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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29380-8.txt b/29380-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46b293c --- /dev/null +++ b/29380-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4667 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Adventures of Herr Baby, by Mrs. +Molesworth, Illustrated by Walter Crane + + +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: The Adventures of Herr Baby + + +Author: Mrs. Molesworth + + + +Release Date: July 11, 2009 [eBook #29380] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY*** + + +E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Clive Pickton, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team +(http://www.pgdpcanada.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 29380-h.htm or 29380-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29380/29380-h/29380-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29380/29380-h.zip) + + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY + +by + +MRS. MOLESWORTH + +Author of 'Carrots,' 'Us,' Etc. + + + 'I have a boy of five years old: + His face is fair and fresh to see.' + WORDSWORTH + +Illustrated by Walter Crane + + + + + + + + [Illustration: There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm fondly + clasping Minet's neck, while with the other he firmly held the famous + money-box.--P. 138.] + + + +London +Macmillan and Co. +and New York +1895 + +First printed (4to) 1881 +Reprinted (Globe 8vo) 1886, 1887, 1890, 1892, 1895 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. +FOUR YEARS OLD 1 + +CHAPTER II. +INSIDE A TRUNK 20 + +CHAPTER III. +UP IN THE MORNING EARLY 41 + +CHAPTER IV. +GOING AWAY 60 + +CHAPTER V. +BY LAND AND SEA 81 + +CHAPTER VI. +AN OLD SHOP AND AN OGRE 101 + +CHAPTER VII. +BABY'S SECRET 125 + +CHAPTER VIII. +FOUND 145 + +CHAPTER IX. +"EAST OR WEST, HAME IS BEST" 163 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +"OH LOOK, LOOK, BABY'S MADE PEEPY-SNOOZLE INTO +'THE PARSON IN THE PULPIT THAT COULDN'T SAY HIS +PRAYERS,'" CRIED DENNY 6 + +HE SAT WITH ONE ARM PROPPED ON THE TABLE, AND HIS +ROUND HEAD LEANING ON HIS HAND, WHILE THE OTHER +HELD THE PIECE OF BREAD AND BUTTER--BUTTER DOWNWARDS, +OF COURSE 16 + +THERE WAS ONE TRUNK WHICH TOOK MY FANCY MORE +THAN ALL THE OTHERS 30 + +FOR A MINUTE OR TWO BABY COULD NOT MAKE OUT WHAT +HAD HAPPENED 50 + +"ZOU WILL P'OMISE, BETSY, P'OMISE CERTAIN SURE, +NEBBER TO FORGET" 61 + +POOR LITTLE BOYS, FOR, AFTER ALL, FRITZ HIMSELF +WASN'T VERY BIG! THEY STOOD TOGETHER HAND IN +HAND ON THE STATION PLATFORM, LOOKING, AND +FEELING, RATHER DESOLATE 84 + +"ARE THAT JOGRAPHY?" HE SAID 94 + +"OH AUNTIE," HE SAID, "P'EASE 'TOP ONE MINUTE. +HIM SEES SHINY GLASS JUGS LIKE DEAR LITTLE +MOTHER'S. OH, DO 'TOP" 106 + +BABY VENTURED TO PEEP ROUND. THE LITTLE BLACK-EYED +WHITE-CAPPED MAN CAME TOWARDS THEM SMILING 121 + +THERE WAS BABY, SEATED ON THE GRASS, ONE ARM +FONDLY CLASPING MINET'S NECK, WHILE WITH THE +OTHER HE FIRMLY HELD THE FAMOUS MONEY-BOX 138 + +AUNTIE STOOD STILL A MOMENT TO LISTEN 155 + +FORGETTING ALL ABOUT EVERYTHING, EXCEPT THAT HER +BABY WAS FOUND, UP JUMPED MOTHER 170 + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FOUR YEARS OLD + + "I was four yesterday; when I'm quite old + I'll have a cricket-ball made of pure gold; + I'll never stand up to show that I'm grown; + I'll go at liberty upstairs or down." + + +He trotted upstairs. Perhaps trotting is not quite the right word, but I +can't find a better. It wasn't at all like a horse or pony trotting, for +he went one foot at a time, right foot first, and when right foot was +safely landed on a step, up came left foot and the rest of Baby himself +after right foot. It took a good while, but Baby didn't mind. He used to +think a good deal while he was going up and down stairs, and it was not +his way to be often in a hurry. There was one thing he could _not_ bear, +and that was any one trying to carry him upstairs. Oh, that did vex +him! His face used to get quite red, right up to the roots of his curly +hair, and down to the edge of the big collar of his sailor suit, for he +had been put into sailor suits last Christmas, and, if the person who +was lifting him up didn't let go all at once, Baby would begin to wriggle. +He was really clever at wriggling; even if you knew his way it was not +easy to hold him, and with any one that didn't know his way he could get +off in half a minute. + +But this time there was no one about, and Baby stumped on--yes _that_ is +a better word--Baby stumped on, or up, "wifout nobody teasing." His face +was grave, very grave, for inside the little house of which his two blue +eyes were the windows, a great deal of work was going on. He was busy +wondering about, and trying to understand, some of the strange news he +had heard downstairs in the drawing-room. + +"Over the sea," he said to himself. "Him would like to see the sea. +Auntie said over the sea in a boat, a werry big boat. Him wonders how +big." + +And his mind went back to the biggest boat he had ever seen, which was +in the toy-shop at Brookton, when he had gone with his mother to be +fitted for new boots. But even that wouldn't be big enough. Mother, and +auntie, and grandfather, and Celia, and Fritz, and Denny, and cook, and +Lisa, and Thomas and Jones, and the other servants, and the horses, +and--and---- Baby stopped to take breath inside, for though he had not +been speaking aloud he felt quite choked with all the names coming so +fast. "And pussy, and the calanies, and the Bully, and Fritz's dormice, +oh no, them _couldn't_ all get in." Perhaps if Baby doubled up his legs +underneath he might squeeze himself in, but that would be no good, he +couldn't go sailing, sailing all over the sea by himself, like the old +woman in "Harry's Nursery Songs," who went sailing, sailing, up in a +basket, "seventy times as high as the moon." Oh no, even that boat +wouldn't be big enough. They must have one as big as--and Baby stopped +to look round. But just then a shout from inside the nursery made him +wake up, for he had got to the last little stair before the top landing, +and again right foot and half Baby, followed by left foot and the other +half Baby, stumped on their way. + +They pulled up--right foot and left foot, with Baby's solemn face top of +all--at the nursery door. It was shut. Now one of the things Baby liked +to do for himself was to open doors, and now and then he could manage it +very well. But, alas, the nursery lock was too high up for him to get a +good hold of it. He pulled, and pushed, and got quite red, all for no +use. Worse than that, the pushing and pulling were heard inside. Some +one came forward and opened the door, nearly knocking poor Baby over. + +"Ach, Herr Baby, mine child, why you not say when you come?" Lisa cried +out. Lisa was Baby's nurse. Her face was rosy and round, and she looked +very kind. She would have liked to pick him up to make sure he had got +no knocks, but she knew too well that would not do. So all she could do +was to say again-- + +"Mine child--ach, Herr Baby!" + +Baby did not take any notice. + +"Zeally," he said coolly, "ganfather must do somesing to zem locks. Zem +is all most dedful 'tiff." + +Lisa smiled to herself. She was used to Baby's ways. + +"Herr Baby shall grow tall some day," she said. "Zen him can open +doors." + +Lisa's talking was nearly as funny as Baby's, and, indeed, I rather +think that hers had made his all the funnier. But, any way, they +understood each other. He was thinking over what she had said, when a +scream from the nursery made them both turn round in a hurry. + +"O Lisa, O Baby, come in quick, do. Peepy-Snoozle has got out of the +cage, and he'll be out at the door in another moment. Quick, quick, come +in and shut the door." + +Lisa and Baby did not wait to be twice told. Inside the nursery there +was a great flurry. Celia, Fritz, and Denny were all there crawling over +the floor and screaming at each other. + +"_I_ have him! there--oh, now that's too bad. Fritz, you frightened him +away again," called out Celia. + +"_Me_ frighten him away! Why he knows me ever so much better than you +girls," said Fritz. + +"He just doesn't then," said Denny with triumph, "for here he is safe in +my apron." + +But she had hardly said the words when she gave a little scream. "He's +off again, oh quick, Baby, quick, catch him." + +How Baby did it, I can't tell. His hands seemed too small to catch +anything, even a dormouse. But catch the truant he did, and very proud +Baby looked when he held up his two little fists, which he had made into +a "mouse-trap" _really_, for the occasion, with Peepy-Snoozle's "coxy" +little head and bright beady eyes poking out at the top. + +"Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into 'the parson in the pulpit +that couldn't say his prayers,'" cried Denny, dancing about. + +"All the same, he'd better go back into his cage," said Fritz, who had a +right to be heard, as he was the master and owner of the dormice. "Come +along, Baby, poke him in." + +Baby was busy kissing and petting Peepy-Snoozle by this time, for, +though he did not approve of much of that sort of thing for himself, he +was very fond of petting little animals, who were not little boys. And +to tell the truth, it was not often he got a chance of petting his big +brother's dormice. It was quite pretty to see the way he kissed +Peepy-Snoozle's soft brown head, especially his nose, stroking it gently +against his own smooth cheeks and chattering to the little creature. + +"Dear little darling. Sweet little denkle darling," he said. "Him would +like to have a house all full of Peepy-'noozles, zem is so sweet and +soft." + +"Wouldn't you like a coat made of their skins?" said Denny. "Think how +soft that would be." + + [Illustration: "Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into + 'the parson in the pulpit that couldn't say his prayers,'" cried + Denny.--P. 6.] + +"No, sairtin him wouldn't," said Baby. "Him wouldn't pull off all their +sweet little skins and hairs to make him a coat. Denny's a c'uel girl." + +"There won't be much more skin or hairs left if you go on scrubbing him +up and down with your sharp little nose like that," said Fritz. + +Baby drew back his face in a fright. + +"Put him in the cage then," he said, and with Fritz's help this was +safely done. Then Baby stood silent, slowly rubbing his own nose up and +down, and looking very grave. + +"Him's nose _isn't_ sharp," he said at last, turning upon Denny. "Sharp +means knifes and scidders." + +All the children burst out laughing. Of course they understood things +better than Baby, for even Denny, the youngest next to him, was nine, +that is twice his age, which by the by was a puzzle to Denny herself, +for Celia had teased her one day by saying that according to that when +Baby was eighty Denny would be a hundred and sixty, and nobody ever +lived to be so old, so how could it be. + +But Denny, though she didn't _always_ understand everything herself, was +very quick at taking up other people if they didn't. + +"Oh, you stupid little goose," she said. "Of course, Fritz didn't mean +as sharp as a knife. There's different kinds of sharps--there's +different kinds of everything." + +Baby looked at her gravely. He had his own way of defending himself. + +"Werry well. If him's a goose him won't talk to you, and him won't tell +you somesing _werry_ funny and dedful bootiful that him heard in the +'groind room." + +All eyes were turned on Baby. + +"Oh, do tell us, Baby darling, _do_ tell us," said Celia and Denny. + +Fritz gave Baby a friendly pat on the back. + +"You'll tell _me_, old fellow, won't you?" he said. Baby looked at him. + +"Yes," he said at last; "him will tell you,'cos you let him have +Peepy-'noozle, and 'cos you doesn't call him a goose--like _girls_ does. +I'll whister in your ear, Fritz, if you'll bend down." + +But Celia thought this was too bad. + +"_I_ didn't call you a goose, Baby," she said. "I think you might tell +me too." + +"And I'll promise never to call you a goose again if you'll tell _me_," +said Denny. + +Baby had a great soul. It was beneath him to take a mean revenge, he +felt, especially on a _girl_! So he shut his little mouth tightly, knit +his little brows, and thought it over for a moment or two. Then his +face cleared. + +"Him _will_ tell you all--all you children," he said at last, "but it's +werry long and dedful wonderful, and you mustn't inrumpt him. P'omise?" + +"Promise," shouted the three. + +"Well then, litsen. We's all goin' away--zeally away--over the +sea--dedful far. As far as the sky, p'raps." + +"In a balloon?" said Denny, whose tongue wouldn't keep still even though +she was very much interested in the news. + +"No, in a boat," replied Baby, forgetting to notice that this was an +"inrumption," "in a werry 'normous boat. All's going. Him was looking +for 'tamps in mother's basket of teared letters under the little table, +and mother and ganfather and auntie didn't know him were there, and +ganfather said to mother somesing him couldn't understand--somesing +about _thit_ house, and mother said, yes, 'twould be a werry good thing +to go away 'fore the cold weather comed, and the children would be +p'eased. And auntie said she would like to tell the children, but----" + +Another "inrumption." This time from Fritz. + +"Baby, stop a minute," he exclaimed. "Celia, Denny--Baby's too little +to understand, but," and here Fritz's round chubby face got very red, +"don't you think we've no right to let him tell, if it's something +mother means to tell us herself? She didn't know Baby was there--he said +so." + +But before Celia or Denny could answer, Baby turned upon Fritz. + +"Him _tolded_ you not to inrumpt," he said, with supreme contempt. "If +you would litsen you would see. Mother _did_ know him was there at the +ending, for auntie said she'd like to tell the children--that's you, and +Denny and Celia--but him comed out from the little table and said _him_ +would like to tell the children hisself. And mother were dedful +surprised, and so was ganfather and auntie. And then they all bursted +out laughing and told him lots of things--about going in the railway, +and in a 'normous boat to that other country, where there's cows to pull +the carts, and all the people talk lubbish-talk, like Lisa when she's +cross. And zen, and zen, him comed upstairs to tell you." + +Baby looked round triumphantly. Celia and Fritz and Denny looked first +at him and then at each other. This was wonderful news--almost too +wonderful to be true. + +"We must be going to Italy or somewhere like that," said Celia. "How +lovely! I wonder why they didn't tell us before?" + +"Italy," repeated Denny, "that's the country like a boot, isn't it? I do +hope there won't be any snakes. I'd rather far stay at home than go +where there's snakes." + +"_I_ wouldn't," said Fritz, grandly. "I'd like to go to India or Africa, +or any of those places where there's lots of lions and tigers and +snakes, and anything you like. Give me a good revolver and _you'd_ see." + +"Don't talk nonsense, Fritz," said Celia. "You're far too little a boy +for shooting and guns and all that. It's setting a bad example to Baby +to talk that boasting way, and it's very silly too." + +"Indeed, miss. Much obliged to you, miss," said Fritz. "I'd only just +like to know, miss, who it was came to my room the other night and was +sure she heard robbers, and begged Fritz to peep behind the swing-door +in the long passage. And 'oh,' said this person, 'I do so wish you had a +gun that you could point at them to frighten them away.' Fritz wasn't +such a very little boy just then." + +Celia's face got rather red, and she looked as if she was going to get +angry, but at that moment, happily, Lisa appeared with the tray for the +nursery tea. She had left the room when the dormouse was caught, so she +had not heard the wonderful news, and it had all to be told over again. +She smiled and seemed pleased, but not as surprised as the children +expected. + +"Why, aren't you surprised, Lisa?" said the children. "Did you know +before? Why didn't you tell us?" + +Lisa shook her head and looked very wise. + +"What country are we going to? Can you tell us that?" said Celia. + +"Is it to your country? Is it to what you call Dutchland?" said Fritz. +"I think it's an awfully queer thing that countries can't be called by +the same names everywhere. It makes geography ever so much harder. We've +got to call the people that live in Holland Dutch, and they call +themselves--oh, I don't know what they call themselves----" + +"Hollanders," said Lisa. + +"Hollanders!" repeated Fritz. "Well, that's a sensible sort of name for +people that live in Holland. But _we've_ got to call them Dutch; and +then, to make it more muddled still, Lisa calls her country Dutchland, +and the people Dutch, and _we_ call them German I think it's very +stupid. If I was to make geography I wouldn't do it that way." + +"What's jography?" said Baby. + +"Knowing all about all the countries and all the places in the world," +said Denny. + +"Him wants to learn that," said Baby. + +"Oh, you're _far_ too little!" said Denny. "_I_ only began it last year. +Oh, you're ever so much too little!" + +"Him's not too little to go in the 'normous boat to _see_ all zem +countlies," said Baby, valiantly. "Him _will_ learn jography." + +"That's right, Baby," said Fritz. "Stick up for yourself. You'll be a +great deal bigger than Denny some day." + +Denny was getting ready an answer when Lisa, who knew pretty well the +signs of war between Fritz and Denny, called to all the children to come +to tea; and as both Fritz and Denny were great hands at bread and +butter, they forgot to quarrel, and began pulling their chairs in to the +table, and in a few minutes all four were busy at work. + +What a pretty sight, and what a pleasant thing a nursery tea is! when +the children, that is to say, are sweet-faced and smiling, with clean +pinafores, and clean hands, and gentle voices; not leaning over the +table, knocking over cups, and snatching rudely at the "butteriest" +pieces of bread and butter, and making digs at the sugar when nurse is +not looking. _That_ kind of nursery tea is not to my mind, and not at +all the kind to which I am always delighted to receive an invitation, +written in very round, very black letters, on very small sheets of +paper. The nursery teas in Baby's nursery were not always _quite_ what I +like to see them, for Celia, Fritz, and Denny, and Baby too, had their +tiresome days as well as their pleasant ones, and though they meant to +be good to each other, they did not _always_ do just what they meant, or +really wished, at the bottom of their hearts. But to-day all the little +storms were forgotten in the great news, and all the faces looked bright +and eager, though just at first not much was said, for when children are +hungry of course they can't chatter quite so fast, and all the four +tongues were silent till at least one cup of tea, and perhaps three or +four slices of bread and butter each--just as a beginning, you know--had +disappeared. + +Then said Celia,-- + +"Lisa, do tell us if you know what sort of a place we're going to." + +"Cows pulls carts there," observed Baby; "and--and--what was the 'nother +thing? We'll have frogses for dinner." + +"Baby!" said the others, "_what nonsense_!" + +"'Tisn't nonsense. Ganfather said Thomas and Dones wouldn't go 'cos they +was fightened of frogses for dinner. _Him_ doesn't care--frogses tastes +werry good." + +"How do you know? You've never tasted them," said Fritz. + +"Ganfather said zem was werry good." + +"Grandfather was joking," said Celia. "I've often heard him laugh at +people that way. It's just nonsense--Thomas and Jones don't know any +better. Do they eat frogs in your country, Lisa?" + +"In mine country, Fräulein Célie?" said Lisa, looking rather vexed. "No +indeed. Man eats goot, most goot tings, in mine country. Say, Herr +Baby--Herr Baby knows what goot tings Lisa would give him in her +country." + +"Yes," said Baby, "such good tings. Tocolate and cakes--lots--and +bootiful soup, all sweet, not like salty soup. Him would like werry much +to go to Lisa's countly." + +"Do cows pull carts in your country, Lisa?" asked Denny. + +"Some parts. Not where mine family lives," said Lisa. "No, Fräulein +Denny, it's not to mine country we're going. Mine country is it colt, so +colt; and your lady mamma and your lady auntie they want to go where it +is warm, so warm, and sun all winter." + +"_I_ should like that too," said Celia, "I hate winter." + +"That's 'cos you're a girl," said Fritz; "you crumple yourself up by the +fire and sit shivering--no wonder you're cold. You should come out +skating like Denny, and then you'd get warm." + +"Denny's a girl too. You said it was because I was a girl," said Celia. + +"Well, she's not as silly as some girls, any way," said Fritz, rather +"put down." + +Baby was sitting silent. He had made an end of two cups of tea and five +pieces of bread and butter. + +He was not, therefore, _quite_ so hungry as he had been at the +beginning, but still he was a long way off having made what was called +in the nursery a "good tea." Something was on his mind. He sat with one +arm propped on the table, and his round head leaning on his hand, while +the other held the piece of bread and butter--butter downwards, of +course--which had been on its way to his mouth when his brown study had +come over him. + + [Illustration: He sat with one arm propped on the table and his round + head leaning on his hand, while the other held the piece of bread and + butter--butter downwards, of course.--P. 16.] + +"Herr Baby," said Lisa, "eat, mine child." + +Baby took no notice. + +"What has he then?" said Lisa, who was very easily frightened about her +dear Herr Baby. "Can he be ill? He eats not." + +"Ill," said Celia. "No fear, Lisa. He's had ever so much bread and +butter. Don't you want any more, Baby? What are you thinking about? +We're going to have honey on our last pieces to-night, aren't we, Lisa? +For a treat, you know, because of the news of going away." + +Celia wanted the honey because she was very fond of it; but besides +that, she thought it would wake Baby out of his brown study to hear +about it, for he was very fond of it too. + +He did catch the word, for he turned his blue eyes gravely on Celia. + +"Honey's werry good," he said, "but him's not at his last piece yet. Him +doesn't sink he'll _ever_ be at his last piece to-night; him's had to +stop eating for he's so dedful busy in him's head." + +"Poor little man, have you got a pain in your head?" said his sister, +kindly. "Is that what you mean?" + +"No, no," said Baby, softly shaking his head, "no pain. It's only busy +sinking." + +"What about?" said all the children. + +Baby sat straight up. + +"Children," he said, "him zeally can't eat, sinking of what a dedful +packing there'll be. All of everysing. Him zeally sinks it would be best +to begin to-night." + +At this moment the door opened. It was mother. She often came up to the +nursery at tea-time, and + + "When the children had been good; + That is, be it understood, + Good at meal times, good at play," + +I need hardly say, they were very, very pleased to see her. Indeed there +were times even when they were glad to see her face at the door when +they _hadn't_ been very good, for somehow she had a way of putting +things right again, and making them feel both how wrong and how _silly_ +it is to be cross and quarrelsome, that nobody else had. And she would +just help the kind words out without seeming to do so, and take away +that sore, horrid feeling that one _can't_ be good, even though one is +longing so to be happy and friendly again. + +But this evening there had been nothing worse than a little squabbling; +the children all greeted mother merrily, only Baby still looked rather +solemn. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +INSIDE A TRUNK + + "For girls are as silly as spoons, dears, + And boys are as jolly as bricks. + * * * * * + Oh Mammy, _you_ tell us a story!-- + They won't hear a word that _I_ say." + + +"Mother, mother!" they all cried with one voice, and the three big ones +jumped up and ran to her, all pulling her at once. + +"Mother, mother, do sit down in the rocking-chair and look comfortable," +said Fritz. + +"There's still some tea. You'll have a cup of _our_ tea, won't you, +mother?" said Celia. + +"And some bread and honey," said Denny. + +"It won't spoil your afternoon tea; don't say it will," said all +together, for nothing would ever make them believe that when mother came +up to the nursery at tea-time it could be allowed that she should not +have a share of whatever there was. + +"Such a good thing we had honey to-night," said Celia, who was busy +cutting a very dainty piece of bread and butter. "We persuaded Lisa to +give it us _extra_, you know, mother, because of the news. And, oh, +mother, what do you think Baby says? he----" + +"Baby! what is the matter with him?" interrupted mother. + +They all turned to look at him. Poor Baby, he had set to work to get +down from his chair to run to mother with the others, but the chair was +high and Baby was short, and Lisa, who had gone to the cupboard for a +fresh cup and saucer for "madame," as she called the children's mother, +had not noticed the trouble Herr Baby had got himself into. One little +leg and a part of his body were stuck fast in the open space between the +bars at the back, his head had somehow got under the arm of the chair, +and could not be got out again without help. And Baby was far too proud +to call out for help as long as there was a chance of his doing without +it. But he really was in a very uncomfortable state, and it was a wonder +that the chair, which was a light wicker one, had not toppled over with +the queer way in which he was hanging. They got him out at last; his +face was very red, and I _think_ the tears had been very near coming, +but he choked them down, and looking up gravely he said to his mother,-- + +"Him's chair is getting too small. Him hasn't room to turn." + +"Is it really?" said his mother, quite gravely too. She saw that Celia +and Fritz were ready to burst out laughing at poor Baby, and she didn't +want them to do so, for Baby had really been very brave, and now when he +was trying hard not to cry it would have been too bad to laugh at him. +"Is it really?" she said. "I must see about it, and if it is too small +we must get you another." + +"Him doesn't want you to pack up _that_ chair," said Baby again, giving +himself a sort of shake, as if to make sure that his head, and his legs, +and all the rest of him, were in their proper places after being so +turned about and twisted by his struggles in the chair. + +"He's quite in a fuss about packing," said Celia; "that's what I was +going to tell you, mother. He stopped in the middle of his tea to think +about it, and he said he thought we'd better begin to-night." + +"Yes," said Baby. "There's such _lots_ to pack. All our toys, and the +labbits, and the mouses, and the horses, and the fireplaces, and the +tables, and the cups, and the saucers," his eyes wandering round the +room as he went on with his list. "Him thinks we'll need _lots_ of boats +to go in." + +"And two or three railway trains all to ourselves," said mother. + +Baby looked up at her gravely. He could not make out if mother was in +fun or earnest. His little puzzled face made mother draw him to her and +give him a kiss. + +"It's a shame to talk nonsense to such a serious little man," she said. +"Don't trouble yourself about the packing, Baby dear. Don't you know +grandfather, and auntie, and I have had lots of packings to do in our +lives? Why, we had to pack up _two_ houses when we came away from India, +and that was much much farther away than where we're going now! And you +were _such_ a tiny baby then--it was very much harder, for mother was +very very sad, and she never thought you would grow to be a big strong +boy like what you are now." + +"Was that when----" began thoughtless Denny, but Fritz gave her a tug. + +"You _know_ it makes mother unhappy to talk about that time," he +whispered; but mother heard him. + +"No, Fritz," she said; "I don't mind Denny thinking about it. I am so +glad to have all of you, dears, happy and good, that my sorrow is not so +bad as it was. And I am so glad you and Celia can remember your father. +Poor Baby--_he_ can't remember him," she said, softly stroking Baby's +face. + +"'Cos he went to Heaven when him was so little," said Baby. Then he put +his arms round mother's neck. "Him and Fritz will soon grow big, and be +werry good to mother," he said. "And ganfather and auntie are werry good +to mother, isn't they?" he added. + +"Yes indeed," said mother; "and to all of you too. What would we do +without grandfather and auntie?" + +"Some poor little boys and girls has no mothers and ganfathers, and no +stockings and shoes, and no _nothings_," said Baby solemnly. + +"There's _some_ things I shouldn't mind not having," said Fritz; "I +shouldn't mind having no lessons." + +"O Fritz," said his sisters; "what a lazy boy you are!" + +"No, I'm just _not_ lazy. I'm awfully fond of doing _everything_--I +don't even mind if it's a hard thing, so long as it isn't anything in +books," said Fritz, sturdily. "Some people's made one way, and some's +made another, and I'm made the way of not liking books." + +"I wonder what Baby will say to books," said mother, smiling. + +"Is jography in books," said Baby. "Him wants to learn jography." + +"_I_ think it's awfully stupid," said Denny. "I'm sure you won't like it +once you begin. Did _you_ like lessons when you were little, mother?" + +"Yes, I'm sure mother did," said Fritz. "People's fathers and mothers +were always far gooder than their children are. I've noticed that. If +ever big people tell you about when they were little, it's always about +how good they were. And they say always, 'Dear me, how happy children +should be nowadays; _we_ were never allowed to do so and so when _we_ +were little.' That's the way old Mrs. Nesbitt always talks, isn't it +mother? I wonder if it's true. If people keep getting naughtier than +their fathers and mothers were, the world will get _very_ naughty some +day. _Is_ it true?" + +"I think it's true that children get to be more spoilt," said Denny in a +low voice. "Just look how Baby's clambering all over mother! O Baby, +you nearly knocked over mother's cup! _I_ never was allowed to do like +that when _I_ was a little girl." + +Everybody burst out laughing--even mother--but Denny had the good +quality of not minding being laughed at. + +"Was the tea nice, and the bread and butter and honey?" she said +eagerly, as mother rose to put the empty cup in a place of safety. + +"Very nice, thank you," said mother. "But I must go, dears. I have a +good many things to talk about with grandfather and auntie." + +"Packing?" said Baby. + +"How you do go on about packing!" said Denny. "Of course mother's not +going to pack to-night." + +Baby's face fell. + +"Him does so want to begin packing," he said dolefully. "'Appose we +forgottened somesing, and we was over the sea!" + +"Well, I must talk about it all, and write down all we have to take," +said mother. "So I must go to auntie now." + +"Oh, not yet, not yet. Just five minutes more!" cried the children. +"And, mother," said Celia, "you've not answered my question. _Is_ it +true that children used to be so much better long ago? Were you never +naughty?" + +"Sometimes," said mother, smiling. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Celia. "Often, mother? I do hope you were often +naughty. Do tell us a story about something naughty you did when you +were little. You know it would be a good lesson for us. It would show us +how awfully good one may learn to be, for, you know, you're awfully good +now." + +"Yes, of course you are," said Fritz and Denny. + +"Mother's _dedfully_ good," said Baby, poking up his face from her knee +where he had again perched himself, to kiss her. "Do tell him one story +of when you was a little girl, mother." + +Mother's face seemed for a minute rather puzzled. Then it suddenly +cleared up. + +"I will tell you a very little story," she said; "it really is a very +little story, but it is as long as I have time for just now, and it may +amuse you. Baby's packing put it in my head." + +"Is it about when you were a little girl, mother?" interrupted Denny. + +"Yes. Well, when I was a little girl, I had no mother." + +The elder children nodded their heads. But Baby, to whom it was a new +idea, shook his sadly. + +"Zat was a gate pity," he said. "Poor mother to have no mother. Had you +no shoes and stockings, and nothing nice to eat?" + +"You sill----" began Denny, but mother stopped her. + +"Oh yes," she said, "I had shoes and stockings, and everything I wanted, +for I had a very kind father. You know how kind grandfather is? And I +had a kind sister whom you know too. But when I was a little girl, my +sister was not herself _very_ big, and she had a great deal to do _for_ +a not very big girl, you know. There were our brothers, for we had +several, and though they were generally away at school there seemed +always something to do for them--letters to write to them, if there was +nothing else--and then, in the holidays, there were all their new +shirts, and stockings, and things to get to take back to school. Helen +seemed always busy. She had been at school too, before your grandfather +came back from India, for five years, bringing me with him, quite a wee +little girl of four. And Helen was so happy to be with us again, that +she begged not to go back to school, and, as she was really very well +on for her age, grandfather let her stay at home." + +"There, you see," whispered Celia, nudging Fritz. "It's beginning--it +always does--you hear how awfully good auntie was." + +Mother went on quietly. If she heard what Celia said she took no notice. +"Grandfather let her stay at home and have lessons there. She had a +great many lessons to learn for her age besides those that one learns +out of books. She had to learn to be very active, and very thoughtful, +and, above all, very patient. For the little sister she had to take care +of was, I am afraid, a very spoilt little girl when she first came home. +Grandfather had spoiled her without meaning it; he was so sorry for her +because she had no mother, and Helen was so sorry for her too, that it +was rather difficult for her not to spoil her as well." + +Here Baby himself "inrumpted." + +"Him doesn't understand," he said. "Who _were_ that little girl? Him +wants a story about mother when _her_ was a little girl;" and the +corners of his mouth went down, and his eyes grew dewy-looking, in a +very sad way. + + [Illustration: There was one trunk which took my fancy more than + all the others.--P. 30.] + +"Poor Baby," said mother. "I'll try and tell it more plainly. _I_ was +that little girl, and auntie was my sister Helen. I must get on with my +little story. I was forgetting that Baby would not quite understand. +Well, one day to my great delight, Helen told me that grandfather was +going to take her and me and the two brothers, who were then at home, to +spend Christmas with one of our aunts in London. This aunt had children +too, and though I had never seen them Helen told me they were very nice, +for she knew them well, as she used to go there for her holidays before +we came home. She told me most about a little girl called Lilly, who was +just about my age. I had never had a little friend of my own age, and I +was always talking and thinking about how nice it would be, and I was +quite vexed with Helen because she would not begin to pack up at once. I +was always teasing her to know what trunks we should take, and if all my +dolls might go, and I am sure poor Helen often wished she had not told +me anything about it till the very day before. I got in the way of going +up to the big attic where the trunks were kept, and of looking at them +and wondering which would go, and wishing Helen would let me have one +all for myself and my dolls and their things. There was one trunk which +took my fancy more than all the others. It was an old-fashioned +trunk, but it must have been a very good one, for it shut with a sort of +spring, and inside it had several divisions, some with little lids of +their own, and I used to think how nice it would be for me, I could put +all my dolls in so beautifully, and each would have a kind of house for +itself. I don't remember how I managed to get it open, perhaps it had +been a little open when I first began my visits to the attic, for the +lid was very heavy, and I was neither big nor strong for my age. But it +_was_ open, and it stayed so, for no one else ever went up to the attic +but I. The other people in the house were too busy, and no one would +have thought there was anything amusing in looking at empty trunks in a +row. But I went up to the attic day after day. I climbed up the narrow +staircase as soon as I had had my breakfast, and stayed there till I +heard my nurse calling me to get ready to go out, or to come to my +lessons, for I was beginning to learn to read, and I used to have a +little lesson every day. And at last one day I said to my sister, + +"'Helen, may I have the big trunk with the little cupboards in it for +_my_ trunk?' + +"Helen was busy at the time, and I don't think she heard exactly what I +said. She answered me hurriedly that she would see about it afterwards. +But I went on teasing. + +"'May I begin putting Marietta and Lady Regina into the little cupboards +inside?' I said. + +"'Oh yes, I daresay you can if you like,' said Helen. She told me +afterwards that when I spoke of cupboards she never thought I meant a +trunk, she thought I was speaking of some of the nursery cupboards. + +"It was just bed-time then, too late for me to go to the attic, for I +knew there was no chance of my getting leave to go up there with a +candle. But I fell asleep with my head full of how nicely I could put +the dolls into the trunk, each with her clothes beside her, and the very +first thing the next morning I got them all together and I mounted up to +the attic. I had never told nurse about my going up there. Once or +twice, perhaps, she had seen me coming down the stair, but very likely +she had thought I had only been a little way up to look out of a window +there was there. I don't know why I didn't tell her, perhaps I was +afraid of her stopping my going. I waited till she was busy about her +work, fetching coals and so on, and then I trotted off with Lady Regina +under one arm and Marietta under the other, and a bundle of their +clothes tied up in my pinafore before, to make my way upstairs to the +delightful trunk. It was open as usual, and after putting my dolls and +bundles down on the floor, I managed to lift out the two top trays. One +of them was much larger than the other, and it was in what I called the +cupboards below the smaller one that I settled to put Regina and +Marietta. There were two of these little cupboards, and each had a lid. +They would just do beautifully. Under the larger tray there was just one +big space without a lid, 'just a hole,' I called it. I went on for a +little time, laying in some of the clothes first to make a nice soft +place for the dolls to lie on, but I soon got tired. It was so very far +to reach over, for the outside edges of the box were high, higher of +course than the _inside_ divisions, for the trays I had taken out, which +lay on the top of the lower spaces, were a good depth, and there had +been no division between them. It came into my head that it would be +much easier if I were to get into the box myself--I could stand in the +big hole, as I called it, and reach over to the little divisions where I +wanted to put the dolls, and it would be far less tiring than trying to +reach over from the outside. So I clambered in--it was not very +difficult--and when I found myself really inside the trunk I was so +pleased that I sat down cross-legged, like a little Turk, to take a rest +before going on with what I called my packing. But sitting still for +long was not in my way--I soon jumped up again, meaning to reach over +for Lady Regina, who was lying on the floor beside the trunk, but, how +it happened I cannot tell, I suppose I somehow caught the tapes which +fastened the lid; any way down it came! It did not hurt me much, for I +had not had time to stretch out my head, and the weight fell mostly on +my shoulders, sideways as it were, and before I knew what had happened I +found myself doubled up somehow in my hole, with the heavy lid on the +top of me, all in the dark, except a little line of light round the +edge, for the lid had not shut quite down; the hasp of the lock--as the +little sticking-out piece is called--had caught in the fall, and was +wedged into a wrong place. So, luckily for me, there was still a space +for some air to come in, and a little light, though very little. I was +dreadfully frightened at first; then I began to get over my fright a +little, and to struggle to get out. Of course my first idea was to try +to push up the lid with my head and shoulders; I remember the feeling of +it pushing back upon me--the dreadful feeling that I couldn't move it, +that I was shut up there and couldn't get out! I was too little to +understand all at once that there could be any danger, that I might +perhaps be suffocated--that means choked, Baby--for want of air; or that +I might really be hurt by being so cramped and doubled up. And really +there was not much danger; if I had been older I should have been more +frightened than there was really any reason to be. But I was big enough +to begin very quickly to get very angry and impatient. I had never in +all my life been forced to do anything I disliked; often and often my +nurse, and sometimes Helen, had begged me to try to sit still for a +minute or two, but I never would. And now the lesson of having to give +in to something much worse than sitting still in my nice little chair by +the nursery fire, or standing still for two minutes while a new frock +was tried on, had to be learnt! There was no getting rid of it; I kicked +and I pushed, it was no use; the strong heavy lid which had been to +India and back two or three times would not move the least bit. I tried +to poke out my fingers through the little space that was left, but I +could not find the lock, and it was a good thing I did not, for if I had +touched the hasp, most likely the lid would have fallen quite into its +place, crushing my poor little fingers, and shutting me in without any +air at all. At last I thought of another plan. I set to work screaming. + +"'Nurse, nurse, Nelly, oh Nelly,' I cried, and at last I shouted, 'Papa, +_Papa_, PAPA,' at the top of my voice. But it was no use! Most children +would have begun screaming at the very first. But I was not a +_frightened_ child, and I was very proud. I did not want any one to find +me shut up in a box like that, besides, they would be sure to stop my +ever coming up to the attic again. So it was not till I had tired myself +out with trying to push up the lid that I set to work to screaming, and +that made it all the more provoking that my calls brought no one. At +last I got so out of patience that I set to work again kicking for no +use at all, but just because I was so angry. I kicked and screamed, and +at last I burst into tears and _roared_. Then I caught sight, through +the chink, of Lady Regina's blue dress, where the doll was lying on the +floor near the trunk. + +"'Nasty Regina,' I shouted, 'nasty, ugly Regina. You are lying there as +if there was nothing the matter, and it was all for you I came up here. +I hate dolls--they never do nothing. If you were a little dog you'd go +and bark, and then somebody would come and let me out.' + +"Then I went on crying and sobbing till I was perfectly tired, and then +what do you think I did? Though I was so uncomfortable, all crushed up +into a little ball, I went to sleep! I went to sleep as soundly as if I +had been in my own little bed, and afterwards I found, from what they +told me, that I must have slept quite two hours. When I woke up I could +not think where I was. I felt so stiff and sore, and when I tried to +stretch myself out I could not, and then I remembered where I was! It +seemed quite dark; I wondered if it was night, till I noticed the little +chink of light at the edge of the lid, and then I began to cry again, +but not so wildly as before. All of a sudden I thought I heard a +sound--some one was coming upstairs! and then I heard voices. + +"'Fallen out of the window,' one said. 'Oh no, nurse, she _couldn't_! +She could never get through.' + +"But yet the person seemed to be looking out of the window all the same, +for I heard them opening and shutting it. And then I called out again. + +"'Oh Nelly, Nelly. I'se here; I'se shut up in the big box with the +cupboards.' + +"They didn't hear me at first. My little voice must have sounded very +faint and squeaky from out of the trunk, besides they were not half-way +up the attic-stairs. So I went on crying-- + +"'Oh Nelly, Nelly! I'se up here. Oh Nelly, Nelly!' + +"She heard me this time. Dear Nelly! I never have called to her in vain, +children, in all my life. And in half a minute she had dashed up the +stairs, and, guided by my voice, was kneeling down beside the trunk. + +"'Little May, my poor little May,' Nelly called out; and do you know I +really think she was crying too! I was--by the time Nelly and the +servants who were with her had got the lid unhooked and raised, and had +lifted me out--I was in floods of tears. I clung to Nelly, and told her +how 'dedful' it had been, and she petted me so that I am afraid I quite +forgot it was all my own fault. + +"'You might have been there for hours and hours, May,' Nelly said to me, +'if it hadn't been for nurse thinking of the window on the stair. You +must never go off by yourself to do things like that,' and when I told +her that I had asked her and she had given me leave, she said she had +not at all known what I meant, and that I must try to remember not to +tease about things once I had been told to wait. Any way I think I had +got a good lesson of patience that day, and one that I never forgot, for +it really is not at all a pleasant thing to be shut up in a big trunk." + +Mother stopped. + +Baby, who had been listening with solemn eyes, said slowly, + +"Him will not pack by hisself. Him will wait till somebody can help him. +It would be so dedful sad if him was to get shuttened up like poor +little mother, and perhaps you'd all go away ac'oss the sea and nebber +find him." + +The corners of his mouth went down at this sorrowful picture, and his +eyes looked as if they were beginning to think about crying. But mother +and Celia set to work petting and kissing him before the tears had time +to come. + +"As if we would ever go across the sea without _him_," said mother. + +"Why, we should never know how to do _anything_ without Herr Baby," said +Celia. + +"Fritz and Baby will do all the fussy things in travelling--taking the +tickets, and counting the luggage, and all that--they're such big men, +aren't they?" said Denny, with mischief in her twinkling green eyes. + +"Now you, just mind what you're about," said Fritz, gallantly. "You'll +make him cry just when mother's been comforting him up. Such stupids +girls are!" he added in a lower voice. + +"I really must go now," said mother, getting up from her chair. "Auntie +will not know what has become of me. I have been up here, why a whole +half hour, instead of five minutes!" + +"Auntie will think mother's got shut up in a trunk again," said Denny, +whose tongue _never_ could be still for long, and at this piece of wit +they all burst out laughing. + +All but Herr Baby. He couldn't see that it was any laughing matter. +Mother's story had sunk deep into his mind. Trunks were things to be +careful of. Baby saw this clearly. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +UP IN THE MORNING EARLY + + "Sweet, eager promises bind him to this, + Never to do so again." + + +He woke early next morning. He had so much to think of, you see. So much +that even his dreams were full of all he had heard yesterday. + +"Him's been d'eaming him was in the big, big, 'normous boat, and zen him +d'eamed of being shuttened up in a t'unk like _poor_ little mother," he +confided to Denny. + +He was forced to tell Denny a good many things, because they slept in +the same room, and, of course, everybody knows that _whatever_ mammas +and nurses say, going-to-sleep-in-bed time is _the_ time for talking. +Waking-up-in-the-morning time is rather tempting, too, particularly in +summer, when the sun comes in at the windows _so_ brightly and the birds +are _so_ lively, chattering away to each other, and all the world is up +and about, except "_us_," who _have_ to stay in bed till seven o'clock! +Ah, it _is_ a trial! On the whole, I don't think chattering in the +mornings is so much to be found fault with as chattering at night. It is +only children who are so silly as to keep themselves awake when the time +for going to sleep has come. The birds and the bees, and the little +lambs even, all know when that time has come, and go to sleep without +any worry to themselves or other people. But children are not always so +sensible. I _could_ tell you a story--only I am afraid if she were to +read it in this little book it would make her feel so ashamed that I +should really be sorry for her, so I will not tell you her name nor +where she lives--of a little girl who was promised two pounds, two whole +gold pounds--fancy! if for one month she would go quietly to sleep at +night when she was put to bed, and let her sister do the same; and she +was to lose two shillings every night she forgot or disobeyed. Well, +what do you think? at the end of two weeks the two pounds had come down +already to nineteen shillings! She had forgotten already ten times, or +ten and a half times--I don't quite understand how it had come to +nineteen, but so it had; and at the end of the month--no I don't think +I will tell you what it had come down to. Only this will show you how +much more difficult it is to get out of a bad habit than to get into a +good one, for this little girl is very sweet and good in many ways, and +I love her dearly--_only_ she had got into this bad habit, and it was +stronger, as bad habits so often are, than her real true wish to do what +her mother told her. + +But I have wandered away from Herr Baby, and I am afraid you won't be +pleased. He was forced, I was saying, to tell Denny a good many things, +because he was most with her. I don't think he would have told her as +much but for that, for Denny's head was a very flighty one, and she +never cared to think or talk about the same thing for long together, +which was not _at all_ Herr Baby's way. _He_ liked to think a good deal +about everything, and one thing lasted him a good while. + +"Him's been d'eaming such a lot," he said to Denny this morning. + +"I think dreams are very stupid," said Denny. "What's the good of them? +If they made things come _real_ they would be some good. Like, you know, +if I was to dream somebody gave me something awfully nice, and then when +I woke up I was to see the thing on my bed, _then_ dreams would be some +good." + +"But if zou d'eamed somesing dedful, like being shuttened up in a t'unk +like _poor_ little mother, _zen_ it wouldn't be nice for it to come +zeal," said Baby, who never forgot to look at things from both sides. + +"No, of course it wouldn't. How stupid you are!" said Denny. "And how +your head does run on one thing. I'm quite tired of you talking about +mother being shut up in the trunk. Do talk of something else." + +"Him can't talk of somesing else when him's sinking of one sing," said +Baby gravely. + +"Well, then don't talk at all," said Denny sharply, "and indeed I think +we'd better be quiet, or Lisa will be coming in, and scolding us. It's +only half-past six." + +Baby did not speak for a minute or two. Then he said solemnly, + +"When us goes away ac'oss the sea in the 'normous boat, him _hopes_ him +won't sleep in the same zoom as you any more." + +"I'm sure I hope not," said Denny snappishly. There was some excuse for +her this morning, she was really rather sleepy, and it is very tiresome +to be wakened up at half-past six, when one is quite inclined to sleep +till half-past seven. + +But Baby could not go to sleep again. His mind was still running on +packing. If he could but have a _little_ box of his own to pack his own +treasures in, then he would be sure none would be forgotten. He did not +want a _big_ trunk--not one in which he could be shuttened up like +mother, but just a nice little one. If mother would give him one! +Stay--where had he seen one, just what he wanted, was it in the nursery +or in the cupboard where Fritz kept his garden-tools and his skates, and +all the big boy things which Baby too hoped to have of his own some day? +No, it was not there. It must have been--yes, it was in the pantry when +he went to ask James for a glass of water. Up on a shelf, high up it +stood, "a tiny _sweet_ little t'unk," said Herr Baby to himself, +"wouldn't mother let him have it?" He would ask her this morning as soon +as he saw her. Then he lay still and thought over to himself all the +things he would pack in the tiny sweet little t'unk; his best Bible with +his name + + "Raymond Arthur Aylmer," + +in the gold letters on the back, should have the nicest corner, of +course, and his "_scented_ purse," as he called the Russia leather purse +which grandfather had given him on his last birthday, that would go +nicely beside the Bible, and his watch that _really_ ticked as long as +you turned the key in it--all those things would fit in, nicely packed +in "totton wool," of course, and crushy paper. The thought of it all +made Baby's fingers fidget with eagerness to begin his packing. If only +mother would give him the box! It must be mother's, for if it was +James's he would keep it in his own room instead of up on the pantry +shelf among all the glasses and cups. If Baby could just see it again he +would know 'ezackly if it would do! + +Baby looked about him. Everything was perfectly still, he heard no one +moving about the house--Denny had said it was only half-past six. + +"Denny," said Baby softly. + +No reply. + +"_Denny_," a very little louder. + +Still no reply; but Baby, by leaning over the edge of his cot a little, +could see that Denny's eyes were shut, and her nose was half buried in +the pillow in the way she always turned it when she went to sleep. Denny +had gone to sleep again. + +"Zes," said Herr Baby to himself; "her's a'leep--her's beazing so soft." + +He looked about him again; he stuck one little warm white foot out of +bed--it did feel _rather_ cold; he felt more than half inclined just to +cuddle himself up warm again and lie still till Lisa came to dress him. +But the thought of the little t'unk was too much for him. + +"Him would so like just to _see_ it," he said to himself. + +Then he stood right up in bed and clambered over the edge of the cot the +way he had to do to get out of it by himself. He did not make much +noise--not enough to waken Denny, and indeed he would not much have +minded if she _had_ awakened, only that perhaps she would have wanted to +go too, and Baby wished just to go down to the pantry this quiet time of +the morning before any one was there and take a good look by himself. + +It was cold on the stair--just at the edge, that is to say, where the +carpet did not cover, and where he had stepped without thinking, not +being used to trotting about on bare feet, you see. But in the middle, +on the carpet, it was nice and soft and warm. + +"It would be dedful to be poor boys wif no shoes and stockings," he said +to himself, "'cept on the carpet. Him would like to buy lots of lubly +soft carpets for zem poor boys." + +And he pitied the poor boys still more when he got to the back passage +leading to the pantry, where there was no carpet at all, only oilcloth. +He pattered along as fast as he could; there was no sound to be heard +but the ticking of the clock, and Baby wondered that he had never +noticed before what a loud ticking clock it was; it did not come into +his head that it was very late for none of the servants to be down, for +such matters were not his concern, and if he had known the truth that +Denny had made a mistake of an hour, and that it was only half-past five +instead of half-past six, he would not have thought much about it. + +He got to the pantry at last. It was darker in here than in the passage +outside, which was a disappointment. The shutters were shut, that was +the reason, and when Baby looked up at them and saw how strong and +barred they were, even _he_ felt that it would be no use to try to open +them. He climbed up on to the dresser that ran round one side of the +wall to see better. Yes, there it was--the tiny, sweet, little +t'unk--just as he had been fancying it. Not so very high up either. If +he could but give it a little poke out he could almost reach it down--it +could not be heavy, it was _such_ a tiny t'unk; and, oh, if he could +carry it out to the passage, where it was light, how beautifully he +could look at it! He stood up on tiptoe, and found he could almost reach +it. A brush with a sticking-out handle was lying beside him. Baby took +it, and found that by poking it in a little behind the box he could make +it move out, and if it were moved out a very little way he could reach +to lift it down. He moved it out enough, then he stretched up his two +hands to lift it down--it was not very heavy, but still rather heavier +than he had thought. But with the help of his curly head, which he +partly rested it on, he got it out safely enough, and was just slipping +it gently downwards to the dresser when _somehow_ the brush handle, +which he had left on the shelf, caught him or the box, he could not tell +which, and, startled by the feeling of something pushing against him, +Baby lost his balance and fell! Off the dresser right down on to the +hard floor, which had no carpet even to make it softer, he tumbled, and +the little t'unk on the top of him. What a noise it made--even in the +middle of his fright Baby could not help thinking what a tremendous +noise he and the box seemed to make. He lay still for a minute; luckily +the box, though it had come straight after him, had fallen a little to +one side, and had not hit him. He was bruised enough by the floor +already--any more bumps would have been _too_ much, would they not? But +the poor box itself was to be pitied; it had come open in the fall, and +all that was in it had naturally tumbled out. _That_ explained the noise +and clatter. The box had held--indeed it had been made on purpose to +hold them--two beautiful glass jugs, which had been sent to mother all +the way from Italy! Baby had never seen them, because they were only +used when mother and auntie wanted the dinner-table to look very nice, +and of course Baby was too little ever to come down to dinner. And, +alas, the beautiful jugs, so fine and thin that one could almost have +thought the fairies had made them, were both broken, one of them, +indeed, crushed and shivered into mere bits of glass lying about the +pantry floor, and the box itself had lost its lid, for the hinges had +been broken, too, in the fall. + + [Illustration: For a minute or two Baby could not make out what had + happened.--P. 50.] + +For a minute or two Baby could not make out what had happened. He felt a +little stupid with the fall, and sore too. But he never was ready to cry +for bumps or knocks; he would cry much more quickly if any one spoke +sharply to him than if he hurt himself. So at first he lay still, +wondering what was the matter. Then he sat up and looked about him, and +_then_, seeing the broken box and the broken glass, he understood that +he had done some harm, and he burst into piteous sobbing. + +"Him didn't mean," he cried; "him didn't know there was nuffin in the +tiny t'unk. Oh, what shall him do?" + +He cried and sobbed, and, being now very frightened, he cried the more +when he saw that there was blood on his little white nightgown, and that +the blood came from one of his little cold feet, which had been cut by a +piece of the broken glass. Baby was much more frightened by the sight of +blood than by anything else--when he climbed up on the nursery chest of +drawers, and Denny told him he'd be killed if he fell down, he didn't +mind a bit, but when Lisa said that he might hurt his face if he fell, +and make it _bleed_, he came down at once--and now the sight of the +blood was too much. + +"Oh, him's hurt hisself, him's all bleeding!" he cried. "Oh, _what_ +shall him do?" + +He dared not move, for he was afraid of lifting the cut foot--he really +did not know what to do--when he heard steps coming along the passage, +pattering steps something like his own, and before he had time to think +who it could be, a second little white-night-gowned figure trotted into +the room. + +"Baby, poor Baby, what's the matter?" and, looking up, Baby saw it was +Fritz. + +"Him's hurt hisself, him's tumbled, and the tiny t'unk is brokened, and +somesing else is brokened. Him didn't mean," he sobbed; and Fritz sat +down on the floor beside him, having the good sense to keep out of the +way of the broken glass, and lifted the little bleeding foot gently. + +"Must have some sticking-plaster," said Fritz. "There's some in mother's +pocket-book in her room. We must go to mother, Baby." + +"But him can't walk," said Baby piteously. "Him's foot bleedens dedful +when him moves it." + +"Then I must carry you," said Fritz, importantly. + +With some difficulty he got Baby on to his back and set off with him. +Baby had often ridden on Fritz's back before, in the nursery, for fun, +and it seemed very nice and easy. But now, though he had only his +nightgown on, Fritz was surprised to find how heavy he seemed after +going a little way. He was obliged to rest after he had gone up a few +steps, and Baby began to cry worse than before when he saw how tired +poor Fritz was. I really don't know how they ever got to the door of +mother's room, and, when their knocking brought her out, it was rather +a frightening sight for her--Baby perched on Fritz's back, both little +boys looking white and miserable, and the wounded foot covered with +blood. + +But mother knew better than to ask what was the matter till she had done +something to put things to rights again. + +"Him's foot" was the first thing Baby said, stretching out his poor +little toes. + +And the foot looked so bad that mother felt quite thankful when she had +bathed it and found that the cut was not really a very deep one after +all. And when it was nicely plastered up, and both little boys were +tucked into mother's bed to get warm again, then mother had to hear all +about it. It was not much Fritz could tell. He, too, had wakened early, +and had heard Denny and Baby talking, for he slept in a little room near +theirs. He had fallen half asleep again, and started up, fancying he +heard a noise and a cry, and, getting out of bed, had found his way to +the pantry, guided by Baby's sobs. But what Baby was doing in the +pantry, or why he had wandered off there all alone so early in the +morning, Fritz did not know. + +So Baby had to tell his own story, which he did straight on in his own +way. He never thought of _not_ telling it straight on; he was afraid +mother would be sorry when she heard about the "somesing" that was +broken, but it had never entered his little head that one could help +telling mother "ezackly" all about anything. And so he told the +whole--how he had been "sinking" about trunks and packing, and +"d'eaming" about them too, how Denny had been "razer c'oss" and wouldn't +talk, and how the thought of the tiny sweet t'unk had come into his head +all of itself, and he had fancied how nice it would be to go downstairs +and look at it on the pantry shelf, and then how all the misfortunes had +come. At the end he burst into tears again when he had to tell of the +"somesing brokened," now lying about in shiny fragments on the pantry +floor. + +Poor mother! She knew in a minute what it was that was broken, and I +cannot say but that she was very sorry, more sorry perhaps than Baby +could understand, for she had had the pretty jugs many years, and the +thoughts of happy days were mingled with the shining of the rainbow +glass. Baby saw the sorry look on her face, and stretched up his two +arms to clasp her neck. + +"Him is so sorry, so werry sorry," he said. "Him will take all the money +of him's money-box to buy more shiny jugs for mother." + +Mother kissed him, but told him that could not be. + +"The jugs came from a far-away country, Baby dear," she said, "and you +could not get them here. Besides, I cared for them in a way you can't +understand. I had had them a long time, and one gets to care for things, +even if they are not very pretty in themselves, when one has had them so +long." + +"Oh ses, him does understand," said Baby. "Him cares for old 'sings, far +best." + +"Yes," said Fritz, "he really does, mother. He cries when Lisa says she +must put away his old shoes, and his old woolly lamb is dreadful--really +dreadful, but he _won't_ give it away." + +"It _has_ such a sweet face," said Baby. + +"Well I don't care; I wish it was burnt up. He mustn't take it in the +railway with us when we go away; must he, mother?" + +"Couldn't it be washed?" said mother. + +"I don't think so, and I don't believe Baby would like it as much if it +was. Would you, Baby?" said Fritz. + +Baby would not answer directly. He seemed rather in a hurry to change +the subject. + +"Mother," he said, "when we go away in the 'normous boat, won't we +p'raps go to the country where the shiny jugs is made? And if him takes +all the money in him's money-box, couldn't him buy some for you?" + +"They wouldn't be the same ones," said Fritz. + +Baby's face fell. Mother tried to comfort him. + +"Never mind about the jugs any more just now," she said. "Some day, +perhaps, when you are a big man you will get me some others quite as +pretty, that I shall like for your sake. What will please me more than +new jugs just now, Baby, is for you to promise me not to try to do +things like that without telling any one. Just think how very badly hurt +you might have been. If only you had waited to ask me about the little +box all would have been right, and my pretty jugs would not have been +broken." + +"And mother told us that last night, you know, dear," said Fritz, in his +proper big brother tone. "Don't you remember in the story about her when +she was little? It all came of her not waiting for her big sister to see +about the trunk." + +Baby gave a deep sigh. + +"If God hadn't put so much 'sinking into him's head, it would have been +much better," he said. "Him 'sinks and 'sinks, and zen him can't help +wanting to do 'sings zat moment minute." + +"Then 'him' must learn what _patience_ means," said mother with a little +smile. "But I'll tell you what _I've_ been thinking--that if we don't +take care somebody else may be hurting themselves with the broken glass +on the pantry floor." + +"P'raps the cat," said Baby, starting up, "oh _poor_ pussy, if her was +to cut her dear little foots. Shall him go downstairs again, mother, to +shut the door? Why, him's foot's still _zather_ bleedy," he added, +drawing out the wounded foot, which had a handkerchief wrapped round it +above the plaster. + +"No," said his mother, "it will be better for me to tell the servants +myself," so she rang the bell, and as it was now about the time that +Denny had thought it when Baby first woke up, in a few minutes her maid +appeared, looking rather astonished. She looked still more astonished, +and a little afraid too, when she caught sight of the two curly heads, +one dark and one light, on mother's pillow. + +"Is there anything wrong with the young gentlemen?" she said. "Shall I +call Lisa, my lady?" + +"No, not quite yet," said mother. "I rang to tell you to warn James and +the others that there is some broken glass on the pantry floor, and they +must be careful not to tread on it, and it must be swept up." + +"Broken glass, ma'am," repeated the maid, who was rather what Denny +called "'quisitive." "Was it the cat? I did think I heard a noise early +this morning." + +"No, it wasn't the cat," said mother. "It was an accident. James will +see what is broken." + +The light curly head had disappeared by this time under the clothes, for +Baby had ducked out of sight, feeling ashamed of its being known that +_he_ had been the cat. But as soon as the maid had left the room he came +up again to the surface like a little fish, and a warm feeling of thanks +to his mother went through his heart. + +"You won't tell the servants it were him, will you?" he whispered, +stretching up for another kiss. + +"No, not if 'him' promises never to try to do things like reaching down +boxes for himself. Herr Baby must ask mother about things like that, +mustn't he?" she said. + +Mother often called him "Herr Baby" for fun. The name had taken her +fancy when he was a very tiny child, and Lisa had first come to be his +nurse. For Lisa was _very_ polite; she would not have thought it at all +proper to call him "Baby" all by itself. + +Herr Baby kissed mother a third time, which, as he was not a very +kissing person, was a great deal in one morning. + +"Ses," he said, "him will always aks mother. Mother is so sweet," he +added coaxingly. + +"He calls everything he likes 'sweet,'" said Fritz. "Mother and the cat +and the tiny trunk--they're all sweet.'" + +But mother smiled, so Baby didn't mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GOING AWAY + + "She did not say to the sun good-night, + As she watched him there like a ball of light, + For she knew he had God's time to keep + All over the world, and never could sleep." + + +How, I can't tell, but, after all, _some_how the packing got done, and +everything was ready. They left a _few_ things behind that Herr Baby +would certainly have taken had he had the settling of it. They didn't +take the horses, _nor_ the fireplaces, and, of course, as the horses +weren't to go, Thomas and Jones had to be left behind too to take care +of them, which troubled Baby a good deal. And no doubt Thomas and Jones +would have been _very_ unhappy if it hadn't been for the nice way Baby +spoke to them about coming back soon, and the letters he would send them +on their birthdays, and that he would never like any other Thomases and +Joneses as much as them. It was really quite nice to hear him, and +Jones had to turn his head away a little--Baby was afraid it was to hide +that he was crying. + +It was a very busy time, and Baby was the busiest of any. There was so +much to think of. The rabbits too had to be left behind, which was very +sad, for one couldn't write letters to _them_ on their birthdays; +neither Denny, whom he asked about it, nor Baby himself, could tell when +the rabbits' birthdays were, and besides, as Baby said, "what would be +the good of writing them letters if they couldn't read them?" The only +thing to do was to get the little girl at the lodge to _promise_ to take +them fresh cabbages every morning--that was one of the things Herr Baby +had to see about, himself. Lisa lost him one morning, and found him at +the lodge, after a great hunt, talking very gravely to the little girl +about it. + + [Illustration: "Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure, _nebber_ + to forget."--P. 61.] + +"Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure, _nebber_ to forget," he +was saying, and poor Betsy looked quite frightened, Herr Baby was so +very solemn. Fritz wanted to make her kiss her mother's old Testament, +the way he had seen men do sometimes in his grandfather's study when +they came to tell about things, and to promise they would speak the +truth; but Betsy, though she was ready enough to _promise_, didn't like +the other idea at all. She might be had up to the court for such like +doings, she said, and as neither Fritz nor Baby had any idea what sort +of place the court was, though they fancied it was some kind of prison +for people who didn't keep their word, they thought it better to leave +it. + +The "calanies" and the "Bully" were to go, that was a comfort, and +Peepy-Snoozle and Tim, the two dormice, also, another comfort. Baby's +own packing was a serious matter, but, on the whole, I think mother and +Lisa and everybody were rather glad he had it to do, as it gave other +people a chance of getting _theirs_ done without the little feet +pattering along the passage or up the stairs, and the little shrill +voice asking what was going to be put into _this_ trunk or into _that_ +carpet-bag. He gave up thinking so much about the other packing after a +while, for he found his own took all his time and attention. Mother had +found him a box after all. Not _the_ box of course--that was left empty, +by Baby's wish, till some day when he was a big man, he should go to the +country of the fairy glass and buy mother some new jugs--but a very nice +little box, and she gave him cotton wool and crushy paper too, and +everything was as neat as possible, and the box quite packed and ready, +the first evening. But it was very queer that _every_ day after that +Herr Baby found something or other he had forgotten, or something that +Denny and he decided in their early morning talks, that it would be +silly to take. Or else it came into his head in the night that his best +Bible would be better in the _other_ corner, and the scenty purse on the +top of it instead of at one side. Any way it always happened that the +box had to be unpacked and packed again, and the very last evening there +was Herr Baby on his knees before it on the floor, giving the finishing +touches, long after he should have been in bed. + +"And we have to be up so early to-morrow morning," said mother, "my dear +little boy, you really _should_ have been fast asleep by this time." + +"And he wakes me _so_ early in the morning," said Denny, who was +standing before the fire giving herself little cross shakes every time +poor Lisa, who was combing out her long fair hair, came to a tuggy bit. +"_Lisa_, you're _hurting_ me; _Lisa_, do take care," she added +snappishly. + +"My dear Denny, how very impatient you are!" said her mother. "I don't +know how you will bear all the little discomforts of a long journey if +you can't bear to have your hair combed." + +On this, Denny, as Fritz would have said, "shut up." She could not bear +it to be thought that she was babyish or "silly." Her great, great wish +was to be considered quite a big girl. You could get her to do anything +by telling her it would be babyish not to do it, or that doing it would +be like big people, which, of course, showed that she _was_ rather +babyish in reality, as sensible children understand that they cannot be +like big people in everything, and that they wouldn't be at all nice if +they were. + +Baby always felt sorry for Denny or any of them when mother found fault +with them. He jumped up from the floor--at least he _got_ up, his legs +were too short for him to spring either up or down very actively--and +trotted across to his sister. + +"Poor Denny," he said, reaching up to kiss her, "him won't wake her up +so early to-mollow morning." + +"But we'll _have_ to wake early to-morrow," said Denny, rather crossly +still, "it's no use you beginning good ways about not waking me now, +just when everything's changed." + +Baby looked rather sad. + +"Is your box quite ready now, dear?" said his mother. "Well then, let +Lisa get you ready for bed as quick as she can, and you and Denny must +go to sleep without any talking, and wake fresh in the morning." + +But Baby still looked sad; his face began working and twisting, and at +last he ran to mother and hid it in her lap, bursting into tears. + +"Denny makes him so unhappy," he said. "Him doesn't like everysing to be +changed like Denny says. Him is so sorry to go away and to leave him's +house and Thomas and Jones, and oh! him is _so_ sorry to leave the +labbits!" + +"And him's a tired little boy. I think it's because he's so tired that +he's so sad about going away," said mother. "Think, dear, how nice it is +that we're all going _together_, not Celia or Fritz or anybody left +behind. For you know Thomas has his old mother he wouldn't like to +leave, and Jones has his wife and children. And if the rabbits could +talk, I'm quite sure they would tell you that they'd far rather stay +here in their own nice little house, with plenty of cabbages, than be +bundled into a box and taken away in the railway ever so far, without +being able to run about for ever so many days." + +Baby's face cleared a little. + +"Betsy has p'omised," he said to himself. Then he added, "_Him_ won't +like the railway neither if it's like that." + +"But _him's_ not going to be put in a box or a basket," said mother, +laughing. "Him will have a nice little corner all to himself in a +cushioned railway carriage, only just now he really _must_ go to bed." + +So she kissed him for good-night, and Denny too, who, by this time, had +recovered her good-humour in the interest of listening to the +conversation between her mother and Herr Baby, and soon both little +sister and brother were fast asleep in their cots, dreaming about the +journey before them I daresay, or perhaps forgetting all about it in the +much queerer and stranger journeys that small people are apt to fly away +upon at night, when their tired little bodies _seem_ to be lying quite +still and motionless in bed. + +It was strange enough--_almost_ as strange as a dream--the next morning +when, long before it was light, they had all to get up and be dressed at +once in their going-out things--that is to say their thick boots and +gaiters, and woollen under-jackets (for it was very cold, though not yet +far on in November), while their ulsters and comforters and caps, and +the girls' sealskin coats and muffs and hats, were all laid out in four +little heaps by Lisa, so that they should be ready to put on the moment +breakfast was over. + +What a funny breakfast! Candles on the table, for it was not, of course, +worth while to light the lamp, and everything looking more like a sort +of "muddley tea," Fritz said, than their usual trim nursery breakfast. + +"I can't eat," said Fritz, throwing down his bread and butter; "it's no +use." + +"And there's eggs!" said Denny, who was comfortably at work at hers, +looking across at Fritz as if it wouldn't be very difficult to eat up +his egg too. "I think it's very kind of cook to have got up so early and +made us eggs 'cos we were going away, and----" + +"'Twasn't cook, 'twas Abigail," said Fritz. "I saw her coming up with +the eggs all in a pan with hot water, so that they shouldn't get cold, +she said to Lisa." + +"Well then it was very kind of Abigail, and----" said Denny. + +"'Twasn't Abigail that made the eggs," said Baby, "'twas the hens zat +laid them. Denny should say the _hens_ was werry kind." + +"Oh bother," said Denny, "I wish you'd not interrupt me. I don't care +who it was. I only want to say it's very stupid of Fritz not to eat his +egg, when _somebody_ made them for us, extra you know, because we're +going away, and I think Fritz is very stupid." + +"Come, Herr Fritz," said Lisa, encouragingly, "try and eat. You will be +so hungry." + +"I can't," said Fritz, "I've got a horrid feeling just like when mother +took me to have that big tooth out. I feel all shaky and cruddley." + +"Yes, _I_ know," said Denny, going on with _her_ breakfast all the same, +"but eating's the best thing to make it go away. I felt just that way +the day I broke grandfather's hotness measure, and mother said I must +tell him myself. I couldn't eat a bit of dinner, and I sat on the stair +all _screwged_ up, waiting for him to go to the study." + +"How dedful!" said Baby, with great feeling. But neither Fritz nor Celia +seemed to think much of Denny's sufferings. No one had ever seen her +nerves disturbed, and they did not therefore much believe in her having +any. + +"Grandfather's _what_ did you say?" asked Celia. + +"His hotness measure--the little glass pipe thing with a blob that goes +up and down. He's got another now, you know." + +"You mean his thermometer; you really should learn the proper names of +things," said Celia, "you're quite big enough." + +Denny would probably not have taken this in good part, though the "quite +big enough" at the end was very much to her taste, but there was no time +_this_ morning for squabbling. + +"Quick, quick, mine children," said Lisa, "the cart with the luggage is +'way, and the Herr Grandpapa is buttoning his coat." + +"And Fritz hasn't eaten his egg!" said Denny, eyeing it dolefully, as +Lisa was fastening her jacket. + +"I _couldn't_," said Fritz. "There'll be sandwiches or something in the +train--sure to be. Now come on; let's see what have I got to look after. +Only Tim and Peepy-Snoozle. I _couldn't_ lose my satchel, you see, for +its strapped on me. Much more sensible than _girls_, who have to carry +their bags over their arms." + +And Fritz, in a new ulster, very long and rather stiff, and feeling, to +tell the truth, a little uncomfortable at first, as new things generally +do, stalked off--I don't think he _could_ have run!--with the air of a +very big man indeed. + +Celia and Denny had a slight dispute as to which was which of the +bird's cages. For it had been settled that, for the journey at least, +the canaries were to be Celia's charge and the "Bully" Denny's, though, +hitherto, these three little birds had belonged to all the children +together. + +"You've got my cage, Denny," said Celia, sharply. + +"I haven't," said Denny, holding hers the more tightly. It was not very +easy to see, for both were covered up with dark blue stuff wrappers, to +keep the birds warm, "and to make them think it's night all the way," +said Baby. + +"I haven't," repeated Denny, "there, don't you see _two_ yellow tails in +yours? Peep through." + +And Denny proved to be right, so Celia had to give in. + +And at last they were off! The drive to the station safely over without +any misadventures, the luggage all locked up in the van, the children +and the dormice and the birds--far more important things, of course, +than the big people!--all comfortably settled at one end of the nice big +saloon carriage, which grandfather had had sent down on purpose from +London. + +"Dear me," said Denny, jigging up and down on her seat, "so we're really +off! How nice and springy these cushions are! And this carriage is as +big as a little house. I could _never_ be tired of travelling in a +carriage like this." + +"Him zought we'd _nebber_ get away," said Baby, with his usual +solemnity. "Dear, dear, what dedful lots of boxes there is! Him's box is +'aside the 'normous big straw one; did zou know, Denny?" + +"Poor grandfather," said Celia, "_what_ a lot of times he said over, +'three black portmanteaux, four, no five canvas-covered, four carpet +bags, one--fourteen in all. Is _that_ right, Helen? Grandfather's +something like Baby, he thinks no one can do anything right but himself; +and there's Peters come on purpose to bother about these things." +(Peters was grandfather's own servant.) "I wish grandfather wouldn't +fuss so. I hate people to think he's a fussy old man, something like Mr. +Briggs in Punch. As if he had never travelled before!" + +As may be imagined, these remarks of Celia's were made in a low voice, +for, of course, they were intended for the nursery party alone. Fritz +flew up in grandfather's defence. + +"Very fine, Miss Celia," he said. "You may laugh at grandfather for +fussing, but _suppose_ he didn't, and _suppose_ that when we get to--oh, +bother, I can't say those French names--wherever it is we're going to, +_suppose_ that Madamazelle Celia's trunk was lost, and Madamazelle Celia +hadn't any best frocks or flounces, or Sunday hats, how would +Madamazelle Celia look _then_? Perhaps she'd wish then that grandfather +had fussed a little." + +Celia turned to look for her bag, and having found it, she took out the +book which she had brought with her to read on the way. + +"You're too silly to speak to, Fritz," she said; "I'm going to read." + +"So am I," said Denny, who had likewise armed herself with a book, +though she was rather a dunce for her age, and couldn't read "runningly" +as French people say. But _big_ people always had books to read in the +railway--that was enough for Denny, of course, to try to do so too. + +"_I'm_ going to take a nap, then," said Fritz, who was really looking +rather white and tired. He had been wakened out of a very sound sleep +this morning, and had not been able to eat any breakfast. Lisa thought +that taking a nap was the best thing he could do, so she got down a +bundle of the rugs to make him a pillow, and helped him to tuck up his +legs comfortably, and Fritz settled himself for his little sleep, making +Lisa promise to waken him when they came to a big station. + +So everybody seemed inclined to be quiet. Herr Baby's corner was by the +window. He looked about him. Celia and Denny were buried in their books, +Fritz seemed asleep already; of the big people at the other end, +grandfather's face was quite hidden in his newspaper, which he had kept +over from last night on purpose to have something to read in the train, +knowing that they would start before the postman came in the morning, +and mother and auntie were talking together, softly, not to disturb him. + +"Should you like the window more open?" said grandfather, suddenly +looking up. + +"No, thank you," said auntie. "I think that little chink is enough. It +is really very cold this morning." + +"How good the children are!" said mother. She spoke in a lower voice +than auntie; but Baby heard her, for he had quick ears. "One could +almost fancy they were all asleep." + +"Yes," said auntie, "if it would last all the way to Santino, or even to +Paris!" + +"Or even to London!" said mother. "But they'll all be jumping about like +grasshoppers before long." + +Then they went on talking softly again about other things; and Baby +didn't hear, and didn't care to hear. Besides, he had already been +taught a lesson that boys and girls cannot learn too young, which is, +that to listen to things you are not meant to hear is a _sort_ of +cheating, for it is like taking something not meant for you. Of course, +while auntie and mother were talking in a louder voice he could not help +hearing, and it was no harm to listen, as if they had minded his hearing +they would have spoken more in a whisper. + +Baby turned to his window to amuse himself by looking out. First he +tried to count the telegraph wires, but he could never be sure if there +were eight or nine--he had not yet learnt to count higher than ten--for +the top ones were so tiresome, they danced away out of sight, and all of +a sudden danced down again, and sometimes they seemed to join together, +so that he could not tell if they were one or two. He wondered what made +them wave up and down so; whether there were men down in the ground +that pulled them, and what they did it for; he had heard of "sending +telegrams," and Denny had told him it meant sending messages on wires, +but he did not know that these were the wires used for that. He fancied +these wires must have something to do with the railway; perhaps they +were to show the people living in the fields that the trains were +coming, so that they shouldn't get in the way and be "runned over." +This made Baby begin to think of the people living in the fields; they +were just then passing a little cottage standing all by itself. It +looked a nice cottage, and it had a sort of little garden round it, and +some cocks and hens were picking about. Baby looked back at the little +cottage as long as he could see it; he wondered who lived in it, if +there were any little boys and girls, and what they did all day. He +wondered if they went to school, or if perhaps they sometimes went +messages for their mother, and if they weren't frightened if they had +to pass through the wood, which by this time the train was running +along the edge of. Could this be Red Riding Hood's wood, perhaps? Baby +shuddered as this idea came into his mind. Or it might be the wood that +Hop-o'-my-thumb and his six brothers had to make their way through, +where the birds _would_ pick the crumbs they dropped to show the path. +It would be very "dedful" for seven little boys to be lost in a wood +like that, and still worse for one little boy all alone. Baby was very +glad that when little boys had to go through woods _now_ it was in nice +railway carriages with mothers and aunties and everybodies with them. +But even in this way the wood made him feel a _very_ little frightened; +just then it got so much darker. He looked up to see if they were all +still reading or asleep; he _almost_ thought he would ask Lisa to take +him on her knee a little, when, all of a sudden, the "railway," as he +called it, screamed out something very sharp and loud, the rattle and +the noise got "bummier" and yet sharper; Baby could see no trees, no +fields, "no nothing." What could it be? It was worse than the wood. + +"Oh, Lisa," cried poor Herr Baby, "the railway horses must have runned +the wrong way. We's going down into the cellars of the world." + +Lisa caught him up in her arms and comforted him as well as she could. +It was only a tunnel, she told him, and she explained to him what a +tunnel was, just a sort of passage through a hill, and that there was +nothing to be frightened at. And she persuaded him to look up and see +what a nice little lamp there was at the top of the carriage, on purpose +to light them up while they were in the dark. Baby was quite pleased +when he saw the little lamp. + +"Who put it 'zere?" he said. "Were it God?" + +He was rather disappointed when Lisa told him that it was the railway +men who put it up, but then he thought again that it was very kind of +the railway men, and that it must have been God who taught them to be +so kind, which Lisa quite agreed in. But even though the little lamp +was very nice, Baby was very pleased to get out of the tunnel, and out +of the rumbly, rattly noise, into the open daylight again, with the +beautiful sun shining down at them out of the sky. For the day was +growing brighter as it went on, and the air was a little frosty, which +made everything look clear and fresh. + +"Nice sun," said Baby, glancing up at his old friend in the sky, "that's +the bestest lamp of all, isn't it? and it _were_ God put it up there." + +After that he must, I think, have taken a little nap in Lisa's arms +almost without knowing it, for he didn't seem to hear anything more or +to think where he was or anything, till all of a sudden he heard +mother's voice speaking. + +"Won't Baby have a sandwich, Lisa? And Denny, why, have you been asleep +too, Denny?" + +And sitting up on Lisa's knee, all rosy and dimpled with sleeping, his +fair curls in a pretty tumble about his eyes, Baby saw Denny, looking +very sleepy too, but trying hard to hide it. + +"Oh," she said, smoothing down her hair and sitting up very straight, +"I've been reading such a long time that my eyes got quite tired; that +was why I shut them." + +"Oh indeed!" said mother, but Baby could see that she was smiling at +Denny, though she didn't laugh right out like Fritz and Celia. + +They were all very happy, however, with their sandwiches and buns, and +after they had eaten as much as they wanted, auntie taught them a sort +of guessing game, which helped to pass the time, for already Denny and +Fritz were beginning to think even the big saloon carriage rather a +small room to spend a whole day in. + +They passed two or three big stations, and then they were allowed to get +out and walk up and down the platform a little, which was a nice change. +But Baby was so dreadfully afraid of any of them being left behind that +he could hardly be persuaded to get out at all, and once when he and +Lisa were waiting alone in the carriage while the others walked about, +and the train moved on a little way to another part, he screamed so +loudly-- + +"Oh, mother, oh, auntie, oh, ganfather, and Celia, and Fritz, and Denny! +All, all is left behind!"--that there was quite a commotion in the +station, and when the train moved back again, and they all got in, he +was obliged to kiss and hug each one separately, several times over, +before he could feel quite sure he had them all safe and sound, and +that "not nobody" was missing. + +It seemed a long time after it got dark, even though the little lamp was +still lighted. But it was not light enough to see to read, and "the big +lamp up in the sky," as Baby said, "was _kite_ goned away." It puzzled +him very much how the sun could go away every night and come back every +morning, and the queerest thing of all was what Celia had told him--that +"away there," in the far-off country where they were going, there would +still be the same sun, the _very_ same sun, that they had seen every +morning peeping up behind the kitchen-garden wall, and whose red face +they had said good-night to on the winter evenings, as he slipped away +to bed down below the old elms in the avenue, where the rooks had their +nests. Somehow as Baby sat in his corner, staring out now and then at +the darkness through which they were whizzing, blinking up sometimes at +the little lamp shining faintly in the roof, there came before his mind +the pictures of all they had left behind; he seemed to see the garden +and the trees _so_ plain, and he thought how very, very quiet and lonely +it must seem there now, and Baby's little heart grew sad. He felt so +sorry for all the things they had left--the rabbits and the pussy most +of all, of course, but even for the dear old trees, and the sweet, +"denkle" flowers in the garden; even for the tables and chairs in the +house he felt sorry. + +"Him's poor little bed will be so cold and lonely," he said to himself. +"Him sinks going away is _werry_ sad." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BY LAND AND SEA + + "So the wind blew softly, + And the sun shone bright." + + +Grandfather had fixed that it would be best to go straight through at +once to the seaport, where, the next morning, they would find the +'normous boat waiting to take them over the sea. They had to pass +through London on the way, and, by the time they got to the big London +station, Baby was very tired--so white and quiet that mother was a +little frightened. + +"I almost wish," she said, "that we had fixed to stay all night in +London. Baby has never had a long railway journey before, since he was a +_real_ Baby, you know, and he is not very strong." + +She was speaking to auntie. It was just when they were getting near the +big London station. Auntie looked at Baby. He was lying on Lisa's knee +with his eyes shut, as if he were asleep, but he wasn't. He heard what +they said, and he was rather pleased at them talking about him. In +_some_ ways he was very fond of being made a fuss about. + +"He does look a little white shrimp," said auntie. "But then you know, +May, he is so fair. He looks more quickly white if he is tired than +other children. And he has been such a good little man all day--not one +bit of trouble. He is really a capital traveller--_ever_ so much quieter +than the others." + +She said these last few words in a low tone, not caring for the other +children to hear; but if she had spoken quite loud I don't think they +would have heard, and, indeed, it seemed as if they wanted to show that +auntie's words were true; for just at that moment there came such a +scream from Denny that everybody started up in a fright. + +What _could_ be the matter? everybody asked. + +"It's all Denny," said Fritz, in a great fuss. + +"It's not; it's all Fritz and Celia," said Denny. + +"It's both of them," said Celia. "Mother, I wish you wouldn't let them +be near each other. Denny put her hand into the dormice's cage when +Fritz wasn't looking, and she poked out Tim, who was just beginning to +come awake for the night, and she as nearly as _could_ be got his tail +pulled off, and then, when Fritz caught her, she screamed." + +"Fritz snipped my hand in the little door of the cage," sobbed Denny. +"And Celia always takes Fritz's part." + +Celia was beginning; to "answer back," when auntie stopped her by a +look--the children were sometimes rather afraid of auntie's "looks." + +"Dear me, young people," said grandfather from his end of the carriage, +"you might be peaceable for five minutes, and then we shall be in +London, and you shall have a good tea before we go on again." + +The children all grew quiet. They were glad to hear of tea, and they +were a little ashamed of themselves. Auntie moved over to their end of +the carriage. + +"Him would like some tea too, p'ease," said Baby, as she passed him, and +auntie patted his head. + +"They are all tired, I suppose," said mother; "but it really is too +silly, the way they quarrel about nothing." + +"Auntie," said Celia softly, "I think it was partly my fault. Denny and +Fritz asked me to tell them a story, and I wouldn't. It would have kept +them quiet." + +"Well, never mind now," said auntie. "You must all try and be very good +to-morrow. This is only the first day, you know. You can't be expected +to be very clever travellers yet. And the very first lesson to learn in +travelling is--do you know what?" + +"Not to lose your things?" said Celia. + +"To be ready in time?" said Fritz. + +"To sit still in the railway?" said Denny, rather meekly. + +"All those are very good things," said auntie; "but they're not _the_ +thing I was thinking of. It was _to keep your temper_." + +The children got rather red, but I don't think any one noticed, for +already the train was slackening, and in another minute or two they all +got out and were standing together on the bustling platform, dimly +lighted up by the gas lamps, which looked yellow and strange in the +foggy air of a London November evening. + +"Is zit London?" said Baby, and when Celia said "yes," he added rather +mournfully, "Him doesn't sink London's pitty at all." + + [Illustration: Poor little boys, for after all, Fritz himself wasn't + very big! They stood together hand in hand on the station platform, + looking, and feeling, rather desolate.--P. 84.] + +Poor little boys, for, after all, Fritz himself wasn't very big! They +stood together hand in hand on the station platform, looking, and +feeling, rather desolate. Lisa was busy helping with the rugs and +bags that had been in the carriage; mother and auntie, as well as +grandfather and Peters and the maid, were all busy about the luggage. + +"Stay there a moment, children," said somebody; but Denny had no idea of +staying anywhere. Off she trotted to have a look at the luggage too, and +Celia was half inclined to follow her, when her glance fell on her two +little brothers. + +"Celia," said Baby, catching hold of her, "don't go away too. Fritz is +taking care of him, but we _might_ be lostened." + +He spoke rather timidly, and Celia's heart was touched. She was a good +deal older than the others--nearly twelve--Fritz and Denny were very +near in age, and sometimes Celia was a little cross at mother for not +making difference enough, as she thought, and for keeping her still a +good deal in the nursery. Mother had her own good reasons, and it is not +always wise for big people to tell children their reasons, as Celia got +to know when she grew wiser and bigger herself. She sometimes spoke +rather crossly to the younger ones, and it made them a very little +afraid of her, but in her heart she was kind. Just now she stooped down +to kiss Baby. + +"Don't be frightened, poor old man," she said, "you won't be lost. Fritz +wouldn't let you be lost, would you, Fritz?" + +Fritz brightened up at that, as Celia had meant he should. He, too, had +been feeling a little strange and queer--the long journey and the +sleeping in the day, all so different from their life at home, had +rather upset him--but he would not have liked to say so! And now he was +quite pleased at Celia telling Baby that, of course, Fritz was big +enough to take care of him. It is so easy for children--bigger ones +above all--to please each other and give nice feelings, when they really +try to feel _with_ each other and _for_ each other. + +The little boys looked much happier a few minutes later, when they were +seated at tea in a comfortable corner of the refreshment room. +Grandfather had sent Peters on, as soon as they had got the luggage all +safe, to see that a table was placed for them by themselves. He, +himself, went off to get some real dinner, for, of course, it was not to +be expected that a gentleman, and especially an _old_ gentleman, would +be contented with tea, and bread and butter, and buns, however nice, +but, to the children's great pleasure, mother and auntie said _they_ +would far rather stay and have tea with the little people. + +"It is a good thing, isn't it, for them to stay with us?" said Fritz to +Celia, confidentially, "for we are none of us _very_ big, are we? And +you know we _might_ get lost somehow, as Baby says, though I wouldn't +say so to him for fear of frightening him, you know." + +"No, of course not," said Celia, and looking up she was pleased to see +mother smiling at her. Mother saw that Celia was trying to be kind and +helpful, and she did so like to see the way the little ones clung to +Celia when she was gentle. Mother must have been something like Baby in +her mind, I think, for when she looked at the boys sitting there in the +strange, big station-room, their little faces grave and rather tired +looking, a sort of sorry feeling came over _her_ too, as she thought of +the snug, cosy nursery at home, and the neat nursery tea, with the +pretty pink and white cups she had chosen, and the canaries and "Bully" +twittering in the window. Poor "calanies" and poor Bully! they didn't +know where they had got to! They had slept nearly all day, thinking, as +they were meant to think, that it was night, I suppose, but now they +must have given up thinking so, for they were fidgeting about in their +cages in an unhappy, restless sort of way. They had plenty of seed, and +Celia and Lisa took care that they should have fresh water, but still, +poor little things, they were not very happy. + +"Going away from their own home is really a trial for children," thought +mother. She was a little tired herself, and being tired makes +_everything_ seem the wrong way. + +But there was no help for it. They had all to make the best of things, +and to set off again in another train and be rattled away to the sea. It +was quite dark by now, of course, and it seemed very queer to start on +another journey with so little rest between. I think, however, once they +were all settled in the railway carriage, that the children slept the +most of the way; Baby, at any rate, knew nothing more till he woke up to +find himself in Lisa's arms, with a cold, fresh air--the air of the +sea--blowing in his face, and making him lift up his head and look about +him. + +"Where is him?" he said. "Is him in the 'normous boat?" + +"Not so, Herr Baby," said Lisa. "He shall first be undressed and have a +nice sleep all night in bed, to rest him well. Lie still, mine child, +and Lisa will keep you warm." + +"Him likes the wind," said Baby. "It blowed his eyes open; him is quite +awake now," and he tried to sit straight up in Lisa's arms. + +"Oh, Herr Baby, I cannot hold you so," said Lisa. + +"There is such a little way to go," said his mother, who was just +behind, "lie still, dear, as Lisa tells you." + +"Him would like to walk, him's legs is so 'tiff," said Baby. "P'ease let +him walk if it's such a little way!" + +His voice was so piteous that mother told Lisa to let him walk; they +were going from the station to the hotel, a very little way, as mother +had said. Lisa put Baby down on the ground; at first he really tumbled +over, his legs felt so funny, but with Lisa's hand he soon got his +balance again. It was a very dark night; they could not have seen their +way but for the lights of the station and the town. + +"What a dark countly zit is!" said Herr Baby. "Is there no moon in zit +countly? Denny says in her hymn 'the moon to shine by night,' is there +no moon 'cept in him's own countly?" + +"What are you chattering about, little man?" said auntie. + +"He's asking about the moon, auntie; he wants to know if there isn't +any moon here. He thinks we've left it behind at home," said Denny. + +A sort of roar from poor Baby interrupted her. + +"Oh, Denny, don't, _don't_ say that," he cried, "it makes him sink of +the labbits, and Thomas, and Jones, and the trees, and the flowers, and +him's dear little bed, and all the sings we'se leaved behind. Him +doesn't like you to speak of leaved behind." + +"_Poor_ Baby," said Denny, "I'm so sorry." She stooped down to kiss him, +but it was so dark it wasn't easy to find his mouth, and she only +managed to kiss the tip of his nose, which was as cold as a little +dog's. This made Herr Baby begin laughing, which was a good thing, +wasn't it? And he was so taken up in explaining to Lisa how funny it +felt when Denny kissed his nose, that he had not time to think of his +sorrows again till they were at the foot of the large flight of steps +leading up to the big hotel where they were to sleep. + +"Nice big house," said Baby, looking round; and as he caught sight of +some of the waiters running about, he asked Lisa if "them was new +servants instead of Thomas and Jones." + +"Him likes Thomas and Jones best," he went on, the corners of his mouth +going down again, so that Lisa was obliged to assure him the servants +were not going to be _instead_ of Thomas and Jones, they were all only +just going to stay one night at this big house, and to-morrow they would +set off in the great ship to cross the sea. + +The mention of the ship fortunately gave a new turn to Baby's thoughts; +and he allowed Lisa to take him upstairs and warm him well before a good +fire before she undressed him and put him to bed. The other children +thought it great fun to sleep in strange rooms, in beds quite unlike +those they had at home, and to have to hunt for their nightgowns and +brushes and sponges in two or three _wrong_ carpet bags before they came +to the right one; but Baby's spirits were rather depressed, and it was +not easy to keep him from crying in the sad little way he had when his +feelings were touched. + +"He is tired, poor little chap," said auntie, as she kissed him for +good-night. "It is ever so much later than he has ever been up before. +It is nearly ten." + +"Him _were_ up till ten o'clock on Kissmass," said Herr Baby, +brightening up. "Him were up _dedful_ late, till, till, p'raps till near +twenty o'clock." + +Auntie would have liked to laugh, but she took care not, for when Baby +was in this sort of humour there was no telling whether other people's +laughing might not make him take to crying, so she just said, + +"Indeed! That must have been _very_ late; well, go to sleep now, and +sleep till twenty o'clock to-morrow morning, if you like. We don't need +to start early," she added, turning to Lisa; and I think poor Lisa was +not sorry to hear it! + +If I were to go on telling you, bit by bit, all about the journey, and +everything that happened big and little, it would take a good while, and +I don't know that you would find it very interesting. Perhaps it is +better to take a jump, as people do in real big story books, and to go +on with Herr Baby's adventures a few days later, when he, and Denny, and +Fritz, and Celia, and Lisa, and mother, and auntie, and grandfather, and +the "bully," and the "calanies," and Tim, and Peepy-Snoozle, and Linley, +mother's maid, and Peters, grandfather's man, and I forget if there was +any one else, but I think not; and all the boxes and carpet-bags, and +railway-rugs, were safely arrived at Santino, the pretty little town +with mountains on one side and the sea on the other, where they were all +going to spend the winter. I must not forget to tell you one thing, +however, which, I daresay, some of you who may have crossed "over the +sea," and _not_ found it very delightful, may be anxious to know about. +I mean about the voyage in the 'normous boat, which Baby had been so +looking forward to, poor little fellow. + +Well, wasn't it lucky, he was not at all disappointed? They had the +loveliest day that ever was seen, and Baby thought 'normous boats far +the nicest way of travelling, and he couldn't understand why grandfather +couldn't make them go all the way to Santino in the nice boat, and when +they explained to him that it couldn't be, because there was no sea for +boats to go on all the way, he thought there must have been some great +mistake in the way the world was made. And when they got to Santino, and +the first thing he saw _was_ the sea, blue and beautiful like a fairy +dream, Baby was quite startled. + +"Mother, auntie!" he said, reproachfully, "you toldened him there +weren't no sea." + +"We didn't mean that, Baby, dear," said mother; "we meant that there was +no sea to come the shortest way; we would have had to come all round the +land, and it would have been much longer. Look, it is like this," and +mother traced with her parasol a sort of map on the sand, to show Baby +that they had come a much nearer way. For they were standing by the +sea-shore at the time. + +"Yes," said Herr Baby, after looking on without speaking for a minute or +two, "him under'tands now." + +"So you've had your first lesson in geography," said auntie. + +Baby stared up at her. + +"Are _that_ jography?" he said. "Him thought jography were awful, dedful +difficult. Denny is so _werry_ c'oss when her has jography to learn." + +"Oh, because, of course, you know," said Denny, getting rather red, +"_my_ jography is _real_ jography, with books and maps and ever so long +rows of names to learn. Baby's so stupid--he always takes up things so; +he'll be thinking now that if he makes marks on the sand, he'll be +learning jography." + +Denny turned away with a very superior air. Baby looked much hurt. + + [Illustration: "Are _that_ jography?" he said.--P. 94.] + +"Him's not stupid, _are_ him?" he said; and in a moment Celia and Fritz +were hugging him and calling Denny a naughty, unkind girl to tease him. +Mother and auntie had walked on a little, so things _might_ have gone on +to a quarrel if Lisa hadn't stopped it. + +"Mine children," she said, "it is too pity to be not friendly together. +See what one beautifullest place this is--sky so blue and sea so blue, +and all so bright and sunny. One should be nothing but happy here." + +"Yes," said Celia, looking round, "it is an awfully pretty place." + +Celia, you see, was just beginning to be old enough to notice really +beautiful things in a way that when children are _very_ little, they +cannot quite understand, though some do much more than others. + +"It is a _very_ pretty place," she said again, as if she were speaking +to herself, for Fritz and Denny had taken it into their heads to run +races, of which Lisa was very glad, and Celia stood still by herself, +looking round at the lovely sea and sky, and the little white town +perched up above, with the mountains rising behind. Suddenly a little +hand was slipped into hers. + +"Him would like to live here everways," said Baby's voice; "it _are_ so +pitty--somefin like Heaven, p'raps." + +"I don't know," said Celia, "I suppose Heaven must be prettier than +anything we could fancy." + +"There's gold streets in Heaven, Lisa says," said Baby; "him sinks blue +sky streets would be much pittier." + +"So do I," said Celia. + +Then they walked on a little, watching Fritz and Denny, already like two +black specks in front--they had run on so far--and, somehow, in the +_very_ bright sunshine, one seemed to see less clearly. Mother and +auntie were in front too, and when Fritz and Denny raced back again, +quite hot and out of breath, mother said it was time for them all to go +in; it was still rather too hot to be out much near the middle of the +day, though it was already some way on in November, and next month would +be the month that Christmas comes in! + +"How funny it seems," said Celia. "Why, when we left home it was quite +winter. Just think how we were wrapped up when we started on the +journey, and now we're quite warm enough with nothing at all over our +frocks." + +"It may be cold enough before long," said mother, who was more +accustomed to hot climates than the children; "sometimes the cold +hereabouts comes quite suddenly, and it even seems colder from having +been so warm before. I daresay you will be glad of your thick clothes +before Christmas. But we must get on a little quicker, or else +grandfather will be in a hurry for his breakfast." + +"Ganfather's werry lazy not to have had him's breakfast yet," said +Baby. "_Him's_ had _him's_ breakfast ever so long ago, hundreds of years +ago." + +"Oh, Baby," said Denny, "how you do 'saggerate! It _couldn't_ have been +hundreds of years ago, because, you know, you weren't born then." + +"Stupid girl!" said Baby, "how does you know? you wasn't there." + +"Well, _you_ weren't there," said Denny again. + +"Children, don't contradict each other. It's not nice," said auntie. + +"Him didn't begin," said Baby, "t'were Denny beginned." + +"I didn't. I only said _once_ that Baby wasn't born hundreds of years +ago," said Denny, "and then he----" + +"Onst is as wurst as twicet," said Baby. + +Mother turned round at this. There was a funny look on her face, but +still she spoke rather gravely. + +"Baby, I don't know what's coming over you," she said. "It isn't like +you to speak like that." + +Baby's face grew red, and he turned his head away. + +"Him didn't mean _zeally_ that ganfather were lazy," he said, in a low +voice. + +"It wasn't _that_ I was vexed with you for," said mother. "I know you +were joking when you said that. I meant what you said to Denny." + +"Him's werry sorry," said Baby, on the point of tears. + +"Never mind. Don't cry about it," said mother, who really wanted the +children to be very good and happy this first day. And she was a little +afraid of Baby's beginning to cry, for, _sometimes_, once he had begun, +it was not very easy to stop him. + +"You don't understand about grandfather and his breakfast," said auntie. +"Here nobody has big breakfast when they first get up except you +children, who have the same that you have at home." + +"No we don't," said Denny. "At home we have bread and milk every day +except Sunday--on Sunday we have bacon or heggs, because that's the +nothing-for-breakfast day." + +Auntie stared at Denny. + +"Really, Denny," she said, "it is sometimes a little difficult to be +sure that you have got all your senses. How can you have 'nothing for +breakfast' when you have bacon, and--who in the world ever taught you to +say 'heggs'?" + +"I meant to say 'neggs,'" said Denny very humbly. "Grandfather laughed +at me because I didn't say 'hippotamus' right--I called it a +'nippotamus,' and he made me say 'hi-hi-hip,' and that's got me into the +way of saying it to everything, like calling a negg, a hegg." + +"A _negg_," repeated auntie slowly. "Can't you hear any difference +between 'a negg,' and 'an egg'? Spell, a-n an, e-g-g egg." + +Denny repeated it. + +"What dedful jography Denny's having," observed Baby; "I can say _a +negg, quite_ right." + +"And so you too call 'a negg' nothing for breakfast?" said auntie. + +"Neggs and bacon is nothing for breakfast," answered Baby. + +"Auntie," said Fritz, "you don't understand. We call it nothing for +breakfast when there's not bread-and-milk, you know, for on +bread-and-milk days we have just one little cup of tea and a bit of +bread-and-butter after the bread-and-milk. But on Sundays, and +birthdays, there's nothing for the _first_, and so we get better things, +more like big people, and tea, and whatever there is, as soon as we +begin. That's why we like 'nothing for breakfast,' do you see, auntie?" + +"I see," said auntie, "but I certainly couldn't have guessed. I hope +there's _something_ for breakfast to-day for us, for I'm very hungry, +and look, there's grandfather coming out to meet us, which looks as if +he were hungry too. And what have you to say to it, old man?" she added, +as Herr Baby came up the steps, one foot at a time, of course, "aren't +you hungry after your walk?" + +"Him's hungry for him's _dinner_, but not for him's _breakfast_; in +course not," said Baby, with great dignity. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN OLD SHOP AND AN OGRE + + "Innocent face with the sad sweet eyes, + Smiling on us through the centuries." + + +Baby and Fritz went out a walk that afternoon in the town with auntie +and Lisa. Celia and Denny had gone for a drive with mother and +grandfather, which the big people thought would make a good division. +Grandfather was very fond of children, but in a carriage, he used to +say, _two_ small people were enough of a good thing. So Celia and Denny +worried Lisa to get out their best hats and jackets--which were not +unpacked, as grandfather had not yet decided whether they should stay at +the hotel or get a house for themselves--and set off in great spirits on +the back seat of the carriage. + +Fritz and Baby were in very good spirits too. Fritz wanted to walk along +the sort of front street of the town which faced the sea, for he was +never tired of looking at boats and ships. Baby liked them too, but what +he most wanted to see was the shops. Baby was very fond of shops. He was +fond of buying things, but before he bought anything he used to like to +be quite sure which was the best shop to get it at--I mean to say at +which shop he could get it best--and he often asked the price two or +three times before he fixed. And he had never before seen so many shops +or such pretty and curious ones as there were at Santino, so he was +quite delighted, though if you hadn't known him well you would hardly +have guessed it, for he trotted along as grave as a little judge, only +staring about him with all his eyes. + +And indeed there were plenty of things to stare at. Fritz's tongue went +very fast. He wanted auntie to stop every minute to look at something +wonderful. The carts drawn by oxen pleased him and Baby very much. + +"That's the working cows they told us about," said Fritz. "They're very +nice, but I think I like horses best, don't you, Baby?" + +"No, him likes cows best," said Baby, "when him's a man him will have a +calliage wif hundreds of cows to pull it along, and wif lots and lots of +gold bells all tinkling. Won't that be lubly?" + +"Not half so nice as a lot of ponies, all with bells," said Fritz, +"they'd make ever so much more jingling, 'cos they go so fast. Isn't it +funny to see all the women with handkerchers on their heads and no +bonnets, Baby?" + +"When him's a man," said Baby again--he was growing more talkative +now--"when him's a man, him's going to have auntie and Lisa," auntie and +Lisa came first, of course, because they happened to be in his sight, +"and mother, and Celia, and Denny _all_ for his wifes, and them shall +all wear most bootly hankerwifs on them's heads, red and blue and pink +and every colour, and gold--lots of gold." + +"Thank you," said auntie, "but by that time my hair, for one, will be +quite gray; I shall be quite an old woman. I don't think such splendid +trappings would suit me." + +"Him said _handkerwifs_, not traps--him doesn't know what traps is," +said Baby. "And him will be werry kind to you when you're old. Him will +always let you come in and warm yourself, and give you halfpennies." + +"Thank you, dear, I'm sure you will," said auntie. But she and Fritz +looked at each other. That was one of Herr Baby's ideas, and they +couldn't get him to understand, so mother settled it was better to +leave it and he'd understand of himself when he grew bigger. He thought +that _everybody_, however rich and well off they might be, had to grow +quite, quite poor, and to beg for pennies in the streets before they +died. Wasn't it a funny fancy? It was not till a good while afterwards +that mother found out that what had made him think so was the word +"old." He couldn't understand that growing old could mean only growing +old in years--he thought it meant as well, poor and worn-out, like his +own little old shoes. Just now it would have been no good trying to +explain, even if mother had quite understood what was in his mind, which +she didn't till he told her himself long after. For it only made him cry +when people tried to explain and _he_ couldn't explain what he meant. +There was nothing vexed him so much! And I think there was something +rather nice mixed up with this funny idea about getting old. It made +Baby wish to be so kind to all poor old people. He would look at any +poor old beggar in such a strange sad way, and he always _begged_ to be +allowed to give them a penny. And, though no one knew of it, in his own +mind he was thinking that his dear little mother or his kind auntie +would be like that some day, and he would like rich little boys to be +kind to them then, just as he was now to other poor old people. Of +course, he said to himself, "If _him_ sees dear little mother and auntie +when they get old, _him_ will take care of them and let them rest at his +house every time they come past, but _p'raps_ him might be far away +then." + +And sometimes, when grandfather spoke about getting old and how white +his hair was growing, Baby would look at him very gravely, for in his +own mind he was wondering if the time was very soon coming for poor +grandfather to be an old beggar-man. Baby thought it _had_ to be, you +see, he thought it was just what must come to everybody. + +Just as auntie and he had finished talking about getting old they turned +a corner and went down a street which led them away from the view of the +sea. This street had shops at both sides, and some of them were very +pretty, but they were not the kind of shops that the little boys cared +much for--they were mostly dressmakers' and milliners' and shawl shops. +Lots of grand dresses and hats and bonnets were to be seen, which would +have pleased Celia and Denny perhaps, but which Fritz said were very +stupid. Auntie did not seem to care for them either--she was in a hurry +to go to an office where she was going to ask about a house that might +do for them. So she walked on quickly, as quickly at least as Baby's +short legs could go, for she held him by the hand, and Fritz and Lisa +came behind. They left this street in a minute and crossed through two +or three others before auntie could find the one she wanted. Suddenly +Baby gave her a tug. + +"Oh auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute. Him sees shiny glass jugs +like dear little mother's. Oh, do 'top." + +Auntie stopped. They were passing what is called an old curiosity shop; +it was a funny looking place, seeming very crowded even though it was a +large shop, for it was so very full of all sorts of queer things. Some +among them were more queer than pretty, but some were very pretty too, +and in one corner of the window there were several jugs, and cups, and +bottles, and such things, of very fine glass, with the same sort of +soft-coloured shine on it that Baby remembered in the two jugs that he +had pulled down in the tiny trunk. Baby's eyes had spied them out at +once. + + [Illustration: "Oh, auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute. + Him sees shiny glass jugs like dear little mother's. Oh, do + 'top."--P. 106.] + +"Look, look, auntie," he said, again gently tugging her. + +"Yes, Baby dear, very pretty," said auntie, but without paying much +attention to the glass, for she was not thinking of Baby's adventure in +the pantry at the moment, and did not know what jugs of his mother's he +meant. + +"There is two _just_ like mother's," said Baby, but he spoke lower now, +almost as if he were speaking to himself. An idea had come into his mind +which he had hardly yet understood himself, and he did not want to speak +of it to any one else. He just stood at the window staring in, his two +eyes fixed on the glass jugs, and the great question he was saying to +himself was, "How many pennies would they cost?" + +"Them's a little smaller, him sinks," he murmured, "but p'raps mother +wouldn't mind." + +It was a mistake of his that they were smaller; they were really a +little larger than the broken ones. Besides Baby had never seen the +broken ones till they _were_ broken. One of them had been much less +smashed than the other, and mother had examined it to see if it could +possibly be mended so as to look pretty as an ornament, even though it +would never do to hold water, and, when she found nothing could be done, +she had told Thomas to keep the top part of it as a sort of pattern, in +case she ever had a chance of getting the same. I think I forgot to +explain this to you before, and you may have wondered how Baby knew so +well what the jugs had been like. + +"Them is a little smaller," he said again to himself. He did not +understand that things often look smaller when they are among a great +many others of the same kind, and though there was not a very great deal +of the shiny glass in the shop window, there was enough to make it +rather a wonder that such a little boy as Baby had caught sight of the +two jugs at all, for they were behind the rest. He had time to look at +them well, for, though auntie had been rather in a hurry, she, too, +stood still in front of the shop, for something had caught her eyes too. + +"How _very_ pretty, how sweet!" she said to herself, "I wish I could +copy it. It seems to me beautifully done," and when Fritz, who had not +found the shop so interesting as the others had done, in his turn gave +her a tug and said, "Auntie, aren't you coming?" she pointed out to him +what it was she was so pleased with. + +"Isn't it sweet, Fritz?" said auntie. + +"Yes," said Fritz, "but it's rather dirty, auntie, isn't it?" + +Fritz was very, what is called, _practical_. The "it" that auntie was +speaking about was an old picture, hanging up on the wall at the side of +the door. It was the portrait of a little girl, a very little girl, of +not more than three or four years old. She had a dear little face, sweet +and bright, and yet somehow a very little sad, or else it was the +long-ago make of the dress, and the faded look of the picture itself, +beside the baby-like face that made it _seem_ sad. You couldn't help +thinking the moment you saw it, "Dear me, that little girl must be a +very old woman by now or most likely she must be dead!" I think it was +that that made one feel sad on first looking at the picture, for, after +all, the face _was_ bright and happy-looking: the rosy, roguish, little +mouth was smiling, the soft blue eyes had a sort of twinkling fun in +them, though they were so soft, and the fair hair, so fair that it +almost seemed white, drawn up rather tight in an old-fashioned way, fell +back again on one side as if little Blue-eyes had just been having a +good run. And one fat, dimpled shoulder was poked out of the prim white +frock in a way that, I daresay, had rather shocked the little girl's +mother when the painter first showed her his work, for our little, old, +great-great-grandfathers' and great-great-grandmothers', children, must +have had to sit very, very still in their very best and stiffest frocks +and suits when their pictures were painted, poor little things! They +were not so lucky as you are nowadays, who have only to go to the +photograph man's for half an hour, and keep your merry faces still for a +quarter of a minute, if your mothers want to have a picture of you! + +But Blue-eyes must have had some fun when _her_ picture was painted, I +think, or else that little shoulder wouldn't have got leave to poke +itself out of its sleeve, and there wouldn't have been that mischievous +look about the comers of her mouth. + +"_Isn't_ it a little dirty, auntie?" said Fritz. + +"Wouldn't your face look a little dirty if it had been hanging up in a +frame for over a hundred years?" said auntie, laughing, at which Fritz +looked rather puzzled. + +Then auntie's eyes went back to the picture again. + +"It _is_ sweet," she said, "very, very sweet, and so perfectly natural." + +All this time, as I told you, Herr Baby's whole mind had been given to +the shiny glasses. Suddenly the sound of his aunt's voice caught his +ear, and he looked up. + +"What is it that is so 'weet, auntie?" he said. + +"The picture over there, dear. Hanging up by the door. The little girl." + +Baby looked up, and in a moment his eyes brightened. + +"Oh, what a _dear_ little baby!" he said. "Oh, her _is_ 'weet! Auntie, +him would so like to kiss her." + +"You darling!" said auntie, her glance turning from the sweet picture +face above to the sweet living face beside her. "I wonder if you will +ever learn to paint like that, Baby. _I_ should very much like to copy +it if I could have the loan of it. It would be sure to be very dear to +buy," she added to herself. "But we must hurry, my little boys," she +went on. "I was tempted to waste time admiring the picture, but we must +be quick." + +Fritz and Lisa turned away with auntie, but Baby waited one moment +behind. He pressed his face close against the shop window and whispered +softly, + +"Pitty little girl, him would like to kiss you. Him will come a 'nother +day. P'ease, pitty little girl, don't let nobody take away the shiny +glasses, for him wants to buy them for mother." + +Then, quite satisfied, he trotted down the street after the others, who +were waiting for him a few doors off. + +"Were you saying good-bye to the picture, Baby?" said auntie, smiling. + +"Yes," said Baby gravely. + +Auntie soon found the office where she was to hear about the house they +were thinking of taking. The little boys stood beside her and listened +gravely while she asked questions about it, though they couldn't +understand what was said. + +"Him wishes the people in this countly wouldn't talk lubbish talk," said +Herr Baby to Fritz with a sigh. "Him would so like to know what them +says." + +"_I_ want to know if we're going to have a house with a garden," said +Fritz. "That's all _I_ care about," and as soon as they were out in the +street again, he asked auntie if "the man" had said there was a garden +to the house. + +"There are several houses that I have to tell your grandfather about," +said auntie. "Some have gardens and some haven't, but the one we like +the best has a garden, though not a very big one." + +"Not as big as the one at home?" said Fritz. + +"Oh dear no, of course not," said auntie. "It is quite different here +from at home. People only come to stay a short time, they wouldn't care +to be troubled with big gardens." + +"I don't mind," said Fritz amiably, "if only it's big enough for us to +have a corner to dig in, and somewhere to play in when Lisa's in a fussy +humour." + +"Mine child," said Lisa mildly. Poor Lisa, she was not a very fussy +person! Indeed she was rather too easy for such lively young people as +Fritz and Denny. + +"And do you want a garden, too, very much, Baby?" said auntie. + +Baby had hardly heard what they were saying. His mind was still running +on the shiny jugs and the blue-eyed little girl. + +"Him wants gate lots of pennies," he said, which didn't seem much of an +answer to auntie's question. + +"Lots of pennies, my little man," said auntie. "What do you want lots of +pennies for?" + +But Baby would not tell. + +Just then they saw coming towards them in the street two very funny +looking men. They had no hats or caps on their heads, so the children +could see that they had no hair either, at least none on the top, where +it was shaved quite off, and only a sort of fringe all round left. Then +they had queer loose brown coats, with big capes, something like +grandfather's Inverness cloak, Fritz thought, and silver chains hanging +down at their sides, and, queerest of all, no stockings or proper boots +or shoes, only things like the _soles_ of shoes strapped on to their +bare feet. These were called sandals, auntie said, and she told the boys +that these funny looking men were monks, "Franciscans," she said they +were called. They all lived together, and they never kept any money, and +people said--but auntie thought that was not quite true--that they never +washed themselves. + +"Nasty dirty men," said Fritz, making a face. "I shouldn't like to be a +Franciscan." + +"Not in winter, Fritz?" said Baby. "Him wouldn't mind in winter when the +water _are_ so cold. Lisa," he went on, turning round to his nurse, +"'member--when the _werry_ cold mornings comes, him's going to be a +Frantisker--will you 'member, Lisa?" + +"But what about the pennies?" said auntie, laughing. "If you are a +Frantisker, Baby, you won't have any pennies, and you said just now you +wanted a great lot of pennies." + +Baby looked very grave. + +"Then him won't be a Frantisker," he said decidedly. + +After that he spoke very little all the way home. He had a great deal on +his mind, you see. And his last thought that night as he was falling +asleep was, "Him are so glad him asked the little pitty girl to take +care of the shiny jugs." + +Funny little Herr Baby! How much was fancy, how much was earnest in his +busy baby mind, who can tell? + +A few days after this, they all moved from the Hotel to the pretty house +with a garden which auntie had gone to ask about. It _was_ a pretty +house. I wish I could show it to you, children! It had not only a garden +but a terrace, and this terrace overlooked the sea, the blue sunny sea +of the south. And from one side, or from a little farther down in the +garden, one could see the white-capped mountains, rising, rising up into +the sky, with sometimes a soft mist about their heads which made them +seem even higher than they were, "high enough to peep into heaven," said +Baby; and sometimes, on very clear days, standing out sharply against +the blue behind, so that one could hardly believe it would take more +than a few minutes to run to the top and down again. + +There were many interesting things in this garden--things that the +children had not had in the old garden at home, nice though it was. It +was not so beautifully neat as the flower part of the garden at home, +but I do not think the children liked it any the less for that. The +trees and bushes grew so thickly that down at the lower end it was +really like a wilderness, a most lovely place for hide-and-seek. Then +there was a fountain, a real fountain, where the water actually danced +and fell all day long; and all round the windows of the house and the +trellised balcony there were the most lovely red shaded leaves, such as +one never sees in such quantities in the north. And in among the stones +of the terrace there lived lizards--the most delightful lizards. One in +particular grew so friendly that he used to come out at meal-times to +drink a little milk which the children spilt for him on purpose; for the +day nursery, or school-room, as Celia liked it to be called, opened on +to the terrace too, though at the other end from the two drawing-rooms +and grandfather's "study," and the windows were long and low, opening +like doors, so that Lisa had hard work to keep the children quiet at +table the first few days, for every minute they were jumping up to see +some new wonder that they caught sight of. Altogether it was a very +pretty home to spend the winter in, and every one seemed very happy. +Bully and the "calanies" were as merry as larks, if it is true that +larks are merrier than other birds, and Peepy-Snoozle and Tim, +mistaking the bright warm sunshine for another summer, I suppose, got in +the habit of being quite lively about the middle of the day as well as +in the middle of the night, instead of spending all the daylight hours +curled up like two very sleepy fairy babies with brown fur coats on, in +their nice white cotton-wool nests. + +There was so much to do and to think of the first few days that I think +Baby forgot a little about what he had seen in the old curiosity shop. +Auntie, too, was too busy to give any thought to the picture which had +so taken her fancy, though neither she nor Baby _really_ forgot the dear +little face with its loving, half-merry, half-sad blue eyes. But auntie +had to help mother to get everything settled; and of course there was a +good deal to explain to the strange servants, for neither Peters nor +Linley the maid knew "lubbish talk," as Baby _would_ call it, at all, +and it was very funny indeed to hear Peters trying to make the cook +understand how grandfather liked his cutlets, or Linley "pounding" at +the housemaid, as Fritz called it, to get it into her head that _she_ +didn't call it _cleaning_ a room to sweep all the dirt into a corner +where it couldn't be seen! Peters was more patient than Linley. When +Linley couldn't make herself understood she used to shout louder and +louder, as if that would make the others know what she meant, and then +she used to say to Celia that it really was "a _very_ hodd thing that +the people of this country seemed not to have all their senses." And +however Celia explained to her, she _couldn't_ be got to see that she +must seem just as stupid to them as they seemed to her! Peters was less +put about. He had been in India with grandfather, so he said he was used +to "furriners." He seemed to think everybody that wasn't English could +be put together as "furriners"; but he had brought a dictionary and a +book of little sentences in four languages, and he would sit on the +kitchen table patiently trying one language after another on the poor +cook, just as when one can't open a lock, one tries all the keys one can +find, to see if by chance one will fit. The cook was a very mild, gentle +man; he had a nice wife and two little children in the town, and he was +inclined to be very fond of Herr Baby, and to pet him if ever he got a +chance. But that wasn't for a good while, for Baby was at first terribly +frightened of him. He had a black moustache and whiskers and very black +eyes, and they looked blacker under his square white cook's cap, and the +first time Baby saw him through the kitchen window, the cook happened +to be standing with a large carving-knife in one hand, and a chicken +which he was holding up by the legs, in the other. Off flew Herr Baby. A +little way down the garden he ran against Denny, who was also busy +examining their new quarters. + +"Oh, Denny, Denny!" he cried, "this is a dedful place--there's a' ogre, +a real tellable ogre in the house. Him's seen him in one of the windows +under the dimey-room. Oh, Denny, Denny, p'raps him'll eaten us up." + +Denny for the first moment was, to tell the truth, a little bit +frightened herself. Common sense told her there _were_ no such things as +ogres, not now-a-days any way, at least not in England, their own +country. But a dreadful idea struck her that this was _not_ England; +this might be one of the countries where ogres, like wolves and bears, +were still occasionally to be found. There was no telling, certainly; +but not for a good deal would Miss Denise Aylmer, a young lady of nine +years old _past_, have owned to being frightened as long as she could +possibly help it. + +She caught Baby by the hand. + +"What sall we do?" he said; "sall we go and tell mother?" + +Denny considered. + +"We'd better go and see again," she said very bravely. "You must have +made a mistake, I think, Baby dear. I don't _think_ there can be any +ogres here." + +Baby was much struck by Denny's courage. His hand slipped back a very +little out of hers. + +"Will _you_ go and see, Denny?" he said. "Him will stay here till you +comes back." + +"Oh, no, you'd better come with me," said Denny, who felt that even Baby +was better than nobody. "I shouldn't know where you saw the ogre," and +she kept tight hold of his hand. "Which window was it?" + +"It were at a tiny window _really_ under the ground. Him was peeping to +see if there was f'owers 'side of the wall," said Baby. "Him'll show +you, Denny; him _are_ so glad you isn't f'ightened." + +They set off down the path, making their way rather cautiously as they +got near the house. Suddenly Denny felt Baby squeeze her hand more +tightly, and with a sort of scream he turned round and hid his face +against her. + +"There! There!" he cried. "Him sees the ogre coming." + + [Illustration: Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed, + white-capped man came towards them smiling.--P. 121.] + +Denny looked up. She saw a rather little man with a white apron and a +white cap, carrying a couple of cackling hens or chickens in his arms, +coming across the garden from the house. He was on his way to a little +sort of poultry-yard, where he had fastened up half-a-dozen live +chickens he had bought at the market that morning, meaning to kill two +of them for dinner, but finding them not so fat as he had expected, he +was putting them back among their friends for a day or two. Very like a +_real_ ogre, if Denny and Baby had understood all about it, which they +didn't. Denny herself, for a minute or two, felt puzzled as to who this +odd-looking man could be. But he was no _ogre_, that was certain, any +way. + +"Don't be frightened, Baby, it's not a' ogre," she said. "Look up, he's +far too little." + +Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed, white-capped man +came towards them smiling. + +"Bon jour, Mademoiselle, bon jour, Monsieur Bébé," he said, looking +quite pleased. And then he stroked down the ruffled feathers of the poor +chickens, and held them out to the two children, chattering away at a +great rate in Baby's "lubbish talk," hardly a word of which they +understood. + +"Can he be wanting to sell the chickens?" said Denny. + +The cook, who had before this lived with families from England, +understood the children's language better than they did his, which, +however, is not saying a great deal. + +"Yes, Mees, pairfectly," he said. "Me sell zem at ze marché the morning. +Fine poulets, goot poulets, not yet strong--wait one, two, 'ree days--be +strong for one grand dinner for Madame." + +"Who are you? What's your name, please?" said Denny, still a little +alarmed. + +"Jean-Georges, Mademoiselle," said the little man, with a bow. +"Jean-Georges compose charming plates for Mademoiselle and Monsieur +Bébé. Jean-Georges loves little messieurs and little 'demoiselles. +Madame permit Monsieur and Mademoiselle visit Jean-Georges in his +cuisine one day." + +Denny caught the word "cuisine," which, of course, children, you will +know means "kitchen." + +"He's the cook, Baby," she said, with great relief; "don't you remember +grandfather said he must have a man cook? Good morning, Mr. Cook, we'll +ask mother to let us go and see you one day in your kitchen, and you +must make us very nice things to eat, please Mr. Cook." + +"Pairfectly, Mademoiselle," said Jean-Georges, with as magnificent a +bow as he could manage, considering the two chickens in his arms, and +then he walked away. + +"What a _very_ nice man!" said Denny, feeling very proud of herself, and +quite forgetting that she, too, had not been without some fears. "You +see, Baby dear, how foolish it is to be frightened. I _told_ you there +couldn't be any ogres here." + +Herr Baby did not answer for a moment. He had certainly very much +admired Denny's courage, but still he wasn't quite sure that she had not +been a _very_ little afraid, just for a minute, when he had called out +"There he is!" + +"What would you have done if there _had_ been a' ogre, Denny?" he said. + +"Oh, bother," said Denny, "what's the good of talking about things that +_couldn't_ be? Talk of something sensible, Baby." + +Baby grew silent again. They walked on slowly down the garden path. + +"Denny," said Baby, in a minute or two, "didn't the little man say +somefin about mother having a party?" + +Denny pricked up her ears at this. Parties of all kinds pleased her very +much. + +"Did he?" she said, "I didn't notice. He said something about Madame's +dinner, but I didn't think he meant a dinner-_party_. Perhaps he did +though. We'll ask. I'd like mother to have some parties; it seems quite +a long time since I had one of my best frocks on to come down to the +drawing-room before dinner, the way we did at home. And I know mother +and auntie have friends here. I heard that stupid little footman asking +Linley what day 'Miladi' would 'receive,' that means have visitors, +Baby." + +Denny's tongue had run on so fast, that it had left Baby's wits some way +behind. They had stopped short at the first idea of a party. + +"Mother likes to make _werry_ pitty dinners when she has parties," he +said. "Mother told him that were why she were so solly when him breaked +her's pitty glasses." + +"I don't know what you're talking about, Baby," said Denny. "Let's have +a race. I'll give you a start." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BABY'S SECRET + + "'Pussy, only you I'll tell, + For you can keep secrets well; + Promise, pussy, not a word.' + Pussy reared her tail and purred." + + +There was a cat at the Villa Désirée, Baby's, and Denny's, and "all of +them's house," as Baby would have called it. Where the cat came from I +don't know--whether it belonged to the villa and let itself out with it +every winter, like the furniture, or whether it was really the cat of +Madame Jean-Georges, and had followed Monsieur Jean-Georges back one +evening when he had been home to see his "good friend" (that was what he +called his wife), and his two "bébés," is what I cannot tell. I only +know the cat was there, and that when Baby could get a chance of playing +with it he was very pleased. He didn't often have a chance, in his own +room, for "Mademoiselle," as Celia was always called by the new +servants, a title which she thought much nicer than "Miss Aylmer," or +"Miss Celia," _Mademoiselle_, said "the stupid little footman," had +given strict orders that "Minet" was not to be allowed upstairs for fear +of the "pets," the "calanies," and the Bully, and Peepy-Snoozle, and +Tim, all of whom would have been very much to Minet's taste, I fear. It +was very funny to see the way the little footman went "shoo-ing" at the +poor cat the moment Celia appeared, for Celia had rather grand manners +for her age, and the servants thought her very "distinguished," +especially the stupid little footman. But Herr Baby was very sorry for +poor Minet; he had no particular pet of his own here, nothing to make up +for his "labbits," and so he took a great fancy to the pussy. + +"Poor little 'weet darling," he would call it; "Celia's a c'uel girl to +d'ive Minet away, _Minet_ wouldn't hurt the calanies, or the Bully, or +the sleepy-mouses; Minet is far too good." + +"Pray, how do _you_ know, Baby?" Celia would say. "Cats are cats all the +world over, every one knows that." + +"_Minet_ aren't," Baby would have it, "Minet has suts a kind heart. Him +asked Minet if her would hurt the calanies and the sleepy-mouses, and +her said 'no, sairtingly not.'" + +"Baby!" said Denny, "what stories! Cats can't talk. You shouldn't tell +stories." + +"Minet can talk," said Baby. "When him asks for somefin, her says +'proo-proo-oo,' and that means 'yes,' and if her means 'no,' her humps +up her back and s'akes her tail. When him asked Minet if her would like +to hurt the calanies, her humped up her back _never_ so high, and sook +and _sook_ her tail, for no, _no_, NO!" + +Celia could not find an answer to this. Baby went on stroking Minet with +great satisfaction, as if there was nothing more to be said. + +"All the same," said Celia at last, "I don't want Minet to come +upstairs. She's quite as happy downstairs, and, you see, it would +_frighten_ the birds and the dormice if they saw her, for _they_ +mightn't understand that she wouldn't, on any account, hurt them." + +"Werry well," said Baby, and he went on playing with his new pet. + +"Herr Baby," said Lisa coming into the room a moment or two later; "mine +child, how is it that your coat is so dirty? All green, Herr Baby, as if +you had rubbed it on the wet grass." + +"It's with his poking in among the bushes by the kitchen window," said +Denny of the ready tongue; "yesterday, you know, Baby, when you +thought----" + +"Hush," said Baby, "don't talk to me. You distairb me and the cat--we'se +busy." + +Denny and Lisa looked at each other and smiled. + +"Pussy, pitty pussy, dear Minet," went on Baby, who wanted to stop +Denny's account of his fears. + +"We're going out, Herr Baby," said Lisa. "There are commissions for your +lady mamma. We are to go to the patissier and----" + +"Who are the pattyser?" said Baby. + +"The cumfectioner," said Denny. + +Baby pricked up his ears. + +"We are to go to the patissier," said Lisa, "to order some cakes for +Miladi for to-morrow, when Miladi's friends come to dine; and perhaps we +will buy some little cake for Herr Baby's tea. Come, mine child, leave +Minet, and come." + +Herr Baby got up from the corner of the room where he had been embracing +the cat; there was a grave look on his face, but he did not say anything +till he was out on the road with Lisa. Denny was not with them; she had +got leave to go a walk with Celia and the lady who came every day to +give her French lessons, which Denny thought much more grand than going +out with Baby and Lisa. + +"Lisa," said Baby, after a few minutes, "are mother going to have a +party?" + +"Not one very big party," said Lisa, "just some Miladis and some +Herren--some genkelmen--to dine." + +"Will it look very pitty?" asked Baby. + +"Not so pretty as at _home_," said Lisa, who, now that she was away from +it, of course looked upon The Manor--that was the name of "home"--as the +most lovely place in the world; "there's no nice glass, no nice pretty +dishes here. And François, he is so dumm--how you say 'dumm,' Herr +Baby?" + +"Dumm," repeated Baby, exactly copying Lisa's voice, staring up in her +face. + +"No, mine child, how you say it of English? Ah--I knows--_stupid_. +François, he is too stupid. Peters and I, we will make the table so +pretty as might be. Lisa will command some bon-bons." + +"Mother will want the shiny jugs," thought poor Baby. "Him _s'ould_ have +brought him's pennies. Him would like to know if him has 'nuff pennies; +perhaps him could go to the little girl's shop when Lisa is at the +pattyser's." + +But he said nothing aloud. How it was that he kept his thoughts to +himself, why he had such a dislike to any one knowing what was in his +mind, I cannot exactly tell; but so it was, and so it often is with very +little children, even though quite frank and open by nature. Baby had, I +think, a fear that mother might not like him to spend all his pennies on +the shiny jugs, perhaps she might say she would pay them herself, and +that would not have pleased him at all. Deep down in his honest little +heart was the feeling that _he_ had broken the glasses and _he_ should +pay for the new ones. But he said nothing to Lisa--he had never spoken +of the jugs to her--mother had been "so kind," never to tell any one +about what a silly little boy he had been, for mother knew that he +didn't like being laughed at. _Perhaps_ "they" would laugh at him now if +he told about wanting to buy the shiny jugs--he wouldn't mind so much if +he _had_ bought them, but "'appose they wouldn't let him go to the shop +to get them?" Poor little mother! She wouldn't have her pitty glasses +then for the party--no, it was much best to settle it all his own self. +Whom he meant by "they" I don't think Baby quite knew, he had a sort of +picture in his mind of grandfather and auntie and mother all talking +together, and Celia and Fritz and Denny all joining in, and saying that +"Baby was far too little to go to shops to buy things." And by the time +he had thought this all over, Herr Baby glancing up--for till now he had +been walking along with Lisa's hand, seeing and noticing nothing--found +that they were already in the street of the town where the biggest shops +were, and that Lisa was looking about to find the shop where she was to +give the orders for his mother. + +It was a very pretty shop indeed--Baby had never seen such a pretty +shop. The cakes and bon-bons were laid out so nicely on the tables round +the wall, and they were all of such pretty colours. Baby walked round +and round admiring, and, I think, considering he was such a very little +boy, that it was very good of him not to think of touching any of the +tempting dainties. In a few minutes Lisa had ordered all she +wanted--then she chose some nice biscuits and a very few little +chocolate bon-bons, which she had put up in two paper parcels, and when +they came out of the shop she told Herr Baby that they were for him, his +mother had told her to get him something nice. Baby looked pleased, but +still he seemed very grave, and Lisa began wondering what he was +thinking of. + +"Are you tired, mine child?" she said. + +No, Herr Baby was not at all tired. He wanted to walk down the street to +the other end to see all the shops, he wanted to see _all_ the streets +and _all_ the shops before they went home. Lisa was rather amused. She +had not known Herr Baby was so _very_ fond of shops, she said, and it +would take far too long to see them _all_. But she went to the end of +that street with him, and then back again down the opposite side, and +then he begged her to turn down the other street they had crossed on +their way to the confectioner's, and they had gone quite to the end of +_it_, Baby staring in at all the shop windows in a way that really made +Lisa smile, for he looked so grave and solemn, when all of a sudden, +just as Lisa was thinking of saying they must go home, Baby gave a sort +of little scream and almost jumped across the street. + +"Him sees it, him sees it," he cried, and when Lisa asked him what he +meant, all he would say was, + +"That's the little street we went down with auntie the 'nother day," and +Lisa, who had forgotten all about the old shop window with the shiny +glass and the blue-eyed picture, wondered why he was so eager about it. + +"Is that the way we came?" she said, "I am not sure. I not quite +remember." + +But "him wants to go home that way," persisted Baby, and he tugged Lisa +along. They passed at the other side, but Baby did not mind that. He +could see across quite plainly, for the street was narrow, and there +were still the glasses in the corner and the sweet baby-girl face up on +the wall, looking down on them. + +And after that he was quite satisfied to go quietly home; he did not +speak much on the way, but Lisa was accustomed to his grave fits, and +did not pay much attention to them. He only asked her one question--just +as they were getting close to the Villa. + +"Is it to-morrow mother's going to have all the pitty things for +dinner?" he said. + +"Yes, Herr Baby, and Lisa will be busy, to show François how Miladi +likes everything. Herr Baby and Fräulein Denny will be goot and play +peacefully in the garden to-morrow, so she can be busy," said Lisa, who +was very proud of being of so much consequence. + +"Yes," said Herr Baby, "him won't want you to take care of him." + +After tea he got out his money-box. This he often did. He was such a +careful little boy that mother let him keep his money himself, and it +was a great pleasure to him to count over the different kinds of +"pennies;" he called them all "pennies," brown, white, and even yellow +pennies, for Baby had a pound and a ten shilling piece that had been +given him on his last birthday, and that he had never been able to make +up his mind how to spend. He looked at them now with great satisfaction. + +"See, Denny," he said, "him has two yellow pennies, a big and a little, +and free white pennies, a big and a little and a littler, and five brown +pennies. Him knows there's five, for him can count up to five, 'cos +five's just as old as him is going to be. See, Denny, isn't there a lot? +And the yellow pennies could be turned into lots and lots of white +pennies Lisa says, and the white pennies could be turned into lots of +brown pennies, isn't it funny? Isn't him werry rich, Denny?" + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Denny, "I really don't know. I wish you +wouldn't chatter so, Baby. I can't learn my lessons." + +Poor Baby! It was not often he was to blame for "chattering so." But he +looked with great respect at Denny for having lessons to do, and was +not at all offended. Denny was proud of being with Celia and the new +governess, but I think her pleasure was a little spoilt by finding that +the new governess had no idea of taking care of a little girl who didn't +do any lessons, and this evening she was rather cross at a row of French +words which she had to learn to say the next morning. Baby went quietly +off into the corner with his money-box, but finding it rather dull to +have no one to show his pennies to, he went out of the room, which you +remember was downstairs, and, opening a door which led to the kitchen, +peeped about in hopes of seeing his friend Minet. He had not long to +wait--Minet had a corner of her own by the kitchen wall, on the other +side of which was the stove, and where she found herself almost as warm +as in the kitchen, when Monsieur Jean-Georges objected to her company. +She was curled up in this corner when she heard Baby's soft voice +calling her--"Minet, Minet, pussy, pussy," and up she got, slowly and +lazily, as cats do when they are half asleep, but still willingly +enough, for she dearly loved Herr Baby. + +"Minet," said Baby, when she appeared, and coming up to him rubbed her +furry coat against his little bare legs, "Minet, dear, come and sit wif +him on the 'teps going down to the garden, and him'll tell you about +his money." + +But Lisa, coming by just then, said it was too cold now to sit on stone +steps; for warm as it was in the day at Santino the evenings got quickly +chilly. + +"Us can't go back to the 'coolroom," said Baby; "Denny won't let dear +Minet come there, and him must stay wif Minet, 'cos her waked up when +him called her." + +"Miss Denny must let you stay in the school-room," said Lisa. "There is +no little birds there for Minet to touch." + +She opened the door, and Denny was too busy with her lessons to scold. + +"You will be very quiet, Herr Baby," said Lisa. So Baby and Minet went +off into a corner with the money-box. + +"Minet, dear," said Baby, in a low voice, "see what lots of pennies him +has. Yellow pennies, and white pennies, and brown pennies." + +Minet purred, naturally, for Baby was stroking her softly with one hand +all the time he was holding up his pennies with the other. + +"Dear Minet," said Baby, much gratified, "you is pleased that him has so +many pennies. Now, Minet, him will tell you a secret, a _gate, gate_ +secret, about what him's going to do wif all him's pennies." + +Here Minet purred again. Baby looked round. There was no one listening. +Lisa was going backwards and forwards, putting away the tea-things; +Denny was still groaning and grumbling over her row of words; Baby might +safely tell Minet his secret. Still he lowered his voice _so_ low that +certainly no one but Minet could hear. And when he left off speaking, +Minet purred more than ever. Only Baby thought it just as well to say to +her, before Lisa took him away up to bed, "Minet, dear, you'll be _sure_ +not to tell nobody;" and I suppose Minet promised, for Baby seemed quite +pleased. + +He woke in the morning with his head quite full of his great idea. They +were not to go a regular walk that day, Lisa told him, for in the +afternoon she would be busy, and Herr Baby would be good and play +quietly in the garden, would he not? + +"All alone?" asked Baby. + +"Perhaps Miss Denny will stay, too, if Herr Baby wishes," said Lisa; +"she was going again with Miss Celia, but----" + +"Oh no," said Baby, "him would rather be alone, kite alone, 'cept Minet. +Fritz is very good to him, but Fritz will be at school. Fritz is never +at home now 'cept Thursdays." + +"No," said Lisa; "but Herr Fritz is very happy at school, and when Herr +Baby is big he will go too." + +"Yes," said Baby; but he didn't seem to think much what he was saying. +Lisa thought he was dull about Fritz being at school--I forgot to tell +you that Fritz went every day now to a very nice school in the town, +where there were a few boys about his own age--but Lisa was mistaken. + +That afternoon, any one passing the low hedge which at one side was all +that divided the Villa garden from the road, would have seen a pretty +little picture. There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm fondly +clasping Minet's neck, while with the other he firmly held the famous +money-box. He was dressed in his garden blouse only, but for some reason +he had his best hat on. And he kept looking about him, first towards the +house and then towards the garden gate, in a funny considering sort of +way. + +At last he seemed to have made up his mind. + +"Minet," he said to the cat, "him thinks we'll go now. 'Amember, Minet, +you've _p'omised_ to go wif him. If you get werry tired, Minet, him'll +try to carry you. If you could carry the money-box, and him could carry +you, then it would be _kite_ easy. What a pity you haven't got two more +paws, that would do for hands, Minet!" + +Minet purred. + +"Yes, poor Minet. Nebber mind, dear; but we must be going." And closely +followed by the cat, who had no idea, poor thing, of what was before +her, Baby made his way down the path to the garden gate. It was open, at +least not latched. Baby easily pushed it wide enough for his little self +to go through, and stood, with Minet and the money-box, triumphant on +the highroad. + +"It were the best way, thit way," he said to himself. For there was +another gate to the Villa, leading out to the upper road. But this gate +was guarded by a lodge, and the "concierge," as they called the +lodge-keeper, came out to open it for every one who went in and out. And +"p'raps," thought Baby, "the concierge mightn't have let him through, +'cos, of course, her didn't know why him was going out alone with +Minet." + +So Minet and he and the money-box found themselves out on the road on +their own account. + +All the family was scattered that afternoon. Celia and Denny had gone a +long walk with their governess, Fritz was at school, mother and auntie +had driven to see some friends a good way off, meaning to call for Fritz +at his school on their way home. The servants, too, were all more busy +than usual on account of the ladies and gentlemen coming to dinner. Lisa +and Linley and Peters were all trying to make the strange servants +understand just how they were used to have the table at home, and giving +themselves a great deal more trouble than grandfather or mother would +have wished had they known about it. Lisa was very clever at arranging +flowers prettily, and she was so sure of Baby's quiet ways when he was +left to himself, that she never gave a thought to him once she saw him +safely settled in the garden with Minet. It was such a safe garden. +There really was no part of it where a child could get into any trouble, +for though there was a little water in the basin from which rose the +fountain, it was so little, that not even Minet could have wetted much +more than her paws in it. So Lisa went on quite comfortably doing the +flowers and arranging the dessert in the pantry, by way of giving +François a lesson, and now and then she would glance out of the window +which looked on to the garden, and, seeing Baby there with Minet, she +felt quite easy. She did once say to herself, + +"I wonder why Herr Baby begged so to have his best hat to-day--but he is +one good child, one should please him sometimes." + +I am afraid the truth was that Lisa spoilt her dear Baby a little! + +After a while she looked out again. She did not see Herr Baby this time, +but she did not think anything of it. + +"They will have gone to play among the bushes," she said to herself, +meaning by "they" Baby and Minet of course, and she went on with what +she was doing, and got so interested in helping Peters to explain to +François that in England people always changed the wine glasses at the +end of dinner, and put clean ones for dessert, that the time went on +without it ever entering her head to say to herself, "What can have +become of Herr Baby?" + +Mother and auntie were later than they had expected of returning from +their drive. They had gone a long way, and coming back it was mostly +up-hill. + +"Fritz will be thinking we have forgotten him," said mother, looking at +her watch, "but I told him to be sure to wait till we came. He is too +little to go home alone yet, at least till he knows his way quite well +or can speak enough to ask." + +"We might have told Celia and Denny to call for him, as they are out +with Mademoiselle," said auntie. + +Just then in turning a corner, for they were quite in the town now, +auntie's eyes caught sight of the narrow street where the old curiosity +shop was. + +"By the by," she said, "I should so like to ask about that picture. I +told you about it, you remember, May?"--May, you know, was the +children's mother's name--"have we time to go that way?" + +"I'm afraid not; we are late already," said mother. "I'm so sorry." + +"Oh, never mind, another day will do quite well," said auntie, +cheerfully. + +So they drove home, quickly, just stopping a moment to pick up Fritz, +who was waiting for them at the gate of his school. + +If they _had_ happened to go round by the old curiosity shop, how +surprised they would have been; but what a great deal of trouble it +would have saved them, as you shall hear. + +Lisa met them as they got home, with a long story about the table and +the flowers and the stupidness of François, which mother and auntie +could hardly help laughing at. + +"Never mind, Lisa," said mother; "it will do very well, I am sure. Where +are the children?" + +"Upstairs, Miladi, taking off their things. They have just come in," +said Lisa, never thinking, somehow, as mother said the "children," but +that she was talking of Celia and Denny. For, somehow, in this +family--in every family there are little habits of the kind--Baby was +not often spoken of among "the children." They had all got so used to +the name of Herr Baby, which Lisa had called him by since he was quite a +wee baby, that he was seldom spoken of by any other, and often Baby +himself would talk gravely about "the children," without any one seeming +to think it odd. + +"Upstairs, are they?" said mother. "Well, run off, Fritz, dear, and try +and get some of your lessons done before tea. Mademoiselle will help you +a little, I daresay, before she goes." + +Off ran Fritz. He was a very good boy about his lessons, and anxious to +get on well. More to please Lisa and the others than that they cared, +mother and auntie went into the dining-room. They were standing looking +at the pretty flowers and leaves, when suddenly Fritz put his head in at +the door again. + +"Lisa," he said, "where's Baby? He's not upstairs, and he's not in the +garden. Linley said you told him to play there this afternoon, but he's +_not_ there." + +Lisa started, and her face grew white. + +"Mine child!" she cried. "Ah, but he must be in the garden, Master +Fritz! I saw him there so happy, with the cat, just--ah, how long ago +was it? Have I forgotten him for so long? He must be hiding--to play, +to--how do you say?" for Lisa's English was very apt to fly away when +she got frightened or upset. "Ach, where can he be?" and off darted poor +Lisa. + +Mother and auntie and Fritz looked at each other. + +"Can he be _lost_?" said Fritz, with a very frightened face. + +"Oh no, no," said auntie. "Lisa is so easily startled. But still----" + +"Let us all go and look for him at once," said mother. "What a good +thing poor grandfather isn't back yet!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FOUND + + ----"he was not there: + We searched the house, the grounds--in vain; + We searched the green in our despair, + And then we searched the house again." + + +It _was_ a good thing grandfather was out, for--and this was what mother +was thinking of--poor grandfather, though he looked such a fine, tall, +gray-haired old gentleman, was not really very strong or well. It was a +great deal for him that they had all come abroad this winter, and the +doctors had told mother and auntie that anything to startle or distress +him might make him very ill indeed. Poor grandfather! I can't tell you +what a kind, good man he was. He had stayed a great many years in India, +though he would have liked dreadfully to come home, because it was "his +duty" he said, and this had made him seem older than he really was, for +a hot country is very wearing out to people who are not born to it. +And, though he was so fond of his grandchildren, I think if he _had_ a +pet among them, it was little Herr Baby. The mere idea of his tiny +Raymond--Baby was named Raymond after grandfather--being lost, even for +an hour or two, would have troubled him dreadfully, and thinking of +this, auntie, too, repeated after mother, + +"Yes, indeed, what a good thing grandfather isn't in. We _mustn't_ let +him know, May, till Baby's found." + +They didn't stay to say anything more. Off they all set into the garden, +for, though Fritz said he had looked all over, they couldn't feel sure +that they might not find Baby in some corner, hiding, perhaps, for fun, +even. But when they had all been round and round the garden in every +direction--mother, and auntie, and Celia, and Denny, and Fritz, and +Mademoiselle Lucie, and Lisa, and Linley, and Peters, and François, and, +even at the end I believe, Monsieur Jean-Georges himself, and the rest +of the French servants--when they had all looked, and peeped, and +shouted, and whistled, and begged, and prayed Baby to come out if he was +hiding, and there was no answer, then they gave it up. It was impossible +that the little man could be in the garden. + +Where could he be? + +Fortunately there was nowhere in the garden where he could have hurt +himself--no pit or pond into which he could have fallen. And it was +surely impossible that any one could have come into the garden and +stolen him away, as Celia, with a pale face, whispered to auntie. Where +could he be, and what should they do? + +Time was passing--the friends who were coming to dinner would be at the +villa before long; grandfather was _sure_ to appear in a few minutes. +What could they do? + +"We must not tell grandfather, that is certain," said auntie. "May, +dear, it is very hard on you, I know, but I'll tell you how it must be. +You must stay here quietly and be ready for the friends who are coming, +and I will go off at once and do all, everything I can think of. +Mademoiselle Lucie, you know the town, and you can tell me all about the +police, and where to go to _in case_ we don't find our darling at once, +though I quite think we shall. I can't take you, Peters," for Peters was +eagerly coming forward, "Sir Raymond would miss you, nor you, Lisa, for +you must take care of the other children," at which Lisa all but broke +out crying; "It was too good of Mademoiselle Hélène to trust her; she +didn't deserve it." "And François would be no good. You and I, +Mademoiselle Lucie, will go at once. And you must tell grandfather that +I was obliged to go out, for an hour or two, unexpectedly." + +"I am afraid he will think it very strange," said mother, "but I will do +my best." + +Mother spoke quietly, but her face was very white. + +"Do go, Nelly," she said, "as quick as you can." + +And Celia and Denny, who had been thinking of bursting into tears, took +example by her and auntie, and tried to look cheerful. + +"Auntie," said Celia, running after her to the gate, "I'll be very good +and try to comfort mother. And we'll not let grandfather think there's +anything wrong. But oh, auntie dear, I _hope_ you'll soon bring dear +Baby safe home." + +"So do I, darling," said auntie, stooping to kiss her, even though she +was so hurried, and, for the first time, there was a little quiver in +her voice, and Celia ran back to the others, thinking even more than +before how good and brave auntie was. + +They hastened down the road, auntie and little Mademoiselle Lucie, I +mean. But when they had gone some little way, auntie stopped short. + +"He may have gone by the other road, and we may miss him that way;" for, +without thinking, auntie had hurried out by the little gate opening on +to the lower road. + +"I think not," said Mademoiselle Lucie, "at least the concierge would +have been sure to see him, and we did ask her, and she had not seen him +at all." + +"To be sure," said auntie, "I forgot about the concierge." + +"Besides," Mademoiselle Lucie continued, "to get to the town he must +pass the way we are going, a little farther on where the two roads run +together." + +"To be sure," said auntie, again. + +"It is to the town we are going?" asked Mademoiselle Lucie. + +"Yes," said auntie, "I have an idea, but I did not like to say it to my +sister for fear it should lead to nothing. There is a shop in the town +where there is a picture that Baby took a great fancy to the other day. +At least it was I that noticed it first, and he was so pleased with it. +There was something else in the shop that he was looking at--I don't +remember what--when we noticed the picture." + +"Do you know where the shop is? Can we easily find it?" + +"I think so; yes, I am sure I can find it," said auntie. "It is a shop +of curiosities, a shop at a corner, the street is narrow." + +"I know it," said Mademoiselle Lucie, "though it is not very well known. +There are grander shops of curiosities which are more visited, but I +know that shop, as I often pass it." + +She told auntie the name of the owner of the shop, and of the street, +and then auntie fixed, as they were now near the town, that she would go +on alone to the shop, while Mademoiselle Lucie went to her brother, who, +she hoped, would be at home at this hour, and get him to go with her to +the police office, so that no time should be lost. + +Auntie hurried on by herself, but though she went so fast that the +easy-going peasants driving their sleepy bullocks, whom she met, looked +after her in surprise, she did not, for one moment, leave off looking +about her on every side, to see if by any chance she could discover the +well-known little figure it would have given her such joy to see. But +no. Once or twice a child in the distance made her heart beat a little +quicker, but, as soon as she got near enough to see it clearly, her +hopes sank again. There were very few houses on the country road leading +from the villa till one was quite in the town. So auntie thought it not +worth while to ask, for, in a street of houses and shops standing close +together, and people constantly passing, it was much less likely that +any one would have noticed a little tot like Herr Baby making his way. + +"No," said auntie to herself, "it is no use stopping to ask. The best +thing I can do is to find the shop at once, and if they can tell me +nothing there, to follow Mademoiselle Lucie to the police office." + +And, with a deep sigh, for, somehow, every step she took farther without +seeing anything of the little truant, made auntie's heart feel +heavier--she hurried on again. + +She soon found the wide street--the street with the dressmakers' and +milliners' shops, which Fritz had not cared to look at--then she turned +one corner and went on a little farther, then another, and--yes, there +was the little old shop, looking just the same as the day they had all +stood there so happily. Auntie had been walking very quickly, almost +running, but when she saw the shop just before her she stood still--she +felt _so_ anxious--what should she do if she could hear nothing of Baby? + +When she got to the door she stopped and looked in; there seemed to be +no one in the shop. Auntie glanced up to the side of the door where the +little portrait had hung. It was gone! Could that have anything to do +with Baby? auntie asked herself in a sort of puzzled way. Could Baby +have thought of buying it? how much money had he? But it was stupid and +foolish to stand there puzzling and wondering, instead of boldly going +in to ask. Auntie took her courage in her two hands, as the saying is, +and went in. + +No one there; where could the owner of the shop be? The last time he had +come forward at once when they were only looking in--a little-dried up +old man, just the sort of person one would expect to find in such a +shop, sitting in a dark corner like an old spider, watching to see what +flies were passing his way. Auntie went right in without seeing any one, +but she heard voices not far off, and, in her anxiety, she went forward +to a door slightly open, leading into rooms behind the shop. She +knocked--but for a moment no one took any notice. They were talking so +eagerly inside that she had to knock again, and in the moment or two +that had passed without them hearing her, she heard one or two words +that made her eager to hear more. + +"No, no," some one was saying, "much better go at once to the office. We +may get into trouble." + +"He seems so sensible," said another voice. "_I_ say, better go with him +and carry the things, and we shall soon see if he knows his way, +and----" + +Auntie _could_ not wait any more. She pushed open the door and went in. +There was, however, no Herr Baby to be seen, as she had almost expected +there would be. There was the old man that she remembered having seen +before, looking like a very startled spider this time, as he raised his +two shrivelled old arms in surprise at her appearance, and beside him +was a very pleasant, bright-faced, young woman, with a baby in her arms, +talking, or at least looking as if she had just been talking very +eagerly. + +"Is he here?" said auntie, quite breathless, "my little boy, my little +nephew, I mean. Is Baby here?" + +The young woman looked at the old man with a sort of little nod of +triumph. + +"You see," she said quickly, "I said there was no need to frighten the +poor darling by taking him to the police office." "Yes, Madame," she +went on, turning to auntie, "the dear bébé is here--that is to say, he +cannot but be the one you are looking for. I sent him out into the +little garden with his cat and my little girl, while my grandfather and +I talked about what to do. I would have sent him home, I mean we would +have tried to find his home, if my husband had been here, but he is +away." + +"And I am too feeble, Madame, as you see, to walk far," said the old +man, who seemed now anxious to be very amiable. + +"But you talked of taking him to the police office," said the young +woman, in a low voice, "the idea! to frighten a bébé like that." + +"Hush, hush," said the old man, "all was to be done for the best. You +shall see him, your dear child, Madame," he went on, bustling about. + +"But tell me first--a moment----" said auntie, "What did he come for? +Did he buy the picture?" + +"The picture," repeated the old man, "no, surely. It was the glass jugs, +the little gentleman wanted, and he had his money all right--I took but +the just price, Madame--I would not deceive any one." + +"They are very dear to _my_ mind," said the young woman, "but there--I +know nothing about old things. This is not our shop, Madame--I look in +in passing, to see the grandfather sometimes, that is all." + + [Illustration: Auntie stood still a moment to listen.--P. 155.] + +"And Baby came to buy some _jugs_, you say," repeated auntie. There +was a confused remembrance in her mind of something Baby had said about +jugs, something he had asked her to look at the day they had stood at +the shop window, but which she had since forgotten. Her only idea in +coming to the little old shop had been the picture. "You said he came to +buy some jugs?" she said again. + +"Yes, Madame," said the old man "two glass jugs--Venetian glass." + +"Ah!" said auntie, and then she remembered it all--about the glass jugs +that Baby had broken at home, and what he had said to her about those in +the shop window being like them. "And the picture?" she said, "is it no +longer there? But first, let me have my little boy. He is in the garden, +you say?" + +She looked round, for there was no sign of a garden. The window of the +little room in which they were, looked out only on to a blank wall. + +"This way, Madame," said the young woman, opening a door at the side. It +led into a little dark passage, and, at the end of it, there was another +door, standing open, and through this door came the sound of children's +voices. + +Auntie stood still a moment to listen--the first words made her smile. + +"Him wants to go home now," said the well-known voice. "Little girl, why +_won't_ you listen? Him wants to go home, and so does Minet. Doesn't you +hear?" + +The little girl must have been very much puzzled, for auntie heard her +trying her best, in her baby talk, to make this queer little stranger +understand that they were to stay out in the garden till her mother +called them in. + +"Him wants to go _home_, and so does Minet," repeated poor Baby, and his +voice began to quiver and shake, as if he were going to cry. Auntie +could stand it no longer. She hurried out into the little garden. + +"You shall go home now, Baby dear," she said. "Auntie has come to fetch +you." + +Baby looked up eagerly at the sound of a well-known voice. He ran to her +and held up his little face for a kiss. He looked very pleased, but not +at all surprised. It was one of Herr Baby's funny ways, that he almost +never seemed surprised. + +"Him is so glad you's come," he said. "You'll help him to carry home the +shiny jugs, for Minet's _raver_ tired, and him might have to carry her +and the money-box. But you won't tell mother about the jugs, will you? +You'll let him run in wif them him's self, won't you, auntie? _Won't_ +mother be pleased?" + +"But you must tell me all about it, dear," said auntie; "did you come +off all alone to get the glasses? Why didn't you ask some one to come +with you?" + +Baby looked a little troubled. + +"Him didn't come _alone_," he said. "Him told Minet, and Minet comed +too, only her's werry tired. And it were for the party, auntie," he +added, looking up wistfully, "Lisa said mother had no pitty jugs for +her's party. And oh, auntie, p'ease do be kick, 'fear we shall be too +late." + +Auntie took his hand and led him back into the shop, where the old man +was wrapping up the jugs with a great show of soft paper, that auntie +should see how careful he was. + +"Has my little boy paid you?" she asked. + +"Oh yes," said Herr Baby, understanding, though she did not speak +English. "See in him's money-box;" he held out the money-box with some +difficulty for, having Minet under the other arm, it was not easy for +him to get his hands free; "him had two yellow pennies, one big and one +little, him gived the big one for the shiny jugs." + +"Was that the price of the jugs?" auntie asked the man. + +"No, Madame, I have the change to give the little gentleman. See here," +and he held out two large silver coins, the size of crowns, which auntie +took. + +"I don't think the jugs are dear," she said, with a smile, turning to +the young woman, who looked pleased. "And some day," she went on, "we +will come to see you, and bring you some little thing for your little +girl, as you have been so kind to my little boy. Come now, Baby dear, we +must get home as quick as we can." + +"But the little girl, the pitty little girl," said Herr Baby, "him must +say good-bye to _her_." + +"There she is beside you," said auntie, thinking, of course, that he +meant the young woman's little girl, "say good-bye to her." + +"No, no," said Baby, "him doesn't mean her. Him means the pitcher little +girl, _her_," he went on, pointing to the young woman, "her gottened her +down for him to see, 'cos him were trying to reach up to kiss her." + +That was why the picture was no longer in the window then? Where was it? +Auntie turned round as she felt Baby pulling her. + +"Her's there," he said, pointing to a chair on which the picture had +been set down hurriedly with the face the other way. Auntie turned it +round. Dear little face! It smiled at her again with the pretty half +wistful, half wise expression, which had so taken her fancy. Now it +seemed to her to be saying-- + +"I am so glad you have found him. I knew where he was. I am so glad to +have helped you to find him;" and when Baby lifted his little face to +kiss, with his rosy living lips, the picture of the child, who had once +been living and loving like him, I can hardly tell you the strange +feeling that went through auntie's heart. + +"She must have been a dear good little girl, whoever she was," she +thought to herself. "It would be nice to leave a sweet feeling behind +one in the world long after one is dead, such as that little face gives. +I should like to have that picture. I must see about it." + +But to-day there was no time to be wasted. + +Auntie took Baby by the hand, persuading him to let her carry the +precious jugs, as Minet and the money-box were already more than enough +for him. And, even with her help, it was not so easy to manage at all, +and auntie was very glad to meet Mademoiselle Lucie a little way down +the street, and get her to carry part. + +Mademoiselle Lucie was delighted, as you can fancy, to see Herr Baby +again. She had been coming back in great trouble to look for auntie; for +very unluckily, as she thought, she had found that her brother was out, +and she had not therefore gone to the police office. + +"A very good thing, after all," said auntie; "it would only have been +giving trouble for nothing, as we have found him." + +But she said to Mademoiselle Lucie, in a low voice, to say nothing about +the police before Herr Baby, as it might frighten him. + +"Would it not, perhaps, be a good thing to frighten him a little?" said +Mademoiselle Lucie; "he would not run off again." + +Auntie shook her head. + +"Not in that way," she said. "We will make him understand how he has +frightened _us_. That will be the best way." + +"How did he mean to get home alone, I wonder," said Mademoiselle Lucie; +"how could he have carried all he had, and Minet too?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said auntie. "How did you mean to carry +everything home, Baby dear?" + +Baby looked puzzled. + +"Him doesn't know," he said. "P'r'aps him thought Minet would carry +some," he added, with a smile. + +Auntie smiled too. Mademoiselle Lucie looked up for auntie to explain to +her, for she did not understand Baby's talk any better than he did hers. + +Suddenly another idea struck auntie. + +"How did you manage to tell the old man in the shop what you wanted to +buy?" she said. + +Baby considered. + +"Him sawed the pitty little girl," he said; "her was looking at the +shiny glasses--_always_--her was keeping them for him. Him asked her to. +Then him touched them; him climbed up on a chair in the shop and touched +them, and then him showed all him's pennies to the old man; but the lady +wif the baby knowed the best what him wanted. Her were very nice, but +the pitty little girl were the goodest, weren't her?" + +Auntie listened quietly, for Baby spoke quite gravely. + +"It would be nice to have that pretty picture, wouldn't it, Baby?" + +"Yes," said Baby; but he didn't look _quite_ pleased. "Auntie," he said, +"him doesn't like you to call her a _pitcher_. Him thinks her's a _zeal_ +little girl, a zeal fairy little girl. Her tookened care of the shiny +glasses so nice for him, didn't her?" + +And auntie smiled again. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"EAST OR WEST, HAME IS BEST" + + "But home is home wherever it is, + When we're all together and nothing amiss." + _Irish Ballad._ + + +By this time, of course, it was quite dark. It had been quite light when +auntie and Mademoiselle Lucie set off, but at Santino the darkness comes +on very quickly. Poor Baby, he _would_ have been in trouble if auntie +had not come to look, for him--- that is to say if the old man and the +young woman had allowed him to set off on his journey home alone. I +don't think he would ever have got there, for in the dark he could not +have found his way, and he certainly could never have got the shiny jugs +and Minet and the money-box all home in safety! + +The ladies and gentlemen who were coming to dine at the Villa had all +arrived. Mother was sitting in the drawing-room talking to them, and +trying her best to look as if there was nothing the matter, to prevent +grandfather finding out that there was. Poor mother, it was not very +easy for her, was it? Grandfather was a good deal put out, as it was, at +auntie's being so late. He, too, tried not to look cross, poor old +gentleman, but any one who knew him at all well could not help seeing as +he moved about the room, sometimes giving a poke to the wood fire which +was burning quite brightly as it was, sometimes sharply pulling open one +of the window-shutters and looking out, as if he could see anything with +the light inside and the dark out of doors!--any one could see that he +_was_ very much put out. He sat down now and then for a minute or two +and spoke very politely--for grandfather was a _very_ polite old +gentleman--to one or other of the stranger ladies, but even to them he +could not help showing what was in his mind. + +"It is very strange, really most exceedingly strange, of my eldest +daughter," he said, "not to be in before this. I really feel quite +ashamed of it, my dear Madam." + +"But you are not uneasy, I hope," said the lady, kindly. "There cannot +be anything the matter with Miss Leonard?" ("Miss Leonard" was what +Fritz called auntie's "stuck-up name," and "Lady Aylmer" was mother's.) +"You don't feel uneasy about her?" + +(This lady did not know there _was_ anything the matter, for she was +quite at the other end of the room from mother. Mother had whispered to +the lady beside her, who was an old and dear friend, how frightened she +was about Herr Baby, and the old lady, who was very kind and nice, was +talking and smiling as much as she could to help poor mother.) + +"Uneasy," said grandfather, rather sharply, and not _quite_ so politely +as he generally spoke, "oh no, of course I'm not _uneasy_. My daughter +Helen can take care of herself. I am only very much surprised at her +doing such an extraordinary thing as forgetting the hour like this." + +But in his heart I fancy what the lady said did make grandfather begin +to think there might be something to be uneasy about, and this made him +still crosser. She was not such a sensible lady as old Mrs. Bryan in the +arm-chair opposite, who chattered the more the more she saw +grandfather's worried look grow worse, and the pain grew plainer on poor +mother's white face. + +"May," he called out at last, "I think it is nonsense waiting dinner +any longer. Tell one of the children to ring and order it up at once. +Why, they're not here! Why are none of the children down, May? +Everything seems at sixes and sevens." + +"We are not waiting for Nelly, father dear," said mother. "I don't know +why dinner isn't ready yet, but I think it can't be long. I will hurry +them," and she got up to ring herself. + +"But the children--why aren't they down?" said grandfather again. + +Mother hesitated-- + +"It is rather late for them," she said. "The girls have been a long walk +and are tired." + +She did not know what to say, poor thing. She had not dared to let the +three children come into the drawing-room, for fear their white faces +and red eyes should make grandfather find out that there _was_ something +wrong, and indeed neither Celia, nor Denny, nor Fritz, would have been +able to stay still in the room for five minutes. They were peeping out +of the nursery every few seconds, running along to the end of the +balcony, and straining their eyes and ears in trying to see or hear +anything coming in the shape of good news. + +Long, long afterwards they used to speak in the nursery, with deep +breaths, of "that _terrible_ evening when Herr Baby was lost." + +But it was, of course, the worst for poor mother. It was bad enough in +the nursery, where the tea, that nobody had cared to touch, was set out +as neatly as usual on the table; the chairs drawn round, the one that +Baby always had with a footstool on it--to make up for there being no +high chair at the Villa--in its place, though the well-known, funny +little figure was not perched on it. And Lisa, with a face swollen so +that no one would have known her, fussing away to have the kettle +boiling, so that her darling should have some hot tea as soon as ever he +came in--for she wouldn't allow but that he would soon come in, though +sad little stories kept running through Celia's and Denny's heads about +children that had been lost and never found, or found only when it was +no longer they themselves but only their poor little bodies, drowned, +perhaps, or "choked in the snow," as Denny said. And she got rather +cross when Celia reminded her that there was no snow, so it couldn't be +_that_, any way. + +All this was bad enough, but still they were free to talk about their +fears, and to cry if they felt inclined, and to keep running to the +window or the door. But for poor mother, as you can fancy, it was _much_ +worse. There she had to sit smiling and talking as if everything were +quite nice and comfortable, not only for the sake of the friends who had +come to dine with them, but still more for poor grandfather's sake, who +kept growing more and more fidgety and put out, and at the bottom of his +heart, though he would not own it even to himself, really frightened and +anxious. + +At last his patience was exhausted. + +"May," he said, speaking across the fireplace to mother. She was talking +to the lady beside her, and did not at first hear him. "_May_," said +grandfather again, and if the children had been in the room I think his +voice would have made them jump, "it is using our friends very badly to +keep them waiting so long for dinner. Be so good as to ring again and +tell the servants we will _not_ wait any longer." + +Poor mother--she looked up--it was all she could do not to burst into +tears! + +"Yes," she said, "I will tell them." + +She was half rising from her seat, whispering to the lady beside her +(the lady who _did_ know all about it), "I don't know _how_ I shall get +through dinner," when--what was it?--no bell had rung, there was no +sound that any one else heard, what could it have been that _mother_ +heard? I don't know what it was, and I daresay mother herself could not +have told, but something she did hear. For she stopped short, and a sort +of eager look came into her eyes and a flush into her cheeks. And then +the other people in the room seemed to catch the infection, and +everybody else looked up to see what was coming, and in the silence a +sort of fumbling was heard at the door. It only lasted a second or two, +then somehow the handle turned, much more quickly than was usually the +case when it was Baby's small hands that were stretching up to reach +it--I rather think some one must have been behind to help him--the door +opened and--oh such a funny little figure came in! You know who it was +of course, but it would be very difficult to tell you exactly what he +looked like. He was dressed just as he had been for playing in the +garden--a little short thick jacket over his holland blouse, which was +no longer very clean; his short scarlet socks and oldest boots on his +legs, the bare part of which looked very red and cold, and what had been +his best straw hat with part of the brim dangling down, on his curly +head. But he seemed quite pleased with himself--that was another of +Herr Baby's "ways"; he always did seem quite pleased with himself, best +of all, I think, when he had his oldest clothes on--he trotted into the +room just as he would have trotted into the garden, even though there +were a good many rather finely-dressed ladies and gentlemen sitting +round--for his whole mind was filled with the thoughts of two big paper +parcels which he carried in his arms. They could not have been as heavy +as they were big, or else he could not possibly have carried them! And +close at his heels, making him look still funnier, came Minet, very +pleased, I am sure, to find herself again in sight of a fire. + +Herr Baby looked round him for a moment, only for a moment, for though +the lights in the room and the number of people dazzled and puzzled him +a little, _he_ did not need to look round for which was mother. +Forgetting all about everything, except that her baby was found, up +jumped mother, a rosy flush coming over her face which had looked so +white and sad, pretty mother with her silvery silky dress and her sweet +eyes filled with tears, and rushing over to Baby caught him up in her +arms, poor little cold, tired, red-legged Herr Baby, and for a minute or +so, greatly to grandfather's surprise, she hid her face somehow among +the wee man's curls without speaking. + + [Illustration: Forgetting all about everything, except that her baby + was found, up jumped mother.--P. 170.] + +Grandfather was surprised but not alarmed, for just behind in the open +doorway stood auntie, who came quietly forward and explained to him that +Baby had gone out on his own account and they had been afraid of his +losing his way, that was what had kept her out so late, and she was _so_ +sorry. Auntie had such a nice clear simple way of speaking, +grandfather's vexation seemed to melt away as he listened. He glanced at +the little figure still clasped in mother's arms, and a queer look came +into his eyes. + +"Poor children!" he said, "poor children! May, you should have told me." + +But he knew why they hadn't told him. The ladies and gentlemen came +round auntie to hear what she was saying. They were all very kind and +very sorry and very glad. But it was difficult not to smile when a +little voice was heard saying, + +"Mother, p'ease put him down. Him's got somesing _so_ pitty, but him's +afraid of breaking them." + +And sliding down to the ground, he managed somehow to set the two +parcels safely on the floor, and began undoing them. They all watched +him, but he didn't care, and he would let nobody help him. He got one +out at last, and held it up with a beautiful happiness in his little +face. + +"See, mother!" he cried, "shiny jugs! Him's got them all himself wif +him's own pennies. Two! Them's for you, mother, 'cos him boked you's +'nother ones. Him founded them himself in a shop. Him's been as quick as +him could, 'cos of mother's party, to make the table pitty." + +"My darling," said mother, hugging him again, and when she looked up +half smiling, half crying, and tried to say to the ladies and gentlemen +that she hoped they would not think her silly, there were tears in some +other eyes besides in hers. + +But Herr Baby was quite himself. + +"You _is_ p'eased," he said contentedly. "Then him'll go to tea, for +him's raver hungry. But p'ease put the shiny jugs on the table to make +it pitty." + +He held up his face for another kiss. Then grandfather came forward and +in his turn lifted the little truant into his arms. + +"He is tired, the poor little man," he said, looking round: "you are so +kind; I should ask you to forgive our want of politeness, but I am sure +you will. I will be back in a moment." + +And it was grandfather himself who carried off Herr Baby and gave him +over to Lisa, weeping for joy now, as she caught her darling in her +arms. + +There _was_ a happy tea in the nursery that night after all. Baby was +very tired, but so exceedingly pleased with himself that his face grew +rosy and his eyes bright, as if he had only just wakened up in the +morning, as he sat at the table answering all the questions of Celia and +Denny and Fritz and Lisa about his adventures. How had he found his way? +How had he made the old man understand what he wanted? Hadn't he been +frightened? Had he been pleased to see auntie? Had he carried Minet all +the way? Oh, there were more questions than I could tell you--almost +more than Herr Baby could answer; and Minet, too, came in for a share of +the petting. + +When they had got most of their questions answered, they all found out +they were very hungry, and they set to work at their tea, and for a +while there was silence in the nursery. Suddenly Baby leant his two +elbows on the table and looked round. + +"It were all the pitty little girl that keeped the shiny glasses for +him. Her _are_ so pitty." + +"What little girl?" said the children, all together. + +"Do you mean the young woman's little girl in the shop?" + +"No," said Herr Baby, "not that kind of little girl. Him means a little +girl up on the wall--a _pitcher_ girl; but him thinks her are a +_fairy_." + +And having thus given his opinion, Baby looked round again with great +satisfaction, and Celia and Denny whispered to each other that really +Baby sometimes said very funny things for such a little boy! + +They were all dressed as usual, and Denny and Baby went in to dessert, +while Celia and Fritz waited, as became such _big_ young people, in the +drawing-room. Everybody was very kind to the children, and Baby, had he +been any one else _but_ Herr Baby, would have been spoilt by all the +petting the ladies wanted to give him. But his eyes were fixed on one +thing, or rather on two things, on the table, one in front of mother at +one end, one in front of grandfather at the other, there they stood, two +queerly-shaped glass jugs, sparkling and shining with many colours like +a rainbow, filled with the brightest and clearest water which might have +been drawn at a fairy well. And what pleasure shone in Baby's face as he +looked at them. + +"You _is_ p'eased?" he said again to mother, as he bade her good-night. + +It was a little difficult for mother to have to make "him" understand +that much as she loved him for remembering how sorry she had been to +have the first jugs broken, and how sweet she thought it of him to have +got her new ones, that still he must never again think of doing such +things by himself and without telling or asking any one. + +She did not say anything to him that night; she could not bear to spoil +his pretty pleasure, but the next day she made him understand; and Baby +"p'omised" he would never again set off on his own account, or settle +any plan without asking mother or auntie, or perhaps Celia, about it. + +And so the end of the story of the broken jugs was quite a happy one. + + * * * * * + +Herr Baby's birthday came in the late spring. They were all back in +England by then. The old garden was no longer "lonely," for the +children's voices were heard all over it, and the sunlight through the +leaves flickered on to their curly heads as they ran about in delight, +seeking for all their old favourite corners. The "labbits" were well and +happy; Jones and Thomas had come to meet them at the railway station +with broad smiles on their honest faces; all the house looked bright +and smiling, too, it had been so well rubbed up to receive +them--altogether Herr Baby thought "coming back" was a very nice and +happy thing, though he had enjoyed himself so much at Santino that he +told Lisa he didn't think he would much mind if they _did_ go there +again next winter, when it began to get cold at home, as was already +spoken of, as Santino had done grandfather so much good this time. + +So, as I was saying, it was a very happy little man, indeed, that woke +up in his "own dear little bed,"--which, wonderful to say, had not grown +too small for him all the months they had been away,--on the morning of +Herr Baby's fifth birthday. He could hardly stand still to be dressed, +so eager was he to run off to mother's room to get her birthday kiss, +and to see the presents which he knew would not have been forgotten. +They turned out even prettier than he had expected; indeed, it would +take me too long were I to tell you all about the beautiful box of +bricks, big enough to build real houses almost, Baby thought, from +grandfather, and the lovely pair of toy horses with _real_ hair, in a +stable, from mother, and the coachman's whip to crack at them from +Fritz, and the pair of slippers Celia and Denny had worked for him, one +foot each, and the birthday cake all snowed over with sugar, and with +his name on in pink, from grandfather and mother together, "'asides +their other presents." It quite took Herr Baby's breath away to think +all these lovely things were for him; he sat at the nursery table quite +unable to eat his breakfast, something like Fritz the morning they were +starting on their journey, do you remember? till Lisa persuaded him to +eat, by telling him if he didn't, he would be so tired that he wouldn't +enjoy his birthday at all, which made him set to work at his bread and +milk. Lisa, too, had remembered the day, for she had made him the +prettiest little penny purse you ever saw, knitted in bright-coloured +silk, so that now he was very well off, indeed, with his "scented" purse +for his gold and silver, and Lisa's one for pennies and halfpennies, and +his money-box to store up the rest in when the purses were full. He had +all his presents set out in a row, so that he could see them while he +was eating, and just when he was at nearly the last spoonful, he was +quite startled by a voice beside him, saying, "And what about _my_ +present, Baby, dear? Did you think I had forgotten your birthday?" + +It was auntie. She had come in so quietly that Herr Baby had not heard +her. She leant over his chair, and he put his arms round her neck and +kissed her. + +"Him is so happy, auntie dear," he said; "him has such lots of p'esents, +him never thought about your p'esent." + +"Didn't you, dear?" said auntie, smiling. "Well, _I_ didn't forget +it--indeed, I thought of it a long time ago, as you will see. Come with +me, for I see you have finished your breakfast." + +Auntie took him by the hand. Baby wondered where she was going to, and +he was rather surprised when she led him to his own room--that is to +say, to the pretty nursery where he and Denny had their two little white +beds side by side. + +"Look up, Baby," said auntie. + +And looking up, what do you think he saw? On the wall, at the side of +his own little bed, where his eyes could see it the first thing in the +morning, and the last at night, hung the picture of the blue-eyed little +girl, the dear little girl of long ago, with her sweet rosy face, and +queer old-fashioned white frock, smiling down at him, with the sort of +wise, loving look, just as she had smiled down at him in the old shop at +Santino. + +"Oh, auntie, auntie!" cried Baby. But then he seemed as if he could say +no more. He just stared up at the sweet little face, clasping his hands, +as if he was _too_ pleased to speak. Then, at last, he turned to auntie +and _hugged_ her. + +"Oh, auntie!" he said again. "Oh, him _is_ so p'eased to have him's own +pitty little girl always smiling at him. Him will _always_ have her, +won't him, auntie?" + +"I hope so, dear. She is your very own." + +"Him will keep her till him is _kite_ old. Him will show her to him's +children and him's g'anchildren, won't him?" went on Baby solemnly. + +"I hope so, dear," said auntie again, smiling at his flushed little +face. + +"Her _is_ so pitty," said Baby. "Her is as sweet as a fairy. Auntie, him +would _so_ like to hear all the story about her. Couldn't you find it +out, auntie?" + +"Perhaps," said auntie, "or, what would be still better, perhaps the +little girl will whisper it to you some night when you are asleep." + +"That _would_ be nice," said Baby. Then another thought struck him. +"Auntie," he said, "will you ask mother to let him bring up the shiny +jugs to show them to the pitty little girl? Her would like to see them +so nice, and not brokened at all wif the packing. Oh, auntie, what a +bootiful birfday--him are _so_ happy!" + + +THE END. + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY*** + + +******* This file should be named 29380-8.txt or 29380-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/3/8/29380 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Adventures of Herr Baby</p> +<p>Author: Mrs. Molesworth</p> +<p>Release Date: July 11, 2009 [eBook #29380]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Clive Pickton,<br /> + and the<br /> + Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdpcanada.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p> </p> + +<p><a name="hbimg1" id="hbimg1"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img1.jpg"> + <img src="images/img1.jpg" height="600" + alt="BABY CLASPING MINET AND THE MONEY-BOX" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm fondly clasping Minet's neck,<br /> + while with the other he firmly held the famous money-box—P. 138.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img1.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>THE ADVENTURES</h3> +<h5>OF</h5> +<h1>H E R R B A B Y</h1> + +<h4><span class="smallcaps">By Mrs.</span> MOLESWORTH</h4> + +<h6>AUTHOR OF 'CARROTS,' 'US,' ETC.</h6> + +<p> </p> + + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"> +<small>'I have a boy of five years old:<br /> + His face is fair and fresh to see.'</small><br /> +<span class="ind6"> </span><span class="smallcaps"><small>Wordsworth</small></span> +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h5>ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE</h5> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h5>London</h5> +<h4>MACMILLAN AND CO.</h4> +<h6>AND NEW YORK</h6> +<h4>1895</h4> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="center"> +<p class="noindent"> +<small><i>First printed</i> (4<i>to</i>) 1881<br /> +<i>Reprinted</i> (<i>Globe</i> 8<i>vo</i>) 1886, 1887, 1890, 1892, 1895</small> +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="1" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">Four Years Old</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">Inside a Trunk</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">Up in the Morning early</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">Going Away</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">By Land and Sea</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">An Old Shop and an Ogre</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">Baby's Secret</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a> </td><td align="left"><span class="smallcaps">Found</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a> </td><td align="left">"<span class="smallcaps">East or West, Hame is best</span>"</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style= "margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="1" summary="Illustrations"> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg2">"Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into<br /> +'the Parson in the Pulpit that couldn't say his<br /> +Prayers,'" cried Denny</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg3">He sat with one arm propped on the table, and his<br /> +round head leaning on his hand, while the other<br /> +held the piece of bread and butter—butter downwards,<br /> +of course</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg4">There was one trunk which took my fancy more<br /> +than all the others</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg5">For a minute or two Baby could not make out what<br /> +had happened</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg6">"Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure,<br /> +nebber to forget"</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg7">Poor little boys, for, after all, Fritz himself<br /> +wasn't very big! They stood together hand in<br /> +hand on the station platform, looking, and<br /> +feeling, rather desolate</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg8">"Are that jography?" he said</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg9">"Oh Auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute.<br /> +Him sees shiny glass jugs like dear little<br /> +Mother's. Oh, do 'top"</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg10">Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed<br /> +white-capped man came towards them smiling</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg1">There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm<br /> +fondly clasping Minet's neck, while with the<br /> +other he firmly held the famous money-box</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg11">Auntie stood still a moment to listen</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" valign="top"><span class="smallcaps"><a href="#hbimg12">Forgetting all about everything, except that her<br /> +Baby was found, up jumped Mother</a></span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<h2>THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY</h2> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h5>FOUR YEARS OLD</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> +<tr><td align="left">"I was four yesterday; when I'm quite old</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">I'll have a cricket-ball made of pure gold;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">I'll never stand up to show that I'm grown;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">I'll go at liberty upstairs or down."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>He trotted upstairs. Perhaps trotting is not quite +the right word, but I can't find a better. It wasn't +at all like a horse or pony trotting, for he went one +foot at a time, right foot first, and when right foot +was safely landed on a step, up came left foot and +the rest of Baby himself after right foot. It took a +good while, but Baby didn't mind. He used to think +a good deal while he was going up and down stairs, +and it was not his way to be often in a hurry. There +was one thing he could <i>not</i> bear, and that was any +one trying to carry him upstairs. Oh, that did vex +him! His face used to get quite red, right up to the +roots of his curly hair, and down to the edge of the +big collar of his sailor suit, for he had been put into +sailor suits last Christmas, and, if the person who was +lifting him up didn't let go all at once, Baby would +begin to wriggle. He was really clever at wriggling; +even if you knew his way it was not easy to hold +him, and with any one that didn't know his way he +could get off in half a minute.</p> + +<p>But this time there was no one about, and Baby +stumped on—yes <i>that</i> is a better word—Baby stumped +on, or up, "wifout nobody teasing." His face was +grave, very grave, for inside the little house of which +his two blue eyes were the windows, a great deal of +work was going on. He was busy wondering about, +and trying to understand, some of the strange news +he had heard downstairs in the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>"Over the sea," he said to himself. "Him would +like to see the sea. Auntie said over the sea in a +boat, a werry big boat. Him wonders how big."</p> + +<p>And his mind went back to the biggest boat he +had ever seen, which was in the toy-shop at Brookton, +when he had gone with his mother to be fitted for +new boots. But even that wouldn't be big enough. +Mother, and auntie, and grandfather, and Celia, and +Fritz, and Denny, and cook, and Lisa, and Thomas +and Jones, and the other servants, and the horses, +and—and<span class="norewrap">——</span> Baby stopped to take breath inside, +for though he had not been speaking aloud he felt +quite choked with all the names coming so fast. +"And pussy, and the calanies, and the Bully, and +Fritz's dormice, oh no, them <i>couldn't</i> all get in." Perhaps +if Baby doubled up his legs underneath he +might squeeze himself in, but that would be no good, +he couldn't go sailing, sailing all over the sea by +himself, like the old woman in "Harry's Nursery +Songs," who went sailing, sailing, up in a basket, +"seventy times as high as the moon." Oh no, even +that boat wouldn't be big enough. They must have +one as big as—and Baby stopped to look round. +But just then a shout from inside the nursery made +him wake up, for he had got to the last little stair +before the top landing, and again right foot and half +Baby, followed by left foot and the other half Baby, +stumped on their way.</p> + +<p>They pulled up—right foot and left foot, with +Baby's solemn face top of all—at the nursery door. +It was shut. Now one of the things Baby liked to +do for himself was to open doors, and now and then +he could manage it very well. But, alas, the nursery +lock was too high up for him to get a good hold of it. +He pulled, and pushed, and got quite red, all for no +use. Worse than that, the pushing and pulling were +heard inside. Some one came forward and opened +the door, nearly knocking poor Baby over.</p> + +<p>"Ach, Herr Baby, mine child, why you not say +when you come?" Lisa cried out. Lisa was Baby's +nurse. Her face was rosy and round, and she looked +very kind. She would have liked to pick him up to +make sure he had got no knocks, but she knew too +well that would not do. So all she could do was to +say again—</p> + +<p>"Mine child—ach, Herr Baby!"</p> + +<p>Baby did not take any notice.</p> + +<p>"Zeally," he said coolly, "ganfather must do +somesing to zem locks. Zem is all most dedful +'tiff."</p> + +<p>Lisa smiled to herself. She was used to Baby's +ways.</p> + +<p>"Herr Baby shall grow tall some day," she said. +"Zen him can open doors."</p> + +<p>Lisa's talking was nearly as funny as Baby's, and, +indeed, I rather think that hers had made his all the +funnier. But, any way, they understood each other. +He was thinking over what she had said, when a +scream from the nursery made them both turn round +in a hurry.</p> + +<p>"O Lisa, O Baby, come in quick, do. Peepy-Snoozle +has got out of the cage, and he'll be out at +the door in another moment. Quick, quick, come in +and shut the door."</p> + +<p>Lisa and Baby did not wait to be twice told. +Inside the nursery there was a great flurry. Celia, +Fritz, and Denny were all there crawling over the +floor and screaming at each other.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> have him! there—oh, now that's too bad. +Fritz, you frightened him away again," called out +Celia.</p> + +<p>"<i>Me</i> frighten him away! Why he knows me +ever so much better than you girls," said Fritz.</p> + +<p>"He just doesn't then," said Denny with triumph, +"for here he is safe in my apron."</p> + +<p>But she had hardly said the words when she gave +a little scream. "He's off again, oh quick, Baby, +quick, catch him."</p> + +<p>How Baby did it, I can't tell. His hands seemed +too small to catch anything, even a dormouse. But +catch the truant he did, and very proud Baby looked +when he held up his two little fists, which he had +made into a "mouse-trap" <i>really</i>, for the occasion, +with Peepy-Snoozle's "coxy" little head and bright +beady eyes poking out at the top.</p> + +<p>"Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into +'the parson in the pulpit that couldn't say his +prayers,'" cried Denny, dancing about.</p> + +<p>"All the same, he'd better go back into his cage," +said Fritz, who had a right to be heard, as he was +the master and owner of the dormice. "Come along, +Baby, poke him in."</p> + +<p>Baby was busy kissing and petting Peepy-Snoozle +by this time, for, though he did not approve of much +of that sort of thing for himself, he was very fond of +petting little animals, who were not little boys. And +to tell the truth, it was not often he got a chance +of petting his big brother's dormice. It was quite +pretty to see the way he kissed Peepy-Snoozle's soft +brown head, especially his nose, stroking it gently +against his own smooth cheeks and chattering to the +little creature.</p> + +<p>"Dear little darling. Sweet little denkle darling," +he said. "Him would like to have a house all full +of Peepy-'noozles, zem is so sweet and soft."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you like a coat made of their skins?" +said Denny. "Think how soft that would be."</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg2" id="hbimg2"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img2.jpg"> + <img src="images/img2.jpg" height="600" + alt="BABY AND PEEPY-SNOOZLE" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">"Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into 'the parson in the pulpit that<br /> + couldn't say his prayers,'" cried Denny.—P.6<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img2.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>"No, sairtin him wouldn't," said Baby. "Him +wouldn't pull off all their sweet little skins and hairs +to make him a coat. Denny's a c'uel girl."</p> + +<p>"There won't be much more skin or hairs left if +you go on scrubbing him up and down with your +sharp little nose like that," said Fritz.</p> + +<p>Baby drew back his face in a fright.</p> + +<p>"Put him in the cage then," he said, and with +Fritz's help this was safely done. Then Baby stood +silent, slowly rubbing his own nose up and down, +and looking very grave.</p> + +<p>"Him's nose <i>isn't</i> sharp," he said at last, turning +upon Denny. "Sharp means knifes and scidders."</p> + +<p>All the children burst out laughing. Of course +they understood things better than Baby, for even +Denny, the youngest next to him, was nine, that is +twice his age, which by the by was a puzzle to Denny +herself, for Celia had teased her one day by saying +that according to that when Baby was eighty Denny +would be a hundred and sixty, and nobody ever +lived to be so old, so how could it be.</p> + +<p>But Denny, though she didn't <i>always</i> understand +everything herself, was very quick at taking up other +people if they didn't.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you stupid little goose," she said. "Of +course, Fritz didn't mean as sharp as a knife. +There's different kinds of sharps—there's different +kinds of everything."</p> + +<p>Baby looked at her gravely. He had his own +way of defending himself.</p> + +<p>"Werry well. If him's a goose him won't talk to +you, and him won't tell you somesing <i>werry</i> funny and +dedful bootiful that him heard in the 'groind room."</p> + +<p>All eyes were turned on Baby.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do tell us, Baby darling, <i>do</i> tell us," said +Celia and Denny.</p> + +<p>Fritz gave Baby a friendly pat on the back.</p> + +<p>"You'll tell <i>me</i>, old fellow, won't you?" he said. +Baby looked at him.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said at last; "him will tell you,'cos +you let him have Peepy-'noozle, and 'cos you doesn't +call him a goose—like <i>girls</i> does. I'll whister in +your ear, Fritz, if you'll bend down."</p> + +<p>But Celia thought this was too bad.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> didn't call you a goose, Baby," she said. "I +think you might tell me too."</p> + +<p>"And I'll promise never to call you a goose again +if you'll tell <i>me</i>," said Denny.</p> + +<p>Baby had a great soul. It was beneath him to +take a mean revenge, he felt, especially on a <i>girl</i>! +So he shut his little mouth tightly, knit his little +brows, and thought it over for a moment or two. +Then his face cleared.</p> + +<p>"Him <i>will</i> tell you all—all you children," he said +at last, "but it's werry long and dedful wonderful, +and you mustn't inrumpt him. P'omise?"</p> + +<p>"Promise," shouted the three.</p> + +<p>"Well then, litsen. We's all goin' away—zeally +away—over the sea—dedful far. As far as the sky, +p'raps."</p> + +<p>"In a balloon?" said Denny, whose tongue +wouldn't keep still even though she was very much +interested in the news.</p> + +<p>"No, in a boat," replied Baby, forgetting to notice +that this was an "inrumption," "in a werry 'normous +boat. All's going. Him was looking for 'tamps in +mother's basket of teared letters under the little table, +and mother and ganfather and auntie didn't know +him were there, and ganfather said to mother somesing +him couldn't understand—somesing about <i>thit</i> +house, and mother said, yes, 'twould be a werry good +thing to go away 'fore the cold weather comed, and +the children would be p'eased. And auntie said she +would like to tell the children, but——"</p> + +<p>Another "inrumption." This time from Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Baby, stop a minute," he exclaimed. "Celia, +Denny—Baby's too little to understand, but," and +here Fritz's round chubby face got very red, "don't +you think we've no right to let him tell, if it's something +mother means to tell us herself? She didn't +know Baby was there—he said so."</p> + +<p>But before Celia or Denny could answer, Baby +turned upon Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Him <i>tolded</i> you not to inrumpt," he said, with +supreme contempt. "If you would litsen you would +see. Mother <i>did</i> know him was there at the ending, +for auntie said she'd like to tell the children—that's +you, and Denny and Celia—but him comed out from +the little table and said <i>him</i> would like to tell the +children hisself. And mother were dedful surprised, +and so was ganfather and auntie. And then they all +bursted out laughing and told him lots of things—about +going in the railway, and in a 'normous boat +to that other country, where there's cows to pull the +carts, and all the people talk lubbish-talk, like Lisa +when she's cross. And zen, and zen, him comed upstairs +to tell you."</p> + +<p>Baby looked round triumphantly. Celia and +Fritz and Denny looked first at him and then at +each other. This was wonderful news—almost too +wonderful to be true.</p> + +<p>"We must be going to Italy or somewhere like +that," said Celia. "How lovely! I wonder why +they didn't tell us before?"</p> + +<p>"Italy," repeated Denny, "that's the country like +a boot, isn't it? I do hope there won't be any snakes. +I'd rather far stay at home than go where there's +snakes."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> wouldn't," said Fritz, grandly. "I'd like to +go to India or Africa, or any of those places where +there's lots of lions and tigers and snakes, and anything +you like. Give me a good revolver and <i>you'd</i> +see."</p> + +<p>"Don't talk nonsense, Fritz," said Celia. "You're +far too little a boy for shooting and guns and all +that. It's setting a bad example to Baby to talk that +boasting way, and it's very silly too."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, miss. Much obliged to you, miss," said +Fritz. "I'd only just like to know, miss, who it was +came to my room the other night and was sure she +heard robbers, and begged Fritz to peep behind the +swing-door in the long passage. And 'oh,' said this +person, 'I do so wish you had a gun that you could +point at them to frighten them away.' Fritz wasn't +such a very little boy just then."</p> + +<p>Celia's face got rather red, and she looked as if +she was going to get angry, but at that moment, +happily, Lisa appeared with the tray for the nursery +tea. She had left the room when the dormouse was +caught, so she had not heard the wonderful news, and it +had all to be told over again. She smiled and seemed +pleased, but not as surprised as the children expected.</p> + +<p>"Why, aren't you surprised, Lisa?" said the +children. "Did you know before? Why didn't +you tell us?"</p> + +<p>Lisa shook her head and looked very wise.</p> + +<p>"What country are we going to? Can you tell +us that?" said Celia.</p> + +<p>"Is it to your country? Is it to what you call +Dutchland?" said Fritz. "I think it's an awfully +queer thing that countries can't be called by the same +names everywhere. It makes geography ever so +much harder. We've got to call the people that live +in Holland Dutch, and they call themselves—oh, I +don't know what they call themselves——"</p> + +<p>"Hollanders," said Lisa.</p> + +<p>"Hollanders!" repeated Fritz. "Well, that's a +sensible sort of name for people that live in Holland. +But <i>we've</i> got to call them Dutch; and then, to make +it more muddled still, Lisa calls her country Dutchland, +and the people Dutch, and <i>we</i> call them German +I think it's very stupid. If I was to make geography +I wouldn't do it that way."</p> + +<p>"What's jography?" said Baby.</p> + +<p>"Knowing all about all the countries and all the +places in the world," said Denny.</p> + +<p>"Him wants to learn that," said Baby.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're <i>far</i> too little!" said Denny. "<i>I</i> only +began it last year. Oh, you're ever so much too +little!"</p> + +<p>"Him's not too little to go in the 'normous boat +to <i>see</i> all zem countlies," said Baby, valiantly. "Him +<i>will</i> learn jography."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Baby," said Fritz. "Stick up for +yourself. You'll be a great deal bigger than Denny +some day."</p> + +<p>Denny was getting ready an answer when Lisa, +who knew pretty well the signs of war between Fritz +and Denny, called to all the children to come to tea; +and as both Fritz and Denny were great hands at +bread and butter, they forgot to quarrel, and began +pulling their chairs in to the table, and in a few +minutes all four were busy at work.</p> + +<p>What a pretty sight, and what a pleasant thing a +nursery tea is! when the children, that is to say, +are sweet-faced and smiling, with clean pinafores, +and clean hands, and gentle voices; not leaning over +the table, knocking over cups, and snatching rudely +at the "butteriest" pieces of bread and butter, and +making digs at the sugar when nurse is not looking. +<i>That</i> kind of nursery tea is not to my mind, and not +at all the kind to which I am always delighted to +receive an invitation, written in very round, very +black letters, on very small sheets of paper. The +nursery teas in Baby's nursery were not always <i>quite</i> +what I like to see them, for Celia, Fritz, and Denny, +and Baby too, had their tiresome days as well as +their pleasant ones, and though they meant to be +good to each other, they did not <i>always</i> do just what +they meant, or really wished, at the bottom of their +hearts. But to-day all the little storms were forgotten +in the great news, and all the faces looked +bright and eager, though just at first not much was +said, for when children are hungry of course they +can't chatter quite so fast, and all the four tongues +were silent till at least one cup of tea, and perhaps +three or four slices of bread and butter each—just as +a beginning, you know—had disappeared.</p> + +<p>Then said Celia,—</p> + +<p>"Lisa, do tell us if you know what sort of a place +we're going to."</p> + +<p>"Cows pulls carts there," observed Baby; "and—and—what +was the 'nother thing? We'll have frogses +for dinner."</p> + +<p>"Baby!" said the others, "<i>what nonsense</i>!"</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't nonsense. Ganfather said Thomas and +Dones wouldn't go 'cos they was fightened of frogses for +dinner. <i>Him</i> doesn't care—frogses tastes werry good."</p> + +<p>"How do you know? You've never tasted them," +said Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Ganfather said zem was werry good."</p> + +<p>"Grandfather was joking," said Celia. "I've +often heard him laugh at people that way. It's just +nonsense—Thomas and Jones don't know any better. +Do they eat frogs in your country, Lisa?"</p> + +<p>"In mine country, Fräulein Célie?" said Lisa, +looking rather vexed. "No indeed. Man eats goot, +most goot tings, in mine country. Say, Herr Baby—Herr +Baby knows what goot tings Lisa would give +him in her country."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Baby, "such good tings. Tocolate +and cakes—lots—and bootiful soup, all sweet, not +like salty soup. Him would like werry much to go +to Lisa's countly."</p> + +<p>"Do cows pull carts in your country, Lisa?" +asked Denny.</p> + +<p>"Some parts. Not where mine family lives," said +Lisa. "No, Fräulein Denny, it's not to mine country +we're going. Mine country is it colt, so colt; +and your lady mamma and your lady auntie they +want to go where it is warm, so warm, and sun all +winter."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> should like that too," said Celia, "I hate +winter."</p> + +<p>"That's 'cos you're a girl," said Fritz; "you +crumple yourself up by the fire and sit shivering—no +wonder you're cold. You should come out skating +like Denny, and then you'd get warm."</p> + +<p>"Denny's a girl too. You said it was because I +was a girl," said Celia.</p> + +<p>"Well, she's not as silly as some girls, any way," +said Fritz, rather "put down."</p> + +<p>Baby was sitting silent. He had made an end of +two cups of tea and five pieces of bread and butter.</p> + +<p>He was not, therefore, <i>quite</i> so hungry as he had +been at the beginning, but still he was a long way off +having made what was called in the nursery a "good +tea." Something was on his mind. He sat with one +arm propped on the table, and his round head leaning +on his hand, while the other held the piece of +bread and butter—butter downwards, of course—which +had been on its way to his mouth when his +brown study had come over him.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg3" id="hbimg3"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img3.jpg"> + <img src="images/img3.jpg" height="600" + alt="BABY SITTING AT THE TABLE" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">He sat with one arm propped on the table and his round head leaning on his<br /> + hand, while the other held the piece of bread and butter—butter downwards, of<br /> + course.—p. 16.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img3.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Herr Baby," said Lisa, "eat, mine child."</p> + +<p>Baby took no notice.</p> + +<p>"What has he then?" said Lisa, who was very +easily frightened about her dear Herr Baby. "Can +he be ill? He eats not."</p> + +<p>"Ill," said Celia. "No fear, Lisa. He's had ever +so much bread and butter. Don't you want any more, +Baby? What are you thinking about? We're going +to have honey on our last pieces to-night, aren't we, +Lisa? For a treat, you know, because of the news of +going away."</p> + +<p>Celia wanted the honey because she was very fond +of it; but besides that, she thought it would wake +Baby out of his brown study to hear about it, for he +was very fond of it too.</p> + +<p>He did catch the word, for he turned his blue +eyes gravely on Celia.</p> + +<p>"Honey's werry good," he said, "but him's not at +his last piece yet. Him doesn't sink he'll <i>ever</i> be at +his last piece to-night; him's had to stop eating for +he's so dedful busy in him's head."</p> + +<p>"Poor little man, have you got a pain in your head?" +said his sister, kindly. "Is that what you mean?"</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Baby, softly shaking his head, "no +pain. It's only busy sinking."</p> + +<p>"What about?" said all the children.</p> + +<p>Baby sat straight up.</p> + +<p>"Children," he said, "him zeally can't eat, sinking +of what a dedful packing there'll be. All of everysing. +Him zeally sinks it would be best to begin +to-night."</p> + +<p>At this moment the door opened. It was mother. +She often came up to the nursery at tea-time, and</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> +<tr><td align="left">"When the children had been good;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> That is, be it understood,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Good at meal times, good at play,"</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">I need hardly say, they were very, very pleased to +see her. Indeed there were times even when they +were glad to see her face at the door when they +<i>hadn't</i> been very good, for somehow she had a way +of putting things right again, and making them feel +both how wrong and how <i>silly</i> it is to be cross and +quarrelsome, that nobody else had. And she would +just help the kind words out without seeming to do +so, and take away that sore, horrid feeling that one +<i>can't</i> be good, even though one is longing so to be +happy and friendly again.</p> + +<p>But this evening there had been nothing worse +than a little squabbling; the children all greeted +mother merrily, only Baby still looked rather +solemn.</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h5>INSIDE A TRUNK</h5> + +<div class="center"> + +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> +<tr><td align="left">"For girls are as silly as spoons, dears,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> And boys are as jolly as bricks.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">* * * * * </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Oh Mammy, <i>you</i> tell us a story!—</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> They won't hear a word that <i>I</i> say."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Mother, mother!" they all cried with one voice, +and the three big ones jumped up and ran to her, all +pulling her at once.</p> + +<p>"Mother, mother, do sit down in the rocking-chair +and look comfortable," said Fritz.</p> + +<p>"There's still some tea. You'll have a cup of <i>our</i> +tea, won't you, mother?" said Celia.</p> + +<p>"And some bread and honey," said Denny.</p> + +<p>"It won't spoil your afternoon tea; don't say it +will," said all together, for nothing would ever make +them believe that when mother came up to the +nursery at tea-time it could be allowed that she +should not have a share of whatever there was.</p> + +<p>"Such a good thing we had honey to-night," said +Celia, who was busy cutting a very dainty piece of +bread and butter. "We persuaded Lisa to give it us +<i>extra</i>, you know, mother, because of the news. And, +oh, mother, what do you think Baby says? he——"</p> + +<p>"Baby! what is the matter with him?" interrupted +mother.</p> + +<p>They all turned to look at him. Poor Baby, he +had set to work to get down from his chair to run to +mother with the others, but the chair was high and +Baby was short, and Lisa, who had gone to the cupboard +for a fresh cup and saucer for "madame," as +she called the children's mother, had not noticed the +trouble Herr Baby had got himself into. One little +leg and a part of his body were stuck fast in the open +space between the bars at the back, his head had +somehow got under the arm of the chair, and could +not be got out again without help. And Baby was +far too proud to call out for help as long as there was +a chance of his doing without it. But he really was +in a very uncomfortable state, and it was a wonder +that the chair, which was a light wicker one, had not +toppled over with the queer way in which he was +hanging. They got him out at last; his face was +very red, and I <i>think</i> the tears had been very near +coming, but he choked them down, and looking up +gravely he said to his mother,—</p> + +<p>"Him's chair is getting too small. Him hasn't +room to turn."</p> + +<p>"Is it really?" said his mother, quite gravely too. +She saw that Celia and Fritz were ready to burst out +laughing at poor Baby, and she didn't want them to +do so, for Baby had really been very brave, and now +when he was trying hard not to cry it would have +been too bad to laugh at him. "Is it really?" she +said. "I must see about it, and if it is too small we +must get you another."</p> + +<p>"Him doesn't want you to pack up <i>that</i> chair," +said Baby again, giving himself a sort of shake, as if +to make sure that his head, and his legs, and all the +rest of him, were in their proper places after being +so turned about and twisted by his struggles in the +chair.</p> + +<p>"He's quite in a fuss about packing," said Celia; +"that's what I was going to tell you, mother. He +stopped in the middle of his tea to think about it, and +he said he thought we'd better begin to-night."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Baby. "There's such <i>lots</i> to pack. +All our toys, and the labbits, and the mouses, and +the horses, and the fireplaces, and the tables, and the +cups, and the saucers," his eyes wandering round the +room as he went on with his list. "Him thinks +we'll need <i>lots</i> of boats to go in."</p> + +<p>"And two or three railway trains all to ourselves," +said mother.</p> + +<p>Baby looked up at her gravely. He could not +make out if mother was in fun or earnest. His little +puzzled face made mother draw him to her and give +him a kiss.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame to talk nonsense to such a serious +little man," she said. "Don't trouble yourself about +the packing, Baby dear. Don't you know grandfather, +and auntie, and I have had lots of packings to +do in our lives? Why, we had to pack up <i>two</i> houses +when we came away from India, and that was much +much farther away than where we're going now! +And you were <i>such</i> a tiny baby then—it was very +much harder, for mother was very very sad, and she +never thought you would grow to be a big strong boy +like what you are now."</p> + +<p>"Was that when——" began thoughtless Denny, +but Fritz gave her a tug.</p> + +<p>"You <i>know</i> it makes mother unhappy to talk +about that time," he whispered; but mother heard +him.</p> + +<p>"No, Fritz," she said; "I don't mind Denny +thinking about it. I am so glad to have all of you, +dears, happy and good, that my sorrow is not so bad +as it was. And I am so glad you and Celia can +remember your father. Poor Baby—<i>he</i> can't remember +him," she said, softly stroking Baby's face.</p> + +<p>"'Cos he went to Heaven when him was so little," +said Baby. Then he put his arms round mother's +neck. "Him and Fritz will soon grow big, and be +werry good to mother," he said. "And ganfather and +auntie are werry good to mother, isn't they?" he +added.</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed," said mother; "and to all of you too. +What would we do without grandfather and auntie?"</p> + +<p>"Some poor little boys and girls has no mothers +and ganfathers, and no stockings and shoes, and no +<i>nothings</i>," said Baby solemnly.</p> + +<p>"There's <i>some</i> things I shouldn't mind not having," +said Fritz; "I shouldn't mind having no lessons."</p> + +<p>"O Fritz," said his sisters; "what a lazy boy you +are!"</p> + +<p>"No, I'm just <i>not</i> lazy. I'm awfully fond of doing +<i>everything</i>—I don't even mind if it's a hard thing, so +long as it isn't anything in books," said Fritz, sturdily. +"Some people's made one way, and some's made +another, and I'm made the way of not liking +books."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what Baby will say to books," said +mother, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Is jography in books," said Baby. "Him wants +to learn jography."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> think it's awfully stupid," said Denny. "I'm +sure you won't like it once you begin. Did <i>you</i> like +lessons when you were little, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm sure mother did," said Fritz. "People's +fathers and mothers were always far gooder than their +children are. I've noticed that. If ever big people +tell you about when they were little, it's always about +how good they were. And they say always, 'Dear +me, how happy children should be nowadays; <i>we</i> +were never allowed to do so and so when <i>we</i> were +little.' That's the way old Mrs. Nesbitt always talks, +isn't it mother? I wonder if it's true. If people +keep getting naughtier than their fathers and mothers +were, the world will get <i>very</i> naughty some day. <i>Is</i> +it true?"</p> + +<p>"I think it's true that children get to be more +spoilt," said Denny in a low voice. "Just look how +Baby's clambering all over mother! O Baby, you +nearly knocked over mother's cup! <i>I</i> never was +allowed to do like that when <i>I</i> was a little girl."</p> + +<p>Everybody burst out laughing—even mother—but +Denny had the good quality of not minding being +laughed at.</p> + +<p>"Was the tea nice, and the bread and butter and +honey?" she said eagerly, as mother rose to put the +empty cup in a place of safety.</p> + +<p>"Very nice, thank you," said mother. "But I +must go, dears. I have a good many things to talk +about with grandfather and auntie."</p> + +<p>"Packing?" said Baby.</p> + +<p>"How you do go on about packing!" said Denny. +"Of course mother's not going to pack to-night."</p> + +<p>Baby's face fell.</p> + +<p>"Him does so want to begin packing," he said +dolefully. "'Appose we forgottened somesing, and +we was over the sea!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I must talk about it all, and write down +all we have to take," said mother. "So I must go to +auntie now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, not yet, not yet. Just five minutes more!" +cried the children. "And, mother," said Celia, "you've +not answered my question. <i>Is</i> it true that children +used to be so much better long ago? Were you +never naughty?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes," said mother, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Celia. "Often, mother? +I do hope you were often naughty. Do tell us a +story about something naughty you did when you +were little. You know it would be a good lesson +for us. It would show us how awfully good one +may learn to be, for, you know, you're awfully good +now."</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course you are," said Fritz and Denny.</p> + +<p>"Mother's <i>dedfully</i> good," said Baby, poking up +his face from her knee where he had again perched +himself, to kiss her. "Do tell him one story of when +you was a little girl, mother."</p> + +<p>Mother's face seemed for a minute rather puzzled. +Then it suddenly cleared up.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you a very little story," she said; "it +really is a very little story, but it is as long as I have +time for just now, and it may amuse you. Baby's +packing put it in my head."</p> + +<p>"Is it about when you were a little girl, mother?" +interrupted Denny.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Well, when I was a little girl, I had no +mother."</p> + +<p>The elder children nodded their heads. But Baby, +to whom it was a new idea, shook his sadly.</p> + +<p>"Zat was a gate pity," he said. "Poor mother to +have no mother. Had you no shoes and stockings, +and nothing nice to eat?"</p> + +<p>"You sill——" began Denny, but mother stopped +her.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," she said, "I had shoes and stockings, +and everything I wanted, for I had a very kind father. +You know how kind grandfather is? And I had a +kind sister whom you know too. But when I was a +little girl, my sister was not herself <i>very</i> big, and she +had a great deal to do <i>for</i> a not very big girl, you +know. There were our brothers, for we had several, +and though they were generally away at school there +seemed always something to do for them—letters to +write to them, if there was nothing else—and then, +in the holidays, there were all their new shirts, +and stockings, and things to get to take back to +school. Helen seemed always busy. She had been +at school too, before your grandfather came back +from India, for five years, bringing me with him, +quite a wee little girl of four. And Helen was so +happy to be with us again, that she begged not +to go back to school, and, as she was really very +well on for her age, grandfather let her stay at +home."</p> + +<p>"There, you see," whispered Celia, nudging Fritz. +"It's beginning—it always does—you hear how +awfully good auntie was."</p> + +<p>Mother went on quietly. If she heard what Celia +said she took no notice. "Grandfather let her stay +at home and have lessons there. She had a great +many lessons to learn for her age besides those that +one learns out of books. She had to learn to be +very active, and very thoughtful, and, above all, very +patient. For the little sister she had to take care of +was, I am afraid, a very spoilt little girl when she +first came home. Grandfather had spoiled her without +meaning it; he was so sorry for her because she +had no mother, and Helen was so sorry for her too, +that it was rather difficult for her not to spoil her as +well."</p> + +<p>Here Baby himself "inrumpted."</p> + +<p>"Him doesn't understand," he said. "Who <i>were</i> +that little girl? Him wants a story about mother +when <i>her</i> was a little girl;" and the corners of his +mouth went down, and his eyes grew dewy-looking, +in a very sad way.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg4" id="hbimg4"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img4.jpg"> + <img src="images/img4.jpg" height="600" + alt="ONE TRUNK TOOK MY FANCY" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">There was one trunk which took my fancy more than all the others.—P. 30.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img4.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Poor Baby," said mother. "I'll try and tell it +more plainly. <i>I</i> was that little girl, and auntie was +my sister Helen. I must get on with my little story. +I was forgetting that Baby would not quite understand. +Well, one day to my great delight, Helen told +me that grandfather was going to take her and me +and the two brothers, who were then at home, to +spend Christmas with one of our aunts in London. +This aunt had children too, and though I had never +seen them Helen told me they were very nice, for +she knew them well, as she used to go there for her +holidays before we came home. She told me most +about a little girl called Lilly, who was just about +my age. I had never had a little friend of my own +age, and I was always talking and thinking about +how nice it would be, and I was quite vexed with +Helen because she would not begin to pack up at +once. I was always teasing her to know what trunks +we should take, and if all my dolls might go, and I +am sure poor Helen often wished she had not told +me anything about it till the very day before. I +got in the way of going up to the big attic where the +trunks were kept, and of looking at them and wondering +which would go, and wishing Helen would let +me have one all for myself and my dolls and their +things. There was one trunk which took my fancy +more than all the others. It was an old-fashioned +trunk, but it must have been a very good one, for it +shut with a sort of spring, and inside it had several +divisions, some with little lids of their own, and I +used to think how nice it would be for me, I could +put all my dolls in so beautifully, and each would +have a kind of house for itself. I don't remember +how I managed to get it open, perhaps it had been a +little open when I first began my visits to the attic, +for the lid was very heavy, and I was neither big nor +strong for my age. But it <i>was</i> open, and it stayed +so, for no one else ever went up to the attic but I. +The other people in the house were too busy, and no +one would have thought there was anything amusing +in looking at empty trunks in a row. But I went up +to the attic day after day. I climbed up the narrow +staircase as soon as I had had my breakfast, and +stayed there till I heard my nurse calling me to get +ready to go out, or to come to my lessons, for I was +beginning to learn to read, and I used to have a little +lesson every day. And at last one day I said to my +sister,</p> + +<p>"'Helen, may I have the big trunk with the little +cupboards in it for <i>my</i> trunk?'</p> + +<p>"Helen was busy at the time, and I don't think +she heard exactly what I said. She answered me +hurriedly that she would see about it afterwards. +But I went on teasing.</p> + +<p>"'May I begin putting Marietta and Lady Regina +into the little cupboards inside?' I said.</p> + +<p>"'Oh yes, I daresay you can if you like,' said +Helen. She told me afterwards that when I spoke +of cupboards she never thought I meant a trunk, she +thought I was speaking of some of the nursery +cupboards.</p> + +<p>"It was just bed-time then, too late for me to go +to the attic, for I knew there was no chance of my +getting leave to go up there with a candle. But I fell +asleep with my head full of how nicely I could put +the dolls into the trunk, each with her clothes beside +her, and the very first thing the next morning I got +them all together and I mounted up to the attic. I +had never told nurse about my going up there. Once +or twice, perhaps, she had seen me coming down the +stair, but very likely she had thought I had only +been a little way up to look out of a window there +was there. I don't know why I didn't tell her, +perhaps I was afraid of her stopping my going. I +waited till she was busy about her work, fetching +coals and so on, and then I trotted off with Lady +Regina under one arm and Marietta under the other, +and a bundle of their clothes tied up in my pinafore +before, to make my way upstairs to the delightful +trunk. It was open as usual, and after putting my +dolls and bundles down on the floor, I managed to +lift out the two top trays. One of them was much +larger than the other, and it was in what I called the +cupboards below the smaller one that I settled to put +Regina and Marietta. There were two of these little +cupboards, and each had a lid. They would just do +beautifully. Under the larger tray there was just one +big space without a lid, 'just a hole,' I called it. I +went on for a little time, laying in some of the clothes +first to make a nice soft place for the dolls to lie on, +but I soon got tired. It was so very far to reach +over, for the outside edges of the box were high, +higher of course than the <i>inside</i> divisions, for the +trays I had taken out, which lay on the top of the +lower spaces, were a good depth, and there had been +no division between them. It came into my head +that it would be much easier if I were to get into the +box myself—I could stand in the big hole, as I called +it, and reach over to the little divisions where I +wanted to put the dolls, and it would be far less tiring +than trying to reach over from the outside. So I +clambered in—it was not very difficult—and when I +found myself really inside the trunk I was so pleased +that I sat down cross-legged, like a little Turk, to +take a rest before going on with what I called my +packing. But sitting still for long was not in my +way—I soon jumped up again, meaning to reach over +for Lady Regina, who was lying on the floor beside +the trunk, but, how it happened I cannot tell, I suppose +I somehow caught the tapes which fastened the +lid; any way down it came! It did not hurt me +much, for I had not had time to stretch out my head, +and the weight fell mostly on my shoulders, sideways +as it were, and before I knew what had happened I +found myself doubled up somehow in my hole, with +the heavy lid on the top of me, all in the dark, except +a little line of light round the edge, for the lid had not +shut quite down; the hasp of the lock—as the little +sticking-out piece is called—had caught in the fall, +and was wedged into a wrong place. So, luckily for +me, there was still a space for some air to come in, +and a little light, though very little. I was dreadfully +frightened at first; then I began to get over my fright +a little, and to struggle to get out. Of course my +first idea was to try to push up the lid with my head +and shoulders; I remember the feeling of it pushing +back upon me—the dreadful feeling that I couldn't +move it, that I was shut up there and couldn't get +out! I was too little to understand all at once that +there could be any danger, that I might perhaps be +suffocated—that means choked, Baby—for want of +air; or that I might really be hurt by being so cramped +and doubled up. And really there was not much +danger; if I had been older I should have been more +frightened than there was really any reason to be. +But I was big enough to begin very quickly to get +very angry and impatient. I had never in all my life +been forced to do anything I disliked; often and often +my nurse, and sometimes Helen, had begged me to +try to sit still for a minute or two, but I never would. +And now the lesson of having to give in to something +much worse than sitting still in my nice little chair +by the nursery fire, or standing still for two minutes +while a new frock was tried on, had to be learnt! +There was no getting rid of it; I kicked and I +pushed, it was no use; the strong heavy lid which +had been to India and back two or three times would +not move the least bit. I tried to poke out my fingers +through the little space that was left, but I could not +find the lock, and it was a good thing I did not, for if +I had touched the hasp, most likely the lid would +have fallen quite into its place, crushing my poor +little fingers, and shutting me in without any air at +all. At last I thought of another plan. I set to +work screaming.</p> + +<p>"'Nurse, nurse, Nelly, oh Nelly,' I cried, and at +last I shouted, 'Papa, <i>Papa</i>, <span class="smallcaps">Papa</span>,' at the top of my +voice. But it was no use! Most children would +have begun screaming at the very first. But I was +not a <i>frightened</i> child, and I was very proud. I did +not want any one to find me shut up in a box like +that, besides, they would be sure to stop my ever +coming up to the attic again. So it was not till I +had tired myself out with trying to push up the lid +that I set to work to screaming, and that made it all +the more provoking that my calls brought no one. +At last I got so out of patience that I set to work +again kicking for no use at all, but just because I +was so angry. I kicked and screamed, and at last I +burst into tears and <i>roared</i>. Then I caught sight, +through the chink, of Lady Regina's blue dress, +where the doll was lying on the floor near the +trunk.</p> + +<p>"'Nasty Regina,' I shouted, 'nasty, ugly Regina. +You are lying there as if there was nothing the +matter, and it was all for you I came up here. I +hate dolls—they never do nothing. If you were a +little dog you'd go and bark, and then somebody +would come and let me out.'</p> + +<p>"Then I went on crying and sobbing till I was +perfectly tired, and then what do you think I did? +Though I was so uncomfortable, all crushed up into +a little ball, I went to sleep! I went to sleep as +soundly as if I had been in my own little bed, and +afterwards I found, from what they told me, that I +must have slept quite two hours. When I woke up +I could not think where I was. I felt so stiff and +sore, and when I tried to stretch myself out I could +not, and then I remembered where I was! It seemed +quite dark; I wondered if it was night, till I noticed +the little chink of light at the edge of the lid, and +then I began to cry again, but not so wildly as before. +All of a sudden I thought I heard a sound—some +one was coming upstairs! and then I heard voices.</p> + +<p>"'Fallen out of the window,' one said. 'Oh no, +nurse, she <i>couldn't</i>! She could never get through.'</p> + +<p>"But yet the person seemed to be looking out of +the window all the same, for I heard them opening +and shutting it. And then I called out again.</p> + +<p>"'Oh Nelly, Nelly. I'se here; I'se shut up in +the big box with the cupboards.'</p> + +<p>"They didn't hear me at first. My little voice +must have sounded very faint and squeaky from out +of the trunk, besides they were not half-way up the +attic-stairs. So I went on crying—</p> + +<p>"'Oh Nelly, Nelly! I'se up here. Oh Nelly, +Nelly!'</p> + +<p>"She heard me this time. Dear Nelly! I never +have called to her in vain, children, in all my life. +And in half a minute she had dashed up the stairs, +and, guided by my voice, was kneeling down beside +the trunk.</p> + +<p>"'Little May, my poor little May,' Nelly called +out; and do you know I really think she was crying +too! I was—by the time Nelly and the servants +who were with her had got the lid unhooked and +raised, and had lifted me out—I was in floods of +tears. I clung to Nelly, and told her how 'dedful' +it had been, and she petted me so that I am afraid I +quite forgot it was all my own fault.</p> + +<p>"'You might have been there for hours and +hours, May,' Nelly said to me, 'if it hadn't been for +nurse thinking of the window on the stair. You +must never go off by yourself to do things like that,' +and when I told her that I had asked her and she +had given me leave, she said she had not at all +known what I meant, and that I must try to remember +not to tease about things once I had been told to +wait. Any way I think I had got a good lesson of +patience that day, and one that I never forgot, for it +really is not at all a pleasant thing to be shut up in +a big trunk."</p> + +<p>Mother stopped.</p> + +<p>Baby, who had been listening with solemn eyes, +said slowly,</p> + +<p>"Him will not pack by hisself. Him will wait +till somebody can help him. It would be so dedful +sad if him was to get shuttened up like poor little +mother, and perhaps you'd all go away ac'oss the sea +and nebber find him."</p> + +<p>The corners of his mouth went down at this +sorrowful picture, and his eyes looked as if they were +beginning to think about crying. But mother and +Celia set to work petting and kissing him before the +tears had time to come.</p> + +<p>"As if we would ever go across the sea without +<i>him</i>," said mother.</p> + +<p>"Why, we should never know how to do <i>anything</i> +without Herr Baby," said Celia.</p> + +<p>"Fritz and Baby will do all the fussy things in +travelling—taking the tickets, and counting the +luggage, and all that—they're such big men, aren't +they?" said Denny, with mischief in her twinkling +green eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now you, just mind what you're about," said +Fritz, gallantly. "You'll make him cry just when +mother's been comforting him up. Such stupids +girls are!" he added in a lower voice.</p> + +<p>"I really must go now," said mother, getting up +from her chair. "Auntie will not know what has +become of me. I have been up here, why a whole +half hour, instead of five minutes!"</p> + +<p>"Auntie will think mother's got shut up in a +trunk again," said Denny, whose tongue <i>never</i> could +be still for long, and at this piece of wit they all +burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>All but Herr Baby. He couldn't see that it was +any laughing matter. Mother's story had sunk deep +into his mind. Trunks were things to be careful of. +Baby saw this clearly.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4>UP IN THE MORNING EARLY</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> +<tr><td align="left">"Sweet, eager promises bind him to this,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Never to do so again."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>He woke early next morning. He had so much to +think of, you see. So much that even his dreams +were full of all he had heard yesterday.</p> + +<p>"Him's been d'eaming him was in the big, big, +'normous boat, and zen him d'eamed of being +shuttened up in a t'unk like <i>poor</i> little mother," he +confided to Denny.</p> + +<p>He was forced to tell Denny a good many things, +because they slept in the same room, and, of course, +everybody knows that <i>whatever</i> mammas and nurses +say, going-to-sleep-in-bed time is <i>the</i> time for talking. +Waking-up-in-the-morning time is rather tempting, +too, particularly in summer, when the sun comes in +at the windows <i>so</i> brightly and the birds are <i>so</i> lively, +chattering away to each other, and all the world is up +and about, except "<i>us</i>," who <i>have</i> to stay in bed till +seven o'clock! Ah, it <i>is</i> a trial! On the whole, I +don't think chattering in the mornings is so much to +be found fault with as chattering at night. It is +only children who are so silly as to keep themselves +awake when the time for going to sleep has come. +The birds and the bees, and the little lambs even, all +know when that time has come, and go to sleep without +any worry to themselves or other people. But +children are not always so sensible. I <i>could</i> tell you +a story—only I am afraid if she were to read it in +this little book it would make her feel so ashamed +that I should really be sorry for her, so I will not +tell you her name nor where she lives—of a little +girl who was promised two pounds, two whole gold +pounds—fancy! if for one month she would go +quietly to sleep at night when she was put to bed, +and let her sister do the same; and she was to lose +two shillings every night she forgot or disobeyed. +Well, what do you think? at the end of two weeks +the two pounds had come down already to nineteen +shillings! She had forgotten already ten times, or +ten and a half times—I don't quite understand how +it had come to nineteen, but so it had; and at the +end of the month—no I don't think I will tell you +what it had come down to. Only this will show you +how much more difficult it is to get out of a bad +habit than to get into a good one, for this little girl +is very sweet and good in many ways, and I love her +dearly—<i>only</i> she had got into this bad habit, and it +was stronger, as bad habits so often are, than her real +true wish to do what her mother told her.</p> + +<p>But I have wandered away from Herr Baby, and +I am afraid you won't be pleased. He was forced, I +was saying, to tell Denny a good many things, because +he was most with her. I don't think he would +have told her as much but for that, for Denny's head +was a very flighty one, and she never cared to think +or talk about the same thing for long together, which +was not <i>at all</i> Herr Baby's way. <i>He</i> liked to think +a good deal about everything, and one thing lasted +him a good while.</p> + +<p>"Him's been d'eaming such a lot," he said to +Denny this morning.</p> + +<p>"I think dreams are very stupid," said Denny. +"What's the good of them? If they made things +come <i>real</i> they would be some good. Like, you know, +if I was to dream somebody gave me something +awfully nice, and then when I woke up I was to see +the thing on my bed, <i>then</i> dreams would be some +good."</p> + +<p>"But if zou d'eamed somesing dedful, like being +shuttened up in a t'unk like <i>poor</i> little mother, <i>zen</i> it +wouldn't be nice for it to come zeal," said Baby, who +never forgot to look at things from both sides.</p> + +<p>"No, of course it wouldn't. How stupid you are!" +said Denny. "And how your head does run on one +thing. I'm quite tired of you talking about mother +being shut up in the trunk. Do talk of something +else."</p> + +<p>"Him can't talk of somesing else when him's +sinking of one sing," said Baby gravely.</p> + +<p>"Well, then don't talk at all," said Denny sharply, +"and indeed I think we'd better be quiet, or Lisa +will be coming in, and scolding us. It's only half-past +six."</p> + +<p>Baby did not speak for a minute or two. Then he +said solemnly,</p> + +<p>"When us goes away ac'oss the sea in the 'normous +boat, him <i>hopes</i> him won't sleep in the same zoom as +you any more."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I hope not," said Denny snappishly. +There was some excuse for her this morning, she was +really rather sleepy, and it is very tiresome to be +wakened up at half-past six, when one is quite inclined +to sleep till half-past seven.</p> + +<p>But Baby could not go to sleep again. His mind +was still running on packing. If he could but have +a <i>little</i> box of his own to pack his own treasures in, +then he would be sure none would be forgotten. He +did not want a <i>big</i> trunk—not one in which he could +be shuttened up like mother, but just a nice little one. +If mother would give him one! Stay—where had he +seen one, just what he wanted, was it in the nursery +or in the cupboard where Fritz kept his garden-tools +and his skates, and all the big boy things which Baby +too hoped to have of his own some day? No, it was +not there. It must have been—yes, it was in the +pantry when he went to ask James for a glass of water. +Up on a shelf, high up it stood, "a tiny <i>sweet</i> little +t'unk," said Herr Baby to himself, "wouldn't mother +let him have it?" He would ask her this morning as +soon as he saw her. Then he lay still and thought +over to himself all the things he would pack in the +tiny sweet little t'unk; his best Bible with his name</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<span class="ind1">"Raymond Arthur Aylmer,"</span> +</p> + +<p class="noindent">in the gold letters on the back, should have the nicest +corner, of course, and his "<i>scented</i> purse," as he called +the Russia leather purse which grandfather had given +him on his last birthday, that would go nicely beside +the Bible, and his watch that <i>really</i> ticked as long as +you turned the key in it—all those things would fit +in, nicely packed in "totton wool," of course, and +crushy paper. The thought of it all made Baby's +fingers fidget with eagerness to begin his packing. +If only mother would give him the box! It must be +mother's, for if it was James's he would keep it in his +own room instead of up on the pantry shelf among +all the glasses and cups. If Baby could just see it +again he would know 'ezackly if it would do!</p> + +<p>Baby looked about him. Everything was perfectly +still, he heard no one moving about the house—Denny +had said it was only half-past six.</p> + +<p>"Denny," said Baby softly.</p> + +<p>No reply.</p> + +<p>"<i>Denny</i>," a very little louder.</p> + +<p>Still no reply; but Baby, by leaning over the edge +of his cot a little, could see that Denny's eyes were +shut, and her nose was half buried in the pillow in +the way she always turned it when she went to sleep. +Denny had gone to sleep again.</p> + +<p>"Zes," said Herr Baby to himself; "her's a'leep—her's +beazing so soft."</p> + +<p>He looked about him again; he stuck one little +warm white foot out of bed—it did feel <i>rather</i> cold; +he felt more than half inclined just to cuddle himself +up warm again and lie still till Lisa came to dress +him. But the thought of the little t'unk was too +much for him.</p> + +<p>"Him would so like just to <i>see</i> it," he said to +himself.</p> + +<p>Then he stood right up in bed and clambered over +the edge of the cot the way he had to do to get out +of it by himself. He did not make much noise—not +enough to waken Denny, and indeed he would not +much have minded if she <i>had</i> awakened, only that +perhaps she would have wanted to go too, and Baby +wished just to go down to the pantry this quiet time +of the morning before any one was there and take a +good look by himself.</p> + +<p>It was cold on the stair—just at the edge, that is +to say, where the carpet did not cover, and where +he had stepped without thinking, not being used to +trotting about on bare feet, you see. But in the +middle, on the carpet, it was nice and soft and warm.</p> + +<p>"It would be dedful to be poor boys wif no shoes +and stockings," he said to himself, "'cept on the +carpet. Him would like to buy lots of lubly soft +carpets for zem poor boys."</p> + +<p>And he pitied the poor boys still more when he +got to the back passage leading to the pantry, where +there was no carpet at all, only oilcloth. He pattered +along as fast as he could; there was no sound to be +heard but the ticking of the clock, and Baby wondered +that he had never noticed before what a loud +ticking clock it was; it did not come into his head +that it was very late for none of the servants to be +down, for such matters were not his concern, and if +he had known the truth that Denny had made a +mistake of an hour, and that it was only half-past five +instead of half-past six, he would not have thought +much about it.</p> + +<p>He got to the pantry at last. It was darker in +here than in the passage outside, which was a disappointment. +The shutters were shut, that was the +reason, and when Baby looked up at them and saw +how strong and barred they were, even <i>he</i> felt that it +would be no use to try to open them. He climbed +up on to the dresser that ran round one side of the +wall to see better. Yes, there it was—the tiny, sweet, +little t'unk—just as he had been fancying it. Not so +very high up either. If he could but give it a little +poke out he could almost reach it down—it could not +be heavy, it was <i>such</i> a tiny t'unk; and, oh, if he +could carry it out to the passage, where it was light, +how beautifully he could look at it! He stood up on +tiptoe, and found he could almost reach it. A brush +with a sticking-out handle was lying beside him. +Baby took it, and found that by poking it in a little +behind the box he could make it move out, and if it +were moved out a very little way he could reach to lift +it down. He moved it out enough, then he stretched +up his two hands to lift it down—it was not very +heavy, but still rather heavier than he had thought. +But with the help of his curly head, which he partly +rested it on, he got it out safely enough, and was just +slipping it gently downwards to the dresser when +<i>somehow</i> the brush handle, which he had left on the +shelf, caught him or the box, he could not tell which, +and, startled by the feeling of something pushing +against him, Baby lost his balance and fell! Off the +dresser right down on to the hard floor, which had no +carpet even to make it softer, he tumbled, and the +little t'unk on the top of him. What a noise it made—even +in the middle of his fright Baby could not +help thinking what a tremendous noise he and the +box seemed to make. He lay still for a minute; +luckily the box, though it had come straight after +him, had fallen a little to one side, and had not hit +him. He was bruised enough by the floor already—any +more bumps would have been <i>too</i> much, would +they not? But the poor box itself was to be pitied; +it had come open in the fall, and all that was in it had +naturally tumbled out. <i>That</i> explained the noise and +clatter. The box had held—indeed it had been made +on purpose to hold them—two beautiful glass jugs, +which had been sent to mother all the way from Italy! +Baby had never seen them, because they were only +used when mother and auntie wanted the dinner-table +to look very nice, and of course Baby was too little +ever to come down to dinner. And, alas, the beautiful +jugs, so fine and thin that one could almost have +thought the fairies had made them, were both broken, +one of them, indeed, crushed and shivered into mere +bits of glass lying about the pantry floor, and the box +itself had lost its lid, for the hinges had been broken, +too, in the fall.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg5" id="hbimg5"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img5.jpg"> + <img src="images/img5.jpg" height="600" + alt="BABY COULD NOT MAKE OUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">For a minute or two Baby could not make out what had happened—P. 50.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img5.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>For a minute or two Baby could not make out +what had happened. He felt a little stupid with the +fall, and sore too. But he never was ready to cry for +bumps or knocks; he would cry much more quickly +if any one spoke sharply to him than if he hurt himself. +So at first he lay still, wondering what was the +matter. Then he sat up and looked about him, and +<i>then</i>, seeing the broken box and the broken glass, he +understood that he had done some harm, and he burst +into piteous sobbing.</p> + +<p>"Him didn't mean," he cried; "him didn't know +there was nuffin in the tiny t'unk. Oh, what shall +him do?"</p> + +<p>He cried and sobbed, and, being now very frightened, +he cried the more when he saw that there was blood +on his little white nightgown, and that the blood +came from one of his little cold feet, which had been cut +by a piece of the broken glass. Baby was much more +frightened by the sight of blood than by anything else—when +he climbed up on the nursery chest of drawers, +and Denny told him he'd be killed if he fell down, he +didn't mind a bit, but when Lisa said that he might hurt +his face if he fell, and make it <i>bleed</i>, he came down at +once—and now the sight of the blood was too much.</p> + +<p>"Oh, him's hurt hisself, him's all bleeding!" he +cried. "Oh, <i>what</i> shall him do?"</p> + +<p>He dared not move, for he was afraid of lifting the +cut foot—he really did not know what to do—when +he heard steps coming along the passage, pattering +steps something like his own, and before he had time +to think who it could be, a second little white-night-gowned +figure trotted into the room.</p> + +<p>"Baby, poor Baby, what's the matter?" and, looking +up, Baby saw it was Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Him's hurt hisself, him's tumbled, and the tiny +t'unk is brokened, and somesing else is brokened. +Him didn't mean," he sobbed; and Fritz sat down on +the floor beside him, having the good sense to keep +out of the way of the broken glass, and lifted the +little bleeding foot gently.</p> + +<p>"Must have some sticking-plaster," said Fritz. +"There's some in mother's pocket-book in her room. +We must go to mother, Baby."</p> + +<p>"But him can't walk," said Baby piteously. +"Him's foot bleedens dedful when him moves it."</p> + +<p>"Then I must carry you," said Fritz, importantly.</p> + +<p>With some difficulty he got Baby on to his back +and set off with him. Baby had often ridden on +Fritz's back before, in the nursery, for fun, and it +seemed very nice and easy. But now, though he had +only his nightgown on, Fritz was surprised to find +how heavy he seemed after going a little way. He +was obliged to rest after he had gone up a few steps, +and Baby began to cry worse than before when he +saw how tired poor Fritz was. I really don't know +how they ever got to the door of mother's room, and, +when their knocking brought her out, it was rather a +frightening sight for her—Baby perched on Fritz's +back, both little boys looking white and miserable, +and the wounded foot covered with blood.</p> + +<p>But mother knew better than to ask what was the +matter till she had done something to put things to +rights again.</p> + +<p>"Him's foot" was the first thing Baby said, +stretching out his poor little toes.</p> + +<p>And the foot looked so bad that mother felt quite +thankful when she had bathed it and found that the +cut was not really a very deep one after all. And +when it was nicely plastered up, and both little boys +were tucked into mother's bed to get warm again, then +mother had to hear all about it. It was not much +Fritz could tell. He, too, had wakened early, and +had heard Denny and Baby talking, for he slept in a +little room near theirs. He had fallen half asleep +again, and started up, fancying he heard a noise and +a cry, and, getting out of bed, had found his way to the +pantry, guided by Baby's sobs. But what Baby was +doing in the pantry, or why he had wandered off there +all alone so early in the morning, Fritz did not know.</p> + +<p>So Baby had to tell his own story, which he did +straight on in his own way. He never thought of <i>not</i> +telling it straight on; he was afraid mother would be +sorry when she heard about the "somesing" that was +broken, but it had never entered his little head that +one could help telling mother "ezackly" all about +anything. And so he told the whole—how he had +been "sinking" about trunks and packing, and +"d'eaming" about them too, how Denny had been +"razer c'oss" and wouldn't talk, and how the thought +of the tiny sweet t'unk had come into his head all of +itself, and he had fancied how nice it would be to go +downstairs and look at it on the pantry shelf, and +then how all the misfortunes had come. At the end +he burst into tears again when he had to tell of the +"somesing brokened," now lying about in shiny fragments +on the pantry floor.</p> + +<p>Poor mother! She knew in a minute what it was +that was broken, and I cannot say but that she was +very sorry, more sorry perhaps than Baby could +understand, for she had had the pretty jugs many +years, and the thoughts of happy days were mingled +with the shining of the rainbow glass. Baby saw the +sorry look on her face, and stretched up his two arms +to clasp her neck.</p> + +<p>"Him is so sorry, so werry sorry," he said. "Him +will take all the money of him's money-box to buy +more shiny jugs for mother."</p> + +<p>Mother kissed him, but told him that could not be.</p> + +<p>"The jugs came from a far-away country, Baby +dear," she said, "and you could not get them here. +Besides, I cared for them in a way you can't understand. +I had had them a long time, and one gets to +care for things, even if they are not very pretty in +themselves, when one has had them so long."</p> + +<p>"Oh ses, him does understand," said Baby. "Him +cares for old 'sings, far best."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Fritz, "he really does, mother. He +cries when Lisa says she must put away his old +shoes, and his old woolly lamb is dreadful—really +dreadful, but he <i>won't</i> give it away."</p> + +<p>"It <i>has</i> such a sweet face," said Baby.</p> + +<p>"Well I don't care; I wish it was burnt up. He +mustn't take it in the railway with us when we go +away; must he, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't it be washed?" said mother.</p> + +<p>"I don't think so, and I don't believe Baby would +like it as much if it was. Would you, Baby?" said +Fritz.</p> + +<p>Baby would not answer directly. He seemed +rather in a hurry to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"Mother," he said, "when we go away in the +'normous boat, won't we p'raps go to the country +where the shiny jugs is made? And if him takes all +the money in him's money-box, couldn't him buy +some for you?"</p> + +<p>"They wouldn't be the same ones," said Fritz.</p> + +<p>Baby's face fell. Mother tried to comfort him.</p> + +<p>"Never mind about the jugs any more just now," +she said. "Some day, perhaps, when you are a big +man you will get me some others quite as pretty, that +I shall like for your sake. What will please me more +than new jugs just now, Baby, is for you to promise +me not to try to do things like that without telling +any one. Just think how very badly hurt you might +have been. If only you had waited to ask me about +the little box all would have been right, and my +pretty jugs would not have been broken."</p> + +<p>"And mother told us that last night, you know, +dear," said Fritz, in his proper big brother tone. +"Don't you remember in the story about her when +she was little? It all came of her not waiting for +her big sister to see about the trunk."</p> + +<p>Baby gave a deep sigh.</p> + +<p>"If God hadn't put so much 'sinking into him's +head, it would have been much better," he said. +"Him 'sinks and 'sinks, and zen him can't help wanting +to do 'sings zat moment minute."</p> + +<p>"Then 'him' must learn what <i>patience</i> means," +said mother with a little smile. "But I'll tell you +what <i>I've</i> been thinking—that if we don't take care +somebody else may be hurting themselves with the +broken glass on the pantry floor."</p> + +<p>"P'raps the cat," said Baby, starting up, "oh +<i>poor</i> pussy, if her was to cut her dear little foots. +Shall him go downstairs again, mother, to shut the +door? Why, him's foot's still <i>zather</i> bleedy," he +added, drawing out the wounded foot, which had a +handkerchief wrapped round it above the plaster.</p> + +<p>"No," said his mother, "it will be better for me +to tell the servants myself," so she rang the bell, and +as it was now about the time that Denny had thought +it when Baby first woke up, in a few minutes her +maid appeared, looking rather astonished. She looked +still more astonished, and a little afraid too, when +she caught sight of the two curly heads, one dark +and one light, on mother's pillow.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything wrong with the young gentlemen?" +she said. "Shall I call Lisa, my lady?"</p> + +<p>"No, not quite yet," said mother. "I rang to +tell you to warn James and the others that there is +some broken glass on the pantry floor, and they must +be careful not to tread on it, and it must be swept up."</p> + +<p>"Broken glass, ma'am," repeated the maid, who +was rather what Denny called "'quisitive." "Was +it the cat? I did think I heard a noise early this +morning."</p> + +<p>"No, it wasn't the cat," said mother. "It was an +accident. James will see what is broken."</p> + +<p>The light curly head had disappeared by this time +under the clothes, for Baby had ducked out of sight, +feeling ashamed of its being known that <i>he</i> had been +the cat. But as soon as the maid had left the room +he came up again to the surface like a little fish, and +a warm feeling of thanks to his mother went through +his heart.</p> + +<p>"You won't tell the servants it were him, will +you?" he whispered, stretching up for another kiss.</p> + +<p>"No, not if 'him' promises never to try to do +things like reaching down boxes for himself. Herr +Baby must ask mother about things like that, mustn't +he?" she said.</p> + +<p>Mother often called him "Herr Baby" for fun. +The name had taken her fancy when he was a very +tiny child, and Lisa had first come to be his nurse. +For Lisa was <i>very</i> polite; she would not have +thought it at all proper to call him "Baby" all by +itself.</p> + +<p>Herr Baby kissed mother a third time, which, as +he was not a very kissing person, was a great deal in +one morning.</p> + +<p>"Ses," he said, "him will always aks mother. +Mother is so sweet," he added coaxingly.</p> + +<p>"He calls everything he likes 'sweet,'" said +Fritz. "Mother and the cat and the tiny trunk—they're +all sweet.'"</p> + +<p>But mother smiled, so Baby didn't mind.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4>GOING AWAY</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td align="left">"She did not say to the sun good-night,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> As she watched him there like a ball of light,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> For she knew he had God's time to keep</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> All over the world, and never could sleep."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>How, I can't tell, but, after all, <i>some</i>how the packing +got done, and everything was ready. They left a <i>few</i> +things behind that Herr Baby would certainly have +taken had he had the settling of it. They didn't take +the horses, <i>nor</i> the fireplaces, and, of course, as the +horses weren't to go, Thomas and Jones had to be left +behind too to take care of them, which troubled Baby +a good deal. And no doubt Thomas and Jones would +have been <i>very</i> unhappy if it hadn't been for the nice +way Baby spoke to them about coming back soon, and +the letters he would send them on their birthdays, and +that he would never like any other Thomases and +Joneses as much as them. It was really quite nice +to hear him, and Jones had to turn his head away +a little—Baby was afraid it was to hide that he was +crying.</p> + +<p>It was a very busy time, and Baby was the busiest +of any. There was so much to think of. The rabbits +too had to be left behind, which was very sad, for one +couldn't write letters to <i>them</i> on their birthdays; +neither Denny, whom he asked about it, nor Baby +himself, could tell when the rabbits' birthdays were, +and besides, as Baby said, "what would be the good +of writing them letters if they couldn't read them?" +The only thing to do was to get the little girl at the +lodge to <i>promise</i> to take them fresh cabbages every +morning—that was one of the things Herr Baby had +to see about, himself. Lisa lost him one morning, +and found him at the lodge, after a great hunt, talking +very gravely to the little girl about it.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg6" id="hbimg6"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img6.jpg"> + <img src="images/img6.jpg" height="600" + alt="BABY ASKS BETSY TO PROMISE" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">"Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure, <i>nebber</i> to forget."—P. 61.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img6.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure, +<i>nebber</i> to forget," he was saying, and poor Betsy looked +quite frightened, Herr Baby was so very solemn. +Fritz wanted to make her kiss her mother's old Testament, +the way he had seen men do sometimes in his +grandfather's study when they came to tell about +things, and to promise they would speak the truth; +but Betsy, though she was ready enough to <i>promise</i>, +didn't like the other idea at all. She might be had +up to the court for such like doings, she said, and as +neither Fritz nor Baby had any idea what sort of place +the court was, though they fancied it was some kind +of prison for people who didn't keep their word, they +thought it better to leave it.</p> + +<p>The "calanies" and the "Bully" were to go, that +was a comfort, and Peepy-Snoozle and Tim, the two +dormice, also, another comfort. Baby's own packing +was a serious matter, but, on the whole, I think +mother and Lisa and everybody were rather glad he +had it to do, as it gave other people a chance of getting +<i>theirs</i> done without the little feet pattering along +the passage or up the stairs, and the little shrill voice +asking what was going to be put into <i>this</i> trunk or +into <i>that</i> carpet-bag. He gave up thinking so much +about the other packing after a while, for he found +his own took all his time and attention. Mother had +found him a box after all. Not <i>the</i> box of course—that +was left empty, by Baby's wish, till some day +when he was a big man, he should go to the country +of the fairy glass and buy mother some new jugs—but +a very nice little box, and she gave him cotton +wool and crushy paper too, and everything was as +neat as possible, and the box quite packed and ready, +the first evening. But it was very queer that <i>every</i> +day after that Herr Baby found something or other +he had forgotten, or something that Denny and he +decided in their early morning talks, that it would be +silly to take. Or else it came into his head in the +night that his best Bible would be better in the <i>other</i> +corner, and the scenty purse on the top of it instead +of at one side. Any way it always happened that the +box had to be unpacked and packed again, and the +very last evening there was Herr Baby on his knees +before it on the floor, giving the finishing touches, +long after he should have been in bed.</p> + +<p>"And we have to be up so early to-morrow morning," +said mother, "my dear little boy, you really +<i>should</i> have been fast asleep by this time."</p> + +<p>"And he wakes me <i>so</i> early in the morning," said +Denny, who was standing before the fire giving herself +little cross shakes every time poor Lisa, who was +combing out her long fair hair, came to a tuggy bit. +"<i>Lisa</i>, you're <i>hurting</i> me; <i>Lisa</i>, do take care," she +added snappishly.</p> + +<p>"My dear Denny, how very impatient you are!" +said her mother. "I don't know how you will bear +all the little discomforts of a long journey if you can't +bear to have your hair combed."</p> + +<p>On this, Denny, as Fritz would have said, "shut +up." She could not bear it to be thought that she +was babyish or "silly." Her great, great wish was to +be considered quite a big girl. You could get her to +do anything by telling her it would be babyish not to +do it, or that doing it would be like big people, which, +of course, showed that she <i>was</i> rather babyish in +reality, as sensible children understand that they +cannot be like big people in everything, and that +they wouldn't be at all nice if they were.</p> + +<p>Baby always felt sorry for Denny or any of them +when mother found fault with them. He jumped up +from the floor—at least he <i>got</i> up, his legs were too +short for him to spring either up or down very +actively—and trotted across to his sister.</p> + +<p>"Poor Denny," he said, reaching up to kiss her, +"him won't wake her up so early to-mollow morning."</p> + +<p>"But we'll <i>have</i> to wake early to-morrow," said +Denny, rather crossly still, "it's no use you beginning +good ways about not waking me now, just when +everything's changed."</p> + +<p>Baby looked rather sad.</p> + +<p>"Is your box quite ready now, dear?" said his +mother. "Well then, let Lisa get you ready for bed +as quick as she can, and you and Denny must go to +sleep without any talking, and wake fresh in the +morning."</p> + +<p>But Baby still looked sad; his face began working +and twisting, and at last he ran to mother and +hid it in her lap, bursting into tears.</p> + +<p>"Denny makes him so unhappy," he said. "Him +doesn't like everysing to be changed like Denny says. +Him is so sorry to go away and to leave him's house +and Thomas and Jones, and oh! him is <i>so</i> sorry to +leave the labbits!"</p> + +<p>"And him's a tired little boy. I think it's +because he's so tired that he's so sad about going +away," said mother. "Think, dear, how nice it is +that we're all going <i>together</i>, not Celia or Fritz or +anybody left behind. For you know Thomas has his +old mother he wouldn't like to leave, and Jones has +his wife and children. And if the rabbits could +talk, I'm quite sure they would tell you that they'd +far rather stay here in their own nice little house, +with plenty of cabbages, than be bundled into a box +and taken away in the railway ever so far, without +being able to run about for ever so many days."</p> + +<p>Baby's face cleared a little.</p> + +<p>"Betsy has p'omised," he said to himself. Then +he added, "<i>Him</i> won't like the railway neither if it's +like that."</p> + +<p>"But <i>him's</i> not going to be put in a box or a +basket," said mother, laughing. "Him will have a +nice little corner all to himself in a cushioned railway +carriage, only just now he really <i>must</i> go to bed."</p> + +<p>So she kissed him for good-night, and Denny too, +who, by this time, had recovered her good-humour in +the interest of listening to the conversation between +her mother and Herr Baby, and soon both little sister +and brother were fast asleep in their cots, dreaming +about the journey before them I daresay, or perhaps +forgetting all about it in the much queerer and +stranger journeys that small people are apt to fly +away upon at night, when their tired little bodies +<i>seem</i> to be lying quite still and motionless in bed.</p> + +<p>It was strange enough—<i>almost</i> as strange as a +dream—the next morning when, long before it was +light, they had all to get up and be dressed at once +in their going-out things—that is to say their thick +boots and gaiters, and woollen under-jackets (for it +was very cold, though not yet far on in November), +while their ulsters and comforters and caps, and the +girls' sealskin coats and muffs and hats, were all +laid out in four little heaps by Lisa, so that they +should be ready to put on the moment breakfast was +over.</p> + +<p>What a funny breakfast! Candles on the table, +for it was not, of course, worth while to light the +lamp, and everything looking more like a sort of +"muddley tea," Fritz said, than their usual trim +nursery breakfast.</p> + +<p>"I can't eat," said Fritz, throwing down his bread +and butter; "it's no use."</p> + +<p>"And there's eggs!" said Denny, who was comfortably +at work at hers, looking across at Fritz as if +it wouldn't be very difficult to eat up his egg too. "I +think it's very kind of cook to have got up so early +and made us eggs 'cos we were going away, and——"</p> + +<p>"'Twasn't cook, 'twas Abigail," said Fritz. "I +saw her coming up with the eggs all in a pan with +hot water, so that they shouldn't get cold, she said to +Lisa."</p> + +<p>"Well then it was very kind of Abigail, and——" +said Denny.</p> + +<p>"'Twasn't Abigail that made the eggs," said Baby, +"'twas the hens zat laid them. Denny should say +the <i>hens</i> was werry kind."</p> + +<p>"Oh bother," said Denny, "I wish you'd not +interrupt me. I don't care who it was. I only want +to say it's very stupid of Fritz not to eat his egg, +when <i>somebody</i> made them for us, extra you know, +because we're going away, and I think Fritz is very +stupid."</p> + +<p>"Come, Herr Fritz," said Lisa, encouragingly, +"try and eat. You will be so hungry."</p> + +<p>"I can't," said Fritz, "I've got a horrid feeling +just like when mother took me to have that big tooth +out. I feel all shaky and cruddley."</p> + +<p>"Yes, <i>I</i> know," said Denny, going on with <i>her</i> +breakfast all the same, "but eating's the best thing +to make it go away. I felt just that way the day I +broke grandfather's hotness measure, and mother said +I must tell him myself. I couldn't eat a bit of +dinner, and I sat on the stair all <i>screwged</i> up, waiting +for him to go to the study."</p> + +<p>"How dedful!" said Baby, with great feeling. +But neither Fritz nor Celia seemed to think much of +Denny's sufferings. No one had ever seen her nerves +disturbed, and they did not therefore much believe +in her having any.</p> + +<p>"Grandfather's <i>what</i> did you say?" asked Celia.</p> + +<p>"His hotness measure—the little glass pipe thing +with a blob that goes up and down. He's got +another now, you know."</p> + +<p>"You mean his thermometer; you really should +learn the proper names of things," said Celia, "you're +quite big enough."</p> + +<p>Denny would probably not have taken this in +good part, though the "quite big enough" at the end +was very much to her taste, but there was no time +<i>this</i> morning for squabbling.</p> + +<p>"Quick, quick, mine children," said Lisa, "the +cart with the luggage is 'way, and the Herr Grandpapa +is buttoning his coat."</p> + +<p>"And Fritz hasn't eaten his egg!" said Denny, +eyeing it dolefully, as Lisa was fastening her jacket.</p> + +<p>"I <i>couldn't</i>," said Fritz. "There'll be sandwiches +or something in the train—sure to be. Now come +on; let's see what have I got to look after. Only +Tim and Peepy-Snoozle. I <i>couldn't</i> lose my satchel, +you see, for its strapped on me. Much more sensible +than <i>girls</i>, who have to carry their bags over their +arms."</p> + +<p>And Fritz, in a new ulster, very long and rather +stiff, and feeling, to tell the truth, a little uncomfortable +at first, as new things generally do, stalked off—I +don't think he <i>could</i> have run!—with the air of a +very big man indeed.</p> + +<p>Celia and Denny had a slight dispute as to which +was which of the bird's cages. For it had been +settled that, for the journey at least, the canaries +were to be Celia's charge and the "Bully" Denny's, +though, hitherto, these three little birds had belonged +to all the children together.</p> + +<p>"You've got my cage, Denny," said Celia, sharply.</p> + +<p>"I haven't," said Denny, holding hers the more +tightly. It was not very easy to see, for both were +covered up with dark blue stuff wrappers, to keep +the birds warm, "and to make them think it's night +all the way," said Baby.</p> + +<p>"I haven't," repeated Denny, "there, don't you +see <i>two</i> yellow tails in yours? Peep through."</p> + +<p>And Denny proved to be right, so Celia had to +give in.</p> + +<p>And at last they were off! The drive to the station +safely over without any misadventures, the luggage +all locked up in the van, the children and the dormice +and the birds—far more important things, of course, +than the big people!—all comfortably settled at one +end of the nice big saloon carriage, which grandfather +had had sent down on purpose from London.</p> + +<p>"Dear me," said Denny, jigging up and down on +her seat, "so we're really off! How nice and springy +these cushions are! And this carriage is as big as a +little house. I could <i>never</i> be tired of travelling in a +carriage like this."</p> + +<p>"Him zought we'd <i>nebber</i> get away," said Baby, +with his usual solemnity. "Dear, dear, what dedful +lots of boxes there is! Him's box is 'aside the +'normous big straw one; did zou know, Denny?"</p> + +<p>"Poor grandfather," said Celia, "<i>what</i> a lot of +times he said over, 'three black portmanteaux, four, +no five canvas-covered, four carpet bags, one—fourteen +in all. Is <i>that</i> right, Helen? Grandfather's something +like Baby, he thinks no one can do anything +right but himself; and there's Peters come on purpose +to bother about these things." (Peters was grandfather's +own servant.) "I wish grandfather wouldn't +fuss so. I hate people to think he's a fussy old man, +something like Mr. Briggs in Punch. As if he had +never travelled before!"</p> + +<p>As may be imagined, these remarks of Celia's were +made in a low voice, for, of course, they were intended +for the nursery party alone. Fritz flew up in grandfather's +defence.</p> + +<p>"Very fine, Miss Celia," he said. "You may +laugh at grandfather for fussing, but <i>suppose</i> he didn't, +and <i>suppose</i> that when we get to—oh, bother, I can't +say those French names—wherever it is we're going +to, <i>suppose</i> that Madamazelle Celia's trunk was lost, +and Madamazelle Celia hadn't any best frocks or +flounces, or Sunday hats, how would Madamazelle +Celia look <i>then</i>? Perhaps she'd wish then that +grandfather had fussed a little."</p> + +<p>Celia turned to look for her bag, and having found +it, she took out the book which she had brought with +her to read on the way.</p> + +<p>"You're too silly to speak to, Fritz," she said; +"I'm going to read."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Denny, who had likewise armed +herself with a book, though she was rather a dunce +for her age, and couldn't read "runningly" as French +people say. But <i>big</i> people always had books to read +in the railway—that was enough for Denny, of course, +to try to do so too.</p> + +<p>"<i>I'm</i> going to take a nap, then," said Fritz, who was +really looking rather white and tired. He had been +wakened out of a very sound sleep this morning, and +had not been able to eat any breakfast. Lisa thought +that taking a nap was the best thing he could do, so she +got down a bundle of the rugs to make him a pillow, +and helped him to tuck up his legs comfortably, and +Fritz settled himself for his little sleep, making Lisa +promise to waken him when they came to a big station.</p> + +<p>So everybody seemed inclined to be quiet. Herr +Baby's corner was by the window. He looked about +him. Celia and Denny were buried in their books, +Fritz seemed asleep already; of the big people at the +other end, grandfather's face was quite hidden in his +newspaper, which he had kept over from last night on +purpose to have something to read in the train, knowing +that they would start before the postman came in +the morning, and mother and auntie were talking +together, softly, not to disturb him.</p> + +<p>"Should you like the window more open?" said +grandfather, suddenly looking up.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," said auntie. "I think that little +chink is enough. It is really very cold this morning."</p> + +<p>"How good the children are!" said mother. She +spoke in a lower voice than auntie; but Baby heard +her, for he had quick ears. "One could almost fancy +they were all asleep."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said auntie, "if it would last all the way to +Santino, or even to Paris!"</p> + +<p>"Or even to London!" said mother. "But they'll +all be jumping about like grasshoppers before long."</p> + +<p>Then they went on talking softly again about other +things; and Baby didn't hear, and didn't care to hear. +Besides, he had already been taught a lesson that boys +and girls cannot learn too young, which is, that to +listen to things you are not meant to hear is a <i>sort</i> of +cheating, for it is like taking something not meant for +you. Of course, while auntie and mother were talking +in a louder voice he could not help hearing, and it was +no harm to listen, as if they had minded his hearing +they would have spoken more in a whisper.</p> + +<p>Baby turned to his window to amuse himself by +looking out. First he tried to count the telegraph +wires, but he could never be sure if there were eight +or nine—he had not yet learnt to count higher than +ten—for the top ones were so tiresome, they danced +away out of sight, and all of a sudden danced down +again, and sometimes they seemed to join together, so +that he could not tell if they were one or two. He +wondered what made them wave up and down so; +whether there were men down in the ground that +pulled them, and what they did it for; he had heard +of "sending telegrams," and Denny had told him it +meant sending messages on wires, but he did not +know that these were the wires used for that. He +fancied these wires must have something to do with +the railway; perhaps they were to show the people +living in the fields that the trains were coming, so that +they shouldn't get in the way and be "runned over." +This made Baby begin to think of the people living in +the fields; they were just then passing a little cottage +standing all by itself. It looked a nice cottage, and +it had a sort of little garden round it, and some cocks +and hens were picking about. Baby looked back at +the little cottage as long as he could see it; he wondered +who lived in it, if there were any little boys and +girls, and what they did all day. He wondered if they +went to school, or if perhaps they sometimes went +messages for their mother, and if they weren't frightened +if they had to pass through the wood, which by +this time the train was running along the edge of. +Could this be Red Riding Hood's wood, perhaps? +Baby shuddered as this idea came into his mind. Or +it might be the wood that Hop-o'-my-thumb and his +six brothers had to make their way through, where the +birds <i>would</i> pick the crumbs they dropped to show the +path. It would be very "dedful" for seven little boys +to be lost in a wood like that, and still worse for one +little boy all alone. Baby was very glad that when +little boys had to go through woods <i>now</i> it was in nice +railway carriages with mothers and aunties and everybodies +with them. But even in this way the wood +made him feel a <i>very</i> little frightened; just then it got +so much darker. He looked up to see if they were all +still reading or asleep; he <i>almost</i> thought he would +ask Lisa to take him on her knee a little, when, all of +a sudden, the "railway," as he called it, screamed out +something very sharp and loud, the rattle and the noise +got "bummier" and yet sharper; Baby could see no +trees, no fields, "no nothing." What could it be? It +was worse than the wood.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lisa," cried poor Herr Baby, "the railway +horses must have runned the wrong way. We's +going down into the cellars of the world."</p> + +<p>Lisa caught him up in her arms and comforted +him as well as she could. It was only a tunnel, she +told him, and she explained to him what a tunnel +was, just a sort of passage through a hill, and that +there was nothing to be frightened at. And she persuaded +him to look up and see what a nice little lamp +there was at the top of the carriage, on purpose to +light them up while they were in the dark. Baby +was quite pleased when he saw the little lamp.</p> + +<p>"Who put it 'zere?" he said. "Were it God?"</p> + +<p>He was rather disappointed when Lisa told him +that it was the railway men who put it up, but then +he thought again that it was very kind of the railway +men, and that it must have been God who taught +them to be so kind, which Lisa quite agreed in. But +even though the little lamp was very nice, Baby was +very pleased to get out of the tunnel, and out of the +rumbly, rattly noise, into the open daylight again, +with the beautiful sun shining down at them out of +the sky. For the day was growing brighter as it +went on, and the air was a little frosty, which made +everything look clear and fresh.</p> + +<p>"Nice sun," said Baby, glancing up at his old +friend in the sky, "that's the bestest lamp of all, isn't +it? and it <i>were</i> God put it up there."</p> + +<p>After that he must, I think, have taken a little +nap in Lisa's arms almost without knowing it, for he +didn't seem to hear anything more or to think where +he was or anything, till all of a sudden he heard +mother's voice speaking.</p> + +<p>"Won't Baby have a sandwich, Lisa? And +Denny, why, have you been asleep too, Denny?"</p> + +<p>And sitting up on Lisa's knee, all rosy and +dimpled with sleeping, his fair curls in a pretty +tumble about his eyes, Baby saw Denny, looking +very sleepy too, but trying hard to hide it.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, smoothing down her hair and +sitting up very straight, "I've been reading such a +long time that my eyes got quite tired; that was +why I shut them."</p> + +<p>"Oh indeed!" said mother, but Baby could see +that she was smiling at Denny, though she didn't +laugh right out like Fritz and Celia.</p> + +<p>They were all very happy, however, with their +sandwiches and buns, and after they had eaten as +much as they wanted, auntie taught them a sort of +guessing game, which helped to pass the time, for +already Denny and Fritz were beginning to think +even the big saloon carriage rather a small room to +spend a whole day in.</p> + +<p>They passed two or three big stations, and then +they were allowed to get out and walk up and down +the platform a little, which was a nice change. But +Baby was so dreadfully afraid of any of them being +left behind that he could hardly be persuaded to get +out at all, and once when he and Lisa were waiting +alone in the carriage while the others walked about, +and the train moved on a little way to another part, +he screamed so loudly—</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother, oh, auntie, oh, ganfather, and Celia, +and Fritz, and Denny! All, all is left behind!"—that +there was quite a commotion in the station, and +when the train moved back again, and they all got in, +he was obliged to kiss and hug each one separately, +several times over, before he could feel quite sure he +had them all safe and sound, and that "not nobody" +was missing.</p> + +<p>It seemed a long time after it got dark, even +though the little lamp was still lighted. But it was +not light enough to see to read, and "the big lamp +up in the sky," as Baby said, "was <i>kite</i> goned away." +It puzzled him very much how the sun could go +away every night and come back every morning, and +the queerest thing of all was what Celia had told him—that +"away there," in the far-off country where +they were going, there would still be the same sun, +the <i>very</i> same sun, that they had seen every morning +peeping up behind the kitchen-garden wall, and +whose red face they had said good-night to on the +winter evenings, as he slipped away to bed down +below the old elms in the avenue, where the rooks +had their nests. Somehow as Baby sat in his corner, +staring out now and then at the darkness through +which they were whizzing, blinking up sometimes at +the little lamp shining faintly in the roof, there came +before his mind the pictures of all they had left +behind; he seemed to see the garden and the trees <i>so</i> +plain, and he thought how very, very quiet and lonely +it must seem there now, and Baby's little heart grew +sad. He felt so sorry for all the things they had +left—the rabbits and the pussy most of all, of course, +but even for the dear old trees, and the sweet, +"denkle" flowers in the garden; even for the tables +and chairs in the house he felt sorry.</p> + +<p>"Him's poor little bed will be so cold and lonely," +he said to himself. "Him sinks going away is +<i>werry</i> sad."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4>BY LAND AND SEA</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td align="left">"So the wind blew softly,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> And the sun shone bright."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Grandfather had fixed that it would be best to go +straight through at once to the seaport, where, the next +morning, they would find the 'normous boat waiting +to take them over the sea. They had to pass through +London on the way, and, by the time they got to the +big London station, Baby was very tired—so white +and quiet that mother was a little frightened.</p> + +<p>"I almost wish," she said, "that we had fixed to +stay all night in London. Baby has never had a +long railway journey before, since he was a <i>real</i> +Baby, you know, and he is not very strong."</p> + +<p>She was speaking to auntie. It was just when +they were getting near the big London station. +Auntie looked at Baby. He was lying on Lisa's +knee with his eyes shut, as if he were asleep, but he +wasn't. He heard what they said, and he was +rather pleased at them talking about him. In +<i>some</i> ways he was very fond of being made a fuss +about.</p> + +<p>"He does look a little white shrimp," said auntie. +"But then you know, May, he is so fair. He looks +more quickly white if he is tired than other children. +And he has been such a good little man all day—not +one bit of trouble. He is really a capital traveller—<i>ever</i> +so much quieter than the others."</p> + +<p>She said these last few words in a low tone, not +caring for the other children to hear; but if she had +spoken quite loud I don't think they would have +heard, and, indeed, it seemed as if they wanted to +show that auntie's words were true; for just at that +moment there came such a scream from Denny that +everybody started up in a fright.</p> + +<p>What <i>could</i> be the matter? everybody asked.</p> + +<p>"It's all Denny," said Fritz, in a great fuss.</p> + +<p>"It's not; it's all Fritz and Celia," said Denny.</p> + +<p>"It's both of them," said Celia. "Mother, I wish +you wouldn't let them be near each other. Denny +put her hand into the dormice's cage when Fritz +wasn't looking, and she poked out Tim, who was just +beginning to come awake for the night, and she as +nearly as <i>could</i> be got his tail pulled off, and then, +when Fritz caught her, she screamed."</p> + +<p>"Fritz snipped my hand in the little door of the +cage," sobbed Denny. "And Celia always takes +Fritz's part."</p> + +<p>Celia was beginning; to "answer back," when +auntie stopped her by a look—the children were +sometimes rather afraid of auntie's "looks."</p> + +<p>"Dear me, young people," said grandfather from +his end of the carriage, "you might be peaceable for +five minutes, and then we shall be in London, and +you shall have a good tea before we go on again."</p> + +<p>The children all grew quiet. They were glad to +hear of tea, and they were a little ashamed of themselves. +Auntie moved over to their end of the +carriage.</p> + +<p>"Him would like some tea too, p'ease," said Baby, +as she passed him, and auntie patted his head.</p> + +<p>"They are all tired, I suppose," said mother; +"but it really is too silly, the way they quarrel about +nothing."</p> + +<p>"Auntie," said Celia softly, "I think it was partly +my fault. Denny and Fritz asked me to tell them a +story, and I wouldn't. It would have kept them +quiet."</p> + +<p>"Well, never mind now," said auntie. "You +must all try and be very good to-morrow. This is +only the first day, you know. You can't be expected +to be very clever travellers yet. And the very first +lesson to learn in travelling is—do you know what?"</p> + +<p>"Not to lose your things?" said Celia.</p> + +<p>"To be ready in time?" said Fritz.</p> + +<p>"To sit still in the railway?" said Denny, rather +meekly.</p> + +<p>"All those are very good things," said auntie; +"but they're not <i>the</i> thing I was thinking of. It was +<i>to keep your temper</i>."</p> + +<p>The children got rather red, but I don't think any +one noticed, for already the train was slackening, and +in another minute or two they all got out and were +standing together on the bustling platform, dimly +lighted up by the gas lamps, which looked yellow and +strange in the foggy air of a London November +evening.</p> + +<p>"Is zit London?" said Baby, and when Celia said +"yes," he added rather mournfully, "Him doesn't +sink London's pitty at all."</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg7" id="hbimg7"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img7.jpg"> + <img src="images/img7.jpg" height="600" + alt="FRITZ AND BABY ON THE STATION PLATFORM LOOKING DESOLATE" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">Poor little boys, for after all, Fritz himself wasn't very big!<br /> + They stood together hand in hand on the station platform,<br /> + looking, and feeling, rather desolate.—P. 84.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img7.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Poor little boys, for, after all, Fritz himself wasn't +very big! They stood together hand in hand on the +station platform, looking, and feeling, rather desolate. +Lisa was busy helping with the rugs and bags that +had been in the carriage; mother and auntie, as well +as grandfather and Peters and the maid, were all busy +about the luggage.</p> + +<p>"Stay there a moment, children," said somebody; +but Denny had no idea of staying anywhere. Off she +trotted to have a look at the luggage too, and Celia +was half inclined to follow her, when her glance fell +on her two little brothers.</p> + +<p>"Celia," said Baby, catching hold of her, "don't +go away too. Fritz is taking care of him, but we +<i>might</i> be lostened."</p> + +<p>He spoke rather timidly, and Celia's heart was +touched. She was a good deal older than the others—nearly +twelve—Fritz and Denny were very near in +age, and sometimes Celia was a little cross at mother +for not making difference enough, as she thought, and +for keeping her still a good deal in the nursery. +Mother had her own good reasons, and it is not always +wise for big people to tell children their reasons, +as Celia got to know when she grew wiser and bigger +herself. She sometimes spoke rather crossly to the +younger ones, and it made them a very little afraid +of her, but in her heart she was kind. Just now she +stooped down to kiss Baby.</p> + +<p>"Don't be frightened, poor old man," she said, +"you won't be lost. Fritz wouldn't let you be lost, +would you, Fritz?"</p> + +<p>Fritz brightened up at that, as Celia had meant +he should. He, too, had been feeling a little strange +and queer—the long journey and the sleeping in the +day, all so different from their life at home, had +rather upset him—but he would not have liked to say so! +And now he was quite pleased at Celia telling Baby +that, of course, Fritz was big enough to take care of +him. It is so easy for children—bigger ones above all—to +please each other and give nice feelings, when they +really try to feel <i>with</i> each other and <i>for</i> each other.</p> + +<p>The little boys looked much happier a few minutes +later, when they were seated at tea in a comfortable +corner of the refreshment room. Grandfather had +sent Peters on, as soon as they had got the luggage +all safe, to see that a table was placed for them by +themselves. He, himself, went off to get some real +dinner, for, of course, it was not to be expected that +a gentleman, and especially an <i>old</i> gentleman, would +be contented with tea, and bread and butter, and +buns, however nice, but, to the children's great pleasure, +mother and auntie said <i>they</i> would far rather +stay and have tea with the little people.</p> + +<p>"It is a good thing, isn't it, for them to stay with +us?" said Fritz to Celia, confidentially, "for we are +none of us <i>very</i> big, are we? And you know we +<i>might</i> get lost somehow, as Baby says, though I +wouldn't say so to him for fear of frightening him, +you know."</p> + +<p>"No, of course not," said Celia, and looking up +she was pleased to see mother smiling at her. +Mother saw that Celia was trying to be kind and +helpful, and she did so like to see the way the little +ones clung to Celia when she was gentle. Mother +must have been something like Baby in her mind, I +think, for when she looked at the boys sitting there +in the strange, big station-room, their little faces +grave and rather tired looking, a sort of sorry feeling +came over <i>her</i> too, as she thought of the snug, cosy +nursery at home, and the neat nursery tea, with the +pretty pink and white cups she had chosen, and the +canaries and "Bully" twittering in the window. +Poor "calanies" and poor Bully! they didn't know +where they had got to! They had slept nearly all +day, thinking, as they were meant to think, that it +was night, I suppose, but now they must have given +up thinking so, for they were fidgeting about in their +cages in an unhappy, restless sort of way. They +had plenty of seed, and Celia and Lisa took care that +they should have fresh water, but still, poor little +things, they were not very happy.</p> + +<p>"Going away from their own home is really a trial +for children," thought mother. She was a little tired +herself, and being tired makes <i>everything</i> seem the +wrong way.</p> + +<p>But there was no help for it. They had all to +make the best of things, and to set off again in +another train and be rattled away to the sea. It was +quite dark by now, of course, and it seemed very +queer to start on another journey with so little rest +between. I think, however, once they were all +settled in the railway carriage, that the children slept +the most of the way; Baby, at any rate, knew nothing +more till he woke up to find himself in Lisa's arms, +with a cold, fresh air—the air of the sea—blowing in +his face, and making him lift up his head and look +about him.</p> + +<p>"Where is him?" he said. "Is him in the +'normous boat?"</p> + +<p>"Not so, Herr Baby," said Lisa. "He shall first +be undressed and have a nice sleep all night in bed, +to rest him well. Lie still, mine child, and Lisa will +keep you warm."</p> + +<p>"Him likes the wind," said Baby. "It blowed +his eyes open; him is quite awake now," and he tried +to sit straight up in Lisa's arms.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Herr Baby, I cannot hold you so," said Lisa.</p> + +<p>"There is such a little way to go," said his +mother, who was just behind, "lie still, dear, as Lisa +tells you."</p> + +<p>"Him would like to walk, him's legs is so 'tiff," +said Baby. "P'ease let him walk if it's such a little +way!"</p> + +<p>His voice was so piteous that mother told Lisa to +let him walk; they were going from the station to the +hotel, a very little way, as mother had said. Lisa put +Baby down on the ground; at first he really tumbled +over, his legs felt so funny, but with Lisa's hand he +soon got his balance again. It was a very dark night; +they could not have seen their way but for the lights +of the station and the town.</p> + +<p>"What a dark countly zit is!" said Herr Baby. +"Is there no moon in zit countly? Denny says in +her hymn 'the moon to shine by night,' is there no +moon 'cept in him's own countly?"</p> + +<p>"What are you chattering about, little man?" said +auntie.</p> + +<p>"He's asking about the moon, auntie; he wants +to know if there isn't any moon here. He thinks +we've left it behind at home," said Denny.</p> + +<p>A sort of roar from poor Baby interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Denny, don't, <i>don't</i> say that," he cried, "it +makes him sink of the labbits, and Thomas, and +Jones, and the trees, and the flowers, and him's dear +little bed, and all the sings we'se leaved behind. +Him doesn't like you to speak of leaved behind."</p> + +<p>"<i>Poor</i> Baby," said Denny, "I'm so sorry." She +stooped down to kiss him, but it was so dark it wasn't +easy to find his mouth, and she only managed to kiss +the tip of his nose, which was as cold as a little dog's. +This made Herr Baby begin laughing, which was a +good thing, wasn't it? And he was so taken up in +explaining to Lisa how funny it felt when Denny +kissed his nose, that he had not time to think of his +sorrows again till they were at the foot of the large +flight of steps leading up to the big hotel where they +were to sleep.</p> + +<p>"Nice big house," said Baby, looking round; and +as he caught sight of some of the waiters running +about, he asked Lisa if "them was new servants +instead of Thomas and Jones."</p> + +<p>"Him likes Thomas and Jones best," he went on, +the corners of his mouth going down again, so that +Lisa was obliged to assure him the servants were not +going to be <i>instead</i> of Thomas and Jones, they were +all only just going to stay one night at this big house, +and to-morrow they would set off in the great ship to +cross the sea.</p> + +<p>The mention of the ship fortunately gave a new +turn to Baby's thoughts; and he allowed Lisa to take +him upstairs and warm him well before a good fire +before she undressed him and put him to bed. The +other children thought it great fun to sleep in strange +rooms, in beds quite unlike those they had at home, +and to have to hunt for their nightgowns and brushes +and sponges in two or three <i>wrong</i> carpet bags before +they came to the right one; but Baby's spirits were +rather depressed, and it was not easy to keep him from +crying in the sad little way he had when his feelings +were touched.</p> + +<p>"He is tired, poor little chap," said auntie, as she +kissed him for good-night. "It is ever so much later +than he has ever been up before. It is nearly ten."</p> + +<p>"Him <i>were</i> up till ten o'clock on Kissmass," said +Herr Baby, brightening up. "Him were up <i>dedful</i> +late, till, till, p'raps till near twenty o'clock."</p> + +<p>Auntie would have liked to laugh, but she took +care not, for when Baby was in this sort of humour +there was no telling whether other people's laughing +might not make him take to crying, so she just said,</p> + +<p>"Indeed! That must have been <i>very</i> late; well, go +to sleep now, and sleep till twenty o'clock to-morrow +morning, if you like. We don't need to start early," +she added, turning to Lisa; and I think poor Lisa was +not sorry to hear it!</p> + +<p>If I were to go on telling you, bit by bit, all about +the journey, and everything that happened big and +little, it would take a good while, and I don't know +that you would find it very interesting. Perhaps it is +better to take a jump, as people do in real big story +books, and to go on with Herr Baby's adventures a +few days later, when he, and Denny, and Fritz, and +Celia, and Lisa, and mother, and auntie, and grandfather, +and the "bully," and the "calanies," and Tim, +and Peepy-Snoozle, and Linley, mother's maid, and +Peters, grandfather's man, and I forget if there was +any one else, but I think not; and all the boxes and +carpet-bags, and railway-rugs, were safely arrived at +Santino, the pretty little town with mountains on one +side and the sea on the other, where they were all +going to spend the winter. I must not forget to +tell you one thing, however, which, I daresay, some +of you who may have crossed "over the sea," and <i>not</i> +found it very delightful, may be anxious to know about. +I mean about the voyage in the 'normous boat, which +Baby had been so looking forward to, poor little fellow.</p> + +<p>Well, wasn't it lucky, he was not at all disappointed? +They had the loveliest day that ever was +seen, and Baby thought 'normous boats far the nicest +way of travelling, and he couldn't understand why +grandfather couldn't make them go all the way to +Santino in the nice boat, and when they explained to +him that it couldn't be, because there was no sea for +boats to go on all the way, he thought there must have +been some great mistake in the way the world was +made. And when they got to Santino, and the first +thing he saw <i>was</i> the sea, blue and beautiful like a +fairy dream, Baby was quite startled.</p> + +<p>"Mother, auntie!" he said, reproachfully, "you +toldened him there weren't no sea."</p> + +<p>"We didn't mean that, Baby, dear," said mother; +"we meant that there was no sea to come the shortest +way; we would have had to come all round the land, +and it would have been much longer. Look, it is +like this," and mother traced with her parasol a sort +of map on the sand, to show Baby that they had +come a much nearer way. For they were standing +by the sea-shore at the time.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Herr Baby, after looking on without +speaking for a minute or two, "him under'tands +now."</p> + +<p>"So you've had your first lesson in geography," +said auntie.</p> + +<p>Baby stared up at her.</p> + +<p>"Are <i>that</i> jography?" he said. "Him thought +jography were awful, dedful difficult. Denny is so +<i>werry</i> c'oss when her has jography to learn."</p> + +<p>"Oh, because, of course, you know," said Denny, +getting rather red, "<i>my</i> jography is <i>real</i> jography, +with books and maps and ever so long rows of names +to learn. Baby's so stupid—he always takes up +things so; he'll be thinking now that if he makes +marks on the sand, he'll be learning jography."</p> + +<p>Denny turned away with a very superior air. +Baby looked much hurt.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg8" id="hbimg8"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img8.jpg"> + <img src="images/img8.jpg" height="600" + alt="ARE THAT JOGRAPHY?" /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">"Are <i>that</i> jography?" he said.—P. 94.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img8.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Him's not stupid, <i>are</i> him?" he said; and in a +moment Celia and Fritz were hugging him and calling +Denny a naughty, unkind girl to tease him. Mother +and auntie had walked on a little, so things <i>might</i> +have gone on to a quarrel if Lisa hadn't stopped it.</p> + +<p>"Mine children," she said, "it is too pity to be +not friendly together. See what one beautifullest +place this is—sky so blue and sea so blue, and all so +bright and sunny. One should be nothing but happy +here."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Celia, looking round, "it is an awfully +pretty place."</p> + +<p>Celia, you see, was just beginning to be old enough +to notice really beautiful things in a way that when +children are <i>very</i> little, they cannot quite understand, +though some do much more than others.</p> + +<p>"It is a <i>very</i> pretty place," she said again, as if +she were speaking to herself, for Fritz and Denny +had taken it into their heads to run races, of which +Lisa was very glad, and Celia stood still by herself, +looking round at the lovely sea and sky, and the +little white town perched up above, with the mountains +rising behind. Suddenly a little hand was +slipped into hers.</p> + +<p>"Him would like to live here everways," said +Baby's voice; "it <i>are</i> so pitty—somefin like Heaven, +p'raps."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Celia, "I suppose Heaven +must be prettier than anything we could fancy."</p> + +<p>"There's gold streets in Heaven, Lisa says," said +Baby; "him sinks blue sky streets would be much pittier."</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Celia.</p> + +<p>Then they walked on a little, watching Fritz and +Denny, already like two black specks in front—they +had run on so far—and, somehow, in the <i>very</i> bright +sunshine, one seemed to see less clearly. Mother and +auntie were in front too, and when Fritz and Denny +raced back again, quite hot and out of breath, mother +said it was time for them all to go in; it was still +rather too hot to be out much near the middle of the +day, though it was already some way on in November, +and next month would be the month that Christmas +comes in!</p> + +<p>"How funny it seems," said Celia. "Why, when +we left home it was quite winter. Just think how +we were wrapped up when we started on the journey, +and now we're quite warm enough with nothing at +all over our frocks."</p> + +<p>"It may be cold enough before long," said mother, +who was more accustomed to hot climates than the +children; "sometimes the cold hereabouts comes +quite suddenly, and it even seems colder from having +been so warm before. I daresay you will be glad of +your thick clothes before Christmas. But we must +get on a little quicker, or else grandfather will be in +a hurry for his breakfast."</p> + +<p>"Ganfather's werry lazy not to have had him's +breakfast yet," said Baby. "<i>Him's</i> had <i>him's</i> breakfast +ever so long ago, hundreds of years ago."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Baby," said Denny, "how you do 'saggerate! +It <i>couldn't</i> have been hundreds of years ago, because, +you know, you weren't born then."</p> + +<p>"Stupid girl!" said Baby, "how does you know? +you wasn't there."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>you</i> weren't there," said Denny again.</p> + +<p>"Children, don't contradict each other. It's not +nice," said auntie.</p> + +<p>"Him didn't begin," said Baby, "t'were Denny +beginned."</p> + +<p>"I didn't. I only said <i>once</i> that Baby wasn't +born hundreds of years ago," said Denny, "and then +he——"</p> + +<p>"Onst is as wurst as twicet," said Baby.</p> + +<p>Mother turned round at this. There was a funny +look on her face, but still she spoke rather gravely.</p> + +<p>"Baby, I don't know what's coming over you," she +said. "It isn't like you to speak like that."</p> + +<p>Baby's face grew red, and he turned his head +away.</p> + +<p>"Him didn't mean <i>zeally</i> that ganfather were +lazy," he said, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't <i>that</i> I was vexed with you for," said +mother. "I know you were joking when you said +that. I meant what you said to Denny."</p> + +<p>"Him's werry sorry," said Baby, on the point of +tears.</p> + +<p>"Never mind. Don't cry about it," said mother, +who really wanted the children to be very good and +happy this first day. And she was a little afraid of +Baby's beginning to cry, for, <i>sometimes</i>, once he had +begun, it was not very easy to stop him.</p> + +<p>"You don't understand about grandfather and his +breakfast," said auntie. "Here nobody has big breakfast +when they first get up except you children, who +have the same that you have at home."</p> + +<p>"No we don't," said Denny. "At home we have +bread and milk every day except Sunday—on Sunday +we have bacon or heggs, because that's the nothing-for-breakfast +day."</p> + +<p>Auntie stared at Denny.</p> + +<p>"Really, Denny," she said, "it is sometimes a little +difficult to be sure that you have got all your senses. +How can you have 'nothing for breakfast' when you +have bacon, and—who in the world ever taught you +to say 'heggs'?"</p> + +<p>"I meant to say 'neggs,'" said Denny very humbly. +"Grandfather laughed at me because I didn't say +'hippotamus' right—I called it a 'nippotamus,' and +he made me say 'hi-hi-hip,' and that's got me into +the way of saying it to everything, like calling a negg, +a hegg."</p> + +<p>"A <i>negg</i>," repeated auntie slowly. "Can't you +hear any difference between 'a negg,' and 'an egg'? +Spell, a-n an, e-g-g egg."</p> + +<p>Denny repeated it.</p> + +<p>"What dedful jography Denny's having," observed +Baby; "I can say <i>a negg, quite</i> right."</p> + +<p>"And so you too call 'a negg' nothing for breakfast?" +said auntie.</p> + +<p>"Neggs and bacon is nothing for breakfast," answered +Baby.</p> + +<p>"Auntie," said Fritz, "you don't understand. We +call it nothing for breakfast when there's not bread-and-milk, +you know, for on bread-and-milk days we +have just one little cup of tea and a bit of bread-and-butter +after the bread-and-milk. But on Sundays, +and birthdays, there's nothing for the <i>first</i>, and so we +get better things, more like big people, and tea, and +whatever there is, as soon as we begin. That's why +we like 'nothing for breakfast,' do you see, auntie?"</p> + +<p>"I see," said auntie, "but I certainly couldn't +have guessed. I hope there's <i>something</i> for breakfast +to-day for us, for I'm very hungry, and look, there's +grandfather coming out to meet us, which looks as if +he were hungry too. And what have you to say to +it, old man?" she added, as Herr Baby came up the +steps, one foot at a time, of course, "aren't you hungry +after your walk?"</p> + +<p>"Him's hungry for him's <i>dinner</i>, but not for him's +<i>breakfast</i>; in course not," said Baby, with great +dignity.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>AN OLD SHOP AND AN OGRE</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td align="left">"Innocent face with the sad sweet eyes,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Smiling on us through the centuries."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Baby and Fritz went out a walk that afternoon in +the town with auntie and Lisa. Celia and Denny +had gone for a drive with mother and grandfather, +which the big people thought would make a good +division. Grandfather was very fond of children, +but in a carriage, he used to say, <i>two</i> small people +were enough of a good thing. So Celia and Denny +worried Lisa to get out their best hats and jackets—which +were not unpacked, as grandfather had not +yet decided whether they should stay at the hotel or +get a house for themselves—and set off in great +spirits on the back seat of the carriage.</p> + +<p>Fritz and Baby were in very good spirits too. +Fritz wanted to walk along the sort of front street of +the town which faced the sea, for he was never tired +of looking at boats and ships. Baby liked them too, +but what he most wanted to see was the shops. +Baby was very fond of shops. He was fond of buying +things, but before he bought anything he used to like +to be quite sure which was the best shop to get it at—I +mean to say at which shop he could get it best—and +he often asked the price two or three times before +he fixed. And he had never before seen so many +shops or such pretty and curious ones as there were +at Santino, so he was quite delighted, though if you +hadn't known him well you would hardly have +guessed it, for he trotted along as grave as a little +judge, only staring about him with all his eyes.</p> + +<p>And indeed there were plenty of things to stare at. +Fritz's tongue went very fast. He wanted auntie to stop +every minute to look at something wonderful. The +carts drawn by oxen pleased him and Baby very much.</p> + +<p>"That's the working cows they told us about," +said Fritz. "They're very nice, but I think I like +horses best, don't you, Baby?"</p> + +<p>"No, him likes cows best," said Baby, "when +him's a man him will have a calliage wif hundreds +of cows to pull it along, and wif lots and lots of gold +bells all tinkling. Won't that be lubly?"</p> + +<p>"Not half so nice as a lot of ponies, all with bells," +said Fritz, "they'd make ever so much more jingling, +'cos they go so fast. Isn't it funny to see all the +women with handkerchers on their heads and no +bonnets, Baby?"</p> + +<p>"When him's a man," said Baby again—he was +growing more talkative now—"when him's a man, +him's going to have auntie and Lisa," auntie and +Lisa came first, of course, because they happened to +be in his sight, "and mother, and Celia, and Denny +<i>all</i> for his wifes, and them shall all wear most bootly +hankerwifs on them's heads, red and blue and pink +and every colour, and gold—lots of gold."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said auntie, "but by that time my +hair, for one, will be quite gray; I shall be quite an +old woman. I don't think such splendid trappings +would suit me."</p> + +<p>"Him said <i>handkerwifs</i>, not traps—him doesn't +know what traps is," said Baby. "And him will be +werry kind to you when you're old. Him will always +let you come in and warm yourself, and give you +halfpennies."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dear, I'm sure you will," said auntie. +But she and Fritz looked at each other. That was +one of Herr Baby's ideas, and they couldn't get him +to understand, so mother settled it was better to +leave it and he'd understand of himself when he +grew bigger. He thought that <i>everybody</i>, however +rich and well off they might be, had to grow quite, +quite poor, and to beg for pennies in the streets before +they died. Wasn't it a funny fancy? It was not +till a good while afterwards that mother found out +that what had made him think so was the word +"old." He couldn't understand that growing old +could mean only growing old in years—he thought +it meant as well, poor and worn-out, like his own +little old shoes. Just now it would have been no +good trying to explain, even if mother had quite +understood what was in his mind, which she didn't +till he told her himself long after. For it only made +him cry when people tried to explain and <i>he</i> couldn't +explain what he meant. There was nothing vexed +him so much! And I think there was something +rather nice mixed up with this funny idea about +getting old. It made Baby wish to be so kind to all +poor old people. He would look at any poor old +beggar in such a strange sad way, and he always +<i>begged</i> to be allowed to give them a penny. And, +though no one knew of it, in his own mind he was +thinking that his dear little mother or his kind +auntie would be like that some day, and he would +like rich little boys to be kind to them then, just as +he was now to other poor old people. Of course, he +said to himself, "If <i>him</i> sees dear little mother and +auntie when they get old, <i>him</i> will take care of them +and let them rest at his house every time they come +past, but <i>p'raps</i> him might be far away then."</p> + +<p>And sometimes, when grandfather spoke about +getting old and how white his hair was growing, +Baby would look at him very gravely, for in his own +mind he was wondering if the time was very soon +coming for poor grandfather to be an old beggar-man. +Baby thought it <i>had</i> to be, you see, he thought it +was just what must come to everybody.</p> + +<p>Just as auntie and he had finished talking about +getting old they turned a corner and went down a +street which led them away from the view of the sea. +This street had shops at both sides, and some of them +were very pretty, but they were not the kind of shops +that the little boys cared much for—they were mostly +dressmakers' and milliners' and shawl shops. Lots +of grand dresses and hats and bonnets were to be +seen, which would have pleased Celia and Denny +perhaps, but which Fritz said were very stupid. +Auntie did not seem to care for them either—she was +in a hurry to go to an office where she was going to +ask about a house that might do for them. So she +walked on quickly, as quickly at least as Baby's +short legs could go, for she held him by the hand, +and Fritz and Lisa came behind. They left this +street in a minute and crossed through two or three +others before auntie could find the one she wanted. +Suddenly Baby gave her a tug.</p> + +<p>"Oh auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute. +Him sees shiny glass jugs like dear little mother's. +Oh, do 'top."</p> + +<p>Auntie stopped. They were passing what is +called an old curiosity shop; it was a funny looking +place, seeming very crowded even though it was a +large shop, for it was so very full of all sorts of queer +things. Some among them were more queer than +pretty, but some were very pretty too, and in one +corner of the window there were several jugs, and +cups, and bottles, and such things, of very fine glass, +with the same sort of soft-coloured shine on it that +Baby remembered in the two jugs that he had pulled +down in the tiny trunk. Baby's eyes had spied them +out at once.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg9" id="hbimg9"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img9.jpg"> + <img src="images/img9.jpg" height="600" + alt="SHINY GLASS JUGS LIKE DEAR MOTHER'S." /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">"Oh, auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute. Him sees shiny glass jugs like<br /> + dear little mother's. Oh, do 'top."—P. 106.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img9.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Look, look, auntie," he said, again gently tugging +her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Baby dear, very pretty," said auntie, but +without paying much attention to the glass, for she +was not thinking of Baby's adventure in the pantry +at the moment, and did not know what jugs of his +mother's he meant.</p> + +<p>"There is two <i>just</i> like mother's," said Baby, but +he spoke lower now, almost as if he were speaking to +himself. An idea had come into his mind which he +had hardly yet understood himself, and he did not +want to speak of it to any one else. He just stood at +the window staring in, his two eyes fixed on the glass +jugs, and the great question he was saying to himself +was, "How many pennies would they cost?"</p> + +<p>"Them's a little smaller, him sinks," he murmured, +"but p'raps mother wouldn't mind."</p> + +<p>It was a mistake of his that they were smaller; +they were really a little larger than the broken ones. +Besides Baby had never seen the broken ones till +they <i>were</i> broken. One of them had been much less +smashed than the other, and mother had examined it +to see if it could possibly be mended so as to look +pretty as an ornament, even though it would never +do to hold water, and, when she found nothing could +be done, she had told Thomas to keep the top part of +it as a sort of pattern, in case she ever had a chance +of getting the same. I think I forgot to explain this +to you before, and you may have wondered how Baby +knew so well what the jugs had been like.</p> + +<p>"Them is a little smaller," he said again to himself. +He did not understand that things often look +smaller when they are among a great many others of +the same kind, and though there was not a very great +deal of the shiny glass in the shop window, there +was enough to make it rather a wonder that such a +little boy as Baby had caught sight of the two jugs +at all, for they were behind the rest. He had time +to look at them well, for, though auntie had been +rather in a hurry, she, too, stood still in front of the +shop, for something had caught her eyes too.</p> + +<p>"How <i>very</i> pretty, how sweet!" she said to herself, +"I wish I could copy it. It seems to me beautifully +done," and when Fritz, who had not found the +shop so interesting as the others had done, in his +turn gave her a tug and said, "Auntie, aren't you +coming?" she pointed out to him what it was she +was so pleased with.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it sweet, Fritz?" said auntie.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Fritz, "but it's rather dirty, auntie, +isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Fritz was very, what is called, <i>practical</i>. The +"it" that auntie was speaking about was an old picture, +hanging up on the wall at the side of the door. +It was the portrait of a little girl, a very little girl, of +not more than three or four years old. She had a +dear little face, sweet and bright, and yet somehow a +very little sad, or else it was the long-ago make of +the dress, and the faded look of the picture itself, +beside the baby-like face that made it <i>seem</i> sad. You +couldn't help thinking the moment you saw it, "Dear +me, that little girl must be a very old woman by now +or most likely she must be dead!" I think it was +that that made one feel sad on first looking at the +picture, for, after all, the face <i>was</i> bright and happy-looking: +the rosy, roguish, little mouth was smiling, +the soft blue eyes had a sort of twinkling fun in +them, though they were so soft, and the fair hair, so +fair that it almost seemed white, drawn up rather +tight in an old-fashioned way, fell back again on one +side as if little Blue-eyes had just been having a good +run. And one fat, dimpled shoulder was poked out +of the prim white frock in a way that, I daresay, had +rather shocked the little girl's mother when the painter +first showed her his work, for our little, old, great-great-grandfathers' +and great-great-grandmothers', +children, must have had to sit very, very still in +their very best and stiffest frocks and suits when +their pictures were painted, poor little things! They +were not so lucky as you are nowadays, who have +only to go to the photograph man's for half an hour, +and keep your merry faces still for a quarter of a +minute, if your mothers want to have a picture of +you!</p> + +<p>But Blue-eyes must have had some fun when <i>her</i> +picture was painted, I think, or else that little shoulder +wouldn't have got leave to poke itself out of its sleeve, +and there wouldn't have been that mischievous look +about the comers of her mouth.</p> + +<p>"<i>Isn't</i> it a little dirty, auntie?" said Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't your face look a little dirty if it had +been hanging up in a frame for over a hundred +years?" said auntie, laughing, at which Fritz looked +rather puzzled.</p> + +<p>Then auntie's eyes went back to the picture again.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> sweet," she said, "very, very sweet, and so +perfectly natural."</p> + +<p>All this time, as I told you, Herr Baby's whole +mind had been given to the shiny glasses. Suddenly +the sound of his aunt's voice caught his ear, and he +looked up.</p> + +<p>"What is it that is so 'weet, auntie?" he said.</p> + +<p>"The picture over there, dear. Hanging up by +the door. The little girl."</p> + +<p>Baby looked up, and in a moment his eyes +brightened.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a <i>dear</i> little baby!" he said. "Oh, her +<i>is</i> 'weet! Auntie, him would so like to kiss her."</p> + +<p>"You darling!" said auntie, her glance turning +from the sweet picture face above to the sweet living +face beside her. "I wonder if you will ever learn to +paint like that, Baby. <i>I</i> should very much like to +copy it if I could have the loan of it. It would be +sure to be very dear to buy," she added to herself. +"But we must hurry, my little boys," she went on. +"I was tempted to waste time admiring the picture, +but we must be quick."</p> + +<p>Fritz and Lisa turned away with auntie, but Baby +waited one moment behind. He pressed his face +close against the shop window and whispered softly,</p> + +<p>"Pitty little girl, him would like to kiss you. +Him will come a 'nother day. P'ease, pitty little girl, +don't let nobody take away the shiny glasses, for him +wants to buy them for mother."</p> + +<p>Then, quite satisfied, he trotted down the street +after the others, who were waiting for him a few +doors off.</p> + +<p>"Were you saying good-bye to the picture, Baby?" +said auntie, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Baby gravely.</p> + +<p>Auntie soon found the office where she was to +hear about the house they were thinking of taking. +The little boys stood beside her and listened gravely +while she asked questions about it, though they +couldn't understand what was said.</p> + +<p>"Him wishes the people in this countly wouldn't +talk lubbish talk," said Herr Baby to Fritz with a sigh. +"Him would so like to know what them says."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> want to know if we're going to have a house +with a garden," said Fritz. "That's all <i>I</i> care about," +and as soon as they were out in the street again, he +asked auntie if "the man" had said there was a +garden to the house.</p> + +<p>"There are several houses that I have to tell your +grandfather about," said auntie. "Some have gardens +and some haven't, but the one we like the best has +a garden, though not a very big one."</p> + +<p>"Not as big as the one at home?" said Fritz.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear no, of course not," said auntie. "It is +quite different here from at home. People only come +to stay a short time, they wouldn't care to be troubled +with big gardens."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind," said Fritz amiably, "if only it's +big enough for us to have a corner to dig in, and somewhere +to play in when Lisa's in a fussy humour."</p> + +<p>"Mine child," said Lisa mildly. Poor Lisa, she +was not a very fussy person! Indeed she was rather +too easy for such lively young people as Fritz and +Denny.</p> + +<p>"And do you want a garden, too, very much, +Baby?" said auntie.</p> + +<p>Baby had hardly heard what they were saying. +His mind was still running on the shiny jugs and +the blue-eyed little girl.</p> + +<p>"Him wants gate lots of pennies," he said, which +didn't seem much of an answer to auntie's question.</p> + +<p>"Lots of pennies, my little man," said auntie. +"What do you want lots of pennies for?"</p> + +<p>But Baby would not tell.</p> + +<p>Just then they saw coming towards them in the +street two very funny looking men. They had no +hats or caps on their heads, so the children could see +that they had no hair either, at least none on the top, +where it was shaved quite off, and only a sort of fringe +all round left. Then they had queer loose brown coats, +with big capes, something like grandfather's Inverness +cloak, Fritz thought, and silver chains hanging down +at their sides, and, queerest of all, no stockings or +proper boots or shoes, only things like the <i>soles</i> of +shoes strapped on to their bare feet. These were +called sandals, auntie said, and she told the boys that +these funny looking men were monks, "Franciscans," +she said they were called. They all lived together, +and they never kept any money, and people said—but +auntie thought that was not quite true—that they +never washed themselves.</p> + +<p>"Nasty dirty men," said Fritz, making a face. +"I shouldn't like to be a Franciscan."</p> + +<p>"Not in winter, Fritz?" said Baby. "Him +wouldn't mind in winter when the water <i>are</i> so cold. +Lisa," he went on, turning round to his nurse, "'member—when +the <i>werry</i> cold mornings comes, him's +going to be a Frantisker—will you 'member, Lisa?"</p> + +<p>"But what about the pennies?" said auntie, laughing. +"If you are a Frantisker, Baby, you won't +have any pennies, and you said just now you wanted +a great lot of pennies."</p> + +<p>Baby looked very grave.</p> + +<p>"Then him won't be a Frantisker," he said decidedly.</p> + +<p>After that he spoke very little all the way home. +He had a great deal on his mind, you see. And his +last thought that night as he was falling asleep was, +"Him are so glad him asked the little pitty girl to +take care of the shiny jugs."</p> + +<p>Funny little Herr Baby! How much was fancy, +how much was earnest in his busy baby mind, who +can tell?</p> + +<p>A few days after this, they all moved from the +Hotel to the pretty house with a garden which auntie +had gone to ask about. It <i>was</i> a pretty house. I +wish I could show it to you, children! It had not +only a garden but a terrace, and this terrace overlooked +the sea, the blue sunny sea of the south. And +from one side, or from a little farther down in the +garden, one could see the white-capped mountains, +rising, rising up into the sky, with sometimes a soft +mist about their heads which made them seem even +higher than they were, "high enough to peep into +heaven," said Baby; and sometimes, on very clear +days, standing out sharply against the blue behind, +so that one could hardly believe it would take more +than a few minutes to run to the top and down again.</p> + +<p>There were many interesting things in this garden—things +that the children had not had in the old +garden at home, nice though it was. It was not so +beautifully neat as the flower part of the garden at +home, but I do not think the children liked it any the +less for that. The trees and bushes grew so thickly +that down at the lower end it was really like a wilderness, +a most lovely place for hide-and-seek. Then +there was a fountain, a real fountain, where the water +actually danced and fell all day long; and all round +the windows of the house and the trellised balcony +there were the most lovely red shaded leaves, such as +one never sees in such quantities in the north. And in +among the stones of the terrace there lived lizards—the +most delightful lizards. One in particular grew +so friendly that he used to come out at meal-times to +drink a little milk which the children spilt for him on +purpose; for the day nursery, or school-room, as Celia +liked it to be called, opened on to the terrace too, +though at the other end from the two drawing-rooms +and grandfather's "study," and the windows were long +and low, opening like doors, so that Lisa had hard +work to keep the children quiet at table the first few +days, for every minute they were jumping up to see +some new wonder that they caught sight of. Altogether +it was a very pretty home to spend the winter +in, and every one seemed very happy. Bully and the +"calanies" were as merry as larks, if it is true that +larks are merrier than other birds, and Peepy-Snoozle +and Tim, mistaking the bright warm sunshine for +another summer, I suppose, got in the habit of being +quite lively about the middle of the day as well as in +the middle of the night, instead of spending all the +daylight hours curled up like two very sleepy fairy +babies with brown fur coats on, in their nice white +cotton-wool nests.</p> + +<p>There was so much to do and to think of the first +few days that I think Baby forgot a little about what +he had seen in the old curiosity shop. Auntie, too, +was too busy to give any thought to the picture which +had so taken her fancy, though neither she nor Baby +<i>really</i> forgot the dear little face with its loving, half-merry, +half-sad blue eyes. But auntie had to help +mother to get everything settled; and of course there +was a good deal to explain to the strange servants, for +neither Peters nor Linley the maid knew "lubbish +talk," as Baby <i>would</i> call it, at all, and it was very +funny indeed to hear Peters trying to make the +cook understand how grandfather liked his cutlets, +or Linley "pounding" at the housemaid, as Fritz +called it, to get it into her head that <i>she</i> didn't call it +<i>cleaning</i> a room to sweep all the dirt into a corner +where it couldn't be seen! Peters was more patient +than Linley. When Linley couldn't make herself +understood she used to shout louder and louder, as if +that would make the others know what she meant, and +then she used to say to Celia that it really was "a +<i>very</i> hodd thing that the people of this country seemed +not to have all their senses." And however Celia +explained to her, she <i>couldn't</i> be got to see that she +must seem just as stupid to them as they seemed +to her! Peters was less put about. He had been +in India with grandfather, so he said he was used +to "furriners." He seemed to think everybody that +wasn't English could be put together as "furriners"; +but he had brought a dictionary and a book of little +sentences in four languages, and he would sit on the +kitchen table patiently trying one language after +another on the poor cook, just as when one can't +open a lock, one tries all the keys one can find, to +see if by chance one will fit. The cook was a very +mild, gentle man; he had a nice wife and two little +children in the town, and he was inclined to be very +fond of Herr Baby, and to pet him if ever he got a +chance. But that wasn't for a good while, for Baby +was at first terribly frightened of him. He had a +black moustache and whiskers and very black eyes, +and they looked blacker under his square white cook's +cap, and the first time Baby saw him through the +kitchen window, the cook happened to be standing +with a large carving-knife in one hand, and a chicken +which he was holding up by the legs, in the other. +Off flew Herr Baby. A little way down the garden he +ran against Denny, who was also busy examining +their new quarters.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Denny, Denny!" he cried, "this is a dedful +place—there's a' ogre, a real tellable ogre in the house. +Him's seen him in one of the windows under the +dimey-room. Oh, Denny, Denny, p'raps him'll eaten +us up."</p> + +<p>Denny for the first moment was, to tell the truth, +a little bit frightened herself. Common sense told +her there <i>were</i> no such things as ogres, not now-a-days +any way, at least not in England, their own country. +But a dreadful idea struck her that this was <i>not</i> +England; this might be one of the countries where +ogres, like wolves and bears, were still occasionally +to be found. There was no telling, certainly; but not +for a good deal would Miss Denise Aylmer, a young +lady of nine years old <i>past</i>, have owned to being +frightened as long as she could possibly help it.</p> + +<p>She caught Baby by the hand.</p> + +<p>"What sall we do?" he said; "sall we go and +tell mother?"</p> + +<p>Denny considered.</p> + +<p>"We'd better go and see again," she said very +bravely. "You must have made a mistake, I think, +Baby dear. I don't <i>think</i> there can be any ogres +here."</p> + +<p>Baby was much struck by Denny's courage. His +hand slipped back a very little out of hers.</p> + +<p>"Will <i>you</i> go and see, Denny?" he said. "Him +will stay here till you comes back."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you'd better come with me," said Denny, +who felt that even Baby was better than nobody. "I +shouldn't know where you saw the ogre," and she kept +tight hold of his hand. "Which window was it?"</p> + +<p>"It were at a tiny window <i>really</i> under the +ground. Him was peeping to see if there was f'owers +'side of the wall," said Baby. "Him'll show you, +Denny; him <i>are</i> so glad you isn't f'ightened."</p> + +<p>They set off down the path, making their way +rather cautiously as they got near the house. +Suddenly Denny felt Baby squeeze her hand more +tightly, and with a sort of scream he turned round +and hid his face against her.</p> + +<p>"There! There!" he cried. "Him sees the +ogre coming."</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg10" id="hbimg10"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img10.jpg"> + <img src="images/img10.jpg" height="600" + alt="THE LITTLE MAN CAME TOWARDS THEM." /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed, white-capped man came<br /> +towards them smiling.—P. 121.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img10.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Denny looked up. She saw a rather little man +with a white apron and a white cap, carrying a couple +of cackling hens or chickens in his arms, coming +across the garden from the house. He was on his +way to a little sort of poultry-yard, where he had +fastened up half-a-dozen live chickens he had bought +at the market that morning, meaning to kill two of +them for dinner, but finding them not so fat as he +had expected, he was putting them back among their +friends for a day or two. Very like a <i>real</i> ogre, if +Denny and Baby had understood all about it, which +they didn't. Denny herself, for a minute or two, felt +puzzled as to who this odd-looking man could be. +But he was no <i>ogre</i>, that was certain, any way.</p> + +<p>"Don't be frightened, Baby, it's not a' ogre," she +said. "Look up, he's far too little."</p> + +<p>Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed, +white-capped man came towards them smiling.</p> + +<p>"Bon jour, Mademoiselle, bon jour, Monsieur +Bébé," he said, looking quite pleased. And then he +stroked down the ruffled feathers of the poor chickens, +and held them out to the two children, chattering +away at a great rate in Baby's "lubbish talk," hardly +a word of which they understood.</p> + +<p>"Can he be wanting to sell the chickens?" said +Denny.</p> + +<p>The cook, who had before this lived with families +from England, understood the children's language +better than they did his, which, however, is not saying +a great deal.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mees, pairfectly," he said. "Me sell zem +at ze marché the morning. Fine poulets, goot +poulets, not yet strong—wait one, two, 'ree days—be +strong for one grand dinner for Madame."</p> + +<p>"Who are you? What's your name, please?" +said Denny, still a little alarmed.</p> + +<p>"Jean-Georges, Mademoiselle," said the little +man, with a bow. "Jean-Georges compose charming +plates for Mademoiselle and Monsieur Bébé. Jean-Georges +loves little messieurs and little 'demoiselles. +Madame permit Monsieur and Mademoiselle visit +Jean-Georges in his cuisine one day."</p> + +<p>Denny caught the word "cuisine," which, of +course, children, you will know means "kitchen."</p> + +<p>"He's the cook, Baby," she said, with great relief; +"don't you remember grandfather said he must have +a man cook? Good morning, Mr. Cook, we'll ask +mother to let us go and see you one day in your +kitchen, and you must make us very nice things to +eat, please Mr. Cook."</p> + +<p>"Pairfectly, Mademoiselle," said Jean-Georges, +with as magnificent a bow as he could manage, considering +the two chickens in his arms, and then he +walked away.</p> + +<p>"What a <i>very</i> nice man!" said Denny, feeling very +proud of herself, and quite forgetting that she, too, +had not been without some fears. "You see, Baby +dear, how foolish it is to be frightened. I <i>told</i> you +there couldn't be any ogres here."</p> + +<p>Herr Baby did not answer for a moment. He had +certainly very much admired Denny's courage, but +still he wasn't quite sure that she had not been a <i>very</i> +little afraid, just for a minute, when he had called out +"There he is!"</p> + +<p>"What would you have done if there <i>had</i> been a' +ogre, Denny?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother," said Denny, "what's the good of +talking about things that <i>couldn't</i> be? Talk of something +sensible, Baby."</p> + +<p>Baby grew silent again. They walked on slowly +down the garden path.</p> + +<p>"Denny," said Baby, in a minute or two, "didn't +the little man say somefin about mother having a +party?"</p> + +<p>Denny pricked up her ears at this. Parties of all +kinds pleased her very much.</p> + +<p>"Did he?" she said, "I didn't notice. He said +something about Madame's dinner, but I didn't think +he meant a dinner-<i>party</i>. Perhaps he did though. +We'll ask. I'd like mother to have some parties; it +seems quite a long time since I had one of my best +frocks on to come down to the drawing-room before +dinner, the way we did at home. And I know mother +and auntie have friends here. I heard that stupid +little footman asking Linley what day 'Miladi' would +'receive,' that means have visitors, Baby."</p> + +<p>Denny's tongue had run on so fast, that it had left +Baby's wits some way behind. They had stopped +short at the first idea of a party.</p> + +<p>"Mother likes to make <i>werry</i> pitty dinners when +she has parties," he said. "Mother told him that +were why she were so solly when him breaked her's +pitty glasses."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you're talking about, Baby," +said Denny. "Let's have a race. I'll give you a +start."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>BABY'S SECRET</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td align="left">"'Pussy, only you I'll tell,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> For you can keep secrets well;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Promise, pussy, not a word.'</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Pussy reared her tail and purred."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>There was a cat at the Villa Désirée, Baby's, and +Denny's, and "all of them's house," as Baby would +have called it. Where the cat came from I don't +know—whether it belonged to the villa and let itself +out with it every winter, like the furniture, or whether +it was really the cat of Madame Jean-Georges, and +had followed Monsieur Jean-Georges back one evening +when he had been home to see his "good friend" +(that was what he called his wife), and his two "bébés," +is what I cannot tell. I only know the cat was there, +and that when Baby could get a chance of playing +with it he was very pleased. He didn't often have a +chance, in his own room, for "Mademoiselle," as Celia +was always called by the new servants, a title which +she thought much nicer than "Miss Aylmer," or +"Miss Celia," <i>Mademoiselle</i>, said "the stupid little +footman," had given strict orders that "Minet" was +not to be allowed upstairs for fear of the "pets," the +"calanies," and the Bully, and Peepy-Snoozle, and +Tim, all of whom would have been very much to +Minet's taste, I fear. It was very funny to see the +way the little footman went "shoo-ing" at the poor +cat the moment Celia appeared, for Celia had rather +grand manners for her age, and the servants thought +her very "distinguished," especially the stupid little +footman. But Herr Baby was very sorry for poor +Minet; he had no particular pet of his own here, +nothing to make up for his "labbits," and so he took +a great fancy to the pussy.</p> + +<p>"Poor little 'weet darling," he would call it; +"Celia's a c'uel girl to d'ive Minet away, <i>Minet</i> +wouldn't hurt the calanies, or the Bully, or the sleepy-mouses; +Minet is far too good."</p> + +<p>"Pray, how do <i>you</i> know, Baby?" Celia would +say. "Cats are cats all the world over, every one +knows that."</p> + +<p>"<i>Minet</i> aren't," Baby would have it, "Minet has +suts a kind heart. Him asked Minet if her would +hurt the calanies and the sleepy-mouses, and her said +'no, sairtingly not.'"</p> + +<p>"Baby!" said Denny, "what stories! Cats can't +talk. You shouldn't tell stories."</p> + +<p>"Minet can talk," said Baby. "When him asks +for somefin, her says 'proo-proo-oo,' and that means +'yes,' and if her means 'no,' her humps up her back +and s'akes her tail. When him asked Minet if her +would like to hurt the calanies, her humped up her +back <i>never</i> so high, and sook and <i>sook</i> her tail, for no, +<i>no</i>, <span class="smallcaps">NO</span>!"</p> + +<p>Celia could not find an answer to this. Baby went +on stroking Minet with great satisfaction, as if there +was nothing more to be said.</p> + +<p>"All the same," said Celia at last, "I don't want +Minet to come upstairs. She's quite as happy downstairs, +and, you see, it would <i>frighten</i> the birds and +the dormice if they saw her, for <i>they</i> mightn't understand +that she wouldn't, on any account, hurt them."</p> + +<p>"Werry well," said Baby, and he went on playing +with his new pet.</p> + +<p>"Herr Baby," said Lisa coming into the room a +moment or two later; "mine child, how is it that +your coat is so dirty? All green, Herr Baby, as if +you had rubbed it on the wet grass."</p> + +<p>"It's with his poking in among the bushes by the +kitchen window," said Denny of the ready tongue; +"yesterday, you know, Baby, when you thought——"</p> + +<p>"Hush," said Baby, "don't talk to me. You distairb +me and the cat—we'se busy."</p> + +<p>Denny and Lisa looked at each other and smiled.</p> + +<p>"Pussy, pitty pussy, dear Minet," went on Baby, +who wanted to stop Denny's account of his fears.</p> + +<p>"We're going out, Herr Baby," said Lisa. "There +are commissions for your lady mamma. We are to +go to the patissier and——"</p> + +<p>"Who are the pattyser?" said Baby.</p> + +<p>"The cumfectioner," said Denny.</p> + +<p>Baby pricked up his ears.</p> + +<p>"We are to go to the patissier," said Lisa, "to +order some cakes for Miladi for to-morrow, when +Miladi's friends come to dine; and perhaps we will +buy some little cake for Herr Baby's tea. Come, +mine child, leave Minet, and come."</p> + +<p>Herr Baby got up from the corner of the room +where he had been embracing the cat; there was a +grave look on his face, but he did not say anything +till he was out on the road with Lisa. Denny was +not with them; she had got leave to go a walk with +Celia and the lady who came every day to give her +French lessons, which Denny thought much more +grand than going out with Baby and Lisa.</p> + +<p>"Lisa," said Baby, after a few minutes, "are +mother going to have a party?"</p> + +<p>"Not one very big party," said Lisa, "just some +Miladis and some Herren—some genkelmen—to +dine."</p> + +<p>"Will it look very pitty?" asked Baby.</p> + +<p>"Not so pretty as at <i>home</i>," said Lisa, who, now +that she was away from it, of course looked upon The +Manor—that was the name of "home"—as the most +lovely place in the world; "there's no nice glass, no +nice pretty dishes here. And François, he is so +dumm—how you say 'dumm,' Herr Baby?"</p> + +<p>"Dumm," repeated Baby, exactly copying Lisa's +voice, staring up in her face.</p> + +<p>"No, mine child, how you say it of English? +Ah—I knows—<i>stupid</i>. François, he is too stupid. +Peters and I, we will make the table so pretty as +might be. Lisa will command some bon-bons."</p> + +<p>"Mother will want the shiny jugs," thought poor +Baby. "Him <i>s'ould</i> have brought him's pennies. +Him would like to know if him has 'nuff pennies; +perhaps him could go to the little girl's shop when +Lisa is at the pattyser's."</p> + +<p>But he said nothing aloud. How it was that he +kept his thoughts to himself, why he had such a dislike +to any one knowing what was in his mind, I +cannot exactly tell; but so it was, and so it often is +with very little children, even though quite frank +and open by nature. Baby had, I think, a fear that +mother might not like him to spend all his pennies +on the shiny jugs, perhaps she might say she would +pay them herself, and that would not have pleased +him at all. Deep down in his honest little heart was +the feeling that <i>he</i> had broken the glasses and <i>he</i> +should pay for the new ones. But he said nothing to +Lisa—he had never spoken of the jugs to her—mother +had been "so kind," never to tell any one about what +a silly little boy he had been, for mother knew that +he didn't like being laughed at. <i>Perhaps</i> "they" +would laugh at him now if he told about wanting to +buy the shiny jugs—he wouldn't mind so much if he +<i>had</i> bought them, but "'appose they wouldn't let him +go to the shop to get them?" Poor little mother! +She wouldn't have her pitty glasses then for the party—no, +it was much best to settle it all his own self. +Whom he meant by "they" I don't think Baby quite +knew, he had a sort of picture in his mind of grandfather +and auntie and mother all talking together, and +Celia and Fritz and Denny all joining in, and saying +that "Baby was far too little to go to shops to buy +things." And by the time he had thought this all +over, Herr Baby glancing up—for till now he had +been walking along with Lisa's hand, seeing and +noticing nothing—found that they were already in +the street of the town where the biggest shops were, +and that Lisa was looking about to find the shop +where she was to give the orders for his mother.</p> + +<p>It was a very pretty shop indeed—Baby had never +seen such a pretty shop. The cakes and bon-bons +were laid out so nicely on the tables round the wall, +and they were all of such pretty colours. Baby +walked round and round admiring, and, I think, considering +he was such a very little boy, that it was +very good of him not to think of touching any of the +tempting dainties. In a few minutes Lisa had +ordered all she wanted—then she chose some nice +biscuits and a very few little chocolate bon-bons, which +she had put up in two paper parcels, and when they +came out of the shop she told Herr Baby that they +were for him, his mother had told her to get him +something nice. Baby looked pleased, but still he +seemed very grave, and Lisa began wondering what +he was thinking of.</p> + +<p>"Are you tired, mine child?" she said.</p> + +<p>No, Herr Baby was not at all tired. He wanted +to walk down the street to the other end to see all the +shops, he wanted to see <i>all</i> the streets and <i>all</i> the +shops before they went home. Lisa was rather +amused. She had not known Herr Baby was so +<i>very</i> fond of shops, she said, and it would take far too +long to see them <i>all</i>. But she went to the end of that +street with him, and then back again down the opposite +side, and then he begged her to turn down the +other street they had crossed on their way to the confectioner's, +and they had gone quite to the end of <i>it</i>, +Baby staring in at all the shop windows in a way that +really made Lisa smile, for he looked so grave and +solemn, when all of a sudden, just as Lisa was thinking +of saying they must go home, Baby gave a sort +of little scream and almost jumped across the street.</p> + +<p>"Him sees it, him sees it," he cried, and when +Lisa asked him what he meant, all he would say +was,</p> + +<p>"That's the little street we went down with auntie +the 'nother day," and Lisa, who had forgotten all about +the old shop window with the shiny glass and the +blue-eyed picture, wondered why he was so eager +about it.</p> + +<p>"Is that the way we came?" she said, "I am not +sure. I not quite remember."</p> + +<p>But "him wants to go home that way," persisted +Baby, and he tugged Lisa along. They passed at the +other side, but Baby did not mind that. He could +see across quite plainly, for the street was narrow, +and there were still the glasses in the corner and the +sweet baby-girl face up on the wall, looking down +on them.</p> + +<p>And after that he was quite satisfied to go quietly +home; he did not speak much on the way, but Lisa +was accustomed to his grave fits, and did not pay +much attention to them. He only asked her one +question—just as they were getting close to the +Villa.</p> + +<p>"Is it to-morrow mother's going to have all the +pitty things for dinner?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Herr Baby, and Lisa will be busy, to show +François how Miladi likes everything. Herr Baby +and Fräulein Denny will be goot and play peacefully +in the garden to-morrow, so she can be busy," said +Lisa, who was very proud of being of so much consequence.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Herr Baby, "him won't want you to +take care of him."</p> + +<p>After tea he got out his money-box. This he +often did. He was such a careful little boy that +mother let him keep his money himself, and it was a +great pleasure to him to count over the different kinds +of "pennies;" he called them all "pennies," brown, +white, and even yellow pennies, for Baby had a pound +and a ten shilling piece that had been given him on +his last birthday, and that he had never been able to +make up his mind how to spend. He looked at them +now with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"See, Denny," he said, "him has two yellow +pennies, a big and a little, and free white pennies, a +big and a little and a littler, and five brown pennies. +Him knows there's five, for him can count up to five, +'cos five's just as old as him is going to be. See, +Denny, isn't there a lot? And the yellow pennies +could be turned into lots and lots of white pennies +Lisa says, and the white pennies could be turned into +lots of brown pennies, isn't it funny? Isn't him +werry rich, Denny?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose so," said Denny, "I really don't +know. I wish you wouldn't chatter so, Baby. I +can't learn my lessons."</p> + +<p>Poor Baby! It was not often he was to blame for +"chattering so." But he looked with great respect at +Denny for having lessons to do, and was not at all +offended. Denny was proud of being with Celia and +the new governess, but I think her pleasure was a +little spoilt by finding that the new governess had no +idea of taking care of a little girl who didn't do any +lessons, and this evening she was rather cross at a +row of French words which she had to learn to say +the next morning. Baby went quietly off into the +corner with his money-box, but finding it rather dull +to have no one to show his pennies to, he went out of +the room, which you remember was downstairs, and, +opening a door which led to the kitchen, peeped about +in hopes of seeing his friend Minet. He had not +long to wait—Minet had a corner of her own by the +kitchen wall, on the other side of which was the stove, +and where she found herself almost as warm as in the +kitchen, when Monsieur Jean-Georges objected to her +company. She was curled up in this corner when +she heard Baby's soft voice calling her—"Minet, +Minet, pussy, pussy," and up she got, slowly and +lazily, as cats do when they are half asleep, but still +willingly enough, for she dearly loved Herr Baby.</p> + +<p>"Minet," said Baby, when she appeared, and +coming up to him rubbed her furry coat against his +little bare legs, "Minet, dear, come and sit wif him +on the 'teps going down to the garden, and him'll tell +you about his money."</p> + +<p>But Lisa, coming by just then, said it was too +cold now to sit on stone steps; for warm as it was in +the day at Santino the evenings got quickly chilly.</p> + +<p>"Us can't go back to the 'coolroom," said Baby; +"Denny won't let dear Minet come there, and him +must stay wif Minet, 'cos her waked up when him +called her."</p> + +<p>"Miss Denny must let you stay in the school-room," +said Lisa. "There is no little birds there for +Minet to touch."</p> + +<p>She opened the door, and Denny was too busy +with her lessons to scold.</p> + +<p>"You will be very quiet, Herr Baby," said Lisa. +So Baby and Minet went off into a corner with the +money-box.</p> + +<p>"Minet, dear," said Baby, in a low voice, "see +what lots of pennies him has. Yellow pennies, and +white pennies, and brown pennies."</p> + +<p>Minet purred, naturally, for Baby was stroking +her softly with one hand all the time he was holding +up his pennies with the other.</p> + +<p>"Dear Minet," said Baby, much gratified, "you is +pleased that him has so many pennies. Now, Minet, +him will tell you a secret, a <i>gate, gate</i> secret, about +what him's going to do wif all him's pennies."</p> + +<p>Here Minet purred again. Baby looked round. +There was no one listening. Lisa was going backwards +and forwards, putting away the tea-things; +Denny was still groaning and grumbling over her row +of words; Baby might safely tell Minet his secret. +Still he lowered his voice <i>so</i> low that certainly no one +but Minet could hear. And when he left off speaking, +Minet purred more than ever. Only Baby thought it +just as well to say to her, before Lisa took him away +up to bed, "Minet, dear, you'll be <i>sure</i> not to tell +nobody;" and I suppose Minet promised, for Baby +seemed quite pleased.</p> + +<p>He woke in the morning with his head quite full +of his great idea. They were not to go a regular walk +that day, Lisa told him, for in the afternoon she would +be busy, and Herr Baby would be good and play +quietly in the garden, would he not?</p> + +<p>"All alone?" asked Baby.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Miss Denny will stay, too, if Herr Baby +wishes," said Lisa; "she was going again with Miss +Celia, but——"</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Baby, "him would rather be alone, +kite alone, 'cept Minet. Fritz is very good to him, +but Fritz will be at school. Fritz is never at home +now 'cept Thursdays."</p> + +<p>"No," said Lisa; "but Herr Fritz is very happy +at school, and when Herr Baby is big he will go +too."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Baby; but he didn't seem to think +much what he was saying. Lisa thought he was dull +about Fritz being at school—I forgot to tell you that +Fritz went every day now to a very nice school in the +town, where there were a few boys about his own age—but +Lisa was mistaken.</p> + +<p>That afternoon, any one passing the low hedge +which at one side was all that divided the Villa garden +from the road, would have seen a pretty little picture. +There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm fondly +clasping Minet's neck, while with the other he firmly +held the famous money-box. He was dressed in his +garden blouse only, but for some reason he had his +best hat on. And he kept looking about him, first +towards the house and then towards the garden gate, +in a funny considering sort of way.</p> + +<p>At last he seemed to have made up his mind.</p> + +<p>"Minet," he said to the cat, "him thinks we'll go +now. 'Amember, Minet, you've <i>p'omised</i> to go wif +him. If you get werry tired, Minet, him'll try to carry +you. If you could carry the money-box, and him +could carry you, then it would be <i>kite</i> easy. What +a pity you haven't got two more paws, that would +do for hands, Minet!"</p> + +<p>Minet purred.</p> + +<p>"Yes, poor Minet. Nebber mind, dear; but we +must be going." And closely followed by the cat, +who had no idea, poor thing, of what was before her, +Baby made his way down the path to the garden +gate. It was open, at least not latched. Baby easily +pushed it wide enough for his little self to go through, +and stood, with Minet and the money-box, triumphant +on the highroad.</p> + +<p>"It were the best way, thit way," he said to himself. +For there was another gate to the Villa, leading +out to the upper road. But this gate was guarded by +a lodge, and the "concierge," as they called the +lodge-keeper, came out to open it for every one who +went in and out. And "p'raps," thought Baby, "the +concierge mightn't have let him through, 'cos, of +course, her didn't know why him was going out +alone with Minet."</p> + +<p>So Minet and he and the money-box found themselves +out on the road on their own account.</p> + +<p>All the family was scattered that afternoon. Celia +and Denny had gone a long walk with their governess, +Fritz was at school, mother and auntie had +driven to see some friends a good way off, meaning +to call for Fritz at his school on their way home. +The servants, too, were all more busy than usual on +account of the ladies and gentlemen coming to dinner. +Lisa and Linley and Peters were all trying to make +the strange servants understand just how they were +used to have the table at home, and giving themselves +a great deal more trouble than grandfather or +mother would have wished had they known about it. +Lisa was very clever at arranging flowers prettily, +and she was so sure of Baby's quiet ways when he +was left to himself, that she never gave a thought to +him once she saw him safely settled in the garden +with Minet. It was such a safe garden. There +really was no part of it where a child could get into +any trouble, for though there was a little water in the +basin from which rose the fountain, it was so little, +that not even Minet could have wetted much more +than her paws in it. So Lisa went on quite comfortably +doing the flowers and arranging the dessert in +the pantry, by way of giving François a lesson, and +now and then she would glance out of the window +which looked on to the garden, and, seeing Baby +there with Minet, she felt quite easy. She did once +say to herself,</p> + +<p>"I wonder why Herr Baby begged so to have his +best hat to-day—but he is one good child, one should +please him sometimes."</p> + +<p>I am afraid the truth was that Lisa spoilt her +dear Baby a little!</p> + +<p>After a while she looked out again. She did not +see Herr Baby this time, but she did not think anything +of it.</p> + +<p>"They will have gone to play among the bushes," +she said to herself, meaning by "they" Baby and +Minet of course, and she went on with what she was +doing, and got so interested in helping Peters to +explain to François that in England people always +changed the wine glasses at the end of dinner, and +put clean ones for dessert, that the time went on +without it ever entering her head to say to herself, +"What can have become of Herr Baby?"</p> + +<p>Mother and auntie were later than they had expected +of returning from their drive. They had gone +a long way, and coming back it was mostly up-hill.</p> + +<p>"Fritz will be thinking we have forgotten him," +said mother, looking at her watch, "but I told him to +be sure to wait till we came. He is too little to go +home alone yet, at least till he knows his way quite +well or can speak enough to ask."</p> + +<p>"We might have told Celia and Denny to call +for him, as they are out with Mademoiselle," said +auntie.</p> + +<p>Just then in turning a corner, for they were quite +in the town now, auntie's eyes caught sight of the +narrow street where the old curiosity shop was.</p> + +<p>"By the by," she said, "I should so like to ask +about that picture. I told you about it, you remember, +May?"—May, you know, was the children's +mother's name—"have we time to go that way?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not; we are late already," said mother. +"I'm so sorry."</p> + +<p>"Oh, never mind, another day will do quite well," +said auntie, cheerfully.</p> + +<p>So they drove home, quickly, just stopping a +moment to pick up Fritz, who was waiting for them +at the gate of his school.</p> + +<p>If they <i>had</i> happened to go round by the old +curiosity shop, how surprised they would have been; +but what a great deal of trouble it would have saved +them, as you shall hear.</p> + +<p>Lisa met them as they got home, with a long story +about the table and the flowers and the stupidness of +François, which mother and auntie could hardly help +laughing at.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Lisa," said mother; "it will do +very well, I am sure. Where are the children?"</p> + +<p>"Upstairs, Miladi, taking off their things. They +have just come in," said Lisa, never thinking, somehow, +as mother said the "children," but that she was talking +of Celia and Denny. For, somehow, in this family—in +every family there are little habits of the kind—Baby +was not often spoken of among "the children." +They had all got so used to the name of Herr Baby, +which Lisa had called him by since he was quite a +wee baby, that he was seldom spoken of by any other, +and often Baby himself would talk gravely about "the +children," without any one seeming to think it odd.</p> + +<p>"Upstairs, are they?" said mother. "Well, run +off, Fritz, dear, and try and get some of your lessons +done before tea. Mademoiselle will help you a little, +I daresay, before she goes."</p> + +<p>Off ran Fritz. He was a very good boy about his +lessons, and anxious to get on well. More to please +Lisa and the others than that they cared, mother and +auntie went into the dining-room. They were standing +looking at the pretty flowers and leaves, when +suddenly Fritz put his head in at the door again.</p> + +<p>"Lisa," he said, "where's Baby? He's not upstairs, +and he's not in the garden. Linley said you +told him to play there this afternoon, but he's <i>not</i> +there."</p> + +<p>Lisa started, and her face grew white.</p> + +<p>"Mine child!" she cried. "Ah, but he must be in +the garden, Master Fritz! I saw him there so happy, +with the cat, just—ah, how long ago was it? Have I +forgotten him for so long? He must be hiding—to +play, to—how do you say?" for Lisa's English was +very apt to fly away when she got frightened or upset. +"Ach, where can he be?" and off darted poor Lisa.</p> + +<p>Mother and auntie and Fritz looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"Can he be <i>lost</i>?" said Fritz, with a very frightened +face.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, no," said auntie. "Lisa is so easily +startled. But still——"</p> + +<p>"Let us all go and look for him at once," said +mother. "What a good thing poor grandfather isn't +back yet!"</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>FOUND</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td align="right">——"he was not there:</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> We searched the house, the grounds—in vain;</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">We searched the green in our despair,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> And then we searched the house again."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>It <i>was</i> a good thing grandfather was out, for—and +this was what mother was thinking of—poor grandfather, +though he looked such a fine, tall, gray-haired +old gentleman, was not really very strong or well. +It was a great deal for him that they had all come +abroad this winter, and the doctors had told mother +and auntie that anything to startle or distress him +might make him very ill indeed. Poor grandfather! +I can't tell you what a kind, good man he was. He +had stayed a great many years in India, though he +would have liked dreadfully to come home, because it +was "his duty" he said, and this had made him seem +older than he really was, for a hot country is very +wearing out to people who are not born to it. And, +though he was so fond of his grandchildren, I think +if he <i>had</i> a pet among them, it was little Herr Baby. +The mere idea of his tiny Raymond—Baby was +named Raymond after grandfather—being lost, even +for an hour or two, would have troubled him dreadfully, +and thinking of this, auntie, too, repeated after +mother,</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, what a good thing grandfather isn't +in. We <i>mustn't</i> let him know, May, till Baby's found."</p> + +<p>They didn't stay to say anything more. Off they +all set into the garden, for, though Fritz said he had +looked all over, they couldn't feel sure that they might +not find Baby in some corner, hiding, perhaps, for +fun, even. But when they had all been round and +round the garden in every direction—mother, and +auntie, and Celia, and Denny, and Fritz, and Mademoiselle +Lucie, and Lisa, and Linley, and Peters, and +François, and, even at the end I believe, Monsieur +Jean-Georges himself, and the rest of the French +servants—when they had all looked, and peeped, and +shouted, and whistled, and begged, and prayed Baby +to come out if he was hiding, and there was no +answer, then they gave it up. It was impossible +that the little man could be in the garden.</p> + +<p>Where could he be?</p> + +<p>Fortunately there was nowhere in the garden +where he could have hurt himself—no pit or pond +into which he could have fallen. And it was surely +impossible that any one could have come into the +garden and stolen him away, as Celia, with a pale +face, whispered to auntie. Where could he be, and +what should they do?</p> + +<p>Time was passing—the friends who were coming +to dinner would be at the villa before long; grandfather +was <i>sure</i> to appear in a few minutes. What +could they do?</p> + +<p>"We must not tell grandfather, that is certain," +said auntie. "May, dear, it is very hard on you, I +know, but I'll tell you how it must be. You must +stay here quietly and be ready for the friends who are +coming, and I will go off at once and do all, everything +I can think of. Mademoiselle Lucie, you know +the town, and you can tell me all about the police, +and where to go to <i>in case</i> we don't find our darling +at once, though I quite think we shall. I can't take +you, Peters," for Peters was eagerly coming forward, +"Sir Raymond would miss you, nor you, Lisa, for +you must take care of the other children," at which +Lisa all but broke out crying; "It was too good of +Mademoiselle Hélène to trust her; she didn't deserve +it." "And François would be no good. You and I, +Mademoiselle Lucie, will go at once. And you must +tell grandfather that I was obliged to go out, for an +hour or two, unexpectedly."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid he will think it very strange," said +mother, "but I will do my best."</p> + +<p>Mother spoke quietly, but her face was very white.</p> + +<p>"Do go, Nelly," she said, "as quick as you can."</p> + +<p>And Celia and Denny, who had been thinking of +bursting into tears, took example by her and auntie, +and tried to look cheerful.</p> + +<p>"Auntie," said Celia, running after her to the +gate, "I'll be very good and try to comfort mother. +And we'll not let grandfather think there's anything +wrong. But oh, auntie dear, I <i>hope</i> you'll soon bring +dear Baby safe home."</p> + +<p>"So do I, darling," said auntie, stooping to kiss +her, even though she was so hurried, and, for the first +time, there was a little quiver in her voice, and Celia +ran back to the others, thinking even more than +before how good and brave auntie was.</p> + +<p>They hastened down the road, auntie and little +Mademoiselle Lucie, I mean. But when they had +gone some little way, auntie stopped short.</p> + +<p>"He may have gone by the other road, and we +may miss him that way;" for, without thinking, +auntie had hurried out by the little gate opening on +to the lower road.</p> + +<p>"I think not," said Mademoiselle Lucie, "at least +the concierge would have been sure to see him, and +we did ask her, and she had not seen him at all."</p> + +<p>"To be sure," said auntie, "I forgot about the +concierge."</p> + +<p>"Besides," Mademoiselle Lucie continued, "to get +to the town he must pass the way we are going, a +little farther on where the two roads run together."</p> + +<p>"To be sure," said auntie, again.</p> + +<p>"It is to the town we are going?" asked Mademoiselle +Lucie.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said auntie, "I have an idea, but I did +not like to say it to my sister for fear it should lead +to nothing. There is a shop in the town where there +is a picture that Baby took a great fancy to the other +day. At least it was I that noticed it first, and he +was so pleased with it. There was something else in +the shop that he was looking at—I don't remember +what—when we noticed the picture."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where the shop is? Can we +easily find it?"</p> + +<p>"I think so; yes, I am sure I can find it," said +auntie. "It is a shop of curiosities, a shop at a corner, +the street is narrow."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said Mademoiselle Lucie, "though it +is not very well known. There are grander shops +of curiosities which are more visited, but I know that +shop, as I often pass it."</p> + +<p>She told auntie the name of the owner of the +shop, and of the street, and then auntie fixed, as they +were now near the town, that she would go on alone +to the shop, while Mademoiselle Lucie went to her +brother, who, she hoped, would be at home at this +hour, and get him to go with her to the police office, +so that no time should be lost.</p> + +<p>Auntie hurried on by herself, but though she went +so fast that the easy-going peasants driving their +sleepy bullocks, whom she met, looked after her in +surprise, she did not, for one moment, leave off looking +about her on every side, to see if by any chance +she could discover the well-known little figure it +would have given her such joy to see. But no. Once +or twice a child in the distance made her heart beat a +little quicker, but, as soon as she got near enough to +see it clearly, her hopes sank again. There were very +few houses on the country road leading from the villa +till one was quite in the town. So auntie thought it +not worth while to ask, for, in a street of houses and +shops standing close together, and people constantly +passing, it was much less likely that any one would +have noticed a little tot like Herr Baby making his +way.</p> + +<p>"No," said auntie to herself, "it is no use stopping +to ask. The best thing I can do is to find the shop +at once, and if they can tell me nothing there, to +follow Mademoiselle Lucie to the police office."</p> + +<p>And, with a deep sigh, for, somehow, every step +she took farther without seeing anything of the little +truant, made auntie's heart feel heavier—she hurried +on again.</p> + +<p>She soon found the wide street—the street with +the dressmakers' and milliners' shops, which Fritz +had not cared to look at—then she turned one corner +and went on a little farther, then another, and—yes, +there was the little old shop, looking just the same as +the day they had all stood there so happily. Auntie +had been walking very quickly, almost running, but +when she saw the shop just before her she stood still—she +felt <i>so</i> anxious—what should she do if she +could hear nothing of Baby?</p> + +<p>When she got to the door she stopped and looked +in; there seemed to be no one in the shop. Auntie +glanced up to the side of the door where the little +portrait had hung. It was gone! Could that have +anything to do with Baby? auntie asked herself in +a sort of puzzled way. Could Baby have thought +of buying it? how much money had he? But it +was stupid and foolish to stand there puzzling and +wondering, instead of boldly going in to ask. Auntie +took her courage in her two hands, as the saying is, +and went in.</p> + +<p>No one there; where could the owner of the shop +be? The last time he had come forward at once +when they were only looking in—a little-dried up old +man, just the sort of person one would expect to find +in such a shop, sitting in a dark corner like an old +spider, watching to see what flies were passing his +way. Auntie went right in without seeing any one, +but she heard voices not far off, and, in her anxiety, +she went forward to a door slightly open, leading into +rooms behind the shop. She knocked—but for a +moment no one took any notice. They were talking +so eagerly inside that she had to knock again, and in +the moment or two that had passed without them +hearing her, she heard one or two words that made +her eager to hear more.</p> + +<p>"No, no," some one was saying, "much better go +at once to the office. We may get into trouble."</p> + +<p>"He seems so sensible," said another voice. "<i>I</i> +say, better go with him and carry the things, and we +shall soon see if he knows his way, and——"</p> + +<p>Auntie <i>could</i> not wait any more. She pushed +open the door and went in. There was, however, no +Herr Baby to be seen, as she had almost expected +there would be. There was the old man that she +remembered having seen before, looking like a very +startled spider this time, as he raised his two +shrivelled old arms in surprise at her appearance, and +beside him was a very pleasant, bright-faced, young +woman, with a baby in her arms, talking, or at least +looking as if she had just been talking very eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Is he here?" said auntie, quite breathless, "my +little boy, my little nephew, I mean. Is Baby here?"</p> + +<p>The young woman looked at the old man with a +sort of little nod of triumph.</p> + +<p>"You see," she said quickly, "I said there was no +need to frighten the poor darling by taking him to the +police office." "Yes, Madame," she went on, turning +to auntie, "the dear bébé is here—that is to say, he +cannot but be the one you are looking for. I sent +him out into the little garden with his cat and my +little girl, while my grandfather and I talked about +what to do. I would have sent him home, I mean +we would have tried to find his home, if my husband +had been here, but he is away."</p> + +<p>"And I am too feeble, Madame, as you see, to +walk far," said the old man, who seemed now anxious +to be very amiable.</p> + +<p>"But you talked of taking him to the police +office," said the young woman, in a low voice, "the +idea! to frighten a bébé like that."</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush," said the old man, "all was to be +done for the best. You shall see him, your dear +child, Madame," he went on, bustling about.</p> + +<p>"But tell me first—a moment——" said auntie, +"What did he come for? Did he buy the picture?"</p> + +<p>"The picture," repeated the old man, "no, surely. +It was the glass jugs, the little gentleman wanted, +and he had his money all right—I took but the just +price, Madame—I would not deceive any one."</p> + +<p>"They are very dear to <i>my</i> mind," said the young +woman, "but there—I know nothing about old +things. This is not our shop, Madame—I look in +in passing, to see the grandfather sometimes, that +is all."</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg11" id="hbimg11"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img11.jpg"> + <img src="images/img11.jpg" height="600" + alt="AUNTIE STOOD STILL TO LISTEN." /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">Auntie stood still a moment to listen.—P. 155.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img11.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"And Baby came to buy some <i>jugs</i>, you say," +repeated auntie. There was a confused remembrance +in her mind of something Baby had said about jugs, +something he had asked her to look at the day they +had stood at the shop window, but which she had +since forgotten. Her only idea in coming to the little +old shop had been the picture. "You said he came +to buy some jugs?" she said again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Madame," said the old man "two glass jugs—Venetian +glass."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said auntie, and then she remembered it +all—about the glass jugs that Baby had broken at +home, and what he had said to her about those in the +shop window being like them. "And the picture?" +she said, "is it no longer there? But first, let me +have my little boy. He is in the garden, you say?"</p> + +<p>She looked round, for there was no sign of a +garden. The window of the little room in which they +were, looked out only on to a blank wall.</p> + +<p>"This way, Madame," said the young woman, +opening a door at the side. It led into a little dark +passage, and, at the end of it, there was another door, +standing open, and through this door came the sound +of children's voices.</p> + +<p>Auntie stood still a moment to listen—the first +words made her smile.</p> + +<p>"Him wants to go home now," said the well-known +voice. "Little girl, why <i>won't</i> you listen? +Him wants to go home, and so does Minet. Doesn't +you hear?"</p> + +<p>The little girl must have been very much puzzled, +for auntie heard her trying her best, in her baby talk, +to make this queer little stranger understand that +they were to stay out in the garden till her mother +called them in.</p> + +<p>"Him wants to go <i>home</i>, and so does Minet," repeated +poor Baby, and his voice began to quiver and +shake, as if he were going to cry. Auntie could stand +it no longer. She hurried out into the little garden.</p> + +<p>"You shall go home now, Baby dear," she said. +"Auntie has come to fetch you."</p> + +<p>Baby looked up eagerly at the sound of a well-known +voice. He ran to her and held up his little +face for a kiss. He looked very pleased, but not at +all surprised. It was one of Herr Baby's funny ways, +that he almost never seemed surprised.</p> + +<p>"Him is so glad you's come," he said. "You'll +help him to carry home the shiny jugs, for Minet's +<i>raver</i> tired, and him might have to carry her and the +money-box. But you won't tell mother about the +jugs, will you? You'll let him run in wif them +him's self, won't you, auntie? <i>Won't</i> mother be +pleased?"</p> + +<p>"But you must tell me all about it, dear," said +auntie; "did you come off all alone to get the +glasses? Why didn't you ask some one to come +with you?"</p> + +<p>Baby looked a little troubled.</p> + +<p>"Him didn't come <i>alone</i>," he said. "Him told +Minet, and Minet comed too, only her's werry tired. +And it were for the party, auntie," he added, looking +up wistfully, "Lisa said mother had no pitty jugs for +her's party. And oh, auntie, p'ease do be kick, 'fear +we shall be too late."</p> + +<p>Auntie took his hand and led him back into the +shop, where the old man was wrapping up the jugs +with a great show of soft paper, that auntie should +see how careful he was.</p> + +<p>"Has my little boy paid you?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said Herr Baby, understanding, though +she did not speak English. "See in him's money-box;" +he held out the money-box with some difficulty +for, having Minet under the other arm, it was not +easy for him to get his hands free; "him had two +yellow pennies, one big and one little, him gived the +big one for the shiny jugs."</p> + +<p>"Was that the price of the jugs?" auntie asked +the man.</p> + +<p>"No, Madame, I have the change to give the little +gentleman. See here," and he held out two large +silver coins, the size of crowns, which auntie took.</p> + +<p>"I don't think the jugs are dear," she said, with a +smile, turning to the young woman, who looked +pleased. "And some day," she went on, "we will +come to see you, and bring you some little thing for +your little girl, as you have been so kind to my little +boy. Come now, Baby dear, we must get home as +quick as we can."</p> + +<p>"But the little girl, the pitty little girl," said Herr +Baby, "him must say good-bye to <i>her</i>."</p> + +<p>"There she is beside you," said auntie, thinking, +of course, that he meant the young woman's little girl, +"say good-bye to her."</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Baby, "him doesn't mean her. +Him means the pitcher little girl, <i>her</i>," he went on, +pointing to the young woman, "her gottened her down +for him to see, 'cos him were trying to reach up to +kiss her."</p> + +<p>That was why the picture was no longer in the +window then? Where was it? Auntie turned round +as she felt Baby pulling her.</p> + +<p>"Her's there," he said, pointing to a chair on +which the picture had been set down hurriedly with +the face the other way. Auntie turned it round. +Dear little face! It smiled at her again with the +pretty half wistful, half wise expression, which had so +taken her fancy. Now it seemed to her to be saying—</p> + +<p>"I am so glad you have found him. I knew +where he was. I am so glad to have helped you to +find him;" and when Baby lifted his little face to +kiss, with his rosy living lips, the picture of the child, +who had once been living and loving like him, I can +hardly tell you the strange feeling that went through +auntie's heart.</p> + +<p>"She must have been a dear good little girl, whoever +she was," she thought to herself. "It would be +nice to leave a sweet feeling behind one in the world +long after one is dead, such as that little face gives. +I should like to have that picture. I must see +about it."</p> + +<p>But to-day there was no time to be wasted.</p> + +<p>Auntie took Baby by the hand, persuading him to +let her carry the precious jugs, as Minet and the +money-box were already more than enough for him. +And, even with her help, it was not so easy to manage +at all, and auntie was very glad to meet Mademoiselle +Lucie a little way down the street, and get her to +carry part.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Lucie was delighted, as you can +fancy, to see Herr Baby again. She had been coming +back in great trouble to look for auntie; for very unluckily, +as she thought, she had found that her brother +was out, and she had not therefore gone to the police +office.</p> + +<p>"A very good thing, after all," said auntie; "it +would only have been giving trouble for nothing, as +we have found him."</p> + +<p>But she said to Mademoiselle Lucie, in a low +voice, to say nothing about the police before Herr +Baby, as it might frighten him.</p> + +<p>"Would it not, perhaps, be a good thing to frighten +him a little?" said Mademoiselle Lucie; "he would +not run off again."</p> + +<p>Auntie shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Not in that way," she said. "We will make him +understand how he has frightened <i>us</i>. That will be +the best way."</p> + +<p>"How did he mean to get home alone, I wonder," +said Mademoiselle Lucie; "how could he have carried +all he had, and Minet too?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I'm sure," said auntie. "How +did you mean to carry everything home, Baby +dear?"</p> + +<p>Baby looked puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Him doesn't know," he said. "P'r'aps him thought +Minet would carry some," he added, with a smile.</p> + +<p>Auntie smiled too. Mademoiselle Lucie looked up +for auntie to explain to her, for she did not understand +Baby's talk any better than he did hers.</p> + +<p>Suddenly another idea struck auntie.</p> + +<p>"How did you manage to tell the old man in the +shop what you wanted to buy?" she said.</p> + +<p>Baby considered.</p> + +<p>"Him sawed the pitty little girl," he said; "her +was looking at the shiny glasses—<i>always</i>—her was +keeping them for him. Him asked her to. Then +him touched them; him climbed up on a chair in the +shop and touched them, and then him showed all +him's pennies to the old man; but the lady wif the +baby knowed the best what him wanted. Her were +very nice, but the pitty little girl were the goodest, +weren't her?"</p> + +<p>Auntie listened quietly, for Baby spoke quite +gravely.</p> + +<p>"It would be nice to have that pretty picture, +wouldn't it, Baby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Baby; but he didn't look <i>quite</i> pleased. +"Auntie," he said, "him doesn't like you to call her a +<i>pitcher</i>. Him thinks her's a <i>zeal</i> little girl, a zeal +fairy little girl. Her tookened care of the shiny +glasses so nice for him, didn't her?"</p> + +<p>And auntie smiled again.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<h4>"EAST OR WEST, HAME IS BEST"</h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="small" style="margin: 0 auto" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td align="left">"But home is home wherever it is,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> When we're all together and nothing amiss."</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"> <i>Irish Ballad</i></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>By this time, of course, it was quite dark. It had +been quite light when auntie and Mademoiselle Lucie +set off, but at Santino the darkness comes on very +quickly. Poor Baby, he <i>would</i> have been in trouble +if auntie had not come to look, for him—- that is to say +if the old man and the young woman had allowed +him to set off on his journey home alone. I don't +think he would ever have got there, for in the dark +he could not have found his way, and he certainly +could never have got the shiny jugs and Minet and +the money-box all home in safety!</p> + +<p>The ladies and gentlemen who were coming to +dine at the Villa had all arrived. Mother was sitting +in the drawing-room talking to them, and trying her +best to look as if there was nothing the matter, to +prevent grandfather finding out that there was. Poor +mother, it was not very easy for her, was it? Grandfather +was a good deal put out, as it was, at auntie's +being so late. He, too, tried not to look cross, poor +old gentleman, but any one who knew him at all well +could not help seeing as he moved about the room, +sometimes giving a poke to the wood fire which was +burning quite brightly as it was, sometimes sharply +pulling open one of the window-shutters and looking +out, as if he could see anything with the light inside +and the dark out of doors!—any one could see that +he <i>was</i> very much put out. He sat down now and +then for a minute or two and spoke very politely—for +grandfather was a <i>very</i> polite old gentleman—to one +or other of the stranger ladies, but even to them he +could not help showing what was in his mind.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange, really most exceedingly +strange, of my eldest daughter," he said, "not to be +in before this. I really feel quite ashamed of it, my +dear Madam."</p> + +<p>"But you are not uneasy, I hope," said the lady, +kindly. "There cannot be anything the matter with +Miss Leonard?" ("Miss Leonard" was what Fritz +called auntie's "stuck-up name," and "Lady Aylmer" +was mother's.) "You don't feel uneasy about her?"</p> + +<p>(This lady did not know there <i>was</i> anything the +matter, for she was quite at the other end of the room +from mother. Mother had whispered to the lady +beside her, who was an old and dear friend, how +frightened she was about Herr Baby, and the old +lady, who was very kind and nice, was talking +and smiling as much as she could to help poor +mother.)</p> + +<p>"Uneasy," said grandfather, rather sharply, and +not <i>quite</i> so politely as he generally spoke, "oh no, +of course I'm not <i>uneasy</i>. My daughter Helen +can take care of herself. I am only very much +surprised at her doing such an extraordinary thing +as forgetting the hour like this."</p> + +<p>But in his heart I fancy what the lady said did +make grandfather begin to think there might be +something to be uneasy about, and this made him +still crosser. She was not such a sensible lady as +old Mrs. Bryan in the arm-chair opposite, who +chattered the more the more she saw grandfather's +worried look grow worse, and the pain grew plainer +on poor mother's white face.</p> + +<p>"May," he called out at last, "I think it is nonsense +waiting dinner any longer. Tell one of the +children to ring and order it up at once. Why, +they're not here! Why are none of the children +down, May? Everything seems at sixes and +sevens."</p> + +<p>"We are not waiting for Nelly, father dear," said +mother. "I don't know why dinner isn't ready yet, +but I think it can't be long. I will hurry them," +and she got up to ring herself.</p> + +<p>"But the children—why aren't they down?" said +grandfather again.</p> + +<p>Mother hesitated—</p> + +<p>"It is rather late for them," she said. "The girls +have been a long walk and are tired."</p> + +<p>She did not know what to say, poor thing. She +had not dared to let the three children come into the +drawing-room, for fear their white faces and red eyes +should make grandfather find out that there <i>was</i> +something wrong, and indeed neither Celia, nor +Denny, nor Fritz, would have been able to stay still +in the room for five minutes. They were peeping +out of the nursery every few seconds, running along +to the end of the balcony, and straining their eyes +and ears in trying to see or hear anything coming in +the shape of good news.</p> + +<p>Long, long afterwards they used to speak in the +nursery, with deep breaths, of "that <i>terrible</i> evening +when Herr Baby was lost."</p> + +<p>But it was, of course, the worst for poor mother. +It was bad enough in the nursery, where the tea, that +nobody had cared to touch, was set out as neatly as +usual on the table; the chairs drawn round, the one +that Baby always had with a footstool on it—to make +up for there being no high chair at the Villa—in its +place, though the well-known, funny little figure was +not perched on it. And Lisa, with a face swollen so +that no one would have known her, fussing away to +have the kettle boiling, so that her darling should +have some hot tea as soon as ever he came in—for +she wouldn't allow but that he would soon come in, +though sad little stories kept running through Celia's +and Denny's heads about children that had been lost +and never found, or found only when it was no longer +they themselves but only their poor little bodies, +drowned, perhaps, or "choked in the snow," as +Denny said. And she got rather cross when Celia +reminded her that there was no snow, so it couldn't +be <i>that</i>, any way.</p> + +<p>All this was bad enough, but still they were free +to talk about their fears, and to cry if they felt +inclined, and to keep running to the window or the +door. But for poor mother, as you can fancy, it was +<i>much</i> worse. There she had to sit smiling and talking +as if everything were quite nice and comfortable, +not only for the sake of the friends who had come to +dine with them, but still more for poor grandfather's +sake, who kept growing more and more fidgety and +put out, and at the bottom of his heart, though he +would not own it even to himself, really frightened +and anxious.</p> + +<p>At last his patience was exhausted.</p> + +<p>"May," he said, speaking across the fireplace to +mother. She was talking to the lady beside her, and +did not at first hear him. "<i>May</i>," said grandfather +again, and if the children had been in the room I +think his voice would have made them jump, "it is +using our friends very badly to keep them waiting +so long for dinner. Be so good as to ring again and +tell the servants we will <i>not</i> wait any longer."</p> + +<p>Poor mother—she looked up—it was all she could +do not to burst into tears!</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "I will tell them."</p> + +<p>She was half rising from her seat, whispering to +the lady beside her (the lady who <i>did</i> know all about +it), "I don't know <i>how</i> I shall get through dinner," +when—what was it?—no bell had rung, there was +no sound that any one else heard, what could it have +been that <i>mother</i> heard? I don't know what it was, +and I daresay mother herself could not have told, but +something she did hear. For she stopped short, and +a sort of eager look came into her eyes and a flush +into her cheeks. And then the other people in the +room seemed to catch the infection, and everybody +else looked up to see what was coming, and in +the silence a sort of fumbling was heard at the door. +It only lasted a second or two, then somehow the +handle turned, much more quickly than was usually +the case when it was Baby's small hands that were +stretching up to reach it—I rather think some one +must have been behind to help him—the door opened +and—oh such a funny little figure came in! You +know who it was of course, but it would be very difficult +to tell you exactly what he looked like. He was +dressed just as he had been for playing in the garden—a +little short thick jacket over his holland blouse, +which was no longer very clean; his short scarlet +socks and oldest boots on his legs, the bare part of +which looked very red and cold, and what had been +his best straw hat with part of the brim dangling +down, on his curly head. But he seemed quite +pleased with himself—that was another of Herr +Baby's "ways"; he always did seem quite pleased +with himself, best of all, I think, when he had his +oldest clothes on—he trotted into the room just as he +would have trotted into the garden, even though there +were a good many rather finely-dressed ladies and +gentlemen sitting round—for his whole mind was +filled with the thoughts of two big paper parcels +which he carried in his arms. They could not have +been as heavy as they were big, or else he could not +possibly have carried them! And close at his heels, +making him look still funnier, came Minet, very +pleased, I am sure, to find herself again in sight of +a fire.</p> + +<p>Herr Baby looked round him for a moment, only +for a moment, for though the lights in the room and +the number of people dazzled and puzzled him a little, +<i>he</i> did not need to look round for which was mother. +Forgetting all about everything, except that her baby +was found, up jumped mother, a rosy flush coming +over her face which had looked so white and sad, +pretty mother with her silvery silky dress and her +sweet eyes filled with tears, and rushing over to Baby +caught him up in her arms, poor little cold, tired, red-legged +Herr Baby, and for a minute or so, greatly to +grandfather's surprise, she hid her face somehow +among the wee man's curls without speaking.</p> + +<p><a name="hbimg12" id="hbimg12"> </a></p> +<div class="center"> +<table style="margin: 0 auto" cellpadding="4" summary="Illustration"> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <a href="images/img12.jpg"> + <img src="images/img12.jpg" height="600" + alt="UP JUMPED MOTHER." /></a> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span class="caption">Forgetting all about everything, except that her baby was found, up jumped +mother.—P. 170.<br /> + Click to <a href="images/img12.jpg">ENLARGE</a></span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Grandfather was surprised but not alarmed, for +just behind in the open doorway stood auntie, who +came quietly forward and explained to him that Baby +had gone out on his own account and they had been +afraid of his losing his way, that was what had kept +her out so late, and she was <i>so</i> sorry. Auntie had +such a nice clear simple way of speaking, grandfather's +vexation seemed to melt away as he listened. +He glanced at the little figure still clasped in mother's +arms, and a queer look came into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Poor children!" he said, "poor children! May, +you should have told me."</p> + +<p>But he knew why they hadn't told him. The +ladies and gentlemen came round auntie to hear +what she was saying. They were all very kind and +very sorry and very glad. But it was difficult not +to smile when a little voice was heard saying,</p> + +<p>"Mother, p'ease put him down. Him's got somesing +<i>so</i> pitty, but him's afraid of breaking them."</p> + +<p>And sliding down to the ground, he managed +somehow to set the two parcels safely on the floor, +and began undoing them. They all watched him, but +he didn't care, and he would let nobody help him. +He got one out at last, and held it up with a beautiful +happiness in his little face.</p> + +<p>"See, mother!" he cried, "shiny jugs! Him's +got them all himself wif him's own pennies. Two! +Them's for you, mother, 'cos him boked you's 'nother +ones. Him founded them himself in a shop. Him's +been as quick as him could, 'cos of mother's party, to +make the table pitty."</p> + +<p>"My darling," said mother, hugging him again, +and when she looked up half smiling, half crying, and +tried to say to the ladies and gentlemen that she +hoped they would not think her silly, there were tears +in some other eyes besides in hers.</p> + +<p>But Herr Baby was quite himself.</p> + +<p>"You <i>is</i> p'eased," he said contentedly. "Then +him'll go to tea, for him's raver hungry. But p'ease +put the shiny jugs on the table to make it pitty."</p> + +<p>He held up his face for another kiss. Then +grandfather came forward and in his turn lifted the +little truant into his arms.</p> + +<p>"He is tired, the poor little man," he said, looking +round: "you are so kind; I should ask you to forgive +our want of politeness, but I am sure you will. I +will be back in a moment."</p> + +<p>And it was grandfather himself who carried off +Herr Baby and gave him over to Lisa, weeping for +joy now, as she caught her darling in her arms.</p> + +<p>There <i>was</i> a happy tea in the nursery that night +after all. Baby was very tired, but so exceedingly +pleased with himself that his face grew rosy and his +eyes bright, as if he had only just wakened up in the +morning, as he sat at the table answering all the +questions of Celia and Denny and Fritz and Lisa +about his adventures. How had he found his way? +How had he made the old man understand what he +wanted? Hadn't he been frightened? Had he +been pleased to see auntie? Had he carried Minet +all the way? Oh, there were more questions than +I could tell you—almost more than Herr Baby could +answer; and Minet, too, came in for a share of the +petting.</p> + +<p>When they had got most of their questions +answered, they all found out they were very hungry, +and they set to work at their tea, and for a while +there was silence in the nursery. Suddenly Baby +leant his two elbows on the table and looked +round.</p> + +<p>"It were all the pitty little girl that keeped the +shiny glasses for him. Her <i>are</i> so pitty."</p> + +<p>"What little girl?" said the children, all together.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean the young woman's little girl in the +shop?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Herr Baby, "not that kind of little +girl. Him means a little girl up on the wall—a +<i>pitcher</i> girl; but him thinks her are a <i>fairy</i>."</p> + +<p>And having thus given his opinion, Baby looked +round again with great satisfaction, and Celia and +Denny whispered to each other that really Baby sometimes +said very funny things for such a little boy!</p> + +<p>They were all dressed as usual, and Denny and +Baby went in to dessert, while Celia and Fritz waited, +as became such <i>big</i> young people, in the drawing-room. +Everybody was very kind to the children, and Baby, +had he been any one else <i>but</i> Herr Baby, would have +been spoilt by all the petting the ladies wanted to give +him. But his eyes were fixed on one thing, or rather +on two things, on the table, one in front of mother at +one end, one in front of grandfather at the other, there +they stood, two queerly-shaped glass jugs, sparkling +and shining with many colours like a rainbow, filled +with the brightest and clearest water which might +have been drawn at a fairy well. And what pleasure +shone in Baby's face as he looked at them.</p> + +<p>"You <i>is</i> p'eased?" he said again to mother, as he +bade her good-night.</p> + +<p>It was a little difficult for mother to have to make +"him" understand that much as she loved him for +remembering how sorry she had been to have the first +jugs broken, and how sweet she thought it of him to +have got her new ones, that still he must never +again think of doing such things by himself and +without telling or asking any one.</p> + +<p>She did not say anything to him that night; she +could not bear to spoil his pretty pleasure, but the +next day she made him understand; and Baby +"p'omised" he would never again set off on his own +account, or settle any plan without asking mother or +auntie, or perhaps Celia, about it.</p> + +<p>And so the end of the story of the broken jugs +was quite a happy one.</p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="narrow" /> +<p> </p> + +<p>Herr Baby's birthday came in the late spring. +They were all back in England by then. The old +garden was no longer "lonely," for the children's +voices were heard all over it, and the sunlight through +the leaves flickered on to their curly heads as they ran +about in delight, seeking for all their old favourite +corners. The "labbits" were well and happy; Jones +and Thomas had come to meet them at the railway +station with broad smiles on their honest faces; all +the house looked bright and smiling, too, it had been +so well rubbed up to receive them—altogether Herr +Baby thought "coming back" was a very nice and +happy thing, though he had enjoyed himself so much +at Santino that he told Lisa he didn't think he +would much mind if they <i>did</i> go there again next +winter, when it began to get cold at home, as was +already spoken of, as Santino had done grandfather +so much good this time.</p> + +<p>So, as I was saying, it was a very happy little man, +indeed, that woke up in his "own dear little bed,"—which, +wonderful to say, had not grown too small for +him all the months they had been away,—on the +morning of Herr Baby's fifth birthday. He could +hardly stand still to be dressed, so eager was he to +run off to mother's room to get her birthday kiss, +and to see the presents which he knew would not +have been forgotten. They turned out even prettier +than he had expected; indeed, it would take me too +long were I to tell you all about the beautiful box of +bricks, big enough to build real houses almost, Baby +thought, from grandfather, and the lovely pair of toy +horses with <i>real</i> hair, in a stable, from mother, and +the coachman's whip to crack at them from Fritz, +and the pair of slippers Celia and Denny had worked +for him, one foot each, and the birthday cake all +snowed over with sugar, and with his name on in +pink, from grandfather and mother together, "'asides +their other presents." It quite took Herr Baby's +breath away to think all these lovely things were +for him; he sat at the nursery table quite unable +to eat his breakfast, something like Fritz the morning +they were starting on their journey, do you remember? +till Lisa persuaded him to eat, by telling him +if he didn't, he would be so tired that he wouldn't +enjoy his birthday at all, which made him set to work +at his bread and milk. Lisa, too, had remembered the +day, for she had made him the prettiest little penny +purse you ever saw, knitted in bright-coloured silk, +so that now he was very well off, indeed, with his +"scented" purse for his gold and silver, and Lisa's one +for pennies and halfpennies, and his money-box to +store up the rest in when the purses were full. He +had all his presents set out in a row, so that he could +see them while he was eating, and just when he was +at nearly the last spoonful, he was quite startled by +a voice beside him, saying, "And what about <i>my</i> +present, Baby, dear? Did you think I had forgotten +your birthday?"</p> + +<p>It was auntie. She had come in so quietly that +Herr Baby had not heard her. She leant over his +chair, and he put his arms round her neck and +kissed her.</p> + +<p>"Him is so happy, auntie dear," he said; "him +has such lots of p'esents, him never thought about +your p'esent."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you, dear?" said auntie, smiling. "Well, +<i>I</i> didn't forget it—indeed, I thought of it a long time +ago, as you will see. Come with me, for I see you +have finished your breakfast."</p> + +<p>Auntie took him by the hand. Baby wondered +where she was going to, and he was rather surprised +when she led him to his own room—that is to say, +to the pretty nursery where he and Denny had their +two little white beds side by side.</p> + +<p>"Look up, Baby," said auntie.</p> + +<p>And looking up, what do you think he saw? On +the wall, at the side of his own little bed, where his +eyes could see it the first thing in the morning, and +the last at night, hung the picture of the blue-eyed +little girl, the dear little girl of long ago, with her +sweet rosy face, and queer old-fashioned white frock, +smiling down at him, with the sort of wise, loving +look, just as she had smiled down at him in the old +shop at Santino.</p> + +<p>"Oh, auntie, auntie!" cried Baby. But then he +seemed as if he could say no more. He just stared +up at the sweet little face, clasping his hands, as if he +was <i>too</i> pleased to speak. Then, at last, he turned +to auntie and <i>hugged</i> her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, auntie!" he said again. "Oh, him <i>is</i> so +p'eased to have him's own pitty little girl always +smiling at him. Him will <i>always</i> have her, won't +him, auntie?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so, dear. She is your very own."</p> + +<p>"Him will keep her till him is <i>kite</i> old. Him +will show her to him's children and him's g'anchildren, +won't him?" went on Baby solemnly.</p> + +<p>"I hope so, dear," said auntie again, smiling at +his flushed little face.</p> + +<p>"Her <i>is</i> so pitty," said Baby. "Her is as sweet +as a fairy. Auntie, him would <i>so</i> like to hear +all the story about her. Couldn't you find it out, +auntie?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said auntie, "or, what would be still +better, perhaps the little girl will whisper it to you +some night when you are asleep."</p> + +<p>"That <i>would</i> be nice," said Baby. Then another +thought struck him. "Auntie," he said, "will you +ask mother to let him bring up the shiny jugs to +show them to the pitty little girl? Her would like +to see them so nice, and not brokened at all wif the +packing. Oh, auntie, what a bootiful birfday—him +are <i>so</i> happy!"</p> + +<p> </p> +<h4>THE END.</h4> + +<h6><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smallcaps">R. & R. Clark</span>, <i>Edinburgh.</i></h6> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 29380-h.txt or 29380-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/3/8/29380">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/8/29380</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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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: The Adventures of Herr Baby + + +Author: Mrs. Molesworth + + + +Release Date: July 11, 2009 [eBook #29380] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY*** + + +E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau, Clive Pickton, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team +(http://www.pgdpcanada.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 29380-h.htm or 29380-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29380/29380-h/29380-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29380/29380-h.zip) + + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY + +by + +MRS. MOLESWORTH + +Author of 'Carrots,' 'Us,' Etc. + + + 'I have a boy of five years old: + His face is fair and fresh to see.' + WORDSWORTH + +Illustrated by Walter Crane + + + + + + + + [Illustration: There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm fondly + clasping Minet's neck, while with the other he firmly held the famous + money-box.--P. 138.] + + + +London +Macmillan and Co. +and New York +1895 + +First printed (4to) 1881 +Reprinted (Globe 8vo) 1886, 1887, 1890, 1892, 1895 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. +FOUR YEARS OLD 1 + +CHAPTER II. +INSIDE A TRUNK 20 + +CHAPTER III. +UP IN THE MORNING EARLY 41 + +CHAPTER IV. +GOING AWAY 60 + +CHAPTER V. +BY LAND AND SEA 81 + +CHAPTER VI. +AN OLD SHOP AND AN OGRE 101 + +CHAPTER VII. +BABY'S SECRET 125 + +CHAPTER VIII. +FOUND 145 + +CHAPTER IX. +"EAST OR WEST, HAME IS BEST" 163 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +"OH LOOK, LOOK, BABY'S MADE PEEPY-SNOOZLE INTO +'THE PARSON IN THE PULPIT THAT COULDN'T SAY HIS +PRAYERS,'" CRIED DENNY 6 + +HE SAT WITH ONE ARM PROPPED ON THE TABLE, AND HIS +ROUND HEAD LEANING ON HIS HAND, WHILE THE OTHER +HELD THE PIECE OF BREAD AND BUTTER--BUTTER DOWNWARDS, +OF COURSE 16 + +THERE WAS ONE TRUNK WHICH TOOK MY FANCY MORE +THAN ALL THE OTHERS 30 + +FOR A MINUTE OR TWO BABY COULD NOT MAKE OUT WHAT +HAD HAPPENED 50 + +"ZOU WILL P'OMISE, BETSY, P'OMISE CERTAIN SURE, +NEBBER TO FORGET" 61 + +POOR LITTLE BOYS, FOR, AFTER ALL, FRITZ HIMSELF +WASN'T VERY BIG! THEY STOOD TOGETHER HAND IN +HAND ON THE STATION PLATFORM, LOOKING, AND +FEELING, RATHER DESOLATE 84 + +"ARE THAT JOGRAPHY?" HE SAID 94 + +"OH AUNTIE," HE SAID, "P'EASE 'TOP ONE MINUTE. +HIM SEES SHINY GLASS JUGS LIKE DEAR LITTLE +MOTHER'S. OH, DO 'TOP" 106 + +BABY VENTURED TO PEEP ROUND. THE LITTLE BLACK-EYED +WHITE-CAPPED MAN CAME TOWARDS THEM SMILING 121 + +THERE WAS BABY, SEATED ON THE GRASS, ONE ARM +FONDLY CLASPING MINET'S NECK, WHILE WITH THE +OTHER HE FIRMLY HELD THE FAMOUS MONEY-BOX 138 + +AUNTIE STOOD STILL A MOMENT TO LISTEN 155 + +FORGETTING ALL ABOUT EVERYTHING, EXCEPT THAT HER +BABY WAS FOUND, UP JUMPED MOTHER 170 + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FOUR YEARS OLD + + "I was four yesterday; when I'm quite old + I'll have a cricket-ball made of pure gold; + I'll never stand up to show that I'm grown; + I'll go at liberty upstairs or down." + + +He trotted upstairs. Perhaps trotting is not quite the right word, but I +can't find a better. It wasn't at all like a horse or pony trotting, for +he went one foot at a time, right foot first, and when right foot was +safely landed on a step, up came left foot and the rest of Baby himself +after right foot. It took a good while, but Baby didn't mind. He used to +think a good deal while he was going up and down stairs, and it was not +his way to be often in a hurry. There was one thing he could _not_ bear, +and that was any one trying to carry him upstairs. Oh, that did vex +him! His face used to get quite red, right up to the roots of his curly +hair, and down to the edge of the big collar of his sailor suit, for he +had been put into sailor suits last Christmas, and, if the person who +was lifting him up didn't let go all at once, Baby would begin to wriggle. +He was really clever at wriggling; even if you knew his way it was not +easy to hold him, and with any one that didn't know his way he could get +off in half a minute. + +But this time there was no one about, and Baby stumped on--yes _that_ is +a better word--Baby stumped on, or up, "wifout nobody teasing." His face +was grave, very grave, for inside the little house of which his two blue +eyes were the windows, a great deal of work was going on. He was busy +wondering about, and trying to understand, some of the strange news he +had heard downstairs in the drawing-room. + +"Over the sea," he said to himself. "Him would like to see the sea. +Auntie said over the sea in a boat, a werry big boat. Him wonders how +big." + +And his mind went back to the biggest boat he had ever seen, which was +in the toy-shop at Brookton, when he had gone with his mother to be +fitted for new boots. But even that wouldn't be big enough. Mother, and +auntie, and grandfather, and Celia, and Fritz, and Denny, and cook, and +Lisa, and Thomas and Jones, and the other servants, and the horses, +and--and---- Baby stopped to take breath inside, for though he had not +been speaking aloud he felt quite choked with all the names coming so +fast. "And pussy, and the calanies, and the Bully, and Fritz's dormice, +oh no, them _couldn't_ all get in." Perhaps if Baby doubled up his legs +underneath he might squeeze himself in, but that would be no good, he +couldn't go sailing, sailing all over the sea by himself, like the old +woman in "Harry's Nursery Songs," who went sailing, sailing, up in a +basket, "seventy times as high as the moon." Oh no, even that boat +wouldn't be big enough. They must have one as big as--and Baby stopped +to look round. But just then a shout from inside the nursery made him +wake up, for he had got to the last little stair before the top landing, +and again right foot and half Baby, followed by left foot and the other +half Baby, stumped on their way. + +They pulled up--right foot and left foot, with Baby's solemn face top of +all--at the nursery door. It was shut. Now one of the things Baby liked +to do for himself was to open doors, and now and then he could manage it +very well. But, alas, the nursery lock was too high up for him to get a +good hold of it. He pulled, and pushed, and got quite red, all for no +use. Worse than that, the pushing and pulling were heard inside. Some +one came forward and opened the door, nearly knocking poor Baby over. + +"Ach, Herr Baby, mine child, why you not say when you come?" Lisa cried +out. Lisa was Baby's nurse. Her face was rosy and round, and she looked +very kind. She would have liked to pick him up to make sure he had got +no knocks, but she knew too well that would not do. So all she could do +was to say again-- + +"Mine child--ach, Herr Baby!" + +Baby did not take any notice. + +"Zeally," he said coolly, "ganfather must do somesing to zem locks. Zem +is all most dedful 'tiff." + +Lisa smiled to herself. She was used to Baby's ways. + +"Herr Baby shall grow tall some day," she said. "Zen him can open +doors." + +Lisa's talking was nearly as funny as Baby's, and, indeed, I rather +think that hers had made his all the funnier. But, any way, they +understood each other. He was thinking over what she had said, when a +scream from the nursery made them both turn round in a hurry. + +"O Lisa, O Baby, come in quick, do. Peepy-Snoozle has got out of the +cage, and he'll be out at the door in another moment. Quick, quick, come +in and shut the door." + +Lisa and Baby did not wait to be twice told. Inside the nursery there +was a great flurry. Celia, Fritz, and Denny were all there crawling over +the floor and screaming at each other. + +"_I_ have him! there--oh, now that's too bad. Fritz, you frightened him +away again," called out Celia. + +"_Me_ frighten him away! Why he knows me ever so much better than you +girls," said Fritz. + +"He just doesn't then," said Denny with triumph, "for here he is safe in +my apron." + +But she had hardly said the words when she gave a little scream. "He's +off again, oh quick, Baby, quick, catch him." + +How Baby did it, I can't tell. His hands seemed too small to catch +anything, even a dormouse. But catch the truant he did, and very proud +Baby looked when he held up his two little fists, which he had made into +a "mouse-trap" _really_, for the occasion, with Peepy-Snoozle's "coxy" +little head and bright beady eyes poking out at the top. + +"Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into 'the parson in the pulpit +that couldn't say his prayers,'" cried Denny, dancing about. + +"All the same, he'd better go back into his cage," said Fritz, who had a +right to be heard, as he was the master and owner of the dormice. "Come +along, Baby, poke him in." + +Baby was busy kissing and petting Peepy-Snoozle by this time, for, +though he did not approve of much of that sort of thing for himself, he +was very fond of petting little animals, who were not little boys. And +to tell the truth, it was not often he got a chance of petting his big +brother's dormice. It was quite pretty to see the way he kissed +Peepy-Snoozle's soft brown head, especially his nose, stroking it gently +against his own smooth cheeks and chattering to the little creature. + +"Dear little darling. Sweet little denkle darling," he said. "Him would +like to have a house all full of Peepy-'noozles, zem is so sweet and +soft." + +"Wouldn't you like a coat made of their skins?" said Denny. "Think how +soft that would be." + + [Illustration: "Oh look, look, Baby's made Peepy-Snoozle into + 'the parson in the pulpit that couldn't say his prayers,'" cried + Denny.--P. 6.] + +"No, sairtin him wouldn't," said Baby. "Him wouldn't pull off all their +sweet little skins and hairs to make him a coat. Denny's a c'uel girl." + +"There won't be much more skin or hairs left if you go on scrubbing him +up and down with your sharp little nose like that," said Fritz. + +Baby drew back his face in a fright. + +"Put him in the cage then," he said, and with Fritz's help this was +safely done. Then Baby stood silent, slowly rubbing his own nose up and +down, and looking very grave. + +"Him's nose _isn't_ sharp," he said at last, turning upon Denny. "Sharp +means knifes and scidders." + +All the children burst out laughing. Of course they understood things +better than Baby, for even Denny, the youngest next to him, was nine, +that is twice his age, which by the by was a puzzle to Denny herself, +for Celia had teased her one day by saying that according to that when +Baby was eighty Denny would be a hundred and sixty, and nobody ever +lived to be so old, so how could it be. + +But Denny, though she didn't _always_ understand everything herself, was +very quick at taking up other people if they didn't. + +"Oh, you stupid little goose," she said. "Of course, Fritz didn't mean +as sharp as a knife. There's different kinds of sharps--there's +different kinds of everything." + +Baby looked at her gravely. He had his own way of defending himself. + +"Werry well. If him's a goose him won't talk to you, and him won't tell +you somesing _werry_ funny and dedful bootiful that him heard in the +'groind room." + +All eyes were turned on Baby. + +"Oh, do tell us, Baby darling, _do_ tell us," said Celia and Denny. + +Fritz gave Baby a friendly pat on the back. + +"You'll tell _me_, old fellow, won't you?" he said. Baby looked at him. + +"Yes," he said at last; "him will tell you,'cos you let him have +Peepy-'noozle, and 'cos you doesn't call him a goose--like _girls_ does. +I'll whister in your ear, Fritz, if you'll bend down." + +But Celia thought this was too bad. + +"_I_ didn't call you a goose, Baby," she said. "I think you might tell +me too." + +"And I'll promise never to call you a goose again if you'll tell _me_," +said Denny. + +Baby had a great soul. It was beneath him to take a mean revenge, he +felt, especially on a _girl_! So he shut his little mouth tightly, knit +his little brows, and thought it over for a moment or two. Then his +face cleared. + +"Him _will_ tell you all--all you children," he said at last, "but it's +werry long and dedful wonderful, and you mustn't inrumpt him. P'omise?" + +"Promise," shouted the three. + +"Well then, litsen. We's all goin' away--zeally away--over the +sea--dedful far. As far as the sky, p'raps." + +"In a balloon?" said Denny, whose tongue wouldn't keep still even though +she was very much interested in the news. + +"No, in a boat," replied Baby, forgetting to notice that this was an +"inrumption," "in a werry 'normous boat. All's going. Him was looking +for 'tamps in mother's basket of teared letters under the little table, +and mother and ganfather and auntie didn't know him were there, and +ganfather said to mother somesing him couldn't understand--somesing +about _thit_ house, and mother said, yes, 'twould be a werry good thing +to go away 'fore the cold weather comed, and the children would be +p'eased. And auntie said she would like to tell the children, but----" + +Another "inrumption." This time from Fritz. + +"Baby, stop a minute," he exclaimed. "Celia, Denny--Baby's too little +to understand, but," and here Fritz's round chubby face got very red, +"don't you think we've no right to let him tell, if it's something +mother means to tell us herself? She didn't know Baby was there--he said +so." + +But before Celia or Denny could answer, Baby turned upon Fritz. + +"Him _tolded_ you not to inrumpt," he said, with supreme contempt. "If +you would litsen you would see. Mother _did_ know him was there at the +ending, for auntie said she'd like to tell the children--that's you, and +Denny and Celia--but him comed out from the little table and said _him_ +would like to tell the children hisself. And mother were dedful +surprised, and so was ganfather and auntie. And then they all bursted +out laughing and told him lots of things--about going in the railway, +and in a 'normous boat to that other country, where there's cows to pull +the carts, and all the people talk lubbish-talk, like Lisa when she's +cross. And zen, and zen, him comed upstairs to tell you." + +Baby looked round triumphantly. Celia and Fritz and Denny looked first +at him and then at each other. This was wonderful news--almost too +wonderful to be true. + +"We must be going to Italy or somewhere like that," said Celia. "How +lovely! I wonder why they didn't tell us before?" + +"Italy," repeated Denny, "that's the country like a boot, isn't it? I do +hope there won't be any snakes. I'd rather far stay at home than go +where there's snakes." + +"_I_ wouldn't," said Fritz, grandly. "I'd like to go to India or Africa, +or any of those places where there's lots of lions and tigers and +snakes, and anything you like. Give me a good revolver and _you'd_ see." + +"Don't talk nonsense, Fritz," said Celia. "You're far too little a boy +for shooting and guns and all that. It's setting a bad example to Baby +to talk that boasting way, and it's very silly too." + +"Indeed, miss. Much obliged to you, miss," said Fritz. "I'd only just +like to know, miss, who it was came to my room the other night and was +sure she heard robbers, and begged Fritz to peep behind the swing-door +in the long passage. And 'oh,' said this person, 'I do so wish you had a +gun that you could point at them to frighten them away.' Fritz wasn't +such a very little boy just then." + +Celia's face got rather red, and she looked as if she was going to get +angry, but at that moment, happily, Lisa appeared with the tray for the +nursery tea. She had left the room when the dormouse was caught, so she +had not heard the wonderful news, and it had all to be told over again. +She smiled and seemed pleased, but not as surprised as the children +expected. + +"Why, aren't you surprised, Lisa?" said the children. "Did you know +before? Why didn't you tell us?" + +Lisa shook her head and looked very wise. + +"What country are we going to? Can you tell us that?" said Celia. + +"Is it to your country? Is it to what you call Dutchland?" said Fritz. +"I think it's an awfully queer thing that countries can't be called by +the same names everywhere. It makes geography ever so much harder. We've +got to call the people that live in Holland Dutch, and they call +themselves--oh, I don't know what they call themselves----" + +"Hollanders," said Lisa. + +"Hollanders!" repeated Fritz. "Well, that's a sensible sort of name for +people that live in Holland. But _we've_ got to call them Dutch; and +then, to make it more muddled still, Lisa calls her country Dutchland, +and the people Dutch, and _we_ call them German I think it's very +stupid. If I was to make geography I wouldn't do it that way." + +"What's jography?" said Baby. + +"Knowing all about all the countries and all the places in the world," +said Denny. + +"Him wants to learn that," said Baby. + +"Oh, you're _far_ too little!" said Denny. "_I_ only began it last year. +Oh, you're ever so much too little!" + +"Him's not too little to go in the 'normous boat to _see_ all zem +countlies," said Baby, valiantly. "Him _will_ learn jography." + +"That's right, Baby," said Fritz. "Stick up for yourself. You'll be a +great deal bigger than Denny some day." + +Denny was getting ready an answer when Lisa, who knew pretty well the +signs of war between Fritz and Denny, called to all the children to come +to tea; and as both Fritz and Denny were great hands at bread and +butter, they forgot to quarrel, and began pulling their chairs in to the +table, and in a few minutes all four were busy at work. + +What a pretty sight, and what a pleasant thing a nursery tea is! when +the children, that is to say, are sweet-faced and smiling, with clean +pinafores, and clean hands, and gentle voices; not leaning over the +table, knocking over cups, and snatching rudely at the "butteriest" +pieces of bread and butter, and making digs at the sugar when nurse is +not looking. _That_ kind of nursery tea is not to my mind, and not at +all the kind to which I am always delighted to receive an invitation, +written in very round, very black letters, on very small sheets of +paper. The nursery teas in Baby's nursery were not always _quite_ what I +like to see them, for Celia, Fritz, and Denny, and Baby too, had their +tiresome days as well as their pleasant ones, and though they meant to +be good to each other, they did not _always_ do just what they meant, or +really wished, at the bottom of their hearts. But to-day all the little +storms were forgotten in the great news, and all the faces looked bright +and eager, though just at first not much was said, for when children are +hungry of course they can't chatter quite so fast, and all the four +tongues were silent till at least one cup of tea, and perhaps three or +four slices of bread and butter each--just as a beginning, you know--had +disappeared. + +Then said Celia,-- + +"Lisa, do tell us if you know what sort of a place we're going to." + +"Cows pulls carts there," observed Baby; "and--and--what was the 'nother +thing? We'll have frogses for dinner." + +"Baby!" said the others, "_what nonsense_!" + +"'Tisn't nonsense. Ganfather said Thomas and Dones wouldn't go 'cos they +was fightened of frogses for dinner. _Him_ doesn't care--frogses tastes +werry good." + +"How do you know? You've never tasted them," said Fritz. + +"Ganfather said zem was werry good." + +"Grandfather was joking," said Celia. "I've often heard him laugh at +people that way. It's just nonsense--Thomas and Jones don't know any +better. Do they eat frogs in your country, Lisa?" + +"In mine country, Fraeulein Celie?" said Lisa, looking rather vexed. "No +indeed. Man eats goot, most goot tings, in mine country. Say, Herr +Baby--Herr Baby knows what goot tings Lisa would give him in her +country." + +"Yes," said Baby, "such good tings. Tocolate and cakes--lots--and +bootiful soup, all sweet, not like salty soup. Him would like werry much +to go to Lisa's countly." + +"Do cows pull carts in your country, Lisa?" asked Denny. + +"Some parts. Not where mine family lives," said Lisa. "No, Fraeulein +Denny, it's not to mine country we're going. Mine country is it colt, so +colt; and your lady mamma and your lady auntie they want to go where it +is warm, so warm, and sun all winter." + +"_I_ should like that too," said Celia, "I hate winter." + +"That's 'cos you're a girl," said Fritz; "you crumple yourself up by the +fire and sit shivering--no wonder you're cold. You should come out +skating like Denny, and then you'd get warm." + +"Denny's a girl too. You said it was because I was a girl," said Celia. + +"Well, she's not as silly as some girls, any way," said Fritz, rather +"put down." + +Baby was sitting silent. He had made an end of two cups of tea and five +pieces of bread and butter. + +He was not, therefore, _quite_ so hungry as he had been at the +beginning, but still he was a long way off having made what was called +in the nursery a "good tea." Something was on his mind. He sat with one +arm propped on the table, and his round head leaning on his hand, while +the other held the piece of bread and butter--butter downwards, of +course--which had been on its way to his mouth when his brown study had +come over him. + + [Illustration: He sat with one arm propped on the table and his round + head leaning on his hand, while the other held the piece of bread and + butter--butter downwards, of course.--P. 16.] + +"Herr Baby," said Lisa, "eat, mine child." + +Baby took no notice. + +"What has he then?" said Lisa, who was very easily frightened about her +dear Herr Baby. "Can he be ill? He eats not." + +"Ill," said Celia. "No fear, Lisa. He's had ever so much bread and +butter. Don't you want any more, Baby? What are you thinking about? +We're going to have honey on our last pieces to-night, aren't we, Lisa? +For a treat, you know, because of the news of going away." + +Celia wanted the honey because she was very fond of it; but besides +that, she thought it would wake Baby out of his brown study to hear +about it, for he was very fond of it too. + +He did catch the word, for he turned his blue eyes gravely on Celia. + +"Honey's werry good," he said, "but him's not at his last piece yet. Him +doesn't sink he'll _ever_ be at his last piece to-night; him's had to +stop eating for he's so dedful busy in him's head." + +"Poor little man, have you got a pain in your head?" said his sister, +kindly. "Is that what you mean?" + +"No, no," said Baby, softly shaking his head, "no pain. It's only busy +sinking." + +"What about?" said all the children. + +Baby sat straight up. + +"Children," he said, "him zeally can't eat, sinking of what a dedful +packing there'll be. All of everysing. Him zeally sinks it would be best +to begin to-night." + +At this moment the door opened. It was mother. She often came up to the +nursery at tea-time, and + + "When the children had been good; + That is, be it understood, + Good at meal times, good at play," + +I need hardly say, they were very, very pleased to see her. Indeed there +were times even when they were glad to see her face at the door when +they _hadn't_ been very good, for somehow she had a way of putting +things right again, and making them feel both how wrong and how _silly_ +it is to be cross and quarrelsome, that nobody else had. And she would +just help the kind words out without seeming to do so, and take away +that sore, horrid feeling that one _can't_ be good, even though one is +longing so to be happy and friendly again. + +But this evening there had been nothing worse than a little squabbling; +the children all greeted mother merrily, only Baby still looked rather +solemn. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +INSIDE A TRUNK + + "For girls are as silly as spoons, dears, + And boys are as jolly as bricks. + * * * * * + Oh Mammy, _you_ tell us a story!-- + They won't hear a word that _I_ say." + + +"Mother, mother!" they all cried with one voice, and the three big ones +jumped up and ran to her, all pulling her at once. + +"Mother, mother, do sit down in the rocking-chair and look comfortable," +said Fritz. + +"There's still some tea. You'll have a cup of _our_ tea, won't you, +mother?" said Celia. + +"And some bread and honey," said Denny. + +"It won't spoil your afternoon tea; don't say it will," said all +together, for nothing would ever make them believe that when mother came +up to the nursery at tea-time it could be allowed that she should not +have a share of whatever there was. + +"Such a good thing we had honey to-night," said Celia, who was busy +cutting a very dainty piece of bread and butter. "We persuaded Lisa to +give it us _extra_, you know, mother, because of the news. And, oh, +mother, what do you think Baby says? he----" + +"Baby! what is the matter with him?" interrupted mother. + +They all turned to look at him. Poor Baby, he had set to work to get +down from his chair to run to mother with the others, but the chair was +high and Baby was short, and Lisa, who had gone to the cupboard for a +fresh cup and saucer for "madame," as she called the children's mother, +had not noticed the trouble Herr Baby had got himself into. One little +leg and a part of his body were stuck fast in the open space between the +bars at the back, his head had somehow got under the arm of the chair, +and could not be got out again without help. And Baby was far too proud +to call out for help as long as there was a chance of his doing without +it. But he really was in a very uncomfortable state, and it was a wonder +that the chair, which was a light wicker one, had not toppled over with +the queer way in which he was hanging. They got him out at last; his +face was very red, and I _think_ the tears had been very near coming, +but he choked them down, and looking up gravely he said to his mother,-- + +"Him's chair is getting too small. Him hasn't room to turn." + +"Is it really?" said his mother, quite gravely too. She saw that Celia +and Fritz were ready to burst out laughing at poor Baby, and she didn't +want them to do so, for Baby had really been very brave, and now when he +was trying hard not to cry it would have been too bad to laugh at him. +"Is it really?" she said. "I must see about it, and if it is too small +we must get you another." + +"Him doesn't want you to pack up _that_ chair," said Baby again, giving +himself a sort of shake, as if to make sure that his head, and his legs, +and all the rest of him, were in their proper places after being so +turned about and twisted by his struggles in the chair. + +"He's quite in a fuss about packing," said Celia; "that's what I was +going to tell you, mother. He stopped in the middle of his tea to think +about it, and he said he thought we'd better begin to-night." + +"Yes," said Baby. "There's such _lots_ to pack. All our toys, and the +labbits, and the mouses, and the horses, and the fireplaces, and the +tables, and the cups, and the saucers," his eyes wandering round the +room as he went on with his list. "Him thinks we'll need _lots_ of boats +to go in." + +"And two or three railway trains all to ourselves," said mother. + +Baby looked up at her gravely. He could not make out if mother was in +fun or earnest. His little puzzled face made mother draw him to her and +give him a kiss. + +"It's a shame to talk nonsense to such a serious little man," she said. +"Don't trouble yourself about the packing, Baby dear. Don't you know +grandfather, and auntie, and I have had lots of packings to do in our +lives? Why, we had to pack up _two_ houses when we came away from India, +and that was much much farther away than where we're going now! And you +were _such_ a tiny baby then--it was very much harder, for mother was +very very sad, and she never thought you would grow to be a big strong +boy like what you are now." + +"Was that when----" began thoughtless Denny, but Fritz gave her a tug. + +"You _know_ it makes mother unhappy to talk about that time," he +whispered; but mother heard him. + +"No, Fritz," she said; "I don't mind Denny thinking about it. I am so +glad to have all of you, dears, happy and good, that my sorrow is not so +bad as it was. And I am so glad you and Celia can remember your father. +Poor Baby--_he_ can't remember him," she said, softly stroking Baby's +face. + +"'Cos he went to Heaven when him was so little," said Baby. Then he put +his arms round mother's neck. "Him and Fritz will soon grow big, and be +werry good to mother," he said. "And ganfather and auntie are werry good +to mother, isn't they?" he added. + +"Yes indeed," said mother; "and to all of you too. What would we do +without grandfather and auntie?" + +"Some poor little boys and girls has no mothers and ganfathers, and no +stockings and shoes, and no _nothings_," said Baby solemnly. + +"There's _some_ things I shouldn't mind not having," said Fritz; "I +shouldn't mind having no lessons." + +"O Fritz," said his sisters; "what a lazy boy you are!" + +"No, I'm just _not_ lazy. I'm awfully fond of doing _everything_--I +don't even mind if it's a hard thing, so long as it isn't anything in +books," said Fritz, sturdily. "Some people's made one way, and some's +made another, and I'm made the way of not liking books." + +"I wonder what Baby will say to books," said mother, smiling. + +"Is jography in books," said Baby. "Him wants to learn jography." + +"_I_ think it's awfully stupid," said Denny. "I'm sure you won't like it +once you begin. Did _you_ like lessons when you were little, mother?" + +"Yes, I'm sure mother did," said Fritz. "People's fathers and mothers +were always far gooder than their children are. I've noticed that. If +ever big people tell you about when they were little, it's always about +how good they were. And they say always, 'Dear me, how happy children +should be nowadays; _we_ were never allowed to do so and so when _we_ +were little.' That's the way old Mrs. Nesbitt always talks, isn't it +mother? I wonder if it's true. If people keep getting naughtier than +their fathers and mothers were, the world will get _very_ naughty some +day. _Is_ it true?" + +"I think it's true that children get to be more spoilt," said Denny in a +low voice. "Just look how Baby's clambering all over mother! O Baby, +you nearly knocked over mother's cup! _I_ never was allowed to do like +that when _I_ was a little girl." + +Everybody burst out laughing--even mother--but Denny had the good +quality of not minding being laughed at. + +"Was the tea nice, and the bread and butter and honey?" she said +eagerly, as mother rose to put the empty cup in a place of safety. + +"Very nice, thank you," said mother. "But I must go, dears. I have a +good many things to talk about with grandfather and auntie." + +"Packing?" said Baby. + +"How you do go on about packing!" said Denny. "Of course mother's not +going to pack to-night." + +Baby's face fell. + +"Him does so want to begin packing," he said dolefully. "'Appose we +forgottened somesing, and we was over the sea!" + +"Well, I must talk about it all, and write down all we have to take," +said mother. "So I must go to auntie now." + +"Oh, not yet, not yet. Just five minutes more!" cried the children. +"And, mother," said Celia, "you've not answered my question. _Is_ it +true that children used to be so much better long ago? Were you never +naughty?" + +"Sometimes," said mother, smiling. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Celia. "Often, mother? I do hope you were often +naughty. Do tell us a story about something naughty you did when you +were little. You know it would be a good lesson for us. It would show us +how awfully good one may learn to be, for, you know, you're awfully good +now." + +"Yes, of course you are," said Fritz and Denny. + +"Mother's _dedfully_ good," said Baby, poking up his face from her knee +where he had again perched himself, to kiss her. "Do tell him one story +of when you was a little girl, mother." + +Mother's face seemed for a minute rather puzzled. Then it suddenly +cleared up. + +"I will tell you a very little story," she said; "it really is a very +little story, but it is as long as I have time for just now, and it may +amuse you. Baby's packing put it in my head." + +"Is it about when you were a little girl, mother?" interrupted Denny. + +"Yes. Well, when I was a little girl, I had no mother." + +The elder children nodded their heads. But Baby, to whom it was a new +idea, shook his sadly. + +"Zat was a gate pity," he said. "Poor mother to have no mother. Had you +no shoes and stockings, and nothing nice to eat?" + +"You sill----" began Denny, but mother stopped her. + +"Oh yes," she said, "I had shoes and stockings, and everything I wanted, +for I had a very kind father. You know how kind grandfather is? And I +had a kind sister whom you know too. But when I was a little girl, my +sister was not herself _very_ big, and she had a great deal to do _for_ +a not very big girl, you know. There were our brothers, for we had +several, and though they were generally away at school there seemed +always something to do for them--letters to write to them, if there was +nothing else--and then, in the holidays, there were all their new +shirts, and stockings, and things to get to take back to school. Helen +seemed always busy. She had been at school too, before your grandfather +came back from India, for five years, bringing me with him, quite a wee +little girl of four. And Helen was so happy to be with us again, that +she begged not to go back to school, and, as she was really very well +on for her age, grandfather let her stay at home." + +"There, you see," whispered Celia, nudging Fritz. "It's beginning--it +always does--you hear how awfully good auntie was." + +Mother went on quietly. If she heard what Celia said she took no notice. +"Grandfather let her stay at home and have lessons there. She had a +great many lessons to learn for her age besides those that one learns +out of books. She had to learn to be very active, and very thoughtful, +and, above all, very patient. For the little sister she had to take care +of was, I am afraid, a very spoilt little girl when she first came home. +Grandfather had spoiled her without meaning it; he was so sorry for her +because she had no mother, and Helen was so sorry for her too, that it +was rather difficult for her not to spoil her as well." + +Here Baby himself "inrumpted." + +"Him doesn't understand," he said. "Who _were_ that little girl? Him +wants a story about mother when _her_ was a little girl;" and the +corners of his mouth went down, and his eyes grew dewy-looking, in a +very sad way. + + [Illustration: There was one trunk which took my fancy more than + all the others.--P. 30.] + +"Poor Baby," said mother. "I'll try and tell it more plainly. _I_ was +that little girl, and auntie was my sister Helen. I must get on with my +little story. I was forgetting that Baby would not quite understand. +Well, one day to my great delight, Helen told me that grandfather was +going to take her and me and the two brothers, who were then at home, to +spend Christmas with one of our aunts in London. This aunt had children +too, and though I had never seen them Helen told me they were very nice, +for she knew them well, as she used to go there for her holidays before +we came home. She told me most about a little girl called Lilly, who was +just about my age. I had never had a little friend of my own age, and I +was always talking and thinking about how nice it would be, and I was +quite vexed with Helen because she would not begin to pack up at once. I +was always teasing her to know what trunks we should take, and if all my +dolls might go, and I am sure poor Helen often wished she had not told +me anything about it till the very day before. I got in the way of going +up to the big attic where the trunks were kept, and of looking at them +and wondering which would go, and wishing Helen would let me have one +all for myself and my dolls and their things. There was one trunk which +took my fancy more than all the others. It was an old-fashioned +trunk, but it must have been a very good one, for it shut with a sort of +spring, and inside it had several divisions, some with little lids of +their own, and I used to think how nice it would be for me, I could put +all my dolls in so beautifully, and each would have a kind of house for +itself. I don't remember how I managed to get it open, perhaps it had +been a little open when I first began my visits to the attic, for the +lid was very heavy, and I was neither big nor strong for my age. But it +_was_ open, and it stayed so, for no one else ever went up to the attic +but I. The other people in the house were too busy, and no one would +have thought there was anything amusing in looking at empty trunks in a +row. But I went up to the attic day after day. I climbed up the narrow +staircase as soon as I had had my breakfast, and stayed there till I +heard my nurse calling me to get ready to go out, or to come to my +lessons, for I was beginning to learn to read, and I used to have a +little lesson every day. And at last one day I said to my sister, + +"'Helen, may I have the big trunk with the little cupboards in it for +_my_ trunk?' + +"Helen was busy at the time, and I don't think she heard exactly what I +said. She answered me hurriedly that she would see about it afterwards. +But I went on teasing. + +"'May I begin putting Marietta and Lady Regina into the little cupboards +inside?' I said. + +"'Oh yes, I daresay you can if you like,' said Helen. She told me +afterwards that when I spoke of cupboards she never thought I meant a +trunk, she thought I was speaking of some of the nursery cupboards. + +"It was just bed-time then, too late for me to go to the attic, for I +knew there was no chance of my getting leave to go up there with a +candle. But I fell asleep with my head full of how nicely I could put +the dolls into the trunk, each with her clothes beside her, and the very +first thing the next morning I got them all together and I mounted up to +the attic. I had never told nurse about my going up there. Once or +twice, perhaps, she had seen me coming down the stair, but very likely +she had thought I had only been a little way up to look out of a window +there was there. I don't know why I didn't tell her, perhaps I was +afraid of her stopping my going. I waited till she was busy about her +work, fetching coals and so on, and then I trotted off with Lady Regina +under one arm and Marietta under the other, and a bundle of their +clothes tied up in my pinafore before, to make my way upstairs to the +delightful trunk. It was open as usual, and after putting my dolls and +bundles down on the floor, I managed to lift out the two top trays. One +of them was much larger than the other, and it was in what I called the +cupboards below the smaller one that I settled to put Regina and +Marietta. There were two of these little cupboards, and each had a lid. +They would just do beautifully. Under the larger tray there was just one +big space without a lid, 'just a hole,' I called it. I went on for a +little time, laying in some of the clothes first to make a nice soft +place for the dolls to lie on, but I soon got tired. It was so very far +to reach over, for the outside edges of the box were high, higher of +course than the _inside_ divisions, for the trays I had taken out, which +lay on the top of the lower spaces, were a good depth, and there had +been no division between them. It came into my head that it would be +much easier if I were to get into the box myself--I could stand in the +big hole, as I called it, and reach over to the little divisions where I +wanted to put the dolls, and it would be far less tiring than trying to +reach over from the outside. So I clambered in--it was not very +difficult--and when I found myself really inside the trunk I was so +pleased that I sat down cross-legged, like a little Turk, to take a rest +before going on with what I called my packing. But sitting still for +long was not in my way--I soon jumped up again, meaning to reach over +for Lady Regina, who was lying on the floor beside the trunk, but, how +it happened I cannot tell, I suppose I somehow caught the tapes which +fastened the lid; any way down it came! It did not hurt me much, for I +had not had time to stretch out my head, and the weight fell mostly on +my shoulders, sideways as it were, and before I knew what had happened I +found myself doubled up somehow in my hole, with the heavy lid on the +top of me, all in the dark, except a little line of light round the +edge, for the lid had not shut quite down; the hasp of the lock--as the +little sticking-out piece is called--had caught in the fall, and was +wedged into a wrong place. So, luckily for me, there was still a space +for some air to come in, and a little light, though very little. I was +dreadfully frightened at first; then I began to get over my fright a +little, and to struggle to get out. Of course my first idea was to try +to push up the lid with my head and shoulders; I remember the feeling of +it pushing back upon me--the dreadful feeling that I couldn't move it, +that I was shut up there and couldn't get out! I was too little to +understand all at once that there could be any danger, that I might +perhaps be suffocated--that means choked, Baby--for want of air; or that +I might really be hurt by being so cramped and doubled up. And really +there was not much danger; if I had been older I should have been more +frightened than there was really any reason to be. But I was big enough +to begin very quickly to get very angry and impatient. I had never in +all my life been forced to do anything I disliked; often and often my +nurse, and sometimes Helen, had begged me to try to sit still for a +minute or two, but I never would. And now the lesson of having to give +in to something much worse than sitting still in my nice little chair by +the nursery fire, or standing still for two minutes while a new frock +was tried on, had to be learnt! There was no getting rid of it; I kicked +and I pushed, it was no use; the strong heavy lid which had been to +India and back two or three times would not move the least bit. I tried +to poke out my fingers through the little space that was left, but I +could not find the lock, and it was a good thing I did not, for if I had +touched the hasp, most likely the lid would have fallen quite into its +place, crushing my poor little fingers, and shutting me in without any +air at all. At last I thought of another plan. I set to work screaming. + +"'Nurse, nurse, Nelly, oh Nelly,' I cried, and at last I shouted, 'Papa, +_Papa_, PAPA,' at the top of my voice. But it was no use! Most children +would have begun screaming at the very first. But I was not a +_frightened_ child, and I was very proud. I did not want any one to find +me shut up in a box like that, besides, they would be sure to stop my +ever coming up to the attic again. So it was not till I had tired myself +out with trying to push up the lid that I set to work to screaming, and +that made it all the more provoking that my calls brought no one. At +last I got so out of patience that I set to work again kicking for no +use at all, but just because I was so angry. I kicked and screamed, and +at last I burst into tears and _roared_. Then I caught sight, through +the chink, of Lady Regina's blue dress, where the doll was lying on the +floor near the trunk. + +"'Nasty Regina,' I shouted, 'nasty, ugly Regina. You are lying there as +if there was nothing the matter, and it was all for you I came up here. +I hate dolls--they never do nothing. If you were a little dog you'd go +and bark, and then somebody would come and let me out.' + +"Then I went on crying and sobbing till I was perfectly tired, and then +what do you think I did? Though I was so uncomfortable, all crushed up +into a little ball, I went to sleep! I went to sleep as soundly as if I +had been in my own little bed, and afterwards I found, from what they +told me, that I must have slept quite two hours. When I woke up I could +not think where I was. I felt so stiff and sore, and when I tried to +stretch myself out I could not, and then I remembered where I was! It +seemed quite dark; I wondered if it was night, till I noticed the little +chink of light at the edge of the lid, and then I began to cry again, +but not so wildly as before. All of a sudden I thought I heard a +sound--some one was coming upstairs! and then I heard voices. + +"'Fallen out of the window,' one said. 'Oh no, nurse, she _couldn't_! +She could never get through.' + +"But yet the person seemed to be looking out of the window all the same, +for I heard them opening and shutting it. And then I called out again. + +"'Oh Nelly, Nelly. I'se here; I'se shut up in the big box with the +cupboards.' + +"They didn't hear me at first. My little voice must have sounded very +faint and squeaky from out of the trunk, besides they were not half-way +up the attic-stairs. So I went on crying-- + +"'Oh Nelly, Nelly! I'se up here. Oh Nelly, Nelly!' + +"She heard me this time. Dear Nelly! I never have called to her in vain, +children, in all my life. And in half a minute she had dashed up the +stairs, and, guided by my voice, was kneeling down beside the trunk. + +"'Little May, my poor little May,' Nelly called out; and do you know I +really think she was crying too! I was--by the time Nelly and the +servants who were with her had got the lid unhooked and raised, and had +lifted me out--I was in floods of tears. I clung to Nelly, and told her +how 'dedful' it had been, and she petted me so that I am afraid I quite +forgot it was all my own fault. + +"'You might have been there for hours and hours, May,' Nelly said to me, +'if it hadn't been for nurse thinking of the window on the stair. You +must never go off by yourself to do things like that,' and when I told +her that I had asked her and she had given me leave, she said she had +not at all known what I meant, and that I must try to remember not to +tease about things once I had been told to wait. Any way I think I had +got a good lesson of patience that day, and one that I never forgot, for +it really is not at all a pleasant thing to be shut up in a big trunk." + +Mother stopped. + +Baby, who had been listening with solemn eyes, said slowly, + +"Him will not pack by hisself. Him will wait till somebody can help him. +It would be so dedful sad if him was to get shuttened up like poor +little mother, and perhaps you'd all go away ac'oss the sea and nebber +find him." + +The corners of his mouth went down at this sorrowful picture, and his +eyes looked as if they were beginning to think about crying. But mother +and Celia set to work petting and kissing him before the tears had time +to come. + +"As if we would ever go across the sea without _him_," said mother. + +"Why, we should never know how to do _anything_ without Herr Baby," said +Celia. + +"Fritz and Baby will do all the fussy things in travelling--taking the +tickets, and counting the luggage, and all that--they're such big men, +aren't they?" said Denny, with mischief in her twinkling green eyes. + +"Now you, just mind what you're about," said Fritz, gallantly. "You'll +make him cry just when mother's been comforting him up. Such stupids +girls are!" he added in a lower voice. + +"I really must go now," said mother, getting up from her chair. "Auntie +will not know what has become of me. I have been up here, why a whole +half hour, instead of five minutes!" + +"Auntie will think mother's got shut up in a trunk again," said Denny, +whose tongue _never_ could be still for long, and at this piece of wit +they all burst out laughing. + +All but Herr Baby. He couldn't see that it was any laughing matter. +Mother's story had sunk deep into his mind. Trunks were things to be +careful of. Baby saw this clearly. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +UP IN THE MORNING EARLY + + "Sweet, eager promises bind him to this, + Never to do so again." + + +He woke early next morning. He had so much to think of, you see. So much +that even his dreams were full of all he had heard yesterday. + +"Him's been d'eaming him was in the big, big, 'normous boat, and zen him +d'eamed of being shuttened up in a t'unk like _poor_ little mother," he +confided to Denny. + +He was forced to tell Denny a good many things, because they slept in +the same room, and, of course, everybody knows that _whatever_ mammas +and nurses say, going-to-sleep-in-bed time is _the_ time for talking. +Waking-up-in-the-morning time is rather tempting, too, particularly in +summer, when the sun comes in at the windows _so_ brightly and the birds +are _so_ lively, chattering away to each other, and all the world is up +and about, except "_us_," who _have_ to stay in bed till seven o'clock! +Ah, it _is_ a trial! On the whole, I don't think chattering in the +mornings is so much to be found fault with as chattering at night. It is +only children who are so silly as to keep themselves awake when the time +for going to sleep has come. The birds and the bees, and the little +lambs even, all know when that time has come, and go to sleep without +any worry to themselves or other people. But children are not always so +sensible. I _could_ tell you a story--only I am afraid if she were to +read it in this little book it would make her feel so ashamed that I +should really be sorry for her, so I will not tell you her name nor +where she lives--of a little girl who was promised two pounds, two whole +gold pounds--fancy! if for one month she would go quietly to sleep at +night when she was put to bed, and let her sister do the same; and she +was to lose two shillings every night she forgot or disobeyed. Well, +what do you think? at the end of two weeks the two pounds had come down +already to nineteen shillings! She had forgotten already ten times, or +ten and a half times--I don't quite understand how it had come to +nineteen, but so it had; and at the end of the month--no I don't think +I will tell you what it had come down to. Only this will show you how +much more difficult it is to get out of a bad habit than to get into a +good one, for this little girl is very sweet and good in many ways, and +I love her dearly--_only_ she had got into this bad habit, and it was +stronger, as bad habits so often are, than her real true wish to do what +her mother told her. + +But I have wandered away from Herr Baby, and I am afraid you won't be +pleased. He was forced, I was saying, to tell Denny a good many things, +because he was most with her. I don't think he would have told her as +much but for that, for Denny's head was a very flighty one, and she +never cared to think or talk about the same thing for long together, +which was not _at all_ Herr Baby's way. _He_ liked to think a good deal +about everything, and one thing lasted him a good while. + +"Him's been d'eaming such a lot," he said to Denny this morning. + +"I think dreams are very stupid," said Denny. "What's the good of them? +If they made things come _real_ they would be some good. Like, you know, +if I was to dream somebody gave me something awfully nice, and then when +I woke up I was to see the thing on my bed, _then_ dreams would be some +good." + +"But if zou d'eamed somesing dedful, like being shuttened up in a t'unk +like _poor_ little mother, _zen_ it wouldn't be nice for it to come +zeal," said Baby, who never forgot to look at things from both sides. + +"No, of course it wouldn't. How stupid you are!" said Denny. "And how +your head does run on one thing. I'm quite tired of you talking about +mother being shut up in the trunk. Do talk of something else." + +"Him can't talk of somesing else when him's sinking of one sing," said +Baby gravely. + +"Well, then don't talk at all," said Denny sharply, "and indeed I think +we'd better be quiet, or Lisa will be coming in, and scolding us. It's +only half-past six." + +Baby did not speak for a minute or two. Then he said solemnly, + +"When us goes away ac'oss the sea in the 'normous boat, him _hopes_ him +won't sleep in the same zoom as you any more." + +"I'm sure I hope not," said Denny snappishly. There was some excuse for +her this morning, she was really rather sleepy, and it is very tiresome +to be wakened up at half-past six, when one is quite inclined to sleep +till half-past seven. + +But Baby could not go to sleep again. His mind was still running on +packing. If he could but have a _little_ box of his own to pack his own +treasures in, then he would be sure none would be forgotten. He did not +want a _big_ trunk--not one in which he could be shuttened up like +mother, but just a nice little one. If mother would give him one! +Stay--where had he seen one, just what he wanted, was it in the nursery +or in the cupboard where Fritz kept his garden-tools and his skates, and +all the big boy things which Baby too hoped to have of his own some day? +No, it was not there. It must have been--yes, it was in the pantry when +he went to ask James for a glass of water. Up on a shelf, high up it +stood, "a tiny _sweet_ little t'unk," said Herr Baby to himself, +"wouldn't mother let him have it?" He would ask her this morning as soon +as he saw her. Then he lay still and thought over to himself all the +things he would pack in the tiny sweet little t'unk; his best Bible with +his name + + "Raymond Arthur Aylmer," + +in the gold letters on the back, should have the nicest corner, of +course, and his "_scented_ purse," as he called the Russia leather purse +which grandfather had given him on his last birthday, that would go +nicely beside the Bible, and his watch that _really_ ticked as long as +you turned the key in it--all those things would fit in, nicely packed +in "totton wool," of course, and crushy paper. The thought of it all +made Baby's fingers fidget with eagerness to begin his packing. If only +mother would give him the box! It must be mother's, for if it was +James's he would keep it in his own room instead of up on the pantry +shelf among all the glasses and cups. If Baby could just see it again he +would know 'ezackly if it would do! + +Baby looked about him. Everything was perfectly still, he heard no one +moving about the house--Denny had said it was only half-past six. + +"Denny," said Baby softly. + +No reply. + +"_Denny_," a very little louder. + +Still no reply; but Baby, by leaning over the edge of his cot a little, +could see that Denny's eyes were shut, and her nose was half buried in +the pillow in the way she always turned it when she went to sleep. Denny +had gone to sleep again. + +"Zes," said Herr Baby to himself; "her's a'leep--her's beazing so soft." + +He looked about him again; he stuck one little warm white foot out of +bed--it did feel _rather_ cold; he felt more than half inclined just to +cuddle himself up warm again and lie still till Lisa came to dress him. +But the thought of the little t'unk was too much for him. + +"Him would so like just to _see_ it," he said to himself. + +Then he stood right up in bed and clambered over the edge of the cot the +way he had to do to get out of it by himself. He did not make much +noise--not enough to waken Denny, and indeed he would not much have +minded if she _had_ awakened, only that perhaps she would have wanted to +go too, and Baby wished just to go down to the pantry this quiet time of +the morning before any one was there and take a good look by himself. + +It was cold on the stair--just at the edge, that is to say, where the +carpet did not cover, and where he had stepped without thinking, not +being used to trotting about on bare feet, you see. But in the middle, +on the carpet, it was nice and soft and warm. + +"It would be dedful to be poor boys wif no shoes and stockings," he said +to himself, "'cept on the carpet. Him would like to buy lots of lubly +soft carpets for zem poor boys." + +And he pitied the poor boys still more when he got to the back passage +leading to the pantry, where there was no carpet at all, only oilcloth. +He pattered along as fast as he could; there was no sound to be heard +but the ticking of the clock, and Baby wondered that he had never +noticed before what a loud ticking clock it was; it did not come into +his head that it was very late for none of the servants to be down, for +such matters were not his concern, and if he had known the truth that +Denny had made a mistake of an hour, and that it was only half-past five +instead of half-past six, he would not have thought much about it. + +He got to the pantry at last. It was darker in here than in the passage +outside, which was a disappointment. The shutters were shut, that was +the reason, and when Baby looked up at them and saw how strong and +barred they were, even _he_ felt that it would be no use to try to open +them. He climbed up on to the dresser that ran round one side of the +wall to see better. Yes, there it was--the tiny, sweet, little +t'unk--just as he had been fancying it. Not so very high up either. If +he could but give it a little poke out he could almost reach it down--it +could not be heavy, it was _such_ a tiny t'unk; and, oh, if he could +carry it out to the passage, where it was light, how beautifully he +could look at it! He stood up on tiptoe, and found he could almost reach +it. A brush with a sticking-out handle was lying beside him. Baby took +it, and found that by poking it in a little behind the box he could make +it move out, and if it were moved out a very little way he could reach +to lift it down. He moved it out enough, then he stretched up his two +hands to lift it down--it was not very heavy, but still rather heavier +than he had thought. But with the help of his curly head, which he +partly rested it on, he got it out safely enough, and was just slipping +it gently downwards to the dresser when _somehow_ the brush handle, +which he had left on the shelf, caught him or the box, he could not tell +which, and, startled by the feeling of something pushing against him, +Baby lost his balance and fell! Off the dresser right down on to the +hard floor, which had no carpet even to make it softer, he tumbled, and +the little t'unk on the top of him. What a noise it made--even in the +middle of his fright Baby could not help thinking what a tremendous +noise he and the box seemed to make. He lay still for a minute; luckily +the box, though it had come straight after him, had fallen a little to +one side, and had not hit him. He was bruised enough by the floor +already--any more bumps would have been _too_ much, would they not? But +the poor box itself was to be pitied; it had come open in the fall, and +all that was in it had naturally tumbled out. _That_ explained the noise +and clatter. The box had held--indeed it had been made on purpose to +hold them--two beautiful glass jugs, which had been sent to mother all +the way from Italy! Baby had never seen them, because they were only +used when mother and auntie wanted the dinner-table to look very nice, +and of course Baby was too little ever to come down to dinner. And, +alas, the beautiful jugs, so fine and thin that one could almost have +thought the fairies had made them, were both broken, one of them, +indeed, crushed and shivered into mere bits of glass lying about the +pantry floor, and the box itself had lost its lid, for the hinges had +been broken, too, in the fall. + + [Illustration: For a minute or two Baby could not make out what had + happened.--P. 50.] + +For a minute or two Baby could not make out what had happened. He felt a +little stupid with the fall, and sore too. But he never was ready to cry +for bumps or knocks; he would cry much more quickly if any one spoke +sharply to him than if he hurt himself. So at first he lay still, +wondering what was the matter. Then he sat up and looked about him, and +_then_, seeing the broken box and the broken glass, he understood that +he had done some harm, and he burst into piteous sobbing. + +"Him didn't mean," he cried; "him didn't know there was nuffin in the +tiny t'unk. Oh, what shall him do?" + +He cried and sobbed, and, being now very frightened, he cried the more +when he saw that there was blood on his little white nightgown, and that +the blood came from one of his little cold feet, which had been cut by a +piece of the broken glass. Baby was much more frightened by the sight of +blood than by anything else--when he climbed up on the nursery chest of +drawers, and Denny told him he'd be killed if he fell down, he didn't +mind a bit, but when Lisa said that he might hurt his face if he fell, +and make it _bleed_, he came down at once--and now the sight of the +blood was too much. + +"Oh, him's hurt hisself, him's all bleeding!" he cried. "Oh, _what_ +shall him do?" + +He dared not move, for he was afraid of lifting the cut foot--he really +did not know what to do--when he heard steps coming along the passage, +pattering steps something like his own, and before he had time to think +who it could be, a second little white-night-gowned figure trotted into +the room. + +"Baby, poor Baby, what's the matter?" and, looking up, Baby saw it was +Fritz. + +"Him's hurt hisself, him's tumbled, and the tiny t'unk is brokened, and +somesing else is brokened. Him didn't mean," he sobbed; and Fritz sat +down on the floor beside him, having the good sense to keep out of the +way of the broken glass, and lifted the little bleeding foot gently. + +"Must have some sticking-plaster," said Fritz. "There's some in mother's +pocket-book in her room. We must go to mother, Baby." + +"But him can't walk," said Baby piteously. "Him's foot bleedens dedful +when him moves it." + +"Then I must carry you," said Fritz, importantly. + +With some difficulty he got Baby on to his back and set off with him. +Baby had often ridden on Fritz's back before, in the nursery, for fun, +and it seemed very nice and easy. But now, though he had only his +nightgown on, Fritz was surprised to find how heavy he seemed after +going a little way. He was obliged to rest after he had gone up a few +steps, and Baby began to cry worse than before when he saw how tired +poor Fritz was. I really don't know how they ever got to the door of +mother's room, and, when their knocking brought her out, it was rather +a frightening sight for her--Baby perched on Fritz's back, both little +boys looking white and miserable, and the wounded foot covered with +blood. + +But mother knew better than to ask what was the matter till she had done +something to put things to rights again. + +"Him's foot" was the first thing Baby said, stretching out his poor +little toes. + +And the foot looked so bad that mother felt quite thankful when she had +bathed it and found that the cut was not really a very deep one after +all. And when it was nicely plastered up, and both little boys were +tucked into mother's bed to get warm again, then mother had to hear all +about it. It was not much Fritz could tell. He, too, had wakened early, +and had heard Denny and Baby talking, for he slept in a little room near +theirs. He had fallen half asleep again, and started up, fancying he +heard a noise and a cry, and, getting out of bed, had found his way to +the pantry, guided by Baby's sobs. But what Baby was doing in the +pantry, or why he had wandered off there all alone so early in the +morning, Fritz did not know. + +So Baby had to tell his own story, which he did straight on in his own +way. He never thought of _not_ telling it straight on; he was afraid +mother would be sorry when she heard about the "somesing" that was +broken, but it had never entered his little head that one could help +telling mother "ezackly" all about anything. And so he told the +whole--how he had been "sinking" about trunks and packing, and +"d'eaming" about them too, how Denny had been "razer c'oss" and wouldn't +talk, and how the thought of the tiny sweet t'unk had come into his head +all of itself, and he had fancied how nice it would be to go downstairs +and look at it on the pantry shelf, and then how all the misfortunes had +come. At the end he burst into tears again when he had to tell of the +"somesing brokened," now lying about in shiny fragments on the pantry +floor. + +Poor mother! She knew in a minute what it was that was broken, and I +cannot say but that she was very sorry, more sorry perhaps than Baby +could understand, for she had had the pretty jugs many years, and the +thoughts of happy days were mingled with the shining of the rainbow +glass. Baby saw the sorry look on her face, and stretched up his two +arms to clasp her neck. + +"Him is so sorry, so werry sorry," he said. "Him will take all the money +of him's money-box to buy more shiny jugs for mother." + +Mother kissed him, but told him that could not be. + +"The jugs came from a far-away country, Baby dear," she said, "and you +could not get them here. Besides, I cared for them in a way you can't +understand. I had had them a long time, and one gets to care for things, +even if they are not very pretty in themselves, when one has had them so +long." + +"Oh ses, him does understand," said Baby. "Him cares for old 'sings, far +best." + +"Yes," said Fritz, "he really does, mother. He cries when Lisa says she +must put away his old shoes, and his old woolly lamb is dreadful--really +dreadful, but he _won't_ give it away." + +"It _has_ such a sweet face," said Baby. + +"Well I don't care; I wish it was burnt up. He mustn't take it in the +railway with us when we go away; must he, mother?" + +"Couldn't it be washed?" said mother. + +"I don't think so, and I don't believe Baby would like it as much if it +was. Would you, Baby?" said Fritz. + +Baby would not answer directly. He seemed rather in a hurry to change +the subject. + +"Mother," he said, "when we go away in the 'normous boat, won't we +p'raps go to the country where the shiny jugs is made? And if him takes +all the money in him's money-box, couldn't him buy some for you?" + +"They wouldn't be the same ones," said Fritz. + +Baby's face fell. Mother tried to comfort him. + +"Never mind about the jugs any more just now," she said. "Some day, +perhaps, when you are a big man you will get me some others quite as +pretty, that I shall like for your sake. What will please me more than +new jugs just now, Baby, is for you to promise me not to try to do +things like that without telling any one. Just think how very badly hurt +you might have been. If only you had waited to ask me about the little +box all would have been right, and my pretty jugs would not have been +broken." + +"And mother told us that last night, you know, dear," said Fritz, in his +proper big brother tone. "Don't you remember in the story about her when +she was little? It all came of her not waiting for her big sister to see +about the trunk." + +Baby gave a deep sigh. + +"If God hadn't put so much 'sinking into him's head, it would have been +much better," he said. "Him 'sinks and 'sinks, and zen him can't help +wanting to do 'sings zat moment minute." + +"Then 'him' must learn what _patience_ means," said mother with a little +smile. "But I'll tell you what _I've_ been thinking--that if we don't +take care somebody else may be hurting themselves with the broken glass +on the pantry floor." + +"P'raps the cat," said Baby, starting up, "oh _poor_ pussy, if her was +to cut her dear little foots. Shall him go downstairs again, mother, to +shut the door? Why, him's foot's still _zather_ bleedy," he added, +drawing out the wounded foot, which had a handkerchief wrapped round it +above the plaster. + +"No," said his mother, "it will be better for me to tell the servants +myself," so she rang the bell, and as it was now about the time that +Denny had thought it when Baby first woke up, in a few minutes her maid +appeared, looking rather astonished. She looked still more astonished, +and a little afraid too, when she caught sight of the two curly heads, +one dark and one light, on mother's pillow. + +"Is there anything wrong with the young gentlemen?" she said. "Shall I +call Lisa, my lady?" + +"No, not quite yet," said mother. "I rang to tell you to warn James and +the others that there is some broken glass on the pantry floor, and they +must be careful not to tread on it, and it must be swept up." + +"Broken glass, ma'am," repeated the maid, who was rather what Denny +called "'quisitive." "Was it the cat? I did think I heard a noise early +this morning." + +"No, it wasn't the cat," said mother. "It was an accident. James will +see what is broken." + +The light curly head had disappeared by this time under the clothes, for +Baby had ducked out of sight, feeling ashamed of its being known that +_he_ had been the cat. But as soon as the maid had left the room he came +up again to the surface like a little fish, and a warm feeling of thanks +to his mother went through his heart. + +"You won't tell the servants it were him, will you?" he whispered, +stretching up for another kiss. + +"No, not if 'him' promises never to try to do things like reaching down +boxes for himself. Herr Baby must ask mother about things like that, +mustn't he?" she said. + +Mother often called him "Herr Baby" for fun. The name had taken her +fancy when he was a very tiny child, and Lisa had first come to be his +nurse. For Lisa was _very_ polite; she would not have thought it at all +proper to call him "Baby" all by itself. + +Herr Baby kissed mother a third time, which, as he was not a very +kissing person, was a great deal in one morning. + +"Ses," he said, "him will always aks mother. Mother is so sweet," he +added coaxingly. + +"He calls everything he likes 'sweet,'" said Fritz. "Mother and the cat +and the tiny trunk--they're all sweet.'" + +But mother smiled, so Baby didn't mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GOING AWAY + + "She did not say to the sun good-night, + As she watched him there like a ball of light, + For she knew he had God's time to keep + All over the world, and never could sleep." + + +How, I can't tell, but, after all, _some_how the packing got done, and +everything was ready. They left a _few_ things behind that Herr Baby +would certainly have taken had he had the settling of it. They didn't +take the horses, _nor_ the fireplaces, and, of course, as the horses +weren't to go, Thomas and Jones had to be left behind too to take care +of them, which troubled Baby a good deal. And no doubt Thomas and Jones +would have been _very_ unhappy if it hadn't been for the nice way Baby +spoke to them about coming back soon, and the letters he would send them +on their birthdays, and that he would never like any other Thomases and +Joneses as much as them. It was really quite nice to hear him, and +Jones had to turn his head away a little--Baby was afraid it was to hide +that he was crying. + +It was a very busy time, and Baby was the busiest of any. There was so +much to think of. The rabbits too had to be left behind, which was very +sad, for one couldn't write letters to _them_ on their birthdays; +neither Denny, whom he asked about it, nor Baby himself, could tell when +the rabbits' birthdays were, and besides, as Baby said, "what would be +the good of writing them letters if they couldn't read them?" The only +thing to do was to get the little girl at the lodge to _promise_ to take +them fresh cabbages every morning--that was one of the things Herr Baby +had to see about, himself. Lisa lost him one morning, and found him at +the lodge, after a great hunt, talking very gravely to the little girl +about it. + + [Illustration: "Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure, _nebber_ + to forget."--P. 61.] + +"Zou will p'omise, Betsy, p'omise certain sure, _nebber_ to forget," he +was saying, and poor Betsy looked quite frightened, Herr Baby was so +very solemn. Fritz wanted to make her kiss her mother's old Testament, +the way he had seen men do sometimes in his grandfather's study when +they came to tell about things, and to promise they would speak the +truth; but Betsy, though she was ready enough to _promise_, didn't like +the other idea at all. She might be had up to the court for such like +doings, she said, and as neither Fritz nor Baby had any idea what sort +of place the court was, though they fancied it was some kind of prison +for people who didn't keep their word, they thought it better to leave +it. + +The "calanies" and the "Bully" were to go, that was a comfort, and +Peepy-Snoozle and Tim, the two dormice, also, another comfort. Baby's +own packing was a serious matter, but, on the whole, I think mother and +Lisa and everybody were rather glad he had it to do, as it gave other +people a chance of getting _theirs_ done without the little feet +pattering along the passage or up the stairs, and the little shrill +voice asking what was going to be put into _this_ trunk or into _that_ +carpet-bag. He gave up thinking so much about the other packing after a +while, for he found his own took all his time and attention. Mother had +found him a box after all. Not _the_ box of course--that was left empty, +by Baby's wish, till some day when he was a big man, he should go to the +country of the fairy glass and buy mother some new jugs--but a very nice +little box, and she gave him cotton wool and crushy paper too, and +everything was as neat as possible, and the box quite packed and ready, +the first evening. But it was very queer that _every_ day after that +Herr Baby found something or other he had forgotten, or something that +Denny and he decided in their early morning talks, that it would be +silly to take. Or else it came into his head in the night that his best +Bible would be better in the _other_ corner, and the scenty purse on the +top of it instead of at one side. Any way it always happened that the +box had to be unpacked and packed again, and the very last evening there +was Herr Baby on his knees before it on the floor, giving the finishing +touches, long after he should have been in bed. + +"And we have to be up so early to-morrow morning," said mother, "my dear +little boy, you really _should_ have been fast asleep by this time." + +"And he wakes me _so_ early in the morning," said Denny, who was +standing before the fire giving herself little cross shakes every time +poor Lisa, who was combing out her long fair hair, came to a tuggy bit. +"_Lisa_, you're _hurting_ me; _Lisa_, do take care," she added +snappishly. + +"My dear Denny, how very impatient you are!" said her mother. "I don't +know how you will bear all the little discomforts of a long journey if +you can't bear to have your hair combed." + +On this, Denny, as Fritz would have said, "shut up." She could not bear +it to be thought that she was babyish or "silly." Her great, great wish +was to be considered quite a big girl. You could get her to do anything +by telling her it would be babyish not to do it, or that doing it would +be like big people, which, of course, showed that she _was_ rather +babyish in reality, as sensible children understand that they cannot be +like big people in everything, and that they wouldn't be at all nice if +they were. + +Baby always felt sorry for Denny or any of them when mother found fault +with them. He jumped up from the floor--at least he _got_ up, his legs +were too short for him to spring either up or down very actively--and +trotted across to his sister. + +"Poor Denny," he said, reaching up to kiss her, "him won't wake her up +so early to-mollow morning." + +"But we'll _have_ to wake early to-morrow," said Denny, rather crossly +still, "it's no use you beginning good ways about not waking me now, +just when everything's changed." + +Baby looked rather sad. + +"Is your box quite ready now, dear?" said his mother. "Well then, let +Lisa get you ready for bed as quick as she can, and you and Denny must +go to sleep without any talking, and wake fresh in the morning." + +But Baby still looked sad; his face began working and twisting, and at +last he ran to mother and hid it in her lap, bursting into tears. + +"Denny makes him so unhappy," he said. "Him doesn't like everysing to be +changed like Denny says. Him is so sorry to go away and to leave him's +house and Thomas and Jones, and oh! him is _so_ sorry to leave the +labbits!" + +"And him's a tired little boy. I think it's because he's so tired that +he's so sad about going away," said mother. "Think, dear, how nice it is +that we're all going _together_, not Celia or Fritz or anybody left +behind. For you know Thomas has his old mother he wouldn't like to +leave, and Jones has his wife and children. And if the rabbits could +talk, I'm quite sure they would tell you that they'd far rather stay +here in their own nice little house, with plenty of cabbages, than be +bundled into a box and taken away in the railway ever so far, without +being able to run about for ever so many days." + +Baby's face cleared a little. + +"Betsy has p'omised," he said to himself. Then he added, "_Him_ won't +like the railway neither if it's like that." + +"But _him's_ not going to be put in a box or a basket," said mother, +laughing. "Him will have a nice little corner all to himself in a +cushioned railway carriage, only just now he really _must_ go to bed." + +So she kissed him for good-night, and Denny too, who, by this time, had +recovered her good-humour in the interest of listening to the +conversation between her mother and Herr Baby, and soon both little +sister and brother were fast asleep in their cots, dreaming about the +journey before them I daresay, or perhaps forgetting all about it in the +much queerer and stranger journeys that small people are apt to fly away +upon at night, when their tired little bodies _seem_ to be lying quite +still and motionless in bed. + +It was strange enough--_almost_ as strange as a dream--the next morning +when, long before it was light, they had all to get up and be dressed at +once in their going-out things--that is to say their thick boots and +gaiters, and woollen under-jackets (for it was very cold, though not yet +far on in November), while their ulsters and comforters and caps, and +the girls' sealskin coats and muffs and hats, were all laid out in four +little heaps by Lisa, so that they should be ready to put on the moment +breakfast was over. + +What a funny breakfast! Candles on the table, for it was not, of course, +worth while to light the lamp, and everything looking more like a sort +of "muddley tea," Fritz said, than their usual trim nursery breakfast. + +"I can't eat," said Fritz, throwing down his bread and butter; "it's no +use." + +"And there's eggs!" said Denny, who was comfortably at work at hers, +looking across at Fritz as if it wouldn't be very difficult to eat up +his egg too. "I think it's very kind of cook to have got up so early and +made us eggs 'cos we were going away, and----" + +"'Twasn't cook, 'twas Abigail," said Fritz. "I saw her coming up with +the eggs all in a pan with hot water, so that they shouldn't get cold, +she said to Lisa." + +"Well then it was very kind of Abigail, and----" said Denny. + +"'Twasn't Abigail that made the eggs," said Baby, "'twas the hens zat +laid them. Denny should say the _hens_ was werry kind." + +"Oh bother," said Denny, "I wish you'd not interrupt me. I don't care +who it was. I only want to say it's very stupid of Fritz not to eat his +egg, when _somebody_ made them for us, extra you know, because we're +going away, and I think Fritz is very stupid." + +"Come, Herr Fritz," said Lisa, encouragingly, "try and eat. You will be +so hungry." + +"I can't," said Fritz, "I've got a horrid feeling just like when mother +took me to have that big tooth out. I feel all shaky and cruddley." + +"Yes, _I_ know," said Denny, going on with _her_ breakfast all the same, +"but eating's the best thing to make it go away. I felt just that way +the day I broke grandfather's hotness measure, and mother said I must +tell him myself. I couldn't eat a bit of dinner, and I sat on the stair +all _screwged_ up, waiting for him to go to the study." + +"How dedful!" said Baby, with great feeling. But neither Fritz nor Celia +seemed to think much of Denny's sufferings. No one had ever seen her +nerves disturbed, and they did not therefore much believe in her having +any. + +"Grandfather's _what_ did you say?" asked Celia. + +"His hotness measure--the little glass pipe thing with a blob that goes +up and down. He's got another now, you know." + +"You mean his thermometer; you really should learn the proper names of +things," said Celia, "you're quite big enough." + +Denny would probably not have taken this in good part, though the "quite +big enough" at the end was very much to her taste, but there was no time +_this_ morning for squabbling. + +"Quick, quick, mine children," said Lisa, "the cart with the luggage is +'way, and the Herr Grandpapa is buttoning his coat." + +"And Fritz hasn't eaten his egg!" said Denny, eyeing it dolefully, as +Lisa was fastening her jacket. + +"I _couldn't_," said Fritz. "There'll be sandwiches or something in the +train--sure to be. Now come on; let's see what have I got to look after. +Only Tim and Peepy-Snoozle. I _couldn't_ lose my satchel, you see, for +its strapped on me. Much more sensible than _girls_, who have to carry +their bags over their arms." + +And Fritz, in a new ulster, very long and rather stiff, and feeling, to +tell the truth, a little uncomfortable at first, as new things generally +do, stalked off--I don't think he _could_ have run!--with the air of a +very big man indeed. + +Celia and Denny had a slight dispute as to which was which of the +bird's cages. For it had been settled that, for the journey at least, +the canaries were to be Celia's charge and the "Bully" Denny's, though, +hitherto, these three little birds had belonged to all the children +together. + +"You've got my cage, Denny," said Celia, sharply. + +"I haven't," said Denny, holding hers the more tightly. It was not very +easy to see, for both were covered up with dark blue stuff wrappers, to +keep the birds warm, "and to make them think it's night all the way," +said Baby. + +"I haven't," repeated Denny, "there, don't you see _two_ yellow tails in +yours? Peep through." + +And Denny proved to be right, so Celia had to give in. + +And at last they were off! The drive to the station safely over without +any misadventures, the luggage all locked up in the van, the children +and the dormice and the birds--far more important things, of course, +than the big people!--all comfortably settled at one end of the nice big +saloon carriage, which grandfather had had sent down on purpose from +London. + +"Dear me," said Denny, jigging up and down on her seat, "so we're really +off! How nice and springy these cushions are! And this carriage is as +big as a little house. I could _never_ be tired of travelling in a +carriage like this." + +"Him zought we'd _nebber_ get away," said Baby, with his usual +solemnity. "Dear, dear, what dedful lots of boxes there is! Him's box is +'aside the 'normous big straw one; did zou know, Denny?" + +"Poor grandfather," said Celia, "_what_ a lot of times he said over, +'three black portmanteaux, four, no five canvas-covered, four carpet +bags, one--fourteen in all. Is _that_ right, Helen? Grandfather's +something like Baby, he thinks no one can do anything right but himself; +and there's Peters come on purpose to bother about these things." +(Peters was grandfather's own servant.) "I wish grandfather wouldn't +fuss so. I hate people to think he's a fussy old man, something like Mr. +Briggs in Punch. As if he had never travelled before!" + +As may be imagined, these remarks of Celia's were made in a low voice, +for, of course, they were intended for the nursery party alone. Fritz +flew up in grandfather's defence. + +"Very fine, Miss Celia," he said. "You may laugh at grandfather for +fussing, but _suppose_ he didn't, and _suppose_ that when we get to--oh, +bother, I can't say those French names--wherever it is we're going to, +_suppose_ that Madamazelle Celia's trunk was lost, and Madamazelle Celia +hadn't any best frocks or flounces, or Sunday hats, how would +Madamazelle Celia look _then_? Perhaps she'd wish then that grandfather +had fussed a little." + +Celia turned to look for her bag, and having found it, she took out the +book which she had brought with her to read on the way. + +"You're too silly to speak to, Fritz," she said; "I'm going to read." + +"So am I," said Denny, who had likewise armed herself with a book, +though she was rather a dunce for her age, and couldn't read "runningly" +as French people say. But _big_ people always had books to read in the +railway--that was enough for Denny, of course, to try to do so too. + +"_I'm_ going to take a nap, then," said Fritz, who was really looking +rather white and tired. He had been wakened out of a very sound sleep +this morning, and had not been able to eat any breakfast. Lisa thought +that taking a nap was the best thing he could do, so she got down a +bundle of the rugs to make him a pillow, and helped him to tuck up his +legs comfortably, and Fritz settled himself for his little sleep, making +Lisa promise to waken him when they came to a big station. + +So everybody seemed inclined to be quiet. Herr Baby's corner was by the +window. He looked about him. Celia and Denny were buried in their books, +Fritz seemed asleep already; of the big people at the other end, +grandfather's face was quite hidden in his newspaper, which he had kept +over from last night on purpose to have something to read in the train, +knowing that they would start before the postman came in the morning, +and mother and auntie were talking together, softly, not to disturb him. + +"Should you like the window more open?" said grandfather, suddenly +looking up. + +"No, thank you," said auntie. "I think that little chink is enough. It +is really very cold this morning." + +"How good the children are!" said mother. She spoke in a lower voice +than auntie; but Baby heard her, for he had quick ears. "One could +almost fancy they were all asleep." + +"Yes," said auntie, "if it would last all the way to Santino, or even to +Paris!" + +"Or even to London!" said mother. "But they'll all be jumping about like +grasshoppers before long." + +Then they went on talking softly again about other things; and Baby +didn't hear, and didn't care to hear. Besides, he had already been +taught a lesson that boys and girls cannot learn too young, which is, +that to listen to things you are not meant to hear is a _sort_ of +cheating, for it is like taking something not meant for you. Of course, +while auntie and mother were talking in a louder voice he could not help +hearing, and it was no harm to listen, as if they had minded his hearing +they would have spoken more in a whisper. + +Baby turned to his window to amuse himself by looking out. First he +tried to count the telegraph wires, but he could never be sure if there +were eight or nine--he had not yet learnt to count higher than ten--for +the top ones were so tiresome, they danced away out of sight, and all of +a sudden danced down again, and sometimes they seemed to join together, +so that he could not tell if they were one or two. He wondered what made +them wave up and down so; whether there were men down in the ground +that pulled them, and what they did it for; he had heard of "sending +telegrams," and Denny had told him it meant sending messages on wires, +but he did not know that these were the wires used for that. He fancied +these wires must have something to do with the railway; perhaps they +were to show the people living in the fields that the trains were +coming, so that they shouldn't get in the way and be "runned over." +This made Baby begin to think of the people living in the fields; they +were just then passing a little cottage standing all by itself. It +looked a nice cottage, and it had a sort of little garden round it, and +some cocks and hens were picking about. Baby looked back at the little +cottage as long as he could see it; he wondered who lived in it, if +there were any little boys and girls, and what they did all day. He +wondered if they went to school, or if perhaps they sometimes went +messages for their mother, and if they weren't frightened if they had +to pass through the wood, which by this time the train was running +along the edge of. Could this be Red Riding Hood's wood, perhaps? Baby +shuddered as this idea came into his mind. Or it might be the wood that +Hop-o'-my-thumb and his six brothers had to make their way through, +where the birds _would_ pick the crumbs they dropped to show the path. +It would be very "dedful" for seven little boys to be lost in a wood +like that, and still worse for one little boy all alone. Baby was very +glad that when little boys had to go through woods _now_ it was in nice +railway carriages with mothers and aunties and everybodies with them. +But even in this way the wood made him feel a _very_ little frightened; +just then it got so much darker. He looked up to see if they were all +still reading or asleep; he _almost_ thought he would ask Lisa to take +him on her knee a little, when, all of a sudden, the "railway," as he +called it, screamed out something very sharp and loud, the rattle and +the noise got "bummier" and yet sharper; Baby could see no trees, no +fields, "no nothing." What could it be? It was worse than the wood. + +"Oh, Lisa," cried poor Herr Baby, "the railway horses must have runned +the wrong way. We's going down into the cellars of the world." + +Lisa caught him up in her arms and comforted him as well as she could. +It was only a tunnel, she told him, and she explained to him what a +tunnel was, just a sort of passage through a hill, and that there was +nothing to be frightened at. And she persuaded him to look up and see +what a nice little lamp there was at the top of the carriage, on purpose +to light them up while they were in the dark. Baby was quite pleased +when he saw the little lamp. + +"Who put it 'zere?" he said. "Were it God?" + +He was rather disappointed when Lisa told him that it was the railway +men who put it up, but then he thought again that it was very kind of +the railway men, and that it must have been God who taught them to be +so kind, which Lisa quite agreed in. But even though the little lamp +was very nice, Baby was very pleased to get out of the tunnel, and out +of the rumbly, rattly noise, into the open daylight again, with the +beautiful sun shining down at them out of the sky. For the day was +growing brighter as it went on, and the air was a little frosty, which +made everything look clear and fresh. + +"Nice sun," said Baby, glancing up at his old friend in the sky, "that's +the bestest lamp of all, isn't it? and it _were_ God put it up there." + +After that he must, I think, have taken a little nap in Lisa's arms +almost without knowing it, for he didn't seem to hear anything more or +to think where he was or anything, till all of a sudden he heard +mother's voice speaking. + +"Won't Baby have a sandwich, Lisa? And Denny, why, have you been asleep +too, Denny?" + +And sitting up on Lisa's knee, all rosy and dimpled with sleeping, his +fair curls in a pretty tumble about his eyes, Baby saw Denny, looking +very sleepy too, but trying hard to hide it. + +"Oh," she said, smoothing down her hair and sitting up very straight, +"I've been reading such a long time that my eyes got quite tired; that +was why I shut them." + +"Oh indeed!" said mother, but Baby could see that she was smiling at +Denny, though she didn't laugh right out like Fritz and Celia. + +They were all very happy, however, with their sandwiches and buns, and +after they had eaten as much as they wanted, auntie taught them a sort +of guessing game, which helped to pass the time, for already Denny and +Fritz were beginning to think even the big saloon carriage rather a +small room to spend a whole day in. + +They passed two or three big stations, and then they were allowed to get +out and walk up and down the platform a little, which was a nice change. +But Baby was so dreadfully afraid of any of them being left behind that +he could hardly be persuaded to get out at all, and once when he and +Lisa were waiting alone in the carriage while the others walked about, +and the train moved on a little way to another part, he screamed so +loudly-- + +"Oh, mother, oh, auntie, oh, ganfather, and Celia, and Fritz, and Denny! +All, all is left behind!"--that there was quite a commotion in the +station, and when the train moved back again, and they all got in, he +was obliged to kiss and hug each one separately, several times over, +before he could feel quite sure he had them all safe and sound, and +that "not nobody" was missing. + +It seemed a long time after it got dark, even though the little lamp was +still lighted. But it was not light enough to see to read, and "the big +lamp up in the sky," as Baby said, "was _kite_ goned away." It puzzled +him very much how the sun could go away every night and come back every +morning, and the queerest thing of all was what Celia had told him--that +"away there," in the far-off country where they were going, there would +still be the same sun, the _very_ same sun, that they had seen every +morning peeping up behind the kitchen-garden wall, and whose red face +they had said good-night to on the winter evenings, as he slipped away +to bed down below the old elms in the avenue, where the rooks had their +nests. Somehow as Baby sat in his corner, staring out now and then at +the darkness through which they were whizzing, blinking up sometimes at +the little lamp shining faintly in the roof, there came before his mind +the pictures of all they had left behind; he seemed to see the garden +and the trees _so_ plain, and he thought how very, very quiet and lonely +it must seem there now, and Baby's little heart grew sad. He felt so +sorry for all the things they had left--the rabbits and the pussy most +of all, of course, but even for the dear old trees, and the sweet, +"denkle" flowers in the garden; even for the tables and chairs in the +house he felt sorry. + +"Him's poor little bed will be so cold and lonely," he said to himself. +"Him sinks going away is _werry_ sad." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BY LAND AND SEA + + "So the wind blew softly, + And the sun shone bright." + + +Grandfather had fixed that it would be best to go straight through at +once to the seaport, where, the next morning, they would find the +'normous boat waiting to take them over the sea. They had to pass +through London on the way, and, by the time they got to the big London +station, Baby was very tired--so white and quiet that mother was a +little frightened. + +"I almost wish," she said, "that we had fixed to stay all night in +London. Baby has never had a long railway journey before, since he was a +_real_ Baby, you know, and he is not very strong." + +She was speaking to auntie. It was just when they were getting near the +big London station. Auntie looked at Baby. He was lying on Lisa's knee +with his eyes shut, as if he were asleep, but he wasn't. He heard what +they said, and he was rather pleased at them talking about him. In +_some_ ways he was very fond of being made a fuss about. + +"He does look a little white shrimp," said auntie. "But then you know, +May, he is so fair. He looks more quickly white if he is tired than +other children. And he has been such a good little man all day--not one +bit of trouble. He is really a capital traveller--_ever_ so much quieter +than the others." + +She said these last few words in a low tone, not caring for the other +children to hear; but if she had spoken quite loud I don't think they +would have heard, and, indeed, it seemed as if they wanted to show that +auntie's words were true; for just at that moment there came such a +scream from Denny that everybody started up in a fright. + +What _could_ be the matter? everybody asked. + +"It's all Denny," said Fritz, in a great fuss. + +"It's not; it's all Fritz and Celia," said Denny. + +"It's both of them," said Celia. "Mother, I wish you wouldn't let them +be near each other. Denny put her hand into the dormice's cage when +Fritz wasn't looking, and she poked out Tim, who was just beginning to +come awake for the night, and she as nearly as _could_ be got his tail +pulled off, and then, when Fritz caught her, she screamed." + +"Fritz snipped my hand in the little door of the cage," sobbed Denny. +"And Celia always takes Fritz's part." + +Celia was beginning; to "answer back," when auntie stopped her by a +look--the children were sometimes rather afraid of auntie's "looks." + +"Dear me, young people," said grandfather from his end of the carriage, +"you might be peaceable for five minutes, and then we shall be in +London, and you shall have a good tea before we go on again." + +The children all grew quiet. They were glad to hear of tea, and they +were a little ashamed of themselves. Auntie moved over to their end of +the carriage. + +"Him would like some tea too, p'ease," said Baby, as she passed him, and +auntie patted his head. + +"They are all tired, I suppose," said mother; "but it really is too +silly, the way they quarrel about nothing." + +"Auntie," said Celia softly, "I think it was partly my fault. Denny and +Fritz asked me to tell them a story, and I wouldn't. It would have kept +them quiet." + +"Well, never mind now," said auntie. "You must all try and be very good +to-morrow. This is only the first day, you know. You can't be expected +to be very clever travellers yet. And the very first lesson to learn in +travelling is--do you know what?" + +"Not to lose your things?" said Celia. + +"To be ready in time?" said Fritz. + +"To sit still in the railway?" said Denny, rather meekly. + +"All those are very good things," said auntie; "but they're not _the_ +thing I was thinking of. It was _to keep your temper_." + +The children got rather red, but I don't think any one noticed, for +already the train was slackening, and in another minute or two they all +got out and were standing together on the bustling platform, dimly +lighted up by the gas lamps, which looked yellow and strange in the +foggy air of a London November evening. + +"Is zit London?" said Baby, and when Celia said "yes," he added rather +mournfully, "Him doesn't sink London's pitty at all." + + [Illustration: Poor little boys, for after all, Fritz himself wasn't + very big! They stood together hand in hand on the station platform, + looking, and feeling, rather desolate.--P. 84.] + +Poor little boys, for, after all, Fritz himself wasn't very big! They +stood together hand in hand on the station platform, looking, and +feeling, rather desolate. Lisa was busy helping with the rugs and +bags that had been in the carriage; mother and auntie, as well as +grandfather and Peters and the maid, were all busy about the luggage. + +"Stay there a moment, children," said somebody; but Denny had no idea of +staying anywhere. Off she trotted to have a look at the luggage too, and +Celia was half inclined to follow her, when her glance fell on her two +little brothers. + +"Celia," said Baby, catching hold of her, "don't go away too. Fritz is +taking care of him, but we _might_ be lostened." + +He spoke rather timidly, and Celia's heart was touched. She was a good +deal older than the others--nearly twelve--Fritz and Denny were very +near in age, and sometimes Celia was a little cross at mother for not +making difference enough, as she thought, and for keeping her still a +good deal in the nursery. Mother had her own good reasons, and it is not +always wise for big people to tell children their reasons, as Celia got +to know when she grew wiser and bigger herself. She sometimes spoke +rather crossly to the younger ones, and it made them a very little +afraid of her, but in her heart she was kind. Just now she stooped down +to kiss Baby. + +"Don't be frightened, poor old man," she said, "you won't be lost. Fritz +wouldn't let you be lost, would you, Fritz?" + +Fritz brightened up at that, as Celia had meant he should. He, too, had +been feeling a little strange and queer--the long journey and the +sleeping in the day, all so different from their life at home, had +rather upset him--but he would not have liked to say so! And now he was +quite pleased at Celia telling Baby that, of course, Fritz was big +enough to take care of him. It is so easy for children--bigger ones +above all--to please each other and give nice feelings, when they really +try to feel _with_ each other and _for_ each other. + +The little boys looked much happier a few minutes later, when they were +seated at tea in a comfortable corner of the refreshment room. +Grandfather had sent Peters on, as soon as they had got the luggage all +safe, to see that a table was placed for them by themselves. He, +himself, went off to get some real dinner, for, of course, it was not to +be expected that a gentleman, and especially an _old_ gentleman, would +be contented with tea, and bread and butter, and buns, however nice, +but, to the children's great pleasure, mother and auntie said _they_ +would far rather stay and have tea with the little people. + +"It is a good thing, isn't it, for them to stay with us?" said Fritz to +Celia, confidentially, "for we are none of us _very_ big, are we? And +you know we _might_ get lost somehow, as Baby says, though I wouldn't +say so to him for fear of frightening him, you know." + +"No, of course not," said Celia, and looking up she was pleased to see +mother smiling at her. Mother saw that Celia was trying to be kind and +helpful, and she did so like to see the way the little ones clung to +Celia when she was gentle. Mother must have been something like Baby in +her mind, I think, for when she looked at the boys sitting there in the +strange, big station-room, their little faces grave and rather tired +looking, a sort of sorry feeling came over _her_ too, as she thought of +the snug, cosy nursery at home, and the neat nursery tea, with the +pretty pink and white cups she had chosen, and the canaries and "Bully" +twittering in the window. Poor "calanies" and poor Bully! they didn't +know where they had got to! They had slept nearly all day, thinking, as +they were meant to think, that it was night, I suppose, but now they +must have given up thinking so, for they were fidgeting about in their +cages in an unhappy, restless sort of way. They had plenty of seed, and +Celia and Lisa took care that they should have fresh water, but still, +poor little things, they were not very happy. + +"Going away from their own home is really a trial for children," thought +mother. She was a little tired herself, and being tired makes +_everything_ seem the wrong way. + +But there was no help for it. They had all to make the best of things, +and to set off again in another train and be rattled away to the sea. It +was quite dark by now, of course, and it seemed very queer to start on +another journey with so little rest between. I think, however, once they +were all settled in the railway carriage, that the children slept the +most of the way; Baby, at any rate, knew nothing more till he woke up to +find himself in Lisa's arms, with a cold, fresh air--the air of the +sea--blowing in his face, and making him lift up his head and look about +him. + +"Where is him?" he said. "Is him in the 'normous boat?" + +"Not so, Herr Baby," said Lisa. "He shall first be undressed and have a +nice sleep all night in bed, to rest him well. Lie still, mine child, +and Lisa will keep you warm." + +"Him likes the wind," said Baby. "It blowed his eyes open; him is quite +awake now," and he tried to sit straight up in Lisa's arms. + +"Oh, Herr Baby, I cannot hold you so," said Lisa. + +"There is such a little way to go," said his mother, who was just +behind, "lie still, dear, as Lisa tells you." + +"Him would like to walk, him's legs is so 'tiff," said Baby. "P'ease let +him walk if it's such a little way!" + +His voice was so piteous that mother told Lisa to let him walk; they +were going from the station to the hotel, a very little way, as mother +had said. Lisa put Baby down on the ground; at first he really tumbled +over, his legs felt so funny, but with Lisa's hand he soon got his +balance again. It was a very dark night; they could not have seen their +way but for the lights of the station and the town. + +"What a dark countly zit is!" said Herr Baby. "Is there no moon in zit +countly? Denny says in her hymn 'the moon to shine by night,' is there +no moon 'cept in him's own countly?" + +"What are you chattering about, little man?" said auntie. + +"He's asking about the moon, auntie; he wants to know if there isn't +any moon here. He thinks we've left it behind at home," said Denny. + +A sort of roar from poor Baby interrupted her. + +"Oh, Denny, don't, _don't_ say that," he cried, "it makes him sink of +the labbits, and Thomas, and Jones, and the trees, and the flowers, and +him's dear little bed, and all the sings we'se leaved behind. Him +doesn't like you to speak of leaved behind." + +"_Poor_ Baby," said Denny, "I'm so sorry." She stooped down to kiss him, +but it was so dark it wasn't easy to find his mouth, and she only +managed to kiss the tip of his nose, which was as cold as a little +dog's. This made Herr Baby begin laughing, which was a good thing, +wasn't it? And he was so taken up in explaining to Lisa how funny it +felt when Denny kissed his nose, that he had not time to think of his +sorrows again till they were at the foot of the large flight of steps +leading up to the big hotel where they were to sleep. + +"Nice big house," said Baby, looking round; and as he caught sight of +some of the waiters running about, he asked Lisa if "them was new +servants instead of Thomas and Jones." + +"Him likes Thomas and Jones best," he went on, the corners of his mouth +going down again, so that Lisa was obliged to assure him the servants +were not going to be _instead_ of Thomas and Jones, they were all only +just going to stay one night at this big house, and to-morrow they would +set off in the great ship to cross the sea. + +The mention of the ship fortunately gave a new turn to Baby's thoughts; +and he allowed Lisa to take him upstairs and warm him well before a good +fire before she undressed him and put him to bed. The other children +thought it great fun to sleep in strange rooms, in beds quite unlike +those they had at home, and to have to hunt for their nightgowns and +brushes and sponges in two or three _wrong_ carpet bags before they came +to the right one; but Baby's spirits were rather depressed, and it was +not easy to keep him from crying in the sad little way he had when his +feelings were touched. + +"He is tired, poor little chap," said auntie, as she kissed him for +good-night. "It is ever so much later than he has ever been up before. +It is nearly ten." + +"Him _were_ up till ten o'clock on Kissmass," said Herr Baby, +brightening up. "Him were up _dedful_ late, till, till, p'raps till near +twenty o'clock." + +Auntie would have liked to laugh, but she took care not, for when Baby +was in this sort of humour there was no telling whether other people's +laughing might not make him take to crying, so she just said, + +"Indeed! That must have been _very_ late; well, go to sleep now, and +sleep till twenty o'clock to-morrow morning, if you like. We don't need +to start early," she added, turning to Lisa; and I think poor Lisa was +not sorry to hear it! + +If I were to go on telling you, bit by bit, all about the journey, and +everything that happened big and little, it would take a good while, and +I don't know that you would find it very interesting. Perhaps it is +better to take a jump, as people do in real big story books, and to go +on with Herr Baby's adventures a few days later, when he, and Denny, and +Fritz, and Celia, and Lisa, and mother, and auntie, and grandfather, and +the "bully," and the "calanies," and Tim, and Peepy-Snoozle, and Linley, +mother's maid, and Peters, grandfather's man, and I forget if there was +any one else, but I think not; and all the boxes and carpet-bags, and +railway-rugs, were safely arrived at Santino, the pretty little town +with mountains on one side and the sea on the other, where they were all +going to spend the winter. I must not forget to tell you one thing, +however, which, I daresay, some of you who may have crossed "over the +sea," and _not_ found it very delightful, may be anxious to know about. +I mean about the voyage in the 'normous boat, which Baby had been so +looking forward to, poor little fellow. + +Well, wasn't it lucky, he was not at all disappointed? They had the +loveliest day that ever was seen, and Baby thought 'normous boats far +the nicest way of travelling, and he couldn't understand why grandfather +couldn't make them go all the way to Santino in the nice boat, and when +they explained to him that it couldn't be, because there was no sea for +boats to go on all the way, he thought there must have been some great +mistake in the way the world was made. And when they got to Santino, and +the first thing he saw _was_ the sea, blue and beautiful like a fairy +dream, Baby was quite startled. + +"Mother, auntie!" he said, reproachfully, "you toldened him there +weren't no sea." + +"We didn't mean that, Baby, dear," said mother; "we meant that there was +no sea to come the shortest way; we would have had to come all round the +land, and it would have been much longer. Look, it is like this," and +mother traced with her parasol a sort of map on the sand, to show Baby +that they had come a much nearer way. For they were standing by the +sea-shore at the time. + +"Yes," said Herr Baby, after looking on without speaking for a minute or +two, "him under'tands now." + +"So you've had your first lesson in geography," said auntie. + +Baby stared up at her. + +"Are _that_ jography?" he said. "Him thought jography were awful, dedful +difficult. Denny is so _werry_ c'oss when her has jography to learn." + +"Oh, because, of course, you know," said Denny, getting rather red, +"_my_ jography is _real_ jography, with books and maps and ever so long +rows of names to learn. Baby's so stupid--he always takes up things so; +he'll be thinking now that if he makes marks on the sand, he'll be +learning jography." + +Denny turned away with a very superior air. Baby looked much hurt. + + [Illustration: "Are _that_ jography?" he said.--P. 94.] + +"Him's not stupid, _are_ him?" he said; and in a moment Celia and Fritz +were hugging him and calling Denny a naughty, unkind girl to tease him. +Mother and auntie had walked on a little, so things _might_ have gone on +to a quarrel if Lisa hadn't stopped it. + +"Mine children," she said, "it is too pity to be not friendly together. +See what one beautifullest place this is--sky so blue and sea so blue, +and all so bright and sunny. One should be nothing but happy here." + +"Yes," said Celia, looking round, "it is an awfully pretty place." + +Celia, you see, was just beginning to be old enough to notice really +beautiful things in a way that when children are _very_ little, they +cannot quite understand, though some do much more than others. + +"It is a _very_ pretty place," she said again, as if she were speaking +to herself, for Fritz and Denny had taken it into their heads to run +races, of which Lisa was very glad, and Celia stood still by herself, +looking round at the lovely sea and sky, and the little white town +perched up above, with the mountains rising behind. Suddenly a little +hand was slipped into hers. + +"Him would like to live here everways," said Baby's voice; "it _are_ so +pitty--somefin like Heaven, p'raps." + +"I don't know," said Celia, "I suppose Heaven must be prettier than +anything we could fancy." + +"There's gold streets in Heaven, Lisa says," said Baby; "him sinks blue +sky streets would be much pittier." + +"So do I," said Celia. + +Then they walked on a little, watching Fritz and Denny, already like two +black specks in front--they had run on so far--and, somehow, in the +_very_ bright sunshine, one seemed to see less clearly. Mother and +auntie were in front too, and when Fritz and Denny raced back again, +quite hot and out of breath, mother said it was time for them all to go +in; it was still rather too hot to be out much near the middle of the +day, though it was already some way on in November, and next month would +be the month that Christmas comes in! + +"How funny it seems," said Celia. "Why, when we left home it was quite +winter. Just think how we were wrapped up when we started on the +journey, and now we're quite warm enough with nothing at all over our +frocks." + +"It may be cold enough before long," said mother, who was more +accustomed to hot climates than the children; "sometimes the cold +hereabouts comes quite suddenly, and it even seems colder from having +been so warm before. I daresay you will be glad of your thick clothes +before Christmas. But we must get on a little quicker, or else +grandfather will be in a hurry for his breakfast." + +"Ganfather's werry lazy not to have had him's breakfast yet," said +Baby. "_Him's_ had _him's_ breakfast ever so long ago, hundreds of years +ago." + +"Oh, Baby," said Denny, "how you do 'saggerate! It _couldn't_ have been +hundreds of years ago, because, you know, you weren't born then." + +"Stupid girl!" said Baby, "how does you know? you wasn't there." + +"Well, _you_ weren't there," said Denny again. + +"Children, don't contradict each other. It's not nice," said auntie. + +"Him didn't begin," said Baby, "t'were Denny beginned." + +"I didn't. I only said _once_ that Baby wasn't born hundreds of years +ago," said Denny, "and then he----" + +"Onst is as wurst as twicet," said Baby. + +Mother turned round at this. There was a funny look on her face, but +still she spoke rather gravely. + +"Baby, I don't know what's coming over you," she said. "It isn't like +you to speak like that." + +Baby's face grew red, and he turned his head away. + +"Him didn't mean _zeally_ that ganfather were lazy," he said, in a low +voice. + +"It wasn't _that_ I was vexed with you for," said mother. "I know you +were joking when you said that. I meant what you said to Denny." + +"Him's werry sorry," said Baby, on the point of tears. + +"Never mind. Don't cry about it," said mother, who really wanted the +children to be very good and happy this first day. And she was a little +afraid of Baby's beginning to cry, for, _sometimes_, once he had begun, +it was not very easy to stop him. + +"You don't understand about grandfather and his breakfast," said auntie. +"Here nobody has big breakfast when they first get up except you +children, who have the same that you have at home." + +"No we don't," said Denny. "At home we have bread and milk every day +except Sunday--on Sunday we have bacon or heggs, because that's the +nothing-for-breakfast day." + +Auntie stared at Denny. + +"Really, Denny," she said, "it is sometimes a little difficult to be +sure that you have got all your senses. How can you have 'nothing for +breakfast' when you have bacon, and--who in the world ever taught you to +say 'heggs'?" + +"I meant to say 'neggs,'" said Denny very humbly. "Grandfather laughed +at me because I didn't say 'hippotamus' right--I called it a +'nippotamus,' and he made me say 'hi-hi-hip,' and that's got me into the +way of saying it to everything, like calling a negg, a hegg." + +"A _negg_," repeated auntie slowly. "Can't you hear any difference +between 'a negg,' and 'an egg'? Spell, a-n an, e-g-g egg." + +Denny repeated it. + +"What dedful jography Denny's having," observed Baby; "I can say _a +negg, quite_ right." + +"And so you too call 'a negg' nothing for breakfast?" said auntie. + +"Neggs and bacon is nothing for breakfast," answered Baby. + +"Auntie," said Fritz, "you don't understand. We call it nothing for +breakfast when there's not bread-and-milk, you know, for on +bread-and-milk days we have just one little cup of tea and a bit of +bread-and-butter after the bread-and-milk. But on Sundays, and +birthdays, there's nothing for the _first_, and so we get better things, +more like big people, and tea, and whatever there is, as soon as we +begin. That's why we like 'nothing for breakfast,' do you see, auntie?" + +"I see," said auntie, "but I certainly couldn't have guessed. I hope +there's _something_ for breakfast to-day for us, for I'm very hungry, +and look, there's grandfather coming out to meet us, which looks as if +he were hungry too. And what have you to say to it, old man?" she added, +as Herr Baby came up the steps, one foot at a time, of course, "aren't +you hungry after your walk?" + +"Him's hungry for him's _dinner_, but not for him's _breakfast_; in +course not," said Baby, with great dignity. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN OLD SHOP AND AN OGRE + + "Innocent face with the sad sweet eyes, + Smiling on us through the centuries." + + +Baby and Fritz went out a walk that afternoon in the town with auntie +and Lisa. Celia and Denny had gone for a drive with mother and +grandfather, which the big people thought would make a good division. +Grandfather was very fond of children, but in a carriage, he used to +say, _two_ small people were enough of a good thing. So Celia and Denny +worried Lisa to get out their best hats and jackets--which were not +unpacked, as grandfather had not yet decided whether they should stay at +the hotel or get a house for themselves--and set off in great spirits on +the back seat of the carriage. + +Fritz and Baby were in very good spirits too. Fritz wanted to walk along +the sort of front street of the town which faced the sea, for he was +never tired of looking at boats and ships. Baby liked them too, but what +he most wanted to see was the shops. Baby was very fond of shops. He was +fond of buying things, but before he bought anything he used to like to +be quite sure which was the best shop to get it at--I mean to say at +which shop he could get it best--and he often asked the price two or +three times before he fixed. And he had never before seen so many shops +or such pretty and curious ones as there were at Santino, so he was +quite delighted, though if you hadn't known him well you would hardly +have guessed it, for he trotted along as grave as a little judge, only +staring about him with all his eyes. + +And indeed there were plenty of things to stare at. Fritz's tongue went +very fast. He wanted auntie to stop every minute to look at something +wonderful. The carts drawn by oxen pleased him and Baby very much. + +"That's the working cows they told us about," said Fritz. "They're very +nice, but I think I like horses best, don't you, Baby?" + +"No, him likes cows best," said Baby, "when him's a man him will have a +calliage wif hundreds of cows to pull it along, and wif lots and lots of +gold bells all tinkling. Won't that be lubly?" + +"Not half so nice as a lot of ponies, all with bells," said Fritz, +"they'd make ever so much more jingling, 'cos they go so fast. Isn't it +funny to see all the women with handkerchers on their heads and no +bonnets, Baby?" + +"When him's a man," said Baby again--he was growing more talkative +now--"when him's a man, him's going to have auntie and Lisa," auntie and +Lisa came first, of course, because they happened to be in his sight, +"and mother, and Celia, and Denny _all_ for his wifes, and them shall +all wear most bootly hankerwifs on them's heads, red and blue and pink +and every colour, and gold--lots of gold." + +"Thank you," said auntie, "but by that time my hair, for one, will be +quite gray; I shall be quite an old woman. I don't think such splendid +trappings would suit me." + +"Him said _handkerwifs_, not traps--him doesn't know what traps is," +said Baby. "And him will be werry kind to you when you're old. Him will +always let you come in and warm yourself, and give you halfpennies." + +"Thank you, dear, I'm sure you will," said auntie. But she and Fritz +looked at each other. That was one of Herr Baby's ideas, and they +couldn't get him to understand, so mother settled it was better to +leave it and he'd understand of himself when he grew bigger. He thought +that _everybody_, however rich and well off they might be, had to grow +quite, quite poor, and to beg for pennies in the streets before they +died. Wasn't it a funny fancy? It was not till a good while afterwards +that mother found out that what had made him think so was the word +"old." He couldn't understand that growing old could mean only growing +old in years--he thought it meant as well, poor and worn-out, like his +own little old shoes. Just now it would have been no good trying to +explain, even if mother had quite understood what was in his mind, which +she didn't till he told her himself long after. For it only made him cry +when people tried to explain and _he_ couldn't explain what he meant. +There was nothing vexed him so much! And I think there was something +rather nice mixed up with this funny idea about getting old. It made +Baby wish to be so kind to all poor old people. He would look at any +poor old beggar in such a strange sad way, and he always _begged_ to be +allowed to give them a penny. And, though no one knew of it, in his own +mind he was thinking that his dear little mother or his kind auntie +would be like that some day, and he would like rich little boys to be +kind to them then, just as he was now to other poor old people. Of +course, he said to himself, "If _him_ sees dear little mother and auntie +when they get old, _him_ will take care of them and let them rest at his +house every time they come past, but _p'raps_ him might be far away +then." + +And sometimes, when grandfather spoke about getting old and how white +his hair was growing, Baby would look at him very gravely, for in his +own mind he was wondering if the time was very soon coming for poor +grandfather to be an old beggar-man. Baby thought it _had_ to be, you +see, he thought it was just what must come to everybody. + +Just as auntie and he had finished talking about getting old they turned +a corner and went down a street which led them away from the view of the +sea. This street had shops at both sides, and some of them were very +pretty, but they were not the kind of shops that the little boys cared +much for--they were mostly dressmakers' and milliners' and shawl shops. +Lots of grand dresses and hats and bonnets were to be seen, which would +have pleased Celia and Denny perhaps, but which Fritz said were very +stupid. Auntie did not seem to care for them either--she was in a hurry +to go to an office where she was going to ask about a house that might +do for them. So she walked on quickly, as quickly at least as Baby's +short legs could go, for she held him by the hand, and Fritz and Lisa +came behind. They left this street in a minute and crossed through two +or three others before auntie could find the one she wanted. Suddenly +Baby gave her a tug. + +"Oh auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute. Him sees shiny glass jugs +like dear little mother's. Oh, do 'top." + +Auntie stopped. They were passing what is called an old curiosity shop; +it was a funny looking place, seeming very crowded even though it was a +large shop, for it was so very full of all sorts of queer things. Some +among them were more queer than pretty, but some were very pretty too, +and in one corner of the window there were several jugs, and cups, and +bottles, and such things, of very fine glass, with the same sort of +soft-coloured shine on it that Baby remembered in the two jugs that he +had pulled down in the tiny trunk. Baby's eyes had spied them out at +once. + + [Illustration: "Oh, auntie," he said, "p'ease 'top one minute. + Him sees shiny glass jugs like dear little mother's. Oh, do + 'top."--P. 106.] + +"Look, look, auntie," he said, again gently tugging her. + +"Yes, Baby dear, very pretty," said auntie, but without paying much +attention to the glass, for she was not thinking of Baby's adventure in +the pantry at the moment, and did not know what jugs of his mother's he +meant. + +"There is two _just_ like mother's," said Baby, but he spoke lower now, +almost as if he were speaking to himself. An idea had come into his mind +which he had hardly yet understood himself, and he did not want to speak +of it to any one else. He just stood at the window staring in, his two +eyes fixed on the glass jugs, and the great question he was saying to +himself was, "How many pennies would they cost?" + +"Them's a little smaller, him sinks," he murmured, "but p'raps mother +wouldn't mind." + +It was a mistake of his that they were smaller; they were really a +little larger than the broken ones. Besides Baby had never seen the +broken ones till they _were_ broken. One of them had been much less +smashed than the other, and mother had examined it to see if it could +possibly be mended so as to look pretty as an ornament, even though it +would never do to hold water, and, when she found nothing could be done, +she had told Thomas to keep the top part of it as a sort of pattern, in +case she ever had a chance of getting the same. I think I forgot to +explain this to you before, and you may have wondered how Baby knew so +well what the jugs had been like. + +"Them is a little smaller," he said again to himself. He did not +understand that things often look smaller when they are among a great +many others of the same kind, and though there was not a very great deal +of the shiny glass in the shop window, there was enough to make it +rather a wonder that such a little boy as Baby had caught sight of the +two jugs at all, for they were behind the rest. He had time to look at +them well, for, though auntie had been rather in a hurry, she, too, +stood still in front of the shop, for something had caught her eyes too. + +"How _very_ pretty, how sweet!" she said to herself, "I wish I could +copy it. It seems to me beautifully done," and when Fritz, who had not +found the shop so interesting as the others had done, in his turn gave +her a tug and said, "Auntie, aren't you coming?" she pointed out to him +what it was she was so pleased with. + +"Isn't it sweet, Fritz?" said auntie. + +"Yes," said Fritz, "but it's rather dirty, auntie, isn't it?" + +Fritz was very, what is called, _practical_. The "it" that auntie was +speaking about was an old picture, hanging up on the wall at the side of +the door. It was the portrait of a little girl, a very little girl, of +not more than three or four years old. She had a dear little face, sweet +and bright, and yet somehow a very little sad, or else it was the +long-ago make of the dress, and the faded look of the picture itself, +beside the baby-like face that made it _seem_ sad. You couldn't help +thinking the moment you saw it, "Dear me, that little girl must be a +very old woman by now or most likely she must be dead!" I think it was +that that made one feel sad on first looking at the picture, for, after +all, the face _was_ bright and happy-looking: the rosy, roguish, little +mouth was smiling, the soft blue eyes had a sort of twinkling fun in +them, though they were so soft, and the fair hair, so fair that it +almost seemed white, drawn up rather tight in an old-fashioned way, fell +back again on one side as if little Blue-eyes had just been having a +good run. And one fat, dimpled shoulder was poked out of the prim white +frock in a way that, I daresay, had rather shocked the little girl's +mother when the painter first showed her his work, for our little, old, +great-great-grandfathers' and great-great-grandmothers', children, must +have had to sit very, very still in their very best and stiffest frocks +and suits when their pictures were painted, poor little things! They +were not so lucky as you are nowadays, who have only to go to the +photograph man's for half an hour, and keep your merry faces still for a +quarter of a minute, if your mothers want to have a picture of you! + +But Blue-eyes must have had some fun when _her_ picture was painted, I +think, or else that little shoulder wouldn't have got leave to poke +itself out of its sleeve, and there wouldn't have been that mischievous +look about the comers of her mouth. + +"_Isn't_ it a little dirty, auntie?" said Fritz. + +"Wouldn't your face look a little dirty if it had been hanging up in a +frame for over a hundred years?" said auntie, laughing, at which Fritz +looked rather puzzled. + +Then auntie's eyes went back to the picture again. + +"It _is_ sweet," she said, "very, very sweet, and so perfectly natural." + +All this time, as I told you, Herr Baby's whole mind had been given to +the shiny glasses. Suddenly the sound of his aunt's voice caught his +ear, and he looked up. + +"What is it that is so 'weet, auntie?" he said. + +"The picture over there, dear. Hanging up by the door. The little girl." + +Baby looked up, and in a moment his eyes brightened. + +"Oh, what a _dear_ little baby!" he said. "Oh, her _is_ 'weet! Auntie, +him would so like to kiss her." + +"You darling!" said auntie, her glance turning from the sweet picture +face above to the sweet living face beside her. "I wonder if you will +ever learn to paint like that, Baby. _I_ should very much like to copy +it if I could have the loan of it. It would be sure to be very dear to +buy," she added to herself. "But we must hurry, my little boys," she +went on. "I was tempted to waste time admiring the picture, but we must +be quick." + +Fritz and Lisa turned away with auntie, but Baby waited one moment +behind. He pressed his face close against the shop window and whispered +softly, + +"Pitty little girl, him would like to kiss you. Him will come a 'nother +day. P'ease, pitty little girl, don't let nobody take away the shiny +glasses, for him wants to buy them for mother." + +Then, quite satisfied, he trotted down the street after the others, who +were waiting for him a few doors off. + +"Were you saying good-bye to the picture, Baby?" said auntie, smiling. + +"Yes," said Baby gravely. + +Auntie soon found the office where she was to hear about the house they +were thinking of taking. The little boys stood beside her and listened +gravely while she asked questions about it, though they couldn't +understand what was said. + +"Him wishes the people in this countly wouldn't talk lubbish talk," said +Herr Baby to Fritz with a sigh. "Him would so like to know what them +says." + +"_I_ want to know if we're going to have a house with a garden," said +Fritz. "That's all _I_ care about," and as soon as they were out in the +street again, he asked auntie if "the man" had said there was a garden +to the house. + +"There are several houses that I have to tell your grandfather about," +said auntie. "Some have gardens and some haven't, but the one we like +the best has a garden, though not a very big one." + +"Not as big as the one at home?" said Fritz. + +"Oh dear no, of course not," said auntie. "It is quite different here +from at home. People only come to stay a short time, they wouldn't care +to be troubled with big gardens." + +"I don't mind," said Fritz amiably, "if only it's big enough for us to +have a corner to dig in, and somewhere to play in when Lisa's in a fussy +humour." + +"Mine child," said Lisa mildly. Poor Lisa, she was not a very fussy +person! Indeed she was rather too easy for such lively young people as +Fritz and Denny. + +"And do you want a garden, too, very much, Baby?" said auntie. + +Baby had hardly heard what they were saying. His mind was still running +on the shiny jugs and the blue-eyed little girl. + +"Him wants gate lots of pennies," he said, which didn't seem much of an +answer to auntie's question. + +"Lots of pennies, my little man," said auntie. "What do you want lots of +pennies for?" + +But Baby would not tell. + +Just then they saw coming towards them in the street two very funny +looking men. They had no hats or caps on their heads, so the children +could see that they had no hair either, at least none on the top, where +it was shaved quite off, and only a sort of fringe all round left. Then +they had queer loose brown coats, with big capes, something like +grandfather's Inverness cloak, Fritz thought, and silver chains hanging +down at their sides, and, queerest of all, no stockings or proper boots +or shoes, only things like the _soles_ of shoes strapped on to their +bare feet. These were called sandals, auntie said, and she told the boys +that these funny looking men were monks, "Franciscans," she said they +were called. They all lived together, and they never kept any money, and +people said--but auntie thought that was not quite true--that they never +washed themselves. + +"Nasty dirty men," said Fritz, making a face. "I shouldn't like to be a +Franciscan." + +"Not in winter, Fritz?" said Baby. "Him wouldn't mind in winter when the +water _are_ so cold. Lisa," he went on, turning round to his nurse, +"'member--when the _werry_ cold mornings comes, him's going to be a +Frantisker--will you 'member, Lisa?" + +"But what about the pennies?" said auntie, laughing. "If you are a +Frantisker, Baby, you won't have any pennies, and you said just now you +wanted a great lot of pennies." + +Baby looked very grave. + +"Then him won't be a Frantisker," he said decidedly. + +After that he spoke very little all the way home. He had a great deal on +his mind, you see. And his last thought that night as he was falling +asleep was, "Him are so glad him asked the little pitty girl to take +care of the shiny jugs." + +Funny little Herr Baby! How much was fancy, how much was earnest in his +busy baby mind, who can tell? + +A few days after this, they all moved from the Hotel to the pretty house +with a garden which auntie had gone to ask about. It _was_ a pretty +house. I wish I could show it to you, children! It had not only a garden +but a terrace, and this terrace overlooked the sea, the blue sunny sea +of the south. And from one side, or from a little farther down in the +garden, one could see the white-capped mountains, rising, rising up into +the sky, with sometimes a soft mist about their heads which made them +seem even higher than they were, "high enough to peep into heaven," said +Baby; and sometimes, on very clear days, standing out sharply against +the blue behind, so that one could hardly believe it would take more +than a few minutes to run to the top and down again. + +There were many interesting things in this garden--things that the +children had not had in the old garden at home, nice though it was. It +was not so beautifully neat as the flower part of the garden at home, +but I do not think the children liked it any the less for that. The +trees and bushes grew so thickly that down at the lower end it was +really like a wilderness, a most lovely place for hide-and-seek. Then +there was a fountain, a real fountain, where the water actually danced +and fell all day long; and all round the windows of the house and the +trellised balcony there were the most lovely red shaded leaves, such as +one never sees in such quantities in the north. And in among the stones +of the terrace there lived lizards--the most delightful lizards. One in +particular grew so friendly that he used to come out at meal-times to +drink a little milk which the children spilt for him on purpose; for the +day nursery, or school-room, as Celia liked it to be called, opened on +to the terrace too, though at the other end from the two drawing-rooms +and grandfather's "study," and the windows were long and low, opening +like doors, so that Lisa had hard work to keep the children quiet at +table the first few days, for every minute they were jumping up to see +some new wonder that they caught sight of. Altogether it was a very +pretty home to spend the winter in, and every one seemed very happy. +Bully and the "calanies" were as merry as larks, if it is true that +larks are merrier than other birds, and Peepy-Snoozle and Tim, +mistaking the bright warm sunshine for another summer, I suppose, got in +the habit of being quite lively about the middle of the day as well as +in the middle of the night, instead of spending all the daylight hours +curled up like two very sleepy fairy babies with brown fur coats on, in +their nice white cotton-wool nests. + +There was so much to do and to think of the first few days that I think +Baby forgot a little about what he had seen in the old curiosity shop. +Auntie, too, was too busy to give any thought to the picture which had +so taken her fancy, though neither she nor Baby _really_ forgot the dear +little face with its loving, half-merry, half-sad blue eyes. But auntie +had to help mother to get everything settled; and of course there was a +good deal to explain to the strange servants, for neither Peters nor +Linley the maid knew "lubbish talk," as Baby _would_ call it, at all, +and it was very funny indeed to hear Peters trying to make the cook +understand how grandfather liked his cutlets, or Linley "pounding" at +the housemaid, as Fritz called it, to get it into her head that _she_ +didn't call it _cleaning_ a room to sweep all the dirt into a corner +where it couldn't be seen! Peters was more patient than Linley. When +Linley couldn't make herself understood she used to shout louder and +louder, as if that would make the others know what she meant, and then +she used to say to Celia that it really was "a _very_ hodd thing that +the people of this country seemed not to have all their senses." And +however Celia explained to her, she _couldn't_ be got to see that she +must seem just as stupid to them as they seemed to her! Peters was less +put about. He had been in India with grandfather, so he said he was used +to "furriners." He seemed to think everybody that wasn't English could +be put together as "furriners"; but he had brought a dictionary and a +book of little sentences in four languages, and he would sit on the +kitchen table patiently trying one language after another on the poor +cook, just as when one can't open a lock, one tries all the keys one can +find, to see if by chance one will fit. The cook was a very mild, gentle +man; he had a nice wife and two little children in the town, and he was +inclined to be very fond of Herr Baby, and to pet him if ever he got a +chance. But that wasn't for a good while, for Baby was at first terribly +frightened of him. He had a black moustache and whiskers and very black +eyes, and they looked blacker under his square white cook's cap, and the +first time Baby saw him through the kitchen window, the cook happened +to be standing with a large carving-knife in one hand, and a chicken +which he was holding up by the legs, in the other. Off flew Herr Baby. A +little way down the garden he ran against Denny, who was also busy +examining their new quarters. + +"Oh, Denny, Denny!" he cried, "this is a dedful place--there's a' ogre, +a real tellable ogre in the house. Him's seen him in one of the windows +under the dimey-room. Oh, Denny, Denny, p'raps him'll eaten us up." + +Denny for the first moment was, to tell the truth, a little bit +frightened herself. Common sense told her there _were_ no such things as +ogres, not now-a-days any way, at least not in England, their own +country. But a dreadful idea struck her that this was _not_ England; +this might be one of the countries where ogres, like wolves and bears, +were still occasionally to be found. There was no telling, certainly; +but not for a good deal would Miss Denise Aylmer, a young lady of nine +years old _past_, have owned to being frightened as long as she could +possibly help it. + +She caught Baby by the hand. + +"What sall we do?" he said; "sall we go and tell mother?" + +Denny considered. + +"We'd better go and see again," she said very bravely. "You must have +made a mistake, I think, Baby dear. I don't _think_ there can be any +ogres here." + +Baby was much struck by Denny's courage. His hand slipped back a very +little out of hers. + +"Will _you_ go and see, Denny?" he said. "Him will stay here till you +comes back." + +"Oh, no, you'd better come with me," said Denny, who felt that even Baby +was better than nobody. "I shouldn't know where you saw the ogre," and +she kept tight hold of his hand. "Which window was it?" + +"It were at a tiny window _really_ under the ground. Him was peeping to +see if there was f'owers 'side of the wall," said Baby. "Him'll show +you, Denny; him _are_ so glad you isn't f'ightened." + +They set off down the path, making their way rather cautiously as they +got near the house. Suddenly Denny felt Baby squeeze her hand more +tightly, and with a sort of scream he turned round and hid his face +against her. + +"There! There!" he cried. "Him sees the ogre coming." + + [Illustration: Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed, + white-capped man came towards them smiling.--P. 121.] + +Denny looked up. She saw a rather little man with a white apron and a +white cap, carrying a couple of cackling hens or chickens in his arms, +coming across the garden from the house. He was on his way to a little +sort of poultry-yard, where he had fastened up half-a-dozen live +chickens he had bought at the market that morning, meaning to kill two +of them for dinner, but finding them not so fat as he had expected, he +was putting them back among their friends for a day or two. Very like a +_real_ ogre, if Denny and Baby had understood all about it, which they +didn't. Denny herself, for a minute or two, felt puzzled as to who this +odd-looking man could be. But he was no _ogre_, that was certain, any +way. + +"Don't be frightened, Baby, it's not a' ogre," she said. "Look up, he's +far too little." + +Baby ventured to peep round. The little black-eyed, white-capped man +came towards them smiling. + +"Bon jour, Mademoiselle, bon jour, Monsieur Bebe," he said, looking +quite pleased. And then he stroked down the ruffled feathers of the poor +chickens, and held them out to the two children, chattering away at a +great rate in Baby's "lubbish talk," hardly a word of which they +understood. + +"Can he be wanting to sell the chickens?" said Denny. + +The cook, who had before this lived with families from England, +understood the children's language better than they did his, which, +however, is not saying a great deal. + +"Yes, Mees, pairfectly," he said. "Me sell zem at ze marche the morning. +Fine poulets, goot poulets, not yet strong--wait one, two, 'ree days--be +strong for one grand dinner for Madame." + +"Who are you? What's your name, please?" said Denny, still a little +alarmed. + +"Jean-Georges, Mademoiselle," said the little man, with a bow. +"Jean-Georges compose charming plates for Mademoiselle and Monsieur +Bebe. Jean-Georges loves little messieurs and little 'demoiselles. +Madame permit Monsieur and Mademoiselle visit Jean-Georges in his +cuisine one day." + +Denny caught the word "cuisine," which, of course, children, you will +know means "kitchen." + +"He's the cook, Baby," she said, with great relief; "don't you remember +grandfather said he must have a man cook? Good morning, Mr. Cook, we'll +ask mother to let us go and see you one day in your kitchen, and you +must make us very nice things to eat, please Mr. Cook." + +"Pairfectly, Mademoiselle," said Jean-Georges, with as magnificent a +bow as he could manage, considering the two chickens in his arms, and +then he walked away. + +"What a _very_ nice man!" said Denny, feeling very proud of herself, and +quite forgetting that she, too, had not been without some fears. "You +see, Baby dear, how foolish it is to be frightened. I _told_ you there +couldn't be any ogres here." + +Herr Baby did not answer for a moment. He had certainly very much +admired Denny's courage, but still he wasn't quite sure that she had not +been a _very_ little afraid, just for a minute, when he had called out +"There he is!" + +"What would you have done if there _had_ been a' ogre, Denny?" he said. + +"Oh, bother," said Denny, "what's the good of talking about things that +_couldn't_ be? Talk of something sensible, Baby." + +Baby grew silent again. They walked on slowly down the garden path. + +"Denny," said Baby, in a minute or two, "didn't the little man say +somefin about mother having a party?" + +Denny pricked up her ears at this. Parties of all kinds pleased her very +much. + +"Did he?" she said, "I didn't notice. He said something about Madame's +dinner, but I didn't think he meant a dinner-_party_. Perhaps he did +though. We'll ask. I'd like mother to have some parties; it seems quite +a long time since I had one of my best frocks on to come down to the +drawing-room before dinner, the way we did at home. And I know mother +and auntie have friends here. I heard that stupid little footman asking +Linley what day 'Miladi' would 'receive,' that means have visitors, +Baby." + +Denny's tongue had run on so fast, that it had left Baby's wits some way +behind. They had stopped short at the first idea of a party. + +"Mother likes to make _werry_ pitty dinners when she has parties," he +said. "Mother told him that were why she were so solly when him breaked +her's pitty glasses." + +"I don't know what you're talking about, Baby," said Denny. "Let's have +a race. I'll give you a start." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BABY'S SECRET + + "'Pussy, only you I'll tell, + For you can keep secrets well; + Promise, pussy, not a word.' + Pussy reared her tail and purred." + + +There was a cat at the Villa Desiree, Baby's, and Denny's, and "all of +them's house," as Baby would have called it. Where the cat came from I +don't know--whether it belonged to the villa and let itself out with it +every winter, like the furniture, or whether it was really the cat of +Madame Jean-Georges, and had followed Monsieur Jean-Georges back one +evening when he had been home to see his "good friend" (that was what he +called his wife), and his two "bebes," is what I cannot tell. I only +know the cat was there, and that when Baby could get a chance of playing +with it he was very pleased. He didn't often have a chance, in his own +room, for "Mademoiselle," as Celia was always called by the new +servants, a title which she thought much nicer than "Miss Aylmer," or +"Miss Celia," _Mademoiselle_, said "the stupid little footman," had +given strict orders that "Minet" was not to be allowed upstairs for fear +of the "pets," the "calanies," and the Bully, and Peepy-Snoozle, and +Tim, all of whom would have been very much to Minet's taste, I fear. It +was very funny to see the way the little footman went "shoo-ing" at the +poor cat the moment Celia appeared, for Celia had rather grand manners +for her age, and the servants thought her very "distinguished," +especially the stupid little footman. But Herr Baby was very sorry for +poor Minet; he had no particular pet of his own here, nothing to make up +for his "labbits," and so he took a great fancy to the pussy. + +"Poor little 'weet darling," he would call it; "Celia's a c'uel girl to +d'ive Minet away, _Minet_ wouldn't hurt the calanies, or the Bully, or +the sleepy-mouses; Minet is far too good." + +"Pray, how do _you_ know, Baby?" Celia would say. "Cats are cats all the +world over, every one knows that." + +"_Minet_ aren't," Baby would have it, "Minet has suts a kind heart. Him +asked Minet if her would hurt the calanies and the sleepy-mouses, and +her said 'no, sairtingly not.'" + +"Baby!" said Denny, "what stories! Cats can't talk. You shouldn't tell +stories." + +"Minet can talk," said Baby. "When him asks for somefin, her says +'proo-proo-oo,' and that means 'yes,' and if her means 'no,' her humps +up her back and s'akes her tail. When him asked Minet if her would like +to hurt the calanies, her humped up her back _never_ so high, and sook +and _sook_ her tail, for no, _no_, NO!" + +Celia could not find an answer to this. Baby went on stroking Minet with +great satisfaction, as if there was nothing more to be said. + +"All the same," said Celia at last, "I don't want Minet to come +upstairs. She's quite as happy downstairs, and, you see, it would +_frighten_ the birds and the dormice if they saw her, for _they_ +mightn't understand that she wouldn't, on any account, hurt them." + +"Werry well," said Baby, and he went on playing with his new pet. + +"Herr Baby," said Lisa coming into the room a moment or two later; "mine +child, how is it that your coat is so dirty? All green, Herr Baby, as if +you had rubbed it on the wet grass." + +"It's with his poking in among the bushes by the kitchen window," said +Denny of the ready tongue; "yesterday, you know, Baby, when you +thought----" + +"Hush," said Baby, "don't talk to me. You distairb me and the cat--we'se +busy." + +Denny and Lisa looked at each other and smiled. + +"Pussy, pitty pussy, dear Minet," went on Baby, who wanted to stop +Denny's account of his fears. + +"We're going out, Herr Baby," said Lisa. "There are commissions for your +lady mamma. We are to go to the patissier and----" + +"Who are the pattyser?" said Baby. + +"The cumfectioner," said Denny. + +Baby pricked up his ears. + +"We are to go to the patissier," said Lisa, "to order some cakes for +Miladi for to-morrow, when Miladi's friends come to dine; and perhaps we +will buy some little cake for Herr Baby's tea. Come, mine child, leave +Minet, and come." + +Herr Baby got up from the corner of the room where he had been embracing +the cat; there was a grave look on his face, but he did not say anything +till he was out on the road with Lisa. Denny was not with them; she had +got leave to go a walk with Celia and the lady who came every day to +give her French lessons, which Denny thought much more grand than going +out with Baby and Lisa. + +"Lisa," said Baby, after a few minutes, "are mother going to have a +party?" + +"Not one very big party," said Lisa, "just some Miladis and some +Herren--some genkelmen--to dine." + +"Will it look very pitty?" asked Baby. + +"Not so pretty as at _home_," said Lisa, who, now that she was away from +it, of course looked upon The Manor--that was the name of "home"--as the +most lovely place in the world; "there's no nice glass, no nice pretty +dishes here. And Francois, he is so dumm--how you say 'dumm,' Herr +Baby?" + +"Dumm," repeated Baby, exactly copying Lisa's voice, staring up in her +face. + +"No, mine child, how you say it of English? Ah--I knows--_stupid_. +Francois, he is too stupid. Peters and I, we will make the table so +pretty as might be. Lisa will command some bon-bons." + +"Mother will want the shiny jugs," thought poor Baby. "Him _s'ould_ have +brought him's pennies. Him would like to know if him has 'nuff pennies; +perhaps him could go to the little girl's shop when Lisa is at the +pattyser's." + +But he said nothing aloud. How it was that he kept his thoughts to +himself, why he had such a dislike to any one knowing what was in his +mind, I cannot exactly tell; but so it was, and so it often is with very +little children, even though quite frank and open by nature. Baby had, I +think, a fear that mother might not like him to spend all his pennies on +the shiny jugs, perhaps she might say she would pay them herself, and +that would not have pleased him at all. Deep down in his honest little +heart was the feeling that _he_ had broken the glasses and _he_ should +pay for the new ones. But he said nothing to Lisa--he had never spoken +of the jugs to her--mother had been "so kind," never to tell any one +about what a silly little boy he had been, for mother knew that he +didn't like being laughed at. _Perhaps_ "they" would laugh at him now if +he told about wanting to buy the shiny jugs--he wouldn't mind so much if +he _had_ bought them, but "'appose they wouldn't let him go to the shop +to get them?" Poor little mother! She wouldn't have her pitty glasses +then for the party--no, it was much best to settle it all his own self. +Whom he meant by "they" I don't think Baby quite knew, he had a sort of +picture in his mind of grandfather and auntie and mother all talking +together, and Celia and Fritz and Denny all joining in, and saying that +"Baby was far too little to go to shops to buy things." And by the time +he had thought this all over, Herr Baby glancing up--for till now he had +been walking along with Lisa's hand, seeing and noticing nothing--found +that they were already in the street of the town where the biggest shops +were, and that Lisa was looking about to find the shop where she was to +give the orders for his mother. + +It was a very pretty shop indeed--Baby had never seen such a pretty +shop. The cakes and bon-bons were laid out so nicely on the tables round +the wall, and they were all of such pretty colours. Baby walked round +and round admiring, and, I think, considering he was such a very little +boy, that it was very good of him not to think of touching any of the +tempting dainties. In a few minutes Lisa had ordered all she +wanted--then she chose some nice biscuits and a very few little +chocolate bon-bons, which she had put up in two paper parcels, and when +they came out of the shop she told Herr Baby that they were for him, his +mother had told her to get him something nice. Baby looked pleased, but +still he seemed very grave, and Lisa began wondering what he was +thinking of. + +"Are you tired, mine child?" she said. + +No, Herr Baby was not at all tired. He wanted to walk down the street to +the other end to see all the shops, he wanted to see _all_ the streets +and _all_ the shops before they went home. Lisa was rather amused. She +had not known Herr Baby was so _very_ fond of shops, she said, and it +would take far too long to see them _all_. But she went to the end of +that street with him, and then back again down the opposite side, and +then he begged her to turn down the other street they had crossed on +their way to the confectioner's, and they had gone quite to the end of +_it_, Baby staring in at all the shop windows in a way that really made +Lisa smile, for he looked so grave and solemn, when all of a sudden, +just as Lisa was thinking of saying they must go home, Baby gave a sort +of little scream and almost jumped across the street. + +"Him sees it, him sees it," he cried, and when Lisa asked him what he +meant, all he would say was, + +"That's the little street we went down with auntie the 'nother day," and +Lisa, who had forgotten all about the old shop window with the shiny +glass and the blue-eyed picture, wondered why he was so eager about it. + +"Is that the way we came?" she said, "I am not sure. I not quite +remember." + +But "him wants to go home that way," persisted Baby, and he tugged Lisa +along. They passed at the other side, but Baby did not mind that. He +could see across quite plainly, for the street was narrow, and there +were still the glasses in the corner and the sweet baby-girl face up on +the wall, looking down on them. + +And after that he was quite satisfied to go quietly home; he did not +speak much on the way, but Lisa was accustomed to his grave fits, and +did not pay much attention to them. He only asked her one question--just +as they were getting close to the Villa. + +"Is it to-morrow mother's going to have all the pitty things for +dinner?" he said. + +"Yes, Herr Baby, and Lisa will be busy, to show Francois how Miladi +likes everything. Herr Baby and Fraeulein Denny will be goot and play +peacefully in the garden to-morrow, so she can be busy," said Lisa, who +was very proud of being of so much consequence. + +"Yes," said Herr Baby, "him won't want you to take care of him." + +After tea he got out his money-box. This he often did. He was such a +careful little boy that mother let him keep his money himself, and it +was a great pleasure to him to count over the different kinds of +"pennies;" he called them all "pennies," brown, white, and even yellow +pennies, for Baby had a pound and a ten shilling piece that had been +given him on his last birthday, and that he had never been able to make +up his mind how to spend. He looked at them now with great satisfaction. + +"See, Denny," he said, "him has two yellow pennies, a big and a little, +and free white pennies, a big and a little and a littler, and five brown +pennies. Him knows there's five, for him can count up to five, 'cos +five's just as old as him is going to be. See, Denny, isn't there a lot? +And the yellow pennies could be turned into lots and lots of white +pennies Lisa says, and the white pennies could be turned into lots of +brown pennies, isn't it funny? Isn't him werry rich, Denny?" + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Denny, "I really don't know. I wish you +wouldn't chatter so, Baby. I can't learn my lessons." + +Poor Baby! It was not often he was to blame for "chattering so." But he +looked with great respect at Denny for having lessons to do, and was +not at all offended. Denny was proud of being with Celia and the new +governess, but I think her pleasure was a little spoilt by finding that +the new governess had no idea of taking care of a little girl who didn't +do any lessons, and this evening she was rather cross at a row of French +words which she had to learn to say the next morning. Baby went quietly +off into the corner with his money-box, but finding it rather dull to +have no one to show his pennies to, he went out of the room, which you +remember was downstairs, and, opening a door which led to the kitchen, +peeped about in hopes of seeing his friend Minet. He had not long to +wait--Minet had a corner of her own by the kitchen wall, on the other +side of which was the stove, and where she found herself almost as warm +as in the kitchen, when Monsieur Jean-Georges objected to her company. +She was curled up in this corner when she heard Baby's soft voice +calling her--"Minet, Minet, pussy, pussy," and up she got, slowly and +lazily, as cats do when they are half asleep, but still willingly +enough, for she dearly loved Herr Baby. + +"Minet," said Baby, when she appeared, and coming up to him rubbed her +furry coat against his little bare legs, "Minet, dear, come and sit wif +him on the 'teps going down to the garden, and him'll tell you about +his money." + +But Lisa, coming by just then, said it was too cold now to sit on stone +steps; for warm as it was in the day at Santino the evenings got quickly +chilly. + +"Us can't go back to the 'coolroom," said Baby; "Denny won't let dear +Minet come there, and him must stay wif Minet, 'cos her waked up when +him called her." + +"Miss Denny must let you stay in the school-room," said Lisa. "There is +no little birds there for Minet to touch." + +She opened the door, and Denny was too busy with her lessons to scold. + +"You will be very quiet, Herr Baby," said Lisa. So Baby and Minet went +off into a corner with the money-box. + +"Minet, dear," said Baby, in a low voice, "see what lots of pennies him +has. Yellow pennies, and white pennies, and brown pennies." + +Minet purred, naturally, for Baby was stroking her softly with one hand +all the time he was holding up his pennies with the other. + +"Dear Minet," said Baby, much gratified, "you is pleased that him has so +many pennies. Now, Minet, him will tell you a secret, a _gate, gate_ +secret, about what him's going to do wif all him's pennies." + +Here Minet purred again. Baby looked round. There was no one listening. +Lisa was going backwards and forwards, putting away the tea-things; +Denny was still groaning and grumbling over her row of words; Baby might +safely tell Minet his secret. Still he lowered his voice _so_ low that +certainly no one but Minet could hear. And when he left off speaking, +Minet purred more than ever. Only Baby thought it just as well to say to +her, before Lisa took him away up to bed, "Minet, dear, you'll be _sure_ +not to tell nobody;" and I suppose Minet promised, for Baby seemed quite +pleased. + +He woke in the morning with his head quite full of his great idea. They +were not to go a regular walk that day, Lisa told him, for in the +afternoon she would be busy, and Herr Baby would be good and play +quietly in the garden, would he not? + +"All alone?" asked Baby. + +"Perhaps Miss Denny will stay, too, if Herr Baby wishes," said Lisa; +"she was going again with Miss Celia, but----" + +"Oh no," said Baby, "him would rather be alone, kite alone, 'cept Minet. +Fritz is very good to him, but Fritz will be at school. Fritz is never +at home now 'cept Thursdays." + +"No," said Lisa; "but Herr Fritz is very happy at school, and when Herr +Baby is big he will go too." + +"Yes," said Baby; but he didn't seem to think much what he was saying. +Lisa thought he was dull about Fritz being at school--I forgot to tell +you that Fritz went every day now to a very nice school in the town, +where there were a few boys about his own age--but Lisa was mistaken. + +That afternoon, any one passing the low hedge which at one side was all +that divided the Villa garden from the road, would have seen a pretty +little picture. There was Baby, seated on the grass, one arm fondly +clasping Minet's neck, while with the other he firmly held the famous +money-box. He was dressed in his garden blouse only, but for some reason +he had his best hat on. And he kept looking about him, first towards the +house and then towards the garden gate, in a funny considering sort of +way. + +At last he seemed to have made up his mind. + +"Minet," he said to the cat, "him thinks we'll go now. 'Amember, Minet, +you've _p'omised_ to go wif him. If you get werry tired, Minet, him'll +try to carry you. If you could carry the money-box, and him could carry +you, then it would be _kite_ easy. What a pity you haven't got two more +paws, that would do for hands, Minet!" + +Minet purred. + +"Yes, poor Minet. Nebber mind, dear; but we must be going." And closely +followed by the cat, who had no idea, poor thing, of what was before +her, Baby made his way down the path to the garden gate. It was open, at +least not latched. Baby easily pushed it wide enough for his little self +to go through, and stood, with Minet and the money-box, triumphant on +the highroad. + +"It were the best way, thit way," he said to himself. For there was +another gate to the Villa, leading out to the upper road. But this gate +was guarded by a lodge, and the "concierge," as they called the +lodge-keeper, came out to open it for every one who went in and out. And +"p'raps," thought Baby, "the concierge mightn't have let him through, +'cos, of course, her didn't know why him was going out alone with +Minet." + +So Minet and he and the money-box found themselves out on the road on +their own account. + +All the family was scattered that afternoon. Celia and Denny had gone a +long walk with their governess, Fritz was at school, mother and auntie +had driven to see some friends a good way off, meaning to call for Fritz +at his school on their way home. The servants, too, were all more busy +than usual on account of the ladies and gentlemen coming to dinner. Lisa +and Linley and Peters were all trying to make the strange servants +understand just how they were used to have the table at home, and giving +themselves a great deal more trouble than grandfather or mother would +have wished had they known about it. Lisa was very clever at arranging +flowers prettily, and she was so sure of Baby's quiet ways when he was +left to himself, that she never gave a thought to him once she saw him +safely settled in the garden with Minet. It was such a safe garden. +There really was no part of it where a child could get into any trouble, +for though there was a little water in the basin from which rose the +fountain, it was so little, that not even Minet could have wetted much +more than her paws in it. So Lisa went on quite comfortably doing the +flowers and arranging the dessert in the pantry, by way of giving +Francois a lesson, and now and then she would glance out of the window +which looked on to the garden, and, seeing Baby there with Minet, she +felt quite easy. She did once say to herself, + +"I wonder why Herr Baby begged so to have his best hat to-day--but he is +one good child, one should please him sometimes." + +I am afraid the truth was that Lisa spoilt her dear Baby a little! + +After a while she looked out again. She did not see Herr Baby this time, +but she did not think anything of it. + +"They will have gone to play among the bushes," she said to herself, +meaning by "they" Baby and Minet of course, and she went on with what +she was doing, and got so interested in helping Peters to explain to +Francois that in England people always changed the wine glasses at the +end of dinner, and put clean ones for dessert, that the time went on +without it ever entering her head to say to herself, "What can have +become of Herr Baby?" + +Mother and auntie were later than they had expected of returning from +their drive. They had gone a long way, and coming back it was mostly +up-hill. + +"Fritz will be thinking we have forgotten him," said mother, looking at +her watch, "but I told him to be sure to wait till we came. He is too +little to go home alone yet, at least till he knows his way quite well +or can speak enough to ask." + +"We might have told Celia and Denny to call for him, as they are out +with Mademoiselle," said auntie. + +Just then in turning a corner, for they were quite in the town now, +auntie's eyes caught sight of the narrow street where the old curiosity +shop was. + +"By the by," she said, "I should so like to ask about that picture. I +told you about it, you remember, May?"--May, you know, was the +children's mother's name--"have we time to go that way?" + +"I'm afraid not; we are late already," said mother. "I'm so sorry." + +"Oh, never mind, another day will do quite well," said auntie, +cheerfully. + +So they drove home, quickly, just stopping a moment to pick up Fritz, +who was waiting for them at the gate of his school. + +If they _had_ happened to go round by the old curiosity shop, how +surprised they would have been; but what a great deal of trouble it +would have saved them, as you shall hear. + +Lisa met them as they got home, with a long story about the table and +the flowers and the stupidness of Francois, which mother and auntie +could hardly help laughing at. + +"Never mind, Lisa," said mother; "it will do very well, I am sure. Where +are the children?" + +"Upstairs, Miladi, taking off their things. They have just come in," +said Lisa, never thinking, somehow, as mother said the "children," but +that she was talking of Celia and Denny. For, somehow, in this +family--in every family there are little habits of the kind--Baby was +not often spoken of among "the children." They had all got so used to +the name of Herr Baby, which Lisa had called him by since he was quite a +wee baby, that he was seldom spoken of by any other, and often Baby +himself would talk gravely about "the children," without any one seeming +to think it odd. + +"Upstairs, are they?" said mother. "Well, run off, Fritz, dear, and try +and get some of your lessons done before tea. Mademoiselle will help you +a little, I daresay, before she goes." + +Off ran Fritz. He was a very good boy about his lessons, and anxious to +get on well. More to please Lisa and the others than that they cared, +mother and auntie went into the dining-room. They were standing looking +at the pretty flowers and leaves, when suddenly Fritz put his head in at +the door again. + +"Lisa," he said, "where's Baby? He's not upstairs, and he's not in the +garden. Linley said you told him to play there this afternoon, but he's +_not_ there." + +Lisa started, and her face grew white. + +"Mine child!" she cried. "Ah, but he must be in the garden, Master +Fritz! I saw him there so happy, with the cat, just--ah, how long ago +was it? Have I forgotten him for so long? He must be hiding--to play, +to--how do you say?" for Lisa's English was very apt to fly away when +she got frightened or upset. "Ach, where can he be?" and off darted poor +Lisa. + +Mother and auntie and Fritz looked at each other. + +"Can he be _lost_?" said Fritz, with a very frightened face. + +"Oh no, no," said auntie. "Lisa is so easily startled. But still----" + +"Let us all go and look for him at once," said mother. "What a good +thing poor grandfather isn't back yet!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FOUND + + ----"he was not there: + We searched the house, the grounds--in vain; + We searched the green in our despair, + And then we searched the house again." + + +It _was_ a good thing grandfather was out, for--and this was what mother +was thinking of--poor grandfather, though he looked such a fine, tall, +gray-haired old gentleman, was not really very strong or well. It was a +great deal for him that they had all come abroad this winter, and the +doctors had told mother and auntie that anything to startle or distress +him might make him very ill indeed. Poor grandfather! I can't tell you +what a kind, good man he was. He had stayed a great many years in India, +though he would have liked dreadfully to come home, because it was "his +duty" he said, and this had made him seem older than he really was, for +a hot country is very wearing out to people who are not born to it. +And, though he was so fond of his grandchildren, I think if he _had_ a +pet among them, it was little Herr Baby. The mere idea of his tiny +Raymond--Baby was named Raymond after grandfather--being lost, even for +an hour or two, would have troubled him dreadfully, and thinking of +this, auntie, too, repeated after mother, + +"Yes, indeed, what a good thing grandfather isn't in. We _mustn't_ let +him know, May, till Baby's found." + +They didn't stay to say anything more. Off they all set into the garden, +for, though Fritz said he had looked all over, they couldn't feel sure +that they might not find Baby in some corner, hiding, perhaps, for fun, +even. But when they had all been round and round the garden in every +direction--mother, and auntie, and Celia, and Denny, and Fritz, and +Mademoiselle Lucie, and Lisa, and Linley, and Peters, and Francois, and, +even at the end I believe, Monsieur Jean-Georges himself, and the rest +of the French servants--when they had all looked, and peeped, and +shouted, and whistled, and begged, and prayed Baby to come out if he was +hiding, and there was no answer, then they gave it up. It was impossible +that the little man could be in the garden. + +Where could he be? + +Fortunately there was nowhere in the garden where he could have hurt +himself--no pit or pond into which he could have fallen. And it was +surely impossible that any one could have come into the garden and +stolen him away, as Celia, with a pale face, whispered to auntie. Where +could he be, and what should they do? + +Time was passing--the friends who were coming to dinner would be at the +villa before long; grandfather was _sure_ to appear in a few minutes. +What could they do? + +"We must not tell grandfather, that is certain," said auntie. "May, +dear, it is very hard on you, I know, but I'll tell you how it must be. +You must stay here quietly and be ready for the friends who are coming, +and I will go off at once and do all, everything I can think of. +Mademoiselle Lucie, you know the town, and you can tell me all about the +police, and where to go to _in case_ we don't find our darling at once, +though I quite think we shall. I can't take you, Peters," for Peters was +eagerly coming forward, "Sir Raymond would miss you, nor you, Lisa, for +you must take care of the other children," at which Lisa all but broke +out crying; "It was too good of Mademoiselle Helene to trust her; she +didn't deserve it." "And Francois would be no good. You and I, +Mademoiselle Lucie, will go at once. And you must tell grandfather that +I was obliged to go out, for an hour or two, unexpectedly." + +"I am afraid he will think it very strange," said mother, "but I will do +my best." + +Mother spoke quietly, but her face was very white. + +"Do go, Nelly," she said, "as quick as you can." + +And Celia and Denny, who had been thinking of bursting into tears, took +example by her and auntie, and tried to look cheerful. + +"Auntie," said Celia, running after her to the gate, "I'll be very good +and try to comfort mother. And we'll not let grandfather think there's +anything wrong. But oh, auntie dear, I _hope_ you'll soon bring dear +Baby safe home." + +"So do I, darling," said auntie, stooping to kiss her, even though she +was so hurried, and, for the first time, there was a little quiver in +her voice, and Celia ran back to the others, thinking even more than +before how good and brave auntie was. + +They hastened down the road, auntie and little Mademoiselle Lucie, I +mean. But when they had gone some little way, auntie stopped short. + +"He may have gone by the other road, and we may miss him that way;" for, +without thinking, auntie had hurried out by the little gate opening on +to the lower road. + +"I think not," said Mademoiselle Lucie, "at least the concierge would +have been sure to see him, and we did ask her, and she had not seen him +at all." + +"To be sure," said auntie, "I forgot about the concierge." + +"Besides," Mademoiselle Lucie continued, "to get to the town he must +pass the way we are going, a little farther on where the two roads run +together." + +"To be sure," said auntie, again. + +"It is to the town we are going?" asked Mademoiselle Lucie. + +"Yes," said auntie, "I have an idea, but I did not like to say it to my +sister for fear it should lead to nothing. There is a shop in the town +where there is a picture that Baby took a great fancy to the other day. +At least it was I that noticed it first, and he was so pleased with it. +There was something else in the shop that he was looking at--I don't +remember what--when we noticed the picture." + +"Do you know where the shop is? Can we easily find it?" + +"I think so; yes, I am sure I can find it," said auntie. "It is a shop +of curiosities, a shop at a corner, the street is narrow." + +"I know it," said Mademoiselle Lucie, "though it is not very well known. +There are grander shops of curiosities which are more visited, but I +know that shop, as I often pass it." + +She told auntie the name of the owner of the shop, and of the street, +and then auntie fixed, as they were now near the town, that she would go +on alone to the shop, while Mademoiselle Lucie went to her brother, who, +she hoped, would be at home at this hour, and get him to go with her to +the police office, so that no time should be lost. + +Auntie hurried on by herself, but though she went so fast that the +easy-going peasants driving their sleepy bullocks, whom she met, looked +after her in surprise, she did not, for one moment, leave off looking +about her on every side, to see if by any chance she could discover the +well-known little figure it would have given her such joy to see. But +no. Once or twice a child in the distance made her heart beat a little +quicker, but, as soon as she got near enough to see it clearly, her +hopes sank again. There were very few houses on the country road leading +from the villa till one was quite in the town. So auntie thought it not +worth while to ask, for, in a street of houses and shops standing close +together, and people constantly passing, it was much less likely that +any one would have noticed a little tot like Herr Baby making his way. + +"No," said auntie to herself, "it is no use stopping to ask. The best +thing I can do is to find the shop at once, and if they can tell me +nothing there, to follow Mademoiselle Lucie to the police office." + +And, with a deep sigh, for, somehow, every step she took farther without +seeing anything of the little truant, made auntie's heart feel +heavier--she hurried on again. + +She soon found the wide street--the street with the dressmakers' and +milliners' shops, which Fritz had not cared to look at--then she turned +one corner and went on a little farther, then another, and--yes, there +was the little old shop, looking just the same as the day they had all +stood there so happily. Auntie had been walking very quickly, almost +running, but when she saw the shop just before her she stood still--she +felt _so_ anxious--what should she do if she could hear nothing of Baby? + +When she got to the door she stopped and looked in; there seemed to be +no one in the shop. Auntie glanced up to the side of the door where the +little portrait had hung. It was gone! Could that have anything to do +with Baby? auntie asked herself in a sort of puzzled way. Could Baby +have thought of buying it? how much money had he? But it was stupid and +foolish to stand there puzzling and wondering, instead of boldly going +in to ask. Auntie took her courage in her two hands, as the saying is, +and went in. + +No one there; where could the owner of the shop be? The last time he had +come forward at once when they were only looking in--a little-dried up +old man, just the sort of person one would expect to find in such a +shop, sitting in a dark corner like an old spider, watching to see what +flies were passing his way. Auntie went right in without seeing any one, +but she heard voices not far off, and, in her anxiety, she went forward +to a door slightly open, leading into rooms behind the shop. She +knocked--but for a moment no one took any notice. They were talking so +eagerly inside that she had to knock again, and in the moment or two +that had passed without them hearing her, she heard one or two words +that made her eager to hear more. + +"No, no," some one was saying, "much better go at once to the office. We +may get into trouble." + +"He seems so sensible," said another voice. "_I_ say, better go with him +and carry the things, and we shall soon see if he knows his way, +and----" + +Auntie _could_ not wait any more. She pushed open the door and went in. +There was, however, no Herr Baby to be seen, as she had almost expected +there would be. There was the old man that she remembered having seen +before, looking like a very startled spider this time, as he raised his +two shrivelled old arms in surprise at her appearance, and beside him +was a very pleasant, bright-faced, young woman, with a baby in her arms, +talking, or at least looking as if she had just been talking very +eagerly. + +"Is he here?" said auntie, quite breathless, "my little boy, my little +nephew, I mean. Is Baby here?" + +The young woman looked at the old man with a sort of little nod of +triumph. + +"You see," she said quickly, "I said there was no need to frighten the +poor darling by taking him to the police office." "Yes, Madame," she +went on, turning to auntie, "the dear bebe is here--that is to say, he +cannot but be the one you are looking for. I sent him out into the +little garden with his cat and my little girl, while my grandfather and +I talked about what to do. I would have sent him home, I mean we would +have tried to find his home, if my husband had been here, but he is +away." + +"And I am too feeble, Madame, as you see, to walk far," said the old +man, who seemed now anxious to be very amiable. + +"But you talked of taking him to the police office," said the young +woman, in a low voice, "the idea! to frighten a bebe like that." + +"Hush, hush," said the old man, "all was to be done for the best. You +shall see him, your dear child, Madame," he went on, bustling about. + +"But tell me first--a moment----" said auntie, "What did he come for? +Did he buy the picture?" + +"The picture," repeated the old man, "no, surely. It was the glass jugs, +the little gentleman wanted, and he had his money all right--I took but +the just price, Madame--I would not deceive any one." + +"They are very dear to _my_ mind," said the young woman, "but there--I +know nothing about old things. This is not our shop, Madame--I look in +in passing, to see the grandfather sometimes, that is all." + + [Illustration: Auntie stood still a moment to listen.--P. 155.] + +"And Baby came to buy some _jugs_, you say," repeated auntie. There +was a confused remembrance in her mind of something Baby had said about +jugs, something he had asked her to look at the day they had stood at +the shop window, but which she had since forgotten. Her only idea in +coming to the little old shop had been the picture. "You said he came to +buy some jugs?" she said again. + +"Yes, Madame," said the old man "two glass jugs--Venetian glass." + +"Ah!" said auntie, and then she remembered it all--about the glass jugs +that Baby had broken at home, and what he had said to her about those in +the shop window being like them. "And the picture?" she said, "is it no +longer there? But first, let me have my little boy. He is in the garden, +you say?" + +She looked round, for there was no sign of a garden. The window of the +little room in which they were, looked out only on to a blank wall. + +"This way, Madame," said the young woman, opening a door at the side. It +led into a little dark passage, and, at the end of it, there was another +door, standing open, and through this door came the sound of children's +voices. + +Auntie stood still a moment to listen--the first words made her smile. + +"Him wants to go home now," said the well-known voice. "Little girl, why +_won't_ you listen? Him wants to go home, and so does Minet. Doesn't you +hear?" + +The little girl must have been very much puzzled, for auntie heard her +trying her best, in her baby talk, to make this queer little stranger +understand that they were to stay out in the garden till her mother +called them in. + +"Him wants to go _home_, and so does Minet," repeated poor Baby, and his +voice began to quiver and shake, as if he were going to cry. Auntie +could stand it no longer. She hurried out into the little garden. + +"You shall go home now, Baby dear," she said. "Auntie has come to fetch +you." + +Baby looked up eagerly at the sound of a well-known voice. He ran to her +and held up his little face for a kiss. He looked very pleased, but not +at all surprised. It was one of Herr Baby's funny ways, that he almost +never seemed surprised. + +"Him is so glad you's come," he said. "You'll help him to carry home the +shiny jugs, for Minet's _raver_ tired, and him might have to carry her +and the money-box. But you won't tell mother about the jugs, will you? +You'll let him run in wif them him's self, won't you, auntie? _Won't_ +mother be pleased?" + +"But you must tell me all about it, dear," said auntie; "did you come +off all alone to get the glasses? Why didn't you ask some one to come +with you?" + +Baby looked a little troubled. + +"Him didn't come _alone_," he said. "Him told Minet, and Minet comed +too, only her's werry tired. And it were for the party, auntie," he +added, looking up wistfully, "Lisa said mother had no pitty jugs for +her's party. And oh, auntie, p'ease do be kick, 'fear we shall be too +late." + +Auntie took his hand and led him back into the shop, where the old man +was wrapping up the jugs with a great show of soft paper, that auntie +should see how careful he was. + +"Has my little boy paid you?" she asked. + +"Oh yes," said Herr Baby, understanding, though she did not speak +English. "See in him's money-box;" he held out the money-box with some +difficulty for, having Minet under the other arm, it was not easy for +him to get his hands free; "him had two yellow pennies, one big and one +little, him gived the big one for the shiny jugs." + +"Was that the price of the jugs?" auntie asked the man. + +"No, Madame, I have the change to give the little gentleman. See here," +and he held out two large silver coins, the size of crowns, which auntie +took. + +"I don't think the jugs are dear," she said, with a smile, turning to +the young woman, who looked pleased. "And some day," she went on, "we +will come to see you, and bring you some little thing for your little +girl, as you have been so kind to my little boy. Come now, Baby dear, we +must get home as quick as we can." + +"But the little girl, the pitty little girl," said Herr Baby, "him must +say good-bye to _her_." + +"There she is beside you," said auntie, thinking, of course, that he +meant the young woman's little girl, "say good-bye to her." + +"No, no," said Baby, "him doesn't mean her. Him means the pitcher little +girl, _her_," he went on, pointing to the young woman, "her gottened her +down for him to see, 'cos him were trying to reach up to kiss her." + +That was why the picture was no longer in the window then? Where was it? +Auntie turned round as she felt Baby pulling her. + +"Her's there," he said, pointing to a chair on which the picture had +been set down hurriedly with the face the other way. Auntie turned it +round. Dear little face! It smiled at her again with the pretty half +wistful, half wise expression, which had so taken her fancy. Now it +seemed to her to be saying-- + +"I am so glad you have found him. I knew where he was. I am so glad to +have helped you to find him;" and when Baby lifted his little face to +kiss, with his rosy living lips, the picture of the child, who had once +been living and loving like him, I can hardly tell you the strange +feeling that went through auntie's heart. + +"She must have been a dear good little girl, whoever she was," she +thought to herself. "It would be nice to leave a sweet feeling behind +one in the world long after one is dead, such as that little face gives. +I should like to have that picture. I must see about it." + +But to-day there was no time to be wasted. + +Auntie took Baby by the hand, persuading him to let her carry the +precious jugs, as Minet and the money-box were already more than enough +for him. And, even with her help, it was not so easy to manage at all, +and auntie was very glad to meet Mademoiselle Lucie a little way down +the street, and get her to carry part. + +Mademoiselle Lucie was delighted, as you can fancy, to see Herr Baby +again. She had been coming back in great trouble to look for auntie; for +very unluckily, as she thought, she had found that her brother was out, +and she had not therefore gone to the police office. + +"A very good thing, after all," said auntie; "it would only have been +giving trouble for nothing, as we have found him." + +But she said to Mademoiselle Lucie, in a low voice, to say nothing about +the police before Herr Baby, as it might frighten him. + +"Would it not, perhaps, be a good thing to frighten him a little?" said +Mademoiselle Lucie; "he would not run off again." + +Auntie shook her head. + +"Not in that way," she said. "We will make him understand how he has +frightened _us_. That will be the best way." + +"How did he mean to get home alone, I wonder," said Mademoiselle Lucie; +"how could he have carried all he had, and Minet too?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said auntie. "How did you mean to carry +everything home, Baby dear?" + +Baby looked puzzled. + +"Him doesn't know," he said. "P'r'aps him thought Minet would carry +some," he added, with a smile. + +Auntie smiled too. Mademoiselle Lucie looked up for auntie to explain to +her, for she did not understand Baby's talk any better than he did hers. + +Suddenly another idea struck auntie. + +"How did you manage to tell the old man in the shop what you wanted to +buy?" she said. + +Baby considered. + +"Him sawed the pitty little girl," he said; "her was looking at the +shiny glasses--_always_--her was keeping them for him. Him asked her to. +Then him touched them; him climbed up on a chair in the shop and touched +them, and then him showed all him's pennies to the old man; but the lady +wif the baby knowed the best what him wanted. Her were very nice, but +the pitty little girl were the goodest, weren't her?" + +Auntie listened quietly, for Baby spoke quite gravely. + +"It would be nice to have that pretty picture, wouldn't it, Baby?" + +"Yes," said Baby; but he didn't look _quite_ pleased. "Auntie," he said, +"him doesn't like you to call her a _pitcher_. Him thinks her's a _zeal_ +little girl, a zeal fairy little girl. Her tookened care of the shiny +glasses so nice for him, didn't her?" + +And auntie smiled again. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"EAST OR WEST, HAME IS BEST" + + "But home is home wherever it is, + When we're all together and nothing amiss." + _Irish Ballad._ + + +By this time, of course, it was quite dark. It had been quite light when +auntie and Mademoiselle Lucie set off, but at Santino the darkness comes +on very quickly. Poor Baby, he _would_ have been in trouble if auntie +had not come to look, for him--- that is to say if the old man and the +young woman had allowed him to set off on his journey home alone. I +don't think he would ever have got there, for in the dark he could not +have found his way, and he certainly could never have got the shiny jugs +and Minet and the money-box all home in safety! + +The ladies and gentlemen who were coming to dine at the Villa had all +arrived. Mother was sitting in the drawing-room talking to them, and +trying her best to look as if there was nothing the matter, to prevent +grandfather finding out that there was. Poor mother, it was not very +easy for her, was it? Grandfather was a good deal put out, as it was, at +auntie's being so late. He, too, tried not to look cross, poor old +gentleman, but any one who knew him at all well could not help seeing as +he moved about the room, sometimes giving a poke to the wood fire which +was burning quite brightly as it was, sometimes sharply pulling open one +of the window-shutters and looking out, as if he could see anything with +the light inside and the dark out of doors!--any one could see that he +_was_ very much put out. He sat down now and then for a minute or two +and spoke very politely--for grandfather was a _very_ polite old +gentleman--to one or other of the stranger ladies, but even to them he +could not help showing what was in his mind. + +"It is very strange, really most exceedingly strange, of my eldest +daughter," he said, "not to be in before this. I really feel quite +ashamed of it, my dear Madam." + +"But you are not uneasy, I hope," said the lady, kindly. "There cannot +be anything the matter with Miss Leonard?" ("Miss Leonard" was what +Fritz called auntie's "stuck-up name," and "Lady Aylmer" was mother's.) +"You don't feel uneasy about her?" + +(This lady did not know there _was_ anything the matter, for she was +quite at the other end of the room from mother. Mother had whispered to +the lady beside her, who was an old and dear friend, how frightened she +was about Herr Baby, and the old lady, who was very kind and nice, was +talking and smiling as much as she could to help poor mother.) + +"Uneasy," said grandfather, rather sharply, and not _quite_ so politely +as he generally spoke, "oh no, of course I'm not _uneasy_. My daughter +Helen can take care of herself. I am only very much surprised at her +doing such an extraordinary thing as forgetting the hour like this." + +But in his heart I fancy what the lady said did make grandfather begin +to think there might be something to be uneasy about, and this made him +still crosser. She was not such a sensible lady as old Mrs. Bryan in the +arm-chair opposite, who chattered the more the more she saw +grandfather's worried look grow worse, and the pain grew plainer on poor +mother's white face. + +"May," he called out at last, "I think it is nonsense waiting dinner +any longer. Tell one of the children to ring and order it up at once. +Why, they're not here! Why are none of the children down, May? +Everything seems at sixes and sevens." + +"We are not waiting for Nelly, father dear," said mother. "I don't know +why dinner isn't ready yet, but I think it can't be long. I will hurry +them," and she got up to ring herself. + +"But the children--why aren't they down?" said grandfather again. + +Mother hesitated-- + +"It is rather late for them," she said. "The girls have been a long walk +and are tired." + +She did not know what to say, poor thing. She had not dared to let the +three children come into the drawing-room, for fear their white faces +and red eyes should make grandfather find out that there _was_ something +wrong, and indeed neither Celia, nor Denny, nor Fritz, would have been +able to stay still in the room for five minutes. They were peeping out +of the nursery every few seconds, running along to the end of the +balcony, and straining their eyes and ears in trying to see or hear +anything coming in the shape of good news. + +Long, long afterwards they used to speak in the nursery, with deep +breaths, of "that _terrible_ evening when Herr Baby was lost." + +But it was, of course, the worst for poor mother. It was bad enough in +the nursery, where the tea, that nobody had cared to touch, was set out +as neatly as usual on the table; the chairs drawn round, the one that +Baby always had with a footstool on it--to make up for there being no +high chair at the Villa--in its place, though the well-known, funny +little figure was not perched on it. And Lisa, with a face swollen so +that no one would have known her, fussing away to have the kettle +boiling, so that her darling should have some hot tea as soon as ever he +came in--for she wouldn't allow but that he would soon come in, though +sad little stories kept running through Celia's and Denny's heads about +children that had been lost and never found, or found only when it was +no longer they themselves but only their poor little bodies, drowned, +perhaps, or "choked in the snow," as Denny said. And she got rather +cross when Celia reminded her that there was no snow, so it couldn't be +_that_, any way. + +All this was bad enough, but still they were free to talk about their +fears, and to cry if they felt inclined, and to keep running to the +window or the door. But for poor mother, as you can fancy, it was _much_ +worse. There she had to sit smiling and talking as if everything were +quite nice and comfortable, not only for the sake of the friends who had +come to dine with them, but still more for poor grandfather's sake, who +kept growing more and more fidgety and put out, and at the bottom of his +heart, though he would not own it even to himself, really frightened and +anxious. + +At last his patience was exhausted. + +"May," he said, speaking across the fireplace to mother. She was talking +to the lady beside her, and did not at first hear him. "_May_," said +grandfather again, and if the children had been in the room I think his +voice would have made them jump, "it is using our friends very badly to +keep them waiting so long for dinner. Be so good as to ring again and +tell the servants we will _not_ wait any longer." + +Poor mother--she looked up--it was all she could do not to burst into +tears! + +"Yes," she said, "I will tell them." + +She was half rising from her seat, whispering to the lady beside her +(the lady who _did_ know all about it), "I don't know _how_ I shall get +through dinner," when--what was it?--no bell had rung, there was no +sound that any one else heard, what could it have been that _mother_ +heard? I don't know what it was, and I daresay mother herself could not +have told, but something she did hear. For she stopped short, and a sort +of eager look came into her eyes and a flush into her cheeks. And then +the other people in the room seemed to catch the infection, and +everybody else looked up to see what was coming, and in the silence a +sort of fumbling was heard at the door. It only lasted a second or two, +then somehow the handle turned, much more quickly than was usually the +case when it was Baby's small hands that were stretching up to reach +it--I rather think some one must have been behind to help him--the door +opened and--oh such a funny little figure came in! You know who it was +of course, but it would be very difficult to tell you exactly what he +looked like. He was dressed just as he had been for playing in the +garden--a little short thick jacket over his holland blouse, which was +no longer very clean; his short scarlet socks and oldest boots on his +legs, the bare part of which looked very red and cold, and what had been +his best straw hat with part of the brim dangling down, on his curly +head. But he seemed quite pleased with himself--that was another of +Herr Baby's "ways"; he always did seem quite pleased with himself, best +of all, I think, when he had his oldest clothes on--he trotted into the +room just as he would have trotted into the garden, even though there +were a good many rather finely-dressed ladies and gentlemen sitting +round--for his whole mind was filled with the thoughts of two big paper +parcels which he carried in his arms. They could not have been as heavy +as they were big, or else he could not possibly have carried them! And +close at his heels, making him look still funnier, came Minet, very +pleased, I am sure, to find herself again in sight of a fire. + +Herr Baby looked round him for a moment, only for a moment, for though +the lights in the room and the number of people dazzled and puzzled him +a little, _he_ did not need to look round for which was mother. +Forgetting all about everything, except that her baby was found, up +jumped mother, a rosy flush coming over her face which had looked so +white and sad, pretty mother with her silvery silky dress and her sweet +eyes filled with tears, and rushing over to Baby caught him up in her +arms, poor little cold, tired, red-legged Herr Baby, and for a minute or +so, greatly to grandfather's surprise, she hid her face somehow among +the wee man's curls without speaking. + + [Illustration: Forgetting all about everything, except that her baby + was found, up jumped mother.--P. 170.] + +Grandfather was surprised but not alarmed, for just behind in the open +doorway stood auntie, who came quietly forward and explained to him that +Baby had gone out on his own account and they had been afraid of his +losing his way, that was what had kept her out so late, and she was _so_ +sorry. Auntie had such a nice clear simple way of speaking, +grandfather's vexation seemed to melt away as he listened. He glanced at +the little figure still clasped in mother's arms, and a queer look came +into his eyes. + +"Poor children!" he said, "poor children! May, you should have told me." + +But he knew why they hadn't told him. The ladies and gentlemen came +round auntie to hear what she was saying. They were all very kind and +very sorry and very glad. But it was difficult not to smile when a +little voice was heard saying, + +"Mother, p'ease put him down. Him's got somesing _so_ pitty, but him's +afraid of breaking them." + +And sliding down to the ground, he managed somehow to set the two +parcels safely on the floor, and began undoing them. They all watched +him, but he didn't care, and he would let nobody help him. He got one +out at last, and held it up with a beautiful happiness in his little +face. + +"See, mother!" he cried, "shiny jugs! Him's got them all himself wif +him's own pennies. Two! Them's for you, mother, 'cos him boked you's +'nother ones. Him founded them himself in a shop. Him's been as quick as +him could, 'cos of mother's party, to make the table pitty." + +"My darling," said mother, hugging him again, and when she looked up +half smiling, half crying, and tried to say to the ladies and gentlemen +that she hoped they would not think her silly, there were tears in some +other eyes besides in hers. + +But Herr Baby was quite himself. + +"You _is_ p'eased," he said contentedly. "Then him'll go to tea, for +him's raver hungry. But p'ease put the shiny jugs on the table to make +it pitty." + +He held up his face for another kiss. Then grandfather came forward and +in his turn lifted the little truant into his arms. + +"He is tired, the poor little man," he said, looking round: "you are so +kind; I should ask you to forgive our want of politeness, but I am sure +you will. I will be back in a moment." + +And it was grandfather himself who carried off Herr Baby and gave him +over to Lisa, weeping for joy now, as she caught her darling in her +arms. + +There _was_ a happy tea in the nursery that night after all. Baby was +very tired, but so exceedingly pleased with himself that his face grew +rosy and his eyes bright, as if he had only just wakened up in the +morning, as he sat at the table answering all the questions of Celia and +Denny and Fritz and Lisa about his adventures. How had he found his way? +How had he made the old man understand what he wanted? Hadn't he been +frightened? Had he been pleased to see auntie? Had he carried Minet all +the way? Oh, there were more questions than I could tell you--almost +more than Herr Baby could answer; and Minet, too, came in for a share of +the petting. + +When they had got most of their questions answered, they all found out +they were very hungry, and they set to work at their tea, and for a +while there was silence in the nursery. Suddenly Baby leant his two +elbows on the table and looked round. + +"It were all the pitty little girl that keeped the shiny glasses for +him. Her _are_ so pitty." + +"What little girl?" said the children, all together. + +"Do you mean the young woman's little girl in the shop?" + +"No," said Herr Baby, "not that kind of little girl. Him means a little +girl up on the wall--a _pitcher_ girl; but him thinks her are a +_fairy_." + +And having thus given his opinion, Baby looked round again with great +satisfaction, and Celia and Denny whispered to each other that really +Baby sometimes said very funny things for such a little boy! + +They were all dressed as usual, and Denny and Baby went in to dessert, +while Celia and Fritz waited, as became such _big_ young people, in the +drawing-room. Everybody was very kind to the children, and Baby, had he +been any one else _but_ Herr Baby, would have been spoilt by all the +petting the ladies wanted to give him. But his eyes were fixed on one +thing, or rather on two things, on the table, one in front of mother at +one end, one in front of grandfather at the other, there they stood, two +queerly-shaped glass jugs, sparkling and shining with many colours like +a rainbow, filled with the brightest and clearest water which might have +been drawn at a fairy well. And what pleasure shone in Baby's face as he +looked at them. + +"You _is_ p'eased?" he said again to mother, as he bade her good-night. + +It was a little difficult for mother to have to make "him" understand +that much as she loved him for remembering how sorry she had been to +have the first jugs broken, and how sweet she thought it of him to have +got her new ones, that still he must never again think of doing such +things by himself and without telling or asking any one. + +She did not say anything to him that night; she could not bear to spoil +his pretty pleasure, but the next day she made him understand; and Baby +"p'omised" he would never again set off on his own account, or settle +any plan without asking mother or auntie, or perhaps Celia, about it. + +And so the end of the story of the broken jugs was quite a happy one. + + * * * * * + +Herr Baby's birthday came in the late spring. They were all back in +England by then. The old garden was no longer "lonely," for the +children's voices were heard all over it, and the sunlight through the +leaves flickered on to their curly heads as they ran about in delight, +seeking for all their old favourite corners. The "labbits" were well and +happy; Jones and Thomas had come to meet them at the railway station +with broad smiles on their honest faces; all the house looked bright +and smiling, too, it had been so well rubbed up to receive +them--altogether Herr Baby thought "coming back" was a very nice and +happy thing, though he had enjoyed himself so much at Santino that he +told Lisa he didn't think he would much mind if they _did_ go there +again next winter, when it began to get cold at home, as was already +spoken of, as Santino had done grandfather so much good this time. + +So, as I was saying, it was a very happy little man, indeed, that woke +up in his "own dear little bed,"--which, wonderful to say, had not grown +too small for him all the months they had been away,--on the morning of +Herr Baby's fifth birthday. He could hardly stand still to be dressed, +so eager was he to run off to mother's room to get her birthday kiss, +and to see the presents which he knew would not have been forgotten. +They turned out even prettier than he had expected; indeed, it would +take me too long were I to tell you all about the beautiful box of +bricks, big enough to build real houses almost, Baby thought, from +grandfather, and the lovely pair of toy horses with _real_ hair, in a +stable, from mother, and the coachman's whip to crack at them from +Fritz, and the pair of slippers Celia and Denny had worked for him, one +foot each, and the birthday cake all snowed over with sugar, and with +his name on in pink, from grandfather and mother together, "'asides +their other presents." It quite took Herr Baby's breath away to think +all these lovely things were for him; he sat at the nursery table quite +unable to eat his breakfast, something like Fritz the morning they were +starting on their journey, do you remember? till Lisa persuaded him to +eat, by telling him if he didn't, he would be so tired that he wouldn't +enjoy his birthday at all, which made him set to work at his bread and +milk. Lisa, too, had remembered the day, for she had made him the +prettiest little penny purse you ever saw, knitted in bright-coloured +silk, so that now he was very well off, indeed, with his "scented" purse +for his gold and silver, and Lisa's one for pennies and halfpennies, and +his money-box to store up the rest in when the purses were full. He had +all his presents set out in a row, so that he could see them while he +was eating, and just when he was at nearly the last spoonful, he was +quite startled by a voice beside him, saying, "And what about _my_ +present, Baby, dear? Did you think I had forgotten your birthday?" + +It was auntie. She had come in so quietly that Herr Baby had not heard +her. She leant over his chair, and he put his arms round her neck and +kissed her. + +"Him is so happy, auntie dear," he said; "him has such lots of p'esents, +him never thought about your p'esent." + +"Didn't you, dear?" said auntie, smiling. "Well, _I_ didn't forget +it--indeed, I thought of it a long time ago, as you will see. Come with +me, for I see you have finished your breakfast." + +Auntie took him by the hand. Baby wondered where she was going to, and +he was rather surprised when she led him to his own room--that is to +say, to the pretty nursery where he and Denny had their two little white +beds side by side. + +"Look up, Baby," said auntie. + +And looking up, what do you think he saw? On the wall, at the side of +his own little bed, where his eyes could see it the first thing in the +morning, and the last at night, hung the picture of the blue-eyed little +girl, the dear little girl of long ago, with her sweet rosy face, and +queer old-fashioned white frock, smiling down at him, with the sort of +wise, loving look, just as she had smiled down at him in the old shop at +Santino. + +"Oh, auntie, auntie!" cried Baby. But then he seemed as if he could say +no more. He just stared up at the sweet little face, clasping his hands, +as if he was _too_ pleased to speak. Then, at last, he turned to auntie +and _hugged_ her. + +"Oh, auntie!" he said again. "Oh, him _is_ so p'eased to have him's own +pitty little girl always smiling at him. Him will _always_ have her, +won't him, auntie?" + +"I hope so, dear. She is your very own." + +"Him will keep her till him is _kite_ old. Him will show her to him's +children and him's g'anchildren, won't him?" went on Baby solemnly. + +"I hope so, dear," said auntie again, smiling at his flushed little +face. + +"Her _is_ so pitty," said Baby. "Her is as sweet as a fairy. Auntie, him +would _so_ like to hear all the story about her. Couldn't you find it +out, auntie?" + +"Perhaps," said auntie, "or, what would be still better, perhaps the +little girl will whisper it to you some night when you are asleep." + +"That _would_ be nice," said Baby. Then another thought struck him. +"Auntie," he said, "will you ask mother to let him bring up the shiny +jugs to show them to the pitty little girl? Her would like to see them +so nice, and not brokened at all wif the packing. Oh, auntie, what a +bootiful birfday--him are _so_ happy!" + + +THE END. + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY*** + + +******* This file should be named 29380.txt or 29380.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/3/8/29380 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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