put on their armour and mounted theirhorses, and set out to look for her. And when they had ridden a long andweary way over steep lonely paths and past caves where dragons andserpents lived, they came at last to Grendel's bog--a fearful placeindeed. There in the middle of it lay a pool of black water, and overthe water hung withered trees, which seemed as if they had been poisonedby the air rising from the water beneath them. No bird or beast wouldever come near Grendel's pool. If the hounds were hunting a stag, andthey drove him down to the edge, he would sooner let them tear him topieces than hide himself in the water. And every night the black waterseemed to burn and flame, and it hissed and bubbled and groaned as ifthere were evil creatures tossing underneath. And now when Beowulf andhis men came near it, they saw fierce water dragons lying near the edgeor swimming about the pool. There also, beside the water, they found thedead body of Hrothgar's friend, who had been killed by Grendel's mother, and they took it up, and mourned over him afresh. 

"But Beowulf took an old and splendid sword that Hrothgar had given him, and he put on his golden helmet and his iron war shirt that no swordcould cut through, and when he had bade his friends farewell he leaptstraight into the middle of the bog. Down he sank, deeper and deeperinto the water, among strange water beasts that struck at him with theirtusks as he passed them, till at last Grendel's mother, the water-wolf, looked up from the bottom and saw him coming. Then she sprang upon him, and seized him, and dragged him down, and he found himself in a sort ofhall under the water, with a pale strange light in it. And then heturned from the horrible water-wolf and raised his sword and struck heron the head; but his blow did her no harm. No sword made by mortal mencould harm Grendel or his mother; and as he struck her Beowulf stumbledand fell. Then the water-wolf rushed forward and sat upon him as he laythere, and raised aloft her own sharp dagger to drive it into hisbreast; but Beowulf shook her off, and sprang up, and there, on thewall, he saw hanging a strange old sword that had been made in the oldtimes, long, long ago, when the world was full of giants. So he threwhis own sword aside and took down the old sword, and once more he smotethe water-wolf. And this time his sword did him good service, andGrendel's fierce mother sank down dead upon the ground. 

"Then Beowulf looked round him, and he saw lying in a corner the body ofGrendel himself. He cut off the monster's head, and lo and behold! whenhe had cut it off the blade of the old sword melted away, and there wasnothing left in his hands but the hilt, with strange letters on it, telling how it was made in old days by the giants for a great king. Sowith that, and Hrothgar's sword and Grendel's head, Beowulf rose upagain through the bog, and just as his brave men had begun to think theyshould never see their dear lord more he came swimming to land, bearingthe great head with him. 

"Then Hrothgar and all his people rejoiced greatly, for they knew thatthe land would never more be troubled by these hateful monsters, butthat the ploughers might plough, and the shepherds might lead theirsheep, and brave men might sleep at night, without fear any more ofGrendel and his mother. "

"Oh, father!" said Milly, breathlessly, when he stopped. "Is that all?"

But Olly sat quite still, without speaking, gazing at his father withwide open brown eyes, and a face as grave and terrified as if Grendelwere actually beside him. 

"That's all for this time, " said Mr. Norton. "Why, Olly, where are yourlittle wits gone to? Did it frighten you, old man?"

"Oh!" said Olly, drawing a long breath. "I did think he would never havecomed up out of that bog!"

"It was splendid, " said Milly. "But, father, I don't understand aboutthat pool. Why didn't Beowulf get drowned when he went down under thewater?"

"The story doesn't tell us anything about that, " said Mr. Norton. "Butheroes in those days, Milly, must have had something magical about themso that they were able to do things that men and women can't do now. Doyou know, children, that this story that you have been listening to ismore than a thousand years old? Can you fancy that?"

"No, " said Milly, shaking her head. "I can't fancy it a bit, father. It's too long. It makes me puzzled to think of so many years. "

"Years and years and years and _years_!" said Olly. "When father'sgrandfather was a little boy. "

Mr. Norton laughed. "Can't you think of anything farther back than that, Olly? It would take a great many grandfathers, and grandfathers'grandfathers, to get back to the time when the story of Beowulf wasmade. And here am I telling it to you just in the same way as fathersused to tell it to their children a thousand years ago. "

"I suppose the children liked it so, they wouldn't let their fathersforget it, " said Milly. "And then when they grew up they told it totheir children. I shall tell it to my children when I grow up. I think Ishall tell it to Katie to-morrow. "

"Father, " said Olly, "did Beowulf die--ever?"

"Yes. When he was quite an old man he had another great fight with adragon, who was guarding a cave full of golden treasure on thesea-shore; and though he killed the dragon, the dragon gave him aterrible wound, so that when his friends came to look for him they foundhim lying all but dead in the cave. He was just able to tell them tomake a great mound of earth over him when he was dead, on a high rockclose by, that sailors might see it from their ships and think of himwhen they saw it, and then he died. And when he was dead they carriedhim up to the rock, and there they burned his body, and then they builtup a great high mound of earth, and they put Beowulf's bones inside, andall the treasure from the dragon's cave. They were ten days building upthe mound. Then when it was all done they rode around it weeping andchanting sorrowful songs, and at last they left him there, saying asthey went away that never should they see so good a king or so true amaster any more. And for hundreds of years afterwards, when the sailorsout at sea saw the high mound rising on its point of rock, they said oneto another, 'There is Beowulf's Mount, ' and they began to tell eachother of Beowulf's brave deeds--how he lived and how he died, and how hefought with Grendel and the wild sea dragons. There, now, I have toldyou all I know about Beowulf, " said Mr. Norton, getting up and turningthe children off his knee, "and if it isn't somebody else's turn now itought to be. "

"Aunt Emma! Aunt Emma!" shouted Olly, who was so greedy for stories thathe could almost listen all day long without being tired. 

But Aunt Emma only smiled through her spectacles and pointed to thewindow. The children ran to look out, and they could hardly believetheir eyes when they saw that it had actually stopped raining, and thatover the tree-tops was a narrow strip of blue sky, the first they hadseen for three whole days. 

"Oh you nice blue sky!" exclaimed Milly, dancing up and down before thewindow with a beaming face. "Mind you stay there and get bigger. We'llget on our hats presently and come out to look at you. Oh! there's JohnBackhouse coming down the hill with the dogs. Mother, may we go upourselves and ask Becky and Tiza to come to tea?"

"But Aunt Emma must tell us her story first, " persisted Olly, who hatedbeing cheated out of a story by anything or anybody. "She promised. "

"You silly boy!" said Aunt Emma, "as if I was going to keep you indoorslistening to stories just now, when the sun's shining for the first timefor three whole days. I promised you my story on a wet day, and youshall have it--never fear. There'll be plenty more wet days before yougo away from Ravensnest, I'm afraid. There goes my knitting, andmother's putting away her work, and father's stretching himself--whichmeans we're all going for a walk. "

"To fetch Becky and Tiza, mother?" asked Milly; and when mother said"Yes, if you like, " the two children raced off down the long passage tothe nursery in the highest possible spirits. 

Soon they were all walking along the dripping drive past high banks ofwet fern, and under trees which threw down showers of rain-drops atevery puff of wind. And when they got into the road beside the river thechildren shouted with glee to see their brown shallow little riverturned into a raging flood of water, which went sweeping and hurryingthrough the fields, and every now and then spreading itself over themand making great pools among the poor drowned hay. They ran on to lookfor the stepping-stones, but to their amazement there was not a stone tobe seen. The water was rushing over them with a great roar and swirl, and Milly shivered a little bit when she remembered their bathe there aweek before. 

"Well, old woman, " said Mr. Norton, coming up to them, "I don't supposeyou'd like, a bathe to-day--quite. "

"If we were in there now, " said Olly, watching the river with greatexcitement, "the water would push us down krick! and the fishes wouldcome and etten us all up. "

"They'd be a long time gobbling you up, Master Fatty, " said his father. "Come, run along; it's too cold to stand about. "

But how brilliant and beautiful it was after the rain! Little tinytrickling rivers were running down all the roads, and sparkling in thesun; the wet leaves and grass were glittering, and the great mountainsall around stood up green and fresh against the blue sky, as if the rainhad washed the dust off them from top to toe, and left them clean andbright. Two things only seemed the worse for the rain--the hay and thewild strawberries. Milly peered into all the banks along the road whereshe generally found her favourite little red berries, but most of themwere washed away, and the few miserable things that were left tasted ofnothing but rain water. And as for the hay-fields, they looked so wetand drenched that it was hard to believe any sunshine could ever drythem. 

"Poor John Backhouse!" said Aunt Emma; "I'm afraid his hay is a gooddeal spoilt. Aren't you glad father's not a farmer, Milly?"

"Why, Aunt Emma, " said Milly, "I'm always wishing father _was_ a farmer. I want to be like Becky, and call the cows, and mind the baby all bymyself. It must be nice feeding the chickens, and making the hay, andtaking the milk around. "

"Yes, all that's very nice, but how would you like your hay washed away, and your corn beaten down, and your fruit all spoilt? Those are thingsthat are constantly happening to John Backhouse, I expect, in the rainycountry. "

"Yes, and it won't always be summer, " said Milly, considering. "I don'tthink I should like to stay in that little weeny house all the winter. Is it very cold here in the winter, Aunt Emma?"

"Not very, generally. But last winter was very cold here, and the snowlay on the ground for weeks and weeks. On Christmas eve, do you know, Milly, I wanted to have a children's party in my kitchen, and what doyou think I did? The snow was lying deep on the roads, so I sent out twosledges. "

"What are sledges?" asked Olly. 

"Carriages with the wheels taken off and two long pieces of woodfastened on instead, so that they slip along smoothly over the snow. Andmy old coachman drove one and my gardener the other, and they went roundall the farmhouses near by, and gathered up the children, little andbig, into the sledges, till the coachman had got eight in his sledge, and the gardener had got nine in his, and then they came trotting backwith the bells round the horses' necks jingling and clattering, and twosuch merry loads of rosy-faced children. I wish you had been there; Igave them tea in the kitchen, and afterward we had a Christmas tree inthe drawing-room. "

"Oh what fun, " said Milly. "Why didn't you ask us too, Aunt Emma? Wecould have come quite well in the train, you know. But how did thechildren get home?"

"We covered them up warm with rugs and blankets, and sent them back inthe sledges. And they looked so happy with their toys and buns cuddledup in their arms, that it did one's heart good to see them. "

"Mind you ask us next time, Aunt Emma, " said Milly, hanging round herneck coaxingly. 

"Mind you get two pairs of wings by that time, then, " said Aunt Emma, "for mother's not likely to let you come to my Christmas tree unless youpromise to fly there and back. But suppose, instead of your coming tome, I come to you next Christmas?"

"Oh yes! yes!" cried Olly, who had just joined Aunt Emma and Milly, "come to our Christmas tree, Aunt Emma. We'll give you ever such nicethings--a ball and a top, and a train--perhaps--and--"

"As if Aunt Emma would care for those kind of things!" said Milly. "No, you shall give her some muffetees, you know, to keep her hands warm, andI'll make her a needlebook. But, Aunt Emma, do listen! What can be thematter?"

They were just climbing the little bit of steep road which led to thefarm, and suddenly they heard somebody roaring and screaming, and thenan angry voice scolding, and then a great clatter, and then louderroaring than ever. 

"What _is_ the matter?" cried Milly, running on to the farm door, whichwas open. But just as she got there, out rushed a tattered little figurewith a tear-stained face, and hair flying behind. 

"Tiza!" cried Milly, trying to stop her. But Tiza ran past her as quickas lightning down the garden path towards the cherry tree, and inanother minute, in spite of the shower of wet she shook down on herselfas she climbed up, she was sitting high and safe among the branches, where there was no catching her nor even seeing her. 

"Ay, that's the best place for ye, " said Mrs. Backhouse, appearing atthe door with an angry face, "you'll not get into so much mischief thereperhaps as you will indoors. Oh, is that you, Miss Elliot (that was AuntEmma's surname)? Walk in please, ma'am, though you'll find me sadlyuntidy this afternoon. Tiza's been at her tricks again; she keeps mesweeping up after her all day. Just look here, if you please, ma'am. "

Aunt Emma went in, and the children pressed in after her, full ofcuriosity to see what crime Tiza had been committing. Poor Mrs. Backhouse! all over her clean kitchen floor there were streams of waterrunning about, with little pieces of cabbage and carrot sticking up inthem here and there, while on the kitchen table lay a heap of meat andvegetables, which Mrs. Backhouse had evidently just picked up out of thegrate before Aunt Emma and the children arrived. 

"Yes, " said Mrs. Backhouse, pointing to the floor, "there's the supperjust spoilt. Tiza's never easy but when she's in mischief. I'm surethese wet days I have'nt known what to do with her indoors all day. Andwhat must she do this afternoon but tie her tin mug to the cat's tail, till the poor creature was nearly beside herself with fright, and wentrushing about upstairs like a mad thing. And then, just when I happenedto be out a minute looking after something, she lets the cat in here, and the poor thing jumps into the saucepan I had just put on with thebroth for our supper, and in her fright and all turns it right over. Andnow look at my grate, and the fender, and the floor, and the meat thereall messed! I expect her father'll give Tiza a good beating when hecomes in, and I'm sure I shan't stand in the way. "

"Oh no, please, Mrs. Backhouse!" said Milly, running up to her with agrave imploring little face. "Don't let Mr. Backhouse beat her; shedidn't mean it, she was only in fun, I'm sure. "

"Well, missy, it's very troiblesome fun I'm sure, " said Mrs. Backhouse, patting Milly kindly on the shoulder, for she was a good-natured woman, and it wasn't her way to be angry long. "I don't know what I'm to giveJohn for his supper, that I don't. I had nothing in the house but justthose little odds and ends of meat, that I thought would make a nice bitof broth for supper. And now he'll come in wet and hungry, and there'llbe nothing for him. Well, we must do with something else, I suppose, butI expect her father'll beat her. "

Milly and Olly looked rather awestruck at the idea of a beating fromJohn Backhouse, that great strong brawny farmer; and Milly, whisperingsomething quickly to Aunt Emma, slipped out into the garden again. Bythis time father and mother had come up, and Becky appeared from thefarmyard, wheeling the baby in a little wooden cart, and radiant withpleasure at the sight of Aunt Emma, whose godchild she was, so thatMilly's disappearance was not noticed. 

She ran down the garden path to the cherry tree, and as, in the varioustimes they had been together, Becky and Tiza had taught her a good dealof climbing, she too clambered up into the wet branches, and was soonsitting close by Tiza, who had turned her cotton pinafore over her headand wouldn't look at Milly. 

"Tiza, " said Milly softly, putting her hand on Tiza's lap, "do you feelvery bad?"

No answer. 

"We came to take you down to have tea with us, " said Milly, "do youthink your mother will let you come?"

"Naw, " said Tiza shortly, without moving from behind her pinafore. 

It certainly wasn't very easy talking to Tiza. Milly thought she'dbetter try something else. 

"Tiza, " she began timidly, "do your father and mother tell you storieswhen it rains?"

"Naw, " said Tiza, in a very astonished voice, throwing down her pinaforeto stare at Milly. 

"Then what do you do, Tiza, when it rains?"

"Nothing, " said Tiza. "We has our dinners and tea, and sometimes Beckyminds the baby and sometimes I do, and father mostly goes to sleep. "

"Tiza, " said Milly hurriedly, "did you _mean_ pussy to jump into thesaucepan?"

Up went Tiza's pinafore again, and Milly was in dismay because shethought she had made Tiza cry; but to her great surprise Tiza suddenlyburst into such fits of laughter, that she nearly tumbled off the cherrytree. "Oh, she did jump so, and the mug made such a rattling! And whenshe comed out there was just a little bit of carrot sticking to hernose, and her tail was all over cabbage leaf. Oh, she did look funny!"

Milly couldn't help laughing too, till she remembered all that Mrs. Backhouse had been saying. 

"Oh, but, Tiza, Mrs. Backhouse says your father won't have anything forhis supper. Aren't you sorry you spoilt his supper?"

"Yis, " said Tiza, quickly. "I know father'll beat me, he said he wouldnext time I vexed mother. "

And this time the pinafore went up in earnest, and Tiza began to crypiteously. 

"Don't cry, Tiza, " said Milly, her own little cheeks getting wet, too. "I'll beg him not. Can't you make up anyway? Mother says we must alwaysmake up if we can when we've done any harm. I wish I had anything togive you to make up. "

Tiza suddenly dried her eyes and looked at Milly, with a brightexpression which was very puzzling. 

"You come with me, " she said suddenly, swinging herself down from thetree. "Come here by the hedge, don't let mother see us. "

So they ran along the far side of the hedge till they got into thefarmyard, and then Tiza led Milly past the hen-house, up to the cornerwhere the hayricks were. In and out of the hayricks they went, till inthe very farthest corner of all, where hardly anybody ever came, andwhich nobody could see into from the yard, Tiza suddenly knelt down andput her hand under the hay at the bottom of the rick. 

"You come, " she whispered eagerly to Milly, pulling her by the skirt, "you come and look here. "

Milly stooped down, and there in a soft little place, just between thehayrick and the ground, what do you think she saw? Three large brownisheggs lying in a sort of rough nest in the hay, and looking so round andfresh and tempting, that Milly gave a little cry of delight. 

"Oh, Tiza, how be--utiful! How did they get there?"

"It's old Sally, our white hen you know, laid them. I found them justafter dinner. Mother doesn't know nothing about them. I never toldBecky, nor nobody. Aren't they beauties?"

And Tiza took one up lovingly in her rough, little brown hands, and laidit against her cheek, to feel how soft and satiny it was. 

"Oh, and Tiza, I know, " exclaimed Milly eagerly, "you meant these woulddo for supper. That would be a lovely make up. There's three. One forMr. Backhouse, one for Mrs. Backhouse, and one for Becky. --There's nonefor you, Tiza. "

"Nor none for Becky neither, " answered Tiza shortly. "Father'll wanttwo. Becky and me'll get bread and dripping. "

"Well, come along, Tiza, let's take them in. "

"No, you take them, " said Tiza. "Mother won't want to see me no more, and father'll perhaps be coming in. "

"Oh, but, Tiza, you'll come to tea with us?"

"I don't know, " said Tiza. "You ask. "

And off she ran as quick as lightning, off to her hiding-place in thecherry tree, while Milly was left with the three brown eggs, feelingrather puzzled and anxious. However, she put them gently in the skirt ofher frock, and holding it up in both hands she picked her way throughthe wet yard back to the house. 

When she appeared at the kitchen door, Aunt Emma and Mrs. Backhouse werechatting quietly. Mr. And Mrs. Norton, and Olly, had gone on for alittle stroll along the Wanwick road, and Becky was sitting on thewindow-sill with the baby, who seemed very sleepy, but quite determinednot to go to sleep in spite of all Becky's rocking and patting. 

"Oh, Mrs. Backhouse, " began Milly, coming in with a bright flushed face, "just look here, what I've brought. Tiza found them just after dinnerto-day. They were under the hayrick right away in the corner, and shewanted to make up, so she showed me where they were, so I brought themin, and there's two for Mr. Backhouse, and one for you, you know. And, please, won't you let Tiza come to tea with us?"

Mrs. Backhouse looked in astonishment at the three eggs lying in Milly'sprint skirt, and at Milly's pleading little face. 

"Ay, that's Sally, I suppose. She's always hiding her eggs is Sally, where I can't find them. So it was Tiza found them, was it, Missy? Well, they will come, in very handy for supper as it happens. Thank you kindlyfor bringing them in. "

And Mrs. Backhouse took the eggs and put them safely away in a pie-dish, while Becky secretly pulled Milly by the sleeve, and smiled up at her asmuch as to say, "Thank you for helping Tiza out of her scrape. "

"And you'll let Becky and Tiza come to tea?" asked Milly again. 

"Well, I'm sure, Miss, I don't know, " said Mrs. Backhouse, lookingpuzzled; "Becky may come and welcome, but perhaps it would do Tiza goodto stay at home. "

"Don't you think she'd better have a little change?" said Aunt Emma inher kind voice, which made Milly want to hug her. "I daresay stayingindoors so long made her restless. If you will let me carry them bothoff, I daresay between us, Mrs. Backhouse, we can give Tiza a talkingto, and perhaps she'll come back in a more sensible mood. "

"Well, Miss Elliot, she shall go if you wish it. Come Becky, give me thebaby, and go and put your things on. " And then going to the door, Mrs. Backhouse shouted "Tiza!" After a second or two a little figure droppeddown out of the cherry tree and came slowly up the walk. Tiza had shakenher hair about her face so that it could hardly be seen, and she neverlooked once at Aunt Emma and Milly as she came up to her mother. 

"There, go along, Tiza, and get your things on, " said Mrs. Backhouse, taking her by the arm. "I wouldn't have let you go out to tea, you know, if Miss Elliot and Missy hadn't asked particular. Mind you don't getinto no more mischief. And very like those eggs'll do for father'ssupper; so, I daresay, I'll not say anything to him this time--just foronce. Now go up. "

Tiza didn't want to be told twice, and presently, just as Mr. And Mrs. Norton and Olly were coming back from their walk, they met Aunt Emmacoming back from the farm holding Becky's hand, while Milly and Tizawalked in front. 

"Well, Tiza, " said Mr. Norton, patting her curly head, I declare I thinkyou beat Olly for mischief. Olly never spoilt my dinner yet, that Iremember. What should I do to him do you think, if he did?"

"Beat him, " said Tiza, looking up at Mr. Norton with her quick birdlikeeyes. 

"Oh dear, no!" said Mr. Norton, "that wouldn't do my dinner any good. Ishould eat him up instead. "

"I don't believe little boys taste good a bit, " said Olly, who alwaysbelieved firmly in his father's various threats. "If you ettened me, father, you'd be ill. "

"Oh no, " said Mr. Norton, "not if I eat you with plenty of bread-sauce. That's the best way to cook little boys. Now, Milly, which of you threegirls can get to that gate first?"

Off ran the three little girls full tilt down the hill leading toRavensnest, with Olly puffing and panting after them. Milly led the wayat first, for she was light and quick, and a very fair runner for herage; but Tiza soon got up to her and passed her, and it was Tiza'slittle stout legs that arrived first at Ravensnest gate. 

"Oh, Becky!" said Milly, putting her arm round Becky's neck as they wentinto the house together, "I hope you may stay a good long time. Whattime do you go to bed?"

"Oh, I don't know, " said Becky. "We go when fayther goes. "

"When fayther goes!" exclaimed Milly. "Why, we go ever so long beforefather. Why do you stay up so late?"

"Why, it isn't late, " said Becky. "Fayther goes to bed, now it'ssummertime, about half-past eight; but in winter, of course, he goesearlier. And we all goes together, except baby. Mother puts him out ofthe way before supper. "

"Well, but how funny, " said Milly, "I can't think why you should be sodifferent from us. "

And Milly went on puzzling over Becky and her going to bed, till nursedrove it all out of her head by fetching them to tea. Such a merry teathey had, and after tea a romp in the big kitchen with father, whichdelighted the little farm children beyond measure. Some time in theevening, I believe, Aunt Emma managed to give Tiza a little talking to, but none of the other children knew anything about it, except perhapsBecky, who generally knew what was happening to Tiza. 

CHAPTER IX

MILLY'S BIRTHDAY

Now we have come to a chapter which is going to be half merry and halfsad. I have not told you any sad things about Milly and Olly up tillnow, I think. They were such happy little people, that there was nothingsad to tell you. They cried sometimes, of course--you remember Millycried when Olly stickied her doll--but generally, by the time they haddried up their tears they had quite forgotten what they were cryingabout; and as for any real trouble, why they didn't know what it couldpossibly be like. But now, just as they were going away from Ravensnest, came a real sad thing, and you'll hear very soon how it happened. 

After those three wet days it was sometimes fine and sometimes rainy atRavensnest, but never so rainy as to keep the Nortons in all day. Andevery now and then there were splendid days, when the children and theirfather and mother were out all day long, wandering over the mountains, or walking over to Aunt Emma's or tramping along the well-known roads toWanwick on one side, and the little village of Rydal and Rydal Lake onthe other. They had another row on Windermere; and one fine evening Mr. Norton borrowed a friend's boat, and they went out fishing for perch onRydal Lake, the loveliest little lake in the world, lying softly in agreen mountain cup, and dotted with islands, which seemed to thechildren when they landed on them like little bits of fairyland droppedinto the blue water. 

[Illustration: "Haymaking"]

And then! crown of delights! came the haymaking. There were long finedays, when the six small creatures--Milly, Olly, Becky, Tiza, Bessie, and Charlie--followed John Backhouse and his men about in the hayfieldsfrom early morning till evening, helping to make the hay, or simplyrolling about like a parcel of kittens in the flowery fragrant heaps. 

Aunt Emma was often at Ravensnest, and the children learned to love herbetter and better, so that even wild little Olly would remember to bringher stool, and carry her shawl, and change her plate at dinner; andMilly, who was always clinging to somebody, was constantly puzzled toknow whose pocket to sit in, mother's or Aunt Emma's. 

Then there was the farmyard, the cows, and the milking, and thechickens. Everything about them seemed delightful to Milly and Olly, andthe top of everything was reached when one evening John Backhousemounted both the children on his big carthorse Dobbin, and they andDobbin together dragged the hay home in triumph. 

And now they had only one week more to stay at Ravensnest. But that weekwas a most important week, for it was to contain no less a day thanMilly's birthday. Milly would be seven years old on the 15th of July, and for about a week before the 15th, Milly's little head could think ofnothing else. Olly too was very much excited about it, for though Millyof course was the queen of the day, and all the presents were for her, not for him, still it was good times for everybody on Milly's birthday;besides which, he had his own little secret with mother about hispresent to Milly, a secret which made him very happy, but which he wason the point of telling at least a hundred times a day. 

"Father, " said Milly, about four days before the birthday, when theywere all wandering about after tea one evening in the high garden whichwas now a paradise of ripe red strawberries and fruit of every kind, "does everybody have birthdays? Do policemen have birthdays?"

"I expect so, Milly, " said Mr. Norton, laughing, "but they haven't anytime to remember them. "

"But, father, what's the good of having birthdays if you don't keepthem, and have presents and all that? And do cats and dogs havebirthdays? I should like to find out Spot's birthday. We'd give hercream instead of milk, you know, and I'd tie a blue ribbon round herneck, and one round her tail like the queen's sheep in mother's story. "

"I don't suppose Spot would thank you at all, " said Mr. Norton. "Thecream would make her ill, and the ribbon would fidget her dreadfullytill she pulled it off. "

"Oh dear!" sighed Milly. "Well, I suppose Spot had better not have anybirthday then. But, father, what do you think? Becky and Tiza don't careabout their birthdays a bit. Becky could hardly remember when hers was, and they never have any presents unless Aunt Emma gives them one, orpeople to tea, or anything. '

"Well, you see, Milly, when people have only just pennies and shillingsenough to buy bread and meat to eat, and clothes to put on, they can'tgo spending money on presents; and when they're very anxious and busyall the year round they can't be remembering birthdays and taking painsabout them like richer people can, who have less to trouble them, andwhose work does not take up quite so much time. "

"Well, but why don't the rich people remember the poor people'sbirthdays for them, father? Then they could give them presents, and askthem to tea and all, you know. "

"Yes, that would be a very good arrangement, " said Mr. Norton, smilingat her eager little face. "Only, somehow, Milly, things don't come rightlike that in this world. "

"Well, I'm going to try and remember Becky's and Tiza's birthdays, " saidMilly. "I'll tell mother to put them down in her pocket-book--won't you, mother? Oh, what fun! I'll send them birthday cards, and they'll be sosurprised, and wonder why; and then they'll say, 'Oh, why, of courseit's our birthday!'--No, not _our_ birthday--but you know what I mean, father. "

"Well, but, Milly, " asked Mrs. Norton, "have you made up your mind whatyou want to do this birthday?"

Milly stopped suddenly, with her hands behind her, opposite her mother, with her lips tightly pressed together, her eyes smiling, as if therewas a tremendous secret hidden somewhere. 

"Well, monkey, out with it. What have you got hidden away in your littlehead?"

"Well, mother, " said Milly, slowly, "I don't want to _have_ anybody totea. I want to go out to tea with somebody. Now can you guess?"

"With Aunt Emma?"

"Oh no, Aunt Emma's coming over here all day. She promised she would. "

"With Becky and Tiza?"

Milly nodded, and screwed up her little lips tighter than ever. 

"But I don't expect Mrs. Backhouse will want the trouble of having youtwo to tea. 

"Oh mother, she won't mind a bit. I know she won't; because Becky toldme one day her mother would like us very much to come some time if you'dlet us. And Nana could come and help Mrs. Backhouse, and we could allwash up the tea-things afterwards, like we did at the picnic. "

"Then Tiza mustn't sit next me, " said Olly, who had been listening insilence to all the arrangements. "She takes away my bread and butterwhen I'm not looking, and I don't like it, not a bit. "

"No, Olly dear, she shan't, " said Milly, taking his hand and fondlingit, as if she were at least twenty years older. "I'll sit on one side ofyou and Becky on the other, " a prospect with which Olly was apparentlysatisfied, for he made no more objections. 

"Well, you must ask Mrs. Backhouse yourselves, " said Mrs. Norton. "Andif it is her washing-day, or inconvenient to her at all, you mustn'tthink of going, you know. "

So early next morning, Milly and Nana and Olly went up to the farm, andcame back with the answer that Mrs. Backhouse would be very pleased tosee them at tea on Thursday, the 15th, and that John Backhouse wouldhave cut the hay-field by the river by then, and they could have a rompin the hay afterwards. 

Wednesday was a deeply interesting day to Olly. He and his mother wentover by themselves to Wanwick, and they bought something which theshopwoman at the toy-shop wrapped up in a neat little parcel, and whichOlly carried home, looking as important as a little king. 

"Milly, " he began at dinner, "_wouldn't_ you like to know about yourpresents? But of course I shan't tell you about mine. Perhaps I'm notgoing to give you one at all. Oh, mother, " in a loud whisper to Mrs. Norton, "did you put it away safe where she can't see?"

"Oh, you silly boy, " said Milly, "you'll tell me if you don't takecare. "

"No, I shan't. I wouldn't tell you if you were to go on asking me allday. It isn't very big, you know, Milly, and--and--it isn't prettyoutside--only--"

"Be quiet, chatterbox, " said Mr. Norton putting his hand over Olly'smouth, "you'll tell in another minute, and then there'll be no funto-morrow. "

So Olly with great difficulty kept quiet, and began eating up hispudding very fast, as if that was the only way of keeping his littletongue out of mischief. 

"Father, " he said after dinner, "do take Milly out for a walk, andmother shall take me. Then I can't tell, you know. "

So the two went out different ways, and Olly kept away from Milly allday, in great fear lest somehow or other his secret should fly out ofhim in spite of all his efforts to keep it in. At night the childrenmade nurse hurry them to bed, so that when mother came to tuck them up, as she generally did, she found the pair fast asleep, and nothing leftto kiss but two curly heads buried in the pillows. 

"Bless their hearts, " said nurse to Mrs. Norton, "they can think ofnothing but to-morrow. They'll be sadly disappointed if it rains. "

But the stars came out, and the new moon shone softly all night on thegreat fir trees and the rosebuds and the little dancing beck in theRavensnest garden; and when Milly awoke next morning the sun wasshining, and Brownholme was towering up clear and high into the breezyblue sky, and the trees were throwing cool shadows on the dewy lawnaround the house. 

"Oh dear!" said Milly, jumping up, her face flushing with joy "it's mybirthday, and it's fine. Nana, bring me my things, please. --But where'sOlly?"

Where indeed was Olly? There was his little bed, but there was anightdress rolled up in it, and not a wisp of his brown curls was to beseen anywhere. 

"Why, Miss Milly, are you woke up at last? I hardly thought you'd haveslept so late this morning. Many happy returns of the day to you, " saidnurse, giving her a hearty hug. 

"Thank you, _dear_ nurse. Oh, it is so nice having birthdays. But wherecan Olly be?"

"Don't you trouble your head about him, " said nurse mysteriously, andnot another word could Milly get out of her. She had just slipped on herwhite cotton frock when mother opened the door. 

"Well, birthday-girl! The top of the morning to you, and many, manyhappy returns of the day. "

Whereupon Milly and mother went through a great deal of kissing whichneed not be described, and then mother helped her brush her hair, andput on her ribbon and tie her sash, so that in another minute or two shewas quite ready to go down. 

"Now, Milly, wait one minute till you hear the bell ring, and then youmay come down as fast as you like. "

So Milly waited, her little feet dancing with impatience, till the bellbegan to ring as if it had gone quite mad. 

"Oh, that's Olly ringing, " cried Milly, rushing off. And sure enoughwhen she got to the hall there was Olly ringing as if he meant to bringthe house down. He dropped the bell when he saw Milly, and dragged herbreathlessly into the dining-room. 

And what did Milly see there I wonder? Why, a heap of red and whiteroses lying on the breakfast table, a big heap, with odd corners andpoints sticking up all over it, and under the roses a white napkin, andunder the napkin treasures of all sorts--a book from father, a littlework-box from mother, with a picture of Windermere on the outside, andinside the most delightful cottons and needles and bits ofbright-coloured stuffs; a china doll's dinner-service from Aunt Emma, amug from nurse, a little dish full of big red strawberries fromgardener, and last, but not least, Olly's present--a black paint-box, with colours and brushes and all complete, and tied up with a littledrawing-book which mother had added to make it really useful. At the topof the heap, too, lay two letters addressed in very big round hand to"Miss Milly Norton, " and one was signed Jacky and the other signedFrancis. Each of these presents had neat little labels fastened on tothem, and they were smothered in roses--deep red and pale pink roses, with the morning dew sprinkled over them. 

"We got all those roses, mother and me, this morning, when you was fastasleep, Milly, " shouted Olly, who was capering about like a madcreature. "Mother pulled me out of bed ever so early, and I putted on mygoloshes, and didn't we get wet just! Milly, _isn't_ my paint-box abeauty?"

But it's no good trying to describe what Milly felt. She felt as everyhappy little girl feels on a happy birthday, just a little bitbewitched, as if she had got into another kind of world altogether. 

"Now, " said father, after breakfast, "I'm yours, Milly, for all thismorning. What are you going to do with me?"

"Make you into a tiger, father, and shoot you, " said Olly, who wouldhave liked to play at hunting and shooting games all day long. 

"I didn't ask you, sir, " said Mr. Norton, "I'm not yours, I'm Milly's. Now, Milly, what shall we do?"

"Will you take us right to the top of Brownholme, father? You know wehaven't been to the very top yet. "

"Very well, we'll go if your legs will carry you. But you must ask themvery particularly first how they feel, for it'll be stiff work forthem. "

Not very long after breakfast, and before they started for their walk, Aunt Emma's pony carriage came rattling up the drive, and she, too, brought flowers for Milly, above all a bunch of water-lilies all wetfrom the lake; and then she and mother settled under the trees withtheir books and work while the children started on their walk. 

But first Milly had drawn mother into a corner where no one could see, and there, with a couple of tears in her two blue eyes, she hadwhispered in a great hurry, so that Mrs. Norton could scarcely hear, "Idon't want to have everything just as _I_ like, to-day, mother. Can't Ido what somebody else likes? I'd rather. "

Which means that Milly was a good deal excited, and her heart very full, and that she was thinking of how, a year before, her birthday had beenrather spoilt toward the end of it by a little bit of crossness andself-will, that she remembered afterward with a pang for many a longday. Since then, Milly had learnt a good deal more of that long, longlesson, which we go on learning, big people and little people, all ourlives--the lesson of self-forgetting--of how love brings joy, and to beselfish is to be sad; and her birthday seemed to bring back to her allthat she had been learning. 

"Dear little woman, " said Mrs. Norton, putting back her tangled hairfrom her anxious little face, "go and be happy. That's what we all liketo-day. Besides, you'll find plenty of ways of doing what other peoplelike before the end of the day without my inventing any. Run along now, and climb away. Mind you don't let Olly tumble into bogs, and mind youbring me a bunch of ferns for the dinner-table--and there'll be twothings done at any rate. "

So away ran Milly; and all the morning she and Olly and father scrambledand climbed, and raced and chatted, on the green back of old Brownholme. They went to say good-morning to John Backhouse's cows in the "intake, "as he called his top field, and they just peeped over the wall at thefierce young bull he had bought at Penrith fair a few days before, andwhich looked as if, birthdays or no birthdays, he could have eaten Millyat two mouthfuls, and swallowed Olly down afterwards without knowing it. 

Then they climbed and climbed after father, till, just as Olly wasbeginning to feel his legs to make sure they weren't falling off, theywere so tired and shaky--there they were standing on the great pile ofstones which marks the top of the mountain--the very tip-top of all itsgreen points and rocks and grassy stretches. By this time the childrenknew the names of most of the mountains around, and of all the lakes. They went through them now like a lesson with their father; and evenOlly remembered a great many, and could chatter about Helvellyn, andFairfield, and Langdale Pikes, as if he had trudged to the top of themall himself. 

Then came the getting down again. Father and Milly and Ollyhand-in-hand, racing over the short fine grass, startling the littleblack-faced sheep, and racing down the steep bits, where Milly and Ollygenerally tumbled over in some sort of a heap at the bottom. As for theflowers they gathered, there were so many I have no time to tell youabout them--wood-flowers and bog-flowers and grass-flowers, and ferns ofall sizes to mix with them, from the great Osmunda, which grew along theRavensnest Beck, down to the tiny little parsley fern. It was alldelightful--the sights and the sounds, and the fresh mountain wind thatblew them about on the top so that long afterward Milly used to lookback to that walk on Brownholme when she was seven years old as one ofthe merriest times she ever spent. 

Dinner was very welcome after all this scrambling; and after dinner camea quiet time in the garden, when father read aloud to mother and AuntEmma, and the children kept still and listened to as much as they couldunderstand, at least until they went to sleep, which they both did lyingon a rug at Aunt Emma's feet. Milly couldn't understand how this hadhappened at all, when she found herself waking up and rubbing her eyes, but I think it was natural enough after their long walk in the sun andwind. 

At four o'clock nurse came for them, and when they had been put intoclean frocks and pinafores, she took them up to the farm. Milly and Ollyfelt that this was a very solemn occasion, and they walked up to thefarmhouse door hand-in-hand, feeling as shy as if they had never beenthere before. But at the door were Becky and Tiza waiting for them, assmart as new pins, with shining hair, and red ribbons under their littlewhite collars; and the children no sooner caught sight of one anotherthan all their shyness flew away, and they began to chatter as usual. 

In the farmhouse kitchen were Bessie and Charlie, and such a comfortabletea spread out on a long table, covered with a red and black woollentable-cloth instead of a white one. Becky and Tiza had filled twotumblers with meadow-sweet and blue campanula, which stood up grandly inthe middle, and there were two home-made cakes at each end, and some ofSally's brown eggs, and piles of tempting bread and butter. 

Each of the children had their gift for Milly too: Becky had plaited hera basket of rushes, a thing she had often tried to teach Milly how tomake for herself, and Tiza pushed a bunch of wild raspberries into herhand, and ran away before Milly could say thank you; Bessie shylyproduced a Christmas card that somebody had once sent to her; and evenCharlie had managed to provide himself with a bunch of the wild yellowpoppies which grew on the wall of the Ravensnest garden, and were a joyto all beholders. 

Then Mrs. Backhouse put Milly at one end of the table, while she beganto pour out tea at the other, and the feast began. Certainly, Millythought, it was much more exciting going out to tea at a farmhouse thanhaving children to tea with you at home, just as you might anywhere, onany day in the year. There were the big hens coming up to the door andpoking in their long necks to take a look at them; there were thepigeons circling round and round in the yard; there was the sound ofmilking going on in the shed close by, and many other sights and soundswhich were new and strange and delightful. 

As for Olly, he was very much taken up for a time with the red and blacktable-cloth, and could not be kept from peering underneath it from timeto time, as if he suspected that the white table-cloth he was generallyaccustomed to had been hidden away underneath for a joke. But when thetime for cake came, Olly forgot the table-cloth altogether. He had neverseen a cake quite like the bun-loaf, which kind Mrs. Backhouse had madeherself for the occasion, and of which she had given him a hunch, so inhis usual inquisitive way he began to turn it over and over, as if bylooking at it long enough he could find out how it was made and allabout it. Presently, when the others were all quietly enjoying theirbun-loaf, Olly's shrill little voice was heard saying--while he put twoseparate fingers on two out of the few currants in his piece:

"_This_ currant says to _that_ currant, 'I'm here, where are you? You'reso far off I can't see you nowhere. '"

"Olly, be quiet, " said Milly. 

"Well, but, Milly, I can't help it; it's so funny. There's only threecurrants in my bit, and cookie puts such a lot in at home. I'mpretending they're little children wanting to play, only they can't, they're so far off. There, I've etten one up. Now there's only two. That's you and me, Milly. I'll eat you up first--krick!"

"Never mind about the currants, little master, " said Mrs. Backhouse, laughing at him. "It's nice and sweet any way, and you can eat as muchof it as you like, which is more than you can of rich cakes. "

Olly thought there was something in this, and by the time he had gotthrough his second bit of bun-loaf he had quite made up his mind that hewould get Susan to make bun-loaves at home too. 

They were just finishing tea when there was a great clatter outside, andby came the hay-cart with John Backhouse leading the horse, and two menwalking beside it. 

"We're going to carry all the hay in yon lower field presently, " heshouted to his wife as he passed. "Send the young 'uns down to see. "

Up they all started, and presently the whole party were racing down thehill to the riverfield, with Mrs. Backhouse and her baby walking soberlywith nurse behind them. Yes, there lay the hay piled up in large cockson the fresh clean-swept carpet of bright green grass, and in the middleof the field stood the hay-cart with two horses harnessed, one manstanding in it to press down and settle the hay as John Backhouse andtwo other men handed it up to him on pitchforks. Olly went head overheels into the middle of one of the cocks, followed by Charlie, andwould have liked to go head over heels into all the rest, but Mr. Norton, who had come into the field with mother and Aunt Emma, told himhe must be content to play with two cocks in one of the far corners ofthe field without disturbing the others, which were all ready forcarrying, and that if he and Charlie strewed the hay about they musttidy it up before John Backhouse wanted to put it on the cart. So Ollyand Charlie went off to their corner, and for a little while all theother children played there too. Milly had invented a game called the"Babes in the Wood, " in which two children were the babes and pretendedto die on the grass, and all the rest were the robins, and covered themup with hay instead of leaves. She and Tiza made beautiful babes: theyput their handkerchiefs over their faces and lay as still as mice, tillOlly had piled so much hay on the top of them that there was not a bitof them to be seen anywhere, while Bessie began to cry out as if she wassuffocated before they had put two good armfuls over her. 

Presently, however, Milly got tired; and she and Tiza walked off bythemselves and sat down by the river to get cool. The water in the riverwas quite low again now, and the children could watch the tiny minnowsdarting and flashing about by the bank, and even amuse themselves byfancying every now and then that they saw a trout shooting across theclear brown water. Tiza had quite left off being shy now with Milly, andthe two chattered away, Milly telling Tiza all about her school, andJacky and Francis, and Spot and the garden at home; and Tiza tellingMilly about her father's new bull, how frightened she and Becky were ofhim, and how father meant to make the fence stronger for fear he shouldget out and toss people. 

"What a happy little party, " said Aunt Emma to mother looking round thefield; "there's nothing like hay for children. "

By this time the hay-cart was quite full, and crack went JohnBackhouse's whip, as he took hold of the first horse's head and gave hima pull forward to start the cart on its way to the farm. 

"Gee-up, " shouted John in his loud cheery voice, and the horse made astep forward, while the children round cried "Hurrah!" and waved theirhands. But suddenly there was a loud piteous cry which made John givethe horse a sudden push back and drop his whip, and then, from wherethey sat, Milly and Tiza heard a sound of crying and screaming, whileeverybody in the field ran toward the hay-cart. They ran too; what couldhave happened?

Just as they came up to the crowd of people round the cart, Milly sawher father with something in his arms. And this something wasBecky--poor little Becky, with a great mark on her temple, and her eyesquite shut, and such a white face!

"Oh, mother! mother!" cried Milly, rushing up to her, "tell me, mother, what is the matter with Becky?"

But Mrs. Norton had no time to attend to her. She was running to meetMrs. Backhouse, who had come hurrying up from another part of the fieldwith the baby in her arms. 

"She was under the cart when it moved on, " said Mrs. Norton, taking thebaby from her. "We none of us know how it happened. She must have beentrying to hand up some hay at the last moment and tumbled under. I don'tthink her head is much hurt. "

On ran Mrs. Backhouse, and Milly and her mother followed. 

"Better let me carry her up now without moving her, " said Mr. Norton, asMrs. Backhouse tried to take the little bundle from him. "She hasfainted, I think. We must get some water at the stream. " So on he went, with the pale frightened mother, while the others followed. Aunt Emmahad got Tiza and Milly by the hand, and was trying to comfort them. 

"We hope she is not much hurt, darlings; the wheel did not go over her, thank God. It was just upon her when her father backed the horse. But itmust have crushed her I'm afraid, and there was something hanging underthe cart which gave her that knock on the temple. Look, there is one ofthe men starting off for the doctor. "

Whereupon Tiza, who had kept quiet till then, burst into a loud fit ofcrying, and threw herself down on the grass. 

"Nurse, " called Aunt Emma, "stay here with these two poor little oneswhile I go and see if I can be of any use. "

So nurse came and sat beside them, and Milly crept up to her forcomfort. But poor little Tiza lay with her face buried in the grass andnothing they could say to her seemed to reach her little deaf ears. 

Meanwhile, Aunt Emma hurried after the others, and presently caught themup at a stream where Mr. Norton had stopped to bathe Becky's head andface. The cold water had just revived her when Aunt Emma came up, andfor one moment she opened her heavy blue eyes and looked at her mother, who was bending over her, and then they shut again. But her little handwent feebly searching for her mother, who caught it up and kissed it. 

"Oh, Miss Emma, Miss Emma, " she said, pointing to the child, "I'm afeardbut she's badly hurt. "

"I hope not, with all my heart, " said Aunt Emma, gently taking her arm. "But the doctor will soon be here; we must get her home before hecomes. "

So on they went again, Mr. Norton still carrying Becky, and Mr. Backhouse helping his wife along. Mrs. Norton had got the baby safe inher motherly arms, and so they all toiled up the hill to the farmhouse. What a difference from the merry party that ran down the hill only anhour before!

They laid Becky down on her mother's bed, and then Aunt Emma, findingthat Mrs. Norton wished to stay till the doctor came, went back to thechildren. She found a sad little group sitting in the hay-field; Millyin nurse's lap crying quietly every now and then; Tiza still sobbing onthe grass, and Olly who had just crept down from the farmhouse, where heand Charlie had seen Becky carried in, talking to nurse in eagerwhispers, as if he daren't talk out loud. 

"Oh, Aunt Emma, " cried Milly, when she opened the gate, "is she better?"

"A little, I think, Milly, but the doctor will soon be here, and then weshall know all about it. Tiza, you poor little woman, Mrs. Wheeler saysyou must sleep with them to-night. Your mother will want the house veryquiet, and to-morrow, you know, you can go and see Becky if the doctorsays you may. "

At this Tiza began to cry again more piteously than ever. It seemed sodreary and terrible to her to be shut out from home without Becky. ButAunt Emma sat down on the grass beside her, and lifted her up and talkedto her; with anybody else Tiza would have kicked and struggled, for shewas a curious, passionate child, and her grief was always wild andangry, but nobody could struggle with Aunt Emma, and at last she letherself be comforted a little by the tender voice and soft caressinghand. She stopped crying, and then they all took her up to theWheelers's cottage, where Mrs. Wheeler, a kind motherly body, took herin, and promised that she should know everything there was to be knownabout Becky. 

"Aunt Emma, " said Milly, presently, when they were all sitting in theconservatory which ran round the house, waiting for Mr. Norton to bringthem news from the farm, "how did Becky tumble under the cart?"

"She was lifting up some hay, I think, which had fallen off, and one ofthe men was stooping down to take it on his fork, and then she must haveslipped and fallen right under the cart, just as John Backhouse told thehorse to go on. "

"Oh, if the wheel _had_ gone over!" said Milly, shuddering. "Isn't it asad birthday, Aunt Emma, and we were so happy a little while ago? Andthen I can't understand. I don't know why it happens like this. "

"Like what, Milly?"

"Why, Aunt Emma, always in stories, you know, it's the bad people gethurt and die. And now it's poor little Becky that's hurt. And she's sucha dear little girl, and helps her mother so. I don't think she ought tohave been hurt. "

"We don't know anything about 'oughts, ' Milly, darling, you and I. Godknows, we trust, and that helps many people who love God to be patientwhen they are in trouble or pain. But think if it had been poormischievous little Tiza who had been hurt, how she would have fretted. And now very likely Becky will bear it beautifully, and so, withoutknowing it, she will be teaching Tiza to be patient, and it will do Tizagood to have to help Becky and take care of her for a bit, instead ofletting Becky always look after her and get her out of scrapes. "

"Oh, and Aunt Emma, can't we all take care of Becky? What can Olly and Ido?" said Milly, imploringly. 

"I can go and sing all my songs to Becky, " said Olly, looking upbrightly. 

"By-and-by, perhaps, " said Aunt Emma, smiling and patting his head. "Buthark! isn't that father's step?"

It had grown so dark that they could hardly see who it was opening thegate. 

"Oh yes, it is, " cried Milly. "It's father and mother. " Away they ran tomeet them, and Mrs. Norton took Milly's little pale face in both herhands and kissed it. 

"She's not _very_ badly hurt, darling. The doctor says she must liequite quiet for two or three weeks, and then he hopes she'll be allright. The wheel gave her a squeeze, which jarred her poor little backand head very much, but it didn't break anything, and if she lies veryquite the doctor thinks she'll get quite well again. " "Oh mother! anddoes Tiza know?"

"Yes, we have just been to tell her. Mrs. Wheeler had put her to bed, but she went up to give her our message, and she said poor little Tizabegan to cry again, and wanted us to tell her mother she would be _so_quiet if only they would let her come back to Becky. "

"Will they, mother?"

"In a few days, perhaps. But she is not to see anybody but Mrs. Backhouse for a little while. "

"Oh dear!" sighed Milly, while the tears came into her eyes again. "Weshall be going away so soon, and we can't say good-bye. Isn't it sad, mother, just happening last thing? and we've been so happy all thetime. "

"Yes, Milly, " said Mr. Norton, lifting her on to his knee. "This is thefirst really sad thing that ever happened to you in your little life Ithink. Mother, and I, and Aunt Emma, tell you stories about sad things, but that's very different, isn't it?"

"Yes, " said Milly, thinking. "Father, are there as many sad thingsreally as there are in stories?--you know what I mean. "

"There are a great many sad things and sad people in the world, Milly. We don't have monsters plaguing us like King Hrothgar, but every daythere is trouble and grief going on somewhere, and we happy and strongpeople must care for the sad ones if we want to do our duty and help tostraighten the world a little. "

"Father, " whispered Milly, softly, "will you tell us how--Olly and me?We would if we knew how. "

"Well, Milly, suppose you begin with Becky, and poor Tiza too, indeed. Iwonder whether a pair of little people could make a scrap-book for Beckyto look at when she is getting better?"

"Oh yes, yes!" said Milly, joyfully, "I've got ever so many pictures inmother's writing-book, she let me cut out of her 'Graphics, ' and Ollycan help paste; can't you, Olly?"

"Olly generally pastes his face more than anything else, " said Mr. Norton, giving a sly pull at his brown curls. "If I'm not very muchmistaken, there is a little fairy pasting up your eyes, old man. "

"I'm not sleepy, not a bit, " said Olly, sitting bolt upright andblinking very fast. 

"I think you're not sleepy, but just asleep, " said Mr. Norton, catchinghim up in his arms, and carrying him to his mother to say good-night. 

Milly went very soberly and quietly up to bed, and for some little timeshe lay awake, her little heart feeling very sore and heavy about the"sad things" in the world. Then with her thoughts full of Becky she fellasleep. 

So ended Milly's birthday, a happy day and a sorrowful day, all in one. When Milly grew older there was no birthday just before or after it sheremembered half so clearly as that on which she was seven years old. 

CHAPTER X

LAST DAYS AT RAVENSNEST

On Friday morning the children and their father trudged up very early tothe farm to get news of Becky. She had had a bad night Mr. Backhousesaid, but she had taken some milk and beef-tea; she knew her father andmother quite well, and she had asked twice for Tiza. The doctor saidthey must just be patient. Quiet and rest would make her well again, andnothing else, and Tiza was not to go home for a day or two. 

As for poor Tiza, a long sleep had cheered her up greatly, and whenMilly and Olly went to take her out with them after breakfast, theyfound her almost as merry and chatty as usual. But she didn't like beingkept at the Wheelers's, though they were very kind to her; and it wasall Mrs. Wheeler could do to prevent her from slipping up to the farmunknown to anybody. 

"They don't have porridge for breakfast, " said Tiza, tossing her head, when she and Milly were out together. "Mother always gives us porridge. And I won't sit next Charlie. He's always dirtying hisself. He stickiedhisself just all over this morning with treacle. Mother would have givenhim a clout. "

However, on the whole, she was as good as such a wild creature could be, and the children and she had some capital times together. Wheeler thegardener let them gather strawberries and currants for making jam, adelightful piece of work, which helped to keep Tiza out of mischief andmake her contented with staying away from home more than anything else. At last, after three days, the doctor said she might come home if shewould promise to be quiet in the house. So one bright evening Tizaslipped into the farmhouse and squeezed in after her mother to thelittle room where Becky was lying, a white-faced feverish littlecreature, low down among the pillows. 

"Becky, " said Tiza, sitting down beside her sister, as if nothing hadhappened, "here's some strawberries. Wheeler gave me some. You can havesome if you want. "

"Just one, " said Becky, in her weak shaky voice, smiling at her; andTiza knelt on the bed and stuffed one softly into her mouth. 

"You'll have to nurse baby now, Tiza, " said Becky presently; "he's beenunder mother's feet terrible. Mind you don't let him eat nasty things. He'll get at the coals if you don't mind him. "

"I'll not let him, " said Tiza shortly, setting to work on her ownstrawberries. 

All this didn't sound very affectionate; but I think all the same Tizadid love Becky, and I believe she tried to do her best in her own funnyway while Becky was ill. Baby screamed a good deal certainly when shenursed him, and it was quite impossible of course for Tiza to keep outof mischief altogether for two or three weeks. Still, on the whole, shewas a help to her mother; while as for Becky she was never quite happywhen Tiza was out of the house. Becky, like Milly, had a way of lovingeverybody about her, and next to her mother she loved Tiza best ofanybody. 

After all, the children were able to say good-bye to Becky. Just the daybefore they were to go away Mr. Backhouse came down to say that Beckywould like to see them very much if they could come, and the doctor saidthey might. 

So up they went; Milly a good deal excited, and Olly very curious to seewhat Becky would look like. Mr. Backhouse took them in, and they foundBecky lying comfortably on a little bed, with a patchwork counterpane, and her shoulders and arms covered up in a red flannel dressing-gownthat Aunt Emma had sent her. 

[Illustration: "'Haven't you got a bump?' asked Olly"]

Milly kissed her, and Olly shook her hand, and they didn't all quiteknow what to say. 

"Is your back better?" said Milly at last. "I'm so glad the doctor letus come. "

"Haven't you got a bump?" asked Olly, looking at her with all his eyes. "We thought you'd have a great black bump on your fore-head, youknow--ever so big. "

"No, it's a cut, " said Becky; "there now, you can see how it's plasteredup. "

"Did it hurt?" said Olly, "did you kick? I should have kicked. And doesthe doctor give you nasty medicine?"

"No, " said Becky, "I don't have any now. And it wasn't nasty at all whatI had first. And now I may have strawberries and raspberries, and Mr. Wheeler sends mother a plate everyday. "

"I don't think it's fair that little boys shouldn't never be ill, " saidOlly, with his eyes fastened on Becky's plate of strawberries, which wason the chest of drawers. 

"Oh, you funny boy, " said Milly, "why, mother gives you some every daythough you aren't ill; and I'm sure you wouldn't like staying in bed. "

"Yes, I should, " said Olly, just for the sake of contradicting. "Do youknow, Becky, we've got a secret, and we're not to tell it you, onlyMilly and I are going to--"

"Don't!" said Milly, putting her hand over, his mouth. "You'll tell in aminute. You're always telling secrets. "

"Well, just half, Milly, I won't tell it all you know. It's just likesomething burning inside my mouth. We're going to make you something, Becky, when we get home. Something be--ootiful, you know. And you canlook at it in bed, and we won't make it big, so you can turn over thepages, and--"

"Be quiet, Olly, " said Milly, "I should think Becky'll guess now. It'llcome by post, Becky. Mother's going to help us make it. You'll like itI know. "

"It's--it's--a picture-book!" said Olly, in a loud whisper, putting hishead down to Becky. "You won't tell, will you?"

"Oh, you unkind boy, " said Milly, pouting. "I'll never have a secretwith you again. "

But Becky looked very pleased, and said she would like a picture-bookshe thought very much, for it was dull sometimes when mother was busyand Tiza was nursing baby. So perhaps, after all, it didn't matterhaving told her. 

"I'm going to write to you, Becky, " said Milly, when the time came to goaway, "and at Christmas I'll send you a Christmas card, and perhapssome day we'll come here again you know. "

"And then we'll milk the cows, " said Olly, "won't we, Becky? And I'llride on your big horse. Mr. Backhouse says I may ride all alone some daywhen I'm big; when I'm sixty--no, when I'm ninety-five you know. "

And then Milly and Olly kissed Becky's pale little face and went away, while poor little Becky looked after them as if she was _very_ sorry tosee the last of them; and outside there were Tiza and baby and Mrs. Backhouse and even John Backhouse himself, waiting to say good-bye tothem. It made Milly cry a little bit, and she ran away fast down thehill, while Tiza and Olly were still trying which could squeeze handshardest. 

"Oh, you dear mountains, " said Milly, as she and nurse walked alongtogether. "Look Nana, aren't they lovely?"

They did look beautiful this last evening. The sun was shining on themso brightly that everything on them, up to the very top, was clear andplain, and high up, ever so far away, were little white dots moving, which Milly knew were cows feeding. 

"Good-bye river, good-bye stepping-stones, good-bye doves, good-byefly-catchers! Mind you don't any of you go away till we come backagain. "

But I should find it very hard to tell you all the good-byes that Millyand Olly said to the places and people at Ravensnest, to the woods andthe hay-fields, and the beck, to Aunt Emma's parrot, John Backhouse'scows, to Windermere Lake and Rydal Lake, above all to dear Aunt Emmaherself. 

"Mind you come at Christmas, " shouted both the children, as the trainmoved away from Windermere station and left Aunt Emma standing on theplatform; and Aunt Emma nodded and smiled and waved her handkerchief tothem till they were quite out of sight. 

"Mother, " said Milly, when they could not see Aunt Emma any more, andthe last bit of Brownholme was slipping away, away, quite out of sight, "I think Ravensnest is the nicest place we ever stopped at. And I don'tthink the rain matters either. I'm going to tell your old gentleman so. He said it rained in the mountains, and it does, mother--doesn't it? buthe said the rain spoilt everything, and it doesn't--not a bit. "

"Why, there's that curious old fairy been sprinkling dust in your eyestoo, Milly!"

But something or other had been sprinkling tears in mother's. For to theold people there is nothing sweeter than to see the young ones openingtheir hearts to all that they themselves have loved and rejoiced over. So the chain of life goes on, and joy gives birth to joy and love tolove.