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diff --git a/25647.txt b/25647.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88cb658 --- /dev/null +++ b/25647.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3150 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Holiday Tales, by Florence Wilford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Holiday Tales + +Author: Florence Wilford + +Release Date: May 30, 2008 [EBook #25647] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: PLANNING OUT THE GROUND. + +_See page 14._] + + + + +HOLIDAY TALES. + +BY FLORENCE WILFORD, + +AUTHOR OF 'NIGEL BARTRAM'S IDEAL,' 'AN AUTHOR'S CHILDREN,' ETC. + + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +[Illustration: Emblem] + + + GRIFFITH, FARRAN, OKEDEN & WELSH, + + SUCCESSORS TO NEWBERY AND HARRIS, + + WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. + E. P. DUTTON & CO., NEW YORK. + +_The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are reserved._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + SEVEN CAMPBELLS + I. MOTHER AND SONS 5 + II. JOHNNIE'S PROTEGE 29 + III. WHAT SEVEN CAMPBELLS CAN DO 56 + + + CECIL'S MEMORABLE WEEK + I. CECIL'S MEMORABLE WEEK 73 + II. A BACHELOR'S LUNCH 98 + III. GOOD NEWS 123 + IV. IT'S ALL RIGHT! 139 + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +SEVEN CAMPBELLS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MOTHER AND SONS. + + +'MAMMA, there's such a fine poem here about "seven lovely Campbells" +whose father's name was Archibald; it must mean us,--don't you think +so?' And a very pretty boy about ten years of age, who had been poring +for some time over Wordsworth's Poems, lifted his roguish face to his +mother's with a look of pretended conviction. + +'Not exactly, Willie, seeing that the poem begins, "Seven _daughters_ +had Lord Archibald!"' + +'Ah, mamma, you are not to be caught. I do believe you have read +everything that ever was written! But now, mamma, which would you rather +have--seven daughters or seven sons?' + +'I would rather have just what I've got, Willie.' + +'Seven sons, then. Oh! mamma, I'm glad you said that; and you know we +shall be of much more use to you than a lot of girls. Why, if the French +were to come, you needn't be a bit afraid, with all of us to defend +you.' + +'Baby at the head, armed _cap-a-pie_, I suppose,' smiled the mother, +dancing in her arms her youngest son, a little fellow of about two years +old; but she soon set him down in her lap again, for she had been ill, +and was still so weak that the least effort tired her. + +'Mamma, I think you'd better let me ring for nurse to take Georgie, and +then you can lie upon your sofa again and have a nap; and I'll go and +ask my brothers to play in the rough ground, where you won't hear their +noise,' said thoughtful Willie. + +The mother assented to all these proposals; but when, after ringing the +bell, the boy turned to go, she beckoned him back to her side. 'Tell my +darling Johnnie that I hope he'll come and sit with me this afternoon; +only he must be wise and quiet, and not get into one of his harum-scarum +moods, or papa won't let me have him.' + +Willie nodded sagaciously. 'I'll keep guard over him, mamma, so that he +shall behave like a mouse all dinner-time, and then papa won't be afraid +to trust him. Now let me give Georgie one kiss.' His mother watched him +fondly as he caressed the little brother, whose baby mind took small +cognizance of such affectionate demonstrations, and then, drawing his +curly head down to her, she gave him a true mother's kiss, and +whispered, 'Mamma's own good boy.' Willie tripped lightly down the +stairs and into the garden, where three little boys, of the respective +ages of eight, six, and five, were playing at the well-known game which +Charles Dickens terms 'an invasion of the imaginary domains of Mr. +Thomas Tytler.' + +'Here, Duncan, Seymour, Archie, I want you to come into the "desert" +with me and have a game there. Mamma's going to take a nap before +dinner, and she won't be able to sleep while you make this row under her +window. Come along, there's good fellows.' The two little ones left off +picking up gold and silver directly, and Duncan descended from the rank +of a landed proprietor with great good-humour;--not that Mr. Thomas +Tytler's domains were the only ground belonging to him: he had a neat +little flower-plot in one corner of the garden, as had all the elder +brothers except Johnnie, who had been deprived of his by his father for +having neglected to cultivate it, and who from that day forward had been +known in the family by the soubriquet of 'Jean-sans-terre,' otherwise +'Lackland.' Willie led the way out of the garden into a rough piece of +ground covered with weeds and stones, and called by the children the +'desert,' because nothing grew there but a few stunted shrubs. He left +the younger ones to play about there, while he passed on and walked +along the high road to meet his two elder brothers, Honorius and John, +who attended a day school in the neighbourhood, and always came home at +twelve and returned in the afternoon. Willie was of an age to go to +school too; but his father, who was not a rich man, could not afford to +send him just then, and therefore instructed him himself, together with +Duncan and Seymour, though rather in a desultory fashion, as he was a +doctor, and could not command much uninterrupted time. + +The Doctor's seven sons were well known in the neighbourhood, and +acknowledged by every one to be 'nice, gentlemanly boys;' so Willie had +to receive and return some greetings both from high and low as he passed +along. But before he had gone far he descried an elder boy with some +lesson-books in his hand coming towards him, whereupon he shouted 'Is +that you, old fellow? What have you done with Johnnie?' and bounded to +his side. + +Honorius was, like his name, grave and dignified,--at least as much so +as a boy of fourteen can be without affectation. He answered quietly +that Johnnie had taken the path through the fields in order to hunt for +sticklebats in Farmer Merryman's pond, and that he did not know when +they might expect to see him again. But at that very moment a bright, +mischievous face peered over the hedge at one side of the road, and +then, with a warning to them to stand clear, and 'a one, two, three, and +away,' Johnnie--for he it was--took a running leap, cleared the hedge, +and stood beside them. Willie explained his reason for coming to meet +them, and the three boys took their way to the desert, lamenting that +the ground was not smooth enough there to admit of their playing +cricket, as they did on the lawn. + +'Do you know I've been thinking,' said Willie suddenly, 'that it would +be very jolly if we could dig up the desert, and make it a nice place +for mamma to walk in when she gets better? We might have paths this way +and that, and then flower-beds or turf between; though, to be sure, papa +_did_ say that when he could afford to have it cultivated, he would +plant some of it with potatoes.' + +'Oh, plebeian notion!' said Johnnie, tossing his handsome head, 'he will +propose keeping pigs next! What do you say to it, my Emperor? is not +your royal mind duly horrified?' The Emperor, as his brother called him, +in allusion to his imperial namesake, by no means showed the disgust +expected of him: he turned up a bit of the soil with his pocket-knife, +and said reflectively, + +'I should think it would grow potatoes very well, but it'll want a deal +in the way of preparation. I don't believe we could dig it up properly, +for there are none of us strong enough for the work but myself and you, +Johnnie; and you're such an idle fellow, you wouldn't work for more than +ten minutes together.' + +'Oh yes, he will, if it's for mamma,' cried Willie; 'and papa would be +so pleased. Do let's begin, Honorius; I can dig quite well, and the +little ones might pull up some of the weeds.' + +'We must mark the paths first if we're to do it at all,' said Honorius +in his deliberate way. 'Who's got a ball of string?' + +'I have,' began Johnnie, putting his hand in his pocket; but he drew it +forth again empty, and jestingly continued, 'No, "it's gone from my gaze +like a beautiful dream." I have lost it, I suppose. We must advertise +for it; or, considering all things, perhaps it would be cheaper to buy +another.' + +'You'll lose your head some day,' observed Honorius calmly. 'Run into +the house, Willie, and ask cook for some string; and you might fetch the +spades, Lackland,--they're in the arbour.' + +The two boys darted off on their separate errands, and the Emperor +walked up and down, devising how the desert might be best improved. + +'Rather stupid of us not to have thought of doing something to it +before,--it's more than four months since papa bought it; but, to be +sure, the weather has not been fit for out-of-door work, and papa always +talked as if it would take two or three men to put it in order. I don't +think he'll mind our having a try at it, for at any rate we can't do +much harm. I'm very glad he bought it: it would have been horrid to have +had it let on a building lease, and some great house run up that would +shut out the view from our windows, that mamma likes so much. It's nice +that her own room does not overlook this, or she'd see what we are +about, and I should like it to be a surprise to her. It's quite Willie's +idea; he's a capital chap for thinking of things to please her. I wish +that funny fellow Lackland had half as much sense.' + +Willie came back very soon with the string, and assisted his brother in +fastening a stake in the ground where the path was to begin, and then, +tying the string to it, drew it along in a straight line to the place +where the path was to end, at which they stuck in another stake, and +again fastened the string. + +Johnnie did not reappear for some time, and then wore an air of rather +droll vexation. 'Pity me,' he exclaimed as he gave the spades to +Honorius, 'I have fallen foul of my paternal relative. I found a lot of +birds in the arbour, and served them with a notice to quit by clapping +my hands and hooting to them, when who should appear but papa, asking +what the noise was about, and how I could be so inconsiderate as to +disturb mamma?' + +'No wonder,' said Honorius. + +'Oh, and I promised to keep you quiet!' exclaimed Willie in great +distress. + +Jean-sans-terre laughed his merriest of laughs. + +'Keep me quiet! you silly fellow. Did you really think it possible?' + +'Yes, for mamma's sake,' said Willie stoutly. 'You can be quiet if you +choose; and I told you what she said about her wanting you to sit with +her this afternoon.' + +'And you think paterfamilias will forbid it on account of my ill-timed +sparrow-hooting?' + +'I think,' said Honorius, 'you had better speak of my father by his +right name, and endeavour to behave rather less like an idiot. Here, +take a spade, man, and come to work.' + +Johnnie shrugged his shoulders, made an indescribable grimace, and began +digging vigorously, humming the Jacobite ditty, + + 'Wha is it noo we ha'e gotten for a king, + But a wee wee German lairdie? + And when we went to fetch him hame, + He was dibbling in his kail-yairdie.' + +Honorius sketched in his pocket-book a sort of plan of what the desert +was to be like when its cultivation was completed. There was to be a +path crossing it each way exactly through the centre, and along each +side of these paths there was to be a broad flower-border, which would +partially conceal from view the potatoes and other useful vegetables +which were to occupy the chief part of the ground. + +'It's not too late in the spring to plant potatoes, I suppose, Honorius, +is it?' said thoughtful Willie; 'and papa will give us those, I'm sure. +But where shall we get the flowers? I don't think papa will buy them for +us.' + +'We can get some seeds of different annuals, such as nemophila and +candytuft, ourselves. That won't cost very much, and I've got three +shillings that I can spend on it; but then we shall want roots of other +things and rose-bushes, and they cost more. Have you got any money, +Johnnie?' + +'No, not I. I am "sans argent" as well as "sans terre." I know one way +of getting some, though. Papa said if I would translate that favourite +piece of his in Caesar all through, _well_, he would give me +half-a-crown. But then, consider the labour! I have a strong suspicion +that it might prove fatal to my constitution.' + +'Oh, humbug! you could do it easily if you chose,' said the elder +brother. 'Besides, I'll help you, if papa doesn't mind.' + +'You'll do it, I know,' pleaded Willie softly; 'and I've got a shilling +that'll go towards buying some roots.' + +'And Seymour and I have got sixpence between us,' cried Duncan. 'I say, +Honorius, haven't we pulled up a jolly lot of weeds already?' + +'Oh, famous,' cried the Emperor approvingly. 'Work away; we shall have +to go in to dinner soon.' + +He himself toiled with all his might, for the soil in some places was +very stiff, and resisted the incision of the spade. Whenever he came to +a part where it was looser, he turned that over to the younger ones; for +Honorius, though occasionally sharp in speech, was almost invariably +kind and considerate in his actions. 'Deeds, not words,' was his +favourite motto; but it would sometimes have been well if he had +remembered that we must give account for words as well as deeds, and +that the law of love should govern both. + +The boys worked on for some time almost in silence. Johnnie was +expending his energies in hard digging, and dropped for the while his +usual character of 'merry-andrew.' He was considering with himself, too, +whether he should undertake the task his father had proposed to him. + +'To be sure, I have a strong motive now for earning the half-crown, +which I hadn't before,' thought he; 'but papa's so awfully particular, +and I'm--yes, I must allow--I'm such an awful blockhead, that it's as +likely as not I shall not win the money after all. However, I can but +try; yes, and I will try too.' + +Lackland's face was very bright when he took his place at dinner that +day, but his behaviour was more quiet and guarded than usual: he +conducted himself more like Willie's ideal mouse, than like the noisy, +rattling fellow he usually appeared. The brothers sat, three on each +side of the table; no one claimed the place at the top, where the mother +was accustomed to sit when well. Dr. Campbell looked tired, and was very +silent, but took care that his sons' vigorous appetites should be duly +satisfied, and was always ready with a kindly 'Willie, my boy, don't you +want some more?' 'Seymour, pass your plate to me,' whenever the silence +of one knife and fork told that its owner had finished the portion +allotted to him. Johnnie glanced at him sometimes, but did not address +him till after grace had been said and they had risen from table, when, +approaching him, he asked gently if he might be allowed to sit a little +while with his mother that afternoon. + +'Can I trust you to be quiet, Johnnie?' said the Doctor doubtfully. + +Lackland blushed, and fidgeted with his feet. 'I will try to be quiet +indeed, papa. I am sorry I made such a row in the arbour this morning.' + +'Very well, you may go to mamma, then, as soon as I come down; but I +shall beg her to send you away if you get riotous.' + +'Yes, papa; and, one thing more, may I do that bit of Caesar that you +offered the half-crown for? I didn't care about doing it the other day, +but I should like to, now.' + +'You may do it, certainly. I am glad you wish to--without help, +mind--and I will look over it as soon as I have time. Well, Honorius,' +as his elder son drew near, 'have you something to ask too?' + +Honorius's errand was to obtain his father's sanction for the changes +they were making in the desert. Dr. Campbell smiled as he heard their +plans. 'It would take two men's hard labour to put that place in order,' +he said; 'I don't think you'll be able to do it.' + +'Papa, you don't know what seven Campbells can do!' said Willie in a +tone of triumphant heroism. + +'Seven! What! have you pressed Georgie into the service? Well, good luck +to you all, it'll be a nice amusement for you; you can't do much harm, +at any rate.' + +He left them and hastened up to his wife's room, but Willie ran after +him to beg that the plan might be kept a secret from her. Dr. Campbell +readily promised secrecy, but the boys were disappointed that he had not +seemed more delighted with their scheme. + +'If papa thinks it's nonsense, there's no use going on with it,' said +Honorius moodily. + +'Yes, there is,' said Willie; 'it'll show him what we can do. He thinks +it nonsense, because he doesn't know how hard we mean to work, and how +steadily we'll keep on at it. It'll be such fun when he sees we can do a +great deal more than he thinks!' + +Honorius allowed himself to be convinced by this reasoning, and went +with Willie and Seymour to the desert to work away till it got near +three o'clock, at which time he had to return to school. Johnnie worked +steadily at Caesar till he heard his father go out, and then went +up-stairs softly and tapped at his mother's door. Her 'come in' was glad +and eager, and a soft pink colour flushed into her cheeks when she saw +it was really Johnnie. This good mother, so just and tender to all her +sons, kept a special corner of her heart for the merry scapegrace who +excelled the family cat in a talent for unintentional mischief, and +almost equalled that luckless animal in a facility for getting into +universal disgrace. In another minute Johnnie was squatted on a +footstool by the side of her sofa, holding her thin white hands in his +own, and sometimes kissing them with a pretty devotion, which, +mother-like, she thought very charming, though she pretended to call it +'silly.' + +'And how is my Johnnie getting on at school?' she asked presently. +'Whereabouts in the class are you now? At the top, I hope!' + +Johnnie screwed his mouth up, shook his head, groaned, and made all +manner of funny faces. 'I'm at the bottom, mother,' he said at last, in +a voice that might have been intended to be penitent, but did not sound +so. + +'Oh, Johnnie! and I was hoping you would never do so badly again. What +_will_ papa say if this half-year's report is as bad as the last?' + +'I don't know,' said Johnnie in a way that might almost have been taken +to mean, 'I don't care;' then, more softly, 'I am sorry you are vexed, +mother.' + +'Yes, I am indeed, Johnnie. It is not as if you were really dull and +slow: then your low place in the school would not be your fault, and we +shouldn't mind so much; but you can learn very well if you like.' + +'But I was born with a disposition _not_ to like it. I can't help being +idle, really, mother; "it's the natur of the baste!"' + +'Then you must conquer your nature,' she said in the spirited tone of +one who had never sat down helplessly under her faults and talked about +'natural infirmity.' 'What should any of us be worth, Johnnie, if we +yielded to all our foolish inclinations?' + +He had not an answer ready, so played with her rings, and glanced at her +deprecatingly and coaxingly from under his long, dark eyelashes. + +'I didn't mean to scold,' she said relentingly, 'especially this day of +all days, when I may have you for one of the little talks we haven't had +for so long. But, Johnnie, you don't know how hard it makes it for me to +submit to be ill and helpless, when I think that because I am not able +to watch over you, you are running wild, neglecting your lessons, and +vexing poor papa, who has so much to trouble him.' + +Jean-sans-terre's brown eyes looked odd in their expression of mingled +fun and sadness; he was trying to feel sorry and ashamed, as he knew he +ought, but penitence was so very difficult to him. 'Dear little mother, +don't fret; I'll do better for the future,' he said caressingly. + +No experience of the fragile nature of his promises had availed to make +his mother distrust him. 'My darling, I'm sure you will,' she answered +with ready confidence. + +He was so anxious to assure her of his good intentions, that he had +nearly revealed the secret of his intended labour at Caesar, and his +desire to obtain the half-crown to aid his plans for the desert, but he +remembered in time that it was his brothers' secret as well as his own; +and Lackland, if he lacked wisdom and steadiness and industry, was at +least not deficient in a sense of honour, so he was silent. But he could +almost have thought that she guessed at his scheme when she went on, 'If +you would only pursue one thing steadily, and _make_ yourself do it in +spite of disinclination, you don't know what good it would do you, and +how it would help you in everything else. Be a hero, Johnnie, and +conquer your idleness!' + +'I mean to be a real hero some day, mamma,' he answered, smiling. 'You +know Uncle Gustavus has promised to use his interest to get me a +commission, and then you shall see how well I'll serve the Queen. Don't +you remember telling me how Bertrand du Guesclin was a great bother to +everybody when he was a boy, but yet he grew up so jolly brave that +people were glad to run to him for help when he was a man?' + +'And his mother hadn't patience with him, and yet afterwards lived to be +proud of him: is that the inference you mean me to draw, Johnnie?' + +'No, no, no! she was a cross old thing. Don't you remember how she was +going to have Bertrand beaten, when that kind old nun stopped her? +You're not a bit like her, dear little mamma,--not a scrap, not an atom! +But oh, mamma, when will you be able to read us all those famous stories +about heroes? They're the only things I ever remember, and I'm pining +for one of them.' + +'You shall have one as soon as papa thinks I'm strong enough to read +aloud. But, my hero, I want you to consider that before you can get a +commission you must pass an examination, and knowing about Du Guesclin +won't make up for deficiency in arithmetic and French grammar.' + +'Oh, I'll see about all that; I'll work night and day sooner than not +pass, for I _must_ be an officer. You know, mamma, we've settled it all. +Honorius is to be a doctor, like papa, and I'm to be a soldier, and +Willie is to be a clergyman, and Duncan a sailor, and Seymour a +merchant, and Archie a lawyer, and Georgie--somehow we never can settle +what Georgie is to be--but something, of course, you know; and then you +will have us all, mamma, your seven sons, "seven Campbells," as Willie +has taken a fit for saying, and we shall make you so proud of us!' + +'I hope so; but, my Johnnie, we must not forget that if my seven are +spared to me, and I to them, it will be by GOD'S great mercy.' + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JOHNNIE'S PROTEGE. + +JOHNNIE completed his task in two or three days, labouring at it at +first very earnestly, then growing tired, getting careless, and finally +finishing it up in a hurry, with so little effort at accuracy of +rendering or clearness of style, that any one less sanguine than he +would have considered the attainment of the half-crown hopeless. +Honorius glanced over the translation, and shook his head ominously, +wishing that he might be allowed to make some improvements in it; but +his father's injunction to Johnnie to accept no help put this out of the +question, so it was delivered into Dr. Campbell's hands just as it was. +The first part was very satisfactory. 'Very good, very good indeed, +Johnnie!' he exclaimed as his eye ran rapidly down the neatly written +lines; but his face lengthened as he went on. 'Why, how you have begun +to scribble here, Johnnie!' he said as he reached the middle. 'And what +_do_ you mean by this? You have not even given the sense of this passage +correctly. Here, take the book and translate it to me word by word.' + +Johnnie stumbled wofully in his rendering, not from confusion, but from +sheer ignorance; and both the written and verbal translation went on +getting worse and worse, till at last the Doctor, who was rather a hasty +man, lost all patience, and tossed the whole production into the fire, +exclaiming, 'Pshaw! far from deserving any reward, that translation is +the most wretched exhibition of carelessness and idleness that I ever +saw. I don't know what's to become of you, Johnnie, if you can't, or +rather _won't_, do better than that!' + +The little boys glanced at poor Lackland in terror and dismay, and +Willie's eyes filled with tears; but Johnnie only coloured, and, +shutting up the volume of Caesar, put it in its place again, and resumed +the occupation of making a willow-wand into a bow, on which he had been +engaged when his father summoned him. If Honorius had met with such a +rebuff, he would have remained bitterly hurt and ashamed for the rest of +the day, and Willie in the same case would have been utterly humbled and +discouraged. Not so 'Jean-sans-terre.' What his cogitations were, his +brothers could not decide; but the result was, that when he had bidden +his father good-night, he paused a minute, and then added, 'May I have +another try at Caesar, papa?' The tone was bright and cheery, and Dr. +Campbell looked up in pleased surprise-- + +'Do you really mean it, Johnnie?' he said hopefully. + +'Yes, I do indeed, papa; but perhaps you wouldn't like the trouble of +looking over another translation. I know that one was awful.' + +'If you can take the trouble of writing it, I shall not begrudge the +trouble of looking over it; but mind, it must be well done. I'd rather +you took a month about it than brought me such a one as that of +to-night.' + +'Oh, thank you, papa, but that wouldn't suit me at all; I want the +half-crown as quick as I can get it. I'll work night and day rather than +not have the translation done soon.' + +'Then I am to understand it is merely for the sake of the half-crown you +are willing to do this bit of Caesar over again?' said Dr. Campbell +disappointedly: 'I had hoped that it was from a better motive--a real +desire to improve and conquer your carelessness, or a wish to please +and satisfy your mother and me.' He looked full at his son as he spoke, +and seemed to expect an answer. It came, bold and true: 'I was only +thinking of the half-crown, papa.' Yet if Dr. Campbell could have known +to what purpose the half-crown was to be devoted, he would have seen +that love to the mother was the primary motive, after all, and would not +have turned away so coldly as he did from this apparently mercenary +speech. Honorius thought so, and would have explained; but Johnnie +pulled his sleeve and whispered something, and meanwhile the Doctor left +the room. + +'Oh, how could you answer like that, Johnnie?' remonstrated Willie when +the two boys were alone in the attic which they shared together. 'If you +had told papa what you wanted the half-crown for, he would have been +pleased, whereas now I don't know what he thinks of you.' + +'I only gave a plain answer to a plain question,' said Johnnie. 'If he +had asked me what I wanted the money for, I might have told him.' + +'But it appeared----' + +'I don't care what it appeared,' interrupted Lackland, laughing; 'I only +wish papa hadn't burnt the whole of my translation: the beginning of it +was all right, and I might have copied it straight off, instead of +having to make it all out again.' + +'Oh yes! that was dreadful,' replied Willie. 'And then what he said too! +I was so sorry, Johnnie; I knew you must be so ashamed.' + +Jean-sans-terre's eyes seemed to be searching after penitence again, as +they had when his mother spoke to him. + +'_Ought_ I to have been ashamed?' he asked with simplicity. + +The question appeared to Willie so extraordinary, that he really didn't +know what to say in answer. He pondered over it seriously while he was +undressing, and added to his evening prayers this clause: 'Make Johnnie +more sorry when he has vexed papa.' + +Dr. Campbell was certainly vexed and disappointed with his son, and +showed it a little in his manner, which was, however, quite useless as +far as Johnnie was concerned, for he never even remarked it. There are +children so sensitive, that the faintest shade of sadness or disapproval +in the manner of their elders towards them will suffice to make them +unhappy for days; there are others who, unless they are actually scolded +or punished, never perceive that anything is amiss: and Johnnie was one +of these last. He was just as pleasant and affectionate to his father as +usual, just as fearless in his remarks and questions, and showed up his +translation, when he had finished it, quite as unconcernedly as if no +previous one had ever existed. He got the half-crown this time, and a +fair meed of praise, which he received with undisguised satisfaction, +and the mental reflection that 'papa was very kind.' + +Dr. Campbell did not inquire how he meant to spend the money, not +wishing to show a want of confidence in his son; and Johnnie tarried for +no explanation, but raced off to the nurseryman's, only pausing to tell +Honorius that he was no longer 'sans argent,' and to ask what plants he +should buy. + +The boys, by constant labour, had managed already to dig up the proposed +flower-border and to level the part intended for the paths; but Honorius +was sadly at a loss as to where they should get gravel for the latter. +He could not help looking rather wistfully at a great heap of +it--beautiful golden gravel too--which lay in one corner of the garden +of an old lady to whom his father one day sent him with a message; and +Mrs. Western--as this old lady was called--noticed her young friend's +expression, and asked what he was thinking of. He told her of his plans +for the desert, and inquired where such gravel was to be bought, and if +it were very dear. She replied that it was rather so, but this had been +given her by her son-in-law, who had a gravel-pit on his estate, and +added very kindly, 'You are quite welcome to have what you see there, +for I have used as much as I shall want for the present; only you must +send some one for it, for I can't ask my maid to carry gravel.' Honorius +thanked her warmly, and joyfully accepted her offer, promising to send +some one for the gravel as soon as he possibly could. + +The difficulty was to know whom to send, for the Campbells' in-door +servants were all maids; and when the boys begged the old man who took +care of their father's horse and drove his gig to go to Mrs. Western's +for them, he replied surlily that he had hard work enough as it was +('night and day both, sometimes, when master is sent for from a +distance'), and declined to assist them. + +'I know,' said Johnnie. 'The next half-holiday Bob Middleton would do it +for sixpence or a shilling; he could take the wheelbarrow and get a load +at a time. I declare I wouldn't mind fetching it myself, if I thought +papa wouldn't object.' + +'Oh, nonsense,' said Honorius. 'Work as hard as you like here, but don't +take to wheeling gravel through the village, pray. Bob Middleton might +do, only he's such an impudent fellow. I hate having anything to say to +him.' + +'Oh, I'll transmit your royal commands to him, if that's all,' said +Johnnie; 'only say yes, and I'll look him up this afternoon: perhaps he +might go to Mrs. Western's for us at once.' + +Honorius gave a reluctant consent, and accordingly Johnnie appeared in +the desert soon after three o'clock, accompanied by a youth of fifteen, +very raggedly attired, and with a face which was an extraordinary +compound of ugliness and roguery. Bob undertook for a shilling to fetch +all the gravel from Mrs. Western's, and set off at once for the first +load, with which he returned ere long. He came and went several times; +but at last such a long interval elapsed between his going and +returning, that the boys began to be alarmed. + +'He's gone off with the wheelbarrow, I do believe,' said Honorius. + +'"Body o' me!" as old King Jamie used to say, you don't suppose such a +thing,' cried Johnnie. 'Spite of his objections to soap and water and +the English grammar, I have a higher opinion of Bob than that.' + +But as still time passed on and Bob did not return, Duncan and Seymour +were sent in search of him. They looked for him by the way, but saw +nothing of him, and at length arrived at Mrs. Western's house and rang +the bell. + +'Has a boy been here for some gravel Mrs. Western promised us, or is he +here now?' inquired Duncan of the maid who came to the gate. + +'He has been here, Master Campbell,' she replied, 'but he's gone off as +fast as his legs can carry him, and he's taken mistress's new +thermometer with him that hung on the south wall, and he's trampled over +all the beds, and Mrs. Western she saw him from the window; and your pa' +was passing, so she called him in; but the boy made off, and it'll be a +wonder if the police are not sent for. They're a bad set, those +Middletons.' + +Duncan's eyes grew round with excitement, and Seymour, who was rather +timid, began to cry. He wanted to run home again, but Duncan considered +such a proceeding cowardly; and while they were debating the point, Dr. +Campbell saw them, and called to them to come in. + +'Who sent Bob here for the gravel?' he inquired. + +'Johnnie sent him; Honorius said he might,' replied Duncan. + +'Of course they never thought how the boy would behave,' said kind old +Mrs. Western. 'I daresay they didn't know he wasn't a fit person to be +trusted.' + +'They might have known,' said Dr. Campbell; 'Johnnie at least has heard +me say that Bob was ripe for any mischief, and he knows I refused to let +him take him out fishing with him. If Honorius had told me of your kind +present, I would have sent some proper person for the gravel.' + +'Honorius did say Mrs. Western had promised us some gravel after dinner, +papa, but you were just going out, and I suppose you didn't hear him,' +said Duncan. 'He didn't like sending Bob much, but we didn't know who +else to get.' + +'You should have asked,' began his father; but seeing that Seymour was +frightened, he checked himself, saying, 'It's no blame to you little +ones; I don't suppose you had anything to do with it. Run away home if +you like.' + +'Oh, but let Sarah cut you a piece of cake first,' said Mrs. Western. +'My dear (to Seymour), don't fret; you shall have the gravel all the +same.' + +Mrs. Western's maid brought them out two large slices of pound-cake, +which, after they had thanked their kind old friend, they took away with +them, Seymour beginning directly to munch at his slice, while Duncan put +his into his pocket. + +'Papa didn't say we _must_ go home,' he observed,--'he only said we +_might_ if we liked; so you can go, and I'll try and find Bob, and tell +him I'll give him this piece of cake if he'll give back the thermometer. +I'm so afraid, if he doesn't, Johnnie'll get into trouble; and besides, +it's so wicked to steal.' + +'Yes,' said Seymour with his mouth full of cake; 'and I'll tell you +what, Duncan,' reluctantly but firmly, 'you may take the rest of my +piece too.' + +Duncan, however, declined this, and trudged away, resolutely resisting, +as he went along, the temptation to eat even a _crumb_ of his own +delicious-looking slice. He soon arrived at Mrs. Middleton's cottage, +but of course Bob was not there; and his mother, who was a widow, and +supported herself by washing, came to the door with her arms covered +with soap-suds, and after hastily answering that 'Bob was nowhere's +about, plunged them in the wash-tub again, and took no more heed of +Duncan. He hesitated whether to tell her about the thermometer or not, +but had been so impressed with the naughtiness of 'telling tales,' that +he could not make up his mind it could be right, even in this case, and +so turned away and ran back to the desert, where he found his father +speaking to Honorius and Johnnie. + +'Didn't you remember, boys, what I said about Bob when you wanted to +take him out fishing with you?' he was asking. + +'It was to me you said it; Honorius was not in the room,' Johnnie said +quickly. + +'Very well, then, you at any rate knew my opinion of Bob Middleton, and +must have known that you were doing wrong in employing him without my +leave.' + +'I didn't think,' said Lackland carelessly. + +'Then I must teach you to think. Put down your spade and go into the +house, and up to your room.' + +There was no mistaking Dr. Campbell's manner now; even Johnnie was +obliged to perceive the displeasure he had provoked: he stuck his spade +into the ground, and turned towards the house. + +Duncan dashed after him. 'Here, Johnnie, take this piece of cake. Mrs. +Western gave it to me; it's so good--do have it, see!' + +Lackland was by no means too miserable to appreciate this attempt at +consolation. 'It looks jolly,' he said, 'but I won't take it all; you +must have half yourself, Duncan,' and he broke it in two. + +Duncan would rather his brother should have had the whole, but he was +glad to see him munching the half even so contentedly. 'Do you think I +may go up into your room with you?' he inquired. + +'No, no; papa didn't mean that, I'm sure. Don't stop me, old fellow; +good-bye,' and Johnnie ran off and up to his room as fast as he could +go. He had not been there more than five minutes, when there was a sound +of little toddling steps along the passage, and two fat hands came +drumming on the door. 'What do you want, baby?' said Johnnie, rising and +opening it. + +'I want to tiss 'oo,' answered the child, lifting up his chubby face. + +Johnnie bent down and kissed him, asking, 'How did you know I was here, +Georgie?' + +'Ma heard 'oo tome up 'tairs; ma say what matter wis 'oo?' + +'Tell her papa sent me up,' faltered Johnnie; 'or stay, say----' + +'I say 'oo naughty,' said Georgie, whose infantine mind had already +jumped to the right conclusion. He scampered off with this message, but +speedily returned: 'Ma say she vezy sorry; ma say I may tiss 'oo again.' + +'I wish I might go to her,' thought Johnnie, and in his softened mood +the little brother's kisses were so sweet to him, that he could scarcely +make up his mind to let Georgie go. But he did, and stepped back +resolutely into his room, while the little one, announcing, 'I going to +tea now,' trotted off again down the passage. Meantime Honorius was +showing his father the scarlet geraniums that Johnnie had bought with +his half-crown, and expatiating on the quantity of digging he had got +through, although, being occupied with Caesar, he had not had so much +time to spend in the desert as the others. + +'Poor fellow! Well, he has behaved much better than I thought,' said Dr. +Campbell relentingly. 'I'm afraid I was rather hard on him just now; +that's the worst of being too hasty.' + +Of all things, Honorius could not bear that his father should reproach +himself. 'I'm sure Johnnie admits that he was in fault about Bob, papa,' +he said. + +'And do you know I've got a bright idea about Bob and the thermometer, +papa,' said Willie. 'May I go as far as Farmer Merryman's field and +back? I won't be long.' + +'Certainly you may, if it's necessary for the development of your bright +idea, Willie; but make haste home to tea. And you, boys, come in with +me; if you're not hungry, I am.' + +In the strength of his bright idea Willie ran along like a greyhound; +moreover, it was pleasant to feel how completely his father trusted +him. He went across the fields till he came to Farmer Merryman's pond, +which was overhung by a willow-tree, whose branches were thick enough to +afford a tempting seat: it was a lonely place, and a favourite resort of +Bob's, as Willie well knew; and here he hoped to find him. Was he there? +Yes--no--yes! and Willie almost shouted with delight, but restrained +himself, and advanced cautiously to the foot of the tree. 'Bob,' he said +softly, 'Bob, I want to speak to you, please.' + +Bob gave a violent start, and looked down rather savagely at the +adventurous child who had discovered his hiding-place. 'What d'ye come +prying here for?' he asked rudely. + +'I came to ask you to give back Mrs. Western's thermometer,' said +Willie; 'and my brother Johnnie says he's _quite_ sure you didn't mean +to steal it.' + +'No more I did; what's the worth of it to me? I'd only taken it down +just to look at it, like, when out came those maids a-storming and +a-scolding, and vowed they'd fetch the justice; so I made off, and took +the 'mometer with me, for I hadn't had half a look at it.' + +'Oh, but you've done with it now, so do take it back,' pleaded Willie +urgently. + +'Don't you wish you may get it? You'd like to see me make such a fool of +myself, wouldn't you?' + +'Well, then, let me take it, and I'll tell Mrs. Western how it was, and +ask her not to be angry with you. If you give it me, I'll give you the +shilling that you were to have had when you fetched all the gravel: of +course you can't fetch any more of it for us now, but we would rather +you had the shilling. I'm so glad you didn't mean to steal.' + +Bob calmly surveyed the flushed, eager face that was turned up to his. +'It's you that's to be the parson, ain't it?' he said mockingly. + +Willie made no reply, but folded his arms and leant back against the +tree, looking such a perfect little gentleman, that some dim perception +of his own impertinence flashed upon Bob's eccentric mind. + +'It worn't all on my account you comed along here, was it?' he inquired. + +'No; partly on Mrs. Western's, and partly on my brother Johnnie's. Papa +is displeased with him for having sent you for the gravel; and, Bob, you +know Johnnie _trusted_ you.' + +Bob grinned, and Willie felt that the appeal to his sense of honour had +failed; but, though very impertinent and mischievous, he was not a +thoroughly bad boy, and now swung himself down from the tree, bringing +the thermometer with him. + +'If I give it to you, you must promise not to tell where you found me,' +he said; 'I won't have other folks prying after me here.' + +'I won't tell Mrs. Western, if that's what you mean,' said Willie; 'and +I'll ask her to forgive you.' + +[Illustration: 'CAN'T HELP THAT,--HERE GOES.' + +_See page 52._] + +'My! you may do as you like about that. I ain't in such a hurry to be +forgiven. But what I mean is, you ain't to tell your father nor nobody +where you found me.' + +'I must tell papa if he _asks_ me,' said Willie. + +'Then you shan't have the 'mometer; I'll pitch it into the pond.' + +'That would be wicked,' said undaunted Willie, 'for it does not belong +to you.' + +'Can't help that; here goes,' and he held it over the edge of the pond. +'It'll be in in another minute if you don't say you'll not tell your +father.' + +'I shan't tell him if he doesn't say I am to; but if he does, I must.' + +'Why must you?' + +'Because I must obey him, even when I'd rather not; it's right.' + +'That beats all,' said Bob in unbounded surprise; but he didn't throw +the thermometer into the pond. It was some time, however, before Willie +could persuade him to give it up, though at length he did, and received +the shilling, observing, + +'I could ha' took this from you if I'd liked, and kep' the 'mometer too; +but I ain't a thief, let folks say what they please.' + +'No, I know you're not,' said Willie. 'Oh, Bob, if you would only----' + +'What?' said Bob; 'you hadn't no call to stop just then. I thought you +was a-going to make a fine speech.' + +'No, I mustn't.' + +'Mustn't what?' + +'Mustn't lecture; mamma won't ever let me. There are other people to +teach you.' + +'They did teach me a lot,--parson did, and schoolmaster did; but I got +tired of it, and now I'm too big to go to school. But I'm thinking of +looking out for a bit of work.' + +'Oh do, do, _please_; we should be so glad.' + +'If you ain't the funniest little gentleman!' said Bob with increasing +astonishment. 'But I kind o' like you too, I ha' been thinkin' o' +taking a turn for the better, as they say, lately; but bless you, not +even my mother would believe I was in earnest, so who is there to care +if I do?' + +'Seven Campbells,' said Willie; and then, fearing this was not quite the +truth, he added, 'No, Georgie is too young to care, but all the rest of +us would be glad, Bob;' and when he had said this he ran home. His +arrival with the thermometer caused great delight to all his brothers, +and Dr. Campbell called Lackland down to hear the good news, saying +kindly, 'You have had opportunity for a little thought, Johnnie, my man, +and I hope will be more careful not to act contrary to my known wishes +another time; so now come and help us to rejoice over the recovery of +poor Mrs. Western's thermometer.' Johnnie came, nothing loth, pausing, +however, to ask, 'May I speak to mamma first? She heard me come +up-stairs.' + +Permission was given, and after a preliminary tap the bonnie face +peeped into the sickroom. 'All right, dear little mother: I _was_ rather +in a scrape just now, but papa has forgiven me, and I'm going +down-stairs again. Good-night, dear mamma.' The white curtains of the +bed were drawn aside for one minute, and the sweet motherly eyes looked +out at him. + +'Good-night, and thank you for coming to me, my darling boy; only +remember'--very gently--'a _pardoned_ fault needn't be a _forgotten_ +one, Johnnie.' + +'No, mamma.' There was a momentary quiver in the gay, ringing voice, and +it was quite enough for the mother. 'That will do; I can trust you not +to forget _this_ time, Johnnie,' she said, and with a happy smile she +lay down to sleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHAT SEVEN CAMPBELLS CAN DO. + + +SPITE of obstacles, the labours of the 'Seven Campbells,' as Willie +grandly called them, did effect a great improvement in the desert, and +the seventh certainly took his share, so far as such a very small man +could; for he pulled up a great many weeds with his little fat hands, +and brushed down the gravel on the walks with a tooth-brush! The Doctor, +seeing his boys were in earnest, lent them his help whenever he could +spare time, sent for the remainder of the gravel for them, showed them +how to lay it, trimmed the borders, sowed some potatoes, and presented +them with four apple-trees, which he planted at four corners of the +ground, and called 'Gozmaringa, Geroldinga, Crevedella, and Spirauca,' +after the names of some apple-trees that belonged to King Charlemagne. +But, spite of his assistance, there was a great deal requiring the boys' +exertions; and they worked like Trojans, devoting nearly all their +play-hours and pocket-money to this object, and finding in it both +interest and amusement. Johnnie had learnt one or two lessons from this +undertaking: first, that in working for a good object, it is not only +necessary to have a right intention at starting, but that constant pains +and perseverance are requisite,--as in the matter of Caesar; secondly, +that a privilege earned is sweeter than one bestowed as a favour,--as in +the spending of the half-crown, which his own toil had procured; +thirdly, that even for a good object we must not use bad or doubtful +means,--as in the matter of the gravel; and fourthly, that hard +work--digging, or what not--from a right motive, becomes a much greater +pleasure than any that can be procured by idleness. And he had found +true, too, what his mother had said, that if he would pursue _one_ thing +steadily, and make himself do it in spite of disinclination, the +determination and energy thus acquired would help him in everything +else. + +Midsummer came, and by that time the desert was a desert no longer: it +was a neat, trim-looking piece of ground with smooth walks, some small +but promising crops, and a flower-border gay with geraniums, +nasturtiums, sweet-peas, nemophila, and convolvulus. The mother was +rapidly regaining strength, and had been down-stairs several times, but +only into the drawing-room, which did not look towards the desert: from +the school-room and dining-room, which had a full view of it, she had +been jealously excluded. It is to be feared that this precaution had +caused her a little anxiety, and that she had a secret vision of broken +slates, torn pinafores, and blotted lesson-books, which she imagined +were being concealed from her in these forbidden chambers till she was +supposed to be strong enough to bear the sight of such calamities. But +the day was now come when her fears were to be dispersed, and a far +different and much pleasanter surprise was to dawn upon her. + +She was to take her first walk, leaning on her husband's arm; and he had +been privately instructed by his sons to bring her in the direction of +the quondam desert. They had erected a triumphal arch over the little +entrance-gate, formed of bent osiers twined with flowers, and surmounted +with paper flags, on which were inscribed, in large coloured letters, +such mottoes as the Scotch 'Ye're gey welcome,' and the Irish 'Cead mile +failte.' Archie and Georgie, gaily bedizened, and with wands in their +hands, were stationed at each side of the gate to welcome her, and were +to marshal her up the centre walk, at the top of which her other sons +were to receive her, and conduct her to a seat which had been prepared +for her to rest upon. Such was the programme; but how could English boys +adhere to anything so formal? Directly Archie announced that 'mamma was +coming' Georgie pushed the gate open, and toddled to meet her, followed +by all the rest of the boys, leaping, shouting, and laughing, forgetting +all preconcerted speeches, and much too happy to be even coherent. + +'Papa' was afraid such noisy glee would be too much for the invalid, but +'mamma' would have her way for once, and indulge the boys to the top of +their bent; so they led the way into the desert, all laughing and +talking at the same time, till Willie bethought himself that the noise +and excitement would really be too much for his mother, and first loudly +exhorted his brothers to be quiet, and then--which was much +better--became quiet himself, and thus set an example of +considerateness. + +Mrs. Campbell's surprise and delight were great enough to satisfy her +sons, which is saying a good deal. She would not sit down till she had +made the tour of the garden (it would be an insult to say 'desert' any +longer); and she accepted a sprig of Johnnie's geranium, and a handful +of Duncan's sweet-peas; _tasted_ one of Archie's nasturtium flowers when +assured by him that it was 'so nice;' was duly edified by the sight of +the remains of the tooth-brush, worn to a stump by Georgie's sedulous +and novel use of it; allowed Honorius to pull up a potato root, that she +might see how healthy and free from disease it was; submitted patiently +to have her hair ornamented with some of Seymour's convolvuluses; and +only declined to taste the one hard green apple born by Geroldinga +(Gozmaringa, Crevedella, and Spirauca were as yet fruitless), from a +fear that the tender, careful guardian at her side would be +irrecoverably shocked at such imprudence. She sat down at last on the +chair of state that had been prepared for her, and owned herself a +little tired; but her interest and amusement never flagged, and she +listened with eager pleasure to the history of her sons' exertions. + +'They've all worked like horses,--even Georgie, I do believe,' said Dr. +Campbell, smiling. + +'And Johnnie too!' said the mother delightedly. + +'Yes, Johnnie has done his work manfully, and has found out that +industry is pleasure, after all. Haven't you, my boy?' and the father +laid his hand on his son's shoulder with a proud, pleased look, such as +Lackland had but seldom called up before. + +The bright eyes, which never looked down in fear, looked down now. +Jean-sans-terre was not so unsensitive to _praise_ as he was to +_blame_. + +'Ah, papa,' said Willie, 'you laughed at us when we began to dig up the +desert, but now you see seven Campbells can do more than you thought +they could.' + +'And now, when we want anything done, we may look to our seven Campbells +for it, said Mrs. Campbell gaily. 'Honorius, you were the directing +genius, were you not?' + +'Yes, I believe I planned how it was to be, but it was Willie who first +thought of it, and proposed that we should do it to please you. I am so +glad you are satisfied with our work, mother.' + +'Satisfied! I am delighted, my Emperor. But now that the desert is _put_ +in order, who is going to _keep_ it so? Are we to look to our seven sons +for that?' + +'Yes, oh yes!' was chorused by six of the seven voices. Johnnie alone +was silent; but his dimples were all in play, and he had never looked +more roguish. + +'Sans-terre means to steal a march on us, and do more than any of us, I +do believe, though he won't make promises,' said Honorius. + +'Sans-terre shall be sans-terre no longer,' said Dr. Campbell; 'he has +earned back a right to his own plot of flower-garden, and may enter into +possession again to-night, if he pleases.' + +But Lackland shrugged his shoulders, and declined the burden of +proprietorship. + +'I don't care to have any garden of my own, thank you, papa,' he +answered; 'I'm happier without it than with it, and there's plenty of +work for me here. I never want to have anything belonging to me except a +sword.' + +'And some clothes, Johnnie,' said Seymour, who was very matter-of-fact. + +The boys laughed, and Johnnie replied, 'Oh, certainly, Seymour. I'm not +prepared to adopt the full dress of a Mexican general even--a cocked hat +and a pair of spurs; I must have a full suit of uniform, at any rate. +But I mean to say I'll never be bothered with a house or a wife, or +anything like that.' + +'Ah, Johnnie,' said his father, 'I may say to you in the words of the +old song, + + "Bide ye yet, and bide ye yet, + Ye dinna ken what'll betide ye yet." + +For aught you know, + + "A canty wee house and a cosie wee fire, + And a bonnie wee bodie to praise and admire," + +may be your destiny; and perhaps some day you will appreciate those +treasures as much as I do now.' + +Johnnie looked incredulous. But the attention of all was diverted by the +sudden appearance of a sun-burnt, grinning face over the paling which +separated the kitchen garden (no longer desert) from the road. + +'That's Bob Middleton, I declare!' said Honorius. 'Do you know, papa, +Farmer Jennings has taken him to work in his hay-field, and says if he +does well he may perhaps keep him as a farm-labourer?' + +'And Mrs. Middleton told Mrs. Western that Bob was beginning to hold up +his head a bit, and that if he had only a decent jacket she really +thought he would go to church with her on Sundays,' said Willie. + +'Honorius has an old jacket that is only fit for giving away,' said Mrs. +Campbell; 'don't you think we might make poor Bob a present of it, dear +Archibald?' + +'Oh do, papa,' cried the boys unanimously. + +Dr. Campbell had no objection; so Honorius ran into the house to fetch +the jacket, observing, 'I shall tell him to take himself off when I've +given it him; it's not manners to stare over at us in this way.' When he +returned, however, from his colloquy with the grinning Bob, he +explained, 'He doesn't mean to be rude, he says, but he's so pleased +that we've made the desert so trim, and that "madam," as he calls mamma, +is able to come out and see it. He's immensely pleased with the jacket, +but he doesn't want to go away till he's spoken to Johnnie and Willie.' + +Willie ran off at once. Johnnie turned to go with equal haste, then +paused and glanced at his father: the forgiven fault had _not_ been +forgotten. + +'Yes, go, my man,' said Dr. Campbell; 'and you may bring Bob in if you +like, just to take a turn round the garden; but don't encourage him to +stay.' + +'Oh, and mayn't we give him Geroldinga's apple?' said Duncan; but the +Doctor answered, laughing, 'that that would be anything but a benevolent +present, and that Geroldinga's solitary fruit had better be allowed to +ripen.' + +'I shan't take it,' said Archie, thus innocently revealing, what was +indeed the case, that he felt some temptation to do so. + +'Nor baby won't,' said Georgie manfully. + +'No, my little boys will not touch what is not their own,' said the +mother, glancing down tenderly at the two small faces; 'and some +summer, perhaps, we may find Gozmaringa and the rest covered with +apples, and then what apple dumplings we shall have!' + +Archie's broad smile told that he relished the idea. Georgie, to whom +apple dumplings were as yet an unknown delicacy, looked grave and asked, +'Is appy dumpions nice?' + +'Very,' said the laughing mamma. 'But see, here is Bob coming this way. +Well, Bob, what do you think of my sons' work?' + +'It's fust-rate,' said Bob, pulling his rough forelock. 'I hopes you +finds yourself better, mum.' + +'Much better, thank you, and very glad to be out again. I have been +watching the hay-making in Farmer Jennings' field from my window; I was +very glad to see _you_ at work there, Bob.' + +Bob made an indescribable contortion of his figure, charitably supposed +to be intended for a bow, and passed on. + +'Madam looks palish,' he observed to Johnnie, who was escorting him +about; 'I doubt she's not very hearty yet.' + +'No, it'll be some time before she's quite strong. Has she ever spoken +to you before, Bob?' + +'Oh my! yes. Why, she brought me some doctor's stuff and some sweet cold +drink when I was so bad with fever two winters ago, and she took and +spoke up to me last autumn when I was throwin' stones at parson's +chickens. Besides, I've seen her in the school when I was a little +chap.' He was evidently proud of his acquaintance with so sweet-spoken +and kind a lady, and when he left the garden with the jacket under his +arm, remarked, 'I'll make a bigger haycock than e'er a one else in the +field right under madam's window, that'll pleasure her, maybe, for it +smells fust-rate, it does.' + +He fulfilled his intention, and pleased Farmer Jennings so much by his +cheerful industry in the hay-field, that he took him on trial for a +month as farm-lad, and finding him tolerably satisfactory in that +capacity, gave him permanent employment. His impudence was not at once +conquered, and brought him into some trouble; but when he found that the +farmer and his men would not put up with it as his mother had, he +learned to put a check on it, and others besides the seven Campbells +encouraged him in taking a turn for the better. + +Johnnie still remained 'sans terre,' by his own desire, but worked away +in his father's garden as he never had done in the part that was called +his own. He began to get on better at school too; and Willie joined him +there after the summer vacation, and helped to keep him steady by his +example and admonitions. For Willie had certainly a little taste for +lecturing; and Lackland, the harum-scarum and good-humoured, was just +the boy both to provoke it and to bear it: if he was a Du Guesclin in +bravery, he was not in quarrelsomeness, and nothing that Willie could +say ever made him angry. The mother, too, became well and strong again, +able once more to exercise her sweet influence through all the +household; and between the father's firmness and the mother's +gentleness, those seven boys were well and wisely trained. + + * * * * * + +Many years have passed since then, and the seven Campbells are no longer +boys Honorius has been taken into partnership with his father, and is +known by the whole country-side as 'the young doctor;' Johnnie is +serving the Queen in a line regiment in India; and Willie has lately +been ordained, and is working hard as a curate in a large manufacturing +town. So three of the seven have had their wish. But Seymour has been +taken by one of his uncles, a rich banker, into his counting-house; +Duncan is not gone to sea,--he has just passed a competitive +examination for the Indian Civil Service; as for Archie, he is still +only a schoolboy, and he and Honorius live at home, while the others are +scattered far and wide. + +But nowhere on earth could you find all those seven Campbells now, and +there has never been any need to decide on a profession for Georgie: the +youngest, the darling, the flower of the flock, has been called to rest +the first. Wide tracts of sea and land lie between the mother and her +darling Johnnie, and a wider distance still severs her from her little +George, yet to her the seven are but as one band, united for ever by a +common faith and mutual love. And so much is this the feeling of them +all, that if you should chance to meet one of those Campbells, and to +ask of their number, I think, like the child in the ballad, he would +answer, 'We are Seven.' + +[Illustration] + + + + +CECIL'S MEMORABLE WEEK. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SENTENCE. + + +IT would be hard to find a pleasanter family group than that which had +gathered round the tea-table at Wilbourne Rectory one hot bright evening +in the end of July: a kindly-looking mother, with a dark, sweet, +brunette face, that _would_ not be careworn spite of forty years of +life, seven children, and a slender purse; a tall, slight, brown-bearded +father, a little bald, and with deep lines of thought on the broad +forehead and around the rather sunken blue eyes; a fair, round-faced +girl of fifteen, sitting next him; two smaller lasses, with long black +hair almost straight, clear brown complexions, and a bit of bright +scarlet bloom on each cheek, that was just like the mother's, only +fresher and less fixed; a little curly-haired lad of eight, that was +like nobody in particular; and last, but not least, a Sandhurst cadet, a +well-grown youth of seventeen, with dark hair, cut very short in +military style, and a little dark down on cheek and lip, which _he_ +called whiskers and moustaches. He sat on one side of his mother, and on +the other sat a person who was _not_ a member of the family--Mr. +Cunningham's curate, a great big broad-shouldered young man, six feet +three at least in height, with a pleasant, open face, rather sun-burnt, +and the most good-tempered smile that you can possibly conceive. + +Two of the children of the house were absent--the second son, a +midshipman in the Queen's service, who was now on his way to Japan; and +the third, who was expected home this very evening from school. + +A little talk sprang up about him among his brothers and sisters, begun +by a 'wonder' from one of the little girls as to when he would arrive; +and strange to say, at the mention of his name, the lines on the +father's brow deepened a little, and Mrs. Cunningham's face took for a +moment quite a sorrowful expression. + +'I almost hope he will not come till tea is over,' she said. + +It did not sound like a motherly sentiment, but it was spoken out of the +depths of a true motherly feeling. + +Cecil Cunningham was coming home in a kind of disgrace. He had been +placed at a good grammar school in the county town, some fourteen miles +from Wilbourne, had won for himself an 'exhibition,' as it was called, +by which the greater part of his school expenses were defrayed, and +would have been allowed to keep it till he went to college had his +progress during the first year been sufficiently good. But, alas! it had +just been discovered that the marks he had gained for his various +studies throughout this time did not, when counted up, amount to the +rather high total which the founder's will required; and so it had been +announced to him and his parents that he had forfeited the 'exhibition,' +and could not be received at the school again unless his father were +prepared to pay the full terms, which, though not very high, happened to +be more than Mr. Cunningham could justly afford. The middy had lately +been fitted out for sea. The son at Sandhurst was a considerable +expense; and though it was hoped that after another six months he would +succeed in getting a commission without purchase, there would be his +outfit and yearly allowance to provide; and altogether, Mr. Cunningham +did not see his way to giving Cecil such advantages as he could wish, +without the help of that 'exhibition' which the boy had just lost by +his own fault. + +Cecil was very clever, and, though rather idle by nature, had promised +to work hard at school, and had been supposed to be conscientious enough +to be sure to keep his word. He greatly wished to be a clergyman; and +this desire of his had been an intense joy to his father, who, though a +good deal disappointed at his two elder sons choosing army and navy, had +consoled himself with the thought that _one_ at least of his children +had a real desire for the priesthood, and this the very one whose +talents best fitted him for a university education. From school he was +to have gone to Oxford; and his whole prospects had seemed fair enough +till now, so that it was not wonderful that the unexpected news of his +failure had occasioned great disappointment at the Rectory. His father +was much displeased with him, and meant that he should feel how great a +fault his idleness had been; and his mother, who knew this, and believed +that her boy was _already_ feeling it, was anxious that the first +meeting should be got over without the presence of spectators. + +But just as she spoke, Cecil, followed by the gardener wheeling his +luggage in a barrow, was seen coming up the gravel walk towards the +house. + +The little curly-haired boy rushed off at once to meet him,--not to open +the hall door, for that stood wide open already,--but a restraining look +from the mother stopped the girls, who were rising also; and when Cecil +came in, the greetings were very quiet, though not in the least cold, +except perhaps on Mr. Cunningham's part. Cecil had his mother's face, at +once dark and bright, with brown clear eyes that looked full of +intelligence, and, alas! seemed to say that their owner might have kept +his place in the school with ease had he but so chosen. He did not seem +very conscious or very miserable: he had the true boyish instinct of +hiding feelings, and looked much as usual, though there was nothing like +bravado or nonchalance in his manner. When his father shook hands with +him gravely, and merely said, 'Well, Cecil,' in a short dry way, a +sudden flush mounted up in his brown cheek; and there was a little +anxiety in his face when he turned to kiss his mother, as if a sudden +fear had come over him that she might refuse the caress. But she did +not; and he sat down calmly enough to his bread and butter, showing a +very tolerable schoolboy appetite, and munching away rather quickly when +he found that the others were near the end of their meal. His sisters +and his little brother volunteered some information about his rabbits, +and so on; but when they began to ask questions concerning his +schoolfellows, their father said quietly, 'Let Cecil have his tea,' and +began a conversation about politics with the curate, in which none of +the juniors ventured to join except the cadet. + +When they rose from the table, the two gentlemen went off to the study; +and with a sigh of relief one of the little girls exclaimed, 'Oh, now +you _can_ come and see the rabbits, Cecil; father won't want you!' + +Cecil glanced at his mother; but though she was longing for a good hug +and a little private talk, she thought it better to refrain just then, +and said gently, 'Yes, you can go with Jessie, but don't go out of +earshot;' after which she turned away and went up-stairs. + +Jessie, who was just a year younger than Cecil, was his special friend +and ally, and the other long-haired lassie considerately left them +together, and went off to do some gardening; while little Lewis followed +at a respectful distance, not able to tear himself quite away from +Cecil, and yet not presuming to interrupt the confidential talk between +him and his sister. + +The rabbit hutch was in a little yard not far from the house, and within +view, as it happened, of the study window. Cecil stroked the soft +creatures' ears, and fondled them a little, and fed them with some +cabbage leaves with which Jessie supplied him; but his manner was rather +absent, and presently he said abruptly, 'I say, Jessie, isn't it an +awful shame?' + +Jessie was not prepared for this view of the question. + +'I am so sorry,' she said doubtfully. 'I never once thought of its +happening till Dr. Lomax's letter came; for you know, Cecil, you told me +you meant to work. Oh! don't you remember saying it here, in this very +place, when you were making the new bars to Lop-ear's hutch?' + +'Well, and I did,' said Cecil gruffly. + +'Yes, I know you did; and that made me think you would do it.' + +'Well, so I did do it--that's what I mean' said he more gruffly still. + +'Did work!' exclaimed she gladly, and quite ready of belief, with the +tender trustfulness of a true sister. 'But oh, then, Cecil how was it +that they didn't give you marks enough? I thought you would have lots to +spare--I did indeed!' + +'Humbug!' said Cecil, but not gruffly now; 'it's not so easy to get +marks as all that. I was quite sure of having enough, though--so sure +that I hadn't a second thought about it; and I can't tell to this moment +how it was I didn't, except that Lomax is such a brute!' + +'The Doctor!' + +'No--his son, the junior master; it was he who counted up the marks.' + +'Do you mean the marks you got at the examination?' + +'No, the weekly marks I had got in all my studies during the half-year; +that's the way they calculate to see whether one may keep the +"exhibition."' + +'Do you think he can have made any mistake?' + +'He might, perhaps, to spite me; it's not likely otherwise, for he's a +dab at arithmetic. I asked the Doctor to let me see the book, but he +wouldn't; and of course I couldn't tell him what I thought, and it would +have been no use if I had.' + +'And you did really work all the time?' said Jessie, looking at him +tenderly and seriously out of her big black eyes. + +'Well, almost all--not quite the last week or two, perhaps: it was +awfully hot weather, and being so sure, I thought I might take it easy; +but that couldn't have made the difference.' + +'I wish you had been able to say you worked quite all the time,' said +Jessie gravely, with a little sigh, 'for then father couldn't have been +angry.' + +'I'm afraid he's awfully vexed, isn't he?' said Cecil, with rather an +anxious glance towards the study. + +'I think so; and Percy says' (Percy was the cadet) 'that he doesn't know +how to manage about your education. Francie and I have been so anxious +about it: it would be too dreadful if you were not to be a clergyman, +wouldn't it, Cecil?' + +Cecil said nothing, but absently doled out the last cabbage leaf to the +rabbits in such small morsels, that they nibbled at his fingers as if +they thought those part of the provender. Jessie was lost in a +calculation of whether if Frances and she were to have no new frocks for +a twelvemonth, and to save up all their pocket-money, that would make it +possible for Cecil to go back to the grammar school, when Mr. Cunningham +leaned out of the study window and called him. + +Though he had been expecting the summons, he started and coloured +violently, but ran off at once, going in by the back door, which was the +nearest way. + +Jessie went into a little tool-shed, which was close to the rabbits' +dwelling-place. She did not like to watch the window, but was too +anxious to be able to go and help Francie with her gardening, or to play +with Lewis, who was wandering aimlessly about. 'Father,' who was so +tender to his little girls, who was the very very best man, as Jessie +believed, in the whole world, could nevertheless be very severe when he +saw occasion--could reprove in a way which an offender was not likely to +forget. He had wonderful patience for the blunders of little Lewis, who +was rather dull, and found lessons a daily difficulty; but he had always +expected much more of Cecil, who was really full of ability, and had +sometimes dealt seriously with his fits of idleness in the days of his +home teaching. And _now_--now when the boy had failed just when every +principle of duty should have made him exert himself to the utmost--what +could be looked for? Oh, what a bitter half-hour this must be to Cecil! + +Yes, for half an hour passed, and still Cecil did not come back. +Jessie's fright and agitation were growing very hard to bear. 'Oh I know +it is right!' she said, clasping her hands together; 'I know we _must_ +be scolded and punished for our faults; only I wish it was me, and not +Cecil. And, after all, I think there must have been some mistake, for he +says he _did_ work; and if father could only believe it, I am sure he +wouldn't be angry, even though Cecil _has_ lost his place in school! Oh, +I wish it could be made clear somehow! I know! I will ask God to make it +clear.' And then the little girl prayed to the heavenly Father, whom the +earthly father had taught her to seek in all her troubles. + +Eight o'clock struck, and she started to her feet. + +'Oh! I must go in and do my work--I shall only just be able to finish it +before bed-time. Father must have gone to the choir practice. I wonder +if he has taken Cecil with him, and if _that_ is the reason why he +hasn't come back?' + +With a deep-drawn breath of relief at this possibility, she ran into the +house, and meeting her eldest brother in the hall, hastily inquired if +he knew what had become of Cecil. + +'He's in his room, I think,' was the answer. 'Poor little beggar! I +fancied I heard him sobbing, and wanted to go in, but he wouldn't let +me. I've just been telling Mary, that if I don't succeed in getting my +commission without purchase I shall enlist as a private, and never come +home at all. I couldn't stand seeing you all look as glum about me as +you do about Cecil.' + +'Oh, but, Percy, would that be--' began little Jessie in consternation; +and then he laughed, and she saw that he was joking. + +'Mother's been looking for you,' he said as she turned towards the +staircase; 'she wants you to do some work.' + +'Where's father?' + +'Gone to the choir practice a quarter of an hour ago. Good-bye; I'm +going out for a stroll. Try and cheer up that poor little chap; perhaps +he'll let you in, as you're his chum.' + +Jessie longed to try that moment, but she knew she was due at her +needle-work, and very unwillingly went into the drawing-room, where her +mother and sisters were sitting round a lamp-lit table, stitching away +very busily at a new set of shirts for Percy. + +'I was looking for you, Jessie,' said the mother in her pleasant voice; +'come and work at double speed, to make up for lost time.' + +Jessie had never felt less disposed to work; but when Mrs. Cunningham +made room for her, and gave her the seam she was to do, with a kindly +sympathy in tone and glance that seemed to say she knew just what the +little girl was feeling, though she wasn't going to talk about it, all +her unwillingness melted away. 'Mother is sad too,' she thought. 'I +won't do anything to vex her;' and so she worked away as neatly and +diligently as she could till nine o'clock, which was her bed-time. + +'I may go to Cecil before I go to bed, mother, mayn't I?' she whispered +as she was bidding good-night. + +Mrs. Cunningham gave permission, and Jessie rushed up-stairs two steps +at a time, but controlled herself to give a very gentle tap at Cecil's +door. It must have been too gentle, for he took no notice of it; but in +answer to another, rather louder, came the question, 'Is it you, +Jessie?' And when he found it was, he opened the door, which was locked, +and let her in. + +He seemed to have been unpacking, for his little portmanteau was open on +the floor, and some of his clothes and other possessions were strewn +upon the bed and the one chair, which was the only seat that the little +attic could boast; but he was flushed, and his eyes were red, as if he +had been crying, and he turned away abruptly from his sister when he had +let her in, and began to dive into the portmanteau again. + +'Can't I help you?' said she, not knowing well how to begin her task of +comfort. 'I'll fold up the clothes and put them in the drawers, while +you take out the books. Oh! perhaps you meant to leave them in, though. +You won't want them for the holidays?' + + +'Pretty holidays!' said Cecil passionately, more to himself than to her. +'A single week!' + +'I don't understand,' she rejoined in consternation. 'You're not going +back to school in a week, surely?' + +'I'm not going back to Eastwood at all, but I'm going to a horrid, +odious, beastly little day school in Fairview;' and Cecil flung out some +books upon the floor, in a manner which did not bespeak very exemplary +submission to his father's decrees. + +[Illustration: 'JESSIE CAME OVER TO HIM AND HUGGED HIM.' + +_See page 92._] + +The information itself, and Cecil's terrible adjectives, both dismayed +Jessie, and for a minute or two she did not speak. Then she said, 'But +surely there must be holidays at the day school too?' + +'They're just over--they began in June. Of course those sort of places +don't break up at the same time as the public schools, like _we_ do,' +said Cecil with wrathful contempt. + +'And must you begin when the school does?' + +'I've got to--that's all; it's to be my punishment, father says,--just +as if losing the exhibition were not punishment enough!' And he buried +his face in the portmanteau to hide his tears. + +Jessie came over to him and hugged him; and he didn't seem to mind, +though she could only kiss the side of his cheek and his shirt collar, +for the greater part of his face was hidden among the books. + +'Did you tell him you worked nearly all the time?' she faltered in an +unsteady voice. + +'I began to say something, and he asked me if I could honestly say I had +done my very best, and I couldn't quite say that, you know, and then he +wouldn't hear any more. And oh, I'm sure he thinks I did nothing but +idle my time away!' + +'Did you tell him you thought there must be some mistake?' + +'I said something about Lomax spiting me, but he wouldn't listen to +that.' + +'Oh no,' said Jessie, who readily understood that her father would never +admit _that_ explanation of the affair. 'Oh, Cecil, I am so sorry, so +_very_ sorry!' + +'If I had really been idle,' said Cecil, raising up his tear-wet face, +more crimson than ever from its sojourn in the box, 'then I shouldn't +care--I mean, it would only be fair that I should be served out for it; +but when I haven't--when I have tried all this year--oh!----' and he was +nearly choked by the sobs which, in his desire to be manly, he was +struggling to repress. + +Jessie believed him entirely, and was grieved to the very heart. 'I am +so sorry,' she repeated. 'But, dear Cecil, _God_ knows; He sees you have +been trying; _He_ isn't angry with you.' + +'Then why does He let this happen?' said Cecil fiercely. + +Jessie was startled and shocked, and had no answer ready. 'I don't +know,' she said at last, through her tears; 'I can't tell why, but He is +so good--oh, He is _so_ good!--perhaps it will all come right still. I +will ask Him; and you will, won't you, Cecil? Isn't there something in +the Bible about its being acceptable with God, if we do well and suffer +for it?' + +'Yes; but I'm not suffering because I've done well, but because I'm +supposed to have done ill,' said Cecil gloomily. 'There's no good +talking, Jessie; you'd better go to bed.' + +'Perhaps I had,' said Jessie, a sudden thought striking her as she heard +her father's voice in the passage below; 'but I can't bear to leave you, +Cecil. I am so sorry, and I do love you so!' + +He half returned her tender, sorrowful hug; and then she ran away, but +not straight to her own room. She darted down one flight of stairs, and +caught hold of her father, who had come in from the practice, and had +been washing his hands before going to supper. + +'Father,' she said breathlessly, 'please let me say it: Cecil _has_ been +working--he has indeed. Oh, I am sure you would believe it if you had +heard what he said to me just now!' + +Mr. Cunningham did not draw himself away from the detaining clasp, but +he said gravely, 'I quite believe that Cecil does not think he has been +so very idle, but he admits that he has not done his best, and I hope +in a little while he will see all his fault, and be sorry for it. Don't +let him talk to you any more to-night.' + +'But don't you think there may have been some mistake?' + +'No, indeed,' he answered in a surprised tone, which showed that no such +supposition had ever entered his head. + +Then, as she still lingered, he stooped to kiss her, and said kindly, +'Don't try to comfort Cecil with such an idea as that, my child, but see +if you can encourage him to do his best for the future.' + +'And--father,' she said timidly, 'is he really only to have a week's +holiday?' + +'Yes,' said Mr. Cunningham in his most decided tone; then more gently he +added, 'I am afraid that is punishing you as well as him, but it can't +be helped; and as he is only going to a day school, you will not lose +him entirely.' + +Remembering the adjectives Cecil had heaped upon the day school, Jessie +could not feel this to be quite consolatory; but she only said +'Good-night, father,' and held up her face for another kiss, which was +given very tenderly. + +Poor little girl! there was a great deal of grief and perplexity in her +heart that night; but the comfort was, that though she so pitied Cecil, +she did not distrust the goodness of either the heavenly or the earthly +father. She could not see the why and wherefore of it all; but when she +had said her prayers, she laid herself down to sleep trustfully and +patiently, while Cecil was tossing and tumbling about, feeling as if +everybody except Jessie were against him. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A BACHELOR'S LUNCH. + + +THE bells were ringing for Sunday Morning Prayer at Wilbourne Church, +and the congregation was pouring in at the large west door, and the +choir boys taking the little path towards the vestry, when Mr. Yorke, +the tall curate, opened the small side gate, which was his nearest +entrance to the churchyard. + +He was passing quickly along, when he caught sight of a boy leaning over +the paling a little beyond the gate, in rather a disconsolate attitude; +and first he paused for a minute, and then struck across the grass and +laid his hand kindly on the boy's shoulder. + +'Come in with me, Cecil,' he said in his most cheery tone--knowing that +the lad usually formed one of the choir when at home, and thinking that +his ill success at school had made him shy of facing the other +choristers, who probably knew all about it by this time. + +'No, I mustn't,' said Cecil, turning round abruptly and colouring very +much. + +Mr. Yorke was surprised, and showed it. Knowing that Cecil's general +conduct at school had been very good, he had not thought that exclusion +from the choir would have formed part of his punishment. + +'It's not because of _that_,' said the boy, reading his thoughts in his +open, kindly face, 'at least not of that alone; it's because I don't say +I'm sorry, and behave as I'm expected to behave. But oh, if father +knew----' + +He broke off and turned his face away; but Mr. Yorke, who liked the boy +well, and had one of those sympathetic natures that can feel for +everybody's troubles, was touched by the bitter, hopeless tone. + +'Suppose you come home with me after service, and spend the rest of the +day with me,' said he, feeling it might really do the boy good to have +his Sunday free from the sort of atmosphere of disgrace which he felt or +fancied surrounded him at home. + +He could see that Cecil caught at the notion, by the eager way in which +he looked up; though the answer was, + +'Thank you; but perhaps father wouldn't like it.' + +'I don't think he will mind; I'll ask him myself. Don't suppose I'm +inviting you to any great treat: cold mutton and bread and marmalade are +about all that I have to offer. I don't like to keep my landlady from +church.' + +'Oh, thanks,' said Cecil, laughing, not at all as if the prospect +alarmed him; and Mr. Yorke laughed too, and saying, 'Well, then, look +out for me after service,' strode away across the grass, looking back, +however, at the vestry door, to see if Cecil were turning his steps +towards the church. + +Cecil had not at all liked the idea of taking his place among the +congregation: he thought that those who noticed him would wonder why he +was not in the choir, and in his present mood the least humiliation was +intolerable to him. The two days which had intervened since his coming +home had not been well or happily spent: he had gone about in a sulky +injured way, keeping aloof from his father and mother, answering shortly +when spoken to, and being anything but sociable even with his brothers +and sisters. Some of them had almost ceased to be sorry for him, because +he made himself, as they said, 'so disagreeable;' but his faithful +friend Jessie had borne with him uncomplainingly, and continued to feel +for him with all her heart. He was a little cheered now by the thought +that Mr. Yorke felt for him too, and did not seem to condemn him +altogether; and so--rather slowly--he walked towards the church and went +in, and took a place near the door, where he thought scarcely anybody +would see him. + +His thoughts wandered far and wide during the prayers, though now and +then he recalled them by an effort, and tried to attend for at least a +few minutes; but he could not help listening to the sermon, which was +preached by his father--his father, whom at the bottom of his heart he +did warmly love and respect, spite of all the rebellious feelings of the +last day or two. The text was, 'While I live will I praise the Lord: I +will sing praises unto my God while I have any being;' and there +followed a beautiful, fervent exhortation to the spirit of constant +praise, and then a consideration of the hindrances which check this flow +of thankfulness in Christian souls. Cecil listened most attentively, and +with a kind of awe, when among these was named the pride of heart which +would not acknowledge as deserved such punishment as God might send, +either directly from Himself or through others--the temper which called +it 'very hard' that this or that suffering should be laid upon us. He +did not suppose that his father was thinking of him--nor was he; but in +the vivid description of feelings which followed he recognised his own, +and a strange thrill of heart seized him when Mr. Cunningham went on: +'There is no peace like the peace of those who have conquered all such +rebellious impulses, such self-justifying thoughts, who have given +themselves up lovingly to God to be chastened as much and as long as He +wills. There is no praise like the praise of a soul that can say with +holy Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him;" or with +Habakkuk, "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit +be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields +shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and +there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I +will joy in the God of my salvation."' + +'If I had sung in the choir to-day, it wouldn't have been real praise; I +shouldn't have thought of it or meant it,' Cecil owned to himself; and +it did not seem to him so hard as before that he had been excluded, +though he was far from entering fully into the spirit of submission +which Mr. Cunningham had set before his people as the thing to be longed +and striven for. Entering fully! Ah, with most of us it takes a lifetime +to do that; but none of us are too young to _begin_ to learn it. + +Cecil went back to his old position by the churchyard palings after +service to wait for Mr. Yorke, but could not quite escape some greetings +from his village friends, who were 'glad to see him back, and hoped he +had his health.' He looked up anxiously when he saw his father and the +curate come forth from the vestry together; but they soon parted, and +Mr. Yorke came across the grass to him, saying, 'All right, Cecil; you +can come home with me.' + +'Home' was some bachelor lodgings in a very rustic cottage with a porch +all overgrown with Tangier peas, and a queerly-shaped dining-room, the +ceiling of which was so low that Mr. Yorke's head seemed but a little +way off it as he walked about. On the other side of the passage was a +drawing-room, wonderfully smart and uncomfortable, with groups of wax +fruit under glass shades on rickety tables, crochet couvrettes over the +back of almost every chair as well as on the sofa, and a wonderful +festoon of green and yellow tissue paper round the glass above the +mantelpiece. Mr. Yorke took Cecil in there while the cloth was being +laid, but told him he never sat there, as there was not a single chair +which would bear his weight, nor a table which did not creak when it was +leant upon. + +'I should turn all this trumpery out, and make Mrs. Keeling give me +something sensible,' said Cecil, with a boy's rough-and-ready way of +disposing of difficulties. + +'No, you wouldn't, if you saw what a delight she takes in it all, and +what a solace it is to her to come and dust and admire. Between the +dining-room and a little den I have up-stairs, I do very well. I only +hope you'll have as snug a little hole and as worthy a little landlady +when _you_ are a curate in lodgings.' + +'I don't know whether I shall ever be a clergyman now,' said Cecil +gloomily. + +Mr. Yorke, who was standing at the window looking out, while his guest +had ventured on one of the dangerous chairs, turned round in surprise. +'You don't mean to say you are giving up that? I thought you had wished +it ever since you were four years old.' + +'So I have; and if I had stayed at Eastwood, I might some day have got +one of the Hulston scholarships, and that would have helped me at +college; but now there's no chance for me. I'm going to old Bardsley's +day school in Fairview, and there's nothing to be got _there_.' + +'Still I wouldn't give up if I were you, my boy; I would keep the hope +before me. There's nothing like a high aim to help one through the +drudgery of school-work, and keep one out of stupid, little, mean +temptations.' + +'I know, and it was for that I worked,' said Cecil, 'at least for that +chiefly; but it was all no use, and it doesn't seem worth while to try +any more.' + +Mr. Yorke, who had supposed that Cecil _hadn't_ worked, did not quite +know what answer to make to this. + +'I think it seems more worth while than ever,' he said after a minute. +'If one has lost ground, one must make it up again somehow. You know you +might be ordained even without going to Oxford, though I don't mean to +say that a college education is not a good thing, if one can have it.' + +'Father went to Oxford, and so did you, didn't you?' said Cecil. + +'Yes, there was no difficulty about that, as it happened; but my way was +not all smooth, any more than yours. I had not been meant for a +clergyman, and there were objections to be got over, and a good deal +that was discouraging; but it all came right at last.' + +He broke off his sentence rather abruptly, but in his heart it was ended +thus: 'Thanks be to God for it.' + +If Cecil had ever seen the luxurious home from which the curate came, or +had known what good worldly prospects he had given up to enter holy +orders, he would have made quite a hero of him in his own mind; but, +even as it was, he looked up admiringly at the tall manly figure and +bright resolute face. He liked to feel that Mr. Yorke was his friend, +and for the moment longed to tell him all his trouble, and see if he +could give him more help in bearing it than little Jessie could. But he +was shy of beginning; and before he had opened his lips, a plump little +old woman in a black silk dress and spotless apron appeared at the door, +and announced, 'Your lunch is ready, sir.' + +_Lunch!_--so they were to dine late; and though the cold mutton was not +likely to prove a much greater dainty at six than at one, Cecil felt a +little pride and pleasure in keeping such grown-up hours. + +In honour of the young guest, Mrs. Keeling had set out every small +luxury that either her lodger or she possessed; and there were poached +eggs, and gooseberries, and sardines, and honey, and pickles, and +gingerbread, and potted meat, arranged with great display upon the +table, while the bread and butter and cheese, as being altogether +ordinary, were exiled to a little sideboard behind Mr. Yorke's chair. + +'Is there anything more you require, sir?' said the old dame before +withdrawing, in a complacent tone that seemed to say, What _could_ they +require when such a variety was before them? + +'Thank you, let me see: would you like some mutton, Cecil?' + +Mrs. Keeling almost frowned at this proposal. How could the good young +gentleman be so inconsiderate, she thought, as to propose to his visitor +for _lunch_ what was by and by to come up for _dinner_? She was quite +relieved, however, by Cecil's eager negative, and went off to her +kitchen well satisfied; while Mr. Yorke, after saying grace, proceeded +to do the honours of the repast. + +'May I give you some pickles, Cecil?' he said mischievously. 'I don't +see anything to eat with them, so I suppose they are meant to form a +course by themselves.' + +'They wouldn't be bad with bread and cheese,' rejoined Cecil, laughing; +'some of our seniors eat them with all sorts of things.' + +'Well, you can try the combination if you like, but I don't see any +cheese; and oh, hulloa! there's no bread either. Will you ring the bell +while I help the eggs?' + +'I see them--they're behind you--I'll get them,' and Cecil jumped up and +set down the bread, but, among the array of dishes which covered the +small table, could find no room for the butter or cheese. + +'We can turn out the pickles, and the gooseberries too, for the +present,' said Mr. Yorke with a look of amusement. 'Thank you, Cecil; I +seem to have brought you here to wait upon me.' + +'Oh, it's such fun!' said Cecil delightedly. A thoroughly well-arranged +meal would not have given him half the pleasure that this queer little +bachelor lunch did. + +Before it was over, his spirits were such as entirely to satisfy his +host; and Mrs. Keeling, when she came to clear away, was gratified to +find that her home-made gingerbread had by no means been despised, +though she had been a little offended in the interval by water being +rung for. What could Mr. Yorke be thinking of, to let the little +gentleman drink water, when there was cowslip wine and raspberry vinegar +of her own making in the house, supposing that ordinary wine or beer +were thought too strong for him? + +But Cecil had affirmed that he always drank water at home, and wished +for nothing else, and Mr. Yorke knew better than to try to lead him to +other tastes. He liked Cecil's bringing-up altogether--the hardiness and +the good sense of it, and the kindness that was never spoiling; and +could sympathize the more with the boy, under the cloud which had come +between him and his father, because he knew how happy the relations +between them had been till now. He was ready to talk about school and +cricket, and his own younger brothers, and anything that seemed to +interest him; and was rather startled when, as they sat together after +lunch in a queer little arbour at the end of the garden, Cecil suddenly +said, 'Do you think a person can help being miserable when they are +punished for a fault they haven't done?' + +'I think it is a great trial,' he answered after a moment's reflection. +'But surely they would have more reason to be miserable if they _had_ +committed the fault.' + +Cecil pondered over this a minute; then he said, 'But how is it _just_ +that they should be punished for what they haven't done?' + +'Why, I suppose the person punishing thinks they have done it.' + +'Yes, the person,' said Cecil,--and there he hesitated,--'I mean,' he +said at last, not irreverently, but in a low, earnest tone, 'why are +things like _this let_ happen?' + +Mr. Yorke could only guess what 'this' was, and did not seek to have it +explained, not wishing to make himself a judge of anything that lay +between Cecil and his father. + +'You mean, why is disgrace allowed to come upon a person which they +cannot feel they have deserved? I don't think we can always tell why--I +think we must be content to trust and submit; but it may often be to +teach them some lesson which they could not have learned without it. For +instance, suppose a very proud person were punished for telling an +untruth, which he had not really told: the humiliation might be a check +to his pride, and in that way might be for his real good.' + +'And he deserved it, you mean, for being proud, though he didn't for +untruth?' + +'Yes; and when he came to see this, he would no longer say it was very +hard.' + +This reminded Cecil of his father's sermon, which indeed Mr. Yorke had +in his mind when he spoke. He was silent a good while, then he began on +what seemed at first another subject. 'If something that wasn't your own +fault had come to hinder you when you were being educated for a +clergyman, shouldn't you have thought you weren't meant to be one?' + +'I think it would have depended on what the hindrance was, and a good +many other circumstances. It isn't only book-learning that makes people +fit to be clergymen; perhaps I might have been hindered in that, only to +make me more fit in some other way.' + +'What kind of way?' + +'Well, I might have needed to learn submission or humility, or a hundred +things.' + +Cecil clasped both hands round his knees, and went swaying himself +backwards and forwards in a queer kind of way that was more reflective +than polite. + +'I suppose it wouldn't do for a clergyman to be cock-a-hoop,' he said +presently. + +'Well, not exactly, if he meant to be in any sense an example to his +flock,' returned Mr. Yorke with a smile. + +'I know I was very cock-a-hoop just before this disappointment came,' +thought Cecil, 'and that last week I was careless and all. I wonder +whether that is why all this has happened!' + +He did not say any of this aloud, but it was not pride that kept him +from the avowal, only a very natural and reasonable shyness of talking +about himself. He stopped rocking, and sat with his gaze fixed on the +trees in the distance, without really seeing them a bit. A new feeling +of half-dismayed contrition was springing up in his heart, but the +bitterness of resentment and the sense of injury were passing away. + +He started when the church bells began to ring. There was evening +prayer, with catechizing, at three o'clock at Wilbourne Church, and +evening prayer again, with a sermon, at seven. 'Are you going, sir?' he +said as Mr. Yorke rose up. + +'Not to church now, but I must be off to Bar-end, where I have my class +of hobbledehoys from the farms.' + +'Do you think father will expect me at the catechizing?' + +'I should think he would be glad to see you there.' + +'I mustn't stand with the choir, I suppose,' said Cecil, hesitating. + +'No; but I think, if I were you, I should be all the more anxious to go. +You're not sulking, I can see, Cecil; so why should you let any one +think you are?' + +'I have been, though,' said Cecil rather awkwardly, breaking through his +shyness now that truth seemed to require it. + +'Well, Sunday is a good day for turning over a new leaf,' said Mr. +Yorke, with a smile in his eyes that seemed to make no doubt at all of +Cecil's willingness to do it. + +'It seemed so hard at first,' he answered, feeling as if he must excuse +himself a little. + +'Yes, it _is_ a struggle sometimes to accept one's position; but when +once one has, all the bitterness goes, and one finds oneself not half so +miserable as one expected.' + +How true this was, Cecil soon began to find out from his own experience. +It was a struggle to take his place beside the schoolboys, instead of +with the choir, at the catechizing; it cost him something to open his +lips when first his father seemed to address a question to him, but +after the first effort it was not half so hard as he had thought it +would be. He answered thoughtfully and well, and, without putting +himself unduly forward, showed that he was paying attention, and was +really anxious to understand and to learn. + +Jessie ran up to him in the churchyard after service. + +'Oh, Cecil, I am so glad you came! I thought you would have gone to +Bar-end with Mr. Yorke. Are you coming home now?' + +'No, I am going back to his place; he said I might amuse myself with his +books till he came in. I haven't had dinner yet,' and Cecil felt a +momentary importance in saying it. + +'How hungry you must be!' rejoined Jessie innocently. 'Are you going, +Cecil? I shall wait for father.' + +'Here he is!' said Frances, who was waiting also. + +Cecil felt an impulse to rush away instantly, but was glad he had not, +when his father said in a kind voice, 'Are you coming with us, Cecil?' +Though he answered, of course, in the negative, his heart felt lighter +for that kind tone and those few casual words. It was his own sulkiness +which had made great part of his misery before, and he could see that +plainly now that he was beginning to get the better of it. + +The rest of the day passed very pleasantly, and Cecil enjoyed his talk +with his good-natured friend very much, though nothing more was said on +the one subject which absorbed him the most. It was quite bed-time when +he went home, so he had no opportunity of putting in practice that night +the good resolutions which were springing up within him; but the next +day all the brothers and sisters remarked how much more amiable he was, +and little Jessie's intense belief in his goodness revived in full +force. He was not so merry as usual: it was impossible he should be +after his deep disappointment, and with the sense of his father's +displeasure resting on him, and the prospect of the day school before +him. Both father and mother were touched sometimes when they caught the +sad expression of his face; but he was no longer sullen; and if a +pettish word escaped him, he seemed to catch himself up quickly before +it could be followed by another. + +'I can't see the rights of it yet,' he said to Jessie privately, 'nor +why I should be so served out for not working, when I _did_ work; but I +think there were things--feeling set up, you know, and crowing over +other fellows, and all that--which may have brought me in for this in a +kind of way.' + +Jessie could hardly bring herself to believe that he could have deserved +it in _any_ way, but his submission was much less grievous and +perplexing to her than his rebellion had been; and she received these +few words--spoken rather gruffly, with his back turned to her--as a +great proof of confidence, which indeed they were. + +'If being very good makes people ready to be clergymen, I'm sure Cecil's +getting ready as fast as he can,' she remarked to Frances. + +And though Frances was not so firmly convinced as her sister that +Cecil's troubles had not been brought on him by his own fault, she +answered readily, 'Yes, he has been so nice and pleasant since Sunday, +and hasn't grumbled once about having to go to Mr. Bardsley's.' + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +GOOD NEWS. + + +MR. BARDSLEY'S was rather a large day school, in a town about two miles +distant from Wilbourne. His terms were low, and he was not particular +who the boys might be that came to him, so that they behaved themselves +when they did come; but he taught really well, and was very +conscientious, and therefore even very careful parents allowed their +sons to go to him, convinced that there they would be at least well +grounded in classics and mathematics, and would learn nothing amiss from +the general tone of the school, though individual pupils in it might not +be all that could be wished. + +[Illustration: 'GOOD-BYE, CECIL.' + +_See page 124._] + +Cecil was to start from home each day about half-past eight, and not to +return till after the school broke up at five o'clock, except on the two +half-holidays--Wednesday and Saturday. Eight miles' walking would have +been too much for him; and it had been arranged that on the four other +days he should dine with Mr. and Mrs. Bardsley, and his hours of work +would be from nine to twelve and from two to five, with tasks to prepare +at home in the evening. + +It seemed rather hard to begin this routine just in the first days of +August, when the weather was so lovely, and the woods so enticing, and +holiday cricket-matches going on in Wilbourne Park. Cecil's face was a +little dismal at breakfast the first morning, and it was real +self-government which kept him from grumbling when Jessie was helping +him to put his schoolbooks together. Just as they were firmly strapped, +his mother came to bid him 'good-bye for a few hours,' with a tender +kiss and a few cheerful words, and after that his heart felt lighter, +and he set out bravely; but he was just beginning to think what a long +dull walk it was, and what a dusty road, and how delightful it would be +if he might shy his books over the hedge and strike off across the +meadows to join Percy, who had gone out fishing, when he heard steps +behind him, and turning, saw the tall curate running along with rapid +strides. His first impression was that something had happened at the +Rectory since he started, and that Mr. Yorke was come to take him back; +but he was soon undeceived. + +'I've got business in Fairview,' the young clergyman explained, 'and I +meant to go in early; and when I saw you pass by, I thought I might as +well get ready and try to overtake you. I like company myself; don't +you?' + +'Yes, very much,' said Cecil, swinging his books over his shoulder +cheerfully again, instead of dangling them drearily from the end of the +strap, as he had been doing before. 'Lewis wanted to come with me, but +mother wouldn't have liked his walking back alone; and besides, one +doesn't always want a little chap like that after one.' + +'I thought Percy might want to get his watch-chain mended,' said Mr. +Yorke, with rather a droll expression in his eyes. 'Doesn't it require +mending periodically? That was what he always used to tell me last +vacation, when I met him going into Fairview.' + +'He hadn't had his watch long then, and was always taking it out to look +at it,' said Cecil, laughing. 'I think that was how the chain got +broken. He's used to it now. I wonder if Uncle Percy will give _me_ a +watch when I'm sixteen. Of course Percy wanted one particularly, because +of his going to Sandhurst. He's gone out fishing this morning: mustn't +it be jolly in the water-meadows?' + +'Very; but how well this part of the road is watered!--it's quite +pleasant walking here. I suppose the Fairview water-carts come out as +far as this.' + +'I wish they'd come all the way,' said Cecil; 'I was just thinking how +dusty it was before I met you.' + +'And I was wondering whether you chose the road instead of the path on +purpose, because you _liked_ the dust: there's no accounting for +tastes.' + +'I'll try the path next time,' said Cecil with a smile. 'Do you know old +Bardsley, Mr. Yorke?' + +'Yes, I met him at the Institute one day, and we had a lively discussion +about Greek roots. He's a clever man, I think, and has a real taste for +teaching. When he gets hold of a fellow that cares to learn, I'm told +there's no limit to the pains he'll take with him.' + +'Jim Payne didn't like him at all,' said Cecil, alluding to the son of a +small farmer in the neighbourhood; 'he said he was an awful brute.' + +'Jim Payne likes nothing but idleness, and his father is mistaken enough +to let him have his way.' + +Cecil wisely suppressed some further quotations which he had meant to +make from Jim Payne's account of Mr. Bardsley; and they walked on +sociably together, talking of other things. It really seemed quite a +short walk, after all, though Cecil had fancied it very long when he +first set out. + +He was in tolerably good spirits when he trod that road again in the +evening, though this time he was alone the whole way. He did not dislike +either the school or the schoolmaster as much as he had expected; and he +felt that if he worked hard, and conformed to rules, there was no danger +of his ever finding Mr. Bardsley the terrible monster that Jim Payne had +described him to be. + +It would, and did, seem a drudgery to prepare school tasks that evening, +while Percy was enjoying 'elegant leisure;' but there was the Saturday +half-holiday to look forward to, and Cecil's health was good, and not +likely to suffer from his speedy return to work. Seeing him so patient +and industrious, his father wondered how it was that he still expressed +no sorrow for his past idleness, but did not press him for any such +acknowledgment. He believed that it would come in time, and was quite +content to take his present good conduct as a sign of penitence. 'He +would not bear his punishment so well if he were not really sorry for +his fault,' he said to himself. + +'You are not angry with Cecil now, father, are you?' said Jessie softly +the next morning, as they stood watching him trudge down the gravel path +towards the gate on his way to school. + +'No; very much pleased in some ways,' he answered. 'How late the post is +this morning! I'm afraid old Hawkins is stopping for a long chat with +Mrs. Giles. Just run down the lane and see; and if there is any letter +for me, bring it at once to my study. I have to go out in five minutes.' + +Jessie was running off directly, with her long hair streaming in the +wind, when her mother called to her to put something on; and she came +back, snatched her garden-hat and holland cape from their peg, and flew +away again. Yes, the old postman was standing gossiping with Mrs. Giles +at her garden gate, just as Mr. Cunningham had foreseen. When Jessie +breathlessly inquired if there were any letters for the Rectory, the old +man answered composedly, 'Yes, Missy, three letters for your house--two +for your reverend father, and one for Miss Mary. Shall I take 'em round, +or shall I give 'em to you?' + +'Oh, I'll take them, please,' said Jessie; and back she flew with them, +and straight into the study she went, holding out the two that belonged +to Mr. Cunningham. + +'Thanks. This is the one I wanted, from your Uncle Percy,' he said as he +took them from her; 'and this is from Dr. Lomax. What makes him write +again, I wonder?' + +'Oh, father, do open it, please!' said Jessie excitedly, a sudden hope +springing up in her breast. + +'My child, what can there be in it to signify? It is an account for some +schoolbooks, perhaps,' said Mr. Cunningham, rather as if he thought her +a very silly little girl. But when he looked up and saw her eager, +quivering face, he added, with a smile, 'Well, to set your mind at rest, +I will just take a glance.' + +He opened the letter as he spoke, but it was much more than a glance +which he gave it. A minute passed, two minutes, three, and still he read +on and did not speak. Jessie never took her eyes off his face; hope and +fear struggled together in her heart, and hope was uppermost. But for +the gravity of her father's silence, she would have felt sure that all +was coming right. + +At last he spoke. 'There _was_ a mistake, Jessie: the marks were counted +up wrong, it seems, and your brother has not been to blame, after all.' + +'And not lost the "exhibition?"' + +'No; his marks more than entitle him to keep it.' + +'And you will let him go back next month, father?' + +'Certainly. Why, my dear----' For Jessie was off like an arrow from a +bow, and did not even hear his exclamation. + +He supposed she had gone to tell the others, and paused to read over the +letter once more, with deep thankfulness, and much sympathy for Cecil. +It was from young Mr. Lomax, not from the Doctor: the similarity in the +handwriting had misled Mr. Cunningham. He said the mistake had been +discovered by his father, but that, as it had been made by him, he +could not rest without personally acknowledging it, and expressing his +regret. He had been himself surprised, in the first instance, at the +result of his addition; but as he had only to do with Cecil in +mathematics, in which he was not _remarkably_ proficient, it did not +seem so astonishing to him as it did to his father, who had watched the +boy's progress in classics. Dr. Lomax had not gone over the books +himself at the time, but having occasion to refer to them for something +the morning of the day on which Mr. Lomax wrote, he had counted up +Cecil's marks throughout the year, just for his own satisfaction, and in +doing so had discovered the mistake that had been made. 'We have since +been over it all together,' continued the son; 'and being now fully +convinced of my mistake, I hasten to apprise you of it, and to express +my deep regret.' If Cecil had seen this sentence, and some which +followed, he would certainly have abandoned his idea that 'young Lomax +might have done it to spite him.' + +'Mother!' called Mr. Cunningham, suddenly remembering the appointment +which this letter had made him forget for a few minutes; and as his wife +came running down in answer to his call, he went on: 'Has Jessie told +you, love? I mustn't stay--but take the letter; I shall try to get down +in time to meet that poor boy as he comes out from morning school.' + +'I haven't seen Jessie,' Mrs. Cunningham answered; but she seemed to +guess instinctively what the letter contained, and one glance at it +confirmed her impression. + +'My darling boy! oh, thank God!' she exclaimed. 'Lewis, you will bring +him straight home with you, won't you?' + +'If I don't, I shall have you following me and hugging him before the +whole school,' said her husband, laughing, but almost with tears in his +eyes; and he hurried away, while she went joyfully back to the +drawing-room to tell Mary and Frances the good news. + +They literally 'jumped for joy;' and there was a kind of triple hug +between the mother and her daughters, from which Frances was the first +to break away, crying, 'Oh, where's Jessie? do let me tell her! how glad +she will be!' + +'She knows, I think,' said Mrs. Cunningham; 'it was she who brought +father the letter. But find her by all means, and Lewis too, that we may +all be happy together.' + +Lewis was easily found, but nothing could be seen of Jessie; and +presently her little brother was sent to the meadows where Percy was +fishing, to see if she had run there with the tidings; but there she was +not, and there was some consternation at the Rectory when the fact was +announced. + +'I really think she must have gone to Fairview,' said Mary anxiously. + +'Perhaps she thought she could overtake Cecil,' suggested Frances. And +though they did not know it, this guess hit the exact truth. + +When Jessie left the study, she firmly believed that if she were only +quick enough she could catch Cecil, who was very likely to linger on his +way; and she had a vision of finding him leaning over a certain gate +which opened into a harvest-field, and which was a favourite +halting-place with all the young people. + +No, he was not at the gate; but Jessie, full of her one idea of +overtaking him, flew on and on till she had reached the outskirts of the +town, and still she saw nothing of him--the truth being, that not having +allowed himself more than enough time for his walk that morning, he had +hurried on instead of stopping anywhere, and was in school by this time. +She was dismayed when the country road began to turn into a street, and +realized for the first time how far she had come. She had not had a +thought of doing wrong when she began to run after Cecil, but now she +was struck with a sudden sense of misdemeanour, and a fear that 'mother' +would be angry. + +'I wonder if I ought to go back,' she said to herself, 'or whether I may +just go on to Mr. Bardsley's! It isn't far now, and then Cecil could +come back with me, I daresay. Perhaps I could still catch him just as +he's going in.' + +Inspirited by this thought, she began to run again, and in a little +while she was standing opposite the square brick house which she knew to +be Mr. Bardsley's. There was not a sign of a boy on the steps, nor was +there any sound of voices from the playground; evidently Cecil and his +companions were already at study. She stood there, panting and weary, +not very well knowing what to do next. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +'IT'S ALL RIGHT!' + + +JESSIE fancied that if she rang the bell and asked for Cecil, she should +be either sent away or shown into the great schoolroom; and the idea of +facing Mr. Bardsley and all the boys seemed to her very terrible--almost +too terrible to be entertained for a moment. But then, to leave Cecil in +ignorance of the good tidings that she had run all this way to bring to +him!--to let him go on through the day still feeling himself in +disgrace, and not knowing that all was explained! No, she could not bear +that either. She put up a trembling hand, and not daring to meddle with +the big knocker, which looked prepared to make any amount of noise, +took hold of the bell at the side of it, and gave a feeble tinkle, +which would scarcely have been audible to the housemaid had she not +happened to be close at hand cleaning the hall lamp. She opened the door +so suddenly, that Jessie, who was prepared to wait some time, was quite +startled, and so confused that she could not say anything. + +'Did you ring?' asked the maid sharply, looking down in amazement at the +dusty little figure and flushed frightened face. + +'Yes; oh, please,' said Jessie, recovering herself, 'is Master +Cunningham here? and would you tell him that I want to speak to him a +minute?' + +'The young gentlemen are in school--they can't be disturbed now,' +replied the servant, preparing to shut the door. + +'But oh, please, if you would tell him I've come with news from home, +and I want to see him so much,' said Jessie desperately; 'I'm his +sister.' + +The maid looked hard at her, and Jessie felt sure she spied out the +gloveless hands under the holland cape; but with as much dignity as she +could muster, the child added, 'I'm Miss Jessie Cunningham;' and +something in her tone and manner must have borne out the assertion, for +with a quick 'Step in here, please, and I'll speak to Mrs. Bardsley,' +the maid opened the door wider instead of shutting it, and allowed her +to enter the hall. + +She then gave her a chair, and went into a room close by, from which she +soon reappeared, followed by a quiet-looking lady, not very old, but +with a cap and spectacles, and something about her which made Jessie +feel quite ashamed of her own heated, untidy condition. + +'You have come with a message for Master Cunningham, I understand; I +trust no accident has occurred at his home,' said Mrs. Bardsley in a +voice as quiet as her face. + +'Oh no! it's all good news, and I thought I should have overtaken him, +but I didn't; and oh! if you would please let me see him, and then +perhaps he would come back with me.' + +'I don't think he can return till after school, unless you have brought +an order from his father to that effect,' said the schoolmaster's wife; +'but come and sit down, and then perhaps you will be able to explain +yourself more fully.' + +She took Jessie into a prim-looking sitting-room; and in rather a +confused way the little girl did contrive to explain what had brought +her, and how important her news would be to Cecil. 'And if Mr. Bardsley +would let him come back with me I don't think father would mind, and +mother would like it so much better than my going back alone. I oughtn't +to have come, I'm afraid,' she wound up, feeling every minute more and +more dismayed at herself. + +'I fear you must be causing anxiety at home,' said Mrs. Bardsley, still +rather stiffly. 'I will send and ask Mr. Bardsley to allow your brother +to speak to you for a minute;' and she went out of the room, leaving +Jessie alone. + +Some minutes passed, and Jessie grew more and more nervous; but at +length appeared Cecil, looking very schoolboyish, with a great dab of +ink on his collar. + +She jumped off her chair and ran to him, and got out one great 'Oh, +Cecil!' and then, instead of saying anything more, she began to sob. + +'What is it? what's up?' said he in utter amazement. 'Don't cry, don't +cry; is anything wrong at home?' + +'Oh no! it's all right! and you've got enough marks, and you're to go +back after the holidays. And oh, Cecil! I'm so glad! and I'm so hot, and +I've run all the way!' + +'And you're obliged to cry about it,' said Cecil, laughing, and kissing +her. 'I say, sit down here in this arm-chair; there, I'll fan you with +my pocket-handkerchief. How's it all come out? has the Doctor +written--or what?' + +'Yes, I think it was he; and father's so glad, and he said himself you +should go back. He counted up the marks wrong--not father, but somebody, +you know--and you've got plenty, and you're not a bit to blame; father +says you're not.' + +A sort of dancing light came into the boy's black eyes, but he didn't +say a word. Jessie was quite astonished, and a good deal disappointed, +at his taking the matter so quietly. + +'Aren't you glad?' she said; 'I thought you would have been ready to +jump out of your skin for joy. _I_ was; but I came straight off, +thinking I should overtake you. How fast you must have walked to get +here first! Oh, Cecil, do you think I could have a little water?' + +'You're too hot to drink cold water,' said Cecil in a wise, +elder-brotherly way. 'I've got an apple in my pocket; you shall have a +bit of that.' + +It was rather a greenish specimen, and one bite of it more than +satisfied Jessie, without refreshing her in the least; but she sat +holding it in her hand, and looking at Cecil with loving eyes, too happy +to mind much about her thirst and fatigue. + +'Do you think Mr. Bardsley will let you come back with me?' she said +presently. + +'Not till twelve o'clock, I'm sure; perhaps he would then. Father didn't +say I was to come, did he?' + +'No, I was so silly I didn't wait to ask him; he didn't know I was +coming. Cecil, do you think they will be very angry with me? I have +never been so far alone before.' + +'I'm afraid mother won't like it,' said Cecil; but he thought to himself +that he should always love her for it; and if he had been a girl instead +of a boy, he would have told her so. 'I must go back to study now; but +I think you had better wait here, if Mrs. Bardsley will let you,' he +continued, after a minute's reflection. + +'But what will they think at home? They must have missed me. Cecil, I'd +better go;' and she stood up, feeling how dreary the lonely walk back +would be, with those tired feet of hers that had run along so merrily +when the thought of telling the joyful news had been the only one +present to her mind. + +'There's father, I do declare, in old Mr. Rawson's gig!' exclaimed +Cecil, who was looking out of the window; and sure enough, at this +moment, a funny old-fashioned carriage drew up at the door, and Mr. +Cunningham got down from it and shook hands with the owner. + +_He_ was not afraid of the big knocker, but the maid was much longer in +answering his rat-tat-tat than Jessie's feeble ring; and only a sense +that they were not in their own house, and must not take liberties, +restrained the children from opening the door themselves. They could not +resist running out into the hall to meet him, thus forestalling any +inquiry for them by their immediate appearance. + +'Well, Cecil!'--oh, such a different 'well' from the one that had +greeted him on his return for the holidays!--then to Jessie: 'And so you +are _here_, little madam! Mother is making herself quite unhappy about +you.' + +Before Jessie could answer, he turned to the maid, asking her to request +Mr. Bardsley to see him for a minute; and she ushered him into the +sitting-room where the children had been, and went off with the message. + +Then his little daughter got hold of his hand and whispered, 'I didn't +mean to vex mother; I thought I could have overtaken Cecil. I am very +sorry.' + +'Well, I don't think I need tell you not to do such a thing again,' said +Mr. Cunningham with a smile, 'for the temptation is not likely to +recur. These things don't happen every day; do they, Cecil? My boy, I am +sorry for this week of disgrace, and more glad than I can tell you to +find it was not deserved.' + +Cecil looked down, coloured, put his hands in his pockets and took them +out again, twisted his eyes in a vain attempt to see the whole extent of +the ink spot on his collar, and finally, standing quite upright, and +looking straight before him, said in a very modest and yet manly way, 'I +am glad you know that I was not really idle, father; but I didn't work +so hard as I ought the last week, and I was stuck-up and made too sure +of success. I would rather you knew that.' + +Jessie, looking to see how her father took this, was struck by the +shining of his eyes as they rested on his son; but before he had time to +make any reply, Mr. Bardsley came in; only, Cecil was sure, by the way +his father's hand remained upon his shoulder while he was speaking to +the master, that he understood and appreciated the frank confession, and +that they should be closer friends henceforth than ever before. + +Mr. Bardsley gave leave for Cecil to return home at once; and Mr. +Cunningham said he would call again the next day, out of school hours, +to explain more fully how Cecil's prospects were altered, and 'make some +arrangement.' Jessie was rather alarmed at the sound of this, but Cecil +guessed that his father meant to withdraw him from the day school, and +wished to offer some compensation for taking him away in this sudden +fashion, just at the beginning of the half-year. + +Spite of Jessie's tired feet, the walk back was very pleasant; and +neither she nor Cecil were insensible to the honour of having their +father all to themselves, and at this unusual time of day too. He +explained that he had met their mother in the village, so anxious about +Jessie, that instead of waiting till towards twelve o'clock to go into +Fairview, he had got Mr. Yorke to finish his parish business for him, +and had started off at once, accepting a lift from Mr. Rawson by the +way. And when he added quietly, 'You will take care that she is never +made uneasy again by any thoughtlessness on your part, Jessie!' the +little girl answered, 'Yes, father,' in a very subdued and humble tone, +and felt quite as sorry as if he had lectured her for an hour. + +'Do you think Mr. Yorke will be at home again now? Might I run in for a +minute, father?' said Cecil as they passed the curate's lodging. + +'I am not sure; you can see if you like.' And Cecil _did_ see; and +finding his friend busily engaged sermon-writing in the queer little +dining-room, tarried only for a few words. + +'I suppose father has told you,' he said as he burst in. + +'Yes, I am _so_ glad;' and Cecil's inky little paw was enfolded in the +curate's heartiest grasp. + +'I shan't forget this week in a hurry,' the boy continued; 'but I'm not +so very sorry now that it all happened. Thank you for that nice Sunday.' + +He did not say, but he implied how much it had helped him through; and +Mr. Yorke answered cheerily, 'I could have sympathized more if I had +known all that I know now; but I don't think you wanted pity. I believe +your father's sermon showed you the way to bear your trouble.' + +Cecil's cheeks were burning, and he only said shyly, 'You showed me +too;' and then hastily adding, 'I want to catch up with father before he +gets home,' ran off again, after one more hearty shake of the hand had +been exchanged between them. + +If the memory of pain could be effaced by after-happiness, the remainder +of this day would have amply sufficed to blot out the past week. Never +did Cecil feel more glad than when his mother kissed him, called him her +own darling boy, and at his request forgave Jessie's escapade, and gave +her and Frances a week's holiday, that he might have as much of their +company as he chose. And on the following Sunday, when he took his place +in the choir again, and Mr. Yorke came to dinner at the Rectory, and all +was thankful rejoicing, that sorrowful Sunday on which he had felt as if +the whole world were against him seemed already far away. + +The trial was gone by, and some of the effects it had left behind it +were very pleasant. But for it, Cecil felt he never could have known Mr. +Yorke so well, nor his own little sister Jessie. They were his especial +friends from henceforth, in a way which they had never been before, even +though Jessie had always been regarded by Percy and others as 'Cecil's +particular chum.' Percy himself had seemed hitherto at an immeasurable +distance from Cecil, and had generally appeared to expect to be treated +with the same sort of respect as would have been shown to a school +'senior;' but now, wonderful to relate, a change came over him, and he +condescended to unbend not only a little, but a very great deal. It +actually seemed as if he had begun to respect Cecil! No one but a +schoolboy, with an admired and venerated elder brother rather given to +snubbing, can quite realize how astonishing this change appeared to the +person most concerned. For Percy to invite Cecil to come out fishing +with him, in the genial tone of an equal who really cared for his +companionship, instead of ordering him in a lordly way to take his +tackle down to the river for him, was something so unexpected and +flattering, that it went nearer to turning Cecil's head than anything +that had happened yet. Perhaps it really might have done so, but for the +wholesome lessons the boy had learned during his time of humiliation. + +These fishings with Percy became a sort of institution during that week, +which Jessie had rather counted on for having Cecil all to herself. +'Francie doesn't care, because she wants to do her gardening; but what +made me like so to have holidays, was only that I might go about with +Cecil, and now he goes off with Percy and doesn't want me!' thought the +poor little maiden, in rather an injured way, as she sat forlornly in +the wide window-seat on Wednesday morning, watching the retreating +figures of her brothers. Spite of all her unselfishness, that sense of +injury _would_ come, and was very disagreeable. + +'Who will take the boys' dinner down to the meadows for them by and by?' +said her father, coming suddenly into the room. 'I have promised them a +long, uninterrupted time for their sport to-day, because to-morrow we +are all going for a picnic to the Beacon, and there will be no fishing +then. You and Francie are the two idlest folk in the house just now, +aren't you, Jessie? so suppose you turn errand-women?' + +'Oh, father, are they going to fish all day?' exclaimed Jessie, jumping +up when she was spoken to, but showing no great alacrity in offering her +services. + +'Till tea-time, I believe, if they don't get tired of it. Do you know I +am so glad of these fishings, Jessie?' + +'Are you, father?' she said, rather drearily, conscious that there was +no gladness in her own face or voice. + +'Yes, because I know what a brother's friendship is worth. I believe +Percy's good-natured patronage seems to Cecil the greatest reward he has +had yet for his bravery in bearing his misfortunes.' + +Jessie did not like the idea much; it seemed to her that if it were +true, her father and she had _both_ reason to feel slighted. + +'Use your imagination, Jessie,' said Mr. Cunningham, smiling; 'you have +plenty, I know, and the great use of it is to help us to see things from +other people's point of view. Shall I tell you something else? I am so +glad of this companionship because I believe Cecil, though the younger, +will do Percy good.' + +Jessie quite understood this; her face brightened, as it always did at +anything like praise of Cecil, and she felt it very delightful to be +taken into her father's confidence in such a 'grown-up' kind of way. + +'I can carry the dinner, if you like, father,' she said briskly. + +'Suppose Francie and you both go, and take your own dinners as well? +That will be a kind of picnic on a small scale, almost as pleasant, +perhaps, as the grand one of to-morrow. You can come away afterwards, +and leave the boys to their sport.' + +Jessie looked rather cloudy again for a minute; it was so like being +offered a little slice when she had wanted the whole loaf! + +Her father was standing quite near her now, and he smoothed down her +hair softly with his hand, as he said, 'Jessie, have you ever thought +what a sweet and happy thing love is when it has overcome jealousy? It +is not worth _very_ much till then.' + +For one moment there was a sharp struggle within her, and then she +pressed her cheek against his arm, with a loving, grateful gesture. He +had no fear that his little maiden would give way to jealousy any +longer. Now that he had given the sore feeling a name, he knew that she +would be as anxious to drive it away as he was. + +That dinner in the meadows was very pleasant--'Quite enchanting,' +Frances declared. 'Awfully jolly,' said Cecil, who was not so choice in +his vocabulary. Percy looked on it as rather a childish entertainment, +and said more than once that he wished 'they' hadn't forgotten that he +always took pepper with everything; but he never blamed either of his +sisters, only this mysterious 'they,' and made an excellent dinner, +spite of the absence of the pepper-box. He was very kind to Jessie +too,--so kind that she quite forgave Cecil from henceforth for thinking +Percy's notice a very grand sort of thing; it seemed as if he almost +included _her_ in the new respect he had begun to have for his younger +brother. And then, Cecil! Cecil was so entirely delightful on this +occasion, that she wondered how, even for a moment, she could have +thought him anything but the most perfect of all possible brothers. From +the noble way in which he dispensed the tart, only leaving himself a +very small piece, though she _knew_ he liked it better than anything, +down to the good-nature with which he gave his last bit of cheese to the +lame old setter, that had limped down to see after them, everything in +his behaviour was just according to her own heart, and totally unlike +the selfish greediness of what she called 'common schoolboys.' And then, +when, instead of going back to his fishing directly after dinner, he +asked her to walk with him as far as the bridge and watch the trout +leap, she was the very happiest and proudest of little sisters. If it +had not been for what her father had said, she would have lingered near +him the whole afternoon; but as it was, she came away quite contentedly +after she had watched his angling for a minute or two, and really felt +how nice it was that Percy and he should have become such allies,--how +much pleasanter for him than having only her for a companion. Percy's +vacation would be over before his, and then her time would come perhaps; +anyhow, she was much too sure of Cecil's love to have any excuse for +jealousy in seeing him taken up with others. He had opened his heart to +her when he was in trouble, she should never forget that. Oh! how dear +this had made him to her, both 'for then and for always!' + +No after-trial worth recording shadowed Cecil's boyhood; and now he is a +man--just such a man as Jessie longed to see him. He very seldom thinks +of the incidents here related, but yet the lesson he learnt in that +memorable week is still bearing fruit in his life; and when any trial +comes to him, he does not say it is 'very hard,' but takes it as a new +proof of the fatherly love that watches over him, and, in dark seasons +as well as bright ones, is ready to sing with the psalmist, 'Every day +will I give thanks unto Thee, and praise Thy name for ever and ever.' + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +The original text had no table of contents. One was added as an aid to +the reader. + +Page 31, "emained" changed to "remained" (have remained bitterly) + +Page 51, "See page 52." was added to the text to conform to remaining +illustrations. + +Page 52, "tel" changed to "tell" (you'll not tell) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Holiday Tales, by Florence Wilford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES *** + +***** This file should be named 25647.txt or 25647.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/4/25647/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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