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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/33544-8.txt b/33544-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33856b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/33544-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5032 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of "Carrots:", by Mrs. Molesworth + +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: "Carrots:" + Just a Little Boy + +Author: Mrs. Molesworth + +Illustrator: Walter Crane + +Release Date: August 27, 2010 [EBook #33544] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "CARROTS:" *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Constantia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +"CARROTS:" + +JUST A LITTLE BOY + + + + + "Is it then a great mistake + That Boys were ever made at all?" + + + + +[Illustration: There she sat, as still as a mouse, holding her precious +burden. (_See page_ 9.) _Frontispiece_] + + + + + "CARROTS:" + + JUST A LITTLE BOY + + BY + + MRS. MOLESWORTH + + (ENNIS GRAHAM) + + AUTHOR OF "TELL ME A STORY" "CUCKOO CLOCK" + "GRANDMOTHER DEAR" ETC. + + [Illustration: p. 210.] + + ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE + + LONDON + MACMILLAN & CO. + 1876 + + + + + TO + + SIX LITTLE COUSINS + + MORIER, BEVIL, + NOËL, LIONEL, + EDWARD, + AND BABY BRIAN. + +EDINBURGH, 1870 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. FLOSS'S BABY 1 + + II. SIX YEARS OLD 12 + + III. PLANS 26 + + IV. THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN 44 + + V. CARROTS IN TROUBLE 60 + + VI. CARROTS "ALL ZIGHT" AGAIN 78 + + VII. A LONG AGO STORY 91 + + VIII. "THE BEWITCHED TONGUE" 111 + + IX. SYBIL 130 + + X. A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING 152 + + XI. HAPPY AND SAD 180 + + XII. "THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS" 206 + + XIII. GOOD ENDINGS 236 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + THERE SHE SAT, AS STILL AS A MOUSE, HOLDING HER + PRECIOUS BURDEN _Frontispiece._ + + "A YELLOW SIXPENNY, OH, HOW NICE!" 36 + + FLOSS TAPPED AT THE DOOR. "CARROTS," SHE SAID, + "ARE YOU THERE?" 78 + + "NOW, BE QUIET ALL OF YOU, I'M GOING TO BEGIN" 114 + + "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT, MY POOR OLD + MAN?" SAID AUNTIE, FONDLY 148 + + "IT IS FLOSSIE AND ME, SYBIL--DON'T YOU REMEMBER + US?" 184 + + "SUDDENLY A BRIGHT THOUGHT STRUCK ME, I SEIZED + GIP, MY LITTLE DOG, WHO WAS ASLEEP ON THE + HEARTHRUG, AND HELD HIM UP AT THE WINDOW" 212 + + + + +"CARROTS:" JUST A LITTLE BOY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FLOSS'S BABY. + + "Where did you come from, Baby dear? + Out of the everywhere into here? + + * * * + + "But how did you come to us, you dear? + God thought about you, and so I am here!" + + _G. Macdonald._ + + +His real name was Fabian. But he was never called anything but Carrots. +There were six of them. Jack, Cecil, Louise, Maurice, commonly called +Mott, Floss, dear, dear Floss, whom he loved best of all, a long way the +best of all, and lastly Carrots. + +Why Carrots should have come to have his history written I really cannot +say. I must leave you, who understand such things a good deal better +than I, you, children, for whom the history is written, to find out. I +can give you a few reasons why Carrots' history should _not_ have been +written, but that is about all I can do. There was nothing very +remarkable about him; there was nothing very remarkable about the place +where he lived, or the things that he did, and on the whole he was very +much like other little boys. There are my _no_ reasons for you. But +still he was Carrots, and after all, perhaps, that was _the_ reason! I +shouldn't wonder. + +He was the baby of the family; he had every right to be considered the +baby, for he was not only the youngest, but very much the youngest; for +Floss, who came next to him, was nearly four years older than Carrots. +Yet he was never treated as the baby. I doubt if even at the very outset +of his little life, when he was just a wee pink ball of a creature, +rolled up in flannel, and with his funny curls of red hair standing +crisp up all over his head, I doubt, if even then, he was ever called +"baby." I feel almost sure it was always "Carrots." He was too +independent and sensible to be counted a baby, and he was never fond of +being petted--and then, too, "Carrots" came so naturally! + +I have said that Carrots loved his sister Floss better than anybody or +anything else in the world. I think one reason of this was that she was +the very first person he could remember in his life, and a happy thing +for him that it was so, for all about her that there was to remember was +nice and good and kind. She was four years older than he, four years +old, that is to say, when he first came into the world and looked about +him with grave inquiry as to what sort of a place this could be that he +had got to. And the first object that his baby-wise eyes settled upon +with content, as if in it there might be a possible answer to the +riddle, was Floss! + +These children's father and mother were not very rich, and having six +boys and girls you can quite easily imagine they had plenty to do with +their money. Jack was a great boy at school when Carrots first joined +the family party, and Cecil and Louise had a governess. Mott learnt with +the governess too, but was always talking of the time when he should go +to school with Jack, for he was a very boy-ey boy, very much inclined to +look down upon girls in general, and his sisters in particular, and his +little sister Floss in _particularest_. So, till Carrots appeared on the +scene, Floss had had rather a lonely time of it, for, "of course," Cecil +and Louise, who had pockets in all their frocks, and could play the +'March of the Men of Harlech' as a duet on the piano, were _far_ too big +to be "friends to Floss," as she called it. They were friendly and kind +in an elder sisterly way, but that was quite a different sort of thing +from being "friends to her," though it never occurred to Floss to +grumble or to think, as so many little people think now-a-days, how +much better things would have been arranged if _she_ had had the +arranging of them. + +There was only one thing Floss wished for very, very much, and that was +to have a brother or sister, she did not much care which, younger than +herself. She had the most motherly heart in the world, though she was +such a quiet little girl that very few people knew anything about what +she was thinking, and the big ones laughed at her for being so +outrageously fond of dolls. She had dolls of every kind and size, only +alike in one thing, that none of them were very pretty, or what you +would consider grand dolls. But to Floss they were lovely, only, they +were _only_ dolls! + +Can you fancy, can you in the least fancy, Floss's delight--a sort of +delight that made her feel as if she couldn't speak, when one winter's +morning she was awakened by nurse to be told that a real live baby had +come in the night--a little brother, and "such a funny little fellow," +added nurse, "his head just covered with curly red hair. Where did he +get that from, I wonder? Not one of my children has hair like that, +though yours, Miss Flossie, has a touch of it, perhaps." + +Floss looked at her own tangle of fluffy hair with new reverence. "Hair +something like my hairs," she whispered. "Oh nursie, dear nursie, may +Floss see him?" + +"Get up and let me dress you quickly, and you shall see him--no fear but +that you'll see more of the poor little fellow than you care about," +said nurse, though the last words were hardly meant for Floss. + +The truth was that though of course every one meant to be kind to this +new little baby, to take proper care of him, and all that sort of thing, +no one was particularly glad he had come. His father and mother felt +that five boys and girls were already a good number to bring up well and +educate and start in life, not being very rich you see, and even nurse, +who had the very kindest heart in the world, and had taken care of them +all, beginning with Jack, ever since they were born, even nurse felt, I +think, that they _could_ have done without this red-haired little +stranger. For nurse was no longer as young as she had been, and as the +children's mother could not, she knew, very well afford to keep an +under-nurse to help her, it was rather trying to look forward to +beginning again with all the "worrit" of a new baby--bad nights and many +tiring climbs up the long stairs to the nursery, etc., etc., though +nurse was so really good that she did not grumble the least bit, and +just quietly made up her mind to make the best of it. + +But still Floss was the only person to give the baby a really hearty +welcome. And by some strange sort of baby instinct he seemed to know it +almost from the first. He screamed at Jack, and no wonder, for Jack, by +way of salutation, pinched his poor little nose, and said that the next +time they had boiled mutton for dinner, cook need not provide anything +but turnips, as there was a fine crop of carrots all ready, which piece +of wit was greatly applauded by Maurice and the girls. He wailed when +Cecil and Louise begged to be allowed to hold him in their arms, so that +they both tumbled him back on to nurse's lap in a hurry, and called him +"a cross, ugly little thing." Only when little Floss sat down on the +floor, spreading out her knees with great solemnity, and smoothing her +pinafore to make a nice place for baby, and nurse laid him carefully +down in the embrace of her tiny arms, "baby" seemed quite content. He +gave a sort of wriggle, like a dog when he has been pretending to burrow +a hole for himself in the rug, just before he settles down and shuts his +eyes, and in half a second was fast asleep. + +"Baby loves Floss," said Floss gravely, and as long as nurse would let +her, till her arms really ached, there she sat on the floor, as still +as a mouse, holding her precious burden. + +It was wonderful how trusty she was. And "as handy," said nurse, "indeed +far more handy than many a girl of five times her age." "I have been +thinking," she said one day to Floss's mother, "I have been thinking, +ma'am, that even if you had been going to keep an under-nurse to help +with baby, there would have been nothing for her to do. For the help I +get from Miss Flossie is really astonishing, and Master Baby is that +fond of her already, you'd hardly believe it." + +And Floss's mother kissed her, and told her she was a good little soul, +and Floss felt, oh, so proud! Then a second thought struck her, "Baby +dood too, mamma," she said, staring up into her mother's face with her +bright searching grey-green eyes. + +"Yes," said her mother with a little sigh, "poor baby is good too, +dear," and then she had to hurry off to a great overhauling of Jack's +shirts, which were, if possible, to be made to last him another +half-year at school. + +So it came to pass that a great deal of Floss's life was spent in the +nursery with Carrots. He was better than twenty dolls, for after a while +he actually learnt, first to stand alone, and then to walk, and after a +longer while he learnt to talk, and to understand all that Floss said to +him, and by-and-by to play games with her in his baby way. And how +patient Floss was with him! It was no wonder he loved her. + +This chapter has seemed almost more about Floss than Carrots you will +say, perhaps, but I couldn't tell you anything of Carrots' history +without telling you a great deal about Floss too, so I daresay you won't +mind. I daresay too you will not care to hear much more about Carrots +when he was a baby, for, after all, babies are all very like each other, +and a baby that wasn't like others would not _be_ a baby! To Floss I +fancy he seemed a remarkable baby, but that may have been because he +was her very own, and the only baby she had ever known. He was certainly +very good, in so far as he gave nurse exceedingly little trouble, but +why children should give trouble when they are perfectly well, and have +everything they can possibly want, I have never been able to decide. On +the whole, I think it must have something to do with the people who take +care of them, as well as with themselves. + +Now we will say good-bye to Carrots, as a baby. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SIX YEARS OLD. + + "As for me, I love the sea, + The dear old sea! + Don't you?" + + _Song._ + + +I think I said there was nothing very remarkable about the place where +Carrots lived, but considering it over, I am not quite sure that you +would agree with me. It was near the sea for one thing, and _that_ is +always remarkable, is it not? _How_ remarkable, how wonderful and +changeful the sea is, I doubt if any one can tell who has not really +lived by it, not merely visited it for a few weeks in the fine summer +time, when it looks so bright and sunny and inviting, but lived by it +through autumn and winter too, through days when it looks so dull and +leaden, that one can hardly believe it will ever be smiling and playful +again, through fierce, rough days, when it lashes itself with fury, and +the wind wails as if it were trying to tell the reason. + +Carrots' nursery window looked straight out upon the sea, and many and +many an hour Floss and he spent at this window, watching their strange +fickle neighbour at his gambols. I do not know that they thought the sea +at all wonderful. I think they were too much accustomed to it for that, +but they certainly found it very _interesting_. Floss had names for the +different kinds of waves; some she called "ribs of beef," when they +showed up sideways in layers as it were, of white and brown, and some +she called "ponies." That was the kind that came prancing in, with a +sort of dance, the white foam curling and rearing, and tossing itself, +just exactly like a frisky pony's mane. Those were the prettiest waves +of all, I think. + +It was not at all a dangerous coast, where the Cove House, that was +Carrots' home, stood. It was not what is called "picturesque." It was a +long flat stretch of sandy shore, going on and on for miles just the +same. There were very few trees and no mountains, not even hills. + +In summer, a few, just a very few visitors used to come to Sandyshore +for bathing; they were always visitors with children, for every one said +it was such a nice safe place for little people. + +But, safe as it was, it wasn't till Carrots was growing quite a big boy, +nearly six, I should think, that Floss and he got leave to go out and +play on the shore by themselves, the thing they had been longing for +ever since they could remember. + +This was how they did get leave at last. Nurse was very, very busy, one +day; really quite extra busy, for she was arranging and helping to pack +Jack's things to go to a new school. Jack was so big now, about sixteen, +that he was going to a kind of college, or grown-up school, the last he +would go to, before entering the army. And there was quite a fuss in +the house. Jack thought himself almost as grand as if he was an officer +already, and Mott was overpowered with envy. Everybody was fussing about +Jack, and no one had much time to think of the two little ones. + +They stood at the nursery window, poor little souls, when Floss came up +from her lessons, gazing out wistfully. It was a nice spring day, not +exactly sunny, but looking as if the sun were only hiding himself to +tease you, and might come out any minute. + +"If we _might_ go down to the shore," said Floss, half to herself, half +to Carrots, and half to nurse. I shouldn't have said it so, for there +can't be three halves of anything, but no doubt you will understand. + +"Go down to the shore, my dear?" repeated nurse, "I wish you could, I'm +sure, but it will be afternoon, at least, before I have a minute to +spare to take you. And there's no one else to-day, for cook and Esther +are both as busy as busy. Perhaps Miss Cecil and Miss Louise will take +you when they have done their lessons." + +"We don't care to go with them, much," said Floss, "they don't +understand our plays. We like best to go with you, nursie, and you to +sit down with your sewing near--that's the nicest way. Oh, nurse," she +exclaimed, with sudden eagerness, "wouldn't you let us go alone? You can +peep out of the window and see us every few minutes, and we'll be so +good." + +Nurse looked out of the window doubtfully. + +"Couldn't you play in the garden at the back, instead?" she said. "Your +papa and mamma won't be home till late, and I am always in a terror of +any harm happening while they are away." + +"We won't let any harm happen," said Floss, "and we are _so_ tired of +the garden, nurse. There is nothing to play at there. The little waves +are so pretty this morning." + +There was certainly very little to play at in the green, at the back of +the house, which was called the garden. Being so near the sea, the soil +was so poor, that hardly any flowers would grow, and even the grass was +coarse and lumpy. Then there were no trees, and what is a garden without +trees? + +Nurse looked out of the window again. + +"Well," she said, "if you will really be very good, I think I might +trust you. Now, Master Carrots, you will promise to do exactly what Miss +Floss tells you?" + +"Yes, I promise," said Carrots, who had been listening with great +anxiety, though he had not hitherto spoken--he was not a great +talker--"I promise, nurse. I will do exactly what Floss tells me, and +Floss will do exactly what I tell her, won't you, Floss? So we shall +both be _kite_ good, that way, won't we?" + +"Very well," said nurse gravely, though she felt very much inclined to +laugh, "then run and get your things as fast as you can." + +And, oh, how happy the two were when they found themselves out on the +shore all alone! They were so happy, they did not know what to do; so +first of all, they ran races to run away a little of the happiness. And +when they had run themselves quite hot, they sat down on a little heap +of stones to consider what they should do next. They had no spades with +them, for they did not care very much about digging; children who live +always by the sea never care so much about digging as the little +visitors who come down in the summer, and whose very first idea at the +sight of the sea is "spades and buckets." + +"What shall we play at, Carrots?" said Floss, "I wish it was warm enough +to paddle." + +Carrots looked at the little soft rippling waves, contemplatively. + +"When I'm a man," he said, "I shall paddle _always_. I shall paddle in +winter too. When I'm a man I won't have no nurse." + +"Carrots," said Floss, reproachfully, "that isn't good of you. Think how +kind nurse is." + +"Well, then," replied Carrots, slowly, "I _will_ have her, but she must +let me paddle always, when I'm a man." + +"When you are a man, Carrots," said Floss, solemnly still, "I hope you +will have something better to do than paddling. Perhaps you'll be a +soldier, like Jack." + +"Killing people isn't better than paddling," retorted Carrots. "I'd +rather be a sailor, like papa." + +"Sailors have to kill people, too, sometimes," said Floss. + +"_Have_ they?" said Carrots. Then he sat silent for a few minutes, +finding this new idea rather overwhelming. "Naughty people, do you mean, +Floss?" he inquired at last. + +"Yes," said Floss, unhesitatingly, "naughty people, of course." + +"But I don't like killing," said Carrots, "not killing naughty people, I +don't like. I won't be a soldier, and I won't be a sailor, and I won't +be a butcher, 'cos butchers kill lambs. Perhaps I'll be a fisherman." + +"But fishermen kill fish," said Floss. + +"Do they?" said Carrots, looking up in her face pathetically with his +gentle brown eyes. "I'm so sorry. I don't understand about killing, +Floss. I don't like it." + +"I don't either," said Floss; "but perhaps it has to be. If there was no +killing we'd have nothing to eat." + +"Eggs," said Carrots; "eggs and potatoes, and--and--cake?" + +"But even that would be a _sort_ of killing," persisted Floss, though +feeling by no means sure that she was not getting beyond her depth, "if +we didn't eat eggs they would grow into chickens, and so eating stops +them; and potatoes have roots, and when they're pulled up they don't +grow; and cake has eggs in, and--oh I don't know, let's talk of +something else." + +"What?" said Carrots, "Fairies?" + +"If you like, or supposing we talk about when auntie comes and brings +'Sybil.'" + +"Yes," said Carrots, "I like that best." + +"Well, then," began Floss, "supposing it is late in the evening when +they come. _You_ would be in bed, Carrots, dear, but I would have begged +to sit up a little longer and----" + +"No, Floss, that isn't nice. I won't talk about Sybil, if you make it +like that," interrupted Carrots, his voice sounding as if he were going +to cry. "Sybil isn't not any bigger than me. I wouldn't be in bed, +Floss." + +"Very well, dear. Never mind, darling. I won't make it like that. It was +very stupid of me. No, Sybil and auntie will come just about our +tea-time, and we shall be peeping along the road to see if the carriage +from the station is coming, and when we hear it we'll run in, and +perhaps mamma will say we may stay in the drawing-room to see them. You +will have one of your new sailor suits on, Carrots, and I shall have my +white piqué and blue sash, and nurse will have made the nursery +tea-table look so nice--with a clean table-cloth, you know, and quite +thin bread and butter, and jam, and, perhaps, eggs." + +"I won't eat one," interrupted Carrots; "I won't never eat eggs. I'll +keep all mine that I get to eat, in a box, till they've growed into +chickens." + +"But they're boiled when you get them," said Floss; "they wouldn't grow +into chickens when they're boiled." + +Carrots sighed. "Well, never mind," he said, "go on, Floss." + +"Well, then," started Floss again, "you see the nursery tea would look +so nice that Sybil would be _sure_ to ask her mamma to let her have tea +with us, even though it was the first evening. Perhaps, you know, she +would be rather _shy_, just at first, till she got to know us. So we +would be very, very kind to her, and after tea we would show her all our +things--the dolls, only--Carrots, I'm afraid the dolls are getting +rather old." + +"Are they?" said Carrots, sympathisingly. "When I'm a man I'll buy you +such a _lot_ of new dolls, Floss, and Sybil, too, if she likes +dolls--does she, Floss?" + +"I don't know. I should think so," said Floss. "When papa and mamma went +to see auntie, they said Sybil was like a doll herself. I suppose she +has beautiful blue eyes and long gold curls. That was a year ago; she +must be bigger now, Carrots." + +"What?" + +"We must get up and run about a little now. It's too cold to sit still +so long, and if we get cold, nurse won't let us come out alone again." + +Up jumped Carrots on to his sturdy little legs. "I'll run, Floss," he +said. + +"Floss," he began, when they stopped to take breath again, "once I saw a +little boy with a hoop. It went so nice on the sands. I wish I had a +hoop, Floss." + +"I wish you had, dear," said Floss. "I'd buy you one, if I had any +money. But I haven't, and we couldn't ask mamma, because I know," and +Floss shook her head mysteriously, "I know poor mamma _hasn't any money +to spare_. I must think of a plan to get some." + +Carrots kept silence for about three quarters of a minute. "Have you +thinkened, Floss?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Thought," gravely said Floss, "not thinkened, what about?" + +"About a plan," replied Carrots. He called it "a pan," but Floss +understood him. + +"Oh, dear, no," said Floss, "not yet. Plans take a great lot of +thinking. They're real things, you see, Carrots, not like fancies about +fairies and Sybil coming." + +"But when Sybil does come, that'll be real then," said Carrots. + +"Of course," agreed Floss, "but fancying about it before, isn't real." + +It took Carrots a little while to get this into his head. Then he began +again. + +"When will you have thinkened enough, Floss? By tea-time?" + +"I don't know. No, I think you had better wait till to-morrow morning, +and then perhaps the plan will be ready." + +"Very well," said Carrots, adding, with a little sigh, "to-morrow +morning is a long time, Floss." + +"Not very," said Floss, consolingly. "Now, Carrots, let's have one more +race, and then we must go in." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PLANS. + + "'Have you invented a plan for it?' Alice inquired. + 'Not yet,' said the knight." + + _Through the Looking-glass._ + + +The next morning Carrots woke very early, and the first thing he thought +of was the plan. Floss and he slept in the night nursery, in two little +beds, and nurse slept in a small room that had a door opening into the +nursery. She used to sleep there herself, but now that Carrots was so +big, Floss and he were quite safe by themselves, and poor old nurse +enjoyed having her own little room. + +Floss was still asleep, so Carrots only climbed out of his own cot into +hers, and crouched himself down at the foot, watching for her to wake. +Floss looked very nice asleep; her "fuzzy" hair was tumbling over the +pillow, and her cheeks looked pinker than when she was awake. + +"I wonder what being asleep is," thought the little boy as he looked at +her. "I always go away, such a long way, when I am asleep. I wonder if +Floss does." + +She couldn't have been very far away just then, for somehow, though +Carrots sat so still, she seemed to know he was there. She turned round +and half opened her eyes, and then shut them as if she were trying to go +to sleep again, then opened them once more, quite wide this time, and +caught sight of the funny little figure beside her. + +"Carrots," she said, in a sleepy voice, "Carrots, dear, what are you +doing there? You'll catch cold." + +"No, I won't. May I come in 'aside you, Floss? I was only watching for +you to wake; I didn't wake you, did I?" said Carrots, as Floss made room +for him, and he poked his cold little toes down into a nice warm place, +"I did so want to know if it was ready, for it's to-morrow morning now." + +"If what's ready?" said Floss, for she was rather sleepy still. + +"The plan for getting money." + +"Oh!" said Floss. "Yes," she went on after thinking for a minute, "yes, +it's nearly ready; at least I'm almost sure it is. But it's not quite +ready for telling _you_, yet, Carrots." + +Carrots looked terribly disappointed. + +"I think," went on Floss, "I think it will be ready for telling you +after breakfast. And if you like, you may listen to something I am going +to ask nurse at breakfast, and, perhaps, that will help you to guess +what the plan is." + +At breakfast time Carrots was all ears. All ears and no tongue, so that +nurse began to wonder if he was ill. + +"I shouldn't like you to be ill the very day after Master Jack has +gone," she said anxiously (Jack had gone up to town by the night train +with his father), "one trouble at a time is quite enough for your poor +mamma." + +"Is Jack's going to the big school a trouble?" asked Floss, opening her +eyes very wide, "I thought they were all very glad." + +"My dear," said nurse solemnly, "one may be glad of a thing and sorry +too. And changes mostly are good and bad together." + +Floss did not say any more, but she seemed to be thinking about what +nurse had said. Carrots was thinking too. + +"When I'm a man," he said at last, "I won't go to a big school if Floss +doesn't want me to." + +Nurse smiled. "There's time enough to see about that," she said, "get on +with your breakfast, Master Carrots; you'll never grow a big boy if you +don't eat plenty." + +"Nurse," said Floss, suddenly, "what's the dearest thing we eat? what +costs most?" + +"Meat, now-a-days, Miss Flossie," said nurse. + +"Could we do without it?" asked Floss. Nurse shook her head. + +"What could we do without?" continued the child. "We couldn't do without +bread or milk, I suppose. What could we do without that costs money?" + +"Most things do that," said nurse, who began to have a glimmering of +what Floss was driving at, "but the money's well spent in good food to +make you strong and well." + +"Then isn't there anything we could do without--without it hurting us, I +mean?" said Floss, in a tone of disappointment. + +"Oh yes," said nurse, "I daresay there is. Once a little boy and girl I +knew went without sugar in their tea for a month, and their grandmother +gave them sixpence each instead." + +"Sixpence!" exclaimed Floss, her eyes gleaming. + +"Sixpence each," corrected nurse. + +"Two sixpences, that would be a shilling. Carrots, do you hear?" + +Carrots had been listening with might and main, but was rather puzzled. + +"Would two sixpennies pay for two hoops?" he whispered to Floss, pulling +her pinafore till she bent her head down to listen. + +"Of course they would. At least I'm almost sure. I'll ask nurse. Nurse, +dear," she went on in a louder voice, "do you think we might do that +way--Carrots and I--about sugar, I mean?" + +"I don't see that it would do you any harm," said nurse. "You must ask +your mamma." + +But Floss hesitated. + +"I shouldn't much like to ask mamma," she said, and Carrots, who was +listening so intently that he had forgotten all about his bread and +milk, noticed that Floss's face grew red. "I shouldn't much like to ask +mamma, because, nursie, dear, it is only that we want to get money for +something for ourselves, and if we told mamma, it would be like asking +her to _give_ us the money. It wouldn't be any harm for us not to eat +any sugar in our tea for a month, and you could keep the sugar in a +packet all together, nurse, and _then_ you might tell mamma that we had +saved it, and she would give us a shilling for it. It would be quite +worth a shilling, wouldn't it, nurse?" + +"Oh, yes," said nurse, "I am sure your mamma would say it was." Then she +considered a little. She was one of those truly trustworthy nurses whose +notions are strong on the point of everything being told to "mamma." But +she perfectly understood Floss's hesitation, and though she might not +have been able to put her feeling into words, she felt that it might do +the child harm to thwart her delicate instinct. + +"Well, nurse?" said Floss, at last. + +"Well, Miss Flossie, I don't think for once I shall be doing wrong in +letting you have a secret. When will you begin? This is Thursday; on +Saturday your mamma will give me the week's sugar--suppose you begin on +Sunday? But does Master Carrots quite understand?" + +"Oh, yes," said Floss, confidently, "he understands, don't you dear?" + +"Oh, yes," said Carrots, "we won't eat not any sugar, Floss and me, for +a great long time, and nurse will tie it up in a parcel with a string +round, and mamma will buy it and give us a great lot of pennies, and +then, and then"--he began to jump about with delight--"Floss and me will +go to the toy-shop and buy our hoops, won't we Floss? Oh I wish it was +time to go now, don't you Floss?" + +"Yes, dear, a month's a good while to wait," said Floss sympathisingly. +"May we go out on the shore again by ourselves this afternoon, nurse?" + +"If it doesn't rain," said nurse; and Floss, who had half an hour to +wait before it was time for her to join her sisters in the school-room, +went to the window to have a look at the weather. She had not stood +there for more than a minute when Carrots climbed up on to a chair +beside her. + +"It's going to rain, Floss," he said, "there are the little curly clouds +in the sky that Matthew says come when it rains." + +Floss looked up at the sky and down at the sea. + +"The sea looks cross to-day," she said. + +There were no pretty ripples this morning; the water looked dull and +leaden. + +"Floss," said Carrots, with a sigh, "I do get so tired when you are at +lessons all the morning and I have _nucken_ to do. Can't you think of a +plan for me to have something to do?" Carrots' head was running on +"plans." + +Floss considered. + +"Would you like to tidy my drawer for me?" she said. "This isn't the +regular day for tidying it, but it is in a mess, because I turned all +the things upside down when I was looking for our race horses' reins +yesterday. Will you put it _quite_ tidy, Carrots?" + +"Oh, yes, _quite_, dear Floss," said Carrots, "I'll put all the dolls +neat, and all the pieces, and all the sewing things. Oh, dear Floss, +what nice plans you make." + +So when Floss had gone to her lessons, and nurse was busy with her +morning duties, in and out of the room, so as not to lose sight of +Carrots, but still too busy to amuse him, he, with great delight, set to +work at the drawer. It certainly was much in need of "tidying," and +after trying several ways, Carrots found that the best plan was to take +everything out, and then put the different things back again in order. +It took him a good while, and his face got rather red with stooping down +to the floor to pick up all the things he had deposited there, for the +drawer itself was too heavy for him to lift out bodily, if, indeed, such +an idea had occurred to him. It was the middle drawer of the cupboard, +the top part of which was divided into shelves where the nursery cups +and saucers and those sort of things stood. The drawer above Floss's was +nurse's, where she kept her work, and a few books, and a little +note-paper and so on; and the drawer at the bottom, so that he could +easily reach it, was Carrots' own. + +One end of Floss's drawer was given up to her dolls. She still had a +good many, for though she did not care for them now as much as she used, +she never could be persuaded to throw any of them away. But they were +not very pretty; even Carrots could see that, and Carrots, to tell the +truth, was very fond of dolls. + +"If I had some money," he said to himself, "I would buy Floss such a +most beautiful doll. I wish I had some money." + +For the moment he forgot about the hoops and the "plan" and sat down on +a little stool with one of the unhappiest looking of the dolls in his +arms. + +[Illustration: "A yellow sixpenny, oh, how nice!" _To face page_ 36.] + +"I wish I could buy you a new face, poor dolly," he said. "I wish I had +some money." + +He got up again to put poor dolly back into her corner. As he was +smoothing down the paper which lined the drawer, he felt something hard +close to dolly's foot; he pushed away the dolls to see--there, almost +hidden by a crumple in the paper lay a tiny little piece of money--a +little shining piece, about the size of a sixpence, only a different +colour. + +"A yellow sixpenny, oh, how nice!" thought Carrots, as he seized it. "I +wonder if Floss knowed it was there. It would just do to buy a new doll. +I _wish_ I could go to the toy-shop to buy one to surprise Floss. I +won't tell Floss I've found it. I'll keep it for a secret, and some day +I'll buy Floss a new doll. I'm sure Floss doesn't know--I think the +fairies must have put it there." + +He wrapped the piece of money up carefully in a bit of paper, and after +considering where he could best hide it, so that Floss should not know +till it was time to surprise her, he fixed on a beautiful place--he hid +it under one of the little round saucers in his paint-box--a very old +paint-box it was, which had descended from Jack, first to Mott and then +to Carrots, but which, all the same, Carrots considered one of his +greatest treasures. + +When nurse came into the room, she found the tidying of the drawer +completed, and Carrots sitting quietly by the window. He did not tell +her about the money he had found, it never entered into his little head +that he should speak of it. He had got into the way of not telling all +the little things that happened to him to any one but Floss, for he was +naturally a very quiet child, and nurse was getting too old to care +about all the tiny interests of her children as she once had done. +Besides, he had determined to keep it a secret, even from Floss, till he +could buy a new doll with it--but very likely he would have told her of +it after all, had not something else put it out of his head. + +The something else was that that afternoon nurse took Floss and him a +long walk, and a walk they were very fond of. + +It was to the cottage of the old woman, who, ever since they had come to +Sandyshore, had washed for them. She was a very nice old woman, and her +cottage was beautifully clean, and now and then Floss and Carrots had +gone with nurse to have tea with her, which was a great treat. But +to-day they were not going to tea; they were only going because nurse +had to pay Mrs. White some money for washing up Jack's things quickly, +and nurse knew the old woman would be glad to have it, as it was close +to the day on which she had to pay her rent. + +Floss and Carrots were delighted to go, for even when they did not stay +to tea, Mrs. White always gave them a glass of milk, and, generally, a +piece of home-made cake. + +Before they started, nurse went to her drawer and took out of it a very +small packet done up in white paper, and this little packet she put into +her purse. + +It was, after all, a nice fine day. Floss and Carrots talked quietly +beside nurse for a little, and then she gave them leave to run races, +which made the way seem very short, till they got to Mrs. White's. + +"How nice it will be when we have our hoops, won't it, Carrots?" said +Floss. + +Carrots had almost forgotten about the hoops, but now that Floss +mentioned them, it put him in mind of something else. + +"Wouldn't you like a new doll, Floss?" he said mysteriously, "a most +beautifullest new doll, with hair like--like the angels' hairs in the +big window at church, and eyes like the little blue stones in mamma's +ring?" + +"Of course I would," said Floss, "and we'd call her Angelina, wouldn't +we Carrots? But it's no good thinking about it--I shall never have one +like that, unless the fairies send it me!" + +"If the fairies sended you money to buy one, wouldn't that do?" said +Carrots, staring up in her face with a funny look in his eyes. + +But before Floss had time to answer, nurse called to them--they were at +the corner of the lane which led to Mrs. White's. + +Mrs. White was very kind. She had baked a cake only a day or two before, +and cut off a beautiful big piece for each of the children, then she +gave them a drink of milk, and they ran out into her little garden to +eat their cake and look at the flowers, till nurse had finished her +business with the old washerwoman, and was ready to go home. + +Floss and Carrots thought a great deal of Mrs. White's garden. Small as +it was, it had far more flowers in it than their own garden at the back +of the Cove House, for it was a mile or two farther from the sea, and +the soil was richer, and it was more sheltered from the wind. + +In summer there was what Floss called quite a "buzzy" sound in this +little garden--she meant that sweet, lazy-busy hum of bees and +butterflies and all sorts of living creatures, that you never hear +except in a real old-fashioned garden where there are lots of clove +pinks and sweet williams and roses, roses especially, great, big cabbage +roses, and dear little pink climbing roses, the kind that peep in at a +cottage window to bid you "good morning." Oh, how very sweet those +old-fashioned flowers are--though "rose fanciers" and all the clever +gardeners we have now-a-days wouldn't give anything for them! _I_ think +them the sweetest of all. Don't you, children? Or is it only when one +begins to grow old-fashioned oneself and to care more for things that +used to be than things that are now, that one gets to prize these old +friends so? + +I am wandering away from Floss and Carrots waiting for nurse in the +cottage garden; you must forgive me, boys and girls--when people begin +to grow old they get in the habit of telling stories in a rambling way, +but I don't find children so hard upon this tiresome habit as big people +sometimes are. And it all comes back to me so--even the old +washerwoman's cottage I can see so plainly, and the dear straggly little +garden! + +For you see, children, I am telling you the history of a _real_ little +boy and girl, not fancy children, and that is why, though there is +nothing very wonderful about Floss and Carrots, I hope the story of +their little pleasures and sorrows and simple lives may be interesting +to you. + +But I must finish about the visit to the washerwoman in another chapter. +I have made this one rather too long already. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN. + + "Children should not leave about + Anything that's small and bright; + Lest the fairies spy it out, + And fly off with it at night." + + _Poems written for a child._ + + +There was no buzzy sound in Mrs. White's garden this afternoon. It was +far too early in the year for that, indeed it was beginning to feel +quite chilly and cold, as the afternoons often do of fine days in early +spring, and by the time Floss and Carrots had eaten their cake, and +examined all the rose bushes to see if they could find any buds, and +wished it were summer, so that there would be some strawberries hiding +under the glossy green leaves, they began to wonder why nurse was so +long--and to feel rather cold and tired of waiting. + +"Just run to the door, Carrots, dear," said Floss, "and peep in to see +if nurse is coming." + +She did not like to go herself, for she knew that nurse and Mrs. White +were fond of a comfortable talk together and might not like to be +interrupted by her. But Carrots they would not mind. + +Carrots set off obediently, but before he got to the door he met nurse +coming out. She was followed by Mrs. White and both were talking rather +earnestly. + +"You'll let me know, if so be as you find it, Mrs. Hooper; you won't +forget?" Mrs. White was saying--Hooper was nurse's name--"for I feel +quite uneasy--I do that, for you." + +"I'll let you know, and thank you, Mrs. White," said nurse. "I'm glad I +happened to bring some of my own money with me too, for I should have +been sorry to put you to any ill-convenience by my carelessness--though +how I could have been so careless as to mislay it, I'm sure it's more +than I can say." + +"It is, indeed, and you so careful," said Mrs. White sympathisingly. + +Just then nurse caught sight of Carrots. + +"Come along, Master Carrots," she said, "I was just going to look for +you. Wherever's Miss Floss? We must be quick; it's quite time we were +home." + +"I'll tell Floss," said Carrots, disappearing again down the path, and +in another moment Floss and he ran back to nurse. + +Though they had been very quick, nurse seemed to think they had been +slow. She even scolded Floss a very little as if she had been kept +waiting by her and Carrots, when she was in a hurry to go, and both +Floss and Carrots felt that this was very hard when the fact was that +they had been waiting for nurse till they were both tired and cold. + +"It wasn't Floss's fault. Floss wanted _you_ to come quick, and she +sended me to see," said Carrots indignantly. + +"Hold your tongue, Master Carrots," said nurse sharply. + +Carrots' face got very red, he gave nurse one reproachful look, but did +not speak. He took Floss's hand and pulled her on in front. But Floss +would not go; she drew her hand away. + +"No, Carrots, dear," she said in a low voice, "it wouldn't be kind to +leave nurse all alone when she is sorry about something." + +"Is she sorry about something?" said Carrots. + +"Yes," replied Floss, "I am sure she is. You run on for a minute. I want +to speak to nurse." + +Carrots ran on and Floss stayed behind. + +"Nurse," she said softly, slipping her hand through nurse's arm, which, +by stretching up on tip-toe, she was just able to do, "nurse, dear, +what's the matter?" + +"Nothing much, Miss Flossie," replied nurse, patting the kind little +hand, "nothing much, but I'm growing an old woman and easy put out--and +such a stupid like thing for me to have done!" + +"What have you done? What is stupid?" inquired Floss, growing curious as +well as sympathising. + +"I have lost a half-sovereign--a ten-shilling piece in gold, Miss +Flossie," replied nurse. + +"Out of your pocket--dropped it, do you mean?" said Floss. + +"Oh no--I had it in my purse--at least I thought I had," said nurse. "It +was a half-sovereign of your mamma's that she gave me to pay Mrs. White +with for Master Jack's things and part of last week that was left over, +and I wrapped it up with a shilling and a sixpence--it came to eleven +and six, altogether--in a piece of paper, and put it in my drawer in the +nursery, and before I came out I put the packet in my purse. And when I +opened it at Mrs. White's no half-sovereign was there! Only the shilling +and the sixpence!" + +"You didn't drop it at Mrs. White's, did you? Should we go back and +look?" said Floss, standing still, as if ready to run off that moment. + +"No, no, my dear. It's not at Mrs. White's. She and I searched all over, +and she's as honest a body as could be," replied nurse. "No, there's +just the chance of its being in the drawer at home. I feel all in a +fever till I get there to look. But don't you say anything about it, +Miss Flossie; it's my own fault, and no one must be troubled about it +but myself." + +"Poor nursie," said Floss, "I'm so sorry. But you're sure to find it in +your drawer. Let's go home very fast. Carrots," she called out to the +little figure obediently trotting on in front, "Carrots, come and walk +with nursie and me now. Nurse isn't vexed." + +Carrots turned back, looking up wistfully in nurse's face. + +"Poor darlings," said the old woman to herself, "such a shame of me to +have spoilt their walk!" + +And all the way home, "to make up," she was even kinder than usual. + +But her hopes of finding the lost piece of money were disappointed. She +searched all through the drawer in vain; there was no half-sovereign to +be seen. Suddenly it struck her that Carrots had been busy "tidying" for +Floss that morning. + +"Master Carrots, my dear," she said, "when you were busy at Miss Floss's +drawer to-day, you didn't open mine, did you, and touch anything in it?" + +"Oh, no," said Carrots, at once, "I'm quite, quite _sure_ I didn't, +nursie." + +"You're sure you didn't touch nurse's purse, or a little tiny packet of +white paper, in her drawer?" inquired Floss, with an instinct that the +circumstantial details might possibly recall some forgotten remembrance +to his mind. + +"_Quite_ sure," said Carrots, looking straight up in their faces with a +thoughtful, but not uncertain expression in his brown eyes. + +"Because nurse has lost something out of her drawer, you see, Carrots +dear, and she is very sorry about it," continued Floss. + +"What has she lost? But I'm _sure_," repeated Carrots, "I didn't touch +nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it. What has nurse lost?" + +"A half-sovereign--" began Floss, but nurse interrupted her. + +"Don't tease him any more about it," she said; "it's plain he doesn't +know, and I wouldn't like the other servants to hear. Just forget about +it, Master Carrots, my dear, perhaps nurse will find it some day." + +So Carrots, literally obedient, asked no more questions. He only said to +himself, with a puzzled look on his face, "A half sovereign! I didn't +know nurse had any sovereigns--I thought only Floss had--and I never saw +any broken in halfs!" + +But as no more was said in his hearing about the matter, it passed from +his innocent mind. + +Nurse thought it right to tell the children's mother of her loss, and +the girls and Maurice heard of it too. They all were very sorry for +nurse, for she took her own carelessness rather sorely to heart. But by +her wish, nothing was said of it to the two other servants, one of whom +had only lately come, though the other had been with them many years. + +"I'd rather by far bear the loss," said nurse, "than cause any +ill-feeling about it, ma'am." + +And her mistress gave in to her. "Though certainly _you_ must not bear +the loss, nurse," she said, kindly; "for in all these years you have +saved me too many half-sovereigns and whole ones too for me to mind much +about the loss of one. And you've asked Carrots, you say; you're sure he +knows nothing about it?" + +"Quite sure, ma'am," said nurse, unhesitatingly. + +And several days went on, and nothing more was said or heard about the +half-sovereign. Only all this time the little yellow sixpenny lay safely +hidden away in Carrots' paint-box. + +In a sense he had forgotten about it. He knew it was safe there, and he +had almost fixed in his mind not to tell Floss about it till the day +they should be going to the toy-shop to buy their hoops. Once or twice +he had been on the point of showing it to her, but had stopped short, +thinking how much more delightful it would be to "surprise" her. He had +quite left off puzzling his head as to where the little coin had come +from; he had found it in Floss's drawer, that was quite enough. If he +had any thoughts about its history, they were that either Floss had had +"the sixpenny" a long time ago and had forgotten it, or that the fairies +had brought it; and on the whole he inclined to the latter explanation, +for you see there was something different about this sixpenny to any he +had ever seen before. + +Very likely "fairies' sixpennies" are always that pretty yellow colour, +he thought. + +One day, about a week after the loss of the half-sovereign, Maurice +happened to come into the nursery just at the little ones' tea-time. It +was a half-holiday, and he had been out a long walk with some of his +companions, for he still went to school at Sandyshore, and now he had +come in tremendously hungry and thirsty. + +"I say, nurse," he exclaimed, seating himself unceremoniously at the +table, "I'm awfully hungry, and mamma's out, and we shan't have tea for +two hours yet. And Carrots, young man, I want your paint-box; mine's all +gone to smash, and Cecil won't lend me hers, and I want to paint flags +with stars and stripes for my new boat." + +"Tars and tipes," repeated Carrots, "what's tars and tipes?" + +"What's that to you?" replied Mott, politely. "Bless me, I am so +thirsty. Give me your tea, Carrots, and nurse will make you some more. +What awful weak stuff! But I'm too thirsty to wait." + +He seized Carrots' mug and drank off its contents at one draught. But +when he put the mug down he made a _very_ wry face. + +"What horrible stuff!" he exclaimed. "Nurse, you've forgotten to put in +any sugar." + +"No, she hasn't," said Carrots, bluntly. + +Nurse smiled, but said nothing, and Floss looked fidgety. + +"What do you mean?" said Mott. "Don't you like sugar--eh, young 'un?" + +"Yes, I do like it," replied Carrots, but he would say no more. + +Floss grew more and more uneasy. + +"Oh, Mott," she burst out, "please don't tease Carrots. It's nothing +wrong; it's only something we've planned ourselves." + +Mott's curiosity was by this time thoroughly aroused. + +"A secret, is it?" he exclaimed, pricking up his ears; "you'd best tell +it me. I'm a duffer at keeping secrets. Out with it." + +Floss looked ready to cry, and Carrots shut his mouth tight, as if +determined not to give in. Nurse thought it time to interfere. + +"Master Maurice," she said, appealingly, "don't tease the poor little +things, there's a good boy. If it is a secret, there's no harm in it, +you may be sure." + +"Tease!" repeated Mott, virtuously, "I'm not teasing. I only want to +know what the mystery is--why shouldn't I? I won't interfere." + +Now Mott was just at the age when the spirit of mischief is most apt to +get thorough hold of a boy; and once this _is_ the case, who can say +where or at what a boy will stop? Every opposition or contradiction only +adds fuel to the flames, and not seldom a tiny spark may thus end in a +great fire. Nurse knew something of boys in general, and of Mott in +particular; and knowing what she did, she decided in her own mind that +she had better take the bull by the horns without delay. + +"Miss Floss," she said seriously, "and Master Carrots, I think you had +better tell your brother your secret. He'll be very kind about it, +you'll see, and he won't tell anybody." + +"Won't you, Mott?" said Floss, jumping up and down on her chair in her +anxiety. "Promise." + +"Honour bright," said Mott. + +Carrots opened his mouth as if about to speak, but shut it down again. + +"What were _you_ going to say?" said Mott. + +"Nucken," replied Carrots. + +"People don't open their mouths like that, if they've 'nucken' to say," +said Mott, as if he didn't believe Carrots. + +"I didn't mean that I wasn't _going_ to say nucken," said Carrots, "I +mean I haven't nucken to say now." + +"And what were you going to say?" persisted Mott. + +Carrots looked frightened. + +"I was only sinking if you knowed, and nurse knowed, and Floss knowed, +and I knowed, it wouldn't be a secret." + +Mott burst out laughing. + +"What a precious goose you are," he exclaimed. "Well, secret or no +secret, I'm going to hear it; so tell me." + +Floss looked at nurse despairingly. + +"You tell, nurse, please," she said. + +So nurse told, and Maurice looked more amused than ever. "What an idea!" +he exclaimed. "I don't believe Carrots'll hold out for a month, whatever +Floss may do, unless he has a precious lump of ac--ac--what is it the +head people call it?--acquisitiveness for his age. But you needn't have +made such a fuss about your precious secret. Here, nurse, give us some +tea, and you may put in all the sugar Floss and Carrots have saved by +now." + +Floss and Carrots looked ready to cry, but nurse reassured them. + +"Never you fear," she said; "he shall have what's proper, but no more. +Never was such a boy for sweet things as you, Master Mott." + +"It shows in my temper, doesn't it?" he said saucily. And then he was so +pleased with his own wit that for a few minutes he forgot to tease, +occupying himself by eating lots of bread and butter instead, so that +tea went on peaceably. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CARROTS IN TROUBLE. + + "But bitter while they flow, are childish tears." + + +"Now Carrots," said Mott, when he had eaten what he considered might +possibly support him for the next two hours, "now Carrots, let's have +the paint-box. You needn't disturb yourself," he continued, for Carrots +was preparing to descend from his high chair, "I know where you keep it; +it's in your drawer, isn't it. Which is his drawer, nurse? It'll be a +good opportunity for me to see if he keeps it tidy." + +"No, no, let me get it myself," cried Carrots, tumbling himself off his +chair anyhow in his eagerness. "Nurse, nurse, don't tell him which is +mine; don't let him take my paint-box, let me get it my own self." + +Nurse looked at him with some surprise; it was seldom the little boy so +excited himself. + +"Master Mott won't hurt your drawer, my dear," she said; "you don't mind +his having your paint-box, I'm sure. But do let him get it out himself, +if he wants, Master Maurice, there's a dear boy," she continued, for +Maurice was by this time ferreting in Floss's drawer with great gusto, +and in another moment would have been at Carrots'! But Carrots was at it +before him. He pulled it open as far as he could, for in consequence of +Mott's investigations in the upper storey, he could not easily penetrate +to his own quarters. But he knew exactly where the paint-box lay, and +managed to slip it out, without Maurice's noticing what he was doing. +His triumph was short-lived, however; before he could open the box, Mott +was after him. + +"Hi, you young sneak!" he cried, "what are you after now? Give me the +box; I believe you want to take the best paints out before you lend it +to me," and he wrenched the paint-box out of his little brother's hands. + +"I don't, I don't," sobbed Carrots, sitting down on the floor and crying +bitterly; "you may have all the paints, Mott, but it's my secret, oh, my +secret!" + +"What are you talking about?" said Mott roughly, pulling out the lid as +he spoke. The box had been all tumbled about in the struggle, and the +paints came rattling out, the paints and the brushes, and the little +saucers, and with them came rolling down on to the floor, children, you +know what--the "fairies' sixpenny," the little bright shining yellow +half-sovereign! + +A strange change came over Mott's face. + +"Nurse," he cried, "do you see that? What does that mean?" + +Nurse hastened up to where he was standing; she stared for a moment in +puzzled astonishment at the spot on the carpet to which the toe of +Maurice's boot was pointing, then she stooped down slowly and picked up +the coin, still without speaking. + +"Well, nurse," said Maurice, impatiently, "what do you think of that?" + +"My half-sovereign," said nurse, as if hardly believing what she saw. + +"Of course it's your half-sovereign," said Mott, "it's as plain as a +pike-staff. But how did it come there, that's the question?" + +Nurse looked at Carrots with puzzled perplexity. "He couldn't have +known," she said in a low voice, too low for Carrots to hear. He was +still sitting on the floor sobbing, and through his sobs was to be heard +now and then the melancholy cry, "My secret, oh, my poor secret." + +"You hear what he says," said Maurice; "what does his 'secret' mean but +that he sneaked into your drawer and took the half-sovereign, and now +doesn't like being found out. I'm ashamed to have him for my brother, +that I am, the little cad!" + +"But he couldn't have understood," said nurse, at a loss how otherwise +to defend her little boy. "I'm not even sure that he rightly knew of my +losing it, and he might have taken it, meaning no harm, not knowing what +it was, indeed, very likely." + +"Rubbish," said Maurice. "A child that is going without sugar to get +money instead, must be old enough to understand something about what +money is." + +"But that was _my_ plan; it wasn't Carrots that thought of it at all," +said Floss, who all this time had stood by, frightened and distressed, +not knowing what to say. + +"Hold your tongue, Floss," said Maurice, roughly; and Floss subsided. +"Carrots," he continued, turning to his brother, "leave off crying this +minute, and listen to me. Who put this piece of money into your +paint-box?" + +"I did my own self," said Carrots. + +"What for?" + +"To keep it a secret for Floss," sobbed Carrots. + +Maurice turned triumphantly to nurse. + +"There," he said, "you see! And," he continued to Carrots again, "you +took it out of nurse's drawer--out of a little paper packet?" + +"No," said Carrots, "I didn't. I didn't know it was nurse's." + +"You didn't know nurse had lost a half-sovereign!" exclaimed Mott, +"Carrots, how dare you say so?" + +"Yes," said Carrots, looking so puzzled, that for a moment or two he +forgot to sob, "I did know, Floss told me." + +"Then how _can_ you say you didn't know this was nurse's?" said Mott. + +"Oh, I don't know--I didn't know--I can't under'tand," cried Carrots, +relapsing into fresh sobs. + +"I wish your mamma were in, that I do," said nurse, looking ready to cry +too; by this time Floss's tears were flowing freely. + +"She isn't in, so it's no good wishing she were," said Maurice; "but +papa is," he went on importantly, "and I'll just take Carrots to him and +see what _he'll_ say to all this." + +"Oh, no, Master Mott, don't do that, I beg and pray of you," said nurse, +all but wringing her hands in entreaty. "Your papa doesn't understand +about the little ones; do wait till your mamma comes in." + +"No, indeed, nurse; it's a thing papa _should_ be told," said Mott, in +his innermost heart half inclined to yield, but working himself up to +imagine he was acting very heroically. And notwithstanding nurse's +distress, and Floss's tears, off he marched his unfortunate little +brother to the study. + +"Papa," he said, knocking at the door, "may I come in? There's something +I must speak to you about immediately." + +"Come in, then," was the reply. "Well, and what's the matter now? Has +Carrots hurt himself?" asked his father, naturally enough, for his +red-haired little son looked pitiable in the extreme as he crept into +the room after Maurice, frightened, bewildered, and, so far as his +gentle disposition was capable of such a feeling, indignant also, all at +once. + +"No," replied Maurice, pushing Carrots forward, "he's not hurt himself; +it's worse than that. Papa," he continued excitedly, "you whipped me +once, when I was a little fellow, for telling a story. I am very sorry +to trouble you, but I think it's right you should know; I am afraid you +will have to punish Carrots more severely than you punished me, for he's +done worse than tell a story." Maurice stopped to take breath, and +looked at his father to see the effect of his words. Carrots had +stopped crying to listen to what Maurice was saying, and there he +stood, staring up with his large brown eyes, two or three tears still +struggling down his cheeks, his face smeared and red and looking very +miserable. Yet he did not seem to be in the least ashamed of himself, +and this somehow provoked Mott and hardened him against him. + +"What's he been doing?" said their father, looking at the two boys with +more amusement than anxiety, and then glancing regretfully at the +newspaper which he had been comfortably reading when Mott's knock came +to the door. + +"He's done much worse than tell a story," repeated Maurice, "though for +that matter he's told two or three stories too. But, papa, you know +about nurse losing a half-sovereign? Well, _Carrots_ had got it all the +time; he took it out of nurse's purse, and hid it away in his paint-box, +without telling anybody. He can't deny it, though he tried to." + +"Carrots," said his father sternly, "is this true?" + +Carrots looked up in his father's face; that face, generally so kind and +merry, was now all gloom and displeasure--why?--Carrots could not +understand, and he was too frightened and miserable to collect his +little wits together to try to do so. He just gave a sort of little +tremble and began to cry again. + +"Carrots," repeated his father, "is this true?" + +"I don't know," sobbed Carrots. + +Now Captain Desart, Carrots' father, was, as I think I have told you, a +sailor. If any of you children have a sailor for your father, you must +not think I mean to teach you to be disrespectful when I say that +sailors _are_, there is no doubt, inclined to be hot-tempered and hasty. +And I do not think on the whole that they understand much about +children, though they are often very fond of them and very kind. All +this was the case with Carrots' father. He had been so much away from +his children while they were little, that he really hardly knew how +they had been brought up or trained or anything about their childish +ways--he had left them entirely to his wife, and scarcely considered +them as in any way "_his_ business," till they were quite big boys and +girls. + +But once he did begin to notice them, though very kind, he was very +strict. He had most decided opinions about the only way of checking +their faults whenever these were serious enough to attract his +attention, and he could not and would not be troubled with arguing, or +what he called "splitting hairs," about such matters. A fault was a +fault; telling a falsehood was telling a falsehood; and he made no +allowance for the excuses or "palliating circumstances" there might be +to consider. One child, according to his ideas, was to be treated +exactly like another; why the same offence should deserve severer +punishment with a self-willed, self-confident, bold, matter-of-fact lad, +such as Maurice, than with a timid, fanciful, baby-like creature as was +his little Fabian, he could not have understood had he tried. + +Nurse knew all this by long experience; no wonder, kind though she knew +her master to be, that she trembled when Mott announced his intention of +laying the whole affair before his father. + +But poor Carrots did not know anything about it. "Papa" had never been +"cross" to him before, and he was far from clearly understanding why he +was "cross" to him now. So he just sobbed and said "I don't know," which +was about the worst thing he could possibly have said in his own +defence, though literally the truth. + +"No or yes, sir," said Captain Desart, his voice growing louder and +sterner--I think he really forgot that it was a poor little shrimp of +six years old he was speaking to--"no nonsense of 'don't knows.' Did you +or did you not take nurse's half-sovereign out of her drawer and keep +it for your own?" + +"No," said Carrots, "I never took nucken out of nurse's drawer. I never +did, papa, and I didn't know nurse had any sovereigns." + +"Didn't you know nurse had _lost_ a half-sovereign? Carrots, how can you +say so?" interrupted Mott. + +"Yes, Floss told me," said Carrots. + +"And Floss hid it away in your paint-box, I suppose?" said Mott, +sarcastically. + +"No, Floss didn't. I hided the sixpenny my own self," said Carrots, +looking more and more puzzled. + +"Hold your tongue, Maurice," said his father, angrily. "Go and fetch the +money and the tomfool paint-box thing that you say he had it in." + +Mott did as he was told. He ran to the nursery and back as fast as he +could; but, unobserved by him, Floss managed to run after him and crept +into the study so quietly that her father never noticed her. + +Maurice laid the old paint-box and the half-sovereign down on the table +in front of his father; Captain Desart held up the little coin between +his finger and thumb. + +"Now," he said, "Carrots, look at this. Did you or did you not take this +piece of money out of nurse's drawer and hide it away in your +paint-box?" + +Carrots stared hard at the half-sovereign. + +"I did put it in my paint-box," he said, and then he stopped. + +"What for?" said his father. + +"I wanted to keep it for a secret," he replied. "I wanted to--to--" + +"_What?_" thundered Captain Desart. + +"To buy something at the toy-shop with it," sobbed Carrots. + +Captain Desart sat down and looked at Mott for sympathy. + +"Upon my soul," he said, "one could hardly believe it. A child that one +would think scarcely knew the value of money! Where can he have learnt +such cunning; you say you are sure he was told of nurse's having lost a +half-sovereign?" + +"Oh, yes," said Mott; "he confesses to that much himself." + +"Floss told me," said Carrots. + +"Then how can you pretend you didn't know this was nurse's--taking it +out of her drawer, too," said his father. + +"I don't know. I didn't take it out of her drawer; it was 'aside Floss's +doll," said Carrots. + +"He's trying to equivocate," said his father. Then he turned to the +child again, looking more determined than ever. + +"Carrots," he said, "I must whip you for this. Do you know that I am +ashamed to think you are my son? If you were a poor boy you might be put +in prison for this." + +Carrots looked too bewildered to understand. "In prison," he repeated. +"Would the prison-man take me?" + +"What does he mean?" said Captain Desart. + +Floss, who had been waiting unobserved in her corner all this time, +thought this a good opportunity for coming forward. + +"He means the policeman," she said. "Oh, papa," she went on, running up +to her little brother and throwing her arms round him, the tears +streaming down her face, "oh, papa, poor little Carrots! he _doesn't_ +understand." + +"Where did _you_ come from?" said her father, gruffly but not unkindly, +for Floss was rather a favourite of his. "What do you mean about his not +understanding? Did you know about this business, Floss?" + +"Oh no, papa," said Floss, her face flushing; "I'm too big not to +understand." + +"Of course you are," said Captain Desart; "and Carrots is big enough, +too, to understand the very plain rule that he is not to touch what +does not belong to him. He was told, too, that nurse had lost a +half-sovereign, and he might then have owned to having taken it and +given it back, and then things would not have looked so bad. Take him up +to my dressing-room, Maurice, and leave him there till I come." + +"May I go with him, papa?" said Floss very timidly. + +"No," said her father, "you may not." + +So Mott led off poor weeping Carrots, and all the way upstairs he kept +sobbing to himself, "I never touched nurse's sovereigns. I never did. I +didn't know she had any sovereigns." + +"Hold your tongue," said Mott; "what is the use of telling more stories +about it?" + +"I didn't tell stories. I said I hided the sixpenny my own self, but I +never touched nurse's sovereigns; I never did." + +"I believe you're more than half an idiot," said Mott, angry and yet +sorry--angry with himself, too, somehow. + +Floss, left alone with her father, ventured on another appeal. + +"You won't whip Carrots till mamma comes in, will you, papa?" she said +softly. + +"Why not? Do you think I want her to help me to whip him?" said Captain +Desart. + +"Oh no--but--I think perhaps mamma would understand better how it was, +for, oh papa, dear, Carrots _isn't_ a naughty boy; he never, never tells +stories." + +"Well, we'll see," replied her father; "and in the meantime it will do +him no harm to think things over by himself in my dressing-room for a +little." + +"Oh, poor Carrots!" murmured Floss to herself; "it'll be getting dark, +and he's all alone. I _wish_ mamma would come in!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CARROTS "ALL RIGHT" AGAIN. + + "When next the summer breeze comes by, + And waves the bush, the flower is dry." + + _Walter Scott._ + + +Floss crept upstairs to the dressing-room door. It was locked. Though +the key was in the lock, she knew she must not turn it; and even had it +been open she would not have dared to go in, after her father's +forbidding it. But she thought she might venture to speak to Carrots, to +comfort him a little, through the door. She was dreadfully afraid that +he might feel frightened in there alone if it got dark before he was +released, for sometimes he was afraid of the dark--he was such a little +boy, remember. + +Floss tapped at the door. + +"Carrots," she said, "are you there?" + +[Illustration: Floss tapped at the door. "Carrots," she said, "are you +there?" _To face page_ 78.] + +"Yes," said Carrots; "but you can't come in, Floss. Mott has locked me +in." + +"I know," said Floss; "what are you doing, Carrots? Are you very +unhappy?" + +"Not so very. I'm crying--I'm crying a great lot, Floss, but I don't +think I'm so very unhappy--not now you've come to the door." + +"Poor Carrots," said Floss, "I'll stay by the door, if you like. I'll +just run down to the front door now and then, to see if mamma is coming, +and then I'll come straight back to you." + +"All right," said Carrots. Whenever he wanted to seem very brave, and +rather a big boy, he used to say "all right," and just now he was trying +very hard to be like a big boy. + +There was silence for a minute or two... Then Carrots called out again. + +"Floss," he said, "are you there?" + +"Yes, dear," replied faithful Floss. + +"I want just to tell you _one_ thing," he said. "Floss, I never did +touch nurse's sovereigns. I never knowed she had any." + +"It wasn't a sovereign; it was a _half_-sovereign," corrected Floss. + +"I don't under'tand how it _could_ be a half-sovereign," said Carrots. +"But I never touched nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it." + +"Then where _did_ you find the half-sovereign?" began Floss, "and +why--oh, Carrots," she broke off, "I do believe that's the front door +bell. It'll be mamma coming. I must run down." + +"All right," called out Carrots again. "Don't be long, Floss; but please +tell mamma all about it. I _don't_ under'tand." + +He gave a little sigh of perplexity, and lay down on the floor near the +window, where the room was lightest, for the darkness was now beginning +to creep in, and he felt very lonely. + +Poor Mrs. Desart hardly knew what to think or say, when, almost before +she had got into the house, she was seized upon by Maurice and Floss, +each eager to tell their own story. _Carrots_ naughty, _Carrots_ in +disgrace, was such an extraordinary idea! + +"Nurse," she exclaimed, perceiving her at the end of the passage, whence +she had been watching as anxiously as the children for her mistress's +return, "nurse, what is the meaning of it all?" + +"Indeed, ma'am," nurse was beginning, but she was interrupted. "Come in +here, Lucy," said Captain Desart to his wife, opening the study door, +"come in here before you go upstairs." + +And Mrs. Desart did as he asked, but Floss again managed to creep in +too, almost hidden in the folds of her mother's dress. + +"I can't believe that Carrots is greedy, or cunning, or obstinate," said +his mother, when she had heard all. "I cannot think that he understood +what he was doing when he took the half-sovereign." + +"But the hiding it," said Captain Desart, "the hiding it, and yet to my +face persisting that he had never touched nurse's half-sovereign. I +can't make the child out." + +"He says he didn't know nurse had any sovereigns," put in Floss. + +"Are you there again, you ubiquitous child?" said her father. + +Floss looked rather frightened--such a long word as ubiquitous must +surely mean something very naughty; but her father's voice was not +angry, so she took courage. + +"Does he know what a sovereign means?" said Mrs. Desart. "Perhaps there +is some confusion in his mind which makes him seem obstinate when he +isn't so really." + +"He said he knew _I_ had sovereigns," said Floss, "and I couldn't think +what he meant. Oh, mamma," she went on suddenly, "I do believe I know +what he was thinking of. It was my kings and queens." + +And before her father or mother could stop her, she had darted off to +the nursery. In two minutes she was back again, holding out to her +mother a round wooden box--the sort of box one often used to see with +picture alphabets for little children, but instead of an alphabet, +Floss's box contained a set of round cards, each about the size of the +top of a wine-glass, with the heads of all the English kings and queens, +from William the Conqueror down to Victoria! + +"'Sovereigns of England,' mamma, you see," she exclaimed, pointing to +the words on the lid, and quite out of breath with hurry and excitement, +"and I very often call them my sovereigns; and of course Carrots didn't +understand how there could be a _half_ one of them, nor how nurse could +have any." + +"It must be so," said Mrs. Desart to her husband; "the poor child really +did _not_ understand." + +"But still the taking the money at all, and hiding it?" said Captain +Desart. "I don't see that it would be right not to punish him." + +"He has been punished already--pretty severely for him, I fancy," said +Floss's mother, with a rather sad smile. "You will leave him to me now, +won't you, Frank?" she asked her husband. "I will go up and see him, and +try to make him thoroughly understand. Give me the sovereigns, Floss +dear, I'll take them with me." + +Somewhat slowly, Carrots' mother made her way upstairs. She was tired +and rather troubled. She did not believe that her poor little boy had +really done wrong wilfully, but it seemed difficult to manage well among +so many children; she was grieved also, at Maurice's hastiness and want +of tender feeling, and she saw, too, how little fitted Carrots was to +make his way in this rough-and-ready world. + +"How would it be without me! My poor children," she thought with a sigh. + +But a little hand was slipped into hers. + +"Mamma, dear, I'm _so_ glad you thought of the sovereigns. I'm _sure_ +Carrots didn't mean to be naughty. Mamma dear, though he _is_ so +little, Carrots always means to be good; I don't think he could even be +frightened into doing anything that he understood was naughty, though he +is so easily frightened other ways." + +"My good little Floss, my comforter," said her mother, patting Floss's +hand, and then they together made their way to the dressing-room. + +It was almost dark. The key was in the lock, and Mrs. Desart felt for it +and turned it. But when she opened the door it was too dark in the room +to distinguish anything. + +"Carrots," she said, but there was no answer. "Where can he be?" she +said rather anxiously. "Floss, run and get a light." + +Floss ran off: she was back again in a minute, for she had met nurse on +the stairs with a candle in her hand. But even with the light they could +not all at once find Carrots, and though they called to him there was no +answer. + +"Can he have got out of the window?" Mrs. Desart was beginning to say, +when Floss interrupted her. + +"Here he is, mamma," she exclaimed. "Oh, poor little Carrots! mamma, +nursie, do look." + +There he was indeed--fast, fast asleep! Extra fast sleep, for his +troubles and his tears had worn him out. He was lying in a corner of a +large closet opening out of the dressing-room. In this closet Captain +Desart hung up his coats and dressing-gowns, and doubtless Carrots had +crept into it when the room began to get dark, feeling as if in the +hanging garments there was some comfort and protection; and there he +lay, looking so fair and innocent, prettier than when he was awake, for +his cheeks had more colour, and his long eye-lashes, reddy-brown like +his hair, showed clearly on his fair skin. + +"Poor little fellow, how sweet he looks," said Mrs. Desart. "Nurse, lift +him up and try to put him to bed without waking him. We must wait to +disentangle the confusion in his mind till to-morrow morning." + +And very tenderly nurse lifted him up and carried him off. + +"My bonnie wee man," she murmured; for though it was many and many a day +since she had seen her native land, and she had journeyed with her +master and mistress to strange countries "far over the sea," she was apt +when her feelings were stirred to fall back into her own childish +tongue. + +So no more was said to or about Carrots that evening; but Floss went to +bed quite happy and satisfied that "mamma" would put it all right in the +morning. I don't think Mott went to bed in so comfortable a mood; yet +his mother had said nothing to him! + +Cecil and Louise had, though. Cecil told him right out that he was a +horrid tell-tale, and Louise said she only wished _he_ had red hair +instead of Carrots; which expressions of feeling on the part of such +very grown-up young ladies meant a good deal, for it was not often they +troubled themselves much about nursery matters. Cecil, that is to say, +for Louise, who was fair haired and soft and gentle, and played very +nicely on the piano, was just a shadow of Cecil, and if Cecil had +proposed that they should stay in bed all day and get up all night, +would have thought it a very good idea! + +And the next morning Mrs. Desart had a long talk with Carrots. It was +all explained and made clear, and the difference between the two kinds +of "sovereigns" shown to him. And he told his mother all--all, that is +to say, except the "plan" for saving sugar and getting money instead, +which had first put it into his head to keep the half-sovereign to get a +new doll for Floss. He began to tell about the plan, but stopped when he +remembered that it was Floss's secret as well as his own; and when he +told his mother this, she said he was quite right not to tell without +Floss's leave, and that as nurse knew about it, they might still keep it +for their secret, if they liked, which Carrots was very glad to hear. + +He told his mother about his thinking perhaps the fairies had brought +the "sixpenny," and she explained to him that now-a-days, alas! that was +hardly likely to be the case, though she seemed quite to understand his +fancying it, and did not laugh at him at all. But she spoke very gravely +to him, too, about _never_ taking anything that was not his; and after +listening and thinking with all his might, Carrots said he thought he +"kite under'tood." + +"I am never, never to take nucken that I'm not sure is mine," he said +slowly. "And if ever I'm not sure I'm to ask somebody, you, or nursie, +or Floss--or _sometimes_, perhaps, Cecil. But I don't think I'd better +ask Mott, for perhaps he wouldn't under'tand." + +But Mott's mother took care that before the day was over Mott _should_ +"under'tand" something of where and how he had been in fault; that there +are sometimes ways of doing _right_ which turn it into "wrong;" and that +want of pity and tenderness for the wrong _doer_ never, never can be +right. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A LONG AGO STORY. + + "You may laugh, my little people, + But be sure my story's true; + For I vow by yon church steeple, + I was once a child like you." + + _The Land of Long Ago._ + + +If any of you children have travelled much, have you noticed that on a +long journey there seem to come points, turns--I hardly know what to +call them--after which the journey seems to go on differently. More +quickly, perhaps more cheerfully, or possibly less so, but certainly +_differently_. Looking back afterwards you see it was so--"from the time +we all looked out of the window at the ruined abbey we seemed to get on +so much faster," you would say, or--"after the steamer had passed the +Spearhead Point, we began to feel dull and tired, and there was no more +sunshine." + +I think it is so in life. Suddenly, often quite unknowingly, we turn a +corner sometimes of our history, sometimes of our characters, and +looking back, long afterwards, we make a date of that point. It was so +just now with my little Carrots. This trouble of his about the +half-sovereign changed him. I do not mean to say that it saddened him +and made him less happy than he had been--at his age, thank God, few, if +any children have it in them to be so deeply affected--but it _changed_ +him. It was his first peep out into life, and it gave him his first real +_thoughts_ about things. It made him see how a little wrong-doing may +cause great sorrow; it gave him his first vague, misty glimpse of that, +to my thinking, saddest of all sad things--the way in which it is +possible for our very nearest and dearest to mistake and misunderstand +us. + +He had been in some ways a good deal of a baby for his age, there is no +doubt. He had a queer, baby-like way of not seeming to take in quickly +what was said to him, and staring up in your face with his great +oxen-like eyes, that did a little excuse Maurice's way of laughing at +him and telling him he was "half-witted." But no one that really looked +at those honest, sensible, tender eyes could for an instant have thought +there was any "want" in their owner. It was all _there_--the root of all +goodness, cleverness, and manliness--just as in the acorn there is the +oak; but of course it had a great deal of _growing_ before it, and, more +than mere growing, it would need all the care and watchful tenderness +and wise directing that could be given it, just as the acorn needs all +the rain and sunshine and good nourishing soil it can get, to become a +fine oak, straight and strong and beautiful. For what do I mean by "it," +children? I mean the "own self" of Carrots, the wonderful "something" in +the little childish frame which the wisest of all the wise men of +either long ago or now-a-days have never yet been able to describe--the +"soul," children, which is in you all, which may grow into so beautiful, +so lovely and perfect a thing; which may, alas! be twisted and stunted +and starved out of all likeness to the "image" in which it was created. + +Do you understand a little why it seems sometimes such a very, very +solemn thing to have the charge of children? When one thinks what they +_should_ be, and again when one thinks what they _may_ be, is it not a +solemn, almost too solemn a thought? Only we, who feel this so deeply, +take heart when we remember that the Great Gardener who never makes +mistakes has promised to help us; even out of _our_ mistakes to bring +good. + +As I have said, the affair of the lost half-sovereign did not leave any +lastingly painful impression on Carrots, but for some days he seemed +unusually quiet and pale and a little sad. He had caught cold, too, with +falling asleep on the dressing-room floor, nurse said, for the weather +was still exceedingly chilly, though the spring was coming on. So +altogether he was rather a miserable looking little Carrots. + +He kept out of the way and did not complain, but "mamma" and nurse and +Floss did not need complaints to make them see that their little man was +not quite himself, and they were extra kind to him. + +There came just then some very dull rainy days, regular rainy days, not +stormy, but to the children much more disagreeable than had they been +so. For in _stormy_ weather at the seaside there is too much excitement +for anyone to think whether it is disagreeable or not--there is the +splendid sight of the angry, troubled sea, there are the wonderful +"storm songs" of the wind to listen to. Of course, as Carrots used to +say, at such times it is "dedful" to think of the poor sailors; but even +in thinking of them there is something that takes one's thoughts quite +away from one's self, and one's own worries and troubles--all the +marvellous stories of shipwreck and adventure, from Grace Darling to old +Sinbad, come rushing into one's mind, and one feels as if the sea were +the only part of the world worth living on. + +But even at the seaside, regular, steady, "stupid" rainy days are +trying. Carrots sat at the nursery window one of these dull afternoons +looking out wistfully. + +"Floss," he said, for Floss was sitting on the floor learning her +geography for the next day, "Floss, it _is_ so raining." + +"I know," said Floss, stopping a minute in her "principal rivers of +northern Europe." "I wish there wasn't so much rain, and then there +wouldn't be so many rivers; or perhaps if there weren't so many rivers +there wouldn't be so much rain. I wonder which it is!" + +"Which beginned first--rivers or rain?" said Carrots, meditatively, +"_that_ would tell." + +"I'm sure I don't know, and I don't believe anybody does," said Floss, +going on again with her lesson. "Be quiet, Carrots, for one minute, and +then I'll talk to you." + +Carrots sat silent for about a minute and a half; then he began again. + +"Floss," he said. + +"Well," replied Floss, "I've very nearly done, Carrots." + +"It's werry dull to-day, Floss; the sea looks dull too, it isn't dancey +a bit to-day, and the sands look as if they would _never_ be nice for +running on again." + +"Oh, but they will, Master Carrots," said nurse, who was sitting near, +busy darning stockings. "Dear, dear! don't I remember feeling just so +when I was a child? In winter thinking summer would never come, and in +summer forgetting all about winter!" + +"Is it a werry long time since you were a child?" inquired Carrots, +directing his attention to nurse. + +"It's getting on for a good long time, my dear," said nurse, with a +smile. + +"Please tell me about it," said Carrots. + +"Oh yes, nursie dear, do," said Floss, jumping up from the floor and +shutting her book. "I've done all my lessons, and it would just be nice +to have a story. It would amuse poor little Carrots." + +"But you know all my stories as well, or even better, than I do myself," +objected nurse, "not that they were ever much to tell, any of them." + +"Oh yes, they were. They are very nice stories indeed," said Floss, +encouragingly. "And I'm very fond of what you call your mother's +stories, too--aren't you, Carrots?--about the children she was nurse +to--Master Hugh and Miss Janet. Tell us more about them, nursie." + +"You've heard all the stories about them, my dears, I'm afraid," said +nurse. "At least, I can't just now think of any worth telling but what +you've heard." + +"Well, let's hear some not worth the telling," said Floss, persistently. +"Nurse," she went on, "how old must Master Hugh and Miss Janet be by +now? Do you know where they are?" + +"Master Hugh is dead," said nurse, "many a year ago, poor fellow, and +little Miss Janet--why she was fifteen years older than I; mother only +left them to be married when Miss Janet was past twelve. She must be +quite an old lady by now, if she is alive--with grandchildren as old as +you, perhaps! How strange it seems!" + +"She must have been a very nice little girl, and so must Master Hugh +have been--a nice little boy, I mean. That story of 'Mary Ann Jolly' was +_so_ interesting. I suppose they _never_ did anything naughty?" said +Floss, insinuatingly. + +"Oh, but they did," replied nurse, quite unsuspicious of the trap laid +for her. "Master Hugh was very mischievous. Did I never tell you what +they did to their dog Cæsar?" + +"No, never," said both the children in a breath; "do tell us." + +"Well, it was one Sunday morning, to tell it as mother told me," began +nurse. "You know, my dears," she broke off again, "it was in Scotland, +and rather an out-of-the-way part where they lived. I know the place +well, of course, for it wasn't till I was seventeen past that I ever +left it. It is a pretty place, out of the way even now, I'm told, with +railways and all, and in those days it was even more out-of-the-way. Six +miles from the church, and the prayers and the sermon very long when you +got there! Many and many a time _I've_ fallen asleep at church, when I +was a little girl. Well, to go back to Master Hugh and Miss Janet. It +was on a Sunday morning they did the queer piece of mischief I'm going +to tell you of. They had been left at home with no one but an old woman, +who was too deaf to go to church, to look after them. She lived in the +lodge close by, and used to come into the house to help when the +servants were busy, for she was a very trusty old body. It was not often +the children were left without mother, or perhaps one of the housemaids, +to take care of them, and very often in fine weather they used to be +taken to church themselves, though it was tiring like for such young +things. But this Sunday, everybody had gone to church because it was the +time of the preachings----" + +"The _what_, nurse?" said Floss. "Isn't there preaching every Sunday at +church?" + +"Oh yes, my dear; but what we call the preachings in Scotland means the +time when there is the communion service, which is only twice a year. +You can't understand, my dear," seeing that Floss looked as mystified as +ever; "but never mind. When you are older, you will find that there are +many different ways of saying and doing the same things in churches, +just like among people. But this Sunday I am telling you of, the +services were to be very long indeed, too long for the children, +considering the six miles' drive and all. So they were left at home with +old Phemie." + +"Did they mind?" said Carrots. + +"Oh no; I fancy they were very well pleased. They were always very happy +together, the two of them and Cæsar." + +"And of course they promised to be very good," said Floss. + +"No doubt of that," said nurse, with a smile. "Well, they certainly hit +upon a queer way of amusing themselves. Mother came home from church one +of the earliest; she had a lift in one of the farmer's carts, and came +in at the lodge gate just as the carriage with her master and mistress +and the young ladies was driving up. They all got out at the big gate, +and let the coachman drive round to the stable the back way, and mother +came quietly walking up the drive behind them. They were talking +seriously about the sermon they had heard, and feeling rather +solemn-like, I daresay, when all at once there flew down the drive to +meet them the most fearsome-like creature that ever was seen. It was +like nothing in nature, my mother said, about the size of a large wolf, +but with a queer-shaped head and body--at least they looked queer to +them, not knowing what it was--and not a particle of hair or coat of any +kind upon it. It rushed up to my lady, that was Miss Janet's mother, and +tried to leap upon her; but she shrieked to her husband, and he up with +his stick--he always took a stick about with him--and was just on the +point of giving it a fearful blow, never thinking but what it was one of +the beasts escaped from some travelling show, when one of the young +ladies caught his arm. + +"'Stop, father!' she cried. 'Don't you see who it is? It's _Cæsar_.' + +"'_Cæsar!_' said he. 'My dear, _that's_ never Cæsar.' + +"But Cæsar it was, as they soon saw by the way he jumped and whined, and +seemed to beg them to understand he was himself. He was frightened out +of his wits, poor doggie, for he had never felt so queer before, and +couldn't understand what had come over him." + +"And what _had_ come over him?" asked the children eagerly. + +"Why, Master Hugh and Miss Janet had spent the morning in cropping him!" +replied nurse. "The hair, and he had great long thick hair, was cut off +as close and as neat as if it had been shaved; it was really wonderful +how clean they had done it without cutting or wounding the poor doggie. +They had taken great pains about it, and had spent the best part of the +morning over it--the two of them, Master Hughie with the great kitchen +scissors, and Miss Janet with a wee fine pair she had found in her +mamma's workbox, the little monkey! And such a sight as the kitchen +dresser was with hair! For they told how they had made Cæsar jump up on +to the dresser and lie first on one side and then on the other, till all +was cut off." + +"Were they punished?" asked Floss, anxiously. And at this question +Carrots looked very woebegone. + +"They were _going_ to be," said nurse, "but somehow, I cannot justly say +how it was, they were let off. The whole thing was such a queer idea, +their father and mother could not but laugh at it, though they didn't +let the children see them. And what do you think my lady did? She took +all poor Cæsar's hair and spun it up into worsted for knitting, mixing +it, of course, with long yarn." + +"Did _she_ spin?" asked Floss. "I thought you said she was a lady." + +"And that she was, Miss Flossie, and none the less so for being able to +spin and to knit, and to cook too, I daresay," said nurse. "But ladies, +and high born ones too, in those days turned their hands to many things +they think beneath them now. I know Miss Janet's mother would never have +thought of letting any one but herself wash up her breakfast and tea +services. The cups were a sight to be seen, certainly, of such beautiful +old china; they were worth taking care of; and that's how old china has +been kept together. There isn't much of what's in use now-a-days will go +down to your grand-children, and great grand-children, Miss Flossie, +with the smashing and dashing that goes on. My lady had a white wood +bowl kept on purpose, and a napkin of the finest damask, and a large +apron of fine holland that she put on, and, oh yes, a pair of +embroidered holland cuffs she used to draw on over her sleeves up to the +elbow; and a lady she looked, I can assure you, rinsing out and drying +her beautiful cups, with her pretty white hands!" + +"Did you ever see her?" asked Floss. + +"Yes, when she was getting to be quite an old lady, I've seen her +several times when I've been sent up a message by mother to the house. +For my mother was a great favourite of hers; I never went there but my +lady would have me in to have a piece." + +"A _piece_?" repeated Floss. + +Nurse laughed. "A slice of bread and jam, I should say, my dear. I +forget that I'm far away from the old life when I get to talking of +those days. And to think I'm getting on to be quite an old woman myself; +older in some ways than my lady ever was, for my hair is fast turning +grey, and hers had never a silver streak in it to the last day of her +life, and she died at eighty-four!" + +Carrots was getting a little tired, for he hardly understood all that +nurse was saying. To create a diversion he climbed up on to her knee, +and began stroking her face. + +"Never mind, nursie," he said. "I'll always love you, even when your +hair's _kite_ grey, and I would marry you if you like when I'm big, only +I've promised to marry Floss." + +"Oh you funny little Carrots," said Floss. "But, nurse," she went on, +"what did Janet's mamma do with the hair when she had spun it?" + +"She knitted it into a pair of stockings for Master Hughie," said nurse; +"but they weren't much use. They were well enough to look at, but no +mortal boy could have worn them without his legs being skinned, they +_were_ so pricky." + +"And what became of Cæsar?" said Floss. "Did his hair ever grow again?" + +"Oh yes," said nurse, "in time it did, though I believe it never again +looked quite so silky and nice. But Cæsar lived to a good old age, for +all that. He didn't catch cold, for my lady made mother make him a coat +of a bit of soft warm cloth, which he wore for some time." + +"How funny he must have looked," said Floss. + +"What are you talking about?" said a voice behind her, and turning +round, Floss saw Cecil, who had come into the room without their hearing +her. + +"About a doggie," answered Carrots. "Oh, Cis, nurse has been telling us +such a lubly story about a doggie. Nursie, dear, won't you tell us +another to-morrow?" + +"My stories are all worn out, my dear," said nurse, shaking her head. + +"Couldn't _you_ tell us one, Cis?" said Carrots. + +"Make up one, do you mean?" said Cecil. "No, indeed, I'm sure I never +could. Are they always at you to tell them stories, nurse? If so, I pity +you." + +"Poor little things," said nurse, "it's dull for them these wet days, +Miss Cecil, and Master Carrots' cold has been bad." + +Cecil looked at her little brother's pale face as he sat nestling in +nurse's arms, and a queer new feeling of compunction seized her. + +"I couldn't _tell_ you a story," she said; "but if you like, the first +afternoon it's rainy, and you can't go out, I'll _read_ you one. Miss +Barclay lent me a funny old-fashioned little book the other day, and +some of the stories in it are fairy ones. Would you like that, Carrots?" + +Floss clapped her hands, and Carrots slid down from nurse's knee, and +coming quietly up to Cecil, threw his arms round her neck, and gave her +a kiss. + +"I hope it'll rain to-morrow," he said, gravely. + +"It _is_ kind of Miss Cecil," said nurse; and as Cecil left the nursery +she added to herself, "it will be a comfort to her mother if she begins +to take thought for the little ones, and I've always felt sure it was in +her to do so, if only she could get into the way of it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"THE BEWITCHED TONGUE." + + "Thou will not fail + To listen to a fairy tale." + + _Lewis Carroll._ + + +It _did_ rain the next day! And Cecil did not forget her promise. Just +as the old nursery clock was striking four, a full hour still to her +tea-time, she marched into the room with a little old brown book in her +hand. I wonder if any of you have ever seen that little old book, or one +like it, I would say? It was about the size of the first edition of +'Evenings at Home,' which some of you are sure to have in your +book-cases. For I should think _everybody's_ grandfathers and +grandmothers had an 'Evenings at Home' among their few, dearly-prized +children's books. + +Do you know how very few those books were? You may have heard it, but I +scarcely fancy you have ever thought over the great difference between +yourselves and long-ago-children in this respect. Now-a-days, when you +have galloped through all the brilliant blue and green and scarlet +little volumes that have been given to you on birthdays and +Christmas-days, you come with a melancholy face to your mother, and tell +her you have "nothing to read." And then, most likely, when your mother +goes to the library, she chooses a book for you out of the "juvenile +department," and when it is done you get another, till you can hardly +remember what you have read and what you haven't. But as for reading any +book twice over, _that_ is never to be thought of. + +Not so was it long ago. Not only had no children many books, but +everywhere children had the same! There was seldom any use in little +friends lending to each other, for it was always the same thing over +again: 'Evenings at Home,' 'Sandford and Merton,' 'Ornaments +Discovered,' and so on. + +You think, I daresay, that it must have been very stupid and tiresome to +have so little variety, but _I_ think you are in some ways mistaken. +Children really _read_ their books in those days; they put more of +themselves into their reading, so that, stupid as these quaint old +stories might seem to you now-a-days, they never seemed so then. What +was wanting in them the children filled up out of their own fresh hearts +and fancies, and however often they read and re-read them, they always +found something new. They got to know the characters in their favourite +stories like real friends, and would talk them over with their +companions, and compare their opinions about them in a way that made +each book as good, or better, than a dozen. + +So there is something to be said for this part of the 'ancien +régime'--if you do not understand what that means, you will some +day--after all! + +The volume that Cecil Desart brought into the nursery was called 'Faults +Corrected; or,' (there was always long ago an "or" in the titles of +books) 'Beneficent Influences.' + +"Some of the stories are stupid," said Cecil, as she sat down. "Miss +Barclay said it was her mother's when she was a little girl, so it must +be rather ancient; but I think I've found one that will amuse you, and +that Carrots can understand." + +"What's it called?" said Floss, peering over her sister's shoulder. +"'Faults Corrected; or, Ben--ben--' what word's that, Cecil?" + +"Sit _down_, Floss, and be quiet, or I won't read to you," said Cecil, +emphatically. "That's the name of the whole book you are looking at, and +you wouldn't understand the word if I told it you. The name of the story +I'm going to read to you is, 'The Bewitched Tongue; or, Think before you +speak. A Fairy Tale.'" + +[Illustration: "Now, be quiet all of you, I'm going to begin." _To face +page_ 114.] + +Floss would have liked to clap her hands, but she was afraid of another +snub from Cecil, so she restrained her feelings. + +"When there come very long words," continued Cecil--"there often are in +old books--I'll change them to easy ones, so that Carrots may +understand. Now, be quiet all of you, I'm going to begin. 'The Bewitched +Tongue, etc.' I'm not going to read all the title again. 'In a beautiful +mansion' (that just means a fine house, Carrots) 'surrounded by pleasure +grounds of great extent, there lived, many years ago, a young girl named +Elizabetha. She was of charming appearance and pleasing manners; her +parents loved her devotedly, her brothers and sisters looked upon her +with amiable affection, her teachers found her docile and intelligent. +Yet Elizabetha constantly found herself, despite their affection, +shunned and feared by her best and nearest friends, and absolutely +disliked by those who did not know her well enough to feel assured of +the real goodness of her heart. + +'This sad state of things was all owing to one unfortunate habit. She +had a hasty tongue. Whatever thought was uppermost in her mind at the +moment, she expressed without reflection; she never remembered the +wholesome adage "Think before you speak," or that other excellent +saying, "Second thoughts are best." + +'Her disposition was far from unamiable or malicious, yet the mischief +of which she was the cause was indescribable. Every servant in the +household dreaded to hear the sound of her voice, for many had she +involved in trouble and disgrace; and as her temper was naturally quick +and impetuous, and she never attempted to check her first expressions of +provocation, small and even trifling disagreements were by her foolish +tongue exaggerated into lasting discord, long after all real cause of +offence had passed from her mind. + +'"My brother will not forgive me," she confessed one day to her mother, +with many tears, "and the quarrel was only that he had broken the vase +of flowers that stands on my table. I forgave _him_--I would rather +lose twenty vases than his affection--and yet he will not speak to me, +and passes me by with indignant looks." + +'"And did you at once express your forgiveness to him, Elizabetha?" said +her mother. "When you first discovered the accident, what words escaped +you?" + +'Elizabetha reflected, and presently her colour rose. + +'"I fear, ma'am," she said, "I fear that at the first sight of the broken +vase I spoke unguardedly. I exclaimed that without doubt Adolphus had +thrown down the ornament on purpose to annoy me, and that I wished so +mean-spirited a youth were not my brother. My little sister Celia was +beside me at the time--can she have carried to him what I said? I did +not really mean that; my words were but the momentary expression of my +vexation." + +'Her mother gravely shook her head. + +'"It is your own doing altogether, Elizabetha," she said, "and you +cannot complain that your brother resents so unkind and untrue a +charge." + +'Elizabetha burst into tears, but the harm was done, and it was some +time before Adolphus could forget the pain of her unjust and hasty +words. + +'Another day her little brother Jacky had just with great pains and care +written out his task for the next morning, when, having been called to +supper, he found on his return to the schoolroom his exercise book all +blotted and disfigured. + +'"Who can have done this?" he cried in distress. + +'Elizabetha was just entering the room. + +'"Oh," she exclaimed, "it is Sukey, the under-housemaid, that you have +to thank for that. I saw her coming out of the room, and she had no +reason to enter it. Out of curiosity she has been looking at your books, +and blotted your exercise." + +'Jacky was but eight years old, full young for prudence or reflection. +Downstairs he flies, his face inflamed with anger, and meeting the +unfortunate Sukey at the door of the servants' hall, upbraids her in no +gentle terms for her impertinence. In vain the poor girl defends +herself, and denies Master Jacky's accusation; the other servants come +to the rescue, and the whole household is in an uproar, till suddenly +Miss Elizabetha is named as the source of the mischief. + +'"Ah," says the old housekeeper, "do not distress yourself, Sukey; we +all know what Miss Elizabetha's tongue is!" + +'And thereupon the poor girl is freed from blame. She had only gone to +the schoolroom by the desire of an upper servant to mend the fire, and +the real offender was discovered to have been the cat! + +'This affair coming to the ears of Elizabetha's father, he reproved her +with great severity. Mortified and chagrined, she, as usual, wept +bitterly, and ashamed to meet the cold looks of the household, she +hastened out into the garden and paced up and down a shady walk, where +she imagined herself quite hidden from observation.'" + +"Cis," interrupted Carrots at this point, "I don't understand the +story." + +"I'm very sorry," said Cecil, "I didn't notice what a lot of long words +there are. Shall I leave off?" + +"_I_ understand it," said Floss. + +"Then read it for Floss, please, Cis," said Carrots. "I'll be kite +still." + +"You're a good little boy," said Cecil; "I suppose I may as well finish +it as I have begun. We're coming to the fairy part now. Perhaps you'll +understand it better. Where was I? Oh yes, 'imagined herself quite +hidden from observation. But in this she was mistaken, as my readers +will see. + +'She walked slowly up and down. "Oh my tongue, my cruel tongue!" she +exclaimed, "what trouble it is the cause of! How can I cure myself of my +rash speech?" + +'"Do you in all sincerity wish to cure yourself, Elizabetha?" said a +voice beside her; and turning in surprise at its sound, the young girl +perceived at a few steps' distance a fair and sweet looking lady, clad +in silvery-white, adorned with wreaths of the loveliest flowers. + +'"Assuredly I do, gracious lady," replied Elizabetha, mastering as well +as she was able her surprise, for she felt that this beautiful lady must +be a fairy of high degree. + +'"Then _I_ will help you," said the lady, "but on one condition, +hereafter to be explained. You are content to agree to this beforehand?" + +'"To _anything_, kind fairy," replied the young girl, "if only my +unhappy fault can be cured." + +'The fairy smiled, "Hasty as ever," she murmured; "however, in _this_ +instance, you shall have no reason to regret your words. Put out your +tongue, Elizabetha." + +'Trembling slightly, the young girl obeyed. But her fears were uncalled +for--the fairy merely touched the unruly member with her wand and +whispered some words, the meaning of which Elizabetha could not +understand. + +'"Meet me here one week hence," said the fairy; "till then your tongue +will obey _my_ commands. And if you then feel you have reason to feel +grateful to me, I will call upon you to redeem your promise." + +'And before Elizabetha could reply, the lady had disappeared. + +'Full of eagerness and curiosity, Elizabetha returned to the house. It +was growing dusk, and as she sped along the garden paths something ran +suddenly against her, causing her to trip and fall. As she got up she +perceived that it was Fido, the dog of her brother Adolphus. The +creature came bounding up to her again, full of play and affection. But +in her fall Elizabetha had bruised herself; she felt angry and +indignant. + +'"Get off with you, you clumsy wretch," she exclaimed, or meant to +exclaim. But to her amazement the words that issued from her mouth were +quite otherwise. + +'"Gently, gently, my poor Fido. Thou didst not mean to knock me down, +however," she said in a kind and caressing tone, which the dog at once +obeyed. + +'Hardly knowing whether she were awake or dreaming, Elizabetha entered +the house. She was met by her sister Maria. + +'"Where have you been, Elizabetha?" she inquired. "Your friends the +Misses Larkyn have been here, but no one could find you, so they have +gone." + +'Elizabetha felt extremely annoyed. She had not seen her friends for +some weeks, and had much wished for a visit from them. + +'"I think it was most ill-natured of none of you to look for me in the +garden. You might have known I was there if you had cared to oblige +me," were the words she intended to say, but instead of which were +heard the following: + +'"I thank you, my dear Maria. I am sorry to have missed my friends, but +it cannot be helped." + +'And when Maria, pleased by her gentleness, went on to tell her, that +knowing that her disappointment would be great, and as the Misses Larkyn +had been too pressed for time to linger, she had arranged to walk with +Elizabetha the following day to see them, how rejoiced was Elizabetha +that her intended words of unkindness had not been uttered! "Kind fairy, +I thank thee!" she whispered to herself. + +'The following day the same state of things continued. Many times before +its close did Elizabetha's hasty temper endeavour to express itself in +rash speech, but each time the tongue remained faithful to its new +mistress. Whenever Elizabetha attempted to speak hastily, the words that +issued from her lips were exactly the opposite of those she had +intended to utter; and as her real disposition was amiable and good, not +once did she regret the metamorphosis. + +'Her parents, her brothers and sisters, and even the servants of the +family, were amazed and delighted at the change. + +'"Go on as thou hast begun, my child," said her father, on the morning +of the day on which Elizabetha was again to meet the fairy, "and soon +the name of Elizabetha will be associated with gentleness and discretion +in speech as in deed." + +'Elizabetha blushed. She would have liked to confess that the credit of +the improvement was not her own; but a moment's reflection reminded her +that she had not received permission to divulge the secret, and kissing +affectionately her father's hand, she thanked him for his encouragement. + +'At the appointed hour she was on the spot, awaiting the fairy, who soon +appeared. A benignant smile overspread her features. + +'"Well, Elizabetha," she said, "and hast thou found that I have deserved +thy gratitude?" + +'"Kind fairy," cried the young girl, "I cannot thank thee enough. Ask of +me what thou wilt, I shall be only too ready to perform it." + +'The fairy smiled. "My condition is a very simple one," she said. "It is +only this. Whenever, Elizabetha, you feel yourself in the least degree +discomposed or out of temper, utter no word till you have mentally +counted the magic number seven. And if you follow this rule, it will be +but seldom that your tongue, of which I now restore to you the full +control" (she touched it again with her wand as she spoke) "will lead +you into trouble. Your disposition, though generous, is naturally hasty +and impulsive, and till by a long course of self-restraint you have +acquired complete mastery over yourself, you will find that I was right +in my experiment of obliging your tongue to utter the exact opposite of +what you, in your first haste, would have expressed." + +'And before Elizabetha could reply, she had disappeared. + +'But Elizabetha kept her promise, and to thus following her fairy +friend's advice she owes it that she is now the object of universal +esteem and affection, instead of being hated, despised, and feared as +the owner of "a hasty tongue."' + +Cecil stopped. + +"Is that all?" said Carrots. + +"Yes, that's all. Did you like it?" + +"I did understand better about the fairy," Carrots replied. "I think she +was a werry good fairy; don't you, Floss?" + +"_Very_," said Floss. "I think," she went on, "whenever I am cross, I +shall _fancy_ my tongue is bewitched, just to see if it would be best to +say the opposite of what I was going to say. Wouldn't it be fun?" + +"Better than fun, perhaps, Miss Flossie," said nurse. "I think it would +be a very good thing if big people, too, were sometimes to follow the +fairy's rule." + +"People as big as you, nursie?" asked Carrots. + +"Oh yes, my dear," said nurse. "It's a lesson we're all slow to learn, +and many haven't learnt it by the end of their threescore years and +ten--'to be slow to anger,' and to keep our tongues from evil." + +"_That's_ out of the Bible, nursie, all of it," said Floss, as if not +altogether sure that she approved of the quotation. + +Cecil laughed. + +"What are you laughing at, Cis?" said Floss. "It _is_ out of the Bible." + +"Well, no one said it wasn't," said Cecil. + +"Cis," said Carrots, "will you read us another story, another day?" + +"If I can find one that you can understand," said Cecil. + +"Never mind if I can't," replied Carrots. "I like to hear you reading, +even if I can't understand. I like your voice. I _think_," he added +after a pause, "I _think_, Cis, I'll marry you too, when I'm big. You +and Floss, and nurse." + +So Cecil had good reason to feel that she was greatly appreciated in the +nursery. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SYBIL. + + "The children crowned themselves with wishes, + And every wish came true." + + _Crowns for Children._ + + +But it is not always, or even often, that wishes "come true," is it, +children? Or if they do come true, it is in a different way; so +different that they hardly seem the same. Like the little old woman in +the ballad, who turned herself about and wondered and puzzled, but +couldn't make out if she was herself or not, we stare at our fulfilled +wishes and examine them on every side, but in their altered dress--_so_ +different from, and, very seldom, if ever, as pretty as that which they +wore in our imagination--we cannot believe that they are themselves! + +Do you remember the fancies that Carrots and Floss used to have about +their cousin Sybil, and how they wished for her to come to see them? +Well, about a fortnight after the affair of the lost half-sovereign, +Sybil actually _did_ come to see them! She and her mamma. But it all +happened quite differently from the way the children had planned it, so +that just at first they could hardly believe it _was_ "a wish come +true," though afterwards, when it was over, and they began to look back +to it as a real thing instead of forwards to it as a fancy, they grew to +think it had really turned out nicer than any of their fancies. + +You would like to hear all about it, I dare say. + +It took them all by surprise--this sudden visit of Sybil and her mother, +I mean. There was no time for planning or arranging anything. There just +came a telegram one afternoon, to say that Mrs. ----, no, I don't think +I will tell you the name of Sybil's mother, I want you just to think of +her as "auntie"--and her little girl would arrive at Sandyshore, late +that same evening, "to stay one day," said the telegram, on their way to +some other place, it does not matter where. + +It was several years since Captain Desart had seen his sister--that is, +"auntie." He had been abroad at the time of her marriage, for she was a +good many years younger than he, and since then, _she_ and her husband +had been a great deal out of England. But now at last they were going to +have a settled home, and though it was a good way from Sandyshore, still +it was not like being in another country. + +"I am sorry Florence can only stay one day," said Mrs. Desart to her +husband; "it seems hardly worth while for her to come so far out of her +way for so short a time." + +"I am sorry too," said Captain Desart; "but a day's better than +nothing." + +Floss and Carrots were sorry _too_--but what they were _most_ sorry for +was not that Sybil and her mamma were only going to stay there one day, +it was that they would not arrive till after the children's bedtime! So +much after, that there could not even be a question of their "sitting up +till they come." There was even a doubt of Cecil and Louise doing so, +and Floss could not help feeling rather pleased at Mott's getting a +decided snub from his father when he broached the subject on his own +account. + +"Sit up till after ten o'clock--nonsense. Nobody wants you. Go to bed as +usual, of course," said Captain Desart. + +"How tired that poor little girl will be!" said Mrs. Desart pityingly. +"Children, you must all be quiet in the morning so as not to wake her +early. And you must be very gentle and kind to her, for you know she is +not accustomed to companions." + +"Yes, mamma," said Floss and Carrots promptly. Mott said nothing, for, +_of course_, the speech could not have been addressed to _him_. Mr. +Maurice Desart, nearly thirteen years old, could not be supposed to be a +companion to a mite of a girl of six. + +"It won't be difficult to be quiet to-morrow morning," said Floss to +Carrots, "for I expect I shall be very sleepy, as I have _quite_ made up +my mind to stay awake to-night, till I hear them come." + +It was then eight o'clock, and Floss was going to bed. Carrots had been +in bed nearly an hour, but was not yet asleep. He soon dropped off, +however, and how long do you think Floss kept awake? Till twenty-three +minutes past eight, or not so late probably, for that was the time by +the nursery clock, when nurse came in to see that her charges were +tucked up for the night, and found them both fast asleep! + +They were in a state of great expectation the next morning when they +were being dressed, but they remembered their promise and were very +quiet. + +"When shall we see Sybil?" asked Carrots; "will she have breakfast in +the nursery?" + +"Of course not," said Floss, "she won't be up for ever so long, I dare +say." + +"Poor little thing, she must be very tired," said nurse. + +"Did you see her last night?" asked Floss eagerly. + +Nurse shook her head. "It was past ten when they arrived," she said, +"the little lady was put to bed at once, your mamma and sisters only saw +her for a minute." + +So Floss and Carrots ate their bread and milk in undiminished curiosity. +Not long afterwards the bell rang for prayers in the dining-room as +usual, and the two, hand in hand, went in to take their places among the +others. + +They were rather late, Captain Desart had the Prayer Book and Bible +open before him, and was looking impatient, so Floss and Carrots sat +down on their little chairs and left "good-mornings" till after prayers. +There was a strange lady beside their mother, and, yes, beside the +strange lady a strange little girl! Was _that_ Sybil? Where was the +fair-haired, blue-eyed, waxen, doll-like Sybil, they had expected to +see? + +What they did see was worth looking at, however. It was a very pretty +Sybil after all. Small and dark, dark-eyed, dark-haired, and browny-red +as to complexion, Sybil was more like a gipsy than an angel as they had +fancied her. She had _very_ pretty, very bright, noticing eyes, and she +was pretty altogether. She was dressed in black velvet with a bright +crimson sash, and her hair was tied with crimson ribbon; her neat little +legs were clothed in black silk stockings, and there were buckles on her +tiny shoes. + +Floss and Carrots hardly dared to stare at her for her eyes seemed to +be noticing them all over, and when prayers were finished, and their +mamma called them to come to speak to their aunt and cousin, do you know +they actually both felt quite shy of Sybil, small as she was? More shy +of her than of their aunt, somehow; _she_ seemed more like what they had +expected, or, perhaps, the truth was, they had "expected" much less +about her. Besides no children ever were shy with auntie, such a thing +would have been impossible. + +They kissed Sybil, Floss feeling very tall and lanky beside her compact +tiny cousin, and Carrots feeling I don't know how. He just looked at +Sybil with his soft wondering brown eyes, in such a solemn way that at +last she burst out laughing. + +"What a funny boy you are!" she exclaimed. "Mother dear, _isn't_ he a +funny boy?" + +"Aren't you very tired, Sybil?" said Floss, afraid that she would be +laughed at as "a funny girl," next. + +"No, thank you," said Sybil, quite grave, and like a grown-up person, +all in a minute. "I'm becustomed to travelling. I'm not tired at all, +but I'll tell you what I am--I'm," and out broke her merry laugh again, +"I'm very _hungry_." + +"That's a broad hint," said Captain Desart, laughing too. "Florence, +your daughter is ready for breakfast, do your hear? Where will you sit, +Miss Sybil? Beside your old uncle, eh?" + +"Yes, thank you," replied Sybil, "if you won't call me Miss Sybil, +please. And may this little boy sit 'aside me?" + +"This little boy and this little girl have had their breakfast," said +Mrs. Desart. "Run off, Carrots and Floss, you are both to have a whole +holiday you know, so Sybil will see plenty of you." + +"I wish they could see more of each other," said auntie, as the children +left the room. "Some time you must let them both come and pay us a long +visit, when we are really settled you know." + +Auntie gave a little sigh as she said this--she felt so tender and kind +to Carrots and Floss, and something made her a little sorry for them. +Though they were healthy, happy-looking children, and their dress was +neat and cared for, they did not look like her Sybil, whose clothes were +always like those of a little princess. Floss's frock was rather +faded-looking, and there was a mark where it had been let down, and +Carrots' brown holland blouse had arrived at a very _whitey_-brown +shade, through much wear and washing. + +"It must be hard work with so many children, and such small means," she +thought to herself, for auntie had been married young to a rich man, and +knew little of "making both ends meet," but aloud she only said, "how +lovely little Fabian would look in black velvet, Lucy! What a complexion +he has!" + +"Yes, if you can forgive him his hair," said Mrs. Desart. + +"I think his hair is beautiful," observed Sybil, and then went on eating +her breakfast. + +They all laughed, but there was still a little sigh at the bottom of +auntie's heart. There was reason for it greater than the sight of her +little nephew's and niece's shabby clothes. + +But there was no sigh in the hearts of Floss and Carrots. + +"Carrots," said Floss, as they made their way to the nursery to decide +which of their small collection of toys were fit for Sybil's inspection, +"Carrots, _did_ you hear." + +"What auntie said?" asked Carrots. "Yes, I heard. Do you think mamma +will ever let us go?" + +"Some day, perhaps," said Floss, and oh what dreams and plans and +fancies hung on that "perhaps!" "_Fancy_, Carrots, we should go in the +railway, you and me, Carrots, alone perhaps." + +"Oh, Floss!" said Carrots, his feelings being beyond further expression. + +That "some day" was a good way off, however, but "to-day" was here, and +a nice bright-looking to-day it was. How happy they were! How happy +Sybil was! + +For, somehow, though she was dressed like a princess, though since +babyhood she had had _everything_ a child could wish for, though very +often, I must confess, she had had "her own way," a good deal more than +would have been good for most children, little Sybil was not spoilt. The +spoiling dropped off her like water down a duck's back, and auntie never +found out it had been there at all! Perhaps after all there is a kind of +spoiling that isn't spoiling--love and kindness, and even indulgence, do +not spoil when there is perfect trust and openness, and when a child at +the same time is taught the one great lesson, that the best happiness is +trying to make others happy too. + +They played on the sands nearly all day, and Sybil, to her great +delight, was covered up from damage by one of Carrots' blouses. The sun +came out bright and warm, and they built the most lovely sand house you +ever saw. + +"I'd like to live in it always," said Carrots. + +"Oh you funny boy," said Sybil patronisingly, "and what would you do at +night, when it got cold, and perhaps the sea would come in." + +"Perhaps the mermaids would take care of him till the morning," said +Floss. + +"What are the mermaids?" asked Sybil. + +"Pretty ladies," said Carrots, "who live at the bottom of the sea, only +they've got tails." + +"Then they can't be pretty," said Sybil decidedly, "not unless their +tails are beautiful and sweeping out, like peacocks! Are they?--one day +I tied a shawl of mother's on, it was a red and gold shawl, and I +sweeped it about just like a peacock,--that _would_ be pretty." + +"I don't think mermaids' tails are like that," said Carrots, doubtfully, +"but they _are_ pretty ladies, aren't they, Floss?" + +"Beautiful," said Floss, "but they're very sad. They come up to the +shore at night and comb their hair and cry dreadfully." + +"What do they cry for?" asked Sybil and Carrots, pressing up to Floss, +and forgetting all about the lovely sand house. + +"Because they--no, you couldn't understand," she broke off; "it is no +good telling you." + +"Oh do tell," said the children. + +"Well," said Floss, "I read in a book of Cecil's, they cry because they +haven't got any souls. When they die they can't go to heaven, you see." + +Sybil and Carrots looked very solemn at this. Then a sudden thought +struck Carrots. + +"How can they cry if they haven't got souls, Floss?" he said, "nurse +says it's our souls that make us glad and sorry. Are you _sure_ the poor +mermaids haven't got souls?" + +"I'm only telling you what I read in a book," said Floss. "I dare say +it's all a sort of fairy tale. Don't you like fairy tales, Sybil?" + +"No," said Sybil, "I like stories of naughty boys and girls best--_very_ +naughty boys and girls." + +"Oh, Sybil!" said Carrots, "_I_ don't, because they are always unhappy +in the end." + +"No, they're not. Sometimes they all get good. Mother always makes them +get good at the end," replied Sybil. + +"Does auntie tell you stories?" said Floss. + +"Yes, of course, for I can't read them to myself yet. I'm learning, but +it is _so_ hard," said Sybil dolefully. + +"I wish auntie would tell _us_ stories." + +"P'raps she will when you come to my house," said Sybil, encouragingly. +"Would you think that a treat?" + +"It would be a 'normous treat." + +"We're going to have a treat to-day," said Floss. "We're going to have +tea in the dining-room with you, Sybil, and auntie and everybody, and I +think it's time to go in now, because we must change our frocks." + +Carrots had never had tea in the dining-room before, and felt a little +overpowered by the honour. He sat very still, and took whatever was +offered to him, as nurse had taught him. Cecil poured out the tea, and +to please the children she put an extra allowance of sugar into their +cups. Carrots tasted his, and was just thinking how very nice it was, +when it flashed across his mind that he should not have had any sugar. +He put down his cup and looked round him in great perplexity. If only he +could ask Floss. But Floss was at the other side of the table, she +seemed to be drinking her tea without any misgiving. Wasn't it naughty? +Could she have forgotten? Carrots grew more and more unhappy; the tears +filled his eyes, and his face got scarlet. + +"What's the matter, dear?" said auntie, who was sitting next him, "is +your tea too hot? Has it scalded your poor little mouth?" + +She said it in a low voice. She was so kind and "understanding," she +knew Carrots would not have liked everybody round the table to begin +noticing him, and as she looked at him more closely, she saw that the +tears in his eyes were those of distress, not of "scalding." + +"No, thank you," said Carrots, looking up in auntie's face in his +perplexity; "it isn't that. My tea is _werry_ good, but it's got sugar +in." + +"And you don't like sugar? Poor old man! Never mind, Cecil will give you +another cup. You're not like Sybil in your tastes," said auntie, kindly, +and she turned to ask Cecil for some sugarless tea for her little +brother. + +"No, no, auntie. Oh, _please_ don't," whispered Carrots, his trouble +increasing, and pulling hard at his aunt's sleeve as he spoke, "I _do_ +like sugar werry much--it isn't that. But mamma said I was never, +_never_ to take nucken that wasn't mine, and sugar won't be mine for two +weeks more, nurse says." + +Auntie stared at her little nephew in blank bewilderment. What _did_ he +mean? Even her quick wits were quite at fault. + +"What _do_ you mean, my dear little boy?" she said. + +Suddenly a new complication struck poor Carrots. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, "it's a secret, it's a secret, and I'm telling it," +and he burst into tears. + +It was impossible now to hide his trouble. Everybody began to +cross-question him. + +"Cry-baby," muttered Maurice, and even Mrs. Desart said, "Carrots, I +wonder at your behaving so when your aunt and cousin are here. Floss, do +you know what is the matter with him?" + +"No, mamma," said Floss, looking as she always did when Carrots was in +distress, ready to cry herself. + +"Carrots," said Captain Desart, sharply, "go to the nursery till you +learn to behave properly." + +Carrots got slowly down off his high chair, and crept away. But +everybody looked troubled and uncomfortable. + +Auntie hated to see people looking troubled and uncomfortable. She +thought a minute, and then she turned to Mrs. Desart. + +"Lucy," she said, "will you let me try what I can do with the poor +little fellow? I am sure it was not naughtiness made him cry." + +And almost before Mrs. Desart could reply, auntie was off to the nursery +in search of Carrots. + +He had left off crying, and was sitting quietly by the window, looking +out at his old friend the sea. + +"What are you thinking about, my poor old man?" said auntie, fondly. + +Carrots looked up at her. "I like you to call me that," he said. "I was +thinking about our hoops and what a long time four weeks is." + +"Has that to do with you having no sugar?" asked auntie. + +[Illustration: "What are you thinking about, my poor old man?" said +auntie, fondly. _To face page_ 148.] + +"Yes," said Carrots. "How _did_ you guess? You're like a fairy, auntie." +But then his face grew troubled again. "I forgot," he went on, "it's a +secret. It's Floss's secret too. I would so like to tell you, for I +don't know what to do. I don't mind having no tea, but they all thought +I was naughty." + +"Wait a minute," said auntie. She hurried out of the room, but was back +in a minute. + +"I've asked Floss," she said, "and she gives you leave to tell me. So +now, perhaps, when I know all about it, I can tell you what to do." + +The telling did not take Carrots long; he was so glad to show auntie he +had not meant to be naughty. Auntie listened quite gravely, and when he +had finished she said she thought he was quite right not to take any +sugar. + +"But do you think Floss did?" said Carrots, anxiously. + +"Perhaps having tea in the dining-room made her forget," said auntie. +"We'll ask her afterwards, and if she did forget, I'll tell you what she +must do. She must go without one day longer than you. Now come along +with me, and I'll make it all right, you'll see." + +When they got back to the dining-room auntie quietly lifted Carrots on +to his chair again, and said to his mamma with a smile, "It was all a +mistake; I thought it was; Carrots was not naughty at all, and he is +quite happy again now." + +And Mrs. Desart smiled too, so Carrots really did feel happy again. But +he wondered what auntie would do about the tea, which was still standing +there as he had left it, and it would be wrong to "waste" it, thought +Carrots. + +Sybil was sitting on auntie's other side, and auntie glancing at her cup +saw that it was empty. So auntie quietly put Carrots' cup before Sybil +and gave Carrots the empty one. + +"Cecil," she said, "will you give Carrots some tea without any sugar?" + +Cecil saw that auntie had some reason for asking this, so she gave +Carrots the tea as auntie said, and Carrots drank it and ate his bread +and butter and a piece of cake, with great content. + +The only person who did not seem _quite_ contented was Sybil. + +"Mother," she whispered, "I don't like having Carrots' tea. It's quite +cold." + +But as Carrots didn't hear it, it didn't much matter. For you see, Sybil +had had one cup of nice hot tea, so she was not so badly off after all. + +And, alas! the very next morning auntie and Sybil had to go away. And +the long-talked of and fancied-about visit was over. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING. + + "The way was long, the wind was cold." + + +Soon after auntie's visit summer really began to come. It was very +pleasant while it lasted, but this year it was a very short summer, and +the winter that came after was a very severe one, and made many people +ill. It did not make Carrots ill, nor Floss, nor any of the Desart +children, for they were all strong, but it was very bad for their +mother. As the winter went on, she seemed to get weaker and weaker; +there were very few days on which she could go out, and if the spring +had not been an early and very mild one, I hardly think her strength +would have lasted. + +But with the finer weather she seemed to get better again. The children +were of course very glad, but still they had not felt frightened by her +illness. It had come on so slowly and gradually that they had got +accustomed to it, as children do. They thought it was just the cold +wintry weather that had made her ill, and that when the spring came she +would get better. And when the spring came and she _did_ get better, +they were perfectly satisfied and happy. + +By the end of _this_ summer Carrots was seven years old--no longer in +the least a baby, though he was not tall for his age. He could read, of +course, perfectly, and write a little. Now and then he wrote little +letters to Sybil in answer to hers, for she was very particular about +getting answers. She was only just beginning to learn to write, and +sometimes when she got tired of working away at real "A's" and "B's" and +"C's" in her letters, she would dash off into a lot of "scribble," which +she said was "children's writing," and "if Carrots didn't know what it +meant he must be very stupid, as he was a child too." + +Carrots _didn't_ know what it meant, but he never liked to say so, and I +dare say it did not much matter. But _his_ letters to Sybil were quite +real. Any one could have understood them. + +Long ago Floss and he had bought their hoops. They were quite "old +friends" now. They had bought them at the toy-shop, just as they had +planned, and, curiously enough when their mamma and nurse counted up how +much was owing to them for the sugar, it came to _exactly_ the price of +the hoops. + +But I must tell you what happened just about the time Carrots had his +seventh birthday. The summer was nearly over again and already the cold +winds, of which there were so many at Sandyshore, were beginning to be +felt. Floss noticed that her mother very seldom went out now, and even +in the house she generally had to wrap herself up in a shawl. + +"Mamma, I hope the cold weather isn't going to make you ill again?" +Floss said, one day when she and Carrots came in from a race on the +sands, all hot and rosy with running. + +"I don't know, dear," said her mother with a little sigh. + +"I wish you could run about like us. That would make you _so_ hot," said +Carrots. + +Mrs. Desart smiled. Just then her glance happened to fall on Floss's +boots. "My dear child," she said, "those boots are really not fit to go +out with. There's a great hole at the side of one of them." + +"I know, mamma," said Floss, "but they're going to be mended. Nurse +thinks they'll do a good while longer, if they're mended. I hope they +will, for I know you always have so many new things to get when winter +begins to come--haven't you, mamma?" + +Mrs. Desart sighed again. + +"I should have liked all your things to be so nice," she said, more as +if speaking to herself than to Floss, "but it can't be helped." + +Something in her tone caught Floss's attention. + +"Why, mamma?" she asked, "why did you want our things to be so nice?" + +"Because, dears, you may be going away from home," replied Mrs. Desart. + +Floss and Carrots stared with astonishment. "Going away from home," +Floss repeated, utterly unable to say more. Carrots could say nothing at +all, he could _only_ stare. + +"Yes," continued Mrs. Desart, "I had meant to tell you about it before, +but I have kept putting it off--" she stopped and seemed to hesitate. + +"Why, mamma?" said Floss again. "Don't you like us to go? Are you coming +with us, mamma?" + +"Are we going to auntie's?" said Carrots. + +His asking this seemed to please his mother. + +"You would like to go to auntie's, wouldn't you, Carrots?" she said. + +Carrots stroked his mother's shawl up and down two or three times before +he answered. + +"I'd like to go if you would come too," he said at last, "but I think I +would rather stay at home, thank you, if you can't come." + +Mrs. Desart's eyes filled with tears. "Poor little Carrots!" she said, +softly smoothing his curls with her hand. "But if it would please me for +Floss and you to go without me?" she said. + +"I'll go if you want me to go, mamma," said Carrots. + +"I must explain a little," said Mrs. Desart, and then she went on to +tell the children how it was. The doctor had said she must not risk +another winter at Sandyshore, and it had been arranged for her to go to +a warmer climate. Cecil and Louise were to go with her; Captain Desart +would be with them as much as he possibly could, and Maurice was to live +at school. And what concerned the two little ones almost more than +anything, _nurse_ was to go too! "I must have some one kind and sensible +with me, in case, in case--" and again Mrs. Desart hesitated. + +"In case you were very tired with travelling, or if you were to get a +bad cold again; somebody who could make nice white wine whey and things +like that," said Floss, who was of a practical turn of mind, "oh yes, +mamma, I quite understand." + +"Though nurse is getting old, she has been so much accustomed to +travelling, too," said Mrs. Desart, "and we are going a long way--to +Algeria; Floss, do you know where that is?" + +"Over the sea!" said Floss, "I wish we might come too, mamma, Carrots +and I," she exclaimed. "You will be _so_ far away." + +"But you will be with auntie, and you know how kind auntie is," said +her mother, forcing herself to speak cheerfully. "And it is such a +pretty place where auntie lives." + +"Is the sea there?" said Carrots. + +"No, but the hills are," answered Mrs. Desart with a smile. "I am quite +sure you will like it." And she went on to tell them so much about +auntie's pretty home that for a little they almost forgot everything but +the pleasant part of the change that was to come so soon. + +And it did come very soon. It seemed but a few days from the afternoon +they had first heard about it all, when Floss and Carrots found +themselves early one morning at the little railway station with their +father, waiting for the train. + +Captain Desart was to travel with them for the first hour, to take them +to the "junction" where they were to change and get into a train which +would take them straight to Whitefriars, near which was auntie's house. + +You will laugh, children, I dare say, and think Floss and Carrots very +countrified and ignorant when I tell you that they had never been a long +railway journey before. Never, that is to say, that they could +_remember_--for their parents had come to Sandyshore when Floss was a +baby, and Carrots, as you know, had been born there. + +So you can hardly fancy what a wonderful event this journey was to them. + +Their little hearts were very full at first after parting with their +mother, and sisters, and nurse, and all that made the Cove House home to +them. + +And their mamma had kissed them so _many_ times, as if she could not +really say good-bye, though she was not generally a very petting or +kissing mamma, but rather quiet and grave. + +And nurse had the tears in her eyes, and Louise had them pouring down +her face, and Cecil had _her_ face squeezed up in a sort of way that +Floss knew meant she was determined she would not cry. Floss felt +troubled in a way she could not understand, and I think Carrots did too. +They had a feeling that the bigger people knew of more reason for sorrow +than had been told to them, and yet they could not imagine what it could +be. And after all, to _them_ the parting for even four or five months +was almost as great a trouble as they could understand! only they were +going to "auntie's!" + +"And we will try to be so good, dear mamma," said Floss, bravely choking +down her tears. "We will try to get on with our lessons, too, and write +you nice letters. And--and--" here a sob or two _would_ make its way, "I +can't help crying a little; but I'm sure we shall be very happy, won't +we Carrots?" + +"If mamma wants us to be happy, we'll _try_, won't we Floss?" said +Carrots. He wiped the tears on his mother's cheeks with his own little +pocket handkerchief and looked up in her face piteously. "Please don't +cry, poor mamma," he said; "we _will_ be good and happy." + +Then their father came in and hurried them off, and the farewells were +over--that part of them, at least, for the saying goodbye to Captain +Desart at the junction was rather hard too. + +And at last Floss and Carrots find themselves at the height of their +ambition--alone in a railway carriage travelling to auntie's! But they +do not seem so delighted as they used to fancy they would; they do not +jump about and laugh and chatter in their overflowing pleasure--they sit +quite still, side by side, holding each other's hands and with little +quiet grave faces. + +"Things never come the same as people fancy," said Floss at last. "We +never thought we should go to auntie's because poor mamma was ill, did +we Carrots?" + +"No, we never did," said Carrots. "But mamma will soon get better, +won't she, Floss, at that nice warm place?" + +"Oh yes, of course she will," said Floss. "But it's a long way away +Carrots, and I never thought going to auntie's would be like this." + +"No," agreed Carrots again, "we never did." + +"I'm so sorry to leave them all, aren't you, Carrots?" said Floss, her +voice trembling a little. + +"Yes," said Carrots; "and Floss, I'm very sorry, too, to leave the sea. +I never left the sea before, you know." + +"But the _sea_ won't miss you," said Floss, "and poor mamma and nursie +and all of them _will_ miss us. That's what I keep thinking of." + +"When should we eat our dinner, Floss?" said Carrots, with an instinct +that it would be as well to change the subject. + +"Not just yet. When we've gone about half way would do; and papa said +that great big place, Millingham, would be about half way." + +"But if there were any other people to get into the carriage?" said +Carrots. + +"Well, it wouldn't matter," said Floss. "People must eat when they are +travelling." + +"But wouldn't we have to ask them to have some too?" suggested Carrots. + +"I don't know," said Floss; "I never thought of that. Perhaps it _would_ +be polite. But there are only eight sandwiches, Carrots; eight +sandwiches and four sponge cakes and a packet of Albert biscuits. I hope +a great many people won't get in." + +No one got in at the next station. Only the guard put his head in at the +door, as Captain Desart had asked him to do, to see how the little pair +were getting on. Carrots had thoughts of offering _him_ a sandwich, but +he disappeared before there was time to do so, which Floss thought very +fortunate when she heard of Carrots' intention. "For you see," she said, +"if we began offering them to him, we would have to do it at every +station, and if there are eight stations before Whitefriars, all our +sandwiches would be gone." + +"He might have a biscuit for a change," said Carrots, submissive, but +scarcely convinced. "He is a nice man, Floss--he calls us 'Well, sir,' +and 'Miss.' Do you think papa told him to say 'Well, sir,' and 'Miss?'" + +But before Floss had time to answer they had stopped again, and this +time some one did get into their carriage. The new-comer was a small, +neat, oldish lady. She looked rather grim at first, but after a while +she grew decidedly friendly, and no wonder; for at Millingham Floss and +Carrots unpacked their little basket of provisions, and I don't think +the grimmest of maiden ladies could have remained grim after the +politeness with which the children treated her. + +They selected the nicest looking sandwich, putting it on an Albert +biscuit by way of a plate, and then, at a sign from Floss, Carrots +clambered down from his seat and gravely offered it to the lady. + +"I'm sorry there's no mustard, if you like mustard," said Floss; "but +Carrots and I don't like it, and--and--I suppose nurse didn't think of +anyone else." + +The oldish lady looked at the children for a moment before she replied. + +"I am very much obliged to you," she said at last, "but I think I won't +take a sandwich, as I had luncheon before I left home. But if you will +allow me I will have a biscuit. I am very fond of biscuits." + +"I'm so glad," said Floss, hospitably. "Now, Carrots," she said in a +lower voice, "you eat two sandwiches and I'll eat two, and we'll each +have one sponge cake. And that'll do for dinner. We'll eat the rest in +about an hour and pretend we're having tea early." + +The lady asked them a good many questions after this, and told them they +were such well-behaved children, she would not mind travelling all the +way to Whitefriars with them. Floss blushed a little at this; it made +her feel shy to be praised to her face, but still no doubt the lady +meant it kindly, and they were rather sorry when she left them, some +stations before they got to Whitefriars. Their old friend the guard left +them here, too, but he popped his head in for the last time to say that +he was going to speak for them to "him that was coming on now." And +Floss thanked him, though she had not the least idea what he meant. + +But there must have been some mistake about it, for the new guard never +came near them, and when, at the last stoppage before Whitefriars, +another man threw the door open and demanded "tickets," Floss felt too +startled by his rough manner to ask him what they were longing to know, +how far they still had to go. But he took away the tickets. "So we can't +have very far to go," said Floss. "Papa said they would take away the +tickets a little before we got to Whitefriars." + +"Will auntie be at the station?" said Carrots. + +"Yes, I'm sure she will," said Floss. "Auntie and Sybil too, perhaps. +Carrots, I do believe we're there; the train's stopping." + +And in another minute they found themselves in a nice clean-looking +station with several people standing about on the platform, evidently +waiting for the train. + +The children looked out eagerly. There were two or three ladies, one +little girl, and a few other people--but no auntie, no Sybil! + +"P'raps this isn't the place," said Carrots. + +"Please, is this Whitefriars?" inquired Floss of a porter who just then +threw open the door. + +"Whitefriars, yes miss. Any luggage?" + +"Oh yes," said Floss anxiously, "a great deal It's in one of the luggage +carriages, and it's marked with our name." + +The man smiled. "Will you come with me, missie, and show me which it is, +and I'll get it all right for you." + +"Oh, thank you," said Floss, gathering together their cloaks and +baskets, and preparing to descend. + +"What a _kind_ man," whispered Carrots; and when the porter lifted him +out of the carriage he took hold of his hand and ran along beside him as +fast as his little legs could keep up. + +Floss felt quite bewildered at first, when she saw the heaps and heaps +of luggage lying on the platform, all labelled "Whitefriars." It seemed +to her that everybody must have been travelling to Whitefriars to-day! +But by degrees it was claimed and melted away, and the kind porter, to +whom she had already pointed out their "great deal"--one portmanteau, +one bag, and a small tin hat-box--soon picked it up and stood waiting +for further orders. + +"Where am I to take it to, please miss?" he said. "Is there no one here +to meet you?" + +"I don't think so, I don't know what to do," said Floss, looking sadly +troubled again. In the excitement of finding the luggage she had +forgotten this new difficulty, but now it returned in full force. + +"Have you far to go?" said the man. + +"Oh no," said Floss, "auntie's house is near here, I know." + +"Then perhaps little master and you had better walk on, and send for the +luggage afterwards?" suggested the man, never doubting from Floss's +manner that the children were accustomed to the place, and knew their +way. + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Floss uncertainly. + +"Or shall I fetch you a fly from the _Blue Boar_?" said the man. "The +station flies has all drove off." + +"No, thank you; I don't think I have enough money for that," said Floss, +feeling in her pocket for her purse, which she knew contained only her +father's parting gift of half-a-crown, a sixpence with a hole in, and +three pennies of Carrots'! "Your auntie says she will get you +_everything_ you want, so I need not give you any money with you," their +mother had said. Floss had no idea what a fly from the _Blue Boar_ would +cost, but it _sounded_ very grand, and she hardly dared to risk it. + +"Well, I daresay you'll be safest to walk," said the porter, rather +afraid of getting himself into a scrape if he fetched the children a fly +without proper authority, and feeling uncertain, from their very plain +and rather "countrified" appearance, if their friends belonged to the +fly patronising class or not. "I'll keep the luggage safe till it's +sent for--no fear," and with a friendly nod he marched off with their +possessions. + +Holding Carrots by the hand, Floss made her way out of the station. For +about a quarter of a mile the road ran straight before them and they +trudged along contentedly enough. But after awhile they came to a point +where two roads met, one leading to the little watering-place (for the +station was some way from the town), the other out into the country. And +for the first time it struck Floss that she did not know the way. She +looked about her in perplexity. + +"It cannot be far," she said; "mamma always said auntie lived _near_ +Whitefriars. But I wish I knew which way to go." + +Carrots had no suggestion to offer. To make matters worse, it began to +rain--a cold, sleety, late October rain; the children had no umbrella, +and were already tired and hungry. I think it was much to their credit +that they did not lose heart altogether. + +Just as Floss was making up her mind to take the turn leading in the +distance to terraces of houses and gardens and other signs of +civilisation, there came, jogging along the road on a cart-horse, a +farmer's boy. Joyful sight! Floss plucked up heart. + +"Can you tell me, please," she called out, "which is the way to +Greenmays?" + +The farmer's boy turned his thumb in the direction of the country road. +"Yonder," he shouted, without stopping in his jog, "straight on past the +church, and down lane to left." + +"Is it far?" asked Floss, but the boy did not seem to hear. + +There was nothing for it but to go on with their trudge. The rain was +not heavy but very piercingly cold, and the daylight was beginning to +fade. Two or three hot tears at last forced their way down Floss's +cheeks, but she wiped them quickly away, before Carrots could see them. +Carrots said nothing, but Floss knew he was getting tired by the way he +kept lagging behind, every now and then giving a little run to get up to +Floss again. + +"I shouldn't mind so much, Floss," he said at last, "if it would be home +when we get there, and if we were to find mamma and nurse and tea in our +own nursery waiting for us." + +This was altogether too much for Floss. For a moment or two she could +not speak, she was choked with sobs. "Oh, how I do wish poor mamma +hadn't got ill," she said at last. + +"Poor Flossie, dear Flossie," said Carrots, pulling down her face to +kiss in spite of the rain and the dark and the cold and everything. "I +didn't mean to make you cry. And auntie will be very kind when we get +there, won't she, Floss?" + +"Oh yes," said Floss, trying to speak cheerfully, though in her secret +heart there was a little misgiving. It did not look very kind not to +have sent to meet them at the station, and even without this, Floss, +though she had not said so, had felt a little shy and frightened at the +thought of meeting auntie and the strange uncle, and even Sybil again. +It was nearly two years since the visit to Sandyshore, and two years is +a lifetime to a child--it seemed to Floss like going altogether among +strangers. She clasped her little brother's hand tighter as these +feelings passed through her mind. "It won't be so bad for Carrots," she +reflected; "any way he will have me." + +They seemed to have walked a very weary way when at last the church, of +which the farmer's boy had spoken, came in sight--very dimly in sight, +for the daylight was fast dying away. Floss would have passed the church +without noticing it, but the road divided in two just at this place, +and she was obliged to think which way to go. Then the boy's directions +came into her mind. + +"To the left past the church, didn't he say, Carrots?" she said. + +"'Down lane to left,' he said," replied Carrots. + +"Then it _must_ be this way," said Floss, and on they trudged. + +In a few minutes they came to large gates, on one side of which stood a +pretty little house, but such a little house, hardly bigger than a +cottage. + +"Is that auntie's house?" said Carrots. + +"I'm afraid it's too little to be auntie's house," said Floss. "I wish +it was. I would _much_ rather auntie lived in a cottage." + +"Just like Mrs. White's," said Carrots. + +Floss could not help laughing at him; it had left off raining and her +spirits were rising a little. + +"Look Carrots," she said, "there is a light in the cottage window. We'd +better knock at the door and ask if it is auntie's house. It's getting +rather like a fairy story, isn't it Carrots? Fancy if somebody calls out +'Pull the string and the latch will open.'" + +"But that would be the wolf, Floss," said Carrots, pressing closer to +his sister. + +It was no wolf, but a nice, tidy-looking woman with a white cap and a +baby in her arms who opened the door, and stood staring at the two +little wayfarers in bewilderment. Floss grew afraid that she was angry. + +"I'm very sorry--I mean I beg your pardon," she began. "I didn't know +this was your house. We thought perhaps it was auntie's. Can you tell +me, please, where Greenmays is?" + +"This _is_ Greenmays," said the woman. Floss stared: the door opened +right into the kitchen, it couldn't be auntie's house. + +"This is the lodge," continued the woman. "If it's someone at the big +house you're wanting, you must just go straight up the drive. I'd show +you the way," she went on, "but my husband's up at the stables and it's +too cold for baby. You seem wet and tired, you do--have you come far?" + +"Yes," said Floss, wearily, "_very_ far. We thought auntie would meet us +at the station, but there wasn't anybody." + +"They must be kin to the housekeeper, surely," thought the woman. And +yet something indescribable in Floss's manner, and in the clear, +well-bred tones of her small, childish voice, prevented her asking if +this was so. "I wish I could go with you to the house," she repeated, +curiosity and kindliness alike prompting her, "but," she added, looking +doubtfully at the sleeping child in her arms, "I'm afeared for baby." + +"Oh, it doesn't matter, thank you," said Floss, "we can find the way, I +daresay. Good evening," and taking Carrots by the hand, she turned to +go. + +"Good evening," said little Carrots also. + +"Good evening, and I hope you'll find your auntie in," said the woman. +And for a few minutes she stood at the door straining her eyes after the +two forlorn little figures till she could distinguish them no longer in +the darkness of the trees bordering the avenue. "Who can they be?" she +said to herself. "Such a pretty spoken, old-fashioned little pair I +never did see!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HAPPY AND SAD. + + "'Tis gone--and in a merry fit + They run upstairs in gamesome race. + + * * * + + A moment's heaviness they feel, + A sadness at the heart." + + _The Mother's Return._ + + +It was very dark in the drive and Carrots crept close to Floss. But +Floss felt far less afraid of the dark than of the light! when at last +the house came in view and the brightly lit up windows shone out into +the gloom. + +"Oh, what a big house," said Floss. "Oh Carrots, how I do wish that +little cottage had been auntie's house, even though the door did open +right into the kitchen. Don't you Carrots?" + +"I don't know," replied Carrots, "auntie will be very kind to us, won't +she, Floss?" + +"Oh yes," said Floss, "but supposing she is having a party to-night, +Carrots?" + +"Well, we could have tea in the nursery, and go to bed," said Carrots +philosophically. "Oh Floss, _wouldn't_ you like some nice hot tea and +bread and butter?" + +"Poor Carrots," said Floss. And her anxiety to see her little brother in +comfort again gave her courage to ring the bell as loudly as she could. + +A manservant opened the door. Very tall and formidable he looked to the +two children, whose eyes were dazzled by the sudden light, after their +long walk in the dusk. + +"If you please," said Floss, "is auntie at home?" + +The man stared. "_What_ did you say?" he inquired. "Is it a message from +some one?" + +"Oh no," said Floss, "it's just that we've come, Carrots and I--will +you please tell auntie? We've walked all the way from the station, +because there was no one to meet us." + +The man still stared. He had heard something about a young lady and +gentleman, his mistress's nephew and niece, being expected on a visit, +but his ideas were rather slow. He could not all at once take in that +the dilapidated little couple before him could possibly be the looked +for guests. + +But just then another person came upon the scene. A little figure with +bright dark eyes and flying hair came dancing into the hall. + +"Who's there, Fletcher?" she said. "Is it the post?" + +"No miss," said Fletcher, rather glad of some one to consult in his +perplexity. "I don't know who it is--that's to say, it's a little boy +and girl who say as they've come from the station, but I can't justly +make out who it is they want." + +"How funny," said Sybil, coming forward and peering out from under +Fletcher's arm, "perhaps they'll tell _me_ what they want. Who are you, +little girl? Is it my mother you want? Will you give me your message?" + +She looked more like a little princess than ever. She was dressed to go +down to the drawing-room before dinner--all white embroidery and lace +and rose-coloured ribbons. Floss and Carrots looked at her with a sort +of dazzled admiration, mingled with shy bewilderment. It all seemed more +of a mistake than ever--Sybil was evidently not expecting them--if only +the railway station had not been so dreadfully far away, Floss felt as +if she would have liked to take Carrots by the hand and go away back +again, all the long weary way to Sandyshore! + +But _Carrots'_ faith in auntie and Sybil was unshaken--and his childlike +confidence less susceptible of chill. Partly from mortification, partly +to hide that she was crying, Floss stood perfectly silent, but Carrots +pressed forward. + +"It is Flossie and me, Sybil--don't you remember us? We've walked _such_ +a long way, and there was nobody to meet us at the station, and we are +_so_ cold and so hungry!" + +Sybil gave a sort of leap into the air. "Floss and Carrots!" she cried, +"oh mother, mother, come quick, here are Floss and Carrots!" + +She seemed to fly across the hall in one second, and darting down a +passage disappeared, crying out all the way, "Flossie and Carrots--oh +mother, mother, come." + +And before the children had time to consider what they had best do, and +_long_ before the very deliberate Mr. Fletcher had collected his wits +sufficiently to decide upon inviting them to come in, Sybil was back +again, closely followed by her mother, whom she had dragged out of the +drawing-room without any other explanation than her cry of "Floss and +Carrots, oh mother, Flossie and Carrots." + +[Illustration: "It is Flossie and me, Sybil--don't you remember us?" +_To face page_ 184.] + +And when Floss saw auntie running to them, with her kind face all +eagerness and anxiety, the shyness and the disappointment and the +mortification all seemed suddenly to melt away. She rushed into the hall +and threw herself sobbing into auntie's arms. "Oh auntie," she cried, +"we are so tired--poor Carrots is I mean, and so hungry, and I thought +you had forgotten us, and we're so far away from mamma." + +Auntie understood all about it in a moment. She hugged Floss tight, and +only let go of her for an instant to get hold of Carrots and hug him +tight too. And then, when she saw the two tired little white faces, and +felt how wet they were, and saw the tears on Floss's cheeks, she sat +down on the hall floor, still clasping them tight, and actually cried +too. + +"My two poor dear little babes in the wood," she exclaimed. "What a +dreadful mistake! What a cruel auntie you must have thought me!" + +"I didn't know if you wanted us--I thought perhaps you had forgotten +about us coming," whispered Floss. + +"No wonder," said auntie; "but Flossie, darling, I haven't got any +letter to say what day you were coming? That was why we were not at the +station. Sybil and I had been making such delightful plans about how we +should meet you at the station--do you think your father and mother +could have forgotten to write to tell me the day?" + +"Oh no," said Floss, "I know papa wrote to tell you--he wrote the day +before yesterday, for I heard him tell mamma so. And this morning when +the post came, just as we were leaving, he wondered a little that there +was no letter from you, but he said perhaps you hadn't thought it worth +while to write, as you had said any day this week would do for us to +come." + +"Of course I would have written," said auntie; "but what can have become +of the letter?" + +It had evidently gone astray somehow, and that very evening the mystery +was explained, for the postman brought it--a very travel-worn letter +indeed, with two or three scrawls across it in red ink--"Missent to +Whitehurst," "Try Whitefield," etc., etc. + +"Whenever a letter does go wrong, which certainly is not very often, it +is sure to be one of consequence," said auntie. But long before the +letter came Floss and Carrots had forgotten their troubles--at least if +they hadn't it was not auntie's fault, for I can't tell you how kind she +was and what a fuss she made about them. She took them up to Sybil's +nice beautiful warm nursery and all their wet things were taken off, and +Floss was wrapped up in a dressing-gown of auntie's and Carrots in one +of Sybil's, and then they had the most _lovely_ tea you can imagine. + +Sybil's father was away that night and was not coming back till the next +day, and auntie was to have dinner alone, with Sybil beside her, you may +be sure, to "keep her company," and help her to get through dinner by +opening her little mouth for "tastes" every now and then. But auntie had +to manage alone, after all, for of course Sybil would not leave Floss +and Carrots, and auntie sent up the very nicest things from the +dining-table for the children to eat with their tea, and Sybil did get +some "tastes," I can assure you. + +And they laughed at each other in the dressing-gowns, and Floss quite +forgot that she had expected to feel shy and strange. Only when auntie +came up to the nursery again after dinner and made Floss tell her all +about the long walk in the cold and the dark, and about the "kind +porter," and the oldish-looking lady, and, further back still, about +the leaving home in the morning and how poor mamma kissed them "so many, +many times"--Floss could not help crying again a little, nor could +auntie either. And though Carrots and Sybil did not cry, their little +faces looked very solemn and as if they almost thought they _should_ +cry, as they sat side by side on the rug in front of the high nursery +guard, Carrots in the funny red-flannel dressing-gown which made him +look _so_ "old fashioned," and Sybil in her white embroidery and rose +ribbons, crumpling them all up "anyhow" in a way which really went to +Floss's heart, though auntie did not seem to mind. + +Then came bed-time. Such a nice bed-time, for auntie had prepared for +them two dear little rooms, with a door between, that they should not +feel far away from each other. And though it was the very first time in +Carrots' life that he had gone to bed without kind old nurse to tuck +him up, he did not feel unhappy, for Floss reminded him what a good +thing it was that their mother had nurse with her now she was ill, and +besides, Sybil's French maid Denise was _very_ kind and merry, and not +at all "stuck up" or grand. + +And the waking the next morning! + +Who does not know those first wakings in a strange place! Sometimes so +pleasant, sometimes _so_ sad, but never, I think, without a strange +interestingness of their own. This waking was pleasant, though so +strange. The sun was shining for one thing--a great thing, I think I +should call it, and the children felt it to be so. + +They woke about the same time and called out to each other, and then +Floss got out of bed and went to see how Carrots was looking, after all +his adventures. + +"You haven't caught cold I hope, Carrots," she said in a motherly tone. + +"Oh no. I'm _quite_ well," replied Carrots, "I haven't even a cold in my +nose. And isn't it a nice morning, Floss, and isn't this a _lovely_ +room?" + +"Yes," said Floss, "and so is mine, Carrots." + +"And auntie _is_ kind, isn't she, Floss?" + +"Oh, _very_," said Floss. + +"Isn't it nice to see the sun?" said Carrots. "Floss, I can't understand +how it can always be the same sun, however far we go." + +"But don't you remember what I showed you," said Floss, "about the world +being like a little ball, always going round and round a great light, so +_of course_ the great light must always be the same?" + +"Yes," said Carrots dreamily, "but still it seems funny. Will mamma see +the sun at that nice warm place over the sea?" + +"Why of course," said Floss, "it's the sun that makes that place nice +and warm." + +"_Is_ it?" said Carrots. "Is that place nearer the sun than Sandyshore +is, Floss?" + +"No, not exactly. At least it is in a sort of a way--the sunshine falls +straighter on it, but I couldn't explain without a globe and a lot of +fuss," said Floss. "Never mind just now, Carrots--perhaps auntie can +show you." + +"But Floss," persisted Carrots, "I do want to know one thing. Shall we +see the sun in heaven?" + +"No," said Floss decidedly, "_certainly_ not. It says in the Bible there +will be no sun or moon in heaven." + +"Then I don't think I shall like it at all," said Carrots, "for there +won't be any sea there either. I can't think _how_ it can be a nice +place." + +"But Carrots, dear," said Floss in some distress, "you mustn't think of +heaven that way. It isn't like that. Heaven isn't like a place exactly, +mamma says. It is just being _quite_ good." + +"Being _quite_ good," repeated Carrots thoughtfully. "I wish I could be +quite good, Floss, I wish everybody could, don't you?" + +"Yes," said Floss. "But really you must get up, Carrots dear; that will +be good for just now. Being good always comes in little bits like that." + +"But in heaven, the being good will be all in one great big piece, +that's how it will be, isn't it?" said Carrots, as he got out of bed and +began hunting for his slippers. + +I cannot tell you half the history of that first day at Greenmays, or of +many others that followed. They were very happy days, and they were full +of so many new pleasures and interests for Carrots and Floss that I +should really have to write another book to tell you all about them. +Everybody was kind to the children, and everything that could be thought +of to make them feel "at home" was done. And Greenmays was such a pretty +place--Carrots could hardly miss his dear old sea, once he had learnt to +make friends with the hills. At first he could do nothing but gaze at +them in astonishment. + +"I didn't think hills were so big, or that they would have so many +faces," he said to Floss and Sybil the first morning when they were out +in the garden together. + +Sybil burst out laughing. "Oh you funny Carrots!" she said; "you're just +like a boy in a fairy story--you've got such queer fancies." + +"But they're _not_ fancies, Sybil," said Carrots, gravely, turning his +great brown eyes on his cousin. "The hills _have_ got lots of different +faces: that one up there, the one with the round knobby top, has looked +_quite_ different several times this morning. First it looked smiley and +smooth, and then it got all cross and wrinkly, and _now_ it looks as if +it was going to sleep." + +Sybil stared up at the hill he was pointing to. "I see what you mean," +she said; "but it's only the shadows of the clouds." + +"That's pretty," said Carrots: "who told you that, Sybil? I never +thought of clouds having shadows." + +"Nobody told me," said Sybil; "I finded it out my own self. I find out +lots of things," she continued, importantly. "I dare say it's because of +my name--papa says my name means I _should_ find out things, like a sort +of a fairy, you know." + +"Does it?" said Carrots, in a rather awe-struck tone. "I should like +that. When you were little, Sybil," he continued, "were you ever +frightened of shadows? _I_ was." + +"No," said Sybil, "I only thought they were funny. And once papa told me +a story of a shadow that ran away from its master. It went across the +street, at night, you know, when the lamps were lighted: there were +houses opposite, you see, and the shadow went into such a beautiful +house, and wouldn't come back again!" + +"And what after that?" said both Floss and Carrots in a breath. + +"Oh, I can't tell it you all," said Sybil; "you must ask papa." + +"Does he often tell you stories?" asked Floss. + +"Bits," said Sybil; "he doesn't tell them all through, like mother. But +he's very nice about answering things I ask him. He doesn't say 'you +couldn't understand,' or 'you'll know when you're older,' that _horrid_ +way." + +"He must be nice," said Floss, who had secretly been trembling a little +at the thought of the strange uncle. + +And he did turn out _very_ nice. He was older than Floss had expected; a +good deal older than auntie, whom he sometimes spoke to as if she were +quite a little girl, in a way which amused the children very much. At +first he seemed very quiet and grave, but after a while Floss found out +that in his own way he was very fond of fun, and she confided to auntie +that she thought he was the funniest person she had ever seen. I don't +know if auntie told him this, or if he took it as a compliment, but +certainly he could not have been offended, for every day, as they +learnt to know him better, the children found him kinder and kinder. + +So they were very happy at Greenmays, and no doubt would have gone on +being so but for one thing. There came bad news of their mother. + +This was how they heard it. Every week at least, for several weeks, +Floss or Carrots, and sometimes both, got a letter from their mother or +from Cecil and Louise; and at first these letters were so cheerful, that +even the little bit of anxiety which the children had hardly known was +in their hearts melted away. + +"What a _good_ thing mamma went to that nice warm place, isn't it, +auntie?" Carrots used to say after the arrival of each letter, and +auntie most heartily agreed with the happy little fellow. But at last, +just about Christmas-time, when the thin foreign-looking letter, that +the children had learnt to know so well, made its appearance one morning +on the breakfast-table, it proved to be for auntie--_that_, of course, +they did not object, to, had there been one for them too, but there was +not! + +"Auntie dear, there is no letter for us," said Floss, when auntie came +into the room. "Will you please open yours quick, and see if there is +one inside it?" + +"I don't think there is," said auntie; "it doesn't feel like it." + +However, she opened the letter at once. No, there was no enclosure; and +Floss, who was watching her face, saw that it grew troubled as she ran +her eyes down the page. + +"My letter is from your father. I cannot read it properly till after +breakfast, for uncle is waiting for me to pour out his coffee. Run off +now, dears, and I'll come to the nursery and tell you all about it after +breakfast," she said, trying to look and speak just the same as usual. + +But Floss saw that she was _trying_; she did not persist, however, but +took Carrots by the hand, and went off obediently without speaking, +only giving auntie one wistful look as she turned away. + +"What's wrong, Florence?" said Sybil's father, as the door closed after +the children. + +"It is about Lucy," said auntie; "she is much worse; _very_ ill indeed. +She has caught cold somehow, and Frank seems almost to have lost hope +already." + +Two or three tears rolled down auntie's face as she spoke. For a minute +or two Sybil's father said nothing. + +"How about telling the children?" he asked at last. + +"That's just it," replied auntie. "Frank leaves it to me to tell them or +not, as I think best. He would not let Cecil or Louise write, as he +thought if it had to be told I had better do so as gently as I could, by +word of mouth. But they _must_ be told--they are such quick children, I +believe Floss suspects it already. And if--and if the next news should +be _worse_," continued auntie with a little sob, "I would never forgive +myself for not having prepared them, and they would be full of +self-reproach for having been happy and merry as usual. Floss would say +she should have known it by instinct." + +"Would they feel it so much?--could they realise it? They are so young," +said Sybil's father. + +Auntie shook her head. "Not too young to feel it terribly," she said. +"It is much better to tell them. I could not hide the sorrow in my face +from those two honest pairs of eyes, for one thing." + +"Well, you know best," said her husband. + +A sad telling it was, and the way in which the children took it touched +auntie's loving heart to the quick. They were so quiet and "pitiful," as +little Sybil said. Floss's face grew white, for, with a child's hasty +rush at conclusions, she fancied at first that auntie was paving the way +for the worst news of all. + +"Is mamma _dead_?" she whispered, and auntie's "Oh no, no, darling. Not +so bad as that," seemed to give her a sort of crumb of hope, even before +she had heard all. + +And Carrots stood beside auntie's knee, clasping his little mother +Floss's hand tight, and looking up in auntie's face with those wonderful +eyes of his, which auntie had said truly one _could_ not deceive; and +when he had been told all there was to tell, he just said softly, "Oh +_poor_ mamma! Auntie, she kissened us so _many_ times!" + +And then, which auntie was on the whole glad of, the three children sat +down on the rug together and cried; Sybil, in her sympathy, as heartily +as the others, while she kept kissing and petting them, and calling them +by every endearing name she could think of. + +"When will there be another letter, auntie?" said Floss. + +"The day after to-morrow," said auntie. "Your father will write by every +mail." + +In her own heart auntie had not much hope. From what Captain Desart +said, the anxiety was not likely to last long. The illness had taken a +different form from Mrs. Desart's other attacks. "She must be better or +worse in a day or two," he wrote, and auntie's heart sorely misgave her +as to which it would be. + +The sorrowful day seemed very long to the children. They did their +lessons as usual, for auntie told them it would be much better to do so. + +"Would it please mamma?" said Carrots; and when auntie said "Yes, she +was quite sure it would," he got his books at once, and "tried" even +harder than usual. + +But after lessons they had no heart to play, and there was no "must" +about that. By bed-time they all looked worn out with crying and the +sort of strange excitement there is about great sorrows--above all to +children--which is more exhausting than almost anything. + +"This will never do," thought auntie. "Hugh" (that was the name of +Sybil's father) "will have reason to think I should have taken his +advice, and not told them, if they go on like this." + +"Sybil," she said, "Floss and Carrots will make themselves ill before +the next letter comes. What can we do for them?" + +Sybil shook her head despondently. + +"I don't know, mother dear," she said; "I've got out all my best things +to please them, but it's no good." She stood still for a minute, then +her face lightened up. "Mother," she said, "'aposing you were to read +aloud some of those stories you're going to get bounded up into a book +some day? They would like _that_." + +Floss hardly felt as if she could care to hear _any_ stories, however +pretty. But she did not like to disappoint kind auntie by saying so, +especially when auntie told her she really wanted to know if she and +Carrots liked her stories, as it would help her to judge if other +children would care for them when they were "bounded up into a book." + +So the next day auntie read them some, and they talked them over and got +quite interested in them. Fortunately, she did not read them all that +day, for the next day there was still more need of something to distract +the children's sorrowful thoughts, as the looked-for letter did not +come. Auntie would have liked to cheer the children by reminding them of +the old sayings that "No news is good news," and "It is ill news which +flies fast," but she dared not, for her own heart was very heavy with +anxiety. And she was very glad to see them interested in the rest of the +stories for the time. + +I cannot tell you these stories, but some day perhaps you may come +across the little book which they were made into. But there is one of +them which I should like to tell you, as it is not very long, and in +the children's mind it was always associated with something that +happened just as auntie had finished reading it. For it was the last of +her little stories, and it was called---- + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS." + + "Like to a double cherry." + + _Midsummer-Night's Dream._ + + +'"Oh mamma," cried I, from the window by which I was standing, to my +mother who was working by the fire, "_do_ come here and look at these +two funny little trots."' + +[Auntie had only read this first sentence of her story when Sybil +interrupted her. + +"Mother dear," she said, in her prim little way, "before you begin, do +tell us one thing. Does the story end sadly?" + +Auntie smiled. "You should have asked me before I _had_ begun, Sybil," +she said. "But never mind now. I don't really think I can tell you if +it ends sadly or not. It would be like telling you the end at the +beginning, and it would spoil the interest, if you understand what that +means." + +"Very well," said Sybil, resignedly, "then I suppose I must wait. But I +_won't_ like it if it ends badly, mother, and Floss won't, and Carrots +won't. Will you, Floss and Carrots?" + +"I don't think Floss and Carrots can say, till they've heard it," said +auntie. "Now, Sybil, you mustn't interrupt any more. Where was I? Oh +yes"]--'"_do_ come and look at these two funny little trots." + +'My mother got up from her seat and came to the window. She could not +help smiling when she saw the little couple I pointed out to her. + +'"Aren't they a pair of fat darlings?" I said. "I wonder if they live in +our terrace?" + +'We knew very little of our neighbours, though we were not living in +London, for we had only just come to St. Austin's. We had come there to +spend the winter, as it was a mild and sheltered place, for I, then a +girl of sixteen, had been in delicate health for some time.' ["You +wouldn't believe it to see me now, would you?" said auntie, looking up +at the children with a smile on her pretty young-looking face, but it +was quite true, all the same.] 'I was my mother's only girl,' she went +on, turning to her manuscript again, 'and she was a widow, so you can +fancy what a pet I was. My big brothers were already all out in the +world, in the navy, or the army, or at college, and my mother and I +generally lived by ourselves in a country village much farther north +than St. Austin's, and it was quite an event to us to leave our own home +for several months and settle ourselves down in lodgings in a strange +place. + +'It seemed a very strange place to us, for we had not a single friend or +acquaintance in it, and at home in our village we knew everybody, and +everybody knew us, from the clergyman down to farmer Grinthwait's +sheep-dog, and nothing happened without our knowing it. I suppose I was +naturally of rather a sociable turn. I knew my mother used sometimes in +fun to call me "a little gossip," and I really very much missed the +sight of the accustomed friendly faces. We had been two days at St. +Austin's, and I had spent most of those two days at the window, +declaring to my mother that I should not feel so "strange" if I got to +know some of our neighbours by sight, if nothing more. + +'But hitherto I had hardly succeeded even in this. There did not seem to +be any "neighbours" in the passers-by; they were just passers by who +never seemed to pass by again, and without anything particular to +distinguish them if they did. For St. Austin's was a busy little place, +and our house was on the South Esplanade, the favourite "promenade" for +the visitors, none of whom, gentlemen, ladies, or children had +particularly attracted me till the morning I first caught sight of my +funny little trots. + +'I do think they would have attracted any one--any one certainly that +loved children. I fancy I see them now, the two dears, coming slowly and +solemnly along, each with a hand of their nurse, pulling _well_ back +from her, as if the effort to keep up, even with her deliberate rate of +walking, was almost too much for their fat little legs. They looked +exactly the same size, and were alike in everything, from their +dresses--which this first day were brown holland, very easy about the +bodies, very short and bunchy about the skirts--to the two white woolly +lambs, clasped manfully by each in his or her disengaged hand. Whether +they were boys or girls I could not tell in the least, and to this day I +do not know. + +'"_Aren't_ they darlings, mamma?" I said. + +'"They certainly are two funny little trots," she replied with a smile, +using my own expression. + +'Mamma went back to her knitting, but I stayed by the window, watching +my new friends. They passed slowly up the Esplanade, my eyes following +them till they were out of sight, and then I turned away regretfully. + +'"They are sure not to pass again," I said, "and they are so nice." + +'"If they live near here, very likely the Esplanade is their daily walk, +and they will be passing back again in a few minutes," said my mother, +entering into my fancy. + +'I took up her suggestion eagerly. She was right: in about a quarter of +an hour my trots appeared again, this time from the other direction, +and, as good luck would have it, just opposite our window, their nurse +happening to meet an acquaintance, they came to a halt! + +'"Mamma, mamma," I exclaimed, "here they are again!" + +'Mamma nodded her head and smiled without looking up. She was just then +counting the rows of her knitting, and was afraid of losing the number. +I pressed my face close to the window--if only the trots would look my +way!--I could hardly resist tapping on the pane. + +'Suddenly a bright thought struck me. I seized Gip, my little dog, who +was asleep on the hearth-rug and held him up to the window. + +'"T'ss, Gip; T'ss, cat. At her; at her," I exclaimed. + +'Poor Gip had doubtless been having delightful dreams--it was very hard +on him to be wakened up so startlingly. He blinked his eyes and tried to +see the imaginary cat--no doubt he thought it was his own fault he did +not succeed, for he was the most humble-minded and unpresuming of little +dogs, and his faith in me was unbounded. He could not see a cat, but he +took it for granted that _I_ did; so he set to work barking vigorously. +That was just what I wanted. The trots heard the noise and both turned +round; then they let go their nurse's hands and made a little journey +round her skirts till they met. + +[Illustration: "Suddenly a bright thought struck me. I seized Gip, my +little dog, who was asleep on the hearthrug, and held him up to the +window." _To face page_ 212] + +'"Dot," said one, "pretty doggie." + +'"Doll," said the other, both speaking at once, you understand, "pretty +doggie." + +'I don't mean to say that I _heard_ what they said, I only _saw_ it. But +afterwards, when I had heard their voices, I felt sure that was what +they had said, for they almost always spoke together. + +'Then they joined their disengaged hands (the outside hand of each still +clasping its woolly lamb), and there they stood, legs well apart, little +mouths and eyes wide open, staring with the greatest interest and +solemnity at Gip and me. At Gip, of course, far more than at me. Gip was +a dog, _I_, was only a girl!--quite a middle-aged person, no doubt, the +trots thought me, if they thought about me at all; perhaps they did a +little, as I was Gip's owner; for I was sixteen, and they could not have +been much more than three. + +'But all this time they were so solemn. I wanted to make them laugh. +There was a little table in the window--a bow window, _of course_, as it +was at the sea-side, and certain to catch winds from every quarter of +the heavens--upon which I mounted Gip, and set to work putting him +through his tricks. I made him perform "ready, present, _fire_," with a +leap to catch the bit of biscuit off his nose. I made him "beg," "lie +dead," like Mother Hubbard's immortal pet, and do everything a +well-educated dog could be expected to do. And, oh, how funny it was to +watch the trots! Evidently they had never seen anything of the kind +before; they stared at first as if they could hardly believe their eyes, +and then they smiled, and, _at last_, they laughed. How prettily they +laughed--they looked more like two fat cherubs than ever. + +'But their laughing attracted their maid's attention. She too turned +round, and I was pleased to see that she had a pleasant pretty young +face. "I shouldn't have liked those dear trots to have a cross old +nurse," I said to myself, and the maid still further raised herself in +my good opinion by laughing and smiling too. In a minute or two when she +thought "that was enough for to-day," she stooped and whispered to the +trots. They immediately lifted their little hands, the right of one, the +left of the other--for _nothing_, you see, could have persuaded them to +let go of their precious lambs--to their rosy mouths and blew a kiss to +me, and I could _see_ them say, "Zank zou, lady; zank zou, doggie." + +'You may be sure I kissed my hand to them in return, and off they +toddled, each with a hand of "Bessie," as I afterwards heard them call +their maid, and hauling back manfully as before, which gave Bessie the +look of a very large steam-tug convoying two very little vessels. + +'I watched them till they were quite out of sight. Then I turned to my +mother. + +'"I have made two friends here any way, mamma," I said. "The trots are +sure to stop every time they pass. It will be something to watch for." + +'Mamma smiled. She was pleased to see _me_ pleased and interested, for +she had been beginning to fear that the dulness and strangeness of our +new life would prevent St. Austin's doing me as much good as she had +hoped. + +'"To-morrow, dear," she said, "if it is fine, I hope you will be able to +go a little walk, and we'll look out for your little friends." + +'It was fine the next day, and we did go out, and we did meet the trots! + +'They caught sight of me (of Gip, rather, I should perhaps say) and I +of them, just about the same moment. I saw them tug their nurse, and +when they got close up to me they stopped short. It was no use Bessie's +trying to get them on; there they stood resolutely, till the poor girl's +face grew red, and she looked quite ashamed. Gip, who I must say, had a +wonderful amount of tact, ran up to them with a friendly little bark. +Bessie let go the trots' hands and stooped to stroke him. + +'"He won't bite, miss, will he?" she said gently, looking up at me. + +'"Oh, dear, no," I said, and the trots, smiling with delight, +stooped--not that they had so very far to stoop--to stroke him too. + +'"Pretty doggie," said Doll. + +'"Pretty doggie," said Dot. + +'Then they held up their dear little mouths to kiss me. "Zank zou, +lady," they said, and each taking a hand of Bessie again, they proceeded +on their way. + +'After that day, not many passed without my seeing them, and talking to +them, and making Gip show off his tricks. Sometimes our meetings were at +the window, sometimes on the road; once or twice, when there came some +unusually fine mild days, mamma let me sit out on the shore, and I +taught the trots to dig a hole for Gip and bury him in the sand, all but +his bright eyes and funny black nose--that _was_ a beautiful game! I +never found out exactly where my friends lived; it was in one of the +side streets leading on to the Esplanade, that was all I knew. I never +knew, as I said, if they were boys or girls, or perhaps one of each. +Mamma wanted one day to ask Bessie, but I wouldn't let her. They were +just my two little trots, that was all I wanted to know. + +'"It would spoil them to fancy them growing up into great boys or +girls," I said. "I want them to be always trots--nothing else." + +'And as Bessie called them simply Doll and Dot, without any "master" or +"miss," I was able to keep my fancy. + +'When the weather grew colder, the trots came out in a new +costume--sealskin coats, sealskin caps, and sealskin gloves--they were +just little balls of sealskin, and looked "trottier" than ever. About +this time they left off carrying their woolly lambs. I suspect the real +reason was that their extreme affection for the lambs had resulted in +these favoured animals growing more black than white, and that Bessie +judged them unfit for appearing in public, but if this _was_ the case, +evidently Bessie had been obliged to resort to artifice to obtain their +owners' consent to the lambs being left at home. For, when I asked the +trots where the precious creatures were, they looked melancholy and +distressed and shook their heads. + +'"Too told!" said Doll, and Dot repeated, like a mournful echo, "too +told!" + +'"Of course," said I, "how stupid of me not to think of it! of course +it's far too cold for such very little lambs to be out." + +'Bessie looked gratefully at me. "We're going to buy some cakes for +tea," she said, with a smile, and sure enough in about half-an-hour the +trio reappeared again, and came to a standstill as usual, opposite our +window. And, instead of a lamb, each trot hugged a little parcel, neatly +done up in white paper. I opened the window to hear what they were +saying, they looked so excited. + +'"Takes for tea," they both called out at once, "takes for tea. Lady +have one. Dip have one." + +'And poor Bessie was obliged to open the parcels, and extract one "take" +from each and hand them up to me, before my little dears would be +satisfied. + +'Can you fancy that I really got to love the trots? I did not want to +know who they were, or what sort of a father and mother they had--they +were well taken care of, that was evident, for somehow, knowing anything +more about them would have spoilt them for being my funny little trots. + +'But, for several weeks of the three months we spent at St. Austin's, +the sight of these happy little creatures was one of my greatest +pleasures, and a day without a glimpse of them would have seemed blank +and dull. + +'There came a time, however, when for many days I did not see my little +friends. The weather was bad just then, and mamma said she was sure they +had got colds, that would be all that was wrong with them, but somehow I +felt uneasy. I asked our doctor, when he called, if there was much +illness about, and he, fancying I was nervous on my own account, +replied, "Oh no, with the exception of two or three cases of croup, he +had no serious ailments among his patients: it was a very healthy +season." + +'I got frightened at the idea of croup, and cross-questioned him to +discover if my trots were among the sufferers, but he shook his head. +All his little patients were mere infants; he did not even know the +trots by sight. + +'Then mamma suggested another very reasonable explanation of their +disappearance. + +'"They have probably left St. Austin's," she said. "Many people come +here for only the _very_ worst of the winter, and that is about over +now." + +'But even this did not satisfy me. I was certain something was wrong +with Doll and Dot, and I wasted, I should be ashamed to say how many +hours gazing out of the window in hopes of catching sight of the +familiar little figures. + +'At last, one day, when I had almost left off hoping ever to see them +again, suddenly, _two_ figures appeared on the Esplanade, a stone's +throw from our window. + +'Who were they? Could it be--yes, it must be _one_ of the trots, led by, +not Bessie, no, this maid was a stranger. Where could Bessie be? And +oh, _where_ was my other little trot? For, even at some yards' distance, +I saw something sadly different in the appearance of the one little +figure, slowly coming along in our direction. It was dressed--hat, coat, +gloves, socks and all--it was dressed in deep mourning. + +'I seized my hat and rushed out to meet them. Mamma thought I was going +out of my mind I believe. When I found myself in the open air, I tried +to control myself and look like the rest of the people walking quietly +along, though my heart was beating violently, and I felt as if I could +not speak without crying. But when I got up to the one little trot and +its attendant, the sight of her strange face composed me. She was so +different from Bessie--old and stiff and prim looking. I stooped to kiss +the child, Dot or Doll, I knew not which. "How are you, darling?" I +said. "And where is----" I stopped short. + +'The trot looked up in my face. + +'"Oh lady," it said, "Dot is all alone. Doll is 'done to 'Ebben," and +the great tears gathered in Dot's mournful eyes and rolled down Dot's +rosy cheeks. + +'"Hush, hush, my dear. You mustn't cry. You'll make yourself ill if you +cry any more," said the hard looking nurse. + +'A moment before, I had intended turning to her and asking for some +particulars of the baby's sad words, but now I felt I _could_ not. She +was so stiff and unsympathising. I could not bear her to see me, a +stranger, crying about what I had heard. Besides, what good would it do? +Why should I hear any more? I shrank from doing so. The bare fact was +enough. I just bent down and kissed the solitary darling. + +'"Good-bye, my trot," I said. I could not say another word. + +'"Dood bye, don't ky," said Dot, stroking my cheek. "Doll won't turn +back, but Dot will do to 'Ebben too some day." + +'That was quite too much for me. I turned away and hurried back home as +fast as I could. + +'"Mamma," I exclaimed, rushing into our sitting-room, and throwing +myself down on the sofa, "It's just what I thought. I wish you would +come away from St. Austin's at once. I shall never, never like it +again." + +'"What _is_ the matter, Florence?" said poor mamma, quite startled. + +'"It's about the trots," I said, now fairly sobbing, "I have just seen +one--in deep mourning, mamma,--and--and--the other one is _dead_." + +'"Poor little angel!" said mamma. And the tears came into her eyes too. + +'I did not see Dot again after that day. I fancy that was its last walk +before leaving St. Austin's for its regular home, wherever that was. And +a very short time after we ourselves left too. + + * * * * * + +'I never forgot the trots. Of course the pleasure of going back to our +own dear home again, and seeing all our old friends, raised my spirits, +and softened the real grief I had felt. But whenever we spoke of St. +Austin's, or people asked me about it, and mentioned the esplanade or +the shore, or any of the places where I had seen the trots, the tears +_would_ come into my eyes, as again I seemed to see before me the two +dear funny little figures. And whenever our plans for the following +winter were alluded to, I always said one thing: "Wherever you go, +mamma, don't go to St. Austin's." + +'My mother gave in to me. When did she not? How patient she was with me, +how sympathising, even in my fancies! And how unselfish--it was not till +long after we had left St. Austin's, that she told me what anxiety she +had gone through on hearing of my having kissed little Dot. For how +sadly probable it seemed that Doll had died of some infectious illness, +such as scarlet-fever, for instance, which I had never had! + +'"But _Dot_ couldn't have been ill, mamma," I said. "Dot looked +perfectly well." + +'"Did he?" said my mother. Sometimes she called the trots "he" and +sometimes "she," in the funniest way! "I wonder what the other little +dear died of?" + +'"So do I," I replied. "Still, on the whole, I think I am just as well +pleased not to know." + +'Our uncertainty for the next winter ended in what was to me a +delightful decision. We determined to go to the South of France. I could +amuse you children by a description of our journey--journeys in those +days really were much more amusing than now; but I must hasten on to the +end of my story. We had fixed upon Pau as our head-quarters, and we +arrived there early in November. What a different thing from our +November at home! I could hardly believe it _was_ November; it would +have seemed to me far less wonderful to have been told I had been asleep +for six months, and that _really_ it was May, and not November at all, +than to have awakened as I did, that first morning after our arrival, +and to have seen out of the window the lovely sunshine and bright blue +sky, and summer-look of warmth, and comfort, and radiance! + +'We had gone to an hotel for a few days, intending to look out for a +little house, or "apartement" (which, children, does not mean the same +thing as our English lodgings by any means), at our leisure. Your +grandmother was not rich, and the coming so far cost a great deal. The +hotel we had been recommended to, was a very comfortable one, though not +one of the most fashionable, and the landlord was very civil, as some +friend who had stayed with him the year before had written about our +coming. He showed us our rooms himself, and hoped we should like them, +and then he turned back to say he trusted we should not be disturbed by +the voices of some children in the next "salon." He would not have +risked it, he said, had he been able to help it, but there were no +other rooms vacant, and the family with the children were leaving the +next day. Not that they were noisy children by any means; they were very +_chers petits_, but there _were_ ladies, to whom the very name of +children in their vicinity was----here the landlord held up his hands +and made a grimace! + +'"Then they must be old maids!" I said, laughing, "which mamma and I are +not. We love children," at which Mr. Landlord bowed and smiled, and said +something complimentary about mademoiselle being so "aimable." + +'I listened for the children's voices that evening, and once or twice I +heard their clear merry tones. But as for any "disturbance," one might +as well have complained of a cuckoo in the distance, as of anything we +heard of our little neighbours. We did not see them; only once, as I was +running along the passage, I caught a glimpse at the other end of a +little pinafored figure led by a nurse, disappearing through a doorway. +I did not see its face; in fact the glimpse was of the hastiest. Yet +_something_ about the wee figure, a certain round-about bunchiness, and +a sort of pulling back from the maid, as she went into the room, +recalled vaguely to my heart, rather than to my mind, two little +toddling creatures, that far away across the sea I had learnt to love +and look for. When I went into our room, there were tears in my eyes, +and when mamma asked me the reason, I told her that I had seen a child +that somehow had reminded me of my two little trots. + +'"Poor little trots," said mamma. "I wonder if the one that was left +still misses the other?" + +'But that was all we said about them. + +'The next morning I was in a fever to go out and see all that was to be +seen. I dragged poor mamma into all the churches, and half the shops, +and would have had her all through the castle too, but that she declared +she could do no more. So we came to a halt at the great "Place," and +sat down on a nice shady seat to watch the people. I, consoling myself +with the reflection, that as we were to be four months at Pau, there was +still a _little_ time left for sight-seeing. + +'It was very amusing. There were people of all nations--_children_ of +all nations, little French boys and girls, prettily but simply dressed, +some chatting merrily, some walking primly beside their white capped +bonnes; little Russians, looking rather grand, but not so grand as their +nurses in their rich costumes of bright scarlet and blue, embroidered in +gold; some very pert, shrill-voiced Americans, and a few unmistakable +English. We amused ourselves by guessing the nationality of all these +little people. + +'"_Those_ are Italians or Spaniards, mamma, look what dark eyes they +have, and _those_ are----" I suddenly stopped. "Oh, mamma!" I exclaimed, +and when she looked at me, she saw I had grown quite pale, and in +another moment, seeing to what I was pointing, she understood the +reason. There, right before us, coming slowly up the middle of the +Place, Bessie in the middle, each child with a hand of hers tugging back +manfully in the old way, each, yes, _really_, each under the other arm +hugging a woolly lamb, came the two funny little trots! + +'I felt at first as if I were dreaming. _Could_ it be the trots? I sat +still in a half stupid way, staring, but Gip--I was forgetting to tell +you that _of course_ Gip had come with us to Pau--Gip had far more +presence of mind than I. He did not stop to wonder _how_ it could be the +trots, he was simply satisfied that it _was_ the trots, and forwards he +darted, leaping, barking furiously, wagging his tail, giving every sort +of welcome in dog language, that he could think of. + +'"Dip, Dip; see Bessie, here is a doggie like Dip," said one trot. + +'"Dip, Dip, pretty Dip," said the other. + +'The sound of their voices seemed to bring back my common sense. They +_were_ my own dear trots. "Dip, Dip" would have satisfied me, even if I +had not seen them. The trots never _could_ manage the letter "G!" I flew +forwards, and kneeling down on the ground, little caring how I soiled my +nice new dress, or what the people on the Place thought of me, I +regularly hugged my two pets. + +'"Here is Dip's kind lady too," they both said at once, smiling and +happy, but not by any means particularly surprised to see me. I looked +up at Bessie at last, and held out my hand. She shook it heartily. + +'"I _am_ pleased to see you again, miss, to be sure; who would have +thought it?" she said. "And they haven't forgot you, haven't Doll and +Dot. They are always speaking of Gip and you, miss." + +'"But, Bessie," I began, and then I hesitated. How could I tell her what +I had thought? "How was it you left St. Austin's so suddenly?"--the +trots were not in mourning now, they were prettily dressed in dark blue +sailor serge, as bunchy as ever. + +'Bessie thought for a minute. + +'"Let me see," she said, "oh yes, I remember! We did leave suddenly. My +mistress's father died, and she was sent for off to Edinburgh, and she +took Doll and me, and left Dot to keep her papa company. Master said +he'd be lost without one of them, and he couldn't get off to Edinburgh +for a fortnight after us. But we'll never try _that_ again, miss. Dot +did nothing but cry for Doll, and Doll for Dot. Dot, so Martha the +housemaid said, was always saying, 'Doll's done to 'Ebben,' till it was +pitiful to hear, and Dot was just as bad in Edinburgh about Doll." + +'"But Dot _did_ 'do to 'Ebben," said Doll, who as well as Dot was +listening to what Bessie was saying. "And then Doll 'tummed to 'Ebben +too," said Dot, "and then 'Ebben was nice." + +'I kissed the pets again, partly to prevent Bessie seeing the tears in +my eyes. I understood it all now, without asking any more, and Bessie +never knew what it was I _had_ thought. + +'Only you can fancy how sorry I was to find the trots were leaving Pau +that very afternoon! They were the children whose dear little voices I +had heard through the wall, who the landlord had feared might disturb +us! They were going on to Italy for the winter. + +'"If only I had known last night who they were," I said to mamma +regretfully. + +'Mamma, however, was always wise. "Think rather," she said, "how very +glad you should be to know it this morning. And who can tell but what +some time or other you may see the trots again." + +'But I never did!' + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GOOD ENDINGS. + + But I lost my happy childhood. + + * * * + + It slipped from me you shall know, + It was in the dewy alleys + Of the land of long ago. + + * * * + + Not in sadness, + Nor reproach, these words I say, + God is good, and gives new gladness, + When the old He takes away. + + +"You never did? oh what a pity!" exclaimed Sybil. "You really never, +never did, mother?" + +Auntie looked rather "funny," as the children call it. + +"As _trots_ I never saw them again," she said, "and at the time I wrote +out that story I had not seen them again at all." + +"But you've seen them since," cried all the three children at once, +"you've seen them since they've grown big. Oh auntie, oh mother, do tell +us." + +"I couldn't just now, truly I couldn't," said auntie, "it would lead me +into another story which isn't written yet. All that I know about 'the +two funny little trots' I have told you. Do you like it?" + +"Awfully," said Sybil. + +"_Very_ much," said Floss. + +"It's lovely," said Carrots. + +Auntie smiled at the children. They looked so pleased and interested, it +was evident that for the time they had forgotten their sorrow and +anxiety. Suddenly, just as she was thinking sadly how soon it must +return to their minds, there came a loud ring at the bell. They all +started, they had been sitting so quietly. + +"It must be the post," said Sybil. Auntie had thought so too, but had +not said it, as it was very unlikely this post would bring any letter +from Captain Desart. + +It did however! Fletcher appeared with one in another minute; the thin +large envelope, and the black, rather scrawly writing that Floss and +Carrots knew so well. It would have been no use trying to conceal it +from them, so auntie opened it quietly, though her fingers trembled as +she did so. She read it very quickly, it was not a long letter, and then +she looked up with the tears in her eyes. "Children, dear children," she +said, "it _is_ good news. Your dear mother is a little better, and they +have good hopes of her." + +Oh how glad they were! They kissed auntie and Sybil and each other, and +it seemed as if a great heavy stone had been lifted off their hearts. +There was still of course reason for _anxiety_, but there was hope, +"good hope," wrote Captain Desart, and what does not that mean? Auntie +felt so hopeful herself that she could not find it in her heart to +check the children for being so. + +"It is because you made the story of the trots end nicely that that nice +letter came," said Sybil, and nothing that her mother could say would +persuade her that _she_ had nothing to do with the ending, that she had +just told it as it really happened! + +_I_ am telling you the story of Floss and Carrots as it really happened +too, and I am so glad that it--the story of this part of their young +lives, that is to say--ends happily too. Their mother did get better, +wonderfully better, and was able to come back to England in the spring, +looking stronger than for many years. To England, but not to Sandyshore. +Captain Desart got another appointment much farther south, where the +climate was milder and better and the winters not to be dreaded for a +delicate person. So they all left the Cove House! + +Their new home was of course by the sea too, but Carrots never would +allow that it was the same sea. His own old sea stayed behind at +Sandyshore, though if he were to go to look for it there now I doubt if +he would find it. When old friends once get away into the country of +long ago, they are hard to find again--we learn to doubt if they are to +be found anywhere except in their own corners of our memory. + +And it is long ago now since the days when Carrots and his dear Floss +ran races on the sands and made "plans" together. Long ago, in so far +that you would not be able _anywhere_ to find these children whom I +loved so much, and whom I have told you a little about. You would, at +least I _hope_ you would, like to know what became of them, how they +grew up, and what Carrots did when he got to be a man. But this I cannot +now tell you, for my little book is long enough--I only hope you are not +tired of it--only I may tell you one thing. If any of you know a very +good, kind, gentle, brave man--so good that he cannot but be kind; so +brave that he cannot but be gentle, I should like you to think that, +perhaps, whatever he is--clergyman, doctor, soldier, sailor, it doesn't +matter in the least--_perhaps_ when that man was a boy, he was my little +Carrots. Especially if he has large "doggy-looking," brown eyes, and +hair that once _might_ have been called "red." + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "Carrots:", by Mrs. Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "CARROTS:" *** + +***** This file should be named 33544-8.txt or 33544-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/4/33544/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Constantia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: "Carrots:" + Just a Little Boy + +Author: Mrs. Molesworth + +Illustrator: Walter Crane + +Release Date: August 27, 2010 [EBook #33544] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "CARROTS:" *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Constantia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<hr /> + + +<h1>"CARROTS:"<br /> +<span class="sub">JUST A LITTLE BOY</span></h1> + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<div class="block2"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Is it then a great mistake<br /></span> +<span class="io">That Boys were ever made at all?"<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + + + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/illus-004.jpg" width="400" height="631" alt="Frontispiece" title="See page 9." /> +<span class="caption">There she sat, as still as a mouse, holding her precious +burden.<br />(<i>See page</i> <a href="#there">9</a>.)</span> +<p class="right"><i>Frontispiece</i></p> +</div> + + +<hr /> + +<div id="tp"> +<p class="center"><span class="title1">"CARROTS:"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="title2">JUST A LITTLE BOY</span><br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +BY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="author">MRS. MOLESWORTH</span><br /> +<br /> +(ENNIS GRAHAM)<br /> +<br /> +<span class="books">AUTHOR OF "TELL ME A STORY" "CUCKOO CLOCK" + "GRANDMOTHER DEAR" ETC.</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/illus-005.jpg" width="300" height="243" alt="" title="" /> +<p class="right"><small><a href="#dears">p. 210</a>.</small></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="illus">ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE</span><br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +<span class="pub1">LONDON</span><br /> +<span class="pub2">MACMILLAN & CO.</span><br /> +<span class="pub1">1876</span></p> + +<hr /> + + + +<table summary="Dedication" class="dedication"> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="2">TO</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="2"><span class="dedicate">SIX LITTLE COUSINS</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl1">MORIER,</td> +<td class="tdl2">BEVIL,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl1">NOËL,</td> +<td class="tdl2">LIONEL,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="center" colspan="2">EDWARD,<br /> +AND BABY BRIAN.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Edinburgh, 1870</span></p> +</div> + + +<hr /> + + +<h2><a name="contents" id="contents"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="Contents" class="contents"> +<tr> +<th>CHAP.</th> +<th colspan="2">PAGE</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">I.</td> +<td class="tdl">FLOSS'S BABY</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#i">1</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">II.</td> +<td class="tdl"> SIX YEARS OLD</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#ii">12</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">III.</td> +<td class="tdl"> PLANS</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#iii">26</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">IV.</td> +<td class="tdl"> THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#iv">44</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">V.</td> +<td class="tdl"> CARROTS IN TROUBLE</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#v">60</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VI.</td> +<td class="tdl"> CARROTS "ALL ZIGHT" AGAIN</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#vi">78</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> A LONG AGO STORY</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#vii">91</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">VIII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> "THE BEWITCHED TONGUE"</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#viii">111</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">IX.</td> +<td class="tdl"> SYBIL</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#ix">130</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">X.</td> +<td class="tdl"> A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#x">152</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XI.</td> +<td class="tdl"> HAPPY AND SAD</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xi">180</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> "THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS"</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xii">206</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr">XIII.</td> +<td class="tdl"> GOOD ENDINGS</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#xiii">236</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="illustrations" id="illustrations"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<table summary="Illustrations" class="contents"> + +<tr> +<th colspan="2">PAGE</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">THERE SHE SAT, AS STILL AS A MOUSE, HOLDING HER + PRECIOUS BURDEN <a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td> +<td class="tdr2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"A YELLOW SIXPENNY, OH, HOW NICE!"</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#yellow">36</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">FLOSS TAPPED AT THE DOOR. "CARROTS," SHE SAID, + "ARE YOU THERE?"</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#floss">78</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"NOW, BE QUIET ALL OF YOU, I'M GOING TO BEGIN"</td> +<td class="tdr2"> <a href="#now">114</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT, MY POOR OLD + MAN?" SAID AUNTIE, FONDLY</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#what">148</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"IT IS FLOSSIE AND ME, SYBIL—DON'T YOU REMEMBER + US?"</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#it">184</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">"SUDDENLY A BRIGHT THOUGHT STRUCK ME, I SEIZED + GIP, MY LITTLE DOG, WHO WAS ASLEEP ON THE + HEARTHRUG, AND HELD HIM UP AT THE WINDOW"</td> +<td class="tdr2"><a href="#suddenly">212</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span> +"CARROTS:" JUST A LITTLE BOY</h2> + + + +<hr class="hr3" /> + +<h2><a name="i" id="i"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<br /> +<small>FLOSS'S BABY.</small></h2> + +<div class="block5"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Where did you come from, Baby dear?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Out of the everywhere into here?<br /></span> +</div> +<hr class="hr2" /> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But how did you come to us, you dear?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">God thought about you, and so I am here!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>G. Macdonald.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">His</span> real name was Fabian. But he was never called anything but Carrots. +There were six of them. Jack, Cecil, Louise, Maurice, commonly called +Mott, Floss, dear, dear Floss, whom he loved best of all, a long way the +best of all, and lastly Carrots.</p> + +<p>Why Carrots should have come to have his history written I really cannot +say. I must leave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> you, who understand such things a good deal better +than I, you, children, for whom the history is written, to find out. I +can give you a few reasons why Carrots' history should <i>not</i> have been +written, but that is about all I can do. There was nothing very +remarkable about him; there was nothing very remarkable about the place +where he lived, or the things that he did, and on the whole he was very +much like other little boys. There are my <i>no</i> reasons for you. But +still he was Carrots, and after all, perhaps, that was <i>the</i> reason! I +shouldn't wonder.</p> + +<p>He was the baby of the family; he had every right to be considered the +baby, for he was not only the youngest, but very much the youngest; for +Floss, who came next to him, was nearly four years older than Carrots. +Yet he was never treated as the baby. I doubt if even at the very outset +of his little life, when he was just a wee pink ball of a creature, +rolled up in flannel, and with his funny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> curls of red hair standing +crisp up all over his head, I doubt, if even then, he was ever called +"baby." I feel almost sure it was always "Carrots." He was too +independent and sensible to be counted a baby, and he was never fond of +being petted—and then, too, "Carrots" came so naturally!</p> + +<p>I have said that Carrots loved his sister Floss better than anybody or +anything else in the world. I think one reason of this was that she was +the very first person he could remember in his life, and a happy thing +for him that it was so, for all about her that there was to remember was +nice and good and kind. She was four years older than he, four years +old, that is to say, when he first came into the world and looked about +him with grave inquiry as to what sort of a place this could be that he +had got to. And the first object that his baby-wise eyes settled upon +with content, as if in it there might be a possible answer to the +riddle, was Floss!</p> + +<p>These children's father and mother were not very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> rich, and having six +boys and girls you can quite easily imagine they had plenty to do with +their money. Jack was a great boy at school when Carrots first joined +the family party, and Cecil and Louise had a governess. Mott learnt with +the governess too, but was always talking of the time when he should go +to school with Jack, for he was a very boy-ey boy, very much inclined to +look down upon girls in general, and his sisters in particular, and his +little sister Floss in <i>particularest</i>. So, till Carrots appeared on the +scene, Floss had had rather a lonely time of it, for, "of course," Cecil +and Louise, who had pockets in all their frocks, and could play the +'March of the Men of Harlech' as a duet on the piano, were <i>far</i> too big +to be "friends to Floss," as she called it. They were friendly and kind +in an elder sisterly way, but that was quite a different sort of thing +from being "friends to her," though it never occurred to Floss to +grumble or to think, as so many little people think now-a-days, how +much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> better things would have been arranged if <i>she</i> had had the +arranging of them.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing Floss wished for very, very much, and that was +to have a brother or sister, she did not much care which, younger than +herself. She had the most motherly heart in the world, though she was +such a quiet little girl that very few people knew anything about what +she was thinking, and the big ones laughed at her for being so +outrageously fond of dolls. She had dolls of every kind and size, only +alike in one thing, that none of them were very pretty, or what you +would consider grand dolls. But to Floss they were lovely, only, they +were <i>only</i> dolls!</p> + +<p>Can you fancy, can you in the least fancy, Floss's delight—a sort of +delight that made her feel as if she couldn't speak, when one winter's +morning she was awakened by nurse to be told that a real live baby had +come in the night—a little brother, and "such a funny little fellow," +added nurse, "his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> head just covered with curly red hair. Where did he +get that from, I wonder? Not one of my children has hair like that, +though yours, Miss Flossie, has a touch of it, perhaps."</p> + +<p>Floss looked at her own tangle of fluffy hair with new reverence. "Hair +something like my hairs," she whispered. "Oh nursie, dear nursie, may +Floss see him?"</p> + +<p>"Get up and let me dress you quickly, and you shall see him—no fear but +that you'll see more of the poor little fellow than you care about," +said nurse, though the last words were hardly meant for Floss.</p> + +<p>The truth was that though of course every one meant to be kind to this +new little baby, to take proper care of him, and all that sort of thing, +no one was particularly glad he had come. His father and mother felt +that five boys and girls were already a good number to bring up well and +educate and start in life, not being very rich you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> see, and even nurse, +who had the very kindest heart in the world, and had taken care of them +all, beginning with Jack, ever since they were born, even nurse felt, I +think, that they <i>could</i> have done without this red-haired little +stranger. For nurse was no longer as young as she had been, and as the +children's mother could not, she knew, very well afford to keep an +under-nurse to help her, it was rather trying to look forward to +beginning again with all the "worrit" of a new baby—bad nights and many +tiring climbs up the long stairs to the nursery, etc., etc., though +nurse was so really good that she did not grumble the least bit, and +just quietly made up her mind to make the best of it.</p> + +<p>But still Floss was the only person to give the baby a really hearty +welcome. And by some strange sort of baby instinct he seemed to know it +almost from the first. He screamed at Jack, and no wonder, for Jack, by +way of salutation, pinched his poor little nose, and said that the next +time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> they had boiled mutton for dinner, cook need not provide anything +but turnips, as there was a fine crop of carrots all ready, which piece +of wit was greatly applauded by Maurice and the girls. He wailed when +Cecil and Louise begged to be allowed to hold him in their arms, so that +they both tumbled him back on to nurse's lap in a hurry, and called him +"a cross, ugly little thing." Only when little Floss sat down on the +floor, spreading out her knees with great solemnity, and smoothing her +pinafore to make a nice place for baby, and nurse laid him carefully +down in the embrace of her tiny arms, "baby" seemed quite content. He +gave a sort of wriggle, like a dog when he has been pretending to burrow +a hole for himself in the rug, just before he settles down and shuts his +eyes, and in half a second was fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"Baby loves Floss," said Floss gravely, and as long as nurse would let +her, till her arms really<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> ached, +<a name="there" id="there"></a>there she sat on the floor, as still +as a mouse, holding her precious burden.</p> + +<p>It was wonderful how trusty she was. And "as handy," said nurse, "indeed +far more handy than many a girl of five times her age." "I have been +thinking," she said one day to Floss's mother, "I have been thinking, +ma'am, that even if you had been going to keep an under-nurse to help +with baby, there would have been nothing for her to do. For the help I +get from Miss Flossie is really astonishing, and Master Baby is that +fond of her already, you'd hardly believe it."</p> + +<p>And Floss's mother kissed her, and told her she was a good little soul, +and Floss felt, oh, so proud! Then a second thought struck her, "Baby +dood too, mamma," she said, staring up into her mother's face with her +bright searching grey-green eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said her mother with a little sigh, "poor baby is good too, +dear," and then she had to hurry off to a great overhauling of Jack's +shirts, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> were, if possible, to be made to last him another +half-year at school.</p> + +<p>So it came to pass that a great deal of Floss's life was spent in the +nursery with Carrots. He was better than twenty dolls, for after a while +he actually learnt, first to stand alone, and then to walk, and after a +longer while he learnt to talk, and to understand all that Floss said to +him, and by-and-by to play games with her in his baby way. And how +patient Floss was with him! It was no wonder he loved her.</p> + +<p>This chapter has seemed almost more about Floss than Carrots you will +say, perhaps, but I couldn't tell you anything of Carrots' history +without telling you a great deal about Floss too, so I daresay you won't +mind. I daresay too you will not care to hear much more about Carrots +when he was a baby, for, after all, babies are all very like each other, +and a baby that wasn't like others would not <i>be</i> a baby! To Floss I +fancy he seemed a remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> baby, but that may have been because he +was her very own, and the only baby she had ever known. He was certainly +very good, in so far as he gave nurse exceedingly little trouble, but +why children should give trouble when they are perfectly well, and have +everything they can possibly want, I have never been able to decide. On +the whole, I think it must have something to do with the people who take +care of them, as well as with themselves.</p> + +<p>Now we will say good-bye to Carrots, as a baby.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +<a name="ii" id="ii"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<br /> +<small>SIX YEARS OLD.</small></h2> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"As for me, I love the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dear old sea!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Don't you?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Song.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">I think</span> I said there was nothing very remarkable about the place where +Carrots lived, but considering it over, I am not quite sure that you +would agree with me. It was near the sea for one thing, and <i>that</i> is +always remarkable, is it not? <i>How</i> remarkable, how wonderful and +changeful the sea is, I doubt if any one can tell who has not really +lived by it, not merely visited it for a few weeks in the fine summer +time, when it looks so bright and sunny and inviting, but lived by it +through autumn and winter too, through days when it looks so dull and +leaden, that one can hardly believe it will ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> be smiling and playful +again, through fierce, rough days, when it lashes itself with fury, and +the wind wails as if it were trying to tell the reason.</p> + +<p>Carrots' nursery window looked straight out upon the sea, and many and +many an hour Floss and he spent at this window, watching their strange +fickle neighbour at his gambols. I do not know that they thought the sea +at all wonderful. I think they were too much accustomed to it for that, +but they certainly found it very <i>interesting</i>. Floss had names for the +different kinds of waves; some she called "ribs of beef," when they +showed up sideways in layers as it were, of white and brown, and some +she called "ponies." That was the kind that came prancing in, with a +sort of dance, the white foam curling and rearing, and tossing itself, +just exactly like a frisky pony's mane. Those were the prettiest waves +of all, I think.</p> + +<p>It was not at all a dangerous coast, where the Cove House, that was +Carrots' home, stood. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> not what is called "picturesque." It was a +long flat stretch of sandy shore, going on and on for miles just the +same. There were very few trees and no mountains, not even hills.</p> + +<p>In summer, a few, just a very few visitors used to come to Sandyshore +for bathing; they were always visitors with children, for every one said +it was such a nice safe place for little people.</p> + +<p>But, safe as it was, it wasn't till Carrots was growing quite a big boy, +nearly six, I should think, that Floss and he got leave to go out and +play on the shore by themselves, the thing they had been longing for +ever since they could remember.</p> + +<p>This was how they did get leave at last. Nurse was very, very busy, one +day; really quite extra busy, for she was arranging and helping to pack +Jack's things to go to a new school. Jack was so big now, about sixteen, +that he was going to a kind of college, or grown-up school, the last he +would go to, before entering the army. And there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> quite a fuss in +the house. Jack thought himself almost as grand as if he was an officer +already, and Mott was overpowered with envy. Everybody was fussing about +Jack, and no one had much time to think of the two little ones.</p> + +<p>They stood at the nursery window, poor little souls, when Floss came up +from her lessons, gazing out wistfully. It was a nice spring day, not +exactly sunny, but looking as if the sun were only hiding himself to +tease you, and might come out any minute.</p> + +<p>"If we <i>might</i> go down to the shore," said Floss, half to herself, half +to Carrots, and half to nurse. I shouldn't have said it so, for there +can't be three halves of anything, but no doubt you will understand.</p> + +<p>"Go down to the shore, my dear?" repeated nurse, "I wish you could, I'm +sure, but it will be afternoon, at least, before I have a minute to +spare to take you. And there's no one else to-day, for cook and Esther +are both as busy as busy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> Perhaps Miss Cecil and Miss Louise will take +you when they have done their lessons."</p> + +<p>"We don't care to go with them, much," said Floss, "they don't +understand our plays. We like best to go with you, nursie, and you to +sit down with your sewing near—that's the nicest way. Oh, nurse," she +exclaimed, with sudden eagerness, "wouldn't you let us go alone? You can +peep out of the window and see us every few minutes, and we'll be so +good."</p> + +<p>Nurse looked out of the window doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you play in the garden at the back, instead?" she said. "Your +papa and mamma won't be home till late, and I am always in a terror of +any harm happening while they are away."</p> + +<p>"We won't let any harm happen," said Floss, "and we are <i>so</i> tired of +the garden, nurse. There is nothing to play at there. The little waves +are so pretty this morning."</p> + +<p>There was certainly very little to play at in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> green, at the back of +the house, which was called the garden. Being so near the sea, the soil +was so poor, that hardly any flowers would grow, and even the grass was +coarse and lumpy. Then there were no trees, and what is a garden without +trees?</p> + +<p>Nurse looked out of the window again.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "if you will really be very good, I think I might +trust you. Now, Master Carrots, you will promise to do exactly what Miss +Floss tells you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I promise," said Carrots, who had been listening with great +anxiety, though he had not hitherto spoken—he was not a great +talker—"I promise, nurse. I will do exactly what Floss tells me, and +Floss will do exactly what I tell her, won't you, Floss? So we shall +both be <i>kite</i> good, that way, won't we?"</p> + +<p>"Very well," said nurse gravely, though she felt very much inclined to +laugh, "then run and get your things as fast as you can."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +And, oh, how happy the two were when they found themselves out on the +shore all alone! They were so happy, they did not know what to do; so +first of all, they ran races to run away a little of the happiness. And +when they had run themselves quite hot, they sat down on a little heap +of stones to consider what they should do next. They had no spades with +them, for they did not care very much about digging; children who live +always by the sea never care so much about digging as the little +visitors who come down in the summer, and whose very first idea at the +sight of the sea is "spades and buckets."</p> + +<p>"What shall we play at, Carrots?" said Floss, "I wish it was warm enough +to paddle."</p> + +<p>Carrots looked at the little soft rippling waves, contemplatively.</p> + +<p>"When I'm a man," he said, "I shall paddle <i>always</i>. I shall paddle in +winter too. When I'm a man I won't have no nurse."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +"Carrots," said Floss, reproachfully, "that isn't good of you. Think how +kind nurse is."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," replied Carrots, slowly, "I <i>will</i> have her, but she must +let me paddle always, when I'm a man."</p> + +<p>"When you are a man, Carrots," said Floss, solemnly still, "I hope you +will have something better to do than paddling. Perhaps you'll be a +soldier, like Jack."</p> + +<p>"Killing people isn't better than paddling," retorted Carrots. "I'd +rather be a sailor, like papa."</p> + +<p>"Sailors have to kill people, too, sometimes," said Floss.</p> + +<p>"<i>Have</i> they?" said Carrots. Then he sat silent for a few minutes, +finding this new idea rather overwhelming. "Naughty people, do you mean, +Floss?" he inquired at last.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Floss, unhesitatingly, "naughty people, of course."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +"But I don't like killing," said Carrots, "not killing naughty people, I +don't like. I won't be a soldier, and I won't be a sailor, and I won't +be a butcher, 'cos butchers kill lambs. Perhaps I'll be a fisherman."</p> + +<p>"But fishermen kill fish," said Floss.</p> + +<p>"Do they?" said Carrots, looking up in her face pathetically with his +gentle brown eyes. "I'm so sorry. I don't understand about killing, +Floss. I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"I don't either," said Floss; "but perhaps it has to be. If there was no +killing we'd have nothing to eat."</p> + +<p>"Eggs," said Carrots; "eggs and potatoes, and—and—cake?"</p> + +<p>"But even that would be a <i>sort</i> of killing," persisted Floss, though +feeling by no means sure that she was not getting beyond her depth, "if +we didn't eat eggs they would grow into chickens, and so eating stops +them; and potatoes have roots, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> when they're pulled up they don't +grow; and cake has eggs in, and—oh I don't know, let's talk of +something else."</p> + +<p>"What?" said Carrots, "Fairies?"</p> + +<p>"If you like, or supposing we talk about when auntie comes and brings +'Sybil.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Carrots, "I like that best."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," began Floss, "supposing it is late in the evening when +they come. <i>You</i> would be in bed, Carrots, dear, but I would have begged +to sit up a little longer and——"</p> + +<p>"No, Floss, that isn't nice. I won't talk about Sybil, if you make it +like that," interrupted Carrots, his voice sounding as if he were going +to cry. "Sybil isn't not any bigger than me. I wouldn't be in bed, +Floss."</p> + +<p>"Very well, dear. Never mind, darling. I won't make it like that. It was +very stupid of me. No, Sybil and auntie will come just about our +tea-time, and we shall be peeping along the road to see if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> carriage +from the station is coming, and when we hear it we'll run in, and +perhaps mamma will say we may stay in the drawing-room to see them. You +will have one of your new sailor suits on, Carrots, and I shall have my +white piqué and blue sash, and nurse will have made the nursery +tea-table look so nice—with a clean table-cloth, you know, and quite +thin bread and butter, and jam, and, perhaps, eggs."</p> + +<p>"I won't eat one," interrupted Carrots; "I won't never eat eggs. I'll +keep all mine that I get to eat, in a box, till they've growed into +chickens."</p> + +<p>"But they're boiled when you get them," said Floss; "they wouldn't grow +into chickens when they're boiled."</p> + +<p>Carrots sighed. "Well, never mind," he said, "go on, Floss."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," started Floss again, "you see the nursery tea would look +so nice that Sybil would be <i>sure</i> to ask her mamma to let her have tea +with us,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> even though it was the first evening. Perhaps, you know, she +would be rather <i>shy</i>, just at first, till she got to know us. So we +would be very, very kind to her, and after tea we would show her all our +things—the dolls, only—Carrots, I'm afraid the dolls are getting +rather old."</p> + +<p>"Are they?" said Carrots, sympathisingly. "When I'm a man I'll buy you +such a <i>lot</i> of new dolls, Floss, and Sybil, too, if she likes +dolls—does she, Floss?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I should think so," said Floss. "When papa and mamma went +to see auntie, they said Sybil was like a doll herself. I suppose she +has beautiful blue eyes and long gold curls. That was a year ago; she +must be bigger now, Carrots."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"We must get up and run about a little now. It's too cold to sit still +so long, and if we get cold, nurse won't let us come out alone again."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +Up jumped Carrots on to his sturdy little legs. "I'll run, Floss," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Floss," he began, when they stopped to take breath again, "once I saw a +little boy with a hoop. It went so nice on the sands. I wish I had a +hoop, Floss."</p> + +<p>"I wish you had, dear," said Floss. "I'd buy you one, if I had any +money. But I haven't, and we couldn't ask mamma, because I know," and +Floss shook her head mysteriously, "I know poor mamma <i>hasn't any money +to spare</i>. I must think of a plan to get some."</p> + +<p>Carrots kept silence for about three quarters of a minute. "Have you +thinkened, Floss?" he asked, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Thought," gravely said Floss, "not thinkened, what about?"</p> + +<p>"About a plan," replied Carrots. He called it "a pan," but Floss +understood him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, no," said Floss, "not yet. Plans take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> a great lot of +thinking. They're real things, you see, Carrots, not like fancies about +fairies and Sybil coming."</p> + +<p>"But when Sybil does come, that'll be real then," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Of course," agreed Floss, "but fancying about it before, isn't real."</p> + +<p>It took Carrots a little while to get this into his head. Then he began +again.</p> + +<p>"When will you have thinkened enough, Floss? By tea-time?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. No, I think you had better wait till to-morrow morning, +and then perhaps the plan will be ready."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Carrots, adding, with a little sigh, "to-morrow +morning is a long time, Floss."</p> + +<p>"Not very," said Floss, consolingly. "Now, Carrots, let's have one more +race, and then we must go in."</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +<a name="iii" id="iii"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<br /> +<small>PLANS.</small></h2> + +<div class="block6"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"'Have you invented a plan for it?' Alice inquired.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Not yet,' said the knight."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Through the Looking-glass.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">The</span> next morning Carrots woke very early, and the first thing he thought +of was the plan. Floss and he slept in the night nursery, in two little +beds, and nurse slept in a small room that had a door opening into the +nursery. She used to sleep there herself, but now that Carrots was so +big, Floss and he were quite safe by themselves, and poor old nurse +enjoyed having her own little room.</p> + +<p>Floss was still asleep, so Carrots only climbed out of his own cot into +hers, and crouched himself down at the foot, watching for her to wake. +Floss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> looked very nice asleep; her "fuzzy" hair was tumbling over the +pillow, and her cheeks looked pinker than when she was awake.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what being asleep is," thought the little boy as he looked at +her. "I always go away, such a long way, when I am asleep. I wonder if +Floss does."</p> + +<p>She couldn't have been very far away just then, for somehow, though +Carrots sat so still, she seemed to know he was there. She turned round +and half opened her eyes, and then shut them as if she were trying to go +to sleep again, then opened them once more, quite wide this time, and +caught sight of the funny little figure beside her.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," she said, in a sleepy voice, "Carrots, dear, what are you +doing there? You'll catch cold."</p> + +<p>"No, I won't. May I come in 'aside you, Floss? I was only watching for +you to wake; I didn't wake you, did I?" said Carrots, as Floss made room +for him, and he poked his cold little toes down into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> nice warm place, +"I did so want to know if it was ready, for it's to-morrow morning now."</p> + +<p>"If what's ready?" said Floss, for she was rather sleepy still.</p> + +<p>"The plan for getting money."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Floss. "Yes," she went on after thinking for a minute, "yes, +it's nearly ready; at least I'm almost sure it is. But it's not quite +ready for telling <i>you</i>, yet, Carrots."</p> + +<p>Carrots looked terribly disappointed.</p> + +<p>"I think," went on Floss, "I think it will be ready for telling you +after breakfast. And if you like, you may listen to something I am going +to ask nurse at breakfast, and, perhaps, that will help you to guess +what the plan is."</p> + +<p>At breakfast time Carrots was all ears. All ears and no tongue, so that +nurse began to wonder if he was ill.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't like you to be ill the very day after Master Jack has +gone," she said anxiously (Jack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> had gone up to town by the night train +with his father), "one trouble at a time is quite enough for your poor +mamma."</p> + +<p>"Is Jack's going to the big school a trouble?" asked Floss, opening her +eyes very wide, "I thought they were all very glad."</p> + +<p>"My dear," said nurse solemnly, "one may be glad of a thing and sorry +too. And changes mostly are good and bad together."</p> + +<p>Floss did not say any more, but she seemed to be thinking about what +nurse had said. Carrots was thinking too.</p> + +<p>"When I'm a man," he said at last, "I won't go to a big school if Floss +doesn't want me to."</p> + +<p>Nurse smiled. "There's time enough to see about that," she said, "get on +with your breakfast, Master Carrots; you'll never grow a big boy if you +don't eat plenty."</p> + +<p>"Nurse," said Floss, suddenly, "what's the dearest thing we eat? what +costs most?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +"Meat, now-a-days, Miss Flossie," said nurse.</p> + +<p>"Could we do without it?" asked Floss. Nurse shook her head.</p> + +<p>"What could we do without?" continued the child. "We couldn't do without +bread or milk, I suppose. What could we do without that costs money?"</p> + +<p>"Most things do that," said nurse, who began to have a glimmering of +what Floss was driving at, "but the money's well spent in good food to +make you strong and well."</p> + +<p>"Then isn't there anything we could do without—without it hurting us, I +mean?" said Floss, in a tone of disappointment.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said nurse, "I daresay there is. Once a little boy and girl I +knew went without sugar in their tea for a month, and their grandmother +gave them sixpence each instead."</p> + +<p>"Sixpence!" exclaimed Floss, her eyes gleaming.</p> + +<p>"Sixpence each," corrected nurse.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +"Two sixpences, that would be a shilling. Carrots, do you hear?"</p> + +<p>Carrots had been listening with might and main, but was rather puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Would two sixpennies pay for two hoops?" he whispered to Floss, pulling +her pinafore till she bent her head down to listen.</p> + +<p>"Of course they would. At least I'm almost sure. I'll ask nurse. Nurse, +dear," she went on in a louder voice, "do you think we might do that +way—Carrots and I—about sugar, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see that it would do you any harm," said nurse. "You must ask +your mamma."</p> + +<p>But Floss hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't much like to ask mamma," she said, and Carrots, who was +listening so intently that he had forgotten all about his bread and +milk, noticed that Floss's face grew red. "I shouldn't much like to ask +mamma, because, nursie, dear, it is only that we want to get money for +something for ourselves,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> and if we told mamma, it would be like asking +her to <i>give</i> us the money. It wouldn't be any harm for us not to eat +any sugar in our tea for a month, and you could keep the sugar in a +packet all together, nurse, and <i>then</i> you might tell mamma that we had +saved it, and she would give us a shilling for it. It would be quite +worth a shilling, wouldn't it, nurse?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said nurse, "I am sure your mamma would say it was." Then she +considered a little. She was one of those truly trustworthy nurses whose +notions are strong on the point of everything being told to "mamma." But +she perfectly understood Floss's hesitation, and though she might not +have been able to put her feeling into words, she felt that it might do +the child harm to thwart her delicate instinct.</p> + +<p>"Well, nurse?" said Floss, at last.</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss Flossie, I don't think for once I shall be doing wrong in +letting you have a secret.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> When will you begin? This is Thursday; on +Saturday your mamma will give me the week's sugar—suppose you begin on +Sunday? But does Master Carrots quite understand?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Floss, confidently, "he understands, don't you dear?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Carrots, "we won't eat not any sugar, Floss and me, for +a great long time, and nurse will tie it up in a parcel with a string +round, and mamma will buy it and give us a great lot of pennies, and +then, and then"—he began to jump about with delight—"Floss and me will +go to the toy-shop and buy our hoops, won't we Floss? Oh I wish it was +time to go now, don't you Floss?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, a month's a good while to wait," said Floss sympathisingly. +"May we go out on the shore again by ourselves this afternoon, nurse?"</p> + +<p>"If it doesn't rain," said nurse; and Floss, who had half an hour to +wait before it was time for her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> to join her sisters in the school-room, +went to the window to have a look at the weather. She had not stood +there for more than a minute when Carrots climbed up on to a chair +beside her.</p> + +<p>"It's going to rain, Floss," he said, "there are the little curly clouds +in the sky that Matthew says come when it rains."</p> + +<p>Floss looked up at the sky and down at the sea.</p> + +<p>"The sea looks cross to-day," she said.</p> + +<p>There were no pretty ripples this morning; the water looked dull and +leaden.</p> + +<p>"Floss," said Carrots, with a sigh, "I do get so tired when you are at +lessons all the morning and I have <i>nucken</i> to do. Can't you think of a +plan for me to have something to do?" Carrots' head was running on +"plans."</p> + +<p>Floss considered.</p> + +<p>"Would you like to tidy my drawer for me?" she said. "This isn't the +regular day for tidying it, but it is in a mess, because I turned all +the things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> upside down when I was looking for our race horses' reins +yesterday. Will you put it <i>quite</i> tidy, Carrots?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, <i>quite</i>, dear Floss," said Carrots, "I'll put all the dolls +neat, and all the pieces, and all the sewing things. Oh, dear Floss, +what nice plans you make."</p> + +<p>So when Floss had gone to her lessons, and nurse was busy with her +morning duties, in and out of the room, so as not to lose sight of +Carrots, but still too busy to amuse him, he, with great delight, set to +work at the drawer. It certainly was much in need of "tidying," and +after trying several ways, Carrots found that the best plan was to take +everything out, and then put the different things back again in order. +It took him a good while, and his face got rather red with stooping down +to the floor to pick up all the things he had deposited there, for the +drawer itself was too heavy for him to lift out bodily, if, indeed, such +an idea had occurred to him. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> the middle drawer of the cupboard, +the top part of which was divided into shelves where the nursery cups +and saucers and those sort of things stood. The drawer above Floss's was +nurse's, where she kept her work, and a few books, and a little +note-paper and so on; and the drawer at the bottom, so that he could +easily reach it, was Carrots' own.</p> + +<p>One end of Floss's drawer was given up to her dolls. She still had a +good many, for though she did not care for them now as much as she used, +she never could be persuaded to throw any of them away. But they were +not very pretty; even Carrots could see that, and Carrots, to tell the +truth, was very fond of dolls.</p> + +<p>"If I had some money," he said to himself, "I would buy Floss such a +most beautiful doll. I wish I had some money."</p> + +<p>For the moment he forgot about the hoops and the "plan" and sat down on +a little stool with one of the unhappiest looking of the dolls in his +arms.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="yellow" id="yellow"></a> +<img src="images/illus-049.jpg" width="400" height="630" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"A yellow sixpenny, oh, how nice!"</span> +<p class="right"><i>To face page</i> 36.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +"I wish I could buy you a new face, poor dolly," he said. "I wish I had +some money."</p> + +<p>He got up again to put poor dolly back into her corner. As he was +smoothing down the paper which lined the drawer, he felt something hard +close to dolly's foot; he pushed away the dolls to see—there, almost +hidden by a crumple in the paper lay a tiny little piece of money—a +little shining piece, about the size of a sixpence, only a different +colour.</p> + +<p>"A yellow sixpenny, oh, how nice!" thought Carrots, as he seized it. "I +wonder if Floss knowed it was there. It would just do to buy a new doll. +I <i>wish</i> I could go to the toy-shop to buy one to surprise Floss. I +won't tell Floss I've found it. I'll keep it for a secret, and some day +I'll buy Floss a new doll. I'm sure Floss doesn't know—I think the +fairies must have put it there."</p> + +<p>He wrapped the piece of money up carefully in a bit of paper, and after +considering where he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> best hide it, so that Floss should not know +till it was time to surprise her, he fixed on a beautiful place—he hid +it under one of the little round saucers in his paint-box—a very old +paint-box it was, which had descended from Jack, first to Mott and then +to Carrots, but which, all the same, Carrots considered one of his +greatest treasures.</p> + +<p>When nurse came into the room, she found the tidying of the drawer +completed, and Carrots sitting quietly by the window. He did not tell +her about the money he had found, it never entered into his little head +that he should speak of it. He had got into the way of not telling all +the little things that happened to him to any one but Floss, for he was +naturally a very quiet child, and nurse was getting too old to care +about all the tiny interests of her children as she once had done. +Besides, he had determined to keep it a secret, even from Floss, till he +could buy a new doll with it—but very likely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> he would have told her of +it after all, had not something else put it out of his head.</p> + +<p>The something else was that that afternoon nurse took Floss and him a +long walk, and a walk they were very fond of.</p> + +<p>It was to the cottage of the old woman, who, ever since they had come to +Sandyshore, had washed for them. She was a very nice old woman, and her +cottage was beautifully clean, and now and then Floss and Carrots had +gone with nurse to have tea with her, which was a great treat. But +to-day they were not going to tea; they were only going because nurse +had to pay Mrs. White some money for washing up Jack's things quickly, +and nurse knew the old woman would be glad to have it, as it was close +to the day on which she had to pay her rent.</p> + +<p>Floss and Carrots were delighted to go, for even when they did not stay +to tea, Mrs. White always gave them a glass of milk, and, generally, a +piece of home-made cake.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +Before they started, nurse went to her drawer and took out of it a very +small packet done up in white paper, and this little packet she put into +her purse.</p> + +<p>It was, after all, a nice fine day. Floss and Carrots talked quietly +beside nurse for a little, and then she gave them leave to run races, +which made the way seem very short, till they got to Mrs. White's.</p> + +<p>"How nice it will be when we have our hoops, won't it, Carrots?" said +Floss.</p> + +<p>Carrots had almost forgotten about the hoops, but now that Floss +mentioned them, it put him in mind of something else.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you like a new doll, Floss?" he said mysteriously, "a most +beautifullest new doll, with hair like—like the angels' hairs in the +big window at church, and eyes like the little blue stones in mamma's +ring?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I would," said Floss, "and we'd call<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> her Angelina, wouldn't +we Carrots? But it's no good thinking about it—I shall never have one +like that, unless the fairies send it me!"</p> + +<p>"If the fairies sended you money to buy one, wouldn't that do?" said +Carrots, staring up in her face with a funny look in his eyes.</p> + +<p>But before Floss had time to answer, nurse called to them—they were at +the corner of the lane which led to Mrs. White's.</p> + +<p>Mrs. White was very kind. She had baked a cake only a day or two before, +and cut off a beautiful big piece for each of the children, then she +gave them a drink of milk, and they ran out into her little garden to +eat their cake and look at the flowers, till nurse had finished her +business with the old washerwoman, and was ready to go home.</p> + +<p>Floss and Carrots thought a great deal of Mrs. White's garden. Small as +it was, it had far more flowers in it than their own garden at the back +of the Cove House, for it was a mile or two farther from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> the sea, and +the soil was richer, and it was more sheltered from the wind.</p> + +<p>In summer there was what Floss called quite a "buzzy" sound in this +little garden—she meant that sweet, lazy-busy hum of bees and +butterflies and all sorts of living creatures, that you never hear +except in a real old-fashioned garden where there are lots of clove +pinks and sweet williams and roses, roses especially, great, big cabbage +roses, and dear little pink climbing roses, the kind that peep in at a +cottage window to bid you "good morning." Oh, how very sweet those +old-fashioned flowers are—though "rose fanciers" and all the clever +gardeners we have now-a-days wouldn't give anything for them! <i>I</i> think +them the sweetest of all. Don't you, children? Or is it only when one +begins to grow old-fashioned oneself and to care more for things that +used to be than things that are now, that one gets to prize these old +friends so?</p> + +<p>I am wandering away from Floss and Carrots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> waiting for nurse in the +cottage garden; you must forgive me, boys and girls—when people begin +to grow old they get in the habit of telling stories in a rambling way, +but I don't find children so hard upon this tiresome habit as big people +sometimes are. And it all comes back to me so—even the old +washerwoman's cottage I can see so plainly, and the dear straggly little +garden!</p> + +<p>For you see, children, I am telling you the history of a <i>real</i> little +boy and girl, not fancy children, and that is why, though there is +nothing very wonderful about Floss and Carrots, I hope the story of +their little pleasures and sorrows and simple lives may be interesting +to you.</p> + +<p>But I must finish about the visit to the washerwoman in another chapter. +I have made this one rather too long already.</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +<a name="iv" id="iv"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<br /> +<small>THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN.</small></h2> + +<div class="block2"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"Children should not leave about<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Anything that's small and bright;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lest the fairies spy it out,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And fly off with it at night."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Poems written for a child.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">There</span> was no buzzy sound in Mrs. White's garden this afternoon. It was +far too early in the year for that, indeed it was beginning to feel +quite chilly and cold, as the afternoons often do of fine days in early +spring, and by the time Floss and Carrots had eaten their cake, and +examined all the rose bushes to see if they could find any buds, and +wished it were summer, so that there would be some strawberries hiding +under the glossy green leaves, they began to wonder why nurse was so +long—and to feel rather cold and tired of waiting.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +"Just run to the door, Carrots, dear," said Floss, "and peep in to see +if nurse is coming."</p> + +<p>She did not like to go herself, for she knew that nurse and Mrs. White +were fond of a comfortable talk together and might not like to be +interrupted by her. But Carrots they would not mind.</p> + +<p>Carrots set off obediently, but before he got to the door he met nurse +coming out. She was followed by Mrs. White and both were talking rather +earnestly.</p> + +<p>"You'll let me know, if so be as you find it, Mrs. Hooper; you won't +forget?" Mrs. White was saying—Hooper was nurse's name—"for I feel +quite uneasy—I do that, for you."</p> + +<p>"I'll let you know, and thank you, Mrs. White," said nurse. "I'm glad I +happened to bring some of my own money with me too, for I should have +been sorry to put you to any ill-convenience by my carelessness—though +how I could have been so careless as to mislay it, I'm sure it's more +than I can say."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +"It is, indeed, and you so careful," said Mrs. White sympathisingly.</p> + +<p>Just then nurse caught sight of Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Come along, Master Carrots," she said, "I was just going to look for +you. Wherever's Miss Floss? We must be quick; it's quite time we were +home."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell Floss," said Carrots, disappearing again down the path, and +in another moment Floss and he ran back to nurse.</p> + +<p>Though they had been very quick, nurse seemed to think they had been +slow. She even scolded Floss a very little as if she had been kept +waiting by her and Carrots, when she was in a hurry to go, and both +Floss and Carrots felt that this was very hard when the fact was that +they had been waiting for nurse till they were both tired and cold.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't Floss's fault. Floss wanted <i>you</i> to come quick, and she +sended me to see," said Carrots indignantly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +"Hold your tongue, Master Carrots," said nurse sharply.</p> + +<p>Carrots' face got very red, he gave nurse one reproachful look, but did +not speak. He took Floss's hand and pulled her on in front. But Floss +would not go; she drew her hand away.</p> + +<p>"No, Carrots, dear," she said in a low voice, "it wouldn't be kind to +leave nurse all alone when she is sorry about something."</p> + +<p>"Is she sorry about something?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Floss, "I am sure she is. You run on for a minute. I want +to speak to nurse."</p> + +<p>Carrots ran on and Floss stayed behind.</p> + +<p>"Nurse," she said softly, slipping her hand through nurse's arm, which, +by stretching up on tip-toe, she was just able to do, "nurse, dear, +what's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing much, Miss Flossie," replied nurse, patting the kind little +hand, "nothing much, but I'm growing an old woman and easy put out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>—and +such a stupid like thing for me to have done!"</p> + +<p>"What have you done? What is stupid?" inquired Floss, growing curious as +well as sympathising.</p> + +<p>"I have lost a half-sovereign—a ten-shilling piece in gold, Miss +Flossie," replied nurse.</p> + +<p>"Out of your pocket—dropped it, do you mean?" said Floss.</p> + +<p>"Oh no—I had it in my purse—at least I thought I had," said nurse. "It +was a half-sovereign of your mamma's that she gave me to pay Mrs. White +with for Master Jack's things and part of last week that was left over, +and I wrapped it up with a shilling and a sixpence—it came to eleven +and six, altogether—in a piece of paper, and put it in my drawer in the +nursery, and before I came out I put the packet in my purse. And when I +opened it at Mrs. White's no half-sovereign was there! Only the shilling +and the sixpence!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +"You didn't drop it at Mrs. White's, did you? Should we go back and +look?" said Floss, standing still, as if ready to run off that moment.</p> + +<p>"No, no, my dear. It's not at Mrs. White's. She and I searched all over, +and she's as honest a body as could be," replied nurse. "No, there's +just the chance of its being in the drawer at home. I feel all in a +fever till I get there to look. But don't you say anything about it, +Miss Flossie; it's my own fault, and no one must be troubled about it +but myself."</p> + +<p>"Poor nursie," said Floss, "I'm so sorry. But you're sure to find it in +your drawer. Let's go home very fast. Carrots," she called out to the +little figure obediently trotting on in front, "Carrots, come and walk +with nursie and me now. Nurse isn't vexed."</p> + +<p>Carrots turned back, looking up wistfully in nurse's face.</p> + +<p>"Poor darlings," said the old woman to herself,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> "such a shame of me to +have spoilt their walk!"</p> + +<p>And all the way home, "to make up," she was even kinder than usual.</p> + +<p>But her hopes of finding the lost piece of money were disappointed. She +searched all through the drawer in vain; there was no half-sovereign to +be seen. Suddenly it struck her that Carrots had been busy "tidying" for +Floss that morning.</p> + +<p>"Master Carrots, my dear," she said, "when you were busy at Miss Floss's +drawer to-day, you didn't open mine, did you, and touch anything in it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Carrots, at once, "I'm quite, quite <i>sure</i> I didn't, +nursie."</p> + +<p>"You're sure you didn't touch nurse's purse, or a little tiny packet of +white paper, in her drawer?" inquired Floss, with an instinct that the +circumstantial details might possibly recall some forgotten remembrance +to his mind.</p> + +<p>"<i>Quite</i> sure," said Carrots, looking straight up in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> their faces with a +thoughtful, but not uncertain expression in his brown eyes.</p> + +<p>"Because nurse has lost something out of her drawer, you see, Carrots +dear, and she is very sorry about it," continued Floss.</p> + +<p>"What has she lost? But I'm <i>sure</i>," repeated Carrots, "I didn't touch +nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it. What has nurse lost?"</p> + +<p>"A half-sovereign—" began Floss, but nurse interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Don't tease him any more about it," she said; "it's plain he doesn't +know, and I wouldn't like the other servants to hear. Just forget about +it, Master Carrots, my dear, perhaps nurse will find it some day."</p> + +<p>So Carrots, literally obedient, asked no more questions. He only said to +himself, with a puzzled look on his face, "A half sovereign! I didn't +know nurse had any sovereigns—I thought only Floss had—and I never saw +any broken in halfs!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +But as no more was said in his hearing about the matter, it passed from +his innocent mind.</p> + +<p>Nurse thought it right to tell the children's mother of her loss, and +the girls and Maurice heard of it too. They all were very sorry for +nurse, for she took her own carelessness rather sorely to heart. But by +her wish, nothing was said of it to the two other servants, one of whom +had only lately come, though the other had been with them many years.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather by far bear the loss," said nurse, "than cause any +ill-feeling about it, ma'am."</p> + +<p>And her mistress gave in to her. "Though certainly <i>you</i> must not bear +the loss, nurse," she said, kindly; "for in all these years you have +saved me too many half-sovereigns and whole ones too for me to mind much +about the loss of one. And you've asked Carrots, you say; you're sure he +knows nothing about it?"</p> + +<p>"Quite sure, ma'am," said nurse, unhesitatingly.</p> + +<p>And several days went on, and nothing more was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> said or heard about the +half-sovereign. Only all this time the little yellow sixpenny lay safely +hidden away in Carrots' paint-box.</p> + +<p>In a sense he had forgotten about it. He knew it was safe there, and he +had almost fixed in his mind not to tell Floss about it till the day +they should be going to the toy-shop to buy their hoops. Once or twice +he had been on the point of showing it to her, but had stopped short, +thinking how much more delightful it would be to "surprise" her. He had +quite left off puzzling his head as to where the little coin had come +from; he had found it in Floss's drawer, that was quite enough. If he +had any thoughts about its history, they were that either Floss had had +"the sixpenny" a long time ago and had forgotten it, or that the fairies +had brought it; and on the whole he inclined to the latter explanation, +for you see there was something different about this sixpenny to any he +had ever seen before.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +Very likely "fairies' sixpennies" are always that pretty yellow colour, +he thought.</p> + +<p>One day, about a week after the loss of the half-sovereign, Maurice +happened to come into the nursery just at the little ones' tea-time. It +was a half-holiday, and he had been out a long walk with some of his +companions, for he still went to school at Sandyshore, and now he had +come in tremendously hungry and thirsty.</p> + +<p>"I say, nurse," he exclaimed, seating himself unceremoniously at the +table, "I'm awfully hungry, and mamma's out, and we shan't have tea for +two hours yet. And Carrots, young man, I want your paint-box; mine's all +gone to smash, and Cecil won't lend me hers, and I want to paint flags +with stars and stripes for my new boat."</p> + +<p>"Tars and tipes," repeated Carrots, "what's tars and tipes?"</p> + +<p>"What's that to you?" replied Mott, politely. "Bless me, I am so +thirsty. Give me your tea,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> Carrots, and nurse will make you some more. +What awful weak stuff! But I'm too thirsty to wait."</p> + +<p>He seized Carrots' mug and drank off its contents at one draught. But +when he put the mug down he made a <i>very</i> wry face.</p> + +<p>"What horrible stuff!" he exclaimed. "Nurse, you've forgotten to put in +any sugar."</p> + +<p>"No, she hasn't," said Carrots, bluntly.</p> + +<p>Nurse smiled, but said nothing, and Floss looked fidgety.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" said Mott. "Don't you like sugar—eh, young 'un?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do like it," replied Carrots, but he would say no more.</p> + +<p>Floss grew more and more uneasy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mott," she burst out, "please don't tease Carrots. It's nothing +wrong; it's only something we've planned ourselves."</p> + +<p>Mott's curiosity was by this time thoroughly aroused.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +"A secret, is it?" he exclaimed, pricking up his ears; "you'd best tell +it me. I'm a duffer at keeping secrets. Out with it."</p> + +<p>Floss looked ready to cry, and Carrots shut his mouth tight, as if +determined not to give in. Nurse thought it time to interfere.</p> + +<p>"Master Maurice," she said, appealingly, "don't tease the poor little +things, there's a good boy. If it is a secret, there's no harm in it, +you may be sure."</p> + +<p>"Tease!" repeated Mott, virtuously, "I'm not teasing. I only want to +know what the mystery is—why shouldn't I? I won't interfere."</p> + +<p>Now Mott was just at the age when the spirit of mischief is most apt to +get thorough hold of a boy; and once this <i>is</i> the case, who can say +where or at what a boy will stop? Every opposition or contradiction only +adds fuel to the flames, and not seldom a tiny spark may thus end in a +great fire. Nurse knew something of boys in general, and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> Mott in +particular; and knowing what she did, she decided in her own mind that +she had better take the bull by the horns without delay.</p> + +<p>"Miss Floss," she said seriously, "and Master Carrots, I think you had +better tell your brother your secret. He'll be very kind about it, +you'll see, and he won't tell anybody."</p> + +<p>"Won't you, Mott?" said Floss, jumping up and down on her chair in her +anxiety. "Promise."</p> + +<p>"Honour bright," said Mott.</p> + +<p>Carrots opened his mouth as if about to speak, but shut it down again.</p> + +<p>"What were <i>you</i> going to say?" said Mott.</p> + +<p>"Nucken," replied Carrots.</p> + +<p>"People don't open their mouths like that, if they've 'nucken' to say," +said Mott, as if he didn't believe Carrots.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean that I wasn't <i>going</i> to say nucken," said Carrots, "I +mean I haven't nucken to say now."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +"And what were you going to say?" persisted Mott.</p> + +<p>Carrots looked frightened.</p> + +<p>"I was only sinking if you knowed, and nurse knowed, and Floss knowed, +and I knowed, it wouldn't be a secret."</p> + +<p>Mott burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"What a precious goose you are," he exclaimed. "Well, secret or no +secret, I'm going to hear it; so tell me."</p> + +<p>Floss looked at nurse despairingly.</p> + +<p>"You tell, nurse, please," she said.</p> + +<p>So nurse told, and Maurice looked more amused than ever. "What an idea!" +he exclaimed. "I don't believe Carrots'll hold out for a month, whatever +Floss may do, unless he has a precious lump of ac—ac—what is it the +head people call it?—acquisitiveness for his age. But you needn't have +made such a fuss about your precious secret. Here, nurse, give us some +tea, and you may put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> in all the sugar Floss and Carrots have saved by +now."</p> + +<p>Floss and Carrots looked ready to cry, but nurse reassured them.</p> + +<p>"Never you fear," she said; "he shall have what's proper, but no more. +Never was such a boy for sweet things as you, Master Mott."</p> + +<p>"It shows in my temper, doesn't it?" he said saucily. And then he was so +pleased with his own wit that for a few minutes he forgot to tease, +occupying himself by eating lots of bread and butter instead, so that +tea went on peaceably.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="v" id="v"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<br /> +<small>CARROTS IN TROUBLE.</small></h2> + +<div class="block5"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But bitter while they flow, are childish tears."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + +<p class="noi">"<span class="smcap">Now</span> Carrots," said Mott, when he had eaten what he considered might +possibly support him for the next two hours, "now Carrots, let's have +the paint-box. You needn't disturb yourself," he continued, for Carrots +was preparing to descend from his high chair, "I know where you keep it; +it's in your drawer, isn't it. Which is his drawer, nurse? It'll be a +good opportunity for me to see if he keeps it tidy."</p> + +<p>"No, no, let me get it myself," cried Carrots, tumbling himself off his +chair anyhow in his eagerness. "Nurse, nurse, don't tell him which is +mine;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> don't let him take my paint-box, let me get it my own self."</p> + +<p>Nurse looked at him with some surprise; it was seldom the little boy so +excited himself.</p> + +<p>"Master Mott won't hurt your drawer, my dear," she said; "you don't mind +his having your paint-box, I'm sure. But do let him get it out himself, +if he wants, Master Maurice, there's a dear boy," she continued, for +Maurice was by this time ferreting in Floss's drawer with great gusto, +and in another moment would have been at Carrots'! But Carrots was at it +before him. He pulled it open as far as he could, for in consequence of +Mott's investigations in the upper storey, he could not easily penetrate +to his own quarters. But he knew exactly where the paint-box lay, and +managed to slip it out, without Maurice's noticing what he was doing. +His triumph was short-lived, however; before he could open the box, Mott +was after him.</p> + +<p>"Hi, you young sneak!" he cried, "what are you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> after now? Give me the +box; I believe you want to take the best paints out before you lend it +to me," and he wrenched the paint-box out of his little brother's hands.</p> + +<p>"I don't, I don't," sobbed Carrots, sitting down on the floor and crying +bitterly; "you may have all the paints, Mott, but it's my secret, oh, my +secret!"</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about?" said Mott roughly, pulling out the lid as +he spoke. The box had been all tumbled about in the struggle, and the +paints came rattling out, the paints and the brushes, and the little +saucers, and with them came rolling down on to the floor, children, you +know what—the "fairies' sixpenny," the little bright shining yellow +half-sovereign!</p> + +<p>A strange change came over Mott's face.</p> + +<p>"Nurse," he cried, "do you see that? What does that mean?"</p> + +<p>Nurse hastened up to where he was standing;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> she stared for a moment in +puzzled astonishment at the spot on the carpet to which the toe of +Maurice's boot was pointing, then she stooped down slowly and picked up +the coin, still without speaking.</p> + +<p>"Well, nurse," said Maurice, impatiently, "what do you think of that?"</p> + +<p>"My half-sovereign," said nurse, as if hardly believing what she saw.</p> + +<p>"Of course it's your half-sovereign," said Mott, "it's as plain as a +pike-staff. But how did it come there, that's the question?"</p> + +<p>Nurse looked at Carrots with puzzled perplexity. "He couldn't have +known," she said in a low voice, too low for Carrots to hear. He was +still sitting on the floor sobbing, and through his sobs was to be heard +now and then the melancholy cry, "My secret, oh, my poor secret."</p> + +<p>"You hear what he says," said Maurice; "what does his 'secret' mean but +that he sneaked into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> your drawer and took the half-sovereign, and now +doesn't like being found out. I'm ashamed to have him for my brother, +that I am, the little cad!"</p> + +<p>"But he couldn't have understood," said nurse, at a loss how otherwise +to defend her little boy. "I'm not even sure that he rightly knew of my +losing it, and he might have taken it, meaning no harm, not knowing what +it was, indeed, very likely."</p> + +<p>"Rubbish," said Maurice. "A child that is going without sugar to get +money instead, must be old enough to understand something about what +money is."</p> + +<p>"But that was <i>my</i> plan; it wasn't Carrots that thought of it at all," +said Floss, who all this time had stood by, frightened and distressed, +not knowing what to say.</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue, Floss," said Maurice, roughly; and Floss subsided. +"Carrots," he continued, turning to his brother, "leave off crying this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +minute, and listen to me. Who put this piece of money into your +paint-box?"</p> + +<p>"I did my own self," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>"To keep it a secret for Floss," sobbed Carrots.</p> + +<p>Maurice turned triumphantly to nurse.</p> + +<p>"There," he said, "you see! And," he continued to Carrots again, "you +took it out of nurse's drawer—out of a little paper packet?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Carrots, "I didn't. I didn't know it was nurse's."</p> + +<p>"You didn't know nurse had lost a half-sovereign!" exclaimed Mott, +"Carrots, how dare you say so?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Carrots, looking so puzzled, that for a moment or two he +forgot to sob, "I did know, Floss told me."</p> + +<p>"Then how <i>can</i> you say you didn't know this was nurse's?" said Mott.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know—I didn't know—I can't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> under'tand," cried Carrots, +relapsing into fresh sobs.</p> + +<p>"I wish your mamma were in, that I do," said nurse, looking ready to cry +too; by this time Floss's tears were flowing freely.</p> + +<p>"She isn't in, so it's no good wishing she were," said Maurice; "but +papa is," he went on importantly, "and I'll just take Carrots to him and +see what <i>he'll</i> say to all this."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Master Mott, don't do that, I beg and pray of you," said nurse, +all but wringing her hands in entreaty. "Your papa doesn't understand +about the little ones; do wait till your mamma comes in."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, nurse; it's a thing papa <i>should</i> be told," said Mott, in +his innermost heart half inclined to yield, but working himself up to +imagine he was acting very heroically. And notwithstanding nurse's +distress, and Floss's tears, off he marched his unfortunate little +brother to the study.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +"Papa," he said, knocking at the door, "may I come in? There's something +I must speak to you about immediately."</p> + +<p>"Come in, then," was the reply. "Well, and what's the matter now? Has +Carrots hurt himself?" asked his father, naturally enough, for his +red-haired little son looked pitiable in the extreme as he crept into +the room after Maurice, frightened, bewildered, and, so far as his +gentle disposition was capable of such a feeling, indignant also, all at +once.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Maurice, pushing Carrots forward, "he's not hurt himself; +it's worse than that. Papa," he continued excitedly, "you whipped me +once, when I was a little fellow, for telling a story. I am very sorry +to trouble you, but I think it's right you should know; I am afraid you +will have to punish Carrots more severely than you punished me, for he's +done worse than tell a story." Maurice stopped to take breath, and +looked at his father to see the effect of his words. Carrots had +stopped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> crying to listen to what Maurice was saying, and there he +stood, staring up with his large brown eyes, two or three tears still +struggling down his cheeks, his face smeared and red and looking very +miserable. Yet he did not seem to be in the least ashamed of himself, +and this somehow provoked Mott and hardened him against him.</p> + +<p>"What's he been doing?" said their father, looking at the two boys with +more amusement than anxiety, and then glancing regretfully at the +newspaper which he had been comfortably reading when Mott's knock came +to the door.</p> + +<p>"He's done much worse than tell a story," repeated Maurice, "though for +that matter he's told two or three stories too. But, papa, you know +about nurse losing a half-sovereign? Well, <i>Carrots</i> had got it all the +time; he took it out of nurse's purse, and hid it away in his paint-box, +without telling anybody. He can't deny it, though he tried to."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +"Carrots," said his father sternly, "is this true?"</p> + +<p>Carrots looked up in his father's face; that face, generally so kind and +merry, was now all gloom and displeasure—why?—Carrots could not +understand, and he was too frightened and miserable to collect his +little wits together to try to do so. He just gave a sort of little +tremble and began to cry again.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," repeated his father, "is this true?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," sobbed Carrots.</p> + +<p>Now Captain Desart, Carrots' father, was, as I think I have told you, a +sailor. If any of you children have a sailor for your father, you must +not think I mean to teach you to be disrespectful when I say that +sailors <i>are</i>, there is no doubt, inclined to be hot-tempered and hasty. +And I do not think on the whole that they understand much about +children, though they are often very fond of them and very kind. All +this was the case with Carrots' father. He had been so much away from +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> children while they were little, that he really hardly knew how +they had been brought up or trained or anything about their childish +ways—he had left them entirely to his wife, and scarcely considered +them as in any way "<i>his</i> business," till they were quite big boys and +girls.</p> + +<p>But once he did begin to notice them, though very kind, he was very +strict. He had most decided opinions about the only way of checking +their faults whenever these were serious enough to attract his +attention, and he could not and would not be troubled with arguing, or +what he called "splitting hairs," about such matters. A fault was a +fault; telling a falsehood was telling a falsehood; and he made no +allowance for the excuses or "palliating circumstances" there might be +to consider. One child, according to his ideas, was to be treated +exactly like another; why the same offence should deserve severer +punishment with a self-willed, self-confident, bold, matter-of-fact lad, +such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> as Maurice, than with a timid, fanciful, baby-like creature as was +his little Fabian, he could not have understood had he tried.</p> + +<p>Nurse knew all this by long experience; no wonder, kind though she knew +her master to be, that she trembled when Mott announced his intention of +laying the whole affair before his father.</p> + +<p>But poor Carrots did not know anything about it. "Papa" had never been +"cross" to him before, and he was far from clearly understanding why he +was "cross" to him now. So he just sobbed and said "I don't know," which +was about the worst thing he could possibly have said in his own +defence, though literally the truth.</p> + +<p>"No or yes, sir," said Captain Desart, his voice growing louder and +sterner—I think he really forgot that it was a poor little shrimp of +six years old he was speaking to—"no nonsense of 'don't knows.' Did you +or did you not take nurse's half-sovereign<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> out of her drawer and keep +it for your own?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Carrots, "I never took nucken out of nurse's drawer. I never +did, papa, and I didn't know nurse had any sovereigns."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you know nurse had <i>lost</i> a half-sovereign? Carrots, how can you +say so?" interrupted Mott.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Floss told me," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"And Floss hid it away in your paint-box, I suppose?" said Mott, +sarcastically.</p> + +<p>"No, Floss didn't. I hided the sixpenny my own self," said Carrots, +looking more and more puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue, Maurice," said his father, angrily. "Go and fetch the +money and the tomfool paint-box thing that you say he had it in."</p> + +<p>Mott did as he was told. He ran to the nursery and back as fast as he +could; but, unobserved by him, Floss managed to run after him and crept +into the study so quietly that her father never noticed her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +Maurice laid the old paint-box and the half-sovereign down on the table +in front of his father; Captain Desart held up the little coin between +his finger and thumb.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "Carrots, look at this. Did you or did you not take this +piece of money out of nurse's drawer and hide it away in your +paint-box?"</p> + +<p>Carrots stared hard at the half-sovereign.</p> + +<p>"I did put it in my paint-box," he said, and then he stopped.</p> + +<p>"What for?" said his father.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to keep it for a secret," he replied. "I wanted to—to—"</p> + +<p>"<i>What?</i>" thundered Captain Desart.</p> + +<p>"To buy something at the toy-shop with it," sobbed Carrots.</p> + +<p>Captain Desart sat down and looked at Mott for sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Upon my soul," he said, "one could hardly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> believe it. A child that one +would think scarcely knew the value of money! Where can he have learnt +such cunning; you say you are sure he was told of nurse's having lost a +half-sovereign?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Mott; "he confesses to that much himself."</p> + +<p>"Floss told me," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Then how can you pretend you didn't know this was nurse's—taking it +out of her drawer, too," said his father.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I didn't take it out of her drawer; it was 'aside Floss's +doll," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"He's trying to equivocate," said his father. Then he turned to the +child again, looking more determined than ever.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," he said, "I must whip you for this. Do you know that I am +ashamed to think you are my son? If you were a poor boy you might be put +in prison for this."</p> + +<p>Carrots looked too bewildered to understand. "In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> prison," he repeated. +"Would the prison-man take me?"</p> + +<p>"What does he mean?" said Captain Desart.</p> + +<p>Floss, who had been waiting unobserved in her corner all this time, +thought this a good opportunity for coming forward.</p> + +<p>"He means the policeman," she said. "Oh, papa," she went on, running up +to her little brother and throwing her arms round him, the tears +streaming down her face, "oh, papa, poor little Carrots! he <i>doesn't</i> +understand."</p> + +<p>"Where did <i>you</i> come from?" said her father, gruffly but not unkindly, +for Floss was rather a favourite of his. "What do you mean about his not +understanding? Did you know about this business, Floss?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no, papa," said Floss, her face flushing; "I'm too big not to +understand."</p> + +<p>"Of course you are," said Captain Desart; "and Carrots is big enough, +too, to understand the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> plain rule that he is not to touch what +does not belong to him. He was told, too, that nurse had lost a +half-sovereign, and he might then have owned to having taken it and +given it back, and then things would not have looked so bad. Take him up +to my dressing-room, Maurice, and leave him there till I come."</p> + +<p>"May I go with him, papa?" said Floss very timidly.</p> + +<p>"No," said her father, "you may not."</p> + +<p>So Mott led off poor weeping Carrots, and all the way upstairs he kept +sobbing to himself, "I never touched nurse's sovereigns. I never did. I +didn't know she had any sovereigns."</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue," said Mott; "what is the use of telling more stories +about it?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't tell stories. I said I hided the sixpenny my own self, but I +never touched nurse's sovereigns; I never did."</p> + +<p>"I believe you're more than half an idiot," said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> Mott, angry and yet +sorry—angry with himself, too, somehow.</p> + +<p>Floss, left alone with her father, ventured on another appeal.</p> + +<p>"You won't whip Carrots till mamma comes in, will you, papa?" she said +softly.</p> + +<p>"Why not? Do you think I want her to help me to whip him?" said Captain +Desart.</p> + +<p>"Oh no—but—I think perhaps mamma would understand better how it was, +for, oh papa, dear, Carrots <i>isn't</i> a naughty boy; he never, never tells +stories."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll see," replied her father; "and in the meantime it will do +him no harm to think things over by himself in my dressing-room for a +little."</p> + +<p>"Oh, poor Carrots!" murmured Floss to herself; "it'll be getting dark, +and he's all alone. I <i>wish</i> mamma would come in!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="vi" id="vi"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +<br /> +<small>CARROTS "ALL RIGHT" AGAIN.</small></h2> + +<div class="block5"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"When next the summer breeze comes by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And waves the bush, the flower is dry."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Walter Scott.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Floss</span> crept upstairs to the dressing-room door. It was locked. Though +the key was in the lock, she knew she must not turn it; and even had it +been open she would not have dared to go in, after her father's +forbidding it. But she thought she might venture to speak to Carrots, to +comfort him a little, through the door. She was dreadfully afraid that +he might feel frightened in there alone if it got dark before he was +released, for sometimes he was afraid of the dark—he was such a little +boy, remember.</p> + +<p>Floss tapped at the door.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," she said, "are you there?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="floss" id="floss"></a> +<img src="images/illus-093.jpg" width="400" height="625" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">Floss tapped at the door. "Carrots," she said, "are you +there?"</span> +<p class="right"><i>To face page</i> 78.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +"Yes," said Carrots; "but you can't come in, Floss. Mott has locked me +in."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Floss; "what are you doing, Carrots? Are you very +unhappy?"</p> + +<p>"Not so very. I'm crying—I'm crying a great lot, Floss, but I don't +think I'm so very unhappy—not now you've come to the door."</p> + +<p>"Poor Carrots," said Floss, "I'll stay by the door, if you like. I'll +just run down to the front door now and then, to see if mamma is coming, +and then I'll come straight back to you."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Carrots. Whenever he wanted to seem very brave, and +rather a big boy, he used to say "all right," and just now he was trying +very hard to be like a big boy.</p> + +<p>There was silence for a minute or two... Then Carrots called out again.</p> + +<p>"Floss," he said, "are you there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear," replied faithful Floss.</p> + +<p>"I want just to tell you <i>one</i> thing," he said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> "Floss, I never did +touch nurse's sovereigns. I never knowed she had any."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't a sovereign; it was a <i>half</i>-sovereign," corrected Floss.</p> + +<p>"I don't under'tand how it <i>could</i> be a half-sovereign," said Carrots. +"But I never touched nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it."</p> + +<p>"Then where <i>did</i> you find the half-sovereign?" began Floss, "and +why—oh, Carrots," she broke off, "I do believe that's the front door +bell. It'll be mamma coming. I must run down."</p> + +<p>"All right," called out Carrots again. "Don't be long, Floss; but please +tell mamma all about it. I <i>don't</i> under'tand."</p> + +<p>He gave a little sigh of perplexity, and lay down on the floor near the +window, where the room was lightest, for the darkness was now beginning +to creep in, and he felt very lonely.</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Desart hardly knew what to think or say, when, almost before +she had got into the house,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> she was seized upon by Maurice and Floss, +each eager to tell their own story. <i>Carrots</i> naughty, <i>Carrots</i> in +disgrace, was such an extraordinary idea!</p> + +<p>"Nurse," she exclaimed, perceiving her at the end of the passage, whence +she had been watching as anxiously as the children for her mistress's +return, "nurse, what is the meaning of it all?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, ma'am," nurse was beginning, but she was interrupted. "Come in +here, Lucy," said Captain Desart to his wife, opening the study door, +"come in here before you go upstairs."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Desart did as he asked, but Floss again managed to creep in +too, almost hidden in the folds of her mother's dress.</p> + +<p>"I can't believe that Carrots is greedy, or cunning, or obstinate," said +his mother, when she had heard all. "I cannot think that he understood +what he was doing when he took the half-sovereign."</p> + +<p>"But the hiding it," said Captain Desart, "the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> hiding it, and yet to my +face persisting that he had never touched nurse's half-sovereign. I +can't make the child out."</p> + +<p>"He says he didn't know nurse had any sovereigns," put in Floss.</p> + +<p>"Are you there again, you ubiquitous child?" said her father.</p> + +<p>Floss looked rather frightened—such a long word as ubiquitous must +surely mean something very naughty; but her father's voice was not +angry, so she took courage.</p> + +<p>"Does he know what a sovereign means?" said Mrs. Desart. "Perhaps there +is some confusion in his mind which makes him seem obstinate when he +isn't so really."</p> + +<p>"He said he knew <i>I</i> had sovereigns," said Floss, "and I couldn't think +what he meant. Oh, mamma," she went on suddenly, "I do believe I know +what he was thinking of. It was my kings and queens."</p> + +<p>And before her father or mother could stop her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> she had darted off to +the nursery. In two minutes she was back again, holding out to her +mother a round wooden box—the sort of box one often used to see with +picture alphabets for little children, but instead of an alphabet, +Floss's box contained a set of round cards, each about the size of the +top of a wine-glass, with the heads of all the English kings and queens, +from William the Conqueror down to Victoria!</p> + +<p>"'Sovereigns of England,' mamma, you see," she exclaimed, pointing to +the words on the lid, and quite out of breath with hurry and excitement, +"and I very often call them my sovereigns; and of course Carrots didn't +understand how there could be a <i>half</i> one of them, nor how nurse could +have any."</p> + +<p>"It must be so," said Mrs. Desart to her husband; "the poor child really +did <i>not</i> understand."</p> + +<p>"But still the taking the money at all, and hiding it?" said Captain +Desart. "I don't see that it would be right not to punish him."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +"He has been punished already—pretty severely for him, I fancy," said +Floss's mother, with a rather sad smile. "You will leave him to me now, +won't you, Frank?" she asked her husband. "I will go up and see him, and +try to make him thoroughly understand. Give me the sovereigns, Floss +dear, I'll take them with me."</p> + +<p>Somewhat slowly, Carrots' mother made her way upstairs. She was tired +and rather troubled. She did not believe that her poor little boy had +really done wrong wilfully, but it seemed difficult to manage well among +so many children; she was grieved also, at Maurice's hastiness and want +of tender feeling, and she saw, too, how little fitted Carrots was to +make his way in this rough-and-ready world.</p> + +<p>"How would it be without me! My poor children," she thought with a sigh.</p> + +<p>But a little hand was slipped into hers.</p> + +<p>"Mamma, dear, I'm <i>so</i> glad you thought of the sovereigns. I'm <i>sure</i> +Carrots didn't mean to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> naughty. Mamma dear, though he <i>is</i> so +little, Carrots always means to be good; I don't think he could even be +frightened into doing anything that he understood was naughty, though he +is so easily frightened other ways."</p> + +<p>"My good little Floss, my comforter," said her mother, patting Floss's +hand, and then they together made their way to the dressing-room.</p> + +<p>It was almost dark. The key was in the lock, and Mrs. Desart felt for it +and turned it. But when she opened the door it was too dark in the room +to distinguish anything.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," she said, but there was no answer. "Where can he be?" she +said rather anxiously. "Floss, run and get a light."</p> + +<p>Floss ran off: she was back again in a minute, for she had met nurse on +the stairs with a candle in her hand. But even with the light they could +not all at once find Carrots, and though they called to him there was no +answer.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +"Can he have got out of the window?" Mrs. Desart was beginning to say, +when Floss interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Here he is, mamma," she exclaimed. "Oh, poor little Carrots! mamma, +nursie, do look."</p> + +<p>There he was indeed—fast, fast asleep! Extra fast sleep, for his +troubles and his tears had worn him out. He was lying in a corner of a +large closet opening out of the dressing-room. In this closet Captain +Desart hung up his coats and dressing-gowns, and doubtless Carrots had +crept into it when the room began to get dark, feeling as if in the +hanging garments there was some comfort and protection; and there he +lay, looking so fair and innocent, prettier than when he was awake, for +his cheeks had more colour, and his long eye-lashes, reddy-brown like +his hair, showed clearly on his fair skin.</p> + +<p>"Poor little fellow, how sweet he looks," said Mrs. Desart. "Nurse, lift +him up and try to put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> him to bed without waking him. We must wait to +disentangle the confusion in his mind till to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>And very tenderly nurse lifted him up and carried him off.</p> + +<p>"My bonnie wee man," she murmured; for though it was many and many a day +since she had seen her native land, and she had journeyed with her +master and mistress to strange countries "far over the sea," she was apt +when her feelings were stirred to fall back into her own childish +tongue.</p> + +<p>So no more was said to or about Carrots that evening; but Floss went to +bed quite happy and satisfied that "mamma" would put it all right in the +morning. I don't think Mott went to bed in so comfortable a mood; yet +his mother had said nothing to him!</p> + +<p>Cecil and Louise had, though. Cecil told him right out that he was a +horrid tell-tale, and Louise said she only wished <i>he</i> had red hair +instead of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> Carrots; which expressions of feeling on the part of such +very grown-up young ladies meant a good deal, for it was not often they +troubled themselves much about nursery matters. Cecil, that is to say, +for Louise, who was fair haired and soft and gentle, and played very +nicely on the piano, was just a shadow of Cecil, and if Cecil had +proposed that they should stay in bed all day and get up all night, +would have thought it a very good idea!</p> + +<p>And the next morning Mrs. Desart had a long talk with Carrots. It was +all explained and made clear, and the difference between the two kinds +of "sovereigns" shown to him. And he told his mother all—all, that is +to say, except the "plan" for saving sugar and getting money instead, +which had first put it into his head to keep the half-sovereign to get a +new doll for Floss. He began to tell about the plan, but stopped when he +remembered that it was Floss's secret as well as his own; and when he +told his mother this, she said he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> quite right not to tell without +Floss's leave, and that as nurse knew about it, they might still keep it +for their secret, if they liked, which Carrots was very glad to hear.</p> + +<p>He told his mother about his thinking perhaps the fairies had brought +the "sixpenny," and she explained to him that now-a-days, alas! that was +hardly likely to be the case, though she seemed quite to understand his +fancying it, and did not laugh at him at all. But she spoke very gravely +to him, too, about <i>never</i> taking anything that was not his; and after +listening and thinking with all his might, Carrots said he thought he +"kite under'tood."</p> + +<p>"I am never, never to take nucken that I'm not sure is mine," he said +slowly. "And if ever I'm not sure I'm to ask somebody, you, or nursie, +or Floss—or <i>sometimes</i>, perhaps, Cecil. But I don't think I'd better +ask Mott, for perhaps he wouldn't under'tand."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +But Mott's mother took care that before the day was over Mott <i>should</i> +"under'tand" something of where and how he had been in fault; that there +are sometimes ways of doing <i>right</i> which turn it into "wrong;" and that +want of pity and tenderness for the wrong <i>doer</i> never, never can be +right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="vii" id="vii"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<br /> +<small>A LONG AGO STORY.</small></h2> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"You may laugh, my little people,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But be sure my story's true;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For I vow by yon church steeple,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I was once a child like you."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>The Land of Long Ago.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">If</span> any of you children have travelled much, have you noticed that on a +long journey there seem to come points, turns—I hardly know what to +call them—after which the journey seems to go on differently. More +quickly, perhaps more cheerfully, or possibly less so, but certainly +<i>differently</i>. Looking back afterwards you see it was so—"from the time +we all looked out of the window at the ruined abbey we seemed to get on +so much faster," you would say, or—"after the steamer had passed the +Spearhead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> Point, we began to feel dull and tired, and there was no more +sunshine."</p> + +<p>I think it is so in life. Suddenly, often quite unknowingly, we turn a +corner sometimes of our history, sometimes of our characters, and +looking back, long afterwards, we make a date of that point. It was so +just now with my little Carrots. This trouble of his about the +half-sovereign changed him. I do not mean to say that it saddened him +and made him less happy than he had been—at his age, thank God, few, if +any children have it in them to be so deeply affected—but it <i>changed</i> +him. It was his first peep out into life, and it gave him his first real +<i>thoughts</i> about things. It made him see how a little wrong-doing may +cause great sorrow; it gave him his first vague, misty glimpse of that, +to my thinking, saddest of all sad things—the way in which it is +possible for our very nearest and dearest to mistake and misunderstand +us.</p> + +<p>He had been in some ways a good deal of a baby<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> for his age, there is no +doubt. He had a queer, baby-like way of not seeming to take in quickly +what was said to him, and staring up in your face with his great +oxen-like eyes, that did a little excuse Maurice's way of laughing at +him and telling him he was "half-witted." But no one that really looked +at those honest, sensible, tender eyes could for an instant have thought +there was any "want" in their owner. It was all <i>there</i>—the root of all +goodness, cleverness, and manliness—just as in the acorn there is the +oak; but of course it had a great deal of <i>growing</i> before it, and, more +than mere growing, it would need all the care and watchful tenderness +and wise directing that could be given it, just as the acorn needs all +the rain and sunshine and good nourishing soil it can get, to become a +fine oak, straight and strong and beautiful. For what do I mean by "it," +children? I mean the "own self" of Carrots, the wonderful "something" in +the little childish frame which the wisest of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> the wise men of +either long ago or now-a-days have never yet been able to describe—the +"soul," children, which is in you all, which may grow into so beautiful, +so lovely and perfect a thing; which may, alas! be twisted and stunted +and starved out of all likeness to the "image" in which it was created.</p> + +<p>Do you understand a little why it seems sometimes such a very, very +solemn thing to have the charge of children? When one thinks what they +<i>should</i> be, and again when one thinks what they <i>may</i> be, is it not a +solemn, almost too solemn a thought? Only we, who feel this so deeply, +take heart when we remember that the Great Gardener who never makes +mistakes has promised to help us; even out of <i>our</i> mistakes to bring +good.</p> + +<p>As I have said, the affair of the lost half-sovereign did not leave any +lastingly painful impression on Carrots, but for some days he seemed +unusually quiet and pale and a little sad. He had caught cold, too, with +falling asleep on the dressing-room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> floor, nurse said, for the weather +was still exceedingly chilly, though the spring was coming on. So +altogether he was rather a miserable looking little Carrots.</p> + +<p>He kept out of the way and did not complain, but "mamma" and nurse and +Floss did not need complaints to make them see that their little man was +not quite himself, and they were extra kind to him.</p> + +<p>There came just then some very dull rainy days, regular rainy days, not +stormy, but to the children much more disagreeable than had they been +so. For in <i>stormy</i> weather at the seaside there is too much excitement +for anyone to think whether it is disagreeable or not—there is the +splendid sight of the angry, troubled sea, there are the wonderful +"storm songs" of the wind to listen to. Of course, as Carrots used to +say, at such times it is "dedful" to think of the poor sailors; but even +in thinking of them there is something that takes one's thoughts quite +away from one's self, and one's own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> worries and troubles—all the +marvellous stories of shipwreck and adventure, from Grace Darling to old +Sinbad, come rushing into one's mind, and one feels as if the sea were +the only part of the world worth living on.</p> + +<p>But even at the seaside, regular, steady, "stupid" rainy days are +trying. Carrots sat at the nursery window one of these dull afternoons +looking out wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Floss," he said, for Floss was sitting on the floor learning her +geography for the next day, "Floss, it <i>is</i> so raining."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Floss, stopping a minute in her "principal rivers of +northern Europe." "I wish there wasn't so much rain, and then there +wouldn't be so many rivers; or perhaps if there weren't so many rivers +there wouldn't be so much rain. I wonder which it is!"</p> + +<p>"Which beginned first—rivers or rain?" said Carrots, meditatively, +"<i>that</i> would tell."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +"I'm sure I don't know, and I don't believe anybody does," said Floss, +going on again with her lesson. "Be quiet, Carrots, for one minute, and +then I'll talk to you."</p> + +<p>Carrots sat silent for about a minute and a half; then he began again.</p> + +<p>"Floss," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Floss, "I've very nearly done, Carrots."</p> + +<p>"It's werry dull to-day, Floss; the sea looks dull too, it isn't dancey +a bit to-day, and the sands look as if they would <i>never</i> be nice for +running on again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they will, Master Carrots," said nurse, who was sitting near, +busy darning stockings. "Dear, dear! don't I remember feeling just so +when I was a child? In winter thinking summer would never come, and in +summer forgetting all about winter!"</p> + +<p>"Is it a werry long time since you were a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> child?" inquired Carrots, +directing his attention to nurse.</p> + +<p>"It's getting on for a good long time, my dear," said nurse, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"Please tell me about it," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, nursie dear, do," said Floss, jumping up from the floor and +shutting her book. "I've done all my lessons, and it would just be nice +to have a story. It would amuse poor little Carrots."</p> + +<p>"But you know all my stories as well, or even better, than I do myself," +objected nurse, "not that they were ever much to tell, any of them."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, they were. They are very nice stories indeed," said Floss, +encouragingly. "And I'm very fond of what you call your mother's +stories, too—aren't you, Carrots?—about the children she was nurse +to—Master Hugh and Miss Janet. Tell us more about them, nursie."</p> + +<p>"You've heard all the stories about them, my dears, I'm afraid," said +nurse. "At least, I can't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> just now think of any worth telling but what +you've heard."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's hear some not worth the telling," said Floss, persistently. +"Nurse," she went on, "how old must Master Hugh and Miss Janet be by +now? Do you know where they are?"</p> + +<p>"Master Hugh is dead," said nurse, "many a year ago, poor fellow, and +little Miss Janet—why she was fifteen years older than I; mother only +left them to be married when Miss Janet was past twelve. She must be +quite an old lady by now, if she is alive—with grandchildren as old as +you, perhaps! How strange it seems!"</p> + +<p>"She must have been a very nice little girl, and so must Master Hugh +have been—a nice little boy, I mean. That story of 'Mary Ann Jolly' was +<i>so</i> interesting. I suppose they <i>never</i> did anything naughty?" said +Floss, insinuatingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they did," replied nurse, quite unsuspicious of the trap laid +for her. "Master Hugh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> was very mischievous. Did I never tell you what +they did to their dog Cæsar?"</p> + +<p>"No, never," said both the children in a breath; "do tell us."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was one Sunday morning, to tell it as mother told me," began +nurse. "You know, my dears," she broke off again, "it was in Scotland, +and rather an out-of-the-way part where they lived. I know the place +well, of course, for it wasn't till I was seventeen past that I ever +left it. It is a pretty place, out of the way even now, I'm told, with +railways and all, and in those days it was even more out-of-the-way. Six +miles from the church, and the prayers and the sermon very long when you +got there! Many and many a time <i>I've</i> fallen asleep at church, when I +was a little girl. Well, to go back to Master Hugh and Miss Janet. It +was on a Sunday morning they did the queer piece of mischief I'm going +to tell you of. They had been left at home with no one but an old woman, +who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> too deaf to go to church, to look after them. She lived in the +lodge close by, and used to come into the house to help when the +servants were busy, for she was a very trusty old body. It was not often +the children were left without mother, or perhaps one of the housemaids, +to take care of them, and very often in fine weather they used to be +taken to church themselves, though it was tiring like for such young +things. But this Sunday, everybody had gone to church because it was the +time of the preachings——"</p> + +<p>"The <i>what</i>, nurse?" said Floss. "Isn't there preaching every Sunday at +church?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, my dear; but what we call the preachings in Scotland means the +time when there is the communion service, which is only twice a year. +You can't understand, my dear," seeing that Floss looked as mystified as +ever; "but never mind. When you are older, you will find that there are +many different ways of saying and doing the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> things in churches, +just like among people. But this Sunday I am telling you of, the +services were to be very long indeed, too long for the children, +considering the six miles' drive and all. So they were left at home with +old Phemie."</p> + +<p>"Did they mind?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Oh no; I fancy they were very well pleased. They were always very happy +together, the two of them and Cæsar."</p> + +<p>"And of course they promised to be very good," said Floss.</p> + +<p>"No doubt of that," said nurse, with a smile. "Well, they certainly hit +upon a queer way of amusing themselves. Mother came home from church one +of the earliest; she had a lift in one of the farmer's carts, and came +in at the lodge gate just as the carriage with her master and mistress +and the young ladies was driving up. They all got out at the big gate, +and let the coachman drive round to the stable the back way, and mother +came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> quietly walking up the drive behind them. They were talking +seriously about the sermon they had heard, and feeling rather +solemn-like, I daresay, when all at once there flew down the drive to +meet them the most fearsome-like creature that ever was seen. It was +like nothing in nature, my mother said, about the size of a large wolf, +but with a queer-shaped head and body—at least they looked queer to +them, not knowing what it was—and not a particle of hair or coat of any +kind upon it. It rushed up to my lady, that was Miss Janet's mother, and +tried to leap upon her; but she shrieked to her husband, and he up with +his stick—he always took a stick about with him—and was just on the +point of giving it a fearful blow, never thinking but what it was one of +the beasts escaped from some travelling show, when one of the young +ladies caught his arm.</p> + +<p>"'Stop, father!' she cried. 'Don't you see who it is? It's <i>Cæsar</i>.'</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +"'<i>Cæsar!</i>' said he. 'My dear, <i>that's</i> never Cæsar.'</p> + +<p>"But Cæsar it was, as they soon saw by the way he jumped and whined, and +seemed to beg them to understand he was himself. He was frightened out +of his wits, poor doggie, for he had never felt so queer before, and +couldn't understand what had come over him."</p> + +<p>"And what <i>had</i> come over him?" asked the children eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Why, Master Hugh and Miss Janet had spent the morning in cropping him!" +replied nurse. "The hair, and he had great long thick hair, was cut off +as close and as neat as if it had been shaved; it was really wonderful +how clean they had done it without cutting or wounding the poor doggie. +They had taken great pains about it, and had spent the best part of the +morning over it—the two of them, Master Hughie with the great kitchen +scissors, and Miss Janet with a wee fine pair she had found in her +mamma's workbox, the little monkey!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> And such a sight as the kitchen +dresser was with hair! For they told how they had made Cæsar jump up on +to the dresser and lie first on one side and then on the other, till all +was cut off."</p> + +<p>"Were they punished?" asked Floss, anxiously. And at this question +Carrots looked very woebegone.</p> + +<p>"They were <i>going</i> to be," said nurse, "but somehow, I cannot justly say +how it was, they were let off. The whole thing was such a queer idea, +their father and mother could not but laugh at it, though they didn't +let the children see them. And what do you think my lady did? She took +all poor Cæsar's hair and spun it up into worsted for knitting, mixing +it, of course, with long yarn."</p> + +<p>"Did <i>she</i> spin?" asked Floss. "I thought you said she was a lady."</p> + +<p>"And that she was, Miss Flossie, and none the less so for being able to +spin and to knit, and to cook too, I daresay," said nurse. "But ladies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +and high born ones too, in those days turned their hands to many things +they think beneath them now. I know Miss Janet's mother would never have +thought of letting any one but herself wash up her breakfast and tea +services. The cups were a sight to be seen, certainly, of such beautiful +old china; they were worth taking care of; and that's how old china has +been kept together. There isn't much of what's in use now-a-days will go +down to your grand-children, and great grand-children, Miss Flossie, +with the smashing and dashing that goes on. My lady had a white wood +bowl kept on purpose, and a napkin of the finest damask, and a large +apron of fine holland that she put on, and, oh yes, a pair of +embroidered holland cuffs she used to draw on over her sleeves up to the +elbow; and a lady she looked, I can assure you, rinsing out and drying +her beautiful cups, with her pretty white hands!"</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see her?" asked Floss.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +"Yes, when she was getting to be quite an old lady, I've seen her +several times when I've been sent up a message by mother to the house. +For my mother was a great favourite of hers; I never went there but my +lady would have me in to have a piece."</p> + +<p>"A <i>piece</i>?" repeated Floss.</p> + +<p>Nurse laughed. "A slice of bread and jam, I should say, my dear. I +forget that I'm far away from the old life when I get to talking of +those days. And to think I'm getting on to be quite an old woman myself; +older in some ways than my lady ever was, for my hair is fast turning +grey, and hers had never a silver streak in it to the last day of her +life, and she died at eighty-four!"</p> + +<p>Carrots was getting a little tired, for he hardly understood all that +nurse was saying. To create a diversion he climbed up on to her knee, +and began stroking her face.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, nursie," he said. "I'll always love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> you, even when your +hair's <i>kite</i> grey, and I would marry you if you like when I'm big, only +I've promised to marry Floss."</p> + +<p>"Oh you funny little Carrots," said Floss. "But, nurse," she went on, +"what did Janet's mamma do with the hair when she had spun it?"</p> + +<p>"She knitted it into a pair of stockings for Master Hughie," said nurse; +"but they weren't much use. They were well enough to look at, but no +mortal boy could have worn them without his legs being skinned, they +<i>were</i> so pricky."</p> + +<p>"And what became of Cæsar?" said Floss. "Did his hair ever grow again?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said nurse, "in time it did, though I believe it never again +looked quite so silky and nice. But Cæsar lived to a good old age, for +all that. He didn't catch cold, for my lady made mother make him a coat +of a bit of soft warm cloth, which he wore for some time."</p> + +<p>"How funny he must have looked," said Floss.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +"What are you talking about?" said a voice behind her, and turning +round, Floss saw Cecil, who had come into the room without their hearing +her.</p> + +<p>"About a doggie," answered Carrots. "Oh, Cis, nurse has been telling us +such a lubly story about a doggie. Nursie, dear, won't you tell us +another to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"My stories are all worn out, my dear," said nurse, shaking her head.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't <i>you</i> tell us one, Cis?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Make up one, do you mean?" said Cecil. "No, indeed, I'm sure I never +could. Are they always at you to tell them stories, nurse? If so, I pity +you."</p> + +<p>"Poor little things," said nurse, "it's dull for them these wet days, +Miss Cecil, and Master Carrots' cold has been bad."</p> + +<p>Cecil looked at her little brother's pale face as he sat nestling in +nurse's arms, and a queer new feeling of compunction seized her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +"I couldn't <i>tell</i> you a story," she said; "but if you like, the first +afternoon it's rainy, and you can't go out, I'll <i>read</i> you one. Miss +Barclay lent me a funny old-fashioned little book the other day, and +some of the stories in it are fairy ones. Would you like that, Carrots?"</p> + +<p>Floss clapped her hands, and Carrots slid down from nurse's knee, and +coming quietly up to Cecil, threw his arms round her neck, and gave her +a kiss.</p> + +<p>"I hope it'll rain to-morrow," he said, gravely.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> kind of Miss Cecil," said nurse; and as Cecil left the nursery +she added to herself, "it will be a comfort to her mother if she begins +to take thought for the little ones, and I've always felt sure it was in +her to do so, if only she could get into the way of it."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="viii" id="viii"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +<br /> +<small>"THE BEWITCHED TONGUE."</small></h2> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Thou will not fail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To listen to a fairy tale."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Lewis Carroll</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">It</span> <i>did</i> rain the next day! And Cecil did not forget her promise. Just +as the old nursery clock was striking four, a full hour still to her +tea-time, she marched into the room with a little old brown book in her +hand. I wonder if any of you have ever seen that little old book, or one +like it, I would say? It was about the size of the first edition of +'Evenings at Home,' which some of you are sure to have in your +book-cases. For I should think <i>everybody's</i> grandfathers and +grandmothers had an 'Evenings at Home' among their few, dearly-prized +children's books.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +Do you know how very few those books were? You may have heard it, but I +scarcely fancy you have ever thought over the great difference between +yourselves and long-ago-children in this respect. Now-a-days, when you +have galloped through all the brilliant blue and green and scarlet +little volumes that have been given to you on birthdays and +Christmas-days, you come with a melancholy face to your mother, and tell +her you have "nothing to read." And then, most likely, when your mother +goes to the library, she chooses a book for you out of the "juvenile +department," and when it is done you get another, till you can hardly +remember what you have read and what you haven't. But as for reading any +book twice over, <i>that</i> is never to be thought of.</p> + +<p>Not so was it long ago. Not only had no children many books, but +everywhere children had the same! There was seldom any use in little +friends lending to each other, for it was always the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> thing over +again: 'Evenings at Home,' 'Sandford and Merton,' 'Ornaments +Discovered,' and so on.</p> + +<p>You think, I daresay, that it must have been very stupid and tiresome to +have so little variety, but <i>I</i> think you are in some ways mistaken. +Children really <i>read</i> their books in those days; they put more of +themselves into their reading, so that, stupid as these quaint old +stories might seem to you now-a-days, they never seemed so then. What +was wanting in them the children filled up out of their own fresh hearts +and fancies, and however often they read and re-read them, they always +found something new. They got to know the characters in their favourite +stories like real friends, and would talk them over with their +companions, and compare their opinions about them in a way that made +each book as good, or better, than a dozen.</p> + +<p>So there is something to be said for this part of the 'ancien +régime'—if you do not understand what that means, you will some +day—after all!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +The volume that Cecil Desart brought into the nursery was called 'Faults +Corrected; or,' (there was always long ago an "or" in the titles of +books) 'Beneficent Influences.'</p> + +<p>"Some of the stories are stupid," said Cecil, as she sat down. "Miss +Barclay said it was her mother's when she was a little girl, so it must +be rather ancient; but I think I've found one that will amuse you, and +that Carrots can understand."</p> + +<p>"What's it called?" said Floss, peering over her sister's shoulder. +"'Faults Corrected; or, Ben—ben—' what word's that, Cecil?"</p> + +<p>"Sit <i>down</i>, Floss, and be quiet, or I won't read to you," said Cecil, +emphatically. "That's the name of the whole book you are looking at, and +you wouldn't understand the word if I told it you. The name of the story +I'm going to read to you is, 'The Bewitched Tongue; or, Think before you +speak. A Fairy Tale.'"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="now" id="now"></a> +<img src="images/illus-131.jpg" width="400" height="623" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Now, be quiet all of you, I'm going to begin."</span> +<p class="right"><i>To face page</i> 114.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +Floss would have liked to clap her hands, but she was afraid of another +snub from Cecil, so she restrained her feelings.</p> + +<p>"When there come very long words," continued Cecil—"there often are in +old books—I'll change them to easy ones, so that Carrots may +understand. Now, be quiet all of you, I'm going to begin. 'The Bewitched +Tongue, etc.' I'm not going to read all the title again. 'In a beautiful +mansion' (that just means a fine house, Carrots) 'surrounded by pleasure +grounds of great extent, there lived, many years ago, a young girl named +Elizabetha. She was of charming appearance and pleasing manners; her +parents loved her devotedly, her brothers and sisters looked upon her +with amiable affection, her teachers found her docile and intelligent. +Yet Elizabetha constantly found herself, despite their affection, +shunned and feared by her best and nearest friends, and absolutely +disliked by those who did not know her well enough to feel assured of +the real goodness of her heart.</p> + +<p>'This sad state of things was all owing to one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> unfortunate habit. She +had a hasty tongue. Whatever thought was uppermost in her mind at the +moment, she expressed without reflection; she never remembered the +wholesome adage "Think before you speak," or that other excellent +saying, "Second thoughts are best."</p> + +<p>'Her disposition was far from unamiable or malicious, yet the mischief +of which she was the cause was indescribable. Every servant in the +household dreaded to hear the sound of her voice, for many had she +involved in trouble and disgrace; and as her temper was naturally quick +and impetuous, and she never attempted to check her first expressions of +provocation, small and even trifling disagreements were by her foolish +tongue exaggerated into lasting discord, long after all real cause of +offence had passed from her mind.</p> + +<p>'"My brother will not forgive me," she confessed one day to her mother, +with many tears, "and the quarrel was only that he had broken the vase +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> flowers that stands on my table. I forgave <i>him</i>—I would rather +lose twenty vases than his affection—and yet he will not speak to me, +and passes me by with indignant looks."</p> + +<p>'"And did you at once express your forgiveness to him, Elizabetha?" said +her mother. "When you first discovered the accident, what words escaped +you?"</p> + +<p>'Elizabetha reflected, and presently her colour rose.</p> + +<p>'"I fear, ma'am," she said, "I fear that at the first sight of the broken +vase I spoke unguardedly. I exclaimed that without doubt Adolphus had +thrown down the ornament on purpose to annoy me, and that I wished so +mean-spirited a youth were not my brother. My little sister Celia was +beside me at the time—can she have carried to him what I said? I did +not really mean that; my words were but the momentary expression of my +vexation."</p> + +<p>'Her mother gravely shook her head.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +'"It is your own doing altogether, Elizabetha," she said, "and you +cannot complain that your brother resents so unkind and untrue a +charge."</p> + +<p>'Elizabetha burst into tears, but the harm was done, and it was some +time before Adolphus could forget the pain of her unjust and hasty +words.</p> + +<p>'Another day her little brother Jacky had just with great pains and care +written out his task for the next morning, when, having been called to +supper, he found on his return to the schoolroom his exercise book all +blotted and disfigured.</p> + +<p>'"Who can have done this?" he cried in distress.</p> + +<p>'Elizabetha was just entering the room.</p> + +<p>'"Oh," she exclaimed, "it is Sukey, the under-housemaid, that you have +to thank for that. I saw her coming out of the room, and she had no +reason to enter it. Out of curiosity she has been looking at your books, +and blotted your exercise."</p> + +<p>'Jacky was but eight years old, full young for prudence or reflection. +Downstairs he flies, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> face inflamed with anger, and meeting the +unfortunate Sukey at the door of the servants' hall, upbraids her in no +gentle terms for her impertinence. In vain the poor girl defends +herself, and denies Master Jacky's accusation; the other servants come +to the rescue, and the whole household is in an uproar, till suddenly +Miss Elizabetha is named as the source of the mischief.</p> + +<p>'"Ah," says the old housekeeper, "do not distress yourself, Sukey; we +all know what Miss Elizabetha's tongue is!"</p> + +<p>'And thereupon the poor girl is freed from blame. She had only gone to +the schoolroom by the desire of an upper servant to mend the fire, and +the real offender was discovered to have been the cat!</p> + +<p>'This affair coming to the ears of Elizabetha's father, he reproved her +with great severity. Mortified and chagrined, she, as usual, wept +bitterly, and ashamed to meet the cold looks of the household, she +hastened out into the garden and paced up and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> down a shady walk, where +she imagined herself quite hidden from observation.'"</p> + +<p>"Cis," interrupted Carrots at this point, "I don't understand the +story."</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry," said Cecil, "I didn't notice what a lot of long words +there are. Shall I leave off?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> understand it," said Floss.</p> + +<p>"Then read it for Floss, please, Cis," said Carrots. "I'll be kite +still."</p> + +<p>"You're a good little boy," said Cecil; "I suppose I may as well finish +it as I have begun. We're coming to the fairy part now. Perhaps you'll +understand it better. Where was I? Oh yes, 'imagined herself quite +hidden from observation. But in this she was mistaken, as my readers +will see.</p> + +<p>'She walked slowly up and down. "Oh my tongue, my cruel tongue!" she +exclaimed, "what trouble it is the cause of! How can I cure myself of my +rash speech?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +'"Do you in all sincerity wish to cure yourself, Elizabetha?" said a +voice beside her; and turning in surprise at its sound, the young girl +perceived at a few steps' distance a fair and sweet looking lady, clad +in silvery-white, adorned with wreaths of the loveliest flowers.</p> + +<p>'"Assuredly I do, gracious lady," replied Elizabetha, mastering as well +as she was able her surprise, for she felt that this beautiful lady must +be a fairy of high degree.</p> + +<p>'"Then <i>I</i> will help you," said the lady, "but on one condition, +hereafter to be explained. You are content to agree to this beforehand?"</p> + +<p>'"To <i>anything</i>, kind fairy," replied the young girl, "if only my +unhappy fault can be cured."</p> + +<p>'The fairy smiled, "Hasty as ever," she murmured; "however, in <i>this</i> +instance, you shall have no reason to regret your words. Put out your +tongue, Elizabetha."</p> + +<p>'Trembling slightly, the young girl obeyed. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> her fears were uncalled +for—the fairy merely touched the unruly member with her wand and +whispered some words, the meaning of which Elizabetha could not +understand.</p> + +<p>'"Meet me here one week hence," said the fairy; "till then your tongue +will obey <i>my</i> commands. And if you then feel you have reason to feel +grateful to me, I will call upon you to redeem your promise."</p> + +<p>'And before Elizabetha could reply, the lady had disappeared.</p> + +<p>'Full of eagerness and curiosity, Elizabetha returned to the house. It +was growing dusk, and as she sped along the garden paths something ran +suddenly against her, causing her to trip and fall. As she got up she +perceived that it was Fido, the dog of her brother Adolphus. The +creature came bounding up to her again, full of play and affection. But +in her fall Elizabetha had bruised herself; she felt angry and +indignant.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +'"Get off with you, you clumsy wretch," she exclaimed, or meant to +exclaim. But to her amazement the words that issued from her mouth were +quite otherwise.</p> + +<p>'"Gently, gently, my poor Fido. Thou didst not mean to knock me down, +however," she said in a kind and caressing tone, which the dog at once +obeyed.</p> + +<p>'Hardly knowing whether she were awake or dreaming, Elizabetha entered +the house. She was met by her sister Maria.</p> + +<p>'"Where have you been, Elizabetha?" she inquired. "Your friends the +Misses Larkyn have been here, but no one could find you, so they have +gone."</p> + +<p>'Elizabetha felt extremely annoyed. She had not seen her friends for +some weeks, and had much wished for a visit from them.</p> + +<p>'"I think it was most ill-natured of none of you to look for me in the +garden. You might have known I was there if you had cared to oblige +me,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> were the words she intended to say, but instead of which were +heard the following:</p> + +<p>'"I thank you, my dear Maria. I am sorry to have missed my friends, but +it cannot be helped."</p> + +<p>'And when Maria, pleased by her gentleness, went on to tell her, that +knowing that her disappointment would be great, and as the Misses Larkyn +had been too pressed for time to linger, she had arranged to walk with +Elizabetha the following day to see them, how rejoiced was Elizabetha +that her intended words of unkindness had not been uttered! "Kind fairy, +I thank thee!" she whispered to herself.</p> + +<p>'The following day the same state of things continued. Many times before +its close did Elizabetha's hasty temper endeavour to express itself in +rash speech, but each time the tongue remained faithful to its new +mistress. Whenever Elizabetha attempted to speak hastily, the words that +issued from her lips were exactly the opposite of those she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +intended to utter; and as her real disposition was amiable and good, not +once did she regret the metamorphosis.</p> + +<p>'Her parents, her brothers and sisters, and even the servants of the +family, were amazed and delighted at the change.</p> + +<p>'"Go on as thou hast begun, my child," said her father, on the morning +of the day on which Elizabetha was again to meet the fairy, "and soon +the name of Elizabetha will be associated with gentleness and discretion +in speech as in deed."</p> + +<p>'Elizabetha blushed. She would have liked to confess that the credit of +the improvement was not her own; but a moment's reflection reminded her +that she had not received permission to divulge the secret, and kissing +affectionately her father's hand, she thanked him for his encouragement.</p> + +<p>'At the appointed hour she was on the spot, awaiting the fairy, who soon +appeared. A benignant smile overspread her features.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +'"Well, Elizabetha," she said, "and hast thou found that I have deserved +thy gratitude?"</p> + +<p>'"Kind fairy," cried the young girl, "I cannot thank thee enough. Ask of +me what thou wilt, I shall be only too ready to perform it."</p> + +<p>'The fairy smiled. "My condition is a very simple one," she said. "It is +only this. Whenever, Elizabetha, you feel yourself in the least degree +discomposed or out of temper, utter no word till you have mentally +counted the magic number seven. And if you follow this rule, it will be +but seldom that your tongue, of which I now restore to you the full +control" (she touched it again with her wand as she spoke) "will lead +you into trouble. Your disposition, though generous, is naturally hasty +and impulsive, and till by a long course of self-restraint you have +acquired complete mastery over yourself, you will find that I was right +in my experiment of obliging your tongue to utter the exact opposite of +what you, in your first haste, would have expressed."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +'And before Elizabetha could reply, she had disappeared.</p> + +<p>'But Elizabetha kept her promise, and to thus following her fairy +friend's advice she owes it that she is now the object of universal +esteem and affection, instead of being hated, despised, and feared as +the owner of "a hasty tongue."'</p> + +<p>Cecil stopped.</p> + +<p>"Is that all?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's all. Did you like it?"</p> + +<p>"I did understand better about the fairy," Carrots replied. "I think she +was a werry good fairy; don't you, Floss?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Very</i>," said Floss. "I think," she went on, "whenever I am cross, I +shall <i>fancy</i> my tongue is bewitched, just to see if it would be best to +say the opposite of what I was going to say. Wouldn't it be fun?"</p> + +<p>"Better than fun, perhaps, Miss Flossie," said nurse. "I think it would +be a very good thing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> if big people, too, were sometimes to follow the +fairy's rule."</p> + +<p>"People as big as you, nursie?" asked Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, my dear," said nurse. "It's a lesson we're all slow to learn, +and many haven't learnt it by the end of their threescore years and +ten—'to be slow to anger,' and to keep our tongues from evil."</p> + +<p>"<i>That's</i> out of the Bible, nursie, all of it," said Floss, as if not +altogether sure that she approved of the quotation.</p> + +<p>Cecil laughed.</p> + +<p>"What are you laughing at, Cis?" said Floss. "It <i>is</i> out of the Bible."</p> + +<p>"Well, no one said it wasn't," said Cecil.</p> + +<p>"Cis," said Carrots, "will you read us another story, another day?"</p> + +<p>"If I can find one that you can understand," said Cecil.</p> + +<p>"Never mind if I can't," replied Carrots. "I like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> to hear you reading, +even if I can't understand. I like your voice. I <i>think</i>," he added +after a pause, "I <i>think</i>, Cis, I'll marry you too, when I'm big. You +and Floss, and nurse."</p> + +<p>So Cecil had good reason to feel that she was greatly appreciated in the +nursery.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="ix" id="ix"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +<br /> +<small>SYBIL.</small></h2> + +<div class="block5"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"The children crowned themselves with wishes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And every wish came true."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Crowns for Children.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="noi">But it is not always, or even often, that wishes "come true," is it, +children? Or if they do come true, it is in a different way; so +different that they hardly seem the same. Like the little old woman in +the ballad, who turned herself about and wondered and puzzled, but +couldn't make out if she was herself or not, we stare at our fulfilled +wishes and examine them on every side, but in their altered dress—<i>so</i> +different from, and, very seldom, if ever, as pretty as that which they +wore in our imagination—we cannot believe that they are themselves!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +Do you remember the fancies that Carrots and Floss used to have about +their cousin Sybil, and how they wished for her to come to see them? +Well, about a fortnight after the affair of the lost half-sovereign, +Sybil actually <i>did</i> come to see them! She and her mamma. But it all +happened quite differently from the way the children had planned it, so +that just at first they could hardly believe it <i>was</i> "a wish come +true," though afterwards, when it was over, and they began to look back +to it as a real thing instead of forwards to it as a fancy, they grew to +think it had really turned out nicer than any of their fancies.</p> + +<p>You would like to hear all about it, I dare say.</p> + +<p>It took them all by surprise—this sudden visit of Sybil and her mother, +I mean. There was no time for planning or arranging anything. There just +came a telegram one afternoon, to say that Mrs. ——, no, I don't think +I will tell you the name of Sybil's mother, I want you just to think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> of +her as "auntie"—and her little girl would arrive at Sandyshore, late +that same evening, "to stay one day," said the telegram, on their way to +some other place, it does not matter where.</p> + +<p>It was several years since Captain Desart had seen his sister—that is, +"auntie." He had been abroad at the time of her marriage, for she was a +good many years younger than he, and since then, <i>she</i> and her husband +had been a great deal out of England. But now at last they were going to +have a settled home, and though it was a good way from Sandyshore, still +it was not like being in another country.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry Florence can only stay one day," said Mrs. Desart to her +husband; "it seems hardly worth while for her to come so far out of her +way for so short a time."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry too," said Captain Desart; "but a day's better than +nothing."</p> + +<p>Floss and Carrots were sorry <i>too</i>—but what they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> were <i>most</i> sorry for +was not that Sybil and her mamma were only going to stay there one day, +it was that they would not arrive till after the children's bedtime! So +much after, that there could not even be a question of their "sitting up +till they come." There was even a doubt of Cecil and Louise doing so, +and Floss could not help feeling rather pleased at Mott's getting a +decided snub from his father when he broached the subject on his own +account.</p> + +<p>"Sit up till after ten o'clock—nonsense. Nobody wants you. Go to bed as +usual, of course," said Captain Desart.</p> + +<p>"How tired that poor little girl will be!" said Mrs. Desart pityingly. +"Children, you must all be quiet in the morning so as not to wake her +early. And you must be very gentle and kind to her, for you know she is +not accustomed to companions."</p> + +<p>"Yes, mamma," said Floss and Carrots promptly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> Mott said nothing, for, +<i>of course</i>, the speech could not have been addressed to <i>him</i>. Mr. +Maurice Desart, nearly thirteen years old, could not be supposed to be a +companion to a mite of a girl of six.</p> + +<p>"It won't be difficult to be quiet to-morrow morning," said Floss to +Carrots, "for I expect I shall be very sleepy, as I have <i>quite</i> made up +my mind to stay awake to-night, till I hear them come."</p> + +<p>It was then eight o'clock, and Floss was going to bed. Carrots had been +in bed nearly an hour, but was not yet asleep. He soon dropped off, +however, and how long do you think Floss kept awake? Till twenty-three +minutes past eight, or not so late probably, for that was the time by +the nursery clock, when nurse came in to see that her charges were +tucked up for the night, and found them both fast asleep!</p> + +<p>They were in a state of great expectation the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> next morning when they +were being dressed, but they remembered their promise and were very +quiet.</p> + +<p>"When shall we see Sybil?" asked Carrots; "will she have breakfast in +the nursery?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Floss, "she won't be up for ever so long, I dare +say."</p> + +<p>"Poor little thing, she must be very tired," said nurse.</p> + +<p>"Did you see her last night?" asked Floss eagerly.</p> + +<p>Nurse shook her head. "It was past ten when they arrived," she said, +"the little lady was put to bed at once, your mamma and sisters only saw +her for a minute."</p> + +<p>So Floss and Carrots ate their bread and milk in undiminished curiosity. +Not long afterwards the bell rang for prayers in the dining-room as +usual, and the two, hand in hand, went in to take their places among the +others.</p> + +<p>They were rather late, Captain Desart had the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> Prayer Book and Bible +open before him, and was looking impatient, so Floss and Carrots sat +down on their little chairs and left "good-mornings" till after prayers. +There was a strange lady beside their mother, and, yes, beside the +strange lady a strange little girl! Was <i>that</i> Sybil? Where was the +fair-haired, blue-eyed, waxen, doll-like Sybil, they had expected to +see?</p> + +<p>What they did see was worth looking at, however. It was a very pretty +Sybil after all. Small and dark, dark-eyed, dark-haired, and browny-red +as to complexion, Sybil was more like a gipsy than an angel as they had +fancied her. She had <i>very</i> pretty, very bright, noticing eyes, and she +was pretty altogether. She was dressed in black velvet with a bright +crimson sash, and her hair was tied with crimson ribbon; her neat little +legs were clothed in black silk stockings, and there were buckles on her +tiny shoes.</p> + +<p>Floss and Carrots hardly dared to stare at her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> for her eyes seemed to +be noticing them all over, and when prayers were finished, and their +mamma called them to come to speak to their aunt and cousin, do you know +they actually both felt quite shy of Sybil, small as she was? More shy +of her than of their aunt, somehow; <i>she</i> seemed more like what they had +expected, or, perhaps, the truth was, they had "expected" much less +about her. Besides no children ever were shy with auntie, such a thing +would have been impossible.</p> + +<p>They kissed Sybil, Floss feeling very tall and lanky beside her compact +tiny cousin, and Carrots feeling I don't know how. He just looked at +Sybil with his soft wondering brown eyes, in such a solemn way that at +last she burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"What a funny boy you are!" she exclaimed. "Mother dear, <i>isn't</i> he a +funny boy?"</p> + +<p>"Aren't you very tired, Sybil?" said Floss, afraid that she would be +laughed at as "a funny girl," next.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," said Sybil, quite grave, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> like a grown-up person, +all in a minute. "I'm becustomed to travelling. I'm not tired at all, +but I'll tell you what I am—I'm," and out broke her merry laugh again, +"I'm very <i>hungry</i>."</p> + +<p>"That's a broad hint," said Captain Desart, laughing too. "Florence, +your daughter is ready for breakfast, do your hear? Where will you sit, +Miss Sybil? Beside your old uncle, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, thank you," replied Sybil, "if you won't call me Miss Sybil, +please. And may this little boy sit 'aside me?"</p> + +<p>"This little boy and this little girl have had their breakfast," said +Mrs. Desart. "Run off, Carrots and Floss, you are both to have a whole +holiday you know, so Sybil will see plenty of you."</p> + +<p>"I wish they could see more of each other," said auntie, as the children +left the room. "Some time you must let them both come and pay us a long +visit, when we are really settled you know."</p> + +<p>Auntie gave a little sigh as she said this—she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> felt so tender and kind +to Carrots and Floss, and something made her a little sorry for them. +Though they were healthy, happy-looking children, and their dress was +neat and cared for, they did not look like her Sybil, whose clothes were +always like those of a little princess. Floss's frock was rather +faded-looking, and there was a mark where it had been let down, and +Carrots' brown holland blouse had arrived at a very <i>whitey</i>-brown +shade, through much wear and washing.</p> + +<p>"It must be hard work with so many children, and such small means," she +thought to herself, for auntie had been married young to a rich man, and +knew little of "making both ends meet," but aloud she only said, "how +lovely little Fabian would look in black velvet, Lucy! What a complexion +he has!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you can forgive him his hair," said Mrs. Desart.</p> + +<p>"I think his hair is beautiful," observed Sybil, and then went on eating +her breakfast.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +They all laughed, but there was still a little sigh at the bottom of +auntie's heart. There was reason for it greater than the sight of her +little nephew's and niece's shabby clothes.</p> + +<p>But there was no sigh in the hearts of Floss and Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," said Floss, as they made their way to the nursery to decide +which of their small collection of toys were fit for Sybil's inspection, +"Carrots, <i>did</i> you hear."</p> + +<p>"What auntie said?" asked Carrots. "Yes, I heard. Do you think mamma +will ever let us go?"</p> + +<p>"Some day, perhaps," said Floss, and oh what dreams and plans and +fancies hung on that "perhaps!" "<i>Fancy</i>, Carrots, we should go in the +railway, you and me, Carrots, alone perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Floss!" said Carrots, his feelings being beyond further expression.</p> + +<p>That "some day" was a good way off, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> but "to-day" was here, and +a nice bright-looking to-day it was. How happy they were! How happy +Sybil was!</p> + +<p>For, somehow, though she was dressed like a princess, though since +babyhood she had had <i>everything</i> a child could wish for, though very +often, I must confess, she had had "her own way," a good deal more than +would have been good for most children, little Sybil was not spoilt. The +spoiling dropped off her like water down a duck's back, and auntie never +found out it had been there at all! Perhaps after all there is a kind of +spoiling that isn't spoiling—love and kindness, and even indulgence, do +not spoil when there is perfect trust and openness, and when a child at +the same time is taught the one great lesson, that the best happiness is +trying to make others happy too.</p> + +<p>They played on the sands nearly all day, and Sybil, to her great +delight, was covered up from damage by one of Carrots' blouses. The sun +came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> out bright and warm, and they built the most lovely sand house you +ever saw.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to live in it always," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Oh you funny boy," said Sybil patronisingly, "and what would you do at +night, when it got cold, and perhaps the sea would come in."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the mermaids would take care of him till the morning," said +Floss.</p> + +<p>"What are the mermaids?" asked Sybil.</p> + +<p>"Pretty ladies," said Carrots, "who live at the bottom of the sea, only +they've got tails."</p> + +<p>"Then they can't be pretty," said Sybil decidedly, "not unless their +tails are beautiful and sweeping out, like peacocks! Are they?—one day +I tied a shawl of mother's on, it was a red and gold shawl, and I +sweeped it about just like a peacock,—that <i>would</i> be pretty."</p> + +<p>"I don't think mermaids' tails are like that," said Carrots, doubtfully, +"but they <i>are</i> pretty ladies, aren't they, Floss?"</p> + +<p>"Beautiful," said Floss, "but they're very sad.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> They come up to the +shore at night and comb their hair and cry dreadfully."</p> + +<p>"What do they cry for?" asked Sybil and Carrots, pressing up to Floss, +and forgetting all about the lovely sand house.</p> + +<p>"Because they—no, you couldn't understand," she broke off; "it is no +good telling you."</p> + +<p>"Oh do tell," said the children.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Floss, "I read in a book of Cecil's, they cry because they +haven't got any souls. When they die they can't go to heaven, you see."</p> + +<p>Sybil and Carrots looked very solemn at this. Then a sudden thought +struck Carrots.</p> + +<p>"How can they cry if they haven't got souls, Floss?" he said, "nurse +says it's our souls that make us glad and sorry. Are you <i>sure</i> the poor +mermaids haven't got souls?"</p> + +<p>"I'm only telling you what I read in a book," said Floss. "I dare say +it's all a sort of fairy tale. Don't you like fairy tales, Sybil?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +"No," said Sybil, "I like stories of naughty boys and girls best—<i>very</i> +naughty boys and girls."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sybil!" said Carrots, "<i>I</i> don't, because they are always unhappy +in the end."</p> + +<p>"No, they're not. Sometimes they all get good. Mother always makes them +get good at the end," replied Sybil.</p> + +<p>"Does auntie tell you stories?" said Floss.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, for I can't read them to myself yet. I'm learning, but +it is <i>so</i> hard," said Sybil dolefully.</p> + +<p>"I wish auntie would tell <i>us</i> stories."</p> + +<p>"P'raps she will when you come to my house," said Sybil, encouragingly. +"Would you think that a treat?"</p> + +<p>"It would be a 'normous treat."</p> + +<p>"We're going to have a treat to-day," said Floss. "We're going to have +tea in the dining-room with you, Sybil, and auntie and everybody, and I +think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> it's time to go in now, because we must change our frocks."</p> + +<p>Carrots had never had tea in the dining-room before, and felt a little +overpowered by the honour. He sat very still, and took whatever was +offered to him, as nurse had taught him. Cecil poured out the tea, and +to please the children she put an extra allowance of sugar into their +cups. Carrots tasted his, and was just thinking how very nice it was, +when it flashed across his mind that he should not have had any sugar. +He put down his cup and looked round him in great perplexity. If only he +could ask Floss. But Floss was at the other side of the table, she +seemed to be drinking her tea without any misgiving. Wasn't it naughty? +Could she have forgotten? Carrots grew more and more unhappy; the tears +filled his eyes, and his face got scarlet.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, dear?" said auntie, who was sitting next him, "is +your tea too hot? Has it scalded your poor little mouth?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +She said it in a low voice. She was so kind and "understanding," she +knew Carrots would not have liked everybody round the table to begin +noticing him, and as she looked at him more closely, she saw that the +tears in his eyes were those of distress, not of "scalding."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," said Carrots, looking up in auntie's face in his +perplexity; "it isn't that. My tea is <i>werry</i> good, but it's got sugar +in."</p> + +<p>"And you don't like sugar? Poor old man! Never mind, Cecil will give you +another cup. You're not like Sybil in your tastes," said auntie, kindly, +and she turned to ask Cecil for some sugarless tea for her little +brother.</p> + +<p>"No, no, auntie. Oh, <i>please</i> don't," whispered Carrots, his trouble +increasing, and pulling hard at his aunt's sleeve as he spoke, "I <i>do</i> +like sugar werry much—it isn't that. But mamma said I was never, +<i>never</i> to take nucken that wasn't mine, and sugar won't be mine for two +weeks more, nurse says."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +Auntie stared at her little nephew in blank bewilderment. What <i>did</i> he +mean? Even her quick wits were quite at fault.</p> + +<p>"What <i>do</i> you mean, my dear little boy?" she said.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a new complication struck poor Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he exclaimed, "it's a secret, it's a secret, and I'm telling it," +and he burst into tears.</p> + +<p>It was impossible now to hide his trouble. Everybody began to +cross-question him.</p> + +<p>"Cry-baby," muttered Maurice, and even Mrs. Desart said, "Carrots, I +wonder at your behaving so when your aunt and cousin are here. Floss, do +you know what is the matter with him?"</p> + +<p>"No, mamma," said Floss, looking as she always did when Carrots was in +distress, ready to cry herself.</p> + +<p>"Carrots," said Captain Desart, sharply, "go to the nursery till you +learn to behave properly."</p> + +<p>Carrots got slowly down off his high chair, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> crept away. But +everybody looked troubled and uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>Auntie hated to see people looking troubled and uncomfortable. She +thought a minute, and then she turned to Mrs. Desart.</p> + +<p>"Lucy," she said, "will you let me try what I can do with the poor +little fellow? I am sure it was not naughtiness made him cry."</p> + +<p>And almost before Mrs. Desart could reply, auntie was off to the nursery +in search of Carrots.</p> + +<p>He had left off crying, and was sitting quietly by the window, looking +out at his old friend the sea.</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking about, my poor old man?" said auntie, fondly.</p> + +<p>Carrots looked up at her. "I like you to call me that," he said. "I was +thinking about our hoops and what a long time four weeks is."</p> + +<p>"Has that to do with you having no sugar?" asked auntie.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="what" id="what"></a> +<img src="images/illus-167.jpg" width="400" height="621" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"What are you thinking about, my poor old man?" said +auntie, fondly.</span> +<p class="right"><i>To face page</i> 148.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +"Yes," said Carrots. "How <i>did</i> you guess? You're like a fairy, auntie." +But then his face grew troubled again. "I forgot," he went on, "it's a +secret. It's Floss's secret too. I would so like to tell you, for I +don't know what to do. I don't mind having no tea, but they all thought +I was naughty."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," said auntie. She hurried out of the room, but was back +in a minute.</p> + +<p>"I've asked Floss," she said, "and she gives you leave to tell me. So +now, perhaps, when I know all about it, I can tell you what to do."</p> + +<p>The telling did not take Carrots long; he was so glad to show auntie he +had not meant to be naughty. Auntie listened quite gravely, and when he +had finished she said she thought he was quite right not to take any +sugar.</p> + +<p>"But do you think Floss did?" said Carrots, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps having tea in the dining-room made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> her forget," said auntie. +"We'll ask her afterwards, and if she did forget, I'll tell you what she +must do. She must go without one day longer than you. Now come along +with me, and I'll make it all right, you'll see."</p> + +<p>When they got back to the dining-room auntie quietly lifted Carrots on +to his chair again, and said to his mamma with a smile, "It was all a +mistake; I thought it was; Carrots was not naughty at all, and he is +quite happy again now."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Desart smiled too, so Carrots really did feel happy again. But +he wondered what auntie would do about the tea, which was still standing +there as he had left it, and it would be wrong to "waste" it, thought +Carrots.</p> + +<p>Sybil was sitting on auntie's other side, and auntie glancing at her cup +saw that it was empty. So auntie quietly put Carrots' cup before Sybil +and gave Carrots the empty one.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +"Cecil," she said, "will you give Carrots some tea without any sugar?"</p> + +<p>Cecil saw that auntie had some reason for asking this, so she gave +Carrots the tea as auntie said, and Carrots drank it and ate his bread +and butter and a piece of cake, with great content.</p> + +<p>The only person who did not seem <i>quite</i> contented was Sybil.</p> + +<p>"Mother," she whispered, "I don't like having Carrots' tea. It's quite +cold."</p> + +<p>But as Carrots didn't hear it, it didn't much matter. For you see, Sybil +had had one cup of nice hot tea, so she was not so badly off after all.</p> + +<p>And, alas! the very next morning auntie and Sybil had to go away. And +the long-talked of and fancied-about visit was over.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="x" id="x"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +<br /> +<small>A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING.</small></h2> + +<div class="block3"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The way was long, the wind was cold."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">Soon</span> after auntie's visit summer really began to come. It was very +pleasant while it lasted, but this year it was a very short summer, and +the winter that came after was a very severe one, and made many people +ill. It did not make Carrots ill, nor Floss, nor any of the Desart +children, for they were all strong, but it was very bad for their +mother. As the winter went on, she seemed to get weaker and weaker; +there were very few days on which she could go out, and if the spring +had not been an early and very mild one, I hardly think her strength +would have lasted.</p> + +<p>But with the finer weather she seemed to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> better again. The children +were of course very glad, but still they had not felt frightened by her +illness. It had come on so slowly and gradually that they had got +accustomed to it, as children do. They thought it was just the cold +wintry weather that had made her ill, and that when the spring came she +would get better. And when the spring came and she <i>did</i> get better, +they were perfectly satisfied and happy.</p> + +<p>By the end of <i>this</i> summer Carrots was seven years old—no longer in +the least a baby, though he was not tall for his age. He could read, of +course, perfectly, and write a little. Now and then he wrote little +letters to Sybil in answer to hers, for she was very particular about +getting answers. She was only just beginning to learn to write, and +sometimes when she got tired of working away at real "A's" and "B's" and +"C's" in her letters, she would dash off into a lot of "scribble," which +she said was "children's writing," and "if Carrots didn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> know what it +meant he must be very stupid, as he was a child too."</p> + +<p>Carrots <i>didn't</i> know what it meant, but he never liked to say so, and I +dare say it did not much matter. But <i>his</i> letters to Sybil were quite +real. Any one could have understood them.</p> + +<p>Long ago Floss and he had bought their hoops. They were quite "old +friends" now. They had bought them at the toy-shop, just as they had +planned, and, curiously enough when their mamma and nurse counted up how +much was owing to them for the sugar, it came to <i>exactly</i> the price of +the hoops.</p> + +<p>But I must tell you what happened just about the time Carrots had his +seventh birthday. The summer was nearly over again and already the cold +winds, of which there were so many at Sandyshore, were beginning to be +felt. Floss noticed that her mother very seldom went out now, and even +in the house she generally had to wrap herself up in a shawl.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +"Mamma, I hope the cold weather isn't going to make you ill again?" +Floss said, one day when she and Carrots came in from a race on the +sands, all hot and rosy with running.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, dear," said her mother with a little sigh.</p> + +<p>"I wish you could run about like us. That would make you <i>so</i> hot," said +Carrots.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Desart smiled. Just then her glance happened to fall on Floss's +boots. "My dear child," she said, "those boots are really not fit to go +out with. There's a great hole at the side of one of them."</p> + +<p>"I know, mamma," said Floss, "but they're going to be mended. Nurse +thinks they'll do a good while longer, if they're mended. I hope they +will, for I know you always have so many new things to get when winter +begins to come—haven't you, mamma?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Desart sighed again.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +"I should have liked all your things to be so nice," she said, more as +if speaking to herself than to Floss, "but it can't be helped."</p> + +<p>Something in her tone caught Floss's attention.</p> + +<p>"Why, mamma?" she asked, "why did you want our things to be so nice?"</p> + +<p>"Because, dears, you may be going away from home," replied Mrs. Desart.</p> + +<p>Floss and Carrots stared with astonishment. "Going away from home," +Floss repeated, utterly unable to say more. Carrots could say nothing at +all, he could <i>only</i> stare.</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued Mrs. Desart, "I had meant to tell you about it before, +but I have kept putting it off—" she stopped and seemed to hesitate.</p> + +<p>"Why, mamma?" said Floss again. "Don't you like us to go? Are you coming +with us, mamma?"</p> + +<p>"Are we going to auntie's?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>His asking this seemed to please his mother.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +"You would like to go to auntie's, wouldn't you, Carrots?" she said.</p> + +<p>Carrots stroked his mother's shawl up and down two or three times before +he answered.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to go if you would come too," he said at last, "but I think I +would rather stay at home, thank you, if you can't come."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Desart's eyes filled with tears. "Poor little Carrots!" she said, +softly smoothing his curls with her hand. "But if it would please me for +Floss and you to go without me?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I'll go if you want me to go, mamma," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"I must explain a little," said Mrs. Desart, and then she went on to +tell the children how it was. The doctor had said she must not risk +another winter at Sandyshore, and it had been arranged for her to go to +a warmer climate. Cecil and Louise were to go with her; Captain Desart<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +would be with them as much as he possibly could, and Maurice was to live +at school. And what concerned the two little ones almost more than +anything, <i>nurse</i> was to go too! "I must have some one kind and sensible +with me, in case, in case—" and again Mrs. Desart hesitated.</p> + +<p>"In case you were very tired with travelling, or if you were to get a +bad cold again; somebody who could make nice white wine whey and things +like that," said Floss, who was of a practical turn of mind, "oh yes, +mamma, I quite understand."</p> + +<p>"Though nurse is getting old, she has been so much accustomed to +travelling, too," said Mrs. Desart, "and we are going a long way—to +Algeria; Floss, do you know where that is?"</p> + +<p>"Over the sea!" said Floss, "I wish we might come too, mamma, Carrots +and I," she exclaimed. "You will be <i>so</i> far away."</p> + +<p>"But you will be with auntie, and you know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> how kind auntie is," said +her mother, forcing herself to speak cheerfully. "And it is such a +pretty place where auntie lives."</p> + +<p>"Is the sea there?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"No, but the hills are," answered Mrs. Desart with a smile. "I am quite +sure you will like it." And she went on to tell them so much about +auntie's pretty home that for a little they almost forgot everything but +the pleasant part of the change that was to come so soon.</p> + +<p>And it did come very soon. It seemed but a few days from the afternoon +they had first heard about it all, when Floss and Carrots found +themselves early one morning at the little railway station with their +father, waiting for the train.</p> + +<p>Captain Desart was to travel with them for the first hour, to take them +to the "junction" where they were to change and get into a train which +would take them straight to Whitefriars, near which was auntie's house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +You will laugh, children, I dare say, and think Floss and Carrots very +countrified and ignorant when I tell you that they had never been a long +railway journey before. Never, that is to say, that they could +<i>remember</i>—for their parents had come to Sandyshore when Floss was a +baby, and Carrots, as you know, had been born there.</p> + +<p>So you can hardly fancy what a wonderful event this journey was to them.</p> + +<p>Their little hearts were very full at first after parting with their +mother, and sisters, and nurse, and all that made the Cove House home to +them.</p> + +<p>And their mamma had kissed them so <i>many</i> times, as if she could not +really say good-bye, though she was not generally a very petting or +kissing mamma, but rather quiet and grave.</p> + +<p>And nurse had the tears in her eyes, and Louise had them pouring down +her face, and Cecil had <i>her</i> face squeezed up in a sort of way that +Floss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> knew meant she was determined she would not cry. Floss felt +troubled in a way she could not understand, and I think Carrots did too. +They had a feeling that the bigger people knew of more reason for sorrow +than had been told to them, and yet they could not imagine what it could +be. And after all, to <i>them</i> the parting for even four or five months +was almost as great a trouble as they could understand! only they were +going to "auntie's!"</p> + +<p>"And we will try to be so good, dear mamma," said Floss, bravely choking +down her tears. "We will try to get on with our lessons, too, and write +you nice letters. And—and—" here a sob or two <i>would</i> make its way, "I +can't help crying a little; but I'm sure we shall be very happy, won't +we Carrots?"</p> + +<p>"If mamma wants us to be happy, we'll <i>try</i>, won't we Floss?" said +Carrots. He wiped the tears on his mother's cheeks with his own little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +pocket handkerchief and looked up in her face piteously. "Please don't +cry, poor mamma," he said; "we <i>will</i> be good and happy."</p> + +<p>Then their father came in and hurried them off, and the farewells were +over—that part of them, at least, for the saying goodbye to Captain +Desart at the junction was rather hard too.</p> + +<p>And at last Floss and Carrots find themselves at the height of their +ambition—alone in a railway carriage travelling to auntie's! But they +do not seem so delighted as they used to fancy they would; they do not +jump about and laugh and chatter in their overflowing pleasure—they sit +quite still, side by side, holding each other's hands and with little +quiet grave faces.</p> + +<p>"Things never come the same as people fancy," said Floss at last. "We +never thought we should go to auntie's because poor mamma was ill, did +we Carrots?"</p> + +<p>"No, we never did," said Carrots. "But mamma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> will soon get better, +won't she, Floss, at that nice warm place?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of course she will," said Floss. "But it's a long way away +Carrots, and I never thought going to auntie's would be like this."</p> + +<p>"No," agreed Carrots again, "we never did."</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry to leave them all, aren't you, Carrots?" said Floss, her +voice trembling a little.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Carrots; "and Floss, I'm very sorry, too, to leave the sea. +I never left the sea before, you know."</p> + +<p>"But the <i>sea</i> won't miss you," said Floss, "and poor mamma and nursie +and all of them <i>will</i> miss us. That's what I keep thinking of."</p> + +<p>"When should we eat our dinner, Floss?" said Carrots, with an instinct +that it would be as well to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"Not just yet. When we've gone about half way would do; and papa said +that great big place, Millingham, would be about half way."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +"But if there were any other people to get into the carriage?" said +Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Well, it wouldn't matter," said Floss. "People must eat when they are +travelling."</p> + +<p>"But wouldn't we have to ask them to have some too?" suggested Carrots.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Floss; "I never thought of that. Perhaps it <i>would</i> +be polite. But there are only eight sandwiches, Carrots; eight +sandwiches and four sponge cakes and a packet of Albert biscuits. I hope +a great many people won't get in."</p> + +<p>No one got in at the next station. Only the guard put his head in at the +door, as Captain Desart had asked him to do, to see how the little pair +were getting on. Carrots had thoughts of offering <i>him</i> a sandwich, but +he disappeared before there was time to do so, which Floss thought very +fortunate when she heard of Carrots' intention. "For you see," she said, +"if we began offering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> them to him, we would have to do it at every +station, and if there are eight stations before Whitefriars, all our +sandwiches would be gone."</p> + +<p>"He might have a biscuit for a change," said Carrots, submissive, but +scarcely convinced. "He is a nice man, Floss—he calls us 'Well, sir,' +and 'Miss.' Do you think papa told him to say 'Well, sir,' and 'Miss?'"</p> + +<p>But before Floss had time to answer they had stopped again, and this +time some one did get into their carriage. The new-comer was a small, +neat, oldish lady. She looked rather grim at first, but after a while +she grew decidedly friendly, and no wonder; for at Millingham Floss and +Carrots unpacked their little basket of provisions, and I don't think +the grimmest of maiden ladies could have remained grim after the +politeness with which the children treated her.</p> + +<p>They selected the nicest looking sandwich, putting it on an Albert +biscuit by way of a plate, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> then, at a sign from Floss, Carrots +clambered down from his seat and gravely offered it to the lady.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry there's no mustard, if you like mustard," said Floss; "but +Carrots and I don't like it, and—and—I suppose nurse didn't think of +anyone else."</p> + +<p>The oldish lady looked at the children for a moment before she replied.</p> + +<p>"I am very much obliged to you," she said at last, "but I think I won't +take a sandwich, as I had luncheon before I left home. But if you will +allow me I will have a biscuit. I am very fond of biscuits."</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad," said Floss, hospitably. "Now, Carrots," she said in a +lower voice, "you eat two sandwiches and I'll eat two, and we'll each +have one sponge cake. And that'll do for dinner. We'll eat the rest in +about an hour and pretend we're having tea early."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +The lady asked them a good many questions after this, and told them they +were such well-behaved children, she would not mind travelling all the +way to Whitefriars with them. Floss blushed a little at this; it made +her feel shy to be praised to her face, but still no doubt the lady +meant it kindly, and they were rather sorry when she left them, some +stations before they got to Whitefriars. Their old friend the guard left +them here, too, but he popped his head in for the last time to say that +he was going to speak for them to "him that was coming on now." And +Floss thanked him, though she had not the least idea what he meant.</p> + +<p>But there must have been some mistake about it, for the new guard never +came near them, and when, at the last stoppage before Whitefriars, +another man threw the door open and demanded "tickets," Floss felt too +startled by his rough manner to ask him what they were longing to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> know, +how far they still had to go. But he took away the tickets. "So we can't +have very far to go," said Floss. "Papa said they would take away the +tickets a little before we got to Whitefriars."</p> + +<p>"Will auntie be at the station?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm sure she will," said Floss. "Auntie and Sybil too, perhaps. +Carrots, I do believe we're there; the train's stopping."</p> + +<p>And in another minute they found themselves in a nice clean-looking +station with several people standing about on the platform, evidently +waiting for the train.</p> + +<p>The children looked out eagerly. There were two or three ladies, one +little girl, and a few other people—but no auntie, no Sybil!</p> + +<p>"P'raps this isn't the place," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Please, is this Whitefriars?" inquired Floss of a porter who just then +threw open the door.</p> + +<p>"Whitefriars, yes miss. Any luggage?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +"Oh yes," said Floss anxiously, "a great deal It's in one of the luggage +carriages, and it's marked with our name."</p> + +<p>The man smiled. "Will you come with me, missie, and show me which it is, +and I'll get it all right for you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you," said Floss, gathering together their cloaks and +baskets, and preparing to descend.</p> + +<p>"What a <i>kind</i> man," whispered Carrots; and when the porter lifted him +out of the carriage he took hold of his hand and ran along beside him as +fast as his little legs could keep up.</p> + +<p>Floss felt quite bewildered at first, when she saw the heaps and heaps +of luggage lying on the platform, all labelled "Whitefriars." It seemed +to her that everybody must have been travelling to Whitefriars to-day! +But by degrees it was claimed and melted away, and the kind porter, to +whom she had already pointed out their "great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> deal"—one portmanteau, +one bag, and a small tin hat-box—soon picked it up and stood waiting +for further orders.</p> + +<p>"Where am I to take it to, please miss?" he said. "Is there no one here +to meet you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so, I don't know what to do," said Floss, looking sadly +troubled again. In the excitement of finding the luggage she had +forgotten this new difficulty, but now it returned in full force.</p> + +<p>"Have you far to go?" said the man.</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Floss, "auntie's house is near here, I know."</p> + +<p>"Then perhaps little master and you had better walk on, and send for the +luggage afterwards?" suggested the man, never doubting from Floss's +manner that the children were accustomed to the place, and knew their +way.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose so," said Floss uncertainly.</p> + +<p>"Or shall I fetch you a fly from the <i>Blue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> Boar</i>?" said the man. "The +station flies has all drove off."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; I don't think I have enough money for that," said Floss, +feeling in her pocket for her purse, which she knew contained only her +father's parting gift of half-a-crown, a sixpence with a hole in, and +three pennies of Carrots'! "Your auntie says she will get you +<i>everything</i> you want, so I need not give you any money with you," their +mother had said. Floss had no idea what a fly from the <i>Blue Boar</i> would +cost, but it <i>sounded</i> very grand, and she hardly dared to risk it.</p> + +<p>"Well, I daresay you'll be safest to walk," said the porter, rather +afraid of getting himself into a scrape if he fetched the children a fly +without proper authority, and feeling uncertain, from their very plain +and rather "countrified" appearance, if their friends belonged to the +fly patronising class or not. "I'll keep the luggage safe till it's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +sent for—no fear," and with a friendly nod he marched off with their +possessions.</p> + +<p>Holding Carrots by the hand, Floss made her way out of the station. For +about a quarter of a mile the road ran straight before them and they +trudged along contentedly enough. But after awhile they came to a point +where two roads met, one leading to the little watering-place (for the +station was some way from the town), the other out into the country. And +for the first time it struck Floss that she did not know the way. She +looked about her in perplexity.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be far," she said; "mamma always said auntie lived <i>near</i> +Whitefriars. But I wish I knew which way to go."</p> + +<p>Carrots had no suggestion to offer. To make matters worse, it began to +rain—a cold, sleety, late October rain; the children had no umbrella, +and were already tired and hungry. I think it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> was much to their credit +that they did not lose heart altogether.</p> + +<p>Just as Floss was making up her mind to take the turn leading in the +distance to terraces of houses and gardens and other signs of +civilisation, there came, jogging along the road on a cart-horse, a +farmer's boy. Joyful sight! Floss plucked up heart.</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me, please," she called out, "which is the way to +Greenmays?"</p> + +<p>The farmer's boy turned his thumb in the direction of the country road. +"Yonder," he shouted, without stopping in his jog, "straight on past the +church, and down lane to left."</p> + +<p>"Is it far?" asked Floss, but the boy did not seem to hear.</p> + +<p>There was nothing for it but to go on with their trudge. The rain was +not heavy but very piercingly cold, and the daylight was beginning to +fade. Two or three hot tears at last forced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> their way down Floss's +cheeks, but she wiped them quickly away, before Carrots could see them. +Carrots said nothing, but Floss knew he was getting tired by the way he +kept lagging behind, every now and then giving a little run to get up to +Floss again.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't mind so much, Floss," he said at last, "if it would be home +when we get there, and if we were to find mamma and nurse and tea in our +own nursery waiting for us."</p> + +<p>This was altogether too much for Floss. For a moment or two she could +not speak, she was choked with sobs. "Oh, how I do wish poor mamma +hadn't got ill," she said at last.</p> + +<p>"Poor Flossie, dear Flossie," said Carrots, pulling down her face to +kiss in spite of the rain and the dark and the cold and everything. "I +didn't mean to make you cry. And auntie will be very kind when we get +there, won't she, Floss?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +"Oh yes," said Floss, trying to speak cheerfully, though in her secret +heart there was a little misgiving. It did not look very kind not to +have sent to meet them at the station, and even without this, Floss, +though she had not said so, had felt a little shy and frightened at the +thought of meeting auntie and the strange uncle, and even Sybil again. +It was nearly two years since the visit to Sandyshore, and two years is +a lifetime to a child—it seemed to Floss like going altogether among +strangers. She clasped her little brother's hand tighter as these +feelings passed through her mind. "It won't be so bad for Carrots," she +reflected; "any way he will have me."</p> + +<p>They seemed to have walked a very weary way when at last the church, of +which the farmer's boy had spoken, came in sight—very dimly in sight, +for the daylight was fast dying away. Floss would have passed the church +without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> noticing it, but the road divided in two just at this place, +and she was obliged to think which way to go. Then the boy's directions +came into her mind.</p> + +<p>"To the left past the church, didn't he say, Carrots?" she said.</p> + +<p>"'Down lane to left,' he said," replied Carrots.</p> + +<p>"Then it <i>must</i> be this way," said Floss, and on they trudged.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes they came to large gates, on one side of which stood a +pretty little house, but such a little house, hardly bigger than a +cottage.</p> + +<p>"Is that auntie's house?" said Carrots.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's too little to be auntie's house," said Floss. "I wish +it was. I would <i>much</i> rather auntie lived in a cottage."</p> + +<p>"Just like Mrs. White's," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>Floss could not help laughing at him; it had left off raining and her +spirits were rising a little.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +"Look Carrots," she said, "there is a light in the cottage window. We'd +better knock at the door and ask if it is auntie's house. It's getting +rather like a fairy story, isn't it Carrots? Fancy if somebody calls out +'Pull the string and the latch will open.'"</p> + +<p>"But that would be the wolf, Floss," said Carrots, pressing closer to +his sister.</p> + +<p>It was no wolf, but a nice, tidy-looking woman with a white cap and a +baby in her arms who opened the door, and stood staring at the two +little wayfarers in bewilderment. Floss grew afraid that she was angry.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry—I mean I beg your pardon," she began. "I didn't know +this was your house. We thought perhaps it was auntie's. Can you tell +me, please, where Greenmays is?"</p> + +<p>"This <i>is</i> Greenmays," said the woman. Floss stared: the door opened +right into the kitchen, it couldn't be auntie's house.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +"This is the lodge," continued the woman. "If it's someone at the big +house you're wanting, you must just go straight up the drive. I'd show +you the way," she went on, "but my husband's up at the stables and it's +too cold for baby. You seem wet and tired, you do—have you come far?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Floss, wearily, "<i>very</i> far. We thought auntie would meet us +at the station, but there wasn't anybody."</p> + +<p>"They must be kin to the housekeeper, surely," thought the woman. And +yet something indescribable in Floss's manner, and in the clear, +well-bred tones of her small, childish voice, prevented her asking if +this was so. "I wish I could go with you to the house," she repeated, +curiosity and kindliness alike prompting her, "but," she added, looking +doubtfully at the sleeping child in her arms, "I'm afeared for baby."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it doesn't matter, thank you," said Floss,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> "we can find the way, I +daresay. Good evening," and taking Carrots by the hand, she turned to +go.</p> + +<p>"Good evening," said little Carrots also.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, and I hope you'll find your auntie in," said the woman. +And for a few minutes she stood at the door straining her eyes after the +two forlorn little figures till she could distinguish them no longer in +the darkness of the trees bordering the avenue. "Who can they be?" she +said to herself. "Such a pretty spoken, old-fashioned little pair I +never did see!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="xi" id="xi"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +<br /> +<small>HAPPY AND SAD.</small></h2> + +<div class="block3"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="io">"'Tis gone—and in a merry fit<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They run upstairs in gamesome race.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr class="hr2" /> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A moment's heaviness they feel,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A sadness at the heart."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>The Mother's Return</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="noi"><span class="smcap">It</span> was very dark in the drive and Carrots crept close to Floss. But +Floss felt far less afraid of the dark than of the light! when at last +the house came in view and the brightly lit up windows shone out into +the gloom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a big house," said Floss. "Oh Carrots, how I do wish that +little cottage had been auntie's house, even though the door did open +right into the kitchen. Don't you Carrots?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +"I don't know," replied Carrots, "auntie will be very kind to us, won't +she, Floss?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said Floss, "but supposing she is having a party to-night, +Carrots?"</p> + +<p>"Well, we could have tea in the nursery, and go to bed," said Carrots +philosophically. "Oh Floss, <i>wouldn't</i> you like some nice hot tea and +bread and butter?"</p> + +<p>"Poor Carrots," said Floss. And her anxiety to see her little brother in +comfort again gave her courage to ring the bell as loudly as she could.</p> + +<p>A manservant opened the door. Very tall and formidable he looked to the +two children, whose eyes were dazzled by the sudden light, after their +long walk in the dusk.</p> + +<p>"If you please," said Floss, "is auntie at home?"</p> + +<p>The man stared. "<i>What</i> did you say?" he inquired. "Is it a message from +some one?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Floss, "it's just that we've come,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> Carrots and I—will +you please tell auntie? We've walked all the way from the station, +because there was no one to meet us."</p> + +<p>The man still stared. He had heard something about a young lady and +gentleman, his mistress's nephew and niece, being expected on a visit, +but his ideas were rather slow. He could not all at once take in that +the dilapidated little couple before him could possibly be the looked +for guests.</p> + +<p>But just then another person came upon the scene. A little figure with +bright dark eyes and flying hair came dancing into the hall.</p> + +<p>"Who's there, Fletcher?" she said. "Is it the post?"</p> + +<p>"No miss," said Fletcher, rather glad of some one to consult in his +perplexity. "I don't know who it is—that's to say, it's a little boy +and girl who say as they've come from the station, but I can't justly +make out who it is they want."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +"How funny," said Sybil, coming forward and peering out from under +Fletcher's arm, "perhaps they'll tell <i>me</i> what they want. Who are you, +little girl? Is it my mother you want? Will you give me your message?"</p> + +<p>She looked more like a little princess than ever. She was dressed to go +down to the drawing-room before dinner—all white embroidery and lace +and rose-coloured ribbons. Floss and Carrots looked at her with a sort +of dazzled admiration, mingled with shy bewilderment. It all seemed more +of a mistake than ever—Sybil was evidently not expecting them—if only +the railway station had not been so dreadfully far away, Floss felt as +if she would have liked to take Carrots by the hand and go away back +again, all the long weary way to Sandyshore!</p> + +<p>But <i>Carrots'</i> faith in auntie and Sybil was unshaken—and his childlike +confidence less susceptible of chill. Partly from mortification, partly +to hide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> that she was crying, Floss stood perfectly silent, but Carrots +pressed forward.</p> + +<p>"It is Flossie and me, Sybil—don't you remember us? We've walked <i>such</i> +a long way, and there was nobody to meet us at the station, and we are +<i>so</i> cold and so hungry!"</p> + +<p>Sybil gave a sort of leap into the air. "Floss and Carrots!" she cried, +"oh mother, mother, come quick, here are Floss and Carrots!"</p> + +<p>She seemed to fly across the hall in one second, and darting down a +passage disappeared, crying out all the way, "Flossie and Carrots—oh +mother, mother, come."</p> + +<p>And before the children had time to consider what they had best do, and +<i>long</i> before the very deliberate Mr. Fletcher had collected his wits +sufficiently to decide upon inviting them to come in, Sybil was back +again, closely followed by her mother, whom she had dragged out of the +drawing-room without any other explanation than her cry of "Floss and +Carrots, oh mother, Flossie and Carrots."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="it" id="it"></a> +<img src="images/illus-205.jpg" width="400" height="625" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"It is Flossie and me, Sybil—don't you remember us?"</span> +<p class="right"><i>To face page</i> 184.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +And when Floss saw auntie running to them, with her kind face all +eagerness and anxiety, the shyness and the disappointment and the +mortification all seemed suddenly to melt away. She rushed into the hall +and threw herself sobbing into auntie's arms. "Oh auntie," she cried, +"we are so tired—poor Carrots is I mean, and so hungry, and I thought +you had forgotten us, and we're so far away from mamma."</p> + +<p>Auntie understood all about it in a moment. She hugged Floss tight, and +only let go of her for an instant to get hold of Carrots and hug him +tight too. And then, when she saw the two tired little white faces, and +felt how wet they were, and saw the tears on Floss's cheeks, she sat +down on the hall floor, still clasping them tight, and actually cried +too.</p> + +<p>"My two poor dear little babes in the wood,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> she exclaimed. "What a +dreadful mistake! What a cruel auntie you must have thought me!"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know if you wanted us—I thought perhaps you had forgotten +about us coming," whispered Floss.</p> + +<p>"No wonder," said auntie; "but Flossie, darling, I haven't got any +letter to say what day you were coming? That was why we were not at the +station. Sybil and I had been making such delightful plans about how we +should meet you at the station—do you think your father and mother +could have forgotten to write to tell me the day?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Floss, "I know papa wrote to tell you—he wrote the day +before yesterday, for I heard him tell mamma so. And this morning when +the post came, just as we were leaving, he wondered a little that there +was no letter from you, but he said perhaps you hadn't thought it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> worth +while to write, as you had said any day this week would do for us to +come."</p> + +<p>"Of course I would have written," said auntie; "but what can have become +of the letter?"</p> + +<p>It had evidently gone astray somehow, and that very evening the mystery +was explained, for the postman brought it—a very travel-worn letter +indeed, with two or three scrawls across it in red ink—"Missent to +Whitehurst," "Try Whitefield," etc., etc.</p> + +<p>"Whenever a letter does go wrong, which certainly is not very often, it +is sure to be one of consequence," said auntie. But long before the +letter came Floss and Carrots had forgotten their troubles—at least if +they hadn't it was not auntie's fault, for I can't tell you how kind she +was and what a fuss she made about them. She took them up to Sybil's +nice beautiful warm nursery and all their wet things were taken off, and +Floss was wrapped up in a dressing-gown of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> auntie's and Carrots in one +of Sybil's, and then they had the most <i>lovely</i> tea you can imagine.</p> + +<p>Sybil's father was away that night and was not coming back till the next +day, and auntie was to have dinner alone, with Sybil beside her, you may +be sure, to "keep her company," and help her to get through dinner by +opening her little mouth for "tastes" every now and then. But auntie had +to manage alone, after all, for of course Sybil would not leave Floss +and Carrots, and auntie sent up the very nicest things from the +dining-table for the children to eat with their tea, and Sybil did get +some "tastes," I can assure you.</p> + +<p>And they laughed at each other in the dressing-gowns, and Floss quite +forgot that she had expected to feel shy and strange. Only when auntie +came up to the nursery again after dinner and made Floss tell her all +about the long walk in the cold and the dark, and about the "kind +porter,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> and the oldish-looking lady, and, further back still, about +the leaving home in the morning and how poor mamma kissed them "so many, +many times"—Floss could not help crying again a little, nor could +auntie either. And though Carrots and Sybil did not cry, their little +faces looked very solemn and as if they almost thought they <i>should</i> +cry, as they sat side by side on the rug in front of the high nursery +guard, Carrots in the funny red-flannel dressing-gown which made him +look <i>so</i> "old fashioned," and Sybil in her white embroidery and rose +ribbons, crumpling them all up "anyhow" in a way which really went to +Floss's heart, though auntie did not seem to mind.</p> + +<p>Then came bed-time. Such a nice bed-time, for auntie had prepared for +them two dear little rooms, with a door between, that they should not +feel far away from each other. And though it was the very first time in +Carrots' life that he had gone to bed without kind old nurse to tuck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +him up, he did not feel unhappy, for Floss reminded him what a good +thing it was that their mother had nurse with her now she was ill, and +besides, Sybil's French maid Denise was <i>very</i> kind and merry, and not +at all "stuck up" or grand.</p> + +<p>And the waking the next morning!</p> + +<p>Who does not know those first wakings in a strange place! Sometimes so +pleasant, sometimes <i>so</i> sad, but never, I think, without a strange +interestingness of their own. This waking was pleasant, though so +strange. The sun was shining for one thing—a great thing, I think I +should call it, and the children felt it to be so.</p> + +<p>They woke about the same time and called out to each other, and then +Floss got out of bed and went to see how Carrots was looking, after all +his adventures.</p> + +<p>"You haven't caught cold I hope, Carrots," she said in a motherly tone.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +"Oh no. I'm <i>quite</i> well," replied Carrots, "I haven't even a cold in my +nose. And isn't it a nice morning, Floss, and isn't this a <i>lovely</i> +room?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Floss, "and so is mine, Carrots."</p> + +<p>"And auntie <i>is</i> kind, isn't she, Floss?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>very,</i>" said Floss.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it nice to see the sun?" said Carrots. "Floss, I can't understand +how it can always be the same sun, however far we go."</p> + +<p>"But don't you remember what I showed you," said Floss, "about the world +being like a little ball, always going round and round a great light, so +<i>of course</i> the great light must always be the same?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Carrots dreamily, "but still it seems funny. Will mamma see +the sun at that nice warm place over the sea?"</p> + +<p>"Why of course," said Floss, "it's the sun that makes that place nice +and warm."</p> + +<p>"<i>Is</i> it?" said Carrots. "Is that place nearer the sun than Sandyshore +is, Floss?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +"No, not exactly. At least it is in a sort of a way—the sunshine falls +straighter on it, but I couldn't explain without a globe and a lot of +fuss," said Floss. "Never mind just now, Carrots—perhaps auntie can +show you."</p> + +<p>"But Floss," persisted Carrots, "I do want to know one thing. Shall we +see the sun in heaven?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Floss decidedly, "<i>certainly</i> not. It says in the Bible there +will be no sun or moon in heaven."</p> + +<p>"Then I don't think I shall like it at all," said Carrots, "for there +won't be any sea there either. I can't think <i>how</i> it can be a nice +place."</p> + +<p>"But Carrots, dear," said Floss in some distress, "you mustn't think of +heaven that way. It isn't like that. Heaven isn't like a place exactly, +mamma says. It is just being <i>quite</i> good."</p> + +<p>"Being <i>quite</i> good," repeated Carrots thoughtfully. "I wish I could be +quite good, Floss, I wish everybody could, don't you?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +"Yes," said Floss. "But really you must get up, Carrots dear; that will +be good for just now. Being good always comes in little bits like that."</p> + +<p>"But in heaven, the being good will be all in one great big piece, +that's how it will be, isn't it?" said Carrots, as he got out of bed and +began hunting for his slippers.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell you half the history of that first day at Greenmays, or of +many others that followed. They were very happy days, and they were full +of so many new pleasures and interests for Carrots and Floss that I +should really have to write another book to tell you all about them. +Everybody was kind to the children, and everything that could be thought +of to make them feel "at home" was done. And Greenmays was such a pretty +place—Carrots could hardly miss his dear old sea, once he had learnt to +make friends with the hills. At first he could do nothing but gaze at +them in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think hills were so big, or that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> would have so many +faces," he said to Floss and Sybil the first morning when they were out +in the garden together.</p> + +<p>Sybil burst out laughing. "Oh you funny Carrots!" she said; "you're just +like a boy in a fairy story—you've got such queer fancies."</p> + +<p>"But they're <i>not</i> fancies, Sybil," said Carrots, gravely, turning his +great brown eyes on his cousin. "The hills <i>have</i> got lots of different +faces: that one up there, the one with the round knobby top, has looked +<i>quite</i> different several times this morning. First it looked smiley and +smooth, and then it got all cross and wrinkly, and <i>now</i> it looks as if +it was going to sleep."</p> + +<p>Sybil stared up at the hill he was pointing to. "I see what you mean," +she said; "but it's only the shadows of the clouds."</p> + +<p>"That's pretty," said Carrots: "who told you that, Sybil? I never +thought of clouds having shadows."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +"Nobody told me," said Sybil; "I finded it out my own self. I find out +lots of things," she continued, importantly. "I dare say it's because of +my name—papa says my name means I <i>should</i> find out things, like a sort +of a fairy, you know."</p> + +<p>"Does it?" said Carrots, in a rather awe-struck tone. "I should like +that. When you were little, Sybil," he continued, "were you ever +frightened of shadows? <i>I</i> was."</p> + +<p>"No," said Sybil, "I only thought they were funny. And once papa told me +a story of a shadow that ran away from its master. It went across the +street, at night, you know, when the lamps were lighted: there were +houses opposite, you see, and the shadow went into such a beautiful +house, and wouldn't come back again!"</p> + +<p>"And what after that?" said both Floss and Carrots in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't tell it you all," said Sybil; "you must ask papa."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +"Does he often tell you stories?" asked Floss.</p> + +<p>"Bits," said Sybil; "he doesn't tell them all through, like mother. But +he's very nice about answering things I ask him. He doesn't say 'you +couldn't understand,' or 'you'll know when you're older,' that <i>horrid</i> +way."</p> + +<p>"He must be nice," said Floss, who had secretly been trembling a little +at the thought of the strange uncle.</p> + +<p>And he did turn out <i>very</i> nice. He was older than Floss had expected; a +good deal older than auntie, whom he sometimes spoke to as if she were +quite a little girl, in a way which amused the children very much. At +first he seemed very quiet and grave, but after a while Floss found out +that in his own way he was very fond of fun, and she confided to auntie +that she thought he was the funniest person she had ever seen. I don't +know if auntie told him this, or if he took it as a compliment, but +certainly he could not have been offended, for every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> day, as they +learnt to know him better, the children found him kinder and kinder.</p> + +<p>So they were very happy at Greenmays, and no doubt would have gone on +being so but for one thing. There came bad news of their mother.</p> + +<p>This was how they heard it. Every week at least, for several weeks, +Floss or Carrots, and sometimes both, got a letter from their mother or +from Cecil and Louise; and at first these letters were so cheerful, that +even the little bit of anxiety which the children had hardly known was +in their hearts melted away.</p> + +<p>"What a <i>good</i> thing mamma went to that nice warm place, isn't it, +auntie?" Carrots used to say after the arrival of each letter, and +auntie most heartily agreed with the happy little fellow. But at last, +just about Christmas-time, when the thin foreign-looking letter, that +the children had learnt to know so well, made its appearance one morning +on the breakfast-table, it proved to be for auntie—<i>that</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> of course, +they did not object, to, had there been one for them too, but there was +not!</p> + +<p>"Auntie dear, there is no letter for us," said Floss, when auntie came +into the room. "Will you please open yours quick, and see if there is +one inside it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think there is," said auntie; "it doesn't feel like it."</p> + +<p>However, she opened the letter at once. No, there was no enclosure; and +Floss, who was watching her face, saw that it grew troubled as she ran +her eyes down the page.</p> + +<p>"My letter is from your father. I cannot read it properly till after +breakfast, for uncle is waiting for me to pour out his coffee. Run off +now, dears, and I'll come to the nursery and tell you all about it after +breakfast," she said, trying to look and speak just the same as usual.</p> + +<p>But Floss saw that she was <i>trying</i>; she did not persist, however, but +took Carrots by the hand, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> went off obediently without speaking, +only giving auntie one wistful look as she turned away.</p> + +<p>"What's wrong, Florence?" said Sybil's father, as the door closed after +the children.</p> + +<p>"It is about Lucy," said auntie; "she is much worse; <i>very</i> ill indeed. +She has caught cold somehow, and Frank seems almost to have lost hope +already."</p> + +<p>Two or three tears rolled down auntie's face as she spoke. For a minute +or two Sybil's father said nothing.</p> + +<p>"How about telling the children?" he asked at last.</p> + +<p>"That's just it," replied auntie. "Frank leaves it to me to tell them or +not, as I think best. He would not let Cecil or Louise write, as he +thought if it had to be told I had better do so as gently as I could, by +word of mouth. But they <i>must</i> be told—they are such quick children, I +believe Floss suspects it already. And if—and if the next news<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> should +be <i>worse</i>," continued auntie with a little sob, "I would never forgive +myself for not having prepared them, and they would be full of +self-reproach for having been happy and merry as usual. Floss would say +she should have known it by instinct."</p> + +<p>"Would they feel it so much?—could they realise it? They are so young," +said Sybil's father.</p> + +<p>Auntie shook her head. "Not too young to feel it terribly," she said. +"It is much better to tell them. I could not hide the sorrow in my face +from those two honest pairs of eyes, for one thing."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know best," said her husband.</p> + +<p>A sad telling it was, and the way in which the children took it touched +auntie's loving heart to the quick. They were so quiet and "pitiful," as +little Sybil said. Floss's face grew white, for, with a child's hasty +rush at conclusions, she fancied at first that auntie was paving the way +for the worst news of all.</p> + +<p>"Is mamma <i>dead</i>?" she whispered, and auntie's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> "Oh no, no, darling. Not +so bad as that," seemed to give her a sort of crumb of hope, even before +she had heard all.</p> + +<p>And Carrots stood beside auntie's knee, clasping his little mother +Floss's hand tight, and looking up in auntie's face with those wonderful +eyes of his, which auntie had said truly one <i>could</i> not deceive; and +when he had been told all there was to tell, he just said softly, "Oh +<i>poor</i> mamma! Auntie, she kissened us so <i>many</i> times!"</p> + +<p>And then, which auntie was on the whole glad of, the three children sat +down on the rug together and cried; Sybil, in her sympathy, as heartily +as the others, while she kept kissing and petting them, and calling them +by every endearing name she could think of.</p> + +<p>"When will there be another letter, auntie?" said Floss.</p> + +<p>"The day after to-morrow," said auntie. "Your father will write by every +mail."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +In her own heart auntie had not much hope. From what Captain Desart +said, the anxiety was not likely to last long. The illness had taken a +different form from Mrs. Desart's other attacks. "She must be better or +worse in a day or two," he wrote, and auntie's heart sorely misgave her +as to which it would be.</p> + +<p>The sorrowful day seemed very long to the children. They did their +lessons as usual, for auntie told them it would be much better to do so.</p> + +<p>"Would it please mamma?" said Carrots; and when auntie said "Yes, she +was quite sure it would," he got his books at once, and "tried" even +harder than usual.</p> + +<p>But after lessons they had no heart to play, and there was no "must" +about that. By bed-time they all looked worn out with crying and the +sort of strange excitement there is about great sorrows—above all to +children—which is more exhausting than almost anything.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +"This will never do," thought auntie. "Hugh" (that was the name of +Sybil's father) "will have reason to think I should have taken his +advice, and not told them, if they go on like this."</p> + +<p>"Sybil," she said, "Floss and Carrots will make themselves ill before +the next letter comes. What can we do for them?"</p> + +<p>Sybil shook her head despondently.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, mother dear," she said; "I've got out all my best things +to please them, but it's no good." She stood still for a minute, then +her face lightened up. "Mother," she said, "'aposing you were to read +aloud some of those stories you're going to get bounded up into a book +some day? They would like <i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>Floss hardly felt as if she could care to hear <i>any</i> stories, however +pretty. But she did not like to disappoint kind auntie by saying so, +especially when auntie told her she really wanted to know if she and +Carrots liked her stories, as it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> help her to judge if other +children would care for them when they were "bounded up into a book."</p> + +<p>So the next day auntie read them some, and they talked them over and got +quite interested in them. Fortunately, she did not read them all that +day, for the next day there was still more need of something to distract +the children's sorrowful thoughts, as the looked-for letter did not +come. Auntie would have liked to cheer the children by reminding them of +the old sayings that "No news is good news," and "It is ill news which +flies fast," but she dared not, for her own heart was very heavy with +anxiety. And she was very glad to see them interested in the rest of the +stories for the time.</p> + +<p>I cannot tell you these stories, but some day perhaps you may come +across the little book which they were made into. But there is one of +them which I should like to tell you, as it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> not very long, and in +the children's mind it was always associated with something that +happened just as auntie had finished reading it. For it was the last of +her little stories, and it was called—<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>—</p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="xii" id="xii"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +<br /> +<small>"THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS."</small></h2> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Like to a double cherry."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right"><i>Midsummer-Night's Dream.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="noi">'"<span class="smcap">Oh</span> mamma," cried I, from the window by which I was standing, to my +mother who was working by the fire, "<i>do</i> come here and look at these +two funny little trots."'</p> + +<p>[Auntie had only read this first sentence of her story when Sybil +interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Mother dear," she said, in her prim little way, "before you begin, do +tell us one thing. Does the story end sadly?"</p> + +<p>Auntie smiled. "You should have asked me before I <i>had</i> begun, Sybil," +she said. "But never mind now. I don't really think I can tell you if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +it ends sadly or not. It would be like telling you the end at the +beginning, and it would spoil the interest, if you understand what that +means."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Sybil, resignedly, "then I suppose I must wait. But I +<i>won't</i> like it if it ends badly, mother, and Floss won't, and Carrots +won't. Will you, Floss and Carrots?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think Floss and Carrots can say, till they've heard it," said +auntie. "Now, Sybil, you mustn't interrupt any more. Where was I? Oh +yes"]—'"<i>do</i> come and look at these two funny little trots."</p> + +<p>'My mother got up from her seat and came to the window. She could not +help smiling when she saw the little couple I pointed out to her.</p> + +<p>'"Aren't they a pair of fat darlings?" I said. "I wonder if they live in +our terrace?"</p> + +<p>'We knew very little of our neighbours, though we were not living in +London, for we had only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> just come to St. Austin's. We had come there to +spend the winter, as it was a mild and sheltered place, for I, then a +girl of sixteen, had been in delicate health for some time.' ["You +wouldn't believe it to see me now, would you?" said auntie, looking up +at the children with a smile on her pretty young-looking face, but it +was quite true, all the same.] 'I was my mother's only girl,' she went +on, turning to her manuscript again, 'and she was a widow, so you can +fancy what a pet I was. My big brothers were already all out in the +world, in the navy, or the army, or at college, and my mother and I +generally lived by ourselves in a country village much farther north +than St. Austin's, and it was quite an event to us to leave our own home +for several months and settle ourselves down in lodgings in a strange +place.</p> + +<p>'It seemed a very strange place to us, for we had not a single friend or +acquaintance in it, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> at home in our village we knew everybody, and +everybody knew us, from the clergyman down to farmer Grinthwait's +sheep-dog, and nothing happened without our knowing it. I suppose I was +naturally of rather a sociable turn. I knew my mother used sometimes in +fun to call me "a little gossip," and I really very much missed the +sight of the accustomed friendly faces. We had been two days at St. +Austin's, and I had spent most of those two days at the window, +declaring to my mother that I should not feel so "strange" if I got to +know some of our neighbours by sight, if nothing more.</p> + +<p>'But hitherto I had hardly succeeded even in this. There did not seem to +be any "neighbours" in the passers-by; they were just passers by who +never seemed to pass by again, and without anything particular to +distinguish them if they did. For St. Austin's was a busy little place, +and our house was on the South Esplanade, the favourite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> "promenade" for +the visitors, none of whom, gentlemen, ladies, or children had +particularly attracted me till the morning I first caught sight of my +funny little trots.</p> + +<p>'I do think they would have attracted any one—any one certainly that +loved children. I fancy I see them now, the two dears, coming slowly and +solemnly along, each with a hand of their nurse, pulling <i>well</i> back +from her, as if the effort to keep up, even with her deliberate rate of +walking, was almost too much for their fat little legs. <a name="dears" id="dears"></a>They looked +exactly the same size, and were alike in everything, from their +dresses—which this first day were brown holland, very easy about the +bodies, very short and bunchy about the skirts—to the two white woolly +lambs, clasped manfully by each in his or her disengaged hand. Whether +they were boys or girls I could not tell in the least, and to this day I +do not know.</p> + +<p>'"<i>Aren't</i> they darlings, mamma?" I said.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +'"They certainly are two funny little trots," she replied with a smile, +using my own expression.</p> + +<p>'Mamma went back to her knitting, but I stayed by the window, watching +my new friends. They passed slowly up the Esplanade, my eyes following +them till they were out of sight, and then I turned away regretfully.</p> + +<p>'"They are sure not to pass again," I said, "and they are so nice."</p> + +<p>'"If they live near here, very likely the Esplanade is their daily walk, +and they will be passing back again in a few minutes," said my mother, +entering into my fancy.</p> + +<p>'I took up her suggestion eagerly. She was right: in about a quarter of +an hour my trots appeared again, this time from the other direction, +and, as good luck would have it, just opposite our window, their nurse +happening to meet an acquaintance, they came to a halt!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +'"Mamma, mamma," I exclaimed, "here they are again!"</p> + +<p>'Mamma nodded her head and smiled without looking up. She was just then +counting the rows of her knitting, and was afraid of losing the number. +I pressed my face close to the window—if only the trots would look my +way!—I could hardly resist tapping on the pane.</p> + +<p>'Suddenly a bright thought struck me. I seized Gip, my little dog, who +was asleep on the hearth-rug and held him up to the window.</p> + +<p>'"T'ss, Gip; T'ss, cat. At her; at her," I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'Poor Gip had doubtless been having delightful dreams—it was very hard +on him to be wakened up so startlingly. He blinked his eyes and tried to +see the imaginary cat—no doubt he thought it was his own fault he did +not succeed, for he was the most humble-minded and unpresuming of little +dogs, and his faith in me was unbounded. He could not see a cat, but he +took it for granted that <i>I</i> did; so he set to work barking vigorously. +That was just what I wanted. The trots heard the noise and both turned +round; then they let go their nurse's hands and made a little journey +round her skirts till they met.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<a name="suddenly" id="suddenly"></a> +<img src="images/illus-235.jpg" width="400" height="628" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"Suddenly a bright thought struck me. I seized Gip, my +little dog, who was asleep on the hearthrug, and held him up to the +window."</span> +<p class="right"><i>To face page</i> 212</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +'"Dot," said one, "pretty doggie."</p> + +<p>'"Doll," said the other, both speaking at once, you understand, "pretty +doggie."</p> + +<p>'I don't mean to say that I <i>heard</i> what they said, I only <i>saw</i> it. But +afterwards, when I had heard their voices, I felt sure that was what +they had said, for they almost always spoke together.</p> + +<p>'Then they joined their disengaged hands (the outside hand of each still +clasping its woolly lamb), and there they stood, legs well apart, little +mouths and eyes wide open, staring with the greatest interest and +solemnity at Gip and me. At Gip, of course, far more than at me. Gip was +a dog, <i>I</i>, was only a girl!—quite a middle-aged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> person, no doubt, the +trots thought me, if they thought about me at all; perhaps they did a +little, as I was Gip's owner; for I was sixteen, and they could not have +been much more than three.</p> + +<p>'But all this time they were so solemn. I wanted to make them laugh. +There was a little table in the window—a bow window, <i>of course</i>, as it +was at the sea-side, and certain to catch winds from every quarter of +the heavens—upon which I mounted Gip, and set to work putting him +through his tricks. I made him perform "ready, present, <i>fire</i>," with a +leap to catch the bit of biscuit off his nose. I made him "beg," "lie +dead," like Mother Hubbard's immortal pet, and do everything a +well-educated dog could be expected to do. And, oh, how funny it was to +watch the trots! Evidently they had never seen anything of the kind +before; they stared at first as if they could hardly believe their eyes, +and then they smiled, and, <i>at last</i>, they laughed. How prettily they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +laughed—they looked more like two fat cherubs than ever.</p> + +<p>'But their laughing attracted their maid's attention. She too turned +round, and I was pleased to see that she had a pleasant pretty young +face. "I shouldn't have liked those dear trots to have a cross old +nurse," I said to myself, and the maid still further raised herself in +my good opinion by laughing and smiling too. In a minute or two when she +thought "that was enough for to-day," she stooped and whispered to the +trots. They immediately lifted their little hands, the right of one, the +left of the other—for <i>nothing</i>, you see, could have persuaded them to +let go of their precious lambs—to their rosy mouths and blew a kiss to +me, and I could <i>see</i> them say, "Zank zou, lady; zank zou, doggie."</p> + +<p>'You may be sure I kissed my hand to them in return, and off they +toddled, each with a hand of "Bessie," as I afterwards heard them call +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> maid, and hauling back manfully as before, which gave Bessie the +look of a very large steam-tug convoying two very little vessels.</p> + +<p>'I watched them till they were quite out of sight. Then I turned to my +mother.</p> + +<p>'"I have made two friends here any way, mamma," I said. "The trots are +sure to stop every time they pass. It will be something to watch for."</p> + +<p>'Mamma smiled. She was pleased to see <i>me</i> pleased and interested, for +she had been beginning to fear that the dulness and strangeness of our +new life would prevent St. Austin's doing me as much good as she had +hoped.</p> + +<p>'"To-morrow, dear," she said, "if it is fine, I hope you will be able to +go a little walk, and we'll look out for your little friends."</p> + +<p>'It was fine the next day, and we did go out, and we did meet the trots!</p> + +<p>'They caught sight of me (of Gip, rather, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> should perhaps say) and I +of them, just about the same moment. I saw them tug their nurse, and +when they got close up to me they stopped short. It was no use Bessie's +trying to get them on; there they stood resolutely, till the poor girl's +face grew red, and she looked quite ashamed. Gip, who I must say, had a +wonderful amount of tact, ran up to them with a friendly little bark. +Bessie let go the trots' hands and stooped to stroke him.</p> + +<p>'"He won't bite, miss, will he?" she said gently, looking up at me.</p> + +<p>'"Oh, dear, no," I said, and the trots, smiling with delight, +stooped—not that they had so very far to stoop—to stroke him too.</p> + +<p>'"Pretty doggie," said Doll.</p> + +<p>'"Pretty doggie," said Dot.</p> + +<p>'Then they held up their dear little mouths to kiss me. "Zank zou, +lady," they said, and each taking a hand of Bessie again, they proceeded +on their way.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +'After that day, not many passed without my seeing them, and talking to +them, and making Gip show off his tricks. Sometimes our meetings were at +the window, sometimes on the road; once or twice, when there came some +unusually fine mild days, mamma let me sit out on the shore, and I +taught the trots to dig a hole for Gip and bury him in the sand, all but +his bright eyes and funny black nose—that <i>was</i> a beautiful game! I +never found out exactly where my friends lived; it was in one of the +side streets leading on to the Esplanade, that was all I knew. I never +knew, as I said, if they were boys or girls, or perhaps one of each. +Mamma wanted one day to ask Bessie, but I wouldn't let her. They were +just my two little trots, that was all I wanted to know.</p> + +<p>'"It would spoil them to fancy them growing up into great boys or +girls," I said. "I want them to be always trots—nothing else."</p> + +<p>'And as Bessie called them simply Doll and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> Dot, without any "master" or +"miss," I was able to keep my fancy.</p> + +<p>'When the weather grew colder, the trots came out in a new +costume—sealskin coats, sealskin caps, and sealskin gloves—they were +just little balls of sealskin, and looked "trottier" than ever. About +this time they left off carrying their woolly lambs. I suspect the real +reason was that their extreme affection for the lambs had resulted in +these favoured animals growing more black than white, and that Bessie +judged them unfit for appearing in public, but if this <i>was</i> the case, +evidently Bessie had been obliged to resort to artifice to obtain their +owners' consent to the lambs being left at home. For, when I asked the +trots where the precious creatures were, they looked melancholy and +distressed and shook their heads.</p> + +<p>'"Too told!" said Doll, and Dot repeated, like a mournful echo, "too +told!"</p> + +<p>'"Of course," said I, "how stupid of me not to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> think of it! of course +it's far too cold for such very little lambs to be out."</p> + +<p>'Bessie looked gratefully at me. "We're going to buy some cakes for +tea," she said, with a smile, and sure enough in about half-an-hour the +trio reappeared again, and came to a standstill as usual, opposite our +window. And, instead of a lamb, each trot hugged a little parcel, neatly +done up in white paper. I opened the window to hear what they were +saying, they looked so excited.</p> + +<p>'"Takes for tea," they both called out at once, "takes for tea. Lady +have one. Dip have one."</p> + +<p>'And poor Bessie was obliged to open the parcels, and extract one "take" +from each and hand them up to me, before my little dears would be +satisfied.</p> + +<p>'Can you fancy that I really got to love the trots? I did not want to +know who they were, or what sort of a father and mother they had—they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +were well taken care of, that was evident, for somehow, knowing anything +more about them would have spoilt them for being my funny little trots.</p> + +<p>'But, for several weeks of the three months we spent at St. Austin's, +the sight of these happy little creatures was one of my greatest +pleasures, and a day without a glimpse of them would have seemed blank +and dull.</p> + +<p>'There came a time, however, when for many days I did not see my little +friends. The weather was bad just then, and mamma said she was sure they +had got colds, that would be all that was wrong with them, but somehow I +felt uneasy. I asked our doctor, when he called, if there was much +illness about, and he, fancying I was nervous on my own account, +replied, "Oh no, with the exception of two or three cases of croup, he +had no serious ailments among his patients: it was a very healthy +season."</p> + +<p>'I got frightened at the idea of croup, and cross-questioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> him to +discover if my trots were among the sufferers, but he shook his head. +All his little patients were mere infants; he did not even know the +trots by sight.</p> + +<p>'Then mamma suggested another very reasonable explanation of their +disappearance.</p> + +<p>'"They have probably left St. Austin's," she said. "Many people come +here for only the <i>very</i> worst of the winter, and that is about over +now."</p> + +<p>'But even this did not satisfy me. I was certain something was wrong +with Doll and Dot, and I wasted, I should be ashamed to say how many +hours gazing out of the window in hopes of catching sight of the +familiar little figures.</p> + +<p>'At last, one day, when I had almost left off hoping ever to see them +again, suddenly, <i>two</i> figures appeared on the Esplanade, a stone's +throw from our window.</p> + +<p>'Who were they? Could it be—yes, it must be <i>one</i> of the trots, led by, +not Bessie, no, this maid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> was a stranger. Where could Bessie be? And +oh, <i>where</i> was my other little trot? For, even at some yards' distance, +I saw something sadly different in the appearance of the one little +figure, slowly coming along in our direction. It was dressed—hat, coat, +gloves, socks and all—it was dressed in deep mourning.</p> + +<p>'I seized my hat and rushed out to meet them. Mamma thought I was going +out of my mind I believe. When I found myself in the open air, I tried +to control myself and look like the rest of the people walking quietly +along, though my heart was beating violently, and I felt as if I could +not speak without crying. But when I got up to the one little trot and +its attendant, the sight of her strange face composed me. She was so +different from Bessie—old and stiff and prim looking. I stooped to kiss +the child, Dot or Doll, I knew not which. "How are you, darling?" I +said. "And where is——" I stopped short.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +'The trot looked up in my face.</p> + +<p>'"Oh lady," it said, "Dot is all alone. Doll is 'done to 'Ebben," and +the great tears gathered in Dot's mournful eyes and rolled down Dot's +rosy cheeks.</p> + +<p>'"Hush, hush, my dear. You mustn't cry. You'll make yourself ill if you +cry any more," said the hard looking nurse.</p> + +<p>'A moment before, I had intended turning to her and asking for some +particulars of the baby's sad words, but now I felt I <i>could</i> not. She +was so stiff and unsympathising. I could not bear her to see me, a +stranger, crying about what I had heard. Besides, what good would it do? +Why should I hear any more? I shrank from doing so. The bare fact was +enough. I just bent down and kissed the solitary darling.</p> + +<p>'"Good-bye, my trot," I said. I could not say another word.</p> + +<p>'"Dood bye, don't ky," said Dot, stroking my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> cheek. "Doll won't turn +back, but Dot will do to 'Ebben too some day."</p> + +<p>'That was quite too much for me. I turned away and hurried back home as +fast as I could.</p> + +<p>'"Mamma," I exclaimed, rushing into our sitting-room, and throwing +myself down on the sofa, "It's just what I thought. I wish you would +come away from St. Austin's at once. I shall never, never like it +again."</p> + +<p>'"What <i>is</i> the matter, Florence?" said poor mamma, quite startled.</p> + +<p>'"It's about the trots," I said, now fairly sobbing, "I have just seen +one—in deep mourning, mamma,—and—and—the other one is <i>dead</i>."</p> + +<p>'"Poor little angel!" said mamma. And the tears came into her eyes too.</p> + +<p>'I did not see Dot again after that day. I fancy that was its last walk +before leaving St. Austin's for its regular home, wherever that was. And +a very short time after we ourselves left too.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p><hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>'I never forgot the trots. Of course the pleasure of going back to our +own dear home again, and seeing all our old friends, raised my spirits, +and softened the real grief I had felt. But whenever we spoke of St. +Austin's, or people asked me about it, and mentioned the esplanade or +the shore, or any of the places where I had seen the trots, the tears +<i>would</i> come into my eyes, as again I seemed to see before me the two +dear funny little figures. And whenever our plans for the following +winter were alluded to, I always said one thing: "Wherever you go, +mamma, don't go to St. Austin's."</p> + +<p>'My mother gave in to me. When did she not? How patient she was with me, +how sympathising, even in my fancies! And how unselfish—it was not till +long after we had left St. Austin's, that she told me what anxiety she +had gone through on hearing of my having kissed little Dot. For how +sadly probable it seemed that Doll had died of some infectious illness, +such as scarlet-fever, for instance, which I had never had!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +'"But <i>Dot</i> couldn't have been ill, mamma," I said. "Dot looked +perfectly well."</p> + +<p>'"Did he?" said my mother. Sometimes she called the trots "he" and +sometimes "she," in the funniest way! "I wonder what the other little +dear died of?"</p> + +<p>'"So do I," I replied. "Still, on the whole, I think I am just as well +pleased not to know."</p> + +<p>'Our uncertainty for the next winter ended in what was to me a +delightful decision. We determined to go to the South of France. I could +amuse you children by a description of our journey—journeys in those +days really were much more amusing than now; but I must hasten on to the +end of my story. We had fixed upon Pau as our head-quarters, and we +arrived there early in November. What a different thing from our +November at home! I could hardly believe it <i>was</i> November; it would +have seemed to me far less wonderful to have been told I had been asleep +for six months, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> <i>really</i> it was May, and not November at all, +than to have awakened as I did, that first morning after our arrival, +and to have seen out of the window the lovely sunshine and bright blue +sky, and summer-look of warmth, and comfort, and radiance!</p> + +<p>'We had gone to an hotel for a few days, intending to look out for a +little house, or "apartement" (which, children, does not mean the same +thing as our English lodgings by any means), at our leisure. Your +grandmother was not rich, and the coming so far cost a great deal. The +hotel we had been recommended to, was a very comfortable one, though not +one of the most fashionable, and the landlord was very civil, as some +friend who had stayed with him the year before had written about our +coming. He showed us our rooms himself, and hoped we should like them, +and then he turned back to say he trusted we should not be disturbed by +the voices of some children in the next "salon." He would not have +risked it, he said, had he been able to help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> it, but there were no +other rooms vacant, and the family with the children were leaving the +next day. Not that they were noisy children by any means; they were very +<i>chers petits</i>, but there <i>were</i> ladies, to whom the very name of +children in their vicinity was——here the landlord held up his hands +and made a grimace!</p> + +<p>'"Then they must be old maids!" I said, laughing, "which mamma and I are +not. We love children," at which Mr. Landlord bowed and smiled, and said +something complimentary about mademoiselle being so "aimable."</p> + +<p>'I listened for the children's voices that evening, and once or twice I +heard their clear merry tones. But as for any "disturbance," one might +as well have complained of a cuckoo in the distance, as of anything we +heard of our little neighbours. We did not see them; only once, as I was +running along the passage, I caught a glimpse at the other end of a +little pinafored figure led by a nurse, disappearing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> through a doorway. +I did not see its face; in fact the glimpse was of the hastiest. Yet +<i>something</i> about the wee figure, a certain round-about bunchiness, and +a sort of pulling back from the maid, as she went into the room, +recalled vaguely to my heart, rather than to my mind, two little +toddling creatures, that far away across the sea I had learnt to love +and look for. When I went into our room, there were tears in my eyes, +and when mamma asked me the reason, I told her that I had seen a child +that somehow had reminded me of my two little trots.</p> + +<p>'"Poor little trots," said mamma. "I wonder if the one that was left +still misses the other?"</p> + +<p>'But that was all we said about them.</p> + +<p>'The next morning I was in a fever to go out and see all that was to be +seen. I dragged poor mamma into all the churches, and half the shops, +and would have had her all through the castle too, but that she declared +she could do no more. So we came to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> a halt at the great "Place," and +sat down on a nice shady seat to watch the people. I, consoling myself +with the reflection, that as we were to be four months at Pau, there was +still a <i>little</i> time left for sight-seeing.</p> + +<p>'It was very amusing. There were people of all nations—<i>children</i> of +all nations, little French boys and girls, prettily but simply dressed, +some chatting merrily, some walking primly beside their white capped +bonnes; little Russians, looking rather grand, but not so grand as their +nurses in their rich costumes of bright scarlet and blue, embroidered in +gold; some very pert, shrill-voiced Americans, and a few unmistakable +English. We amused ourselves by guessing the nationality of all these +little people.</p> + +<p>'"<i>Those</i> are Italians or Spaniards, mamma, look what dark eyes they +have, and <i>those</i> are——" I suddenly stopped. "Oh, mamma!" I exclaimed, +and when she looked at me, she saw I had grown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> quite pale, and in +another moment, seeing to what I was pointing, she understood the +reason. There, right before us, coming slowly up the middle of the +Place, Bessie in the middle, each child with a hand of hers tugging back +manfully in the old way, each, yes, <i>really</i>, each under the other arm +hugging a woolly lamb, came the two funny little trots!</p> + +<p>'I felt at first as if I were dreaming. <i>Could</i> it be the trots? I sat +still in a half stupid way, staring, but Gip—I was forgetting to tell +you that <i>of course</i> Gip had come with us to Pau—Gip had far more +presence of mind than I. He did not stop to wonder <i>how</i> it could be the +trots, he was simply satisfied that it <i>was</i> the trots, and forwards he +darted, leaping, barking furiously, wagging his tail, giving every sort +of welcome in dog language, that he could think of.</p> + +<p>'"Dip, Dip; see Bessie, here is a doggie like Dip," said one trot.</p> + +<p>'"Dip, Dip, pretty Dip," said the other.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +'The sound of their voices seemed to bring back my common sense. They +<i>were</i> my own dear trots. "Dip, Dip" would have satisfied me, even if I +had not seen them. The trots never <i>could</i> manage the letter "G!" I flew +forwards, and kneeling down on the ground, little caring how I soiled my +nice new dress, or what the people on the Place thought of me, I +regularly hugged my two pets.</p> + +<p>'"Here is Dip's kind lady too," they both said at once, smiling and +happy, but not by any means particularly surprised to see me. I looked +up at Bessie at last, and held out my hand. She shook it heartily.</p> + +<p>'"I <i>am</i> pleased to see you again, miss, to be sure; who would have +thought it?" she said. "And they haven't forgot you, haven't Doll and +Dot. They are always speaking of Gip and you, miss."</p> + +<p>'"But, Bessie," I began, and then I hesitated. How could I tell her what +I had thought? "How was it you left St. Austin's so suddenly?"—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +trots were not in mourning now, they were prettily dressed in dark blue +sailor serge, as bunchy as ever.</p> + +<p>'Bessie thought for a minute.</p> + +<p>'"Let me see," she said, "oh yes, I remember! We did leave suddenly. My +mistress's father died, and she was sent for off to Edinburgh, and she +took Doll and me, and left Dot to keep her papa company. Master said +he'd be lost without one of them, and he couldn't get off to Edinburgh +for a fortnight after us. But we'll never try <i>that</i> again, miss. Dot +did nothing but cry for Doll, and Doll for Dot. Dot, so Martha the +housemaid said, was always saying, 'Doll's done to 'Ebben,' till it was +pitiful to hear, and Dot was just as bad in Edinburgh about Doll."</p> + +<p>'"But Dot <i>did</i> 'do to 'Ebben," said Doll, who as well as Dot was +listening to what Bessie was saying. "And then Doll 'tummed to 'Ebben +too," said Dot, "and then 'Ebben was nice."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +'I kissed the pets again, partly to prevent Bessie seeing the tears in +my eyes. I understood it all now, without asking any more, and Bessie +never knew what it was I <i>had</i> thought.</p> + +<p>'Only you can fancy how sorry I was to find the trots were leaving Pau +that very afternoon! They were the children whose dear little voices I +had heard through the wall, who the landlord had feared might disturb +us! They were going on to Italy for the winter.</p> + +<p>'"If only I had known last night who they were," I said to mamma +regretfully.</p> + +<p>'Mamma, however, was always wise. "Think rather," she said, "how very +glad you should be to know it this morning. And who can tell but what +some time or other you may see the trots again."</p> + +<p>'But I never did!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="xiii" id="xiii"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +<br /> +<small>GOOD ENDINGS.</small></h2> + +<div class="block2"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But I lost my happy childhood.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr class="hr2" /> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It slipped from me you shall know,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It was in the dewy alleys<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the land of long ago.<br /></span> +</div> +<hr class="hr2" /> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Not in sadness,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor reproach, these words I say,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God is good, and gives new gladness,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When the old He takes away.<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + + +<p class="noi">"<span class="smcap">You</span> never did? oh what a pity!" exclaimed Sybil. "You really never, +never did, mother?"</p> + +<p>Auntie looked rather "funny," as the children call it.</p> + +<p>"As <i>trots</i> I never saw them again," she said, "and at the time I wrote +out that story I had not seen them again at all."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +"But you've seen them since," cried all the three children at once, +"you've seen them since they've grown big. Oh auntie, oh mother, do tell +us."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't just now, truly I couldn't," said auntie, "it would lead me +into another story which isn't written yet. All that I know about 'the +two funny little trots' I have told you. Do you like it?"</p> + +<p>"Awfully," said Sybil.</p> + +<p>"<i>Very</i> much," said Floss.</p> + +<p>"It's lovely," said Carrots.</p> + +<p>Auntie smiled at the children. They looked so pleased and interested, it +was evident that for the time they had forgotten their sorrow and +anxiety. Suddenly, just as she was thinking sadly how soon it must +return to their minds, there came a loud ring at the bell. They all +started, they had been sitting so quietly.</p> + +<p>"It must be the post," said Sybil. Auntie had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> thought so too, but had +not said it, as it was very unlikely this post would bring any letter +from Captain Desart.</p> + +<p>It did however! Fletcher appeared with one in another minute; the thin +large envelope, and the black, rather scrawly writing that Floss and +Carrots knew so well. It would have been no use trying to conceal it +from them, so auntie opened it quietly, though her fingers trembled as +she did so. She read it very quickly, it was not a long letter, and then +she looked up with the tears in her eyes. "Children, dear children," she +said, "it <i>is</i> good news. Your dear mother is a little better, and they +have good hopes of her."</p> + +<p>Oh how glad they were! They kissed auntie and Sybil and each other, and +it seemed as if a great heavy stone had been lifted off their hearts. +There was still of course reason for <i>anxiety</i>, but there was hope, +"good hope," wrote Captain Desart, and what does not that mean? Auntie +felt so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> hopeful herself that she could not find it in her heart to +check the children for being so.</p> + +<p>"It is because you made the story of the trots end nicely that that nice +letter came," said Sybil, and nothing that her mother could say would +persuade her that <i>she</i> had nothing to do with the ending, that she had +just told it as it really happened!</p> + +<p><i>I</i> am telling you the story of Floss and Carrots as it really happened +too, and I am so glad that it—the story of this part of their young +lives, that is to say—ends happily too. Their mother did get better, +wonderfully better, and was able to come back to England in the spring, +looking stronger than for many years. To England, but not to Sandyshore. +Captain Desart got another appointment much farther south, where the +climate was milder and better and the winters not to be dreaded for a +delicate person. So they all left the Cove House!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +Their new home was of course by the sea too, but Carrots never would +allow that it was the same sea. His own old sea stayed behind at +Sandyshore, though if he were to go to look for it there now I doubt if +he would find it. When old friends once get away into the country of +long ago, they are hard to find again—we learn to doubt if they are to +be found anywhere except in their own corners of our memory.</p> + +<p>And it is long ago now since the days when Carrots and his dear Floss +ran races on the sands and made "plans" together. Long ago, in so far +that you would not be able <i>anywhere</i> to find these children whom I +loved so much, and whom I have told you a little about. You would, at +least I <i>hope</i> you would, like to know what became of them, how they +grew up, and what Carrots did when he got to be a man. But this I cannot +now tell you, for my little book is long enough—I only hope you are not +tired of it—only I may tell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> you one thing. If any of you know a very +good, kind, gentle, brave man—so good that he cannot but be kind; so +brave that he cannot but be gentle, I should like you to think that, +perhaps, whatever he is—clergyman, doctor, soldier, sailor, it doesn't +matter in the least—<i>perhaps</i> when that man was a boy, he was my little +Carrots. Especially if he has large "doggy-looking," brown eyes, and +hair that once <i>might</i> have been called "red."</p> + +<hr class="white" /> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<hr class="white" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "Carrots:", by Mrs. Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "CARROTS:" *** + +***** This file should be named 33544-h.htm or 33544-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/4/33544/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Constantia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: "Carrots:" + Just a Little Boy + +Author: Mrs. Molesworth + +Illustrator: Walter Crane + +Release Date: August 27, 2010 [EBook #33544] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "CARROTS:" *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Constantia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +"CARROTS:" + +JUST A LITTLE BOY + + + + + "Is it then a great mistake + That Boys were ever made at all?" + + + + +[Illustration: There she sat, as still as a mouse, holding her precious +burden. (_See page_ 9.) _Frontispiece_] + + + + + "CARROTS:" + + JUST A LITTLE BOY + + BY + + MRS. MOLESWORTH + + (ENNIS GRAHAM) + + AUTHOR OF "TELL ME A STORY" "CUCKOO CLOCK" + "GRANDMOTHER DEAR" ETC. + + [Illustration: p. 210.] + + ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE + + LONDON + MACMILLAN & CO. + 1876 + + + + + TO + + SIX LITTLE COUSINS + + MORIER, BEVIL, + NOEL, LIONEL, + EDWARD, + AND BABY BRIAN. + +EDINBURGH, 1870 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. FLOSS'S BABY 1 + + II. SIX YEARS OLD 12 + + III. PLANS 26 + + IV. THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN 44 + + V. CARROTS IN TROUBLE 60 + + VI. CARROTS "ALL ZIGHT" AGAIN 78 + + VII. A LONG AGO STORY 91 + + VIII. "THE BEWITCHED TONGUE" 111 + + IX. SYBIL 130 + + X. A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING 152 + + XI. HAPPY AND SAD 180 + + XII. "THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS" 206 + + XIII. GOOD ENDINGS 236 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + THERE SHE SAT, AS STILL AS A MOUSE, HOLDING HER + PRECIOUS BURDEN _Frontispiece._ + + "A YELLOW SIXPENNY, OH, HOW NICE!" 36 + + FLOSS TAPPED AT THE DOOR. "CARROTS," SHE SAID, + "ARE YOU THERE?" 78 + + "NOW, BE QUIET ALL OF YOU, I'M GOING TO BEGIN" 114 + + "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT, MY POOR OLD + MAN?" SAID AUNTIE, FONDLY 148 + + "IT IS FLOSSIE AND ME, SYBIL--DON'T YOU REMEMBER + US?" 184 + + "SUDDENLY A BRIGHT THOUGHT STRUCK ME, I SEIZED + GIP, MY LITTLE DOG, WHO WAS ASLEEP ON THE + HEARTHRUG, AND HELD HIM UP AT THE WINDOW" 212 + + + + +"CARROTS:" JUST A LITTLE BOY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FLOSS'S BABY. + + "Where did you come from, Baby dear? + Out of the everywhere into here? + + * * * + + "But how did you come to us, you dear? + God thought about you, and so I am here!" + + _G. Macdonald._ + + +His real name was Fabian. But he was never called anything but Carrots. +There were six of them. Jack, Cecil, Louise, Maurice, commonly called +Mott, Floss, dear, dear Floss, whom he loved best of all, a long way the +best of all, and lastly Carrots. + +Why Carrots should have come to have his history written I really cannot +say. I must leave you, who understand such things a good deal better +than I, you, children, for whom the history is written, to find out. I +can give you a few reasons why Carrots' history should _not_ have been +written, but that is about all I can do. There was nothing very +remarkable about him; there was nothing very remarkable about the place +where he lived, or the things that he did, and on the whole he was very +much like other little boys. There are my _no_ reasons for you. But +still he was Carrots, and after all, perhaps, that was _the_ reason! I +shouldn't wonder. + +He was the baby of the family; he had every right to be considered the +baby, for he was not only the youngest, but very much the youngest; for +Floss, who came next to him, was nearly four years older than Carrots. +Yet he was never treated as the baby. I doubt if even at the very outset +of his little life, when he was just a wee pink ball of a creature, +rolled up in flannel, and with his funny curls of red hair standing +crisp up all over his head, I doubt, if even then, he was ever called +"baby." I feel almost sure it was always "Carrots." He was too +independent and sensible to be counted a baby, and he was never fond of +being petted--and then, too, "Carrots" came so naturally! + +I have said that Carrots loved his sister Floss better than anybody or +anything else in the world. I think one reason of this was that she was +the very first person he could remember in his life, and a happy thing +for him that it was so, for all about her that there was to remember was +nice and good and kind. She was four years older than he, four years +old, that is to say, when he first came into the world and looked about +him with grave inquiry as to what sort of a place this could be that he +had got to. And the first object that his baby-wise eyes settled upon +with content, as if in it there might be a possible answer to the +riddle, was Floss! + +These children's father and mother were not very rich, and having six +boys and girls you can quite easily imagine they had plenty to do with +their money. Jack was a great boy at school when Carrots first joined +the family party, and Cecil and Louise had a governess. Mott learnt with +the governess too, but was always talking of the time when he should go +to school with Jack, for he was a very boy-ey boy, very much inclined to +look down upon girls in general, and his sisters in particular, and his +little sister Floss in _particularest_. So, till Carrots appeared on the +scene, Floss had had rather a lonely time of it, for, "of course," Cecil +and Louise, who had pockets in all their frocks, and could play the +'March of the Men of Harlech' as a duet on the piano, were _far_ too big +to be "friends to Floss," as she called it. They were friendly and kind +in an elder sisterly way, but that was quite a different sort of thing +from being "friends to her," though it never occurred to Floss to +grumble or to think, as so many little people think now-a-days, how +much better things would have been arranged if _she_ had had the +arranging of them. + +There was only one thing Floss wished for very, very much, and that was +to have a brother or sister, she did not much care which, younger than +herself. She had the most motherly heart in the world, though she was +such a quiet little girl that very few people knew anything about what +she was thinking, and the big ones laughed at her for being so +outrageously fond of dolls. She had dolls of every kind and size, only +alike in one thing, that none of them were very pretty, or what you +would consider grand dolls. But to Floss they were lovely, only, they +were _only_ dolls! + +Can you fancy, can you in the least fancy, Floss's delight--a sort of +delight that made her feel as if she couldn't speak, when one winter's +morning she was awakened by nurse to be told that a real live baby had +come in the night--a little brother, and "such a funny little fellow," +added nurse, "his head just covered with curly red hair. Where did he +get that from, I wonder? Not one of my children has hair like that, +though yours, Miss Flossie, has a touch of it, perhaps." + +Floss looked at her own tangle of fluffy hair with new reverence. "Hair +something like my hairs," she whispered. "Oh nursie, dear nursie, may +Floss see him?" + +"Get up and let me dress you quickly, and you shall see him--no fear but +that you'll see more of the poor little fellow than you care about," +said nurse, though the last words were hardly meant for Floss. + +The truth was that though of course every one meant to be kind to this +new little baby, to take proper care of him, and all that sort of thing, +no one was particularly glad he had come. His father and mother felt +that five boys and girls were already a good number to bring up well and +educate and start in life, not being very rich you see, and even nurse, +who had the very kindest heart in the world, and had taken care of them +all, beginning with Jack, ever since they were born, even nurse felt, I +think, that they _could_ have done without this red-haired little +stranger. For nurse was no longer as young as she had been, and as the +children's mother could not, she knew, very well afford to keep an +under-nurse to help her, it was rather trying to look forward to +beginning again with all the "worrit" of a new baby--bad nights and many +tiring climbs up the long stairs to the nursery, etc., etc., though +nurse was so really good that she did not grumble the least bit, and +just quietly made up her mind to make the best of it. + +But still Floss was the only person to give the baby a really hearty +welcome. And by some strange sort of baby instinct he seemed to know it +almost from the first. He screamed at Jack, and no wonder, for Jack, by +way of salutation, pinched his poor little nose, and said that the next +time they had boiled mutton for dinner, cook need not provide anything +but turnips, as there was a fine crop of carrots all ready, which piece +of wit was greatly applauded by Maurice and the girls. He wailed when +Cecil and Louise begged to be allowed to hold him in their arms, so that +they both tumbled him back on to nurse's lap in a hurry, and called him +"a cross, ugly little thing." Only when little Floss sat down on the +floor, spreading out her knees with great solemnity, and smoothing her +pinafore to make a nice place for baby, and nurse laid him carefully +down in the embrace of her tiny arms, "baby" seemed quite content. He +gave a sort of wriggle, like a dog when he has been pretending to burrow +a hole for himself in the rug, just before he settles down and shuts his +eyes, and in half a second was fast asleep. + +"Baby loves Floss," said Floss gravely, and as long as nurse would let +her, till her arms really ached, there she sat on the floor, as still +as a mouse, holding her precious burden. + +It was wonderful how trusty she was. And "as handy," said nurse, "indeed +far more handy than many a girl of five times her age." "I have been +thinking," she said one day to Floss's mother, "I have been thinking, +ma'am, that even if you had been going to keep an under-nurse to help +with baby, there would have been nothing for her to do. For the help I +get from Miss Flossie is really astonishing, and Master Baby is that +fond of her already, you'd hardly believe it." + +And Floss's mother kissed her, and told her she was a good little soul, +and Floss felt, oh, so proud! Then a second thought struck her, "Baby +dood too, mamma," she said, staring up into her mother's face with her +bright searching grey-green eyes. + +"Yes," said her mother with a little sigh, "poor baby is good too, +dear," and then she had to hurry off to a great overhauling of Jack's +shirts, which were, if possible, to be made to last him another +half-year at school. + +So it came to pass that a great deal of Floss's life was spent in the +nursery with Carrots. He was better than twenty dolls, for after a while +he actually learnt, first to stand alone, and then to walk, and after a +longer while he learnt to talk, and to understand all that Floss said to +him, and by-and-by to play games with her in his baby way. And how +patient Floss was with him! It was no wonder he loved her. + +This chapter has seemed almost more about Floss than Carrots you will +say, perhaps, but I couldn't tell you anything of Carrots' history +without telling you a great deal about Floss too, so I daresay you won't +mind. I daresay too you will not care to hear much more about Carrots +when he was a baby, for, after all, babies are all very like each other, +and a baby that wasn't like others would not _be_ a baby! To Floss I +fancy he seemed a remarkable baby, but that may have been because he +was her very own, and the only baby she had ever known. He was certainly +very good, in so far as he gave nurse exceedingly little trouble, but +why children should give trouble when they are perfectly well, and have +everything they can possibly want, I have never been able to decide. On +the whole, I think it must have something to do with the people who take +care of them, as well as with themselves. + +Now we will say good-bye to Carrots, as a baby. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SIX YEARS OLD. + + "As for me, I love the sea, + The dear old sea! + Don't you?" + + _Song._ + + +I think I said there was nothing very remarkable about the place where +Carrots lived, but considering it over, I am not quite sure that you +would agree with me. It was near the sea for one thing, and _that_ is +always remarkable, is it not? _How_ remarkable, how wonderful and +changeful the sea is, I doubt if any one can tell who has not really +lived by it, not merely visited it for a few weeks in the fine summer +time, when it looks so bright and sunny and inviting, but lived by it +through autumn and winter too, through days when it looks so dull and +leaden, that one can hardly believe it will ever be smiling and playful +again, through fierce, rough days, when it lashes itself with fury, and +the wind wails as if it were trying to tell the reason. + +Carrots' nursery window looked straight out upon the sea, and many and +many an hour Floss and he spent at this window, watching their strange +fickle neighbour at his gambols. I do not know that they thought the sea +at all wonderful. I think they were too much accustomed to it for that, +but they certainly found it very _interesting_. Floss had names for the +different kinds of waves; some she called "ribs of beef," when they +showed up sideways in layers as it were, of white and brown, and some +she called "ponies." That was the kind that came prancing in, with a +sort of dance, the white foam curling and rearing, and tossing itself, +just exactly like a frisky pony's mane. Those were the prettiest waves +of all, I think. + +It was not at all a dangerous coast, where the Cove House, that was +Carrots' home, stood. It was not what is called "picturesque." It was a +long flat stretch of sandy shore, going on and on for miles just the +same. There were very few trees and no mountains, not even hills. + +In summer, a few, just a very few visitors used to come to Sandyshore +for bathing; they were always visitors with children, for every one said +it was such a nice safe place for little people. + +But, safe as it was, it wasn't till Carrots was growing quite a big boy, +nearly six, I should think, that Floss and he got leave to go out and +play on the shore by themselves, the thing they had been longing for +ever since they could remember. + +This was how they did get leave at last. Nurse was very, very busy, one +day; really quite extra busy, for she was arranging and helping to pack +Jack's things to go to a new school. Jack was so big now, about sixteen, +that he was going to a kind of college, or grown-up school, the last he +would go to, before entering the army. And there was quite a fuss in +the house. Jack thought himself almost as grand as if he was an officer +already, and Mott was overpowered with envy. Everybody was fussing about +Jack, and no one had much time to think of the two little ones. + +They stood at the nursery window, poor little souls, when Floss came up +from her lessons, gazing out wistfully. It was a nice spring day, not +exactly sunny, but looking as if the sun were only hiding himself to +tease you, and might come out any minute. + +"If we _might_ go down to the shore," said Floss, half to herself, half +to Carrots, and half to nurse. I shouldn't have said it so, for there +can't be three halves of anything, but no doubt you will understand. + +"Go down to the shore, my dear?" repeated nurse, "I wish you could, I'm +sure, but it will be afternoon, at least, before I have a minute to +spare to take you. And there's no one else to-day, for cook and Esther +are both as busy as busy. Perhaps Miss Cecil and Miss Louise will take +you when they have done their lessons." + +"We don't care to go with them, much," said Floss, "they don't +understand our plays. We like best to go with you, nursie, and you to +sit down with your sewing near--that's the nicest way. Oh, nurse," she +exclaimed, with sudden eagerness, "wouldn't you let us go alone? You can +peep out of the window and see us every few minutes, and we'll be so +good." + +Nurse looked out of the window doubtfully. + +"Couldn't you play in the garden at the back, instead?" she said. "Your +papa and mamma won't be home till late, and I am always in a terror of +any harm happening while they are away." + +"We won't let any harm happen," said Floss, "and we are _so_ tired of +the garden, nurse. There is nothing to play at there. The little waves +are so pretty this morning." + +There was certainly very little to play at in the green, at the back of +the house, which was called the garden. Being so near the sea, the soil +was so poor, that hardly any flowers would grow, and even the grass was +coarse and lumpy. Then there were no trees, and what is a garden without +trees? + +Nurse looked out of the window again. + +"Well," she said, "if you will really be very good, I think I might +trust you. Now, Master Carrots, you will promise to do exactly what Miss +Floss tells you?" + +"Yes, I promise," said Carrots, who had been listening with great +anxiety, though he had not hitherto spoken--he was not a great +talker--"I promise, nurse. I will do exactly what Floss tells me, and +Floss will do exactly what I tell her, won't you, Floss? So we shall +both be _kite_ good, that way, won't we?" + +"Very well," said nurse gravely, though she felt very much inclined to +laugh, "then run and get your things as fast as you can." + +And, oh, how happy the two were when they found themselves out on the +shore all alone! They were so happy, they did not know what to do; so +first of all, they ran races to run away a little of the happiness. And +when they had run themselves quite hot, they sat down on a little heap +of stones to consider what they should do next. They had no spades with +them, for they did not care very much about digging; children who live +always by the sea never care so much about digging as the little +visitors who come down in the summer, and whose very first idea at the +sight of the sea is "spades and buckets." + +"What shall we play at, Carrots?" said Floss, "I wish it was warm enough +to paddle." + +Carrots looked at the little soft rippling waves, contemplatively. + +"When I'm a man," he said, "I shall paddle _always_. I shall paddle in +winter too. When I'm a man I won't have no nurse." + +"Carrots," said Floss, reproachfully, "that isn't good of you. Think how +kind nurse is." + +"Well, then," replied Carrots, slowly, "I _will_ have her, but she must +let me paddle always, when I'm a man." + +"When you are a man, Carrots," said Floss, solemnly still, "I hope you +will have something better to do than paddling. Perhaps you'll be a +soldier, like Jack." + +"Killing people isn't better than paddling," retorted Carrots. "I'd +rather be a sailor, like papa." + +"Sailors have to kill people, too, sometimes," said Floss. + +"_Have_ they?" said Carrots. Then he sat silent for a few minutes, +finding this new idea rather overwhelming. "Naughty people, do you mean, +Floss?" he inquired at last. + +"Yes," said Floss, unhesitatingly, "naughty people, of course." + +"But I don't like killing," said Carrots, "not killing naughty people, I +don't like. I won't be a soldier, and I won't be a sailor, and I won't +be a butcher, 'cos butchers kill lambs. Perhaps I'll be a fisherman." + +"But fishermen kill fish," said Floss. + +"Do they?" said Carrots, looking up in her face pathetically with his +gentle brown eyes. "I'm so sorry. I don't understand about killing, +Floss. I don't like it." + +"I don't either," said Floss; "but perhaps it has to be. If there was no +killing we'd have nothing to eat." + +"Eggs," said Carrots; "eggs and potatoes, and--and--cake?" + +"But even that would be a _sort_ of killing," persisted Floss, though +feeling by no means sure that she was not getting beyond her depth, "if +we didn't eat eggs they would grow into chickens, and so eating stops +them; and potatoes have roots, and when they're pulled up they don't +grow; and cake has eggs in, and--oh I don't know, let's talk of +something else." + +"What?" said Carrots, "Fairies?" + +"If you like, or supposing we talk about when auntie comes and brings +'Sybil.'" + +"Yes," said Carrots, "I like that best." + +"Well, then," began Floss, "supposing it is late in the evening when +they come. _You_ would be in bed, Carrots, dear, but I would have begged +to sit up a little longer and----" + +"No, Floss, that isn't nice. I won't talk about Sybil, if you make it +like that," interrupted Carrots, his voice sounding as if he were going +to cry. "Sybil isn't not any bigger than me. I wouldn't be in bed, +Floss." + +"Very well, dear. Never mind, darling. I won't make it like that. It was +very stupid of me. No, Sybil and auntie will come just about our +tea-time, and we shall be peeping along the road to see if the carriage +from the station is coming, and when we hear it we'll run in, and +perhaps mamma will say we may stay in the drawing-room to see them. You +will have one of your new sailor suits on, Carrots, and I shall have my +white pique and blue sash, and nurse will have made the nursery +tea-table look so nice--with a clean table-cloth, you know, and quite +thin bread and butter, and jam, and, perhaps, eggs." + +"I won't eat one," interrupted Carrots; "I won't never eat eggs. I'll +keep all mine that I get to eat, in a box, till they've growed into +chickens." + +"But they're boiled when you get them," said Floss; "they wouldn't grow +into chickens when they're boiled." + +Carrots sighed. "Well, never mind," he said, "go on, Floss." + +"Well, then," started Floss again, "you see the nursery tea would look +so nice that Sybil would be _sure_ to ask her mamma to let her have tea +with us, even though it was the first evening. Perhaps, you know, she +would be rather _shy_, just at first, till she got to know us. So we +would be very, very kind to her, and after tea we would show her all our +things--the dolls, only--Carrots, I'm afraid the dolls are getting +rather old." + +"Are they?" said Carrots, sympathisingly. "When I'm a man I'll buy you +such a _lot_ of new dolls, Floss, and Sybil, too, if she likes +dolls--does she, Floss?" + +"I don't know. I should think so," said Floss. "When papa and mamma went +to see auntie, they said Sybil was like a doll herself. I suppose she +has beautiful blue eyes and long gold curls. That was a year ago; she +must be bigger now, Carrots." + +"What?" + +"We must get up and run about a little now. It's too cold to sit still +so long, and if we get cold, nurse won't let us come out alone again." + +Up jumped Carrots on to his sturdy little legs. "I'll run, Floss," he +said. + +"Floss," he began, when they stopped to take breath again, "once I saw a +little boy with a hoop. It went so nice on the sands. I wish I had a +hoop, Floss." + +"I wish you had, dear," said Floss. "I'd buy you one, if I had any +money. But I haven't, and we couldn't ask mamma, because I know," and +Floss shook her head mysteriously, "I know poor mamma _hasn't any money +to spare_. I must think of a plan to get some." + +Carrots kept silence for about three quarters of a minute. "Have you +thinkened, Floss?" he asked, eagerly. + +"Thought," gravely said Floss, "not thinkened, what about?" + +"About a plan," replied Carrots. He called it "a pan," but Floss +understood him. + +"Oh, dear, no," said Floss, "not yet. Plans take a great lot of +thinking. They're real things, you see, Carrots, not like fancies about +fairies and Sybil coming." + +"But when Sybil does come, that'll be real then," said Carrots. + +"Of course," agreed Floss, "but fancying about it before, isn't real." + +It took Carrots a little while to get this into his head. Then he began +again. + +"When will you have thinkened enough, Floss? By tea-time?" + +"I don't know. No, I think you had better wait till to-morrow morning, +and then perhaps the plan will be ready." + +"Very well," said Carrots, adding, with a little sigh, "to-morrow +morning is a long time, Floss." + +"Not very," said Floss, consolingly. "Now, Carrots, let's have one more +race, and then we must go in." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PLANS. + + "'Have you invented a plan for it?' Alice inquired. + 'Not yet,' said the knight." + + _Through the Looking-glass._ + + +The next morning Carrots woke very early, and the first thing he thought +of was the plan. Floss and he slept in the night nursery, in two little +beds, and nurse slept in a small room that had a door opening into the +nursery. She used to sleep there herself, but now that Carrots was so +big, Floss and he were quite safe by themselves, and poor old nurse +enjoyed having her own little room. + +Floss was still asleep, so Carrots only climbed out of his own cot into +hers, and crouched himself down at the foot, watching for her to wake. +Floss looked very nice asleep; her "fuzzy" hair was tumbling over the +pillow, and her cheeks looked pinker than when she was awake. + +"I wonder what being asleep is," thought the little boy as he looked at +her. "I always go away, such a long way, when I am asleep. I wonder if +Floss does." + +She couldn't have been very far away just then, for somehow, though +Carrots sat so still, she seemed to know he was there. She turned round +and half opened her eyes, and then shut them as if she were trying to go +to sleep again, then opened them once more, quite wide this time, and +caught sight of the funny little figure beside her. + +"Carrots," she said, in a sleepy voice, "Carrots, dear, what are you +doing there? You'll catch cold." + +"No, I won't. May I come in 'aside you, Floss? I was only watching for +you to wake; I didn't wake you, did I?" said Carrots, as Floss made room +for him, and he poked his cold little toes down into a nice warm place, +"I did so want to know if it was ready, for it's to-morrow morning now." + +"If what's ready?" said Floss, for she was rather sleepy still. + +"The plan for getting money." + +"Oh!" said Floss. "Yes," she went on after thinking for a minute, "yes, +it's nearly ready; at least I'm almost sure it is. But it's not quite +ready for telling _you_, yet, Carrots." + +Carrots looked terribly disappointed. + +"I think," went on Floss, "I think it will be ready for telling you +after breakfast. And if you like, you may listen to something I am going +to ask nurse at breakfast, and, perhaps, that will help you to guess +what the plan is." + +At breakfast time Carrots was all ears. All ears and no tongue, so that +nurse began to wonder if he was ill. + +"I shouldn't like you to be ill the very day after Master Jack has +gone," she said anxiously (Jack had gone up to town by the night train +with his father), "one trouble at a time is quite enough for your poor +mamma." + +"Is Jack's going to the big school a trouble?" asked Floss, opening her +eyes very wide, "I thought they were all very glad." + +"My dear," said nurse solemnly, "one may be glad of a thing and sorry +too. And changes mostly are good and bad together." + +Floss did not say any more, but she seemed to be thinking about what +nurse had said. Carrots was thinking too. + +"When I'm a man," he said at last, "I won't go to a big school if Floss +doesn't want me to." + +Nurse smiled. "There's time enough to see about that," she said, "get on +with your breakfast, Master Carrots; you'll never grow a big boy if you +don't eat plenty." + +"Nurse," said Floss, suddenly, "what's the dearest thing we eat? what +costs most?" + +"Meat, now-a-days, Miss Flossie," said nurse. + +"Could we do without it?" asked Floss. Nurse shook her head. + +"What could we do without?" continued the child. "We couldn't do without +bread or milk, I suppose. What could we do without that costs money?" + +"Most things do that," said nurse, who began to have a glimmering of +what Floss was driving at, "but the money's well spent in good food to +make you strong and well." + +"Then isn't there anything we could do without--without it hurting us, I +mean?" said Floss, in a tone of disappointment. + +"Oh yes," said nurse, "I daresay there is. Once a little boy and girl I +knew went without sugar in their tea for a month, and their grandmother +gave them sixpence each instead." + +"Sixpence!" exclaimed Floss, her eyes gleaming. + +"Sixpence each," corrected nurse. + +"Two sixpences, that would be a shilling. Carrots, do you hear?" + +Carrots had been listening with might and main, but was rather puzzled. + +"Would two sixpennies pay for two hoops?" he whispered to Floss, pulling +her pinafore till she bent her head down to listen. + +"Of course they would. At least I'm almost sure. I'll ask nurse. Nurse, +dear," she went on in a louder voice, "do you think we might do that +way--Carrots and I--about sugar, I mean?" + +"I don't see that it would do you any harm," said nurse. "You must ask +your mamma." + +But Floss hesitated. + +"I shouldn't much like to ask mamma," she said, and Carrots, who was +listening so intently that he had forgotten all about his bread and +milk, noticed that Floss's face grew red. "I shouldn't much like to ask +mamma, because, nursie, dear, it is only that we want to get money for +something for ourselves, and if we told mamma, it would be like asking +her to _give_ us the money. It wouldn't be any harm for us not to eat +any sugar in our tea for a month, and you could keep the sugar in a +packet all together, nurse, and _then_ you might tell mamma that we had +saved it, and she would give us a shilling for it. It would be quite +worth a shilling, wouldn't it, nurse?" + +"Oh, yes," said nurse, "I am sure your mamma would say it was." Then she +considered a little. She was one of those truly trustworthy nurses whose +notions are strong on the point of everything being told to "mamma." But +she perfectly understood Floss's hesitation, and though she might not +have been able to put her feeling into words, she felt that it might do +the child harm to thwart her delicate instinct. + +"Well, nurse?" said Floss, at last. + +"Well, Miss Flossie, I don't think for once I shall be doing wrong in +letting you have a secret. When will you begin? This is Thursday; on +Saturday your mamma will give me the week's sugar--suppose you begin on +Sunday? But does Master Carrots quite understand?" + +"Oh, yes," said Floss, confidently, "he understands, don't you dear?" + +"Oh, yes," said Carrots, "we won't eat not any sugar, Floss and me, for +a great long time, and nurse will tie it up in a parcel with a string +round, and mamma will buy it and give us a great lot of pennies, and +then, and then"--he began to jump about with delight--"Floss and me will +go to the toy-shop and buy our hoops, won't we Floss? Oh I wish it was +time to go now, don't you Floss?" + +"Yes, dear, a month's a good while to wait," said Floss sympathisingly. +"May we go out on the shore again by ourselves this afternoon, nurse?" + +"If it doesn't rain," said nurse; and Floss, who had half an hour to +wait before it was time for her to join her sisters in the school-room, +went to the window to have a look at the weather. She had not stood +there for more than a minute when Carrots climbed up on to a chair +beside her. + +"It's going to rain, Floss," he said, "there are the little curly clouds +in the sky that Matthew says come when it rains." + +Floss looked up at the sky and down at the sea. + +"The sea looks cross to-day," she said. + +There were no pretty ripples this morning; the water looked dull and +leaden. + +"Floss," said Carrots, with a sigh, "I do get so tired when you are at +lessons all the morning and I have _nucken_ to do. Can't you think of a +plan for me to have something to do?" Carrots' head was running on +"plans." + +Floss considered. + +"Would you like to tidy my drawer for me?" she said. "This isn't the +regular day for tidying it, but it is in a mess, because I turned all +the things upside down when I was looking for our race horses' reins +yesterday. Will you put it _quite_ tidy, Carrots?" + +"Oh, yes, _quite_, dear Floss," said Carrots, "I'll put all the dolls +neat, and all the pieces, and all the sewing things. Oh, dear Floss, +what nice plans you make." + +So when Floss had gone to her lessons, and nurse was busy with her +morning duties, in and out of the room, so as not to lose sight of +Carrots, but still too busy to amuse him, he, with great delight, set to +work at the drawer. It certainly was much in need of "tidying," and +after trying several ways, Carrots found that the best plan was to take +everything out, and then put the different things back again in order. +It took him a good while, and his face got rather red with stooping down +to the floor to pick up all the things he had deposited there, for the +drawer itself was too heavy for him to lift out bodily, if, indeed, such +an idea had occurred to him. It was the middle drawer of the cupboard, +the top part of which was divided into shelves where the nursery cups +and saucers and those sort of things stood. The drawer above Floss's was +nurse's, where she kept her work, and a few books, and a little +note-paper and so on; and the drawer at the bottom, so that he could +easily reach it, was Carrots' own. + +One end of Floss's drawer was given up to her dolls. She still had a +good many, for though she did not care for them now as much as she used, +she never could be persuaded to throw any of them away. But they were +not very pretty; even Carrots could see that, and Carrots, to tell the +truth, was very fond of dolls. + +"If I had some money," he said to himself, "I would buy Floss such a +most beautiful doll. I wish I had some money." + +For the moment he forgot about the hoops and the "plan" and sat down on +a little stool with one of the unhappiest looking of the dolls in his +arms. + +[Illustration: "A yellow sixpenny, oh, how nice!" _To face page_ 36.] + +"I wish I could buy you a new face, poor dolly," he said. "I wish I had +some money." + +He got up again to put poor dolly back into her corner. As he was +smoothing down the paper which lined the drawer, he felt something hard +close to dolly's foot; he pushed away the dolls to see--there, almost +hidden by a crumple in the paper lay a tiny little piece of money--a +little shining piece, about the size of a sixpence, only a different +colour. + +"A yellow sixpenny, oh, how nice!" thought Carrots, as he seized it. "I +wonder if Floss knowed it was there. It would just do to buy a new doll. +I _wish_ I could go to the toy-shop to buy one to surprise Floss. I +won't tell Floss I've found it. I'll keep it for a secret, and some day +I'll buy Floss a new doll. I'm sure Floss doesn't know--I think the +fairies must have put it there." + +He wrapped the piece of money up carefully in a bit of paper, and after +considering where he could best hide it, so that Floss should not know +till it was time to surprise her, he fixed on a beautiful place--he hid +it under one of the little round saucers in his paint-box--a very old +paint-box it was, which had descended from Jack, first to Mott and then +to Carrots, but which, all the same, Carrots considered one of his +greatest treasures. + +When nurse came into the room, she found the tidying of the drawer +completed, and Carrots sitting quietly by the window. He did not tell +her about the money he had found, it never entered into his little head +that he should speak of it. He had got into the way of not telling all +the little things that happened to him to any one but Floss, for he was +naturally a very quiet child, and nurse was getting too old to care +about all the tiny interests of her children as she once had done. +Besides, he had determined to keep it a secret, even from Floss, till he +could buy a new doll with it--but very likely he would have told her of +it after all, had not something else put it out of his head. + +The something else was that that afternoon nurse took Floss and him a +long walk, and a walk they were very fond of. + +It was to the cottage of the old woman, who, ever since they had come to +Sandyshore, had washed for them. She was a very nice old woman, and her +cottage was beautifully clean, and now and then Floss and Carrots had +gone with nurse to have tea with her, which was a great treat. But +to-day they were not going to tea; they were only going because nurse +had to pay Mrs. White some money for washing up Jack's things quickly, +and nurse knew the old woman would be glad to have it, as it was close +to the day on which she had to pay her rent. + +Floss and Carrots were delighted to go, for even when they did not stay +to tea, Mrs. White always gave them a glass of milk, and, generally, a +piece of home-made cake. + +Before they started, nurse went to her drawer and took out of it a very +small packet done up in white paper, and this little packet she put into +her purse. + +It was, after all, a nice fine day. Floss and Carrots talked quietly +beside nurse for a little, and then she gave them leave to run races, +which made the way seem very short, till they got to Mrs. White's. + +"How nice it will be when we have our hoops, won't it, Carrots?" said +Floss. + +Carrots had almost forgotten about the hoops, but now that Floss +mentioned them, it put him in mind of something else. + +"Wouldn't you like a new doll, Floss?" he said mysteriously, "a most +beautifullest new doll, with hair like--like the angels' hairs in the +big window at church, and eyes like the little blue stones in mamma's +ring?" + +"Of course I would," said Floss, "and we'd call her Angelina, wouldn't +we Carrots? But it's no good thinking about it--I shall never have one +like that, unless the fairies send it me!" + +"If the fairies sended you money to buy one, wouldn't that do?" said +Carrots, staring up in her face with a funny look in his eyes. + +But before Floss had time to answer, nurse called to them--they were at +the corner of the lane which led to Mrs. White's. + +Mrs. White was very kind. She had baked a cake only a day or two before, +and cut off a beautiful big piece for each of the children, then she +gave them a drink of milk, and they ran out into her little garden to +eat their cake and look at the flowers, till nurse had finished her +business with the old washerwoman, and was ready to go home. + +Floss and Carrots thought a great deal of Mrs. White's garden. Small as +it was, it had far more flowers in it than their own garden at the back +of the Cove House, for it was a mile or two farther from the sea, and +the soil was richer, and it was more sheltered from the wind. + +In summer there was what Floss called quite a "buzzy" sound in this +little garden--she meant that sweet, lazy-busy hum of bees and +butterflies and all sorts of living creatures, that you never hear +except in a real old-fashioned garden where there are lots of clove +pinks and sweet williams and roses, roses especially, great, big cabbage +roses, and dear little pink climbing roses, the kind that peep in at a +cottage window to bid you "good morning." Oh, how very sweet those +old-fashioned flowers are--though "rose fanciers" and all the clever +gardeners we have now-a-days wouldn't give anything for them! _I_ think +them the sweetest of all. Don't you, children? Or is it only when one +begins to grow old-fashioned oneself and to care more for things that +used to be than things that are now, that one gets to prize these old +friends so? + +I am wandering away from Floss and Carrots waiting for nurse in the +cottage garden; you must forgive me, boys and girls--when people begin +to grow old they get in the habit of telling stories in a rambling way, +but I don't find children so hard upon this tiresome habit as big people +sometimes are. And it all comes back to me so--even the old +washerwoman's cottage I can see so plainly, and the dear straggly little +garden! + +For you see, children, I am telling you the history of a _real_ little +boy and girl, not fancy children, and that is why, though there is +nothing very wonderful about Floss and Carrots, I hope the story of +their little pleasures and sorrows and simple lives may be interesting +to you. + +But I must finish about the visit to the washerwoman in another chapter. +I have made this one rather too long already. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN. + + "Children should not leave about + Anything that's small and bright; + Lest the fairies spy it out, + And fly off with it at night." + + _Poems written for a child._ + + +There was no buzzy sound in Mrs. White's garden this afternoon. It was +far too early in the year for that, indeed it was beginning to feel +quite chilly and cold, as the afternoons often do of fine days in early +spring, and by the time Floss and Carrots had eaten their cake, and +examined all the rose bushes to see if they could find any buds, and +wished it were summer, so that there would be some strawberries hiding +under the glossy green leaves, they began to wonder why nurse was so +long--and to feel rather cold and tired of waiting. + +"Just run to the door, Carrots, dear," said Floss, "and peep in to see +if nurse is coming." + +She did not like to go herself, for she knew that nurse and Mrs. White +were fond of a comfortable talk together and might not like to be +interrupted by her. But Carrots they would not mind. + +Carrots set off obediently, but before he got to the door he met nurse +coming out. She was followed by Mrs. White and both were talking rather +earnestly. + +"You'll let me know, if so be as you find it, Mrs. Hooper; you won't +forget?" Mrs. White was saying--Hooper was nurse's name--"for I feel +quite uneasy--I do that, for you." + +"I'll let you know, and thank you, Mrs. White," said nurse. "I'm glad I +happened to bring some of my own money with me too, for I should have +been sorry to put you to any ill-convenience by my carelessness--though +how I could have been so careless as to mislay it, I'm sure it's more +than I can say." + +"It is, indeed, and you so careful," said Mrs. White sympathisingly. + +Just then nurse caught sight of Carrots. + +"Come along, Master Carrots," she said, "I was just going to look for +you. Wherever's Miss Floss? We must be quick; it's quite time we were +home." + +"I'll tell Floss," said Carrots, disappearing again down the path, and +in another moment Floss and he ran back to nurse. + +Though they had been very quick, nurse seemed to think they had been +slow. She even scolded Floss a very little as if she had been kept +waiting by her and Carrots, when she was in a hurry to go, and both +Floss and Carrots felt that this was very hard when the fact was that +they had been waiting for nurse till they were both tired and cold. + +"It wasn't Floss's fault. Floss wanted _you_ to come quick, and she +sended me to see," said Carrots indignantly. + +"Hold your tongue, Master Carrots," said nurse sharply. + +Carrots' face got very red, he gave nurse one reproachful look, but did +not speak. He took Floss's hand and pulled her on in front. But Floss +would not go; she drew her hand away. + +"No, Carrots, dear," she said in a low voice, "it wouldn't be kind to +leave nurse all alone when she is sorry about something." + +"Is she sorry about something?" said Carrots. + +"Yes," replied Floss, "I am sure she is. You run on for a minute. I want +to speak to nurse." + +Carrots ran on and Floss stayed behind. + +"Nurse," she said softly, slipping her hand through nurse's arm, which, +by stretching up on tip-toe, she was just able to do, "nurse, dear, +what's the matter?" + +"Nothing much, Miss Flossie," replied nurse, patting the kind little +hand, "nothing much, but I'm growing an old woman and easy put out--and +such a stupid like thing for me to have done!" + +"What have you done? What is stupid?" inquired Floss, growing curious as +well as sympathising. + +"I have lost a half-sovereign--a ten-shilling piece in gold, Miss +Flossie," replied nurse. + +"Out of your pocket--dropped it, do you mean?" said Floss. + +"Oh no--I had it in my purse--at least I thought I had," said nurse. "It +was a half-sovereign of your mamma's that she gave me to pay Mrs. White +with for Master Jack's things and part of last week that was left over, +and I wrapped it up with a shilling and a sixpence--it came to eleven +and six, altogether--in a piece of paper, and put it in my drawer in the +nursery, and before I came out I put the packet in my purse. And when I +opened it at Mrs. White's no half-sovereign was there! Only the shilling +and the sixpence!" + +"You didn't drop it at Mrs. White's, did you? Should we go back and +look?" said Floss, standing still, as if ready to run off that moment. + +"No, no, my dear. It's not at Mrs. White's. She and I searched all over, +and she's as honest a body as could be," replied nurse. "No, there's +just the chance of its being in the drawer at home. I feel all in a +fever till I get there to look. But don't you say anything about it, +Miss Flossie; it's my own fault, and no one must be troubled about it +but myself." + +"Poor nursie," said Floss, "I'm so sorry. But you're sure to find it in +your drawer. Let's go home very fast. Carrots," she called out to the +little figure obediently trotting on in front, "Carrots, come and walk +with nursie and me now. Nurse isn't vexed." + +Carrots turned back, looking up wistfully in nurse's face. + +"Poor darlings," said the old woman to herself, "such a shame of me to +have spoilt their walk!" + +And all the way home, "to make up," she was even kinder than usual. + +But her hopes of finding the lost piece of money were disappointed. She +searched all through the drawer in vain; there was no half-sovereign to +be seen. Suddenly it struck her that Carrots had been busy "tidying" for +Floss that morning. + +"Master Carrots, my dear," she said, "when you were busy at Miss Floss's +drawer to-day, you didn't open mine, did you, and touch anything in it?" + +"Oh, no," said Carrots, at once, "I'm quite, quite _sure_ I didn't, +nursie." + +"You're sure you didn't touch nurse's purse, or a little tiny packet of +white paper, in her drawer?" inquired Floss, with an instinct that the +circumstantial details might possibly recall some forgotten remembrance +to his mind. + +"_Quite_ sure," said Carrots, looking straight up in their faces with a +thoughtful, but not uncertain expression in his brown eyes. + +"Because nurse has lost something out of her drawer, you see, Carrots +dear, and she is very sorry about it," continued Floss. + +"What has she lost? But I'm _sure_," repeated Carrots, "I didn't touch +nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it. What has nurse lost?" + +"A half-sovereign--" began Floss, but nurse interrupted her. + +"Don't tease him any more about it," she said; "it's plain he doesn't +know, and I wouldn't like the other servants to hear. Just forget about +it, Master Carrots, my dear, perhaps nurse will find it some day." + +So Carrots, literally obedient, asked no more questions. He only said to +himself, with a puzzled look on his face, "A half sovereign! I didn't +know nurse had any sovereigns--I thought only Floss had--and I never saw +any broken in halfs!" + +But as no more was said in his hearing about the matter, it passed from +his innocent mind. + +Nurse thought it right to tell the children's mother of her loss, and +the girls and Maurice heard of it too. They all were very sorry for +nurse, for she took her own carelessness rather sorely to heart. But by +her wish, nothing was said of it to the two other servants, one of whom +had only lately come, though the other had been with them many years. + +"I'd rather by far bear the loss," said nurse, "than cause any +ill-feeling about it, ma'am." + +And her mistress gave in to her. "Though certainly _you_ must not bear +the loss, nurse," she said, kindly; "for in all these years you have +saved me too many half-sovereigns and whole ones too for me to mind much +about the loss of one. And you've asked Carrots, you say; you're sure he +knows nothing about it?" + +"Quite sure, ma'am," said nurse, unhesitatingly. + +And several days went on, and nothing more was said or heard about the +half-sovereign. Only all this time the little yellow sixpenny lay safely +hidden away in Carrots' paint-box. + +In a sense he had forgotten about it. He knew it was safe there, and he +had almost fixed in his mind not to tell Floss about it till the day +they should be going to the toy-shop to buy their hoops. Once or twice +he had been on the point of showing it to her, but had stopped short, +thinking how much more delightful it would be to "surprise" her. He had +quite left off puzzling his head as to where the little coin had come +from; he had found it in Floss's drawer, that was quite enough. If he +had any thoughts about its history, they were that either Floss had had +"the sixpenny" a long time ago and had forgotten it, or that the fairies +had brought it; and on the whole he inclined to the latter explanation, +for you see there was something different about this sixpenny to any he +had ever seen before. + +Very likely "fairies' sixpennies" are always that pretty yellow colour, +he thought. + +One day, about a week after the loss of the half-sovereign, Maurice +happened to come into the nursery just at the little ones' tea-time. It +was a half-holiday, and he had been out a long walk with some of his +companions, for he still went to school at Sandyshore, and now he had +come in tremendously hungry and thirsty. + +"I say, nurse," he exclaimed, seating himself unceremoniously at the +table, "I'm awfully hungry, and mamma's out, and we shan't have tea for +two hours yet. And Carrots, young man, I want your paint-box; mine's all +gone to smash, and Cecil won't lend me hers, and I want to paint flags +with stars and stripes for my new boat." + +"Tars and tipes," repeated Carrots, "what's tars and tipes?" + +"What's that to you?" replied Mott, politely. "Bless me, I am so +thirsty. Give me your tea, Carrots, and nurse will make you some more. +What awful weak stuff! But I'm too thirsty to wait." + +He seized Carrots' mug and drank off its contents at one draught. But +when he put the mug down he made a _very_ wry face. + +"What horrible stuff!" he exclaimed. "Nurse, you've forgotten to put in +any sugar." + +"No, she hasn't," said Carrots, bluntly. + +Nurse smiled, but said nothing, and Floss looked fidgety. + +"What do you mean?" said Mott. "Don't you like sugar--eh, young 'un?" + +"Yes, I do like it," replied Carrots, but he would say no more. + +Floss grew more and more uneasy. + +"Oh, Mott," she burst out, "please don't tease Carrots. It's nothing +wrong; it's only something we've planned ourselves." + +Mott's curiosity was by this time thoroughly aroused. + +"A secret, is it?" he exclaimed, pricking up his ears; "you'd best tell +it me. I'm a duffer at keeping secrets. Out with it." + +Floss looked ready to cry, and Carrots shut his mouth tight, as if +determined not to give in. Nurse thought it time to interfere. + +"Master Maurice," she said, appealingly, "don't tease the poor little +things, there's a good boy. If it is a secret, there's no harm in it, +you may be sure." + +"Tease!" repeated Mott, virtuously, "I'm not teasing. I only want to +know what the mystery is--why shouldn't I? I won't interfere." + +Now Mott was just at the age when the spirit of mischief is most apt to +get thorough hold of a boy; and once this _is_ the case, who can say +where or at what a boy will stop? Every opposition or contradiction only +adds fuel to the flames, and not seldom a tiny spark may thus end in a +great fire. Nurse knew something of boys in general, and of Mott in +particular; and knowing what she did, she decided in her own mind that +she had better take the bull by the horns without delay. + +"Miss Floss," she said seriously, "and Master Carrots, I think you had +better tell your brother your secret. He'll be very kind about it, +you'll see, and he won't tell anybody." + +"Won't you, Mott?" said Floss, jumping up and down on her chair in her +anxiety. "Promise." + +"Honour bright," said Mott. + +Carrots opened his mouth as if about to speak, but shut it down again. + +"What were _you_ going to say?" said Mott. + +"Nucken," replied Carrots. + +"People don't open their mouths like that, if they've 'nucken' to say," +said Mott, as if he didn't believe Carrots. + +"I didn't mean that I wasn't _going_ to say nucken," said Carrots, "I +mean I haven't nucken to say now." + +"And what were you going to say?" persisted Mott. + +Carrots looked frightened. + +"I was only sinking if you knowed, and nurse knowed, and Floss knowed, +and I knowed, it wouldn't be a secret." + +Mott burst out laughing. + +"What a precious goose you are," he exclaimed. "Well, secret or no +secret, I'm going to hear it; so tell me." + +Floss looked at nurse despairingly. + +"You tell, nurse, please," she said. + +So nurse told, and Maurice looked more amused than ever. "What an idea!" +he exclaimed. "I don't believe Carrots'll hold out for a month, whatever +Floss may do, unless he has a precious lump of ac--ac--what is it the +head people call it?--acquisitiveness for his age. But you needn't have +made such a fuss about your precious secret. Here, nurse, give us some +tea, and you may put in all the sugar Floss and Carrots have saved by +now." + +Floss and Carrots looked ready to cry, but nurse reassured them. + +"Never you fear," she said; "he shall have what's proper, but no more. +Never was such a boy for sweet things as you, Master Mott." + +"It shows in my temper, doesn't it?" he said saucily. And then he was so +pleased with his own wit that for a few minutes he forgot to tease, +occupying himself by eating lots of bread and butter instead, so that +tea went on peaceably. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CARROTS IN TROUBLE. + + "But bitter while they flow, are childish tears." + + +"Now Carrots," said Mott, when he had eaten what he considered might +possibly support him for the next two hours, "now Carrots, let's have +the paint-box. You needn't disturb yourself," he continued, for Carrots +was preparing to descend from his high chair, "I know where you keep it; +it's in your drawer, isn't it. Which is his drawer, nurse? It'll be a +good opportunity for me to see if he keeps it tidy." + +"No, no, let me get it myself," cried Carrots, tumbling himself off his +chair anyhow in his eagerness. "Nurse, nurse, don't tell him which is +mine; don't let him take my paint-box, let me get it my own self." + +Nurse looked at him with some surprise; it was seldom the little boy so +excited himself. + +"Master Mott won't hurt your drawer, my dear," she said; "you don't mind +his having your paint-box, I'm sure. But do let him get it out himself, +if he wants, Master Maurice, there's a dear boy," she continued, for +Maurice was by this time ferreting in Floss's drawer with great gusto, +and in another moment would have been at Carrots'! But Carrots was at it +before him. He pulled it open as far as he could, for in consequence of +Mott's investigations in the upper storey, he could not easily penetrate +to his own quarters. But he knew exactly where the paint-box lay, and +managed to slip it out, without Maurice's noticing what he was doing. +His triumph was short-lived, however; before he could open the box, Mott +was after him. + +"Hi, you young sneak!" he cried, "what are you after now? Give me the +box; I believe you want to take the best paints out before you lend it +to me," and he wrenched the paint-box out of his little brother's hands. + +"I don't, I don't," sobbed Carrots, sitting down on the floor and crying +bitterly; "you may have all the paints, Mott, but it's my secret, oh, my +secret!" + +"What are you talking about?" said Mott roughly, pulling out the lid as +he spoke. The box had been all tumbled about in the struggle, and the +paints came rattling out, the paints and the brushes, and the little +saucers, and with them came rolling down on to the floor, children, you +know what--the "fairies' sixpenny," the little bright shining yellow +half-sovereign! + +A strange change came over Mott's face. + +"Nurse," he cried, "do you see that? What does that mean?" + +Nurse hastened up to where he was standing; she stared for a moment in +puzzled astonishment at the spot on the carpet to which the toe of +Maurice's boot was pointing, then she stooped down slowly and picked up +the coin, still without speaking. + +"Well, nurse," said Maurice, impatiently, "what do you think of that?" + +"My half-sovereign," said nurse, as if hardly believing what she saw. + +"Of course it's your half-sovereign," said Mott, "it's as plain as a +pike-staff. But how did it come there, that's the question?" + +Nurse looked at Carrots with puzzled perplexity. "He couldn't have +known," she said in a low voice, too low for Carrots to hear. He was +still sitting on the floor sobbing, and through his sobs was to be heard +now and then the melancholy cry, "My secret, oh, my poor secret." + +"You hear what he says," said Maurice; "what does his 'secret' mean but +that he sneaked into your drawer and took the half-sovereign, and now +doesn't like being found out. I'm ashamed to have him for my brother, +that I am, the little cad!" + +"But he couldn't have understood," said nurse, at a loss how otherwise +to defend her little boy. "I'm not even sure that he rightly knew of my +losing it, and he might have taken it, meaning no harm, not knowing what +it was, indeed, very likely." + +"Rubbish," said Maurice. "A child that is going without sugar to get +money instead, must be old enough to understand something about what +money is." + +"But that was _my_ plan; it wasn't Carrots that thought of it at all," +said Floss, who all this time had stood by, frightened and distressed, +not knowing what to say. + +"Hold your tongue, Floss," said Maurice, roughly; and Floss subsided. +"Carrots," he continued, turning to his brother, "leave off crying this +minute, and listen to me. Who put this piece of money into your +paint-box?" + +"I did my own self," said Carrots. + +"What for?" + +"To keep it a secret for Floss," sobbed Carrots. + +Maurice turned triumphantly to nurse. + +"There," he said, "you see! And," he continued to Carrots again, "you +took it out of nurse's drawer--out of a little paper packet?" + +"No," said Carrots, "I didn't. I didn't know it was nurse's." + +"You didn't know nurse had lost a half-sovereign!" exclaimed Mott, +"Carrots, how dare you say so?" + +"Yes," said Carrots, looking so puzzled, that for a moment or two he +forgot to sob, "I did know, Floss told me." + +"Then how _can_ you say you didn't know this was nurse's?" said Mott. + +"Oh, I don't know--I didn't know--I can't under'tand," cried Carrots, +relapsing into fresh sobs. + +"I wish your mamma were in, that I do," said nurse, looking ready to cry +too; by this time Floss's tears were flowing freely. + +"She isn't in, so it's no good wishing she were," said Maurice; "but +papa is," he went on importantly, "and I'll just take Carrots to him and +see what _he'll_ say to all this." + +"Oh, no, Master Mott, don't do that, I beg and pray of you," said nurse, +all but wringing her hands in entreaty. "Your papa doesn't understand +about the little ones; do wait till your mamma comes in." + +"No, indeed, nurse; it's a thing papa _should_ be told," said Mott, in +his innermost heart half inclined to yield, but working himself up to +imagine he was acting very heroically. And notwithstanding nurse's +distress, and Floss's tears, off he marched his unfortunate little +brother to the study. + +"Papa," he said, knocking at the door, "may I come in? There's something +I must speak to you about immediately." + +"Come in, then," was the reply. "Well, and what's the matter now? Has +Carrots hurt himself?" asked his father, naturally enough, for his +red-haired little son looked pitiable in the extreme as he crept into +the room after Maurice, frightened, bewildered, and, so far as his +gentle disposition was capable of such a feeling, indignant also, all at +once. + +"No," replied Maurice, pushing Carrots forward, "he's not hurt himself; +it's worse than that. Papa," he continued excitedly, "you whipped me +once, when I was a little fellow, for telling a story. I am very sorry +to trouble you, but I think it's right you should know; I am afraid you +will have to punish Carrots more severely than you punished me, for he's +done worse than tell a story." Maurice stopped to take breath, and +looked at his father to see the effect of his words. Carrots had +stopped crying to listen to what Maurice was saying, and there he +stood, staring up with his large brown eyes, two or three tears still +struggling down his cheeks, his face smeared and red and looking very +miserable. Yet he did not seem to be in the least ashamed of himself, +and this somehow provoked Mott and hardened him against him. + +"What's he been doing?" said their father, looking at the two boys with +more amusement than anxiety, and then glancing regretfully at the +newspaper which he had been comfortably reading when Mott's knock came +to the door. + +"He's done much worse than tell a story," repeated Maurice, "though for +that matter he's told two or three stories too. But, papa, you know +about nurse losing a half-sovereign? Well, _Carrots_ had got it all the +time; he took it out of nurse's purse, and hid it away in his paint-box, +without telling anybody. He can't deny it, though he tried to." + +"Carrots," said his father sternly, "is this true?" + +Carrots looked up in his father's face; that face, generally so kind and +merry, was now all gloom and displeasure--why?--Carrots could not +understand, and he was too frightened and miserable to collect his +little wits together to try to do so. He just gave a sort of little +tremble and began to cry again. + +"Carrots," repeated his father, "is this true?" + +"I don't know," sobbed Carrots. + +Now Captain Desart, Carrots' father, was, as I think I have told you, a +sailor. If any of you children have a sailor for your father, you must +not think I mean to teach you to be disrespectful when I say that +sailors _are_, there is no doubt, inclined to be hot-tempered and hasty. +And I do not think on the whole that they understand much about +children, though they are often very fond of them and very kind. All +this was the case with Carrots' father. He had been so much away from +his children while they were little, that he really hardly knew how +they had been brought up or trained or anything about their childish +ways--he had left them entirely to his wife, and scarcely considered +them as in any way "_his_ business," till they were quite big boys and +girls. + +But once he did begin to notice them, though very kind, he was very +strict. He had most decided opinions about the only way of checking +their faults whenever these were serious enough to attract his +attention, and he could not and would not be troubled with arguing, or +what he called "splitting hairs," about such matters. A fault was a +fault; telling a falsehood was telling a falsehood; and he made no +allowance for the excuses or "palliating circumstances" there might be +to consider. One child, according to his ideas, was to be treated +exactly like another; why the same offence should deserve severer +punishment with a self-willed, self-confident, bold, matter-of-fact lad, +such as Maurice, than with a timid, fanciful, baby-like creature as was +his little Fabian, he could not have understood had he tried. + +Nurse knew all this by long experience; no wonder, kind though she knew +her master to be, that she trembled when Mott announced his intention of +laying the whole affair before his father. + +But poor Carrots did not know anything about it. "Papa" had never been +"cross" to him before, and he was far from clearly understanding why he +was "cross" to him now. So he just sobbed and said "I don't know," which +was about the worst thing he could possibly have said in his own +defence, though literally the truth. + +"No or yes, sir," said Captain Desart, his voice growing louder and +sterner--I think he really forgot that it was a poor little shrimp of +six years old he was speaking to--"no nonsense of 'don't knows.' Did you +or did you not take nurse's half-sovereign out of her drawer and keep +it for your own?" + +"No," said Carrots, "I never took nucken out of nurse's drawer. I never +did, papa, and I didn't know nurse had any sovereigns." + +"Didn't you know nurse had _lost_ a half-sovereign? Carrots, how can you +say so?" interrupted Mott. + +"Yes, Floss told me," said Carrots. + +"And Floss hid it away in your paint-box, I suppose?" said Mott, +sarcastically. + +"No, Floss didn't. I hided the sixpenny my own self," said Carrots, +looking more and more puzzled. + +"Hold your tongue, Maurice," said his father, angrily. "Go and fetch the +money and the tomfool paint-box thing that you say he had it in." + +Mott did as he was told. He ran to the nursery and back as fast as he +could; but, unobserved by him, Floss managed to run after him and crept +into the study so quietly that her father never noticed her. + +Maurice laid the old paint-box and the half-sovereign down on the table +in front of his father; Captain Desart held up the little coin between +his finger and thumb. + +"Now," he said, "Carrots, look at this. Did you or did you not take this +piece of money out of nurse's drawer and hide it away in your +paint-box?" + +Carrots stared hard at the half-sovereign. + +"I did put it in my paint-box," he said, and then he stopped. + +"What for?" said his father. + +"I wanted to keep it for a secret," he replied. "I wanted to--to--" + +"_What?_" thundered Captain Desart. + +"To buy something at the toy-shop with it," sobbed Carrots. + +Captain Desart sat down and looked at Mott for sympathy. + +"Upon my soul," he said, "one could hardly believe it. A child that one +would think scarcely knew the value of money! Where can he have learnt +such cunning; you say you are sure he was told of nurse's having lost a +half-sovereign?" + +"Oh, yes," said Mott; "he confesses to that much himself." + +"Floss told me," said Carrots. + +"Then how can you pretend you didn't know this was nurse's--taking it +out of her drawer, too," said his father. + +"I don't know. I didn't take it out of her drawer; it was 'aside Floss's +doll," said Carrots. + +"He's trying to equivocate," said his father. Then he turned to the +child again, looking more determined than ever. + +"Carrots," he said, "I must whip you for this. Do you know that I am +ashamed to think you are my son? If you were a poor boy you might be put +in prison for this." + +Carrots looked too bewildered to understand. "In prison," he repeated. +"Would the prison-man take me?" + +"What does he mean?" said Captain Desart. + +Floss, who had been waiting unobserved in her corner all this time, +thought this a good opportunity for coming forward. + +"He means the policeman," she said. "Oh, papa," she went on, running up +to her little brother and throwing her arms round him, the tears +streaming down her face, "oh, papa, poor little Carrots! he _doesn't_ +understand." + +"Where did _you_ come from?" said her father, gruffly but not unkindly, +for Floss was rather a favourite of his. "What do you mean about his not +understanding? Did you know about this business, Floss?" + +"Oh no, papa," said Floss, her face flushing; "I'm too big not to +understand." + +"Of course you are," said Captain Desart; "and Carrots is big enough, +too, to understand the very plain rule that he is not to touch what +does not belong to him. He was told, too, that nurse had lost a +half-sovereign, and he might then have owned to having taken it and +given it back, and then things would not have looked so bad. Take him up +to my dressing-room, Maurice, and leave him there till I come." + +"May I go with him, papa?" said Floss very timidly. + +"No," said her father, "you may not." + +So Mott led off poor weeping Carrots, and all the way upstairs he kept +sobbing to himself, "I never touched nurse's sovereigns. I never did. I +didn't know she had any sovereigns." + +"Hold your tongue," said Mott; "what is the use of telling more stories +about it?" + +"I didn't tell stories. I said I hided the sixpenny my own self, but I +never touched nurse's sovereigns; I never did." + +"I believe you're more than half an idiot," said Mott, angry and yet +sorry--angry with himself, too, somehow. + +Floss, left alone with her father, ventured on another appeal. + +"You won't whip Carrots till mamma comes in, will you, papa?" she said +softly. + +"Why not? Do you think I want her to help me to whip him?" said Captain +Desart. + +"Oh no--but--I think perhaps mamma would understand better how it was, +for, oh papa, dear, Carrots _isn't_ a naughty boy; he never, never tells +stories." + +"Well, we'll see," replied her father; "and in the meantime it will do +him no harm to think things over by himself in my dressing-room for a +little." + +"Oh, poor Carrots!" murmured Floss to herself; "it'll be getting dark, +and he's all alone. I _wish_ mamma would come in!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CARROTS "ALL RIGHT" AGAIN. + + "When next the summer breeze comes by, + And waves the bush, the flower is dry." + + _Walter Scott._ + + +Floss crept upstairs to the dressing-room door. It was locked. Though +the key was in the lock, she knew she must not turn it; and even had it +been open she would not have dared to go in, after her father's +forbidding it. But she thought she might venture to speak to Carrots, to +comfort him a little, through the door. She was dreadfully afraid that +he might feel frightened in there alone if it got dark before he was +released, for sometimes he was afraid of the dark--he was such a little +boy, remember. + +Floss tapped at the door. + +"Carrots," she said, "are you there?" + +[Illustration: Floss tapped at the door. "Carrots," she said, "are you +there?" _To face page_ 78.] + +"Yes," said Carrots; "but you can't come in, Floss. Mott has locked me +in." + +"I know," said Floss; "what are you doing, Carrots? Are you very +unhappy?" + +"Not so very. I'm crying--I'm crying a great lot, Floss, but I don't +think I'm so very unhappy--not now you've come to the door." + +"Poor Carrots," said Floss, "I'll stay by the door, if you like. I'll +just run down to the front door now and then, to see if mamma is coming, +and then I'll come straight back to you." + +"All right," said Carrots. Whenever he wanted to seem very brave, and +rather a big boy, he used to say "all right," and just now he was trying +very hard to be like a big boy. + +There was silence for a minute or two... Then Carrots called out again. + +"Floss," he said, "are you there?" + +"Yes, dear," replied faithful Floss. + +"I want just to tell you _one_ thing," he said. "Floss, I never did +touch nurse's sovereigns. I never knowed she had any." + +"It wasn't a sovereign; it was a _half_-sovereign," corrected Floss. + +"I don't under'tand how it _could_ be a half-sovereign," said Carrots. +"But I never touched nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it." + +"Then where _did_ you find the half-sovereign?" began Floss, "and +why--oh, Carrots," she broke off, "I do believe that's the front door +bell. It'll be mamma coming. I must run down." + +"All right," called out Carrots again. "Don't be long, Floss; but please +tell mamma all about it. I _don't_ under'tand." + +He gave a little sigh of perplexity, and lay down on the floor near the +window, where the room was lightest, for the darkness was now beginning +to creep in, and he felt very lonely. + +Poor Mrs. Desart hardly knew what to think or say, when, almost before +she had got into the house, she was seized upon by Maurice and Floss, +each eager to tell their own story. _Carrots_ naughty, _Carrots_ in +disgrace, was such an extraordinary idea! + +"Nurse," she exclaimed, perceiving her at the end of the passage, whence +she had been watching as anxiously as the children for her mistress's +return, "nurse, what is the meaning of it all?" + +"Indeed, ma'am," nurse was beginning, but she was interrupted. "Come in +here, Lucy," said Captain Desart to his wife, opening the study door, +"come in here before you go upstairs." + +And Mrs. Desart did as he asked, but Floss again managed to creep in +too, almost hidden in the folds of her mother's dress. + +"I can't believe that Carrots is greedy, or cunning, or obstinate," said +his mother, when she had heard all. "I cannot think that he understood +what he was doing when he took the half-sovereign." + +"But the hiding it," said Captain Desart, "the hiding it, and yet to my +face persisting that he had never touched nurse's half-sovereign. I +can't make the child out." + +"He says he didn't know nurse had any sovereigns," put in Floss. + +"Are you there again, you ubiquitous child?" said her father. + +Floss looked rather frightened--such a long word as ubiquitous must +surely mean something very naughty; but her father's voice was not +angry, so she took courage. + +"Does he know what a sovereign means?" said Mrs. Desart. "Perhaps there +is some confusion in his mind which makes him seem obstinate when he +isn't so really." + +"He said he knew _I_ had sovereigns," said Floss, "and I couldn't think +what he meant. Oh, mamma," she went on suddenly, "I do believe I know +what he was thinking of. It was my kings and queens." + +And before her father or mother could stop her, she had darted off to +the nursery. In two minutes she was back again, holding out to her +mother a round wooden box--the sort of box one often used to see with +picture alphabets for little children, but instead of an alphabet, +Floss's box contained a set of round cards, each about the size of the +top of a wine-glass, with the heads of all the English kings and queens, +from William the Conqueror down to Victoria! + +"'Sovereigns of England,' mamma, you see," she exclaimed, pointing to +the words on the lid, and quite out of breath with hurry and excitement, +"and I very often call them my sovereigns; and of course Carrots didn't +understand how there could be a _half_ one of them, nor how nurse could +have any." + +"It must be so," said Mrs. Desart to her husband; "the poor child really +did _not_ understand." + +"But still the taking the money at all, and hiding it?" said Captain +Desart. "I don't see that it would be right not to punish him." + +"He has been punished already--pretty severely for him, I fancy," said +Floss's mother, with a rather sad smile. "You will leave him to me now, +won't you, Frank?" she asked her husband. "I will go up and see him, and +try to make him thoroughly understand. Give me the sovereigns, Floss +dear, I'll take them with me." + +Somewhat slowly, Carrots' mother made her way upstairs. She was tired +and rather troubled. She did not believe that her poor little boy had +really done wrong wilfully, but it seemed difficult to manage well among +so many children; she was grieved also, at Maurice's hastiness and want +of tender feeling, and she saw, too, how little fitted Carrots was to +make his way in this rough-and-ready world. + +"How would it be without me! My poor children," she thought with a sigh. + +But a little hand was slipped into hers. + +"Mamma, dear, I'm _so_ glad you thought of the sovereigns. I'm _sure_ +Carrots didn't mean to be naughty. Mamma dear, though he _is_ so +little, Carrots always means to be good; I don't think he could even be +frightened into doing anything that he understood was naughty, though he +is so easily frightened other ways." + +"My good little Floss, my comforter," said her mother, patting Floss's +hand, and then they together made their way to the dressing-room. + +It was almost dark. The key was in the lock, and Mrs. Desart felt for it +and turned it. But when she opened the door it was too dark in the room +to distinguish anything. + +"Carrots," she said, but there was no answer. "Where can he be?" she +said rather anxiously. "Floss, run and get a light." + +Floss ran off: she was back again in a minute, for she had met nurse on +the stairs with a candle in her hand. But even with the light they could +not all at once find Carrots, and though they called to him there was no +answer. + +"Can he have got out of the window?" Mrs. Desart was beginning to say, +when Floss interrupted her. + +"Here he is, mamma," she exclaimed. "Oh, poor little Carrots! mamma, +nursie, do look." + +There he was indeed--fast, fast asleep! Extra fast sleep, for his +troubles and his tears had worn him out. He was lying in a corner of a +large closet opening out of the dressing-room. In this closet Captain +Desart hung up his coats and dressing-gowns, and doubtless Carrots had +crept into it when the room began to get dark, feeling as if in the +hanging garments there was some comfort and protection; and there he +lay, looking so fair and innocent, prettier than when he was awake, for +his cheeks had more colour, and his long eye-lashes, reddy-brown like +his hair, showed clearly on his fair skin. + +"Poor little fellow, how sweet he looks," said Mrs. Desart. "Nurse, lift +him up and try to put him to bed without waking him. We must wait to +disentangle the confusion in his mind till to-morrow morning." + +And very tenderly nurse lifted him up and carried him off. + +"My bonnie wee man," she murmured; for though it was many and many a day +since she had seen her native land, and she had journeyed with her +master and mistress to strange countries "far over the sea," she was apt +when her feelings were stirred to fall back into her own childish +tongue. + +So no more was said to or about Carrots that evening; but Floss went to +bed quite happy and satisfied that "mamma" would put it all right in the +morning. I don't think Mott went to bed in so comfortable a mood; yet +his mother had said nothing to him! + +Cecil and Louise had, though. Cecil told him right out that he was a +horrid tell-tale, and Louise said she only wished _he_ had red hair +instead of Carrots; which expressions of feeling on the part of such +very grown-up young ladies meant a good deal, for it was not often they +troubled themselves much about nursery matters. Cecil, that is to say, +for Louise, who was fair haired and soft and gentle, and played very +nicely on the piano, was just a shadow of Cecil, and if Cecil had +proposed that they should stay in bed all day and get up all night, +would have thought it a very good idea! + +And the next morning Mrs. Desart had a long talk with Carrots. It was +all explained and made clear, and the difference between the two kinds +of "sovereigns" shown to him. And he told his mother all--all, that is +to say, except the "plan" for saving sugar and getting money instead, +which had first put it into his head to keep the half-sovereign to get a +new doll for Floss. He began to tell about the plan, but stopped when he +remembered that it was Floss's secret as well as his own; and when he +told his mother this, she said he was quite right not to tell without +Floss's leave, and that as nurse knew about it, they might still keep it +for their secret, if they liked, which Carrots was very glad to hear. + +He told his mother about his thinking perhaps the fairies had brought +the "sixpenny," and she explained to him that now-a-days, alas! that was +hardly likely to be the case, though she seemed quite to understand his +fancying it, and did not laugh at him at all. But she spoke very gravely +to him, too, about _never_ taking anything that was not his; and after +listening and thinking with all his might, Carrots said he thought he +"kite under'tood." + +"I am never, never to take nucken that I'm not sure is mine," he said +slowly. "And if ever I'm not sure I'm to ask somebody, you, or nursie, +or Floss--or _sometimes_, perhaps, Cecil. But I don't think I'd better +ask Mott, for perhaps he wouldn't under'tand." + +But Mott's mother took care that before the day was over Mott _should_ +"under'tand" something of where and how he had been in fault; that there +are sometimes ways of doing _right_ which turn it into "wrong;" and that +want of pity and tenderness for the wrong _doer_ never, never can be +right. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A LONG AGO STORY. + + "You may laugh, my little people, + But be sure my story's true; + For I vow by yon church steeple, + I was once a child like you." + + _The Land of Long Ago._ + + +If any of you children have travelled much, have you noticed that on a +long journey there seem to come points, turns--I hardly know what to +call them--after which the journey seems to go on differently. More +quickly, perhaps more cheerfully, or possibly less so, but certainly +_differently_. Looking back afterwards you see it was so--"from the time +we all looked out of the window at the ruined abbey we seemed to get on +so much faster," you would say, or--"after the steamer had passed the +Spearhead Point, we began to feel dull and tired, and there was no more +sunshine." + +I think it is so in life. Suddenly, often quite unknowingly, we turn a +corner sometimes of our history, sometimes of our characters, and +looking back, long afterwards, we make a date of that point. It was so +just now with my little Carrots. This trouble of his about the +half-sovereign changed him. I do not mean to say that it saddened him +and made him less happy than he had been--at his age, thank God, few, if +any children have it in them to be so deeply affected--but it _changed_ +him. It was his first peep out into life, and it gave him his first real +_thoughts_ about things. It made him see how a little wrong-doing may +cause great sorrow; it gave him his first vague, misty glimpse of that, +to my thinking, saddest of all sad things--the way in which it is +possible for our very nearest and dearest to mistake and misunderstand +us. + +He had been in some ways a good deal of a baby for his age, there is no +doubt. He had a queer, baby-like way of not seeming to take in quickly +what was said to him, and staring up in your face with his great +oxen-like eyes, that did a little excuse Maurice's way of laughing at +him and telling him he was "half-witted." But no one that really looked +at those honest, sensible, tender eyes could for an instant have thought +there was any "want" in their owner. It was all _there_--the root of all +goodness, cleverness, and manliness--just as in the acorn there is the +oak; but of course it had a great deal of _growing_ before it, and, more +than mere growing, it would need all the care and watchful tenderness +and wise directing that could be given it, just as the acorn needs all +the rain and sunshine and good nourishing soil it can get, to become a +fine oak, straight and strong and beautiful. For what do I mean by "it," +children? I mean the "own self" of Carrots, the wonderful "something" in +the little childish frame which the wisest of all the wise men of +either long ago or now-a-days have never yet been able to describe--the +"soul," children, which is in you all, which may grow into so beautiful, +so lovely and perfect a thing; which may, alas! be twisted and stunted +and starved out of all likeness to the "image" in which it was created. + +Do you understand a little why it seems sometimes such a very, very +solemn thing to have the charge of children? When one thinks what they +_should_ be, and again when one thinks what they _may_ be, is it not a +solemn, almost too solemn a thought? Only we, who feel this so deeply, +take heart when we remember that the Great Gardener who never makes +mistakes has promised to help us; even out of _our_ mistakes to bring +good. + +As I have said, the affair of the lost half-sovereign did not leave any +lastingly painful impression on Carrots, but for some days he seemed +unusually quiet and pale and a little sad. He had caught cold, too, with +falling asleep on the dressing-room floor, nurse said, for the weather +was still exceedingly chilly, though the spring was coming on. So +altogether he was rather a miserable looking little Carrots. + +He kept out of the way and did not complain, but "mamma" and nurse and +Floss did not need complaints to make them see that their little man was +not quite himself, and they were extra kind to him. + +There came just then some very dull rainy days, regular rainy days, not +stormy, but to the children much more disagreeable than had they been +so. For in _stormy_ weather at the seaside there is too much excitement +for anyone to think whether it is disagreeable or not--there is the +splendid sight of the angry, troubled sea, there are the wonderful +"storm songs" of the wind to listen to. Of course, as Carrots used to +say, at such times it is "dedful" to think of the poor sailors; but even +in thinking of them there is something that takes one's thoughts quite +away from one's self, and one's own worries and troubles--all the +marvellous stories of shipwreck and adventure, from Grace Darling to old +Sinbad, come rushing into one's mind, and one feels as if the sea were +the only part of the world worth living on. + +But even at the seaside, regular, steady, "stupid" rainy days are +trying. Carrots sat at the nursery window one of these dull afternoons +looking out wistfully. + +"Floss," he said, for Floss was sitting on the floor learning her +geography for the next day, "Floss, it _is_ so raining." + +"I know," said Floss, stopping a minute in her "principal rivers of +northern Europe." "I wish there wasn't so much rain, and then there +wouldn't be so many rivers; or perhaps if there weren't so many rivers +there wouldn't be so much rain. I wonder which it is!" + +"Which beginned first--rivers or rain?" said Carrots, meditatively, +"_that_ would tell." + +"I'm sure I don't know, and I don't believe anybody does," said Floss, +going on again with her lesson. "Be quiet, Carrots, for one minute, and +then I'll talk to you." + +Carrots sat silent for about a minute and a half; then he began again. + +"Floss," he said. + +"Well," replied Floss, "I've very nearly done, Carrots." + +"It's werry dull to-day, Floss; the sea looks dull too, it isn't dancey +a bit to-day, and the sands look as if they would _never_ be nice for +running on again." + +"Oh, but they will, Master Carrots," said nurse, who was sitting near, +busy darning stockings. "Dear, dear! don't I remember feeling just so +when I was a child? In winter thinking summer would never come, and in +summer forgetting all about winter!" + +"Is it a werry long time since you were a child?" inquired Carrots, +directing his attention to nurse. + +"It's getting on for a good long time, my dear," said nurse, with a +smile. + +"Please tell me about it," said Carrots. + +"Oh yes, nursie dear, do," said Floss, jumping up from the floor and +shutting her book. "I've done all my lessons, and it would just be nice +to have a story. It would amuse poor little Carrots." + +"But you know all my stories as well, or even better, than I do myself," +objected nurse, "not that they were ever much to tell, any of them." + +"Oh yes, they were. They are very nice stories indeed," said Floss, +encouragingly. "And I'm very fond of what you call your mother's +stories, too--aren't you, Carrots?--about the children she was nurse +to--Master Hugh and Miss Janet. Tell us more about them, nursie." + +"You've heard all the stories about them, my dears, I'm afraid," said +nurse. "At least, I can't just now think of any worth telling but what +you've heard." + +"Well, let's hear some not worth the telling," said Floss, persistently. +"Nurse," she went on, "how old must Master Hugh and Miss Janet be by +now? Do you know where they are?" + +"Master Hugh is dead," said nurse, "many a year ago, poor fellow, and +little Miss Janet--why she was fifteen years older than I; mother only +left them to be married when Miss Janet was past twelve. She must be +quite an old lady by now, if she is alive--with grandchildren as old as +you, perhaps! How strange it seems!" + +"She must have been a very nice little girl, and so must Master Hugh +have been--a nice little boy, I mean. That story of 'Mary Ann Jolly' was +_so_ interesting. I suppose they _never_ did anything naughty?" said +Floss, insinuatingly. + +"Oh, but they did," replied nurse, quite unsuspicious of the trap laid +for her. "Master Hugh was very mischievous. Did I never tell you what +they did to their dog Caesar?" + +"No, never," said both the children in a breath; "do tell us." + +"Well, it was one Sunday morning, to tell it as mother told me," began +nurse. "You know, my dears," she broke off again, "it was in Scotland, +and rather an out-of-the-way part where they lived. I know the place +well, of course, for it wasn't till I was seventeen past that I ever +left it. It is a pretty place, out of the way even now, I'm told, with +railways and all, and in those days it was even more out-of-the-way. Six +miles from the church, and the prayers and the sermon very long when you +got there! Many and many a time _I've_ fallen asleep at church, when I +was a little girl. Well, to go back to Master Hugh and Miss Janet. It +was on a Sunday morning they did the queer piece of mischief I'm going +to tell you of. They had been left at home with no one but an old woman, +who was too deaf to go to church, to look after them. She lived in the +lodge close by, and used to come into the house to help when the +servants were busy, for she was a very trusty old body. It was not often +the children were left without mother, or perhaps one of the housemaids, +to take care of them, and very often in fine weather they used to be +taken to church themselves, though it was tiring like for such young +things. But this Sunday, everybody had gone to church because it was the +time of the preachings----" + +"The _what_, nurse?" said Floss. "Isn't there preaching every Sunday at +church?" + +"Oh yes, my dear; but what we call the preachings in Scotland means the +time when there is the communion service, which is only twice a year. +You can't understand, my dear," seeing that Floss looked as mystified as +ever; "but never mind. When you are older, you will find that there are +many different ways of saying and doing the same things in churches, +just like among people. But this Sunday I am telling you of, the +services were to be very long indeed, too long for the children, +considering the six miles' drive and all. So they were left at home with +old Phemie." + +"Did they mind?" said Carrots. + +"Oh no; I fancy they were very well pleased. They were always very happy +together, the two of them and Caesar." + +"And of course they promised to be very good," said Floss. + +"No doubt of that," said nurse, with a smile. "Well, they certainly hit +upon a queer way of amusing themselves. Mother came home from church one +of the earliest; she had a lift in one of the farmer's carts, and came +in at the lodge gate just as the carriage with her master and mistress +and the young ladies was driving up. They all got out at the big gate, +and let the coachman drive round to the stable the back way, and mother +came quietly walking up the drive behind them. They were talking +seriously about the sermon they had heard, and feeling rather +solemn-like, I daresay, when all at once there flew down the drive to +meet them the most fearsome-like creature that ever was seen. It was +like nothing in nature, my mother said, about the size of a large wolf, +but with a queer-shaped head and body--at least they looked queer to +them, not knowing what it was--and not a particle of hair or coat of any +kind upon it. It rushed up to my lady, that was Miss Janet's mother, and +tried to leap upon her; but she shrieked to her husband, and he up with +his stick--he always took a stick about with him--and was just on the +point of giving it a fearful blow, never thinking but what it was one of +the beasts escaped from some travelling show, when one of the young +ladies caught his arm. + +"'Stop, father!' she cried. 'Don't you see who it is? It's _Caesar_.' + +"'_Caesar!_' said he. 'My dear, _that's_ never Caesar.' + +"But Caesar it was, as they soon saw by the way he jumped and whined, and +seemed to beg them to understand he was himself. He was frightened out +of his wits, poor doggie, for he had never felt so queer before, and +couldn't understand what had come over him." + +"And what _had_ come over him?" asked the children eagerly. + +"Why, Master Hugh and Miss Janet had spent the morning in cropping him!" +replied nurse. "The hair, and he had great long thick hair, was cut off +as close and as neat as if it had been shaved; it was really wonderful +how clean they had done it without cutting or wounding the poor doggie. +They had taken great pains about it, and had spent the best part of the +morning over it--the two of them, Master Hughie with the great kitchen +scissors, and Miss Janet with a wee fine pair she had found in her +mamma's workbox, the little monkey! And such a sight as the kitchen +dresser was with hair! For they told how they had made Caesar jump up on +to the dresser and lie first on one side and then on the other, till all +was cut off." + +"Were they punished?" asked Floss, anxiously. And at this question +Carrots looked very woebegone. + +"They were _going_ to be," said nurse, "but somehow, I cannot justly say +how it was, they were let off. The whole thing was such a queer idea, +their father and mother could not but laugh at it, though they didn't +let the children see them. And what do you think my lady did? She took +all poor Caesar's hair and spun it up into worsted for knitting, mixing +it, of course, with long yarn." + +"Did _she_ spin?" asked Floss. "I thought you said she was a lady." + +"And that she was, Miss Flossie, and none the less so for being able to +spin and to knit, and to cook too, I daresay," said nurse. "But ladies, +and high born ones too, in those days turned their hands to many things +they think beneath them now. I know Miss Janet's mother would never have +thought of letting any one but herself wash up her breakfast and tea +services. The cups were a sight to be seen, certainly, of such beautiful +old china; they were worth taking care of; and that's how old china has +been kept together. There isn't much of what's in use now-a-days will go +down to your grand-children, and great grand-children, Miss Flossie, +with the smashing and dashing that goes on. My lady had a white wood +bowl kept on purpose, and a napkin of the finest damask, and a large +apron of fine holland that she put on, and, oh yes, a pair of +embroidered holland cuffs she used to draw on over her sleeves up to the +elbow; and a lady she looked, I can assure you, rinsing out and drying +her beautiful cups, with her pretty white hands!" + +"Did you ever see her?" asked Floss. + +"Yes, when she was getting to be quite an old lady, I've seen her +several times when I've been sent up a message by mother to the house. +For my mother was a great favourite of hers; I never went there but my +lady would have me in to have a piece." + +"A _piece_?" repeated Floss. + +Nurse laughed. "A slice of bread and jam, I should say, my dear. I +forget that I'm far away from the old life when I get to talking of +those days. And to think I'm getting on to be quite an old woman myself; +older in some ways than my lady ever was, for my hair is fast turning +grey, and hers had never a silver streak in it to the last day of her +life, and she died at eighty-four!" + +Carrots was getting a little tired, for he hardly understood all that +nurse was saying. To create a diversion he climbed up on to her knee, +and began stroking her face. + +"Never mind, nursie," he said. "I'll always love you, even when your +hair's _kite_ grey, and I would marry you if you like when I'm big, only +I've promised to marry Floss." + +"Oh you funny little Carrots," said Floss. "But, nurse," she went on, +"what did Janet's mamma do with the hair when she had spun it?" + +"She knitted it into a pair of stockings for Master Hughie," said nurse; +"but they weren't much use. They were well enough to look at, but no +mortal boy could have worn them without his legs being skinned, they +_were_ so pricky." + +"And what became of Caesar?" said Floss. "Did his hair ever grow again?" + +"Oh yes," said nurse, "in time it did, though I believe it never again +looked quite so silky and nice. But Caesar lived to a good old age, for +all that. He didn't catch cold, for my lady made mother make him a coat +of a bit of soft warm cloth, which he wore for some time." + +"How funny he must have looked," said Floss. + +"What are you talking about?" said a voice behind her, and turning +round, Floss saw Cecil, who had come into the room without their hearing +her. + +"About a doggie," answered Carrots. "Oh, Cis, nurse has been telling us +such a lubly story about a doggie. Nursie, dear, won't you tell us +another to-morrow?" + +"My stories are all worn out, my dear," said nurse, shaking her head. + +"Couldn't _you_ tell us one, Cis?" said Carrots. + +"Make up one, do you mean?" said Cecil. "No, indeed, I'm sure I never +could. Are they always at you to tell them stories, nurse? If so, I pity +you." + +"Poor little things," said nurse, "it's dull for them these wet days, +Miss Cecil, and Master Carrots' cold has been bad." + +Cecil looked at her little brother's pale face as he sat nestling in +nurse's arms, and a queer new feeling of compunction seized her. + +"I couldn't _tell_ you a story," she said; "but if you like, the first +afternoon it's rainy, and you can't go out, I'll _read_ you one. Miss +Barclay lent me a funny old-fashioned little book the other day, and +some of the stories in it are fairy ones. Would you like that, Carrots?" + +Floss clapped her hands, and Carrots slid down from nurse's knee, and +coming quietly up to Cecil, threw his arms round her neck, and gave her +a kiss. + +"I hope it'll rain to-morrow," he said, gravely. + +"It _is_ kind of Miss Cecil," said nurse; and as Cecil left the nursery +she added to herself, "it will be a comfort to her mother if she begins +to take thought for the little ones, and I've always felt sure it was in +her to do so, if only she could get into the way of it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"THE BEWITCHED TONGUE." + + "Thou will not fail + To listen to a fairy tale." + + _Lewis Carroll._ + + +It _did_ rain the next day! And Cecil did not forget her promise. Just +as the old nursery clock was striking four, a full hour still to her +tea-time, she marched into the room with a little old brown book in her +hand. I wonder if any of you have ever seen that little old book, or one +like it, I would say? It was about the size of the first edition of +'Evenings at Home,' which some of you are sure to have in your +book-cases. For I should think _everybody's_ grandfathers and +grandmothers had an 'Evenings at Home' among their few, dearly-prized +children's books. + +Do you know how very few those books were? You may have heard it, but I +scarcely fancy you have ever thought over the great difference between +yourselves and long-ago-children in this respect. Now-a-days, when you +have galloped through all the brilliant blue and green and scarlet +little volumes that have been given to you on birthdays and +Christmas-days, you come with a melancholy face to your mother, and tell +her you have "nothing to read." And then, most likely, when your mother +goes to the library, she chooses a book for you out of the "juvenile +department," and when it is done you get another, till you can hardly +remember what you have read and what you haven't. But as for reading any +book twice over, _that_ is never to be thought of. + +Not so was it long ago. Not only had no children many books, but +everywhere children had the same! There was seldom any use in little +friends lending to each other, for it was always the same thing over +again: 'Evenings at Home,' 'Sandford and Merton,' 'Ornaments +Discovered,' and so on. + +You think, I daresay, that it must have been very stupid and tiresome to +have so little variety, but _I_ think you are in some ways mistaken. +Children really _read_ their books in those days; they put more of +themselves into their reading, so that, stupid as these quaint old +stories might seem to you now-a-days, they never seemed so then. What +was wanting in them the children filled up out of their own fresh hearts +and fancies, and however often they read and re-read them, they always +found something new. They got to know the characters in their favourite +stories like real friends, and would talk them over with their +companions, and compare their opinions about them in a way that made +each book as good, or better, than a dozen. + +So there is something to be said for this part of the 'ancien +regime'--if you do not understand what that means, you will some +day--after all! + +The volume that Cecil Desart brought into the nursery was called 'Faults +Corrected; or,' (there was always long ago an "or" in the titles of +books) 'Beneficent Influences.' + +"Some of the stories are stupid," said Cecil, as she sat down. "Miss +Barclay said it was her mother's when she was a little girl, so it must +be rather ancient; but I think I've found one that will amuse you, and +that Carrots can understand." + +"What's it called?" said Floss, peering over her sister's shoulder. +"'Faults Corrected; or, Ben--ben--' what word's that, Cecil?" + +"Sit _down_, Floss, and be quiet, or I won't read to you," said Cecil, +emphatically. "That's the name of the whole book you are looking at, and +you wouldn't understand the word if I told it you. The name of the story +I'm going to read to you is, 'The Bewitched Tongue; or, Think before you +speak. A Fairy Tale.'" + +[Illustration: "Now, be quiet all of you, I'm going to begin." _To face +page_ 114.] + +Floss would have liked to clap her hands, but she was afraid of another +snub from Cecil, so she restrained her feelings. + +"When there come very long words," continued Cecil--"there often are in +old books--I'll change them to easy ones, so that Carrots may +understand. Now, be quiet all of you, I'm going to begin. 'The Bewitched +Tongue, etc.' I'm not going to read all the title again. 'In a beautiful +mansion' (that just means a fine house, Carrots) 'surrounded by pleasure +grounds of great extent, there lived, many years ago, a young girl named +Elizabetha. She was of charming appearance and pleasing manners; her +parents loved her devotedly, her brothers and sisters looked upon her +with amiable affection, her teachers found her docile and intelligent. +Yet Elizabetha constantly found herself, despite their affection, +shunned and feared by her best and nearest friends, and absolutely +disliked by those who did not know her well enough to feel assured of +the real goodness of her heart. + +'This sad state of things was all owing to one unfortunate habit. She +had a hasty tongue. Whatever thought was uppermost in her mind at the +moment, she expressed without reflection; she never remembered the +wholesome adage "Think before you speak," or that other excellent +saying, "Second thoughts are best." + +'Her disposition was far from unamiable or malicious, yet the mischief +of which she was the cause was indescribable. Every servant in the +household dreaded to hear the sound of her voice, for many had she +involved in trouble and disgrace; and as her temper was naturally quick +and impetuous, and she never attempted to check her first expressions of +provocation, small and even trifling disagreements were by her foolish +tongue exaggerated into lasting discord, long after all real cause of +offence had passed from her mind. + +'"My brother will not forgive me," she confessed one day to her mother, +with many tears, "and the quarrel was only that he had broken the vase +of flowers that stands on my table. I forgave _him_--I would rather +lose twenty vases than his affection--and yet he will not speak to me, +and passes me by with indignant looks." + +'"And did you at once express your forgiveness to him, Elizabetha?" said +her mother. "When you first discovered the accident, what words escaped +you?" + +'Elizabetha reflected, and presently her colour rose. + +'"I fear, ma'am," she said, "I fear that at the first sight of the broken +vase I spoke unguardedly. I exclaimed that without doubt Adolphus had +thrown down the ornament on purpose to annoy me, and that I wished so +mean-spirited a youth were not my brother. My little sister Celia was +beside me at the time--can she have carried to him what I said? I did +not really mean that; my words were but the momentary expression of my +vexation." + +'Her mother gravely shook her head. + +'"It is your own doing altogether, Elizabetha," she said, "and you +cannot complain that your brother resents so unkind and untrue a +charge." + +'Elizabetha burst into tears, but the harm was done, and it was some +time before Adolphus could forget the pain of her unjust and hasty +words. + +'Another day her little brother Jacky had just with great pains and care +written out his task for the next morning, when, having been called to +supper, he found on his return to the schoolroom his exercise book all +blotted and disfigured. + +'"Who can have done this?" he cried in distress. + +'Elizabetha was just entering the room. + +'"Oh," she exclaimed, "it is Sukey, the under-housemaid, that you have +to thank for that. I saw her coming out of the room, and she had no +reason to enter it. Out of curiosity she has been looking at your books, +and blotted your exercise." + +'Jacky was but eight years old, full young for prudence or reflection. +Downstairs he flies, his face inflamed with anger, and meeting the +unfortunate Sukey at the door of the servants' hall, upbraids her in no +gentle terms for her impertinence. In vain the poor girl defends +herself, and denies Master Jacky's accusation; the other servants come +to the rescue, and the whole household is in an uproar, till suddenly +Miss Elizabetha is named as the source of the mischief. + +'"Ah," says the old housekeeper, "do not distress yourself, Sukey; we +all know what Miss Elizabetha's tongue is!" + +'And thereupon the poor girl is freed from blame. She had only gone to +the schoolroom by the desire of an upper servant to mend the fire, and +the real offender was discovered to have been the cat! + +'This affair coming to the ears of Elizabetha's father, he reproved her +with great severity. Mortified and chagrined, she, as usual, wept +bitterly, and ashamed to meet the cold looks of the household, she +hastened out into the garden and paced up and down a shady walk, where +she imagined herself quite hidden from observation.'" + +"Cis," interrupted Carrots at this point, "I don't understand the +story." + +"I'm very sorry," said Cecil, "I didn't notice what a lot of long words +there are. Shall I leave off?" + +"_I_ understand it," said Floss. + +"Then read it for Floss, please, Cis," said Carrots. "I'll be kite +still." + +"You're a good little boy," said Cecil; "I suppose I may as well finish +it as I have begun. We're coming to the fairy part now. Perhaps you'll +understand it better. Where was I? Oh yes, 'imagined herself quite +hidden from observation. But in this she was mistaken, as my readers +will see. + +'She walked slowly up and down. "Oh my tongue, my cruel tongue!" she +exclaimed, "what trouble it is the cause of! How can I cure myself of my +rash speech?" + +'"Do you in all sincerity wish to cure yourself, Elizabetha?" said a +voice beside her; and turning in surprise at its sound, the young girl +perceived at a few steps' distance a fair and sweet looking lady, clad +in silvery-white, adorned with wreaths of the loveliest flowers. + +'"Assuredly I do, gracious lady," replied Elizabetha, mastering as well +as she was able her surprise, for she felt that this beautiful lady must +be a fairy of high degree. + +'"Then _I_ will help you," said the lady, "but on one condition, +hereafter to be explained. You are content to agree to this beforehand?" + +'"To _anything_, kind fairy," replied the young girl, "if only my +unhappy fault can be cured." + +'The fairy smiled, "Hasty as ever," she murmured; "however, in _this_ +instance, you shall have no reason to regret your words. Put out your +tongue, Elizabetha." + +'Trembling slightly, the young girl obeyed. But her fears were uncalled +for--the fairy merely touched the unruly member with her wand and +whispered some words, the meaning of which Elizabetha could not +understand. + +'"Meet me here one week hence," said the fairy; "till then your tongue +will obey _my_ commands. And if you then feel you have reason to feel +grateful to me, I will call upon you to redeem your promise." + +'And before Elizabetha could reply, the lady had disappeared. + +'Full of eagerness and curiosity, Elizabetha returned to the house. It +was growing dusk, and as she sped along the garden paths something ran +suddenly against her, causing her to trip and fall. As she got up she +perceived that it was Fido, the dog of her brother Adolphus. The +creature came bounding up to her again, full of play and affection. But +in her fall Elizabetha had bruised herself; she felt angry and +indignant. + +'"Get off with you, you clumsy wretch," she exclaimed, or meant to +exclaim. But to her amazement the words that issued from her mouth were +quite otherwise. + +'"Gently, gently, my poor Fido. Thou didst not mean to knock me down, +however," she said in a kind and caressing tone, which the dog at once +obeyed. + +'Hardly knowing whether she were awake or dreaming, Elizabetha entered +the house. She was met by her sister Maria. + +'"Where have you been, Elizabetha?" she inquired. "Your friends the +Misses Larkyn have been here, but no one could find you, so they have +gone." + +'Elizabetha felt extremely annoyed. She had not seen her friends for +some weeks, and had much wished for a visit from them. + +'"I think it was most ill-natured of none of you to look for me in the +garden. You might have known I was there if you had cared to oblige +me," were the words she intended to say, but instead of which were +heard the following: + +'"I thank you, my dear Maria. I am sorry to have missed my friends, but +it cannot be helped." + +'And when Maria, pleased by her gentleness, went on to tell her, that +knowing that her disappointment would be great, and as the Misses Larkyn +had been too pressed for time to linger, she had arranged to walk with +Elizabetha the following day to see them, how rejoiced was Elizabetha +that her intended words of unkindness had not been uttered! "Kind fairy, +I thank thee!" she whispered to herself. + +'The following day the same state of things continued. Many times before +its close did Elizabetha's hasty temper endeavour to express itself in +rash speech, but each time the tongue remained faithful to its new +mistress. Whenever Elizabetha attempted to speak hastily, the words that +issued from her lips were exactly the opposite of those she had +intended to utter; and as her real disposition was amiable and good, not +once did she regret the metamorphosis. + +'Her parents, her brothers and sisters, and even the servants of the +family, were amazed and delighted at the change. + +'"Go on as thou hast begun, my child," said her father, on the morning +of the day on which Elizabetha was again to meet the fairy, "and soon +the name of Elizabetha will be associated with gentleness and discretion +in speech as in deed." + +'Elizabetha blushed. She would have liked to confess that the credit of +the improvement was not her own; but a moment's reflection reminded her +that she had not received permission to divulge the secret, and kissing +affectionately her father's hand, she thanked him for his encouragement. + +'At the appointed hour she was on the spot, awaiting the fairy, who soon +appeared. A benignant smile overspread her features. + +'"Well, Elizabetha," she said, "and hast thou found that I have deserved +thy gratitude?" + +'"Kind fairy," cried the young girl, "I cannot thank thee enough. Ask of +me what thou wilt, I shall be only too ready to perform it." + +'The fairy smiled. "My condition is a very simple one," she said. "It is +only this. Whenever, Elizabetha, you feel yourself in the least degree +discomposed or out of temper, utter no word till you have mentally +counted the magic number seven. And if you follow this rule, it will be +but seldom that your tongue, of which I now restore to you the full +control" (she touched it again with her wand as she spoke) "will lead +you into trouble. Your disposition, though generous, is naturally hasty +and impulsive, and till by a long course of self-restraint you have +acquired complete mastery over yourself, you will find that I was right +in my experiment of obliging your tongue to utter the exact opposite of +what you, in your first haste, would have expressed." + +'And before Elizabetha could reply, she had disappeared. + +'But Elizabetha kept her promise, and to thus following her fairy +friend's advice she owes it that she is now the object of universal +esteem and affection, instead of being hated, despised, and feared as +the owner of "a hasty tongue."' + +Cecil stopped. + +"Is that all?" said Carrots. + +"Yes, that's all. Did you like it?" + +"I did understand better about the fairy," Carrots replied. "I think she +was a werry good fairy; don't you, Floss?" + +"_Very_," said Floss. "I think," she went on, "whenever I am cross, I +shall _fancy_ my tongue is bewitched, just to see if it would be best to +say the opposite of what I was going to say. Wouldn't it be fun?" + +"Better than fun, perhaps, Miss Flossie," said nurse. "I think it would +be a very good thing if big people, too, were sometimes to follow the +fairy's rule." + +"People as big as you, nursie?" asked Carrots. + +"Oh yes, my dear," said nurse. "It's a lesson we're all slow to learn, +and many haven't learnt it by the end of their threescore years and +ten--'to be slow to anger,' and to keep our tongues from evil." + +"_That's_ out of the Bible, nursie, all of it," said Floss, as if not +altogether sure that she approved of the quotation. + +Cecil laughed. + +"What are you laughing at, Cis?" said Floss. "It _is_ out of the Bible." + +"Well, no one said it wasn't," said Cecil. + +"Cis," said Carrots, "will you read us another story, another day?" + +"If I can find one that you can understand," said Cecil. + +"Never mind if I can't," replied Carrots. "I like to hear you reading, +even if I can't understand. I like your voice. I _think_," he added +after a pause, "I _think_, Cis, I'll marry you too, when I'm big. You +and Floss, and nurse." + +So Cecil had good reason to feel that she was greatly appreciated in the +nursery. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SYBIL. + + "The children crowned themselves with wishes, + And every wish came true." + + _Crowns for Children._ + + +But it is not always, or even often, that wishes "come true," is it, +children? Or if they do come true, it is in a different way; so +different that they hardly seem the same. Like the little old woman in +the ballad, who turned herself about and wondered and puzzled, but +couldn't make out if she was herself or not, we stare at our fulfilled +wishes and examine them on every side, but in their altered dress--_so_ +different from, and, very seldom, if ever, as pretty as that which they +wore in our imagination--we cannot believe that they are themselves! + +Do you remember the fancies that Carrots and Floss used to have about +their cousin Sybil, and how they wished for her to come to see them? +Well, about a fortnight after the affair of the lost half-sovereign, +Sybil actually _did_ come to see them! She and her mamma. But it all +happened quite differently from the way the children had planned it, so +that just at first they could hardly believe it _was_ "a wish come +true," though afterwards, when it was over, and they began to look back +to it as a real thing instead of forwards to it as a fancy, they grew to +think it had really turned out nicer than any of their fancies. + +You would like to hear all about it, I dare say. + +It took them all by surprise--this sudden visit of Sybil and her mother, +I mean. There was no time for planning or arranging anything. There just +came a telegram one afternoon, to say that Mrs. ----, no, I don't think +I will tell you the name of Sybil's mother, I want you just to think of +her as "auntie"--and her little girl would arrive at Sandyshore, late +that same evening, "to stay one day," said the telegram, on their way to +some other place, it does not matter where. + +It was several years since Captain Desart had seen his sister--that is, +"auntie." He had been abroad at the time of her marriage, for she was a +good many years younger than he, and since then, _she_ and her husband +had been a great deal out of England. But now at last they were going to +have a settled home, and though it was a good way from Sandyshore, still +it was not like being in another country. + +"I am sorry Florence can only stay one day," said Mrs. Desart to her +husband; "it seems hardly worth while for her to come so far out of her +way for so short a time." + +"I am sorry too," said Captain Desart; "but a day's better than +nothing." + +Floss and Carrots were sorry _too_--but what they were _most_ sorry for +was not that Sybil and her mamma were only going to stay there one day, +it was that they would not arrive till after the children's bedtime! So +much after, that there could not even be a question of their "sitting up +till they come." There was even a doubt of Cecil and Louise doing so, +and Floss could not help feeling rather pleased at Mott's getting a +decided snub from his father when he broached the subject on his own +account. + +"Sit up till after ten o'clock--nonsense. Nobody wants you. Go to bed as +usual, of course," said Captain Desart. + +"How tired that poor little girl will be!" said Mrs. Desart pityingly. +"Children, you must all be quiet in the morning so as not to wake her +early. And you must be very gentle and kind to her, for you know she is +not accustomed to companions." + +"Yes, mamma," said Floss and Carrots promptly. Mott said nothing, for, +_of course_, the speech could not have been addressed to _him_. Mr. +Maurice Desart, nearly thirteen years old, could not be supposed to be a +companion to a mite of a girl of six. + +"It won't be difficult to be quiet to-morrow morning," said Floss to +Carrots, "for I expect I shall be very sleepy, as I have _quite_ made up +my mind to stay awake to-night, till I hear them come." + +It was then eight o'clock, and Floss was going to bed. Carrots had been +in bed nearly an hour, but was not yet asleep. He soon dropped off, +however, and how long do you think Floss kept awake? Till twenty-three +minutes past eight, or not so late probably, for that was the time by +the nursery clock, when nurse came in to see that her charges were +tucked up for the night, and found them both fast asleep! + +They were in a state of great expectation the next morning when they +were being dressed, but they remembered their promise and were very +quiet. + +"When shall we see Sybil?" asked Carrots; "will she have breakfast in +the nursery?" + +"Of course not," said Floss, "she won't be up for ever so long, I dare +say." + +"Poor little thing, she must be very tired," said nurse. + +"Did you see her last night?" asked Floss eagerly. + +Nurse shook her head. "It was past ten when they arrived," she said, +"the little lady was put to bed at once, your mamma and sisters only saw +her for a minute." + +So Floss and Carrots ate their bread and milk in undiminished curiosity. +Not long afterwards the bell rang for prayers in the dining-room as +usual, and the two, hand in hand, went in to take their places among the +others. + +They were rather late, Captain Desart had the Prayer Book and Bible +open before him, and was looking impatient, so Floss and Carrots sat +down on their little chairs and left "good-mornings" till after prayers. +There was a strange lady beside their mother, and, yes, beside the +strange lady a strange little girl! Was _that_ Sybil? Where was the +fair-haired, blue-eyed, waxen, doll-like Sybil, they had expected to +see? + +What they did see was worth looking at, however. It was a very pretty +Sybil after all. Small and dark, dark-eyed, dark-haired, and browny-red +as to complexion, Sybil was more like a gipsy than an angel as they had +fancied her. She had _very_ pretty, very bright, noticing eyes, and she +was pretty altogether. She was dressed in black velvet with a bright +crimson sash, and her hair was tied with crimson ribbon; her neat little +legs were clothed in black silk stockings, and there were buckles on her +tiny shoes. + +Floss and Carrots hardly dared to stare at her for her eyes seemed to +be noticing them all over, and when prayers were finished, and their +mamma called them to come to speak to their aunt and cousin, do you know +they actually both felt quite shy of Sybil, small as she was? More shy +of her than of their aunt, somehow; _she_ seemed more like what they had +expected, or, perhaps, the truth was, they had "expected" much less +about her. Besides no children ever were shy with auntie, such a thing +would have been impossible. + +They kissed Sybil, Floss feeling very tall and lanky beside her compact +tiny cousin, and Carrots feeling I don't know how. He just looked at +Sybil with his soft wondering brown eyes, in such a solemn way that at +last she burst out laughing. + +"What a funny boy you are!" she exclaimed. "Mother dear, _isn't_ he a +funny boy?" + +"Aren't you very tired, Sybil?" said Floss, afraid that she would be +laughed at as "a funny girl," next. + +"No, thank you," said Sybil, quite grave, and like a grown-up person, +all in a minute. "I'm becustomed to travelling. I'm not tired at all, +but I'll tell you what I am--I'm," and out broke her merry laugh again, +"I'm very _hungry_." + +"That's a broad hint," said Captain Desart, laughing too. "Florence, +your daughter is ready for breakfast, do your hear? Where will you sit, +Miss Sybil? Beside your old uncle, eh?" + +"Yes, thank you," replied Sybil, "if you won't call me Miss Sybil, +please. And may this little boy sit 'aside me?" + +"This little boy and this little girl have had their breakfast," said +Mrs. Desart. "Run off, Carrots and Floss, you are both to have a whole +holiday you know, so Sybil will see plenty of you." + +"I wish they could see more of each other," said auntie, as the children +left the room. "Some time you must let them both come and pay us a long +visit, when we are really settled you know." + +Auntie gave a little sigh as she said this--she felt so tender and kind +to Carrots and Floss, and something made her a little sorry for them. +Though they were healthy, happy-looking children, and their dress was +neat and cared for, they did not look like her Sybil, whose clothes were +always like those of a little princess. Floss's frock was rather +faded-looking, and there was a mark where it had been let down, and +Carrots' brown holland blouse had arrived at a very _whitey_-brown +shade, through much wear and washing. + +"It must be hard work with so many children, and such small means," she +thought to herself, for auntie had been married young to a rich man, and +knew little of "making both ends meet," but aloud she only said, "how +lovely little Fabian would look in black velvet, Lucy! What a complexion +he has!" + +"Yes, if you can forgive him his hair," said Mrs. Desart. + +"I think his hair is beautiful," observed Sybil, and then went on eating +her breakfast. + +They all laughed, but there was still a little sigh at the bottom of +auntie's heart. There was reason for it greater than the sight of her +little nephew's and niece's shabby clothes. + +But there was no sigh in the hearts of Floss and Carrots. + +"Carrots," said Floss, as they made their way to the nursery to decide +which of their small collection of toys were fit for Sybil's inspection, +"Carrots, _did_ you hear." + +"What auntie said?" asked Carrots. "Yes, I heard. Do you think mamma +will ever let us go?" + +"Some day, perhaps," said Floss, and oh what dreams and plans and +fancies hung on that "perhaps!" "_Fancy_, Carrots, we should go in the +railway, you and me, Carrots, alone perhaps." + +"Oh, Floss!" said Carrots, his feelings being beyond further expression. + +That "some day" was a good way off, however, but "to-day" was here, and +a nice bright-looking to-day it was. How happy they were! How happy +Sybil was! + +For, somehow, though she was dressed like a princess, though since +babyhood she had had _everything_ a child could wish for, though very +often, I must confess, she had had "her own way," a good deal more than +would have been good for most children, little Sybil was not spoilt. The +spoiling dropped off her like water down a duck's back, and auntie never +found out it had been there at all! Perhaps after all there is a kind of +spoiling that isn't spoiling--love and kindness, and even indulgence, do +not spoil when there is perfect trust and openness, and when a child at +the same time is taught the one great lesson, that the best happiness is +trying to make others happy too. + +They played on the sands nearly all day, and Sybil, to her great +delight, was covered up from damage by one of Carrots' blouses. The sun +came out bright and warm, and they built the most lovely sand house you +ever saw. + +"I'd like to live in it always," said Carrots. + +"Oh you funny boy," said Sybil patronisingly, "and what would you do at +night, when it got cold, and perhaps the sea would come in." + +"Perhaps the mermaids would take care of him till the morning," said +Floss. + +"What are the mermaids?" asked Sybil. + +"Pretty ladies," said Carrots, "who live at the bottom of the sea, only +they've got tails." + +"Then they can't be pretty," said Sybil decidedly, "not unless their +tails are beautiful and sweeping out, like peacocks! Are they?--one day +I tied a shawl of mother's on, it was a red and gold shawl, and I +sweeped it about just like a peacock,--that _would_ be pretty." + +"I don't think mermaids' tails are like that," said Carrots, doubtfully, +"but they _are_ pretty ladies, aren't they, Floss?" + +"Beautiful," said Floss, "but they're very sad. They come up to the +shore at night and comb their hair and cry dreadfully." + +"What do they cry for?" asked Sybil and Carrots, pressing up to Floss, +and forgetting all about the lovely sand house. + +"Because they--no, you couldn't understand," she broke off; "it is no +good telling you." + +"Oh do tell," said the children. + +"Well," said Floss, "I read in a book of Cecil's, they cry because they +haven't got any souls. When they die they can't go to heaven, you see." + +Sybil and Carrots looked very solemn at this. Then a sudden thought +struck Carrots. + +"How can they cry if they haven't got souls, Floss?" he said, "nurse +says it's our souls that make us glad and sorry. Are you _sure_ the poor +mermaids haven't got souls?" + +"I'm only telling you what I read in a book," said Floss. "I dare say +it's all a sort of fairy tale. Don't you like fairy tales, Sybil?" + +"No," said Sybil, "I like stories of naughty boys and girls best--_very_ +naughty boys and girls." + +"Oh, Sybil!" said Carrots, "_I_ don't, because they are always unhappy +in the end." + +"No, they're not. Sometimes they all get good. Mother always makes them +get good at the end," replied Sybil. + +"Does auntie tell you stories?" said Floss. + +"Yes, of course, for I can't read them to myself yet. I'm learning, but +it is _so_ hard," said Sybil dolefully. + +"I wish auntie would tell _us_ stories." + +"P'raps she will when you come to my house," said Sybil, encouragingly. +"Would you think that a treat?" + +"It would be a 'normous treat." + +"We're going to have a treat to-day," said Floss. "We're going to have +tea in the dining-room with you, Sybil, and auntie and everybody, and I +think it's time to go in now, because we must change our frocks." + +Carrots had never had tea in the dining-room before, and felt a little +overpowered by the honour. He sat very still, and took whatever was +offered to him, as nurse had taught him. Cecil poured out the tea, and +to please the children she put an extra allowance of sugar into their +cups. Carrots tasted his, and was just thinking how very nice it was, +when it flashed across his mind that he should not have had any sugar. +He put down his cup and looked round him in great perplexity. If only he +could ask Floss. But Floss was at the other side of the table, she +seemed to be drinking her tea without any misgiving. Wasn't it naughty? +Could she have forgotten? Carrots grew more and more unhappy; the tears +filled his eyes, and his face got scarlet. + +"What's the matter, dear?" said auntie, who was sitting next him, "is +your tea too hot? Has it scalded your poor little mouth?" + +She said it in a low voice. She was so kind and "understanding," she +knew Carrots would not have liked everybody round the table to begin +noticing him, and as she looked at him more closely, she saw that the +tears in his eyes were those of distress, not of "scalding." + +"No, thank you," said Carrots, looking up in auntie's face in his +perplexity; "it isn't that. My tea is _werry_ good, but it's got sugar +in." + +"And you don't like sugar? Poor old man! Never mind, Cecil will give you +another cup. You're not like Sybil in your tastes," said auntie, kindly, +and she turned to ask Cecil for some sugarless tea for her little +brother. + +"No, no, auntie. Oh, _please_ don't," whispered Carrots, his trouble +increasing, and pulling hard at his aunt's sleeve as he spoke, "I _do_ +like sugar werry much--it isn't that. But mamma said I was never, +_never_ to take nucken that wasn't mine, and sugar won't be mine for two +weeks more, nurse says." + +Auntie stared at her little nephew in blank bewilderment. What _did_ he +mean? Even her quick wits were quite at fault. + +"What _do_ you mean, my dear little boy?" she said. + +Suddenly a new complication struck poor Carrots. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, "it's a secret, it's a secret, and I'm telling it," +and he burst into tears. + +It was impossible now to hide his trouble. Everybody began to +cross-question him. + +"Cry-baby," muttered Maurice, and even Mrs. Desart said, "Carrots, I +wonder at your behaving so when your aunt and cousin are here. Floss, do +you know what is the matter with him?" + +"No, mamma," said Floss, looking as she always did when Carrots was in +distress, ready to cry herself. + +"Carrots," said Captain Desart, sharply, "go to the nursery till you +learn to behave properly." + +Carrots got slowly down off his high chair, and crept away. But +everybody looked troubled and uncomfortable. + +Auntie hated to see people looking troubled and uncomfortable. She +thought a minute, and then she turned to Mrs. Desart. + +"Lucy," she said, "will you let me try what I can do with the poor +little fellow? I am sure it was not naughtiness made him cry." + +And almost before Mrs. Desart could reply, auntie was off to the nursery +in search of Carrots. + +He had left off crying, and was sitting quietly by the window, looking +out at his old friend the sea. + +"What are you thinking about, my poor old man?" said auntie, fondly. + +Carrots looked up at her. "I like you to call me that," he said. "I was +thinking about our hoops and what a long time four weeks is." + +"Has that to do with you having no sugar?" asked auntie. + +[Illustration: "What are you thinking about, my poor old man?" said +auntie, fondly. _To face page_ 148.] + +"Yes," said Carrots. "How _did_ you guess? You're like a fairy, auntie." +But then his face grew troubled again. "I forgot," he went on, "it's a +secret. It's Floss's secret too. I would so like to tell you, for I +don't know what to do. I don't mind having no tea, but they all thought +I was naughty." + +"Wait a minute," said auntie. She hurried out of the room, but was back +in a minute. + +"I've asked Floss," she said, "and she gives you leave to tell me. So +now, perhaps, when I know all about it, I can tell you what to do." + +The telling did not take Carrots long; he was so glad to show auntie he +had not meant to be naughty. Auntie listened quite gravely, and when he +had finished she said she thought he was quite right not to take any +sugar. + +"But do you think Floss did?" said Carrots, anxiously. + +"Perhaps having tea in the dining-room made her forget," said auntie. +"We'll ask her afterwards, and if she did forget, I'll tell you what she +must do. She must go without one day longer than you. Now come along +with me, and I'll make it all right, you'll see." + +When they got back to the dining-room auntie quietly lifted Carrots on +to his chair again, and said to his mamma with a smile, "It was all a +mistake; I thought it was; Carrots was not naughty at all, and he is +quite happy again now." + +And Mrs. Desart smiled too, so Carrots really did feel happy again. But +he wondered what auntie would do about the tea, which was still standing +there as he had left it, and it would be wrong to "waste" it, thought +Carrots. + +Sybil was sitting on auntie's other side, and auntie glancing at her cup +saw that it was empty. So auntie quietly put Carrots' cup before Sybil +and gave Carrots the empty one. + +"Cecil," she said, "will you give Carrots some tea without any sugar?" + +Cecil saw that auntie had some reason for asking this, so she gave +Carrots the tea as auntie said, and Carrots drank it and ate his bread +and butter and a piece of cake, with great content. + +The only person who did not seem _quite_ contented was Sybil. + +"Mother," she whispered, "I don't like having Carrots' tea. It's quite +cold." + +But as Carrots didn't hear it, it didn't much matter. For you see, Sybil +had had one cup of nice hot tea, so she was not so badly off after all. + +And, alas! the very next morning auntie and Sybil had to go away. And +the long-talked of and fancied-about visit was over. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING. + + "The way was long, the wind was cold." + + +Soon after auntie's visit summer really began to come. It was very +pleasant while it lasted, but this year it was a very short summer, and +the winter that came after was a very severe one, and made many people +ill. It did not make Carrots ill, nor Floss, nor any of the Desart +children, for they were all strong, but it was very bad for their +mother. As the winter went on, she seemed to get weaker and weaker; +there were very few days on which she could go out, and if the spring +had not been an early and very mild one, I hardly think her strength +would have lasted. + +But with the finer weather she seemed to get better again. The children +were of course very glad, but still they had not felt frightened by her +illness. It had come on so slowly and gradually that they had got +accustomed to it, as children do. They thought it was just the cold +wintry weather that had made her ill, and that when the spring came she +would get better. And when the spring came and she _did_ get better, +they were perfectly satisfied and happy. + +By the end of _this_ summer Carrots was seven years old--no longer in +the least a baby, though he was not tall for his age. He could read, of +course, perfectly, and write a little. Now and then he wrote little +letters to Sybil in answer to hers, for she was very particular about +getting answers. She was only just beginning to learn to write, and +sometimes when she got tired of working away at real "A's" and "B's" and +"C's" in her letters, she would dash off into a lot of "scribble," which +she said was "children's writing," and "if Carrots didn't know what it +meant he must be very stupid, as he was a child too." + +Carrots _didn't_ know what it meant, but he never liked to say so, and I +dare say it did not much matter. But _his_ letters to Sybil were quite +real. Any one could have understood them. + +Long ago Floss and he had bought their hoops. They were quite "old +friends" now. They had bought them at the toy-shop, just as they had +planned, and, curiously enough when their mamma and nurse counted up how +much was owing to them for the sugar, it came to _exactly_ the price of +the hoops. + +But I must tell you what happened just about the time Carrots had his +seventh birthday. The summer was nearly over again and already the cold +winds, of which there were so many at Sandyshore, were beginning to be +felt. Floss noticed that her mother very seldom went out now, and even +in the house she generally had to wrap herself up in a shawl. + +"Mamma, I hope the cold weather isn't going to make you ill again?" +Floss said, one day when she and Carrots came in from a race on the +sands, all hot and rosy with running. + +"I don't know, dear," said her mother with a little sigh. + +"I wish you could run about like us. That would make you _so_ hot," said +Carrots. + +Mrs. Desart smiled. Just then her glance happened to fall on Floss's +boots. "My dear child," she said, "those boots are really not fit to go +out with. There's a great hole at the side of one of them." + +"I know, mamma," said Floss, "but they're going to be mended. Nurse +thinks they'll do a good while longer, if they're mended. I hope they +will, for I know you always have so many new things to get when winter +begins to come--haven't you, mamma?" + +Mrs. Desart sighed again. + +"I should have liked all your things to be so nice," she said, more as +if speaking to herself than to Floss, "but it can't be helped." + +Something in her tone caught Floss's attention. + +"Why, mamma?" she asked, "why did you want our things to be so nice?" + +"Because, dears, you may be going away from home," replied Mrs. Desart. + +Floss and Carrots stared with astonishment. "Going away from home," +Floss repeated, utterly unable to say more. Carrots could say nothing at +all, he could _only_ stare. + +"Yes," continued Mrs. Desart, "I had meant to tell you about it before, +but I have kept putting it off--" she stopped and seemed to hesitate. + +"Why, mamma?" said Floss again. "Don't you like us to go? Are you coming +with us, mamma?" + +"Are we going to auntie's?" said Carrots. + +His asking this seemed to please his mother. + +"You would like to go to auntie's, wouldn't you, Carrots?" she said. + +Carrots stroked his mother's shawl up and down two or three times before +he answered. + +"I'd like to go if you would come too," he said at last, "but I think I +would rather stay at home, thank you, if you can't come." + +Mrs. Desart's eyes filled with tears. "Poor little Carrots!" she said, +softly smoothing his curls with her hand. "But if it would please me for +Floss and you to go without me?" she said. + +"I'll go if you want me to go, mamma," said Carrots. + +"I must explain a little," said Mrs. Desart, and then she went on to +tell the children how it was. The doctor had said she must not risk +another winter at Sandyshore, and it had been arranged for her to go to +a warmer climate. Cecil and Louise were to go with her; Captain Desart +would be with them as much as he possibly could, and Maurice was to live +at school. And what concerned the two little ones almost more than +anything, _nurse_ was to go too! "I must have some one kind and sensible +with me, in case, in case--" and again Mrs. Desart hesitated. + +"In case you were very tired with travelling, or if you were to get a +bad cold again; somebody who could make nice white wine whey and things +like that," said Floss, who was of a practical turn of mind, "oh yes, +mamma, I quite understand." + +"Though nurse is getting old, she has been so much accustomed to +travelling, too," said Mrs. Desart, "and we are going a long way--to +Algeria; Floss, do you know where that is?" + +"Over the sea!" said Floss, "I wish we might come too, mamma, Carrots +and I," she exclaimed. "You will be _so_ far away." + +"But you will be with auntie, and you know how kind auntie is," said +her mother, forcing herself to speak cheerfully. "And it is such a +pretty place where auntie lives." + +"Is the sea there?" said Carrots. + +"No, but the hills are," answered Mrs. Desart with a smile. "I am quite +sure you will like it." And she went on to tell them so much about +auntie's pretty home that for a little they almost forgot everything but +the pleasant part of the change that was to come so soon. + +And it did come very soon. It seemed but a few days from the afternoon +they had first heard about it all, when Floss and Carrots found +themselves early one morning at the little railway station with their +father, waiting for the train. + +Captain Desart was to travel with them for the first hour, to take them +to the "junction" where they were to change and get into a train which +would take them straight to Whitefriars, near which was auntie's house. + +You will laugh, children, I dare say, and think Floss and Carrots very +countrified and ignorant when I tell you that they had never been a long +railway journey before. Never, that is to say, that they could +_remember_--for their parents had come to Sandyshore when Floss was a +baby, and Carrots, as you know, had been born there. + +So you can hardly fancy what a wonderful event this journey was to them. + +Their little hearts were very full at first after parting with their +mother, and sisters, and nurse, and all that made the Cove House home to +them. + +And their mamma had kissed them so _many_ times, as if she could not +really say good-bye, though she was not generally a very petting or +kissing mamma, but rather quiet and grave. + +And nurse had the tears in her eyes, and Louise had them pouring down +her face, and Cecil had _her_ face squeezed up in a sort of way that +Floss knew meant she was determined she would not cry. Floss felt +troubled in a way she could not understand, and I think Carrots did too. +They had a feeling that the bigger people knew of more reason for sorrow +than had been told to them, and yet they could not imagine what it could +be. And after all, to _them_ the parting for even four or five months +was almost as great a trouble as they could understand! only they were +going to "auntie's!" + +"And we will try to be so good, dear mamma," said Floss, bravely choking +down her tears. "We will try to get on with our lessons, too, and write +you nice letters. And--and--" here a sob or two _would_ make its way, "I +can't help crying a little; but I'm sure we shall be very happy, won't +we Carrots?" + +"If mamma wants us to be happy, we'll _try_, won't we Floss?" said +Carrots. He wiped the tears on his mother's cheeks with his own little +pocket handkerchief and looked up in her face piteously. "Please don't +cry, poor mamma," he said; "we _will_ be good and happy." + +Then their father came in and hurried them off, and the farewells were +over--that part of them, at least, for the saying goodbye to Captain +Desart at the junction was rather hard too. + +And at last Floss and Carrots find themselves at the height of their +ambition--alone in a railway carriage travelling to auntie's! But they +do not seem so delighted as they used to fancy they would; they do not +jump about and laugh and chatter in their overflowing pleasure--they sit +quite still, side by side, holding each other's hands and with little +quiet grave faces. + +"Things never come the same as people fancy," said Floss at last. "We +never thought we should go to auntie's because poor mamma was ill, did +we Carrots?" + +"No, we never did," said Carrots. "But mamma will soon get better, +won't she, Floss, at that nice warm place?" + +"Oh yes, of course she will," said Floss. "But it's a long way away +Carrots, and I never thought going to auntie's would be like this." + +"No," agreed Carrots again, "we never did." + +"I'm so sorry to leave them all, aren't you, Carrots?" said Floss, her +voice trembling a little. + +"Yes," said Carrots; "and Floss, I'm very sorry, too, to leave the sea. +I never left the sea before, you know." + +"But the _sea_ won't miss you," said Floss, "and poor mamma and nursie +and all of them _will_ miss us. That's what I keep thinking of." + +"When should we eat our dinner, Floss?" said Carrots, with an instinct +that it would be as well to change the subject. + +"Not just yet. When we've gone about half way would do; and papa said +that great big place, Millingham, would be about half way." + +"But if there were any other people to get into the carriage?" said +Carrots. + +"Well, it wouldn't matter," said Floss. "People must eat when they are +travelling." + +"But wouldn't we have to ask them to have some too?" suggested Carrots. + +"I don't know," said Floss; "I never thought of that. Perhaps it _would_ +be polite. But there are only eight sandwiches, Carrots; eight +sandwiches and four sponge cakes and a packet of Albert biscuits. I hope +a great many people won't get in." + +No one got in at the next station. Only the guard put his head in at the +door, as Captain Desart had asked him to do, to see how the little pair +were getting on. Carrots had thoughts of offering _him_ a sandwich, but +he disappeared before there was time to do so, which Floss thought very +fortunate when she heard of Carrots' intention. "For you see," she said, +"if we began offering them to him, we would have to do it at every +station, and if there are eight stations before Whitefriars, all our +sandwiches would be gone." + +"He might have a biscuit for a change," said Carrots, submissive, but +scarcely convinced. "He is a nice man, Floss--he calls us 'Well, sir,' +and 'Miss.' Do you think papa told him to say 'Well, sir,' and 'Miss?'" + +But before Floss had time to answer they had stopped again, and this +time some one did get into their carriage. The new-comer was a small, +neat, oldish lady. She looked rather grim at first, but after a while +she grew decidedly friendly, and no wonder; for at Millingham Floss and +Carrots unpacked their little basket of provisions, and I don't think +the grimmest of maiden ladies could have remained grim after the +politeness with which the children treated her. + +They selected the nicest looking sandwich, putting it on an Albert +biscuit by way of a plate, and then, at a sign from Floss, Carrots +clambered down from his seat and gravely offered it to the lady. + +"I'm sorry there's no mustard, if you like mustard," said Floss; "but +Carrots and I don't like it, and--and--I suppose nurse didn't think of +anyone else." + +The oldish lady looked at the children for a moment before she replied. + +"I am very much obliged to you," she said at last, "but I think I won't +take a sandwich, as I had luncheon before I left home. But if you will +allow me I will have a biscuit. I am very fond of biscuits." + +"I'm so glad," said Floss, hospitably. "Now, Carrots," she said in a +lower voice, "you eat two sandwiches and I'll eat two, and we'll each +have one sponge cake. And that'll do for dinner. We'll eat the rest in +about an hour and pretend we're having tea early." + +The lady asked them a good many questions after this, and told them they +were such well-behaved children, she would not mind travelling all the +way to Whitefriars with them. Floss blushed a little at this; it made +her feel shy to be praised to her face, but still no doubt the lady +meant it kindly, and they were rather sorry when she left them, some +stations before they got to Whitefriars. Their old friend the guard left +them here, too, but he popped his head in for the last time to say that +he was going to speak for them to "him that was coming on now." And +Floss thanked him, though she had not the least idea what he meant. + +But there must have been some mistake about it, for the new guard never +came near them, and when, at the last stoppage before Whitefriars, +another man threw the door open and demanded "tickets," Floss felt too +startled by his rough manner to ask him what they were longing to know, +how far they still had to go. But he took away the tickets. "So we can't +have very far to go," said Floss. "Papa said they would take away the +tickets a little before we got to Whitefriars." + +"Will auntie be at the station?" said Carrots. + +"Yes, I'm sure she will," said Floss. "Auntie and Sybil too, perhaps. +Carrots, I do believe we're there; the train's stopping." + +And in another minute they found themselves in a nice clean-looking +station with several people standing about on the platform, evidently +waiting for the train. + +The children looked out eagerly. There were two or three ladies, one +little girl, and a few other people--but no auntie, no Sybil! + +"P'raps this isn't the place," said Carrots. + +"Please, is this Whitefriars?" inquired Floss of a porter who just then +threw open the door. + +"Whitefriars, yes miss. Any luggage?" + +"Oh yes," said Floss anxiously, "a great deal It's in one of the luggage +carriages, and it's marked with our name." + +The man smiled. "Will you come with me, missie, and show me which it is, +and I'll get it all right for you." + +"Oh, thank you," said Floss, gathering together their cloaks and +baskets, and preparing to descend. + +"What a _kind_ man," whispered Carrots; and when the porter lifted him +out of the carriage he took hold of his hand and ran along beside him as +fast as his little legs could keep up. + +Floss felt quite bewildered at first, when she saw the heaps and heaps +of luggage lying on the platform, all labelled "Whitefriars." It seemed +to her that everybody must have been travelling to Whitefriars to-day! +But by degrees it was claimed and melted away, and the kind porter, to +whom she had already pointed out their "great deal"--one portmanteau, +one bag, and a small tin hat-box--soon picked it up and stood waiting +for further orders. + +"Where am I to take it to, please miss?" he said. "Is there no one here +to meet you?" + +"I don't think so, I don't know what to do," said Floss, looking sadly +troubled again. In the excitement of finding the luggage she had +forgotten this new difficulty, but now it returned in full force. + +"Have you far to go?" said the man. + +"Oh no," said Floss, "auntie's house is near here, I know." + +"Then perhaps little master and you had better walk on, and send for the +luggage afterwards?" suggested the man, never doubting from Floss's +manner that the children were accustomed to the place, and knew their +way. + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Floss uncertainly. + +"Or shall I fetch you a fly from the _Blue Boar_?" said the man. "The +station flies has all drove off." + +"No, thank you; I don't think I have enough money for that," said Floss, +feeling in her pocket for her purse, which she knew contained only her +father's parting gift of half-a-crown, a sixpence with a hole in, and +three pennies of Carrots'! "Your auntie says she will get you +_everything_ you want, so I need not give you any money with you," their +mother had said. Floss had no idea what a fly from the _Blue Boar_ would +cost, but it _sounded_ very grand, and she hardly dared to risk it. + +"Well, I daresay you'll be safest to walk," said the porter, rather +afraid of getting himself into a scrape if he fetched the children a fly +without proper authority, and feeling uncertain, from their very plain +and rather "countrified" appearance, if their friends belonged to the +fly patronising class or not. "I'll keep the luggage safe till it's +sent for--no fear," and with a friendly nod he marched off with their +possessions. + +Holding Carrots by the hand, Floss made her way out of the station. For +about a quarter of a mile the road ran straight before them and they +trudged along contentedly enough. But after awhile they came to a point +where two roads met, one leading to the little watering-place (for the +station was some way from the town), the other out into the country. And +for the first time it struck Floss that she did not know the way. She +looked about her in perplexity. + +"It cannot be far," she said; "mamma always said auntie lived _near_ +Whitefriars. But I wish I knew which way to go." + +Carrots had no suggestion to offer. To make matters worse, it began to +rain--a cold, sleety, late October rain; the children had no umbrella, +and were already tired and hungry. I think it was much to their credit +that they did not lose heart altogether. + +Just as Floss was making up her mind to take the turn leading in the +distance to terraces of houses and gardens and other signs of +civilisation, there came, jogging along the road on a cart-horse, a +farmer's boy. Joyful sight! Floss plucked up heart. + +"Can you tell me, please," she called out, "which is the way to +Greenmays?" + +The farmer's boy turned his thumb in the direction of the country road. +"Yonder," he shouted, without stopping in his jog, "straight on past the +church, and down lane to left." + +"Is it far?" asked Floss, but the boy did not seem to hear. + +There was nothing for it but to go on with their trudge. The rain was +not heavy but very piercingly cold, and the daylight was beginning to +fade. Two or three hot tears at last forced their way down Floss's +cheeks, but she wiped them quickly away, before Carrots could see them. +Carrots said nothing, but Floss knew he was getting tired by the way he +kept lagging behind, every now and then giving a little run to get up to +Floss again. + +"I shouldn't mind so much, Floss," he said at last, "if it would be home +when we get there, and if we were to find mamma and nurse and tea in our +own nursery waiting for us." + +This was altogether too much for Floss. For a moment or two she could +not speak, she was choked with sobs. "Oh, how I do wish poor mamma +hadn't got ill," she said at last. + +"Poor Flossie, dear Flossie," said Carrots, pulling down her face to +kiss in spite of the rain and the dark and the cold and everything. "I +didn't mean to make you cry. And auntie will be very kind when we get +there, won't she, Floss?" + +"Oh yes," said Floss, trying to speak cheerfully, though in her secret +heart there was a little misgiving. It did not look very kind not to +have sent to meet them at the station, and even without this, Floss, +though she had not said so, had felt a little shy and frightened at the +thought of meeting auntie and the strange uncle, and even Sybil again. +It was nearly two years since the visit to Sandyshore, and two years is +a lifetime to a child--it seemed to Floss like going altogether among +strangers. She clasped her little brother's hand tighter as these +feelings passed through her mind. "It won't be so bad for Carrots," she +reflected; "any way he will have me." + +They seemed to have walked a very weary way when at last the church, of +which the farmer's boy had spoken, came in sight--very dimly in sight, +for the daylight was fast dying away. Floss would have passed the church +without noticing it, but the road divided in two just at this place, +and she was obliged to think which way to go. Then the boy's directions +came into her mind. + +"To the left past the church, didn't he say, Carrots?" she said. + +"'Down lane to left,' he said," replied Carrots. + +"Then it _must_ be this way," said Floss, and on they trudged. + +In a few minutes they came to large gates, on one side of which stood a +pretty little house, but such a little house, hardly bigger than a +cottage. + +"Is that auntie's house?" said Carrots. + +"I'm afraid it's too little to be auntie's house," said Floss. "I wish +it was. I would _much_ rather auntie lived in a cottage." + +"Just like Mrs. White's," said Carrots. + +Floss could not help laughing at him; it had left off raining and her +spirits were rising a little. + +"Look Carrots," she said, "there is a light in the cottage window. We'd +better knock at the door and ask if it is auntie's house. It's getting +rather like a fairy story, isn't it Carrots? Fancy if somebody calls out +'Pull the string and the latch will open.'" + +"But that would be the wolf, Floss," said Carrots, pressing closer to +his sister. + +It was no wolf, but a nice, tidy-looking woman with a white cap and a +baby in her arms who opened the door, and stood staring at the two +little wayfarers in bewilderment. Floss grew afraid that she was angry. + +"I'm very sorry--I mean I beg your pardon," she began. "I didn't know +this was your house. We thought perhaps it was auntie's. Can you tell +me, please, where Greenmays is?" + +"This _is_ Greenmays," said the woman. Floss stared: the door opened +right into the kitchen, it couldn't be auntie's house. + +"This is the lodge," continued the woman. "If it's someone at the big +house you're wanting, you must just go straight up the drive. I'd show +you the way," she went on, "but my husband's up at the stables and it's +too cold for baby. You seem wet and tired, you do--have you come far?" + +"Yes," said Floss, wearily, "_very_ far. We thought auntie would meet us +at the station, but there wasn't anybody." + +"They must be kin to the housekeeper, surely," thought the woman. And +yet something indescribable in Floss's manner, and in the clear, +well-bred tones of her small, childish voice, prevented her asking if +this was so. "I wish I could go with you to the house," she repeated, +curiosity and kindliness alike prompting her, "but," she added, looking +doubtfully at the sleeping child in her arms, "I'm afeared for baby." + +"Oh, it doesn't matter, thank you," said Floss, "we can find the way, I +daresay. Good evening," and taking Carrots by the hand, she turned to +go. + +"Good evening," said little Carrots also. + +"Good evening, and I hope you'll find your auntie in," said the woman. +And for a few minutes she stood at the door straining her eyes after the +two forlorn little figures till she could distinguish them no longer in +the darkness of the trees bordering the avenue. "Who can they be?" she +said to herself. "Such a pretty spoken, old-fashioned little pair I +never did see!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HAPPY AND SAD. + + "'Tis gone--and in a merry fit + They run upstairs in gamesome race. + + * * * + + A moment's heaviness they feel, + A sadness at the heart." + + _The Mother's Return._ + + +It was very dark in the drive and Carrots crept close to Floss. But +Floss felt far less afraid of the dark than of the light! when at last +the house came in view and the brightly lit up windows shone out into +the gloom. + +"Oh, what a big house," said Floss. "Oh Carrots, how I do wish that +little cottage had been auntie's house, even though the door did open +right into the kitchen. Don't you Carrots?" + +"I don't know," replied Carrots, "auntie will be very kind to us, won't +she, Floss?" + +"Oh yes," said Floss, "but supposing she is having a party to-night, +Carrots?" + +"Well, we could have tea in the nursery, and go to bed," said Carrots +philosophically. "Oh Floss, _wouldn't_ you like some nice hot tea and +bread and butter?" + +"Poor Carrots," said Floss. And her anxiety to see her little brother in +comfort again gave her courage to ring the bell as loudly as she could. + +A manservant opened the door. Very tall and formidable he looked to the +two children, whose eyes were dazzled by the sudden light, after their +long walk in the dusk. + +"If you please," said Floss, "is auntie at home?" + +The man stared. "_What_ did you say?" he inquired. "Is it a message from +some one?" + +"Oh no," said Floss, "it's just that we've come, Carrots and I--will +you please tell auntie? We've walked all the way from the station, +because there was no one to meet us." + +The man still stared. He had heard something about a young lady and +gentleman, his mistress's nephew and niece, being expected on a visit, +but his ideas were rather slow. He could not all at once take in that +the dilapidated little couple before him could possibly be the looked +for guests. + +But just then another person came upon the scene. A little figure with +bright dark eyes and flying hair came dancing into the hall. + +"Who's there, Fletcher?" she said. "Is it the post?" + +"No miss," said Fletcher, rather glad of some one to consult in his +perplexity. "I don't know who it is--that's to say, it's a little boy +and girl who say as they've come from the station, but I can't justly +make out who it is they want." + +"How funny," said Sybil, coming forward and peering out from under +Fletcher's arm, "perhaps they'll tell _me_ what they want. Who are you, +little girl? Is it my mother you want? Will you give me your message?" + +She looked more like a little princess than ever. She was dressed to go +down to the drawing-room before dinner--all white embroidery and lace +and rose-coloured ribbons. Floss and Carrots looked at her with a sort +of dazzled admiration, mingled with shy bewilderment. It all seemed more +of a mistake than ever--Sybil was evidently not expecting them--if only +the railway station had not been so dreadfully far away, Floss felt as +if she would have liked to take Carrots by the hand and go away back +again, all the long weary way to Sandyshore! + +But _Carrots'_ faith in auntie and Sybil was unshaken--and his childlike +confidence less susceptible of chill. Partly from mortification, partly +to hide that she was crying, Floss stood perfectly silent, but Carrots +pressed forward. + +"It is Flossie and me, Sybil--don't you remember us? We've walked _such_ +a long way, and there was nobody to meet us at the station, and we are +_so_ cold and so hungry!" + +Sybil gave a sort of leap into the air. "Floss and Carrots!" she cried, +"oh mother, mother, come quick, here are Floss and Carrots!" + +She seemed to fly across the hall in one second, and darting down a +passage disappeared, crying out all the way, "Flossie and Carrots--oh +mother, mother, come." + +And before the children had time to consider what they had best do, and +_long_ before the very deliberate Mr. Fletcher had collected his wits +sufficiently to decide upon inviting them to come in, Sybil was back +again, closely followed by her mother, whom she had dragged out of the +drawing-room without any other explanation than her cry of "Floss and +Carrots, oh mother, Flossie and Carrots." + +[Illustration: "It is Flossie and me, Sybil--don't you remember us?" +_To face page_ 184.] + +And when Floss saw auntie running to them, with her kind face all +eagerness and anxiety, the shyness and the disappointment and the +mortification all seemed suddenly to melt away. She rushed into the hall +and threw herself sobbing into auntie's arms. "Oh auntie," she cried, +"we are so tired--poor Carrots is I mean, and so hungry, and I thought +you had forgotten us, and we're so far away from mamma." + +Auntie understood all about it in a moment. She hugged Floss tight, and +only let go of her for an instant to get hold of Carrots and hug him +tight too. And then, when she saw the two tired little white faces, and +felt how wet they were, and saw the tears on Floss's cheeks, she sat +down on the hall floor, still clasping them tight, and actually cried +too. + +"My two poor dear little babes in the wood," she exclaimed. "What a +dreadful mistake! What a cruel auntie you must have thought me!" + +"I didn't know if you wanted us--I thought perhaps you had forgotten +about us coming," whispered Floss. + +"No wonder," said auntie; "but Flossie, darling, I haven't got any +letter to say what day you were coming? That was why we were not at the +station. Sybil and I had been making such delightful plans about how we +should meet you at the station--do you think your father and mother +could have forgotten to write to tell me the day?" + +"Oh no," said Floss, "I know papa wrote to tell you--he wrote the day +before yesterday, for I heard him tell mamma so. And this morning when +the post came, just as we were leaving, he wondered a little that there +was no letter from you, but he said perhaps you hadn't thought it worth +while to write, as you had said any day this week would do for us to +come." + +"Of course I would have written," said auntie; "but what can have become +of the letter?" + +It had evidently gone astray somehow, and that very evening the mystery +was explained, for the postman brought it--a very travel-worn letter +indeed, with two or three scrawls across it in red ink--"Missent to +Whitehurst," "Try Whitefield," etc., etc. + +"Whenever a letter does go wrong, which certainly is not very often, it +is sure to be one of consequence," said auntie. But long before the +letter came Floss and Carrots had forgotten their troubles--at least if +they hadn't it was not auntie's fault, for I can't tell you how kind she +was and what a fuss she made about them. She took them up to Sybil's +nice beautiful warm nursery and all their wet things were taken off, and +Floss was wrapped up in a dressing-gown of auntie's and Carrots in one +of Sybil's, and then they had the most _lovely_ tea you can imagine. + +Sybil's father was away that night and was not coming back till the next +day, and auntie was to have dinner alone, with Sybil beside her, you may +be sure, to "keep her company," and help her to get through dinner by +opening her little mouth for "tastes" every now and then. But auntie had +to manage alone, after all, for of course Sybil would not leave Floss +and Carrots, and auntie sent up the very nicest things from the +dining-table for the children to eat with their tea, and Sybil did get +some "tastes," I can assure you. + +And they laughed at each other in the dressing-gowns, and Floss quite +forgot that she had expected to feel shy and strange. Only when auntie +came up to the nursery again after dinner and made Floss tell her all +about the long walk in the cold and the dark, and about the "kind +porter," and the oldish-looking lady, and, further back still, about +the leaving home in the morning and how poor mamma kissed them "so many, +many times"--Floss could not help crying again a little, nor could +auntie either. And though Carrots and Sybil did not cry, their little +faces looked very solemn and as if they almost thought they _should_ +cry, as they sat side by side on the rug in front of the high nursery +guard, Carrots in the funny red-flannel dressing-gown which made him +look _so_ "old fashioned," and Sybil in her white embroidery and rose +ribbons, crumpling them all up "anyhow" in a way which really went to +Floss's heart, though auntie did not seem to mind. + +Then came bed-time. Such a nice bed-time, for auntie had prepared for +them two dear little rooms, with a door between, that they should not +feel far away from each other. And though it was the very first time in +Carrots' life that he had gone to bed without kind old nurse to tuck +him up, he did not feel unhappy, for Floss reminded him what a good +thing it was that their mother had nurse with her now she was ill, and +besides, Sybil's French maid Denise was _very_ kind and merry, and not +at all "stuck up" or grand. + +And the waking the next morning! + +Who does not know those first wakings in a strange place! Sometimes so +pleasant, sometimes _so_ sad, but never, I think, without a strange +interestingness of their own. This waking was pleasant, though so +strange. The sun was shining for one thing--a great thing, I think I +should call it, and the children felt it to be so. + +They woke about the same time and called out to each other, and then +Floss got out of bed and went to see how Carrots was looking, after all +his adventures. + +"You haven't caught cold I hope, Carrots," she said in a motherly tone. + +"Oh no. I'm _quite_ well," replied Carrots, "I haven't even a cold in my +nose. And isn't it a nice morning, Floss, and isn't this a _lovely_ +room?" + +"Yes," said Floss, "and so is mine, Carrots." + +"And auntie _is_ kind, isn't she, Floss?" + +"Oh, _very_," said Floss. + +"Isn't it nice to see the sun?" said Carrots. "Floss, I can't understand +how it can always be the same sun, however far we go." + +"But don't you remember what I showed you," said Floss, "about the world +being like a little ball, always going round and round a great light, so +_of course_ the great light must always be the same?" + +"Yes," said Carrots dreamily, "but still it seems funny. Will mamma see +the sun at that nice warm place over the sea?" + +"Why of course," said Floss, "it's the sun that makes that place nice +and warm." + +"_Is_ it?" said Carrots. "Is that place nearer the sun than Sandyshore +is, Floss?" + +"No, not exactly. At least it is in a sort of a way--the sunshine falls +straighter on it, but I couldn't explain without a globe and a lot of +fuss," said Floss. "Never mind just now, Carrots--perhaps auntie can +show you." + +"But Floss," persisted Carrots, "I do want to know one thing. Shall we +see the sun in heaven?" + +"No," said Floss decidedly, "_certainly_ not. It says in the Bible there +will be no sun or moon in heaven." + +"Then I don't think I shall like it at all," said Carrots, "for there +won't be any sea there either. I can't think _how_ it can be a nice +place." + +"But Carrots, dear," said Floss in some distress, "you mustn't think of +heaven that way. It isn't like that. Heaven isn't like a place exactly, +mamma says. It is just being _quite_ good." + +"Being _quite_ good," repeated Carrots thoughtfully. "I wish I could be +quite good, Floss, I wish everybody could, don't you?" + +"Yes," said Floss. "But really you must get up, Carrots dear; that will +be good for just now. Being good always comes in little bits like that." + +"But in heaven, the being good will be all in one great big piece, +that's how it will be, isn't it?" said Carrots, as he got out of bed and +began hunting for his slippers. + +I cannot tell you half the history of that first day at Greenmays, or of +many others that followed. They were very happy days, and they were full +of so many new pleasures and interests for Carrots and Floss that I +should really have to write another book to tell you all about them. +Everybody was kind to the children, and everything that could be thought +of to make them feel "at home" was done. And Greenmays was such a pretty +place--Carrots could hardly miss his dear old sea, once he had learnt to +make friends with the hills. At first he could do nothing but gaze at +them in astonishment. + +"I didn't think hills were so big, or that they would have so many +faces," he said to Floss and Sybil the first morning when they were out +in the garden together. + +Sybil burst out laughing. "Oh you funny Carrots!" she said; "you're just +like a boy in a fairy story--you've got such queer fancies." + +"But they're _not_ fancies, Sybil," said Carrots, gravely, turning his +great brown eyes on his cousin. "The hills _have_ got lots of different +faces: that one up there, the one with the round knobby top, has looked +_quite_ different several times this morning. First it looked smiley and +smooth, and then it got all cross and wrinkly, and _now_ it looks as if +it was going to sleep." + +Sybil stared up at the hill he was pointing to. "I see what you mean," +she said; "but it's only the shadows of the clouds." + +"That's pretty," said Carrots: "who told you that, Sybil? I never +thought of clouds having shadows." + +"Nobody told me," said Sybil; "I finded it out my own self. I find out +lots of things," she continued, importantly. "I dare say it's because of +my name--papa says my name means I _should_ find out things, like a sort +of a fairy, you know." + +"Does it?" said Carrots, in a rather awe-struck tone. "I should like +that. When you were little, Sybil," he continued, "were you ever +frightened of shadows? _I_ was." + +"No," said Sybil, "I only thought they were funny. And once papa told me +a story of a shadow that ran away from its master. It went across the +street, at night, you know, when the lamps were lighted: there were +houses opposite, you see, and the shadow went into such a beautiful +house, and wouldn't come back again!" + +"And what after that?" said both Floss and Carrots in a breath. + +"Oh, I can't tell it you all," said Sybil; "you must ask papa." + +"Does he often tell you stories?" asked Floss. + +"Bits," said Sybil; "he doesn't tell them all through, like mother. But +he's very nice about answering things I ask him. He doesn't say 'you +couldn't understand,' or 'you'll know when you're older,' that _horrid_ +way." + +"He must be nice," said Floss, who had secretly been trembling a little +at the thought of the strange uncle. + +And he did turn out _very_ nice. He was older than Floss had expected; a +good deal older than auntie, whom he sometimes spoke to as if she were +quite a little girl, in a way which amused the children very much. At +first he seemed very quiet and grave, but after a while Floss found out +that in his own way he was very fond of fun, and she confided to auntie +that she thought he was the funniest person she had ever seen. I don't +know if auntie told him this, or if he took it as a compliment, but +certainly he could not have been offended, for every day, as they +learnt to know him better, the children found him kinder and kinder. + +So they were very happy at Greenmays, and no doubt would have gone on +being so but for one thing. There came bad news of their mother. + +This was how they heard it. Every week at least, for several weeks, +Floss or Carrots, and sometimes both, got a letter from their mother or +from Cecil and Louise; and at first these letters were so cheerful, that +even the little bit of anxiety which the children had hardly known was +in their hearts melted away. + +"What a _good_ thing mamma went to that nice warm place, isn't it, +auntie?" Carrots used to say after the arrival of each letter, and +auntie most heartily agreed with the happy little fellow. But at last, +just about Christmas-time, when the thin foreign-looking letter, that +the children had learnt to know so well, made its appearance one morning +on the breakfast-table, it proved to be for auntie--_that_, of course, +they did not object, to, had there been one for them too, but there was +not! + +"Auntie dear, there is no letter for us," said Floss, when auntie came +into the room. "Will you please open yours quick, and see if there is +one inside it?" + +"I don't think there is," said auntie; "it doesn't feel like it." + +However, she opened the letter at once. No, there was no enclosure; and +Floss, who was watching her face, saw that it grew troubled as she ran +her eyes down the page. + +"My letter is from your father. I cannot read it properly till after +breakfast, for uncle is waiting for me to pour out his coffee. Run off +now, dears, and I'll come to the nursery and tell you all about it after +breakfast," she said, trying to look and speak just the same as usual. + +But Floss saw that she was _trying_; she did not persist, however, but +took Carrots by the hand, and went off obediently without speaking, +only giving auntie one wistful look as she turned away. + +"What's wrong, Florence?" said Sybil's father, as the door closed after +the children. + +"It is about Lucy," said auntie; "she is much worse; _very_ ill indeed. +She has caught cold somehow, and Frank seems almost to have lost hope +already." + +Two or three tears rolled down auntie's face as she spoke. For a minute +or two Sybil's father said nothing. + +"How about telling the children?" he asked at last. + +"That's just it," replied auntie. "Frank leaves it to me to tell them or +not, as I think best. He would not let Cecil or Louise write, as he +thought if it had to be told I had better do so as gently as I could, by +word of mouth. But they _must_ be told--they are such quick children, I +believe Floss suspects it already. And if--and if the next news should +be _worse_," continued auntie with a little sob, "I would never forgive +myself for not having prepared them, and they would be full of +self-reproach for having been happy and merry as usual. Floss would say +she should have known it by instinct." + +"Would they feel it so much?--could they realise it? They are so young," +said Sybil's father. + +Auntie shook her head. "Not too young to feel it terribly," she said. +"It is much better to tell them. I could not hide the sorrow in my face +from those two honest pairs of eyes, for one thing." + +"Well, you know best," said her husband. + +A sad telling it was, and the way in which the children took it touched +auntie's loving heart to the quick. They were so quiet and "pitiful," as +little Sybil said. Floss's face grew white, for, with a child's hasty +rush at conclusions, she fancied at first that auntie was paving the way +for the worst news of all. + +"Is mamma _dead_?" she whispered, and auntie's "Oh no, no, darling. Not +so bad as that," seemed to give her a sort of crumb of hope, even before +she had heard all. + +And Carrots stood beside auntie's knee, clasping his little mother +Floss's hand tight, and looking up in auntie's face with those wonderful +eyes of his, which auntie had said truly one _could_ not deceive; and +when he had been told all there was to tell, he just said softly, "Oh +_poor_ mamma! Auntie, she kissened us so _many_ times!" + +And then, which auntie was on the whole glad of, the three children sat +down on the rug together and cried; Sybil, in her sympathy, as heartily +as the others, while she kept kissing and petting them, and calling them +by every endearing name she could think of. + +"When will there be another letter, auntie?" said Floss. + +"The day after to-morrow," said auntie. "Your father will write by every +mail." + +In her own heart auntie had not much hope. From what Captain Desart +said, the anxiety was not likely to last long. The illness had taken a +different form from Mrs. Desart's other attacks. "She must be better or +worse in a day or two," he wrote, and auntie's heart sorely misgave her +as to which it would be. + +The sorrowful day seemed very long to the children. They did their +lessons as usual, for auntie told them it would be much better to do so. + +"Would it please mamma?" said Carrots; and when auntie said "Yes, she +was quite sure it would," he got his books at once, and "tried" even +harder than usual. + +But after lessons they had no heart to play, and there was no "must" +about that. By bed-time they all looked worn out with crying and the +sort of strange excitement there is about great sorrows--above all to +children--which is more exhausting than almost anything. + +"This will never do," thought auntie. "Hugh" (that was the name of +Sybil's father) "will have reason to think I should have taken his +advice, and not told them, if they go on like this." + +"Sybil," she said, "Floss and Carrots will make themselves ill before +the next letter comes. What can we do for them?" + +Sybil shook her head despondently. + +"I don't know, mother dear," she said; "I've got out all my best things +to please them, but it's no good." She stood still for a minute, then +her face lightened up. "Mother," she said, "'aposing you were to read +aloud some of those stories you're going to get bounded up into a book +some day? They would like _that_." + +Floss hardly felt as if she could care to hear _any_ stories, however +pretty. But she did not like to disappoint kind auntie by saying so, +especially when auntie told her she really wanted to know if she and +Carrots liked her stories, as it would help her to judge if other +children would care for them when they were "bounded up into a book." + +So the next day auntie read them some, and they talked them over and got +quite interested in them. Fortunately, she did not read them all that +day, for the next day there was still more need of something to distract +the children's sorrowful thoughts, as the looked-for letter did not +come. Auntie would have liked to cheer the children by reminding them of +the old sayings that "No news is good news," and "It is ill news which +flies fast," but she dared not, for her own heart was very heavy with +anxiety. And she was very glad to see them interested in the rest of the +stories for the time. + +I cannot tell you these stories, but some day perhaps you may come +across the little book which they were made into. But there is one of +them which I should like to tell you, as it is not very long, and in +the children's mind it was always associated with something that +happened just as auntie had finished reading it. For it was the last of +her little stories, and it was called---- + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +"THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS." + + "Like to a double cherry." + + _Midsummer-Night's Dream._ + + +'"Oh mamma," cried I, from the window by which I was standing, to my +mother who was working by the fire, "_do_ come here and look at these +two funny little trots."' + +[Auntie had only read this first sentence of her story when Sybil +interrupted her. + +"Mother dear," she said, in her prim little way, "before you begin, do +tell us one thing. Does the story end sadly?" + +Auntie smiled. "You should have asked me before I _had_ begun, Sybil," +she said. "But never mind now. I don't really think I can tell you if +it ends sadly or not. It would be like telling you the end at the +beginning, and it would spoil the interest, if you understand what that +means." + +"Very well," said Sybil, resignedly, "then I suppose I must wait. But I +_won't_ like it if it ends badly, mother, and Floss won't, and Carrots +won't. Will you, Floss and Carrots?" + +"I don't think Floss and Carrots can say, till they've heard it," said +auntie. "Now, Sybil, you mustn't interrupt any more. Where was I? Oh +yes"]--'"_do_ come and look at these two funny little trots." + +'My mother got up from her seat and came to the window. She could not +help smiling when she saw the little couple I pointed out to her. + +'"Aren't they a pair of fat darlings?" I said. "I wonder if they live in +our terrace?" + +'We knew very little of our neighbours, though we were not living in +London, for we had only just come to St. Austin's. We had come there to +spend the winter, as it was a mild and sheltered place, for I, then a +girl of sixteen, had been in delicate health for some time.' ["You +wouldn't believe it to see me now, would you?" said auntie, looking up +at the children with a smile on her pretty young-looking face, but it +was quite true, all the same.] 'I was my mother's only girl,' she went +on, turning to her manuscript again, 'and she was a widow, so you can +fancy what a pet I was. My big brothers were already all out in the +world, in the navy, or the army, or at college, and my mother and I +generally lived by ourselves in a country village much farther north +than St. Austin's, and it was quite an event to us to leave our own home +for several months and settle ourselves down in lodgings in a strange +place. + +'It seemed a very strange place to us, for we had not a single friend or +acquaintance in it, and at home in our village we knew everybody, and +everybody knew us, from the clergyman down to farmer Grinthwait's +sheep-dog, and nothing happened without our knowing it. I suppose I was +naturally of rather a sociable turn. I knew my mother used sometimes in +fun to call me "a little gossip," and I really very much missed the +sight of the accustomed friendly faces. We had been two days at St. +Austin's, and I had spent most of those two days at the window, +declaring to my mother that I should not feel so "strange" if I got to +know some of our neighbours by sight, if nothing more. + +'But hitherto I had hardly succeeded even in this. There did not seem to +be any "neighbours" in the passers-by; they were just passers by who +never seemed to pass by again, and without anything particular to +distinguish them if they did. For St. Austin's was a busy little place, +and our house was on the South Esplanade, the favourite "promenade" for +the visitors, none of whom, gentlemen, ladies, or children had +particularly attracted me till the morning I first caught sight of my +funny little trots. + +'I do think they would have attracted any one--any one certainly that +loved children. I fancy I see them now, the two dears, coming slowly and +solemnly along, each with a hand of their nurse, pulling _well_ back +from her, as if the effort to keep up, even with her deliberate rate of +walking, was almost too much for their fat little legs. They looked +exactly the same size, and were alike in everything, from their +dresses--which this first day were brown holland, very easy about the +bodies, very short and bunchy about the skirts--to the two white woolly +lambs, clasped manfully by each in his or her disengaged hand. Whether +they were boys or girls I could not tell in the least, and to this day I +do not know. + +'"_Aren't_ they darlings, mamma?" I said. + +'"They certainly are two funny little trots," she replied with a smile, +using my own expression. + +'Mamma went back to her knitting, but I stayed by the window, watching +my new friends. They passed slowly up the Esplanade, my eyes following +them till they were out of sight, and then I turned away regretfully. + +'"They are sure not to pass again," I said, "and they are so nice." + +'"If they live near here, very likely the Esplanade is their daily walk, +and they will be passing back again in a few minutes," said my mother, +entering into my fancy. + +'I took up her suggestion eagerly. She was right: in about a quarter of +an hour my trots appeared again, this time from the other direction, +and, as good luck would have it, just opposite our window, their nurse +happening to meet an acquaintance, they came to a halt! + +'"Mamma, mamma," I exclaimed, "here they are again!" + +'Mamma nodded her head and smiled without looking up. She was just then +counting the rows of her knitting, and was afraid of losing the number. +I pressed my face close to the window--if only the trots would look my +way!--I could hardly resist tapping on the pane. + +'Suddenly a bright thought struck me. I seized Gip, my little dog, who +was asleep on the hearth-rug and held him up to the window. + +'"T'ss, Gip; T'ss, cat. At her; at her," I exclaimed. + +'Poor Gip had doubtless been having delightful dreams--it was very hard +on him to be wakened up so startlingly. He blinked his eyes and tried to +see the imaginary cat--no doubt he thought it was his own fault he did +not succeed, for he was the most humble-minded and unpresuming of little +dogs, and his faith in me was unbounded. He could not see a cat, but he +took it for granted that _I_ did; so he set to work barking vigorously. +That was just what I wanted. The trots heard the noise and both turned +round; then they let go their nurse's hands and made a little journey +round her skirts till they met. + +[Illustration: "Suddenly a bright thought struck me. I seized Gip, my +little dog, who was asleep on the hearthrug, and held him up to the +window." _To face page_ 212] + +'"Dot," said one, "pretty doggie." + +'"Doll," said the other, both speaking at once, you understand, "pretty +doggie." + +'I don't mean to say that I _heard_ what they said, I only _saw_ it. But +afterwards, when I had heard their voices, I felt sure that was what +they had said, for they almost always spoke together. + +'Then they joined their disengaged hands (the outside hand of each still +clasping its woolly lamb), and there they stood, legs well apart, little +mouths and eyes wide open, staring with the greatest interest and +solemnity at Gip and me. At Gip, of course, far more than at me. Gip was +a dog, _I_, was only a girl!--quite a middle-aged person, no doubt, the +trots thought me, if they thought about me at all; perhaps they did a +little, as I was Gip's owner; for I was sixteen, and they could not have +been much more than three. + +'But all this time they were so solemn. I wanted to make them laugh. +There was a little table in the window--a bow window, _of course_, as it +was at the sea-side, and certain to catch winds from every quarter of +the heavens--upon which I mounted Gip, and set to work putting him +through his tricks. I made him perform "ready, present, _fire_," with a +leap to catch the bit of biscuit off his nose. I made him "beg," "lie +dead," like Mother Hubbard's immortal pet, and do everything a +well-educated dog could be expected to do. And, oh, how funny it was to +watch the trots! Evidently they had never seen anything of the kind +before; they stared at first as if they could hardly believe their eyes, +and then they smiled, and, _at last_, they laughed. How prettily they +laughed--they looked more like two fat cherubs than ever. + +'But their laughing attracted their maid's attention. She too turned +round, and I was pleased to see that she had a pleasant pretty young +face. "I shouldn't have liked those dear trots to have a cross old +nurse," I said to myself, and the maid still further raised herself in +my good opinion by laughing and smiling too. In a minute or two when she +thought "that was enough for to-day," she stooped and whispered to the +trots. They immediately lifted their little hands, the right of one, the +left of the other--for _nothing_, you see, could have persuaded them to +let go of their precious lambs--to their rosy mouths and blew a kiss to +me, and I could _see_ them say, "Zank zou, lady; zank zou, doggie." + +'You may be sure I kissed my hand to them in return, and off they +toddled, each with a hand of "Bessie," as I afterwards heard them call +their maid, and hauling back manfully as before, which gave Bessie the +look of a very large steam-tug convoying two very little vessels. + +'I watched them till they were quite out of sight. Then I turned to my +mother. + +'"I have made two friends here any way, mamma," I said. "The trots are +sure to stop every time they pass. It will be something to watch for." + +'Mamma smiled. She was pleased to see _me_ pleased and interested, for +she had been beginning to fear that the dulness and strangeness of our +new life would prevent St. Austin's doing me as much good as she had +hoped. + +'"To-morrow, dear," she said, "if it is fine, I hope you will be able to +go a little walk, and we'll look out for your little friends." + +'It was fine the next day, and we did go out, and we did meet the trots! + +'They caught sight of me (of Gip, rather, I should perhaps say) and I +of them, just about the same moment. I saw them tug their nurse, and +when they got close up to me they stopped short. It was no use Bessie's +trying to get them on; there they stood resolutely, till the poor girl's +face grew red, and she looked quite ashamed. Gip, who I must say, had a +wonderful amount of tact, ran up to them with a friendly little bark. +Bessie let go the trots' hands and stooped to stroke him. + +'"He won't bite, miss, will he?" she said gently, looking up at me. + +'"Oh, dear, no," I said, and the trots, smiling with delight, +stooped--not that they had so very far to stoop--to stroke him too. + +'"Pretty doggie," said Doll. + +'"Pretty doggie," said Dot. + +'Then they held up their dear little mouths to kiss me. "Zank zou, +lady," they said, and each taking a hand of Bessie again, they proceeded +on their way. + +'After that day, not many passed without my seeing them, and talking to +them, and making Gip show off his tricks. Sometimes our meetings were at +the window, sometimes on the road; once or twice, when there came some +unusually fine mild days, mamma let me sit out on the shore, and I +taught the trots to dig a hole for Gip and bury him in the sand, all but +his bright eyes and funny black nose--that _was_ a beautiful game! I +never found out exactly where my friends lived; it was in one of the +side streets leading on to the Esplanade, that was all I knew. I never +knew, as I said, if they were boys or girls, or perhaps one of each. +Mamma wanted one day to ask Bessie, but I wouldn't let her. They were +just my two little trots, that was all I wanted to know. + +'"It would spoil them to fancy them growing up into great boys or +girls," I said. "I want them to be always trots--nothing else." + +'And as Bessie called them simply Doll and Dot, without any "master" or +"miss," I was able to keep my fancy. + +'When the weather grew colder, the trots came out in a new +costume--sealskin coats, sealskin caps, and sealskin gloves--they were +just little balls of sealskin, and looked "trottier" than ever. About +this time they left off carrying their woolly lambs. I suspect the real +reason was that their extreme affection for the lambs had resulted in +these favoured animals growing more black than white, and that Bessie +judged them unfit for appearing in public, but if this _was_ the case, +evidently Bessie had been obliged to resort to artifice to obtain their +owners' consent to the lambs being left at home. For, when I asked the +trots where the precious creatures were, they looked melancholy and +distressed and shook their heads. + +'"Too told!" said Doll, and Dot repeated, like a mournful echo, "too +told!" + +'"Of course," said I, "how stupid of me not to think of it! of course +it's far too cold for such very little lambs to be out." + +'Bessie looked gratefully at me. "We're going to buy some cakes for +tea," she said, with a smile, and sure enough in about half-an-hour the +trio reappeared again, and came to a standstill as usual, opposite our +window. And, instead of a lamb, each trot hugged a little parcel, neatly +done up in white paper. I opened the window to hear what they were +saying, they looked so excited. + +'"Takes for tea," they both called out at once, "takes for tea. Lady +have one. Dip have one." + +'And poor Bessie was obliged to open the parcels, and extract one "take" +from each and hand them up to me, before my little dears would be +satisfied. + +'Can you fancy that I really got to love the trots? I did not want to +know who they were, or what sort of a father and mother they had--they +were well taken care of, that was evident, for somehow, knowing anything +more about them would have spoilt them for being my funny little trots. + +'But, for several weeks of the three months we spent at St. Austin's, +the sight of these happy little creatures was one of my greatest +pleasures, and a day without a glimpse of them would have seemed blank +and dull. + +'There came a time, however, when for many days I did not see my little +friends. The weather was bad just then, and mamma said she was sure they +had got colds, that would be all that was wrong with them, but somehow I +felt uneasy. I asked our doctor, when he called, if there was much +illness about, and he, fancying I was nervous on my own account, +replied, "Oh no, with the exception of two or three cases of croup, he +had no serious ailments among his patients: it was a very healthy +season." + +'I got frightened at the idea of croup, and cross-questioned him to +discover if my trots were among the sufferers, but he shook his head. +All his little patients were mere infants; he did not even know the +trots by sight. + +'Then mamma suggested another very reasonable explanation of their +disappearance. + +'"They have probably left St. Austin's," she said. "Many people come +here for only the _very_ worst of the winter, and that is about over +now." + +'But even this did not satisfy me. I was certain something was wrong +with Doll and Dot, and I wasted, I should be ashamed to say how many +hours gazing out of the window in hopes of catching sight of the +familiar little figures. + +'At last, one day, when I had almost left off hoping ever to see them +again, suddenly, _two_ figures appeared on the Esplanade, a stone's +throw from our window. + +'Who were they? Could it be--yes, it must be _one_ of the trots, led by, +not Bessie, no, this maid was a stranger. Where could Bessie be? And +oh, _where_ was my other little trot? For, even at some yards' distance, +I saw something sadly different in the appearance of the one little +figure, slowly coming along in our direction. It was dressed--hat, coat, +gloves, socks and all--it was dressed in deep mourning. + +'I seized my hat and rushed out to meet them. Mamma thought I was going +out of my mind I believe. When I found myself in the open air, I tried +to control myself and look like the rest of the people walking quietly +along, though my heart was beating violently, and I felt as if I could +not speak without crying. But when I got up to the one little trot and +its attendant, the sight of her strange face composed me. She was so +different from Bessie--old and stiff and prim looking. I stooped to kiss +the child, Dot or Doll, I knew not which. "How are you, darling?" I +said. "And where is----" I stopped short. + +'The trot looked up in my face. + +'"Oh lady," it said, "Dot is all alone. Doll is 'done to 'Ebben," and +the great tears gathered in Dot's mournful eyes and rolled down Dot's +rosy cheeks. + +'"Hush, hush, my dear. You mustn't cry. You'll make yourself ill if you +cry any more," said the hard looking nurse. + +'A moment before, I had intended turning to her and asking for some +particulars of the baby's sad words, but now I felt I _could_ not. She +was so stiff and unsympathising. I could not bear her to see me, a +stranger, crying about what I had heard. Besides, what good would it do? +Why should I hear any more? I shrank from doing so. The bare fact was +enough. I just bent down and kissed the solitary darling. + +'"Good-bye, my trot," I said. I could not say another word. + +'"Dood bye, don't ky," said Dot, stroking my cheek. "Doll won't turn +back, but Dot will do to 'Ebben too some day." + +'That was quite too much for me. I turned away and hurried back home as +fast as I could. + +'"Mamma," I exclaimed, rushing into our sitting-room, and throwing +myself down on the sofa, "It's just what I thought. I wish you would +come away from St. Austin's at once. I shall never, never like it +again." + +'"What _is_ the matter, Florence?" said poor mamma, quite startled. + +'"It's about the trots," I said, now fairly sobbing, "I have just seen +one--in deep mourning, mamma,--and--and--the other one is _dead_." + +'"Poor little angel!" said mamma. And the tears came into her eyes too. + +'I did not see Dot again after that day. I fancy that was its last walk +before leaving St. Austin's for its regular home, wherever that was. And +a very short time after we ourselves left too. + + * * * * * + +'I never forgot the trots. Of course the pleasure of going back to our +own dear home again, and seeing all our old friends, raised my spirits, +and softened the real grief I had felt. But whenever we spoke of St. +Austin's, or people asked me about it, and mentioned the esplanade or +the shore, or any of the places where I had seen the trots, the tears +_would_ come into my eyes, as again I seemed to see before me the two +dear funny little figures. And whenever our plans for the following +winter were alluded to, I always said one thing: "Wherever you go, +mamma, don't go to St. Austin's." + +'My mother gave in to me. When did she not? How patient she was with me, +how sympathising, even in my fancies! And how unselfish--it was not till +long after we had left St. Austin's, that she told me what anxiety she +had gone through on hearing of my having kissed little Dot. For how +sadly probable it seemed that Doll had died of some infectious illness, +such as scarlet-fever, for instance, which I had never had! + +'"But _Dot_ couldn't have been ill, mamma," I said. "Dot looked +perfectly well." + +'"Did he?" said my mother. Sometimes she called the trots "he" and +sometimes "she," in the funniest way! "I wonder what the other little +dear died of?" + +'"So do I," I replied. "Still, on the whole, I think I am just as well +pleased not to know." + +'Our uncertainty for the next winter ended in what was to me a +delightful decision. We determined to go to the South of France. I could +amuse you children by a description of our journey--journeys in those +days really were much more amusing than now; but I must hasten on to the +end of my story. We had fixed upon Pau as our head-quarters, and we +arrived there early in November. What a different thing from our +November at home! I could hardly believe it _was_ November; it would +have seemed to me far less wonderful to have been told I had been asleep +for six months, and that _really_ it was May, and not November at all, +than to have awakened as I did, that first morning after our arrival, +and to have seen out of the window the lovely sunshine and bright blue +sky, and summer-look of warmth, and comfort, and radiance! + +'We had gone to an hotel for a few days, intending to look out for a +little house, or "apartement" (which, children, does not mean the same +thing as our English lodgings by any means), at our leisure. Your +grandmother was not rich, and the coming so far cost a great deal. The +hotel we had been recommended to, was a very comfortable one, though not +one of the most fashionable, and the landlord was very civil, as some +friend who had stayed with him the year before had written about our +coming. He showed us our rooms himself, and hoped we should like them, +and then he turned back to say he trusted we should not be disturbed by +the voices of some children in the next "salon." He would not have +risked it, he said, had he been able to help it, but there were no +other rooms vacant, and the family with the children were leaving the +next day. Not that they were noisy children by any means; they were very +_chers petits_, but there _were_ ladies, to whom the very name of +children in their vicinity was----here the landlord held up his hands +and made a grimace! + +'"Then they must be old maids!" I said, laughing, "which mamma and I are +not. We love children," at which Mr. Landlord bowed and smiled, and said +something complimentary about mademoiselle being so "aimable." + +'I listened for the children's voices that evening, and once or twice I +heard their clear merry tones. But as for any "disturbance," one might +as well have complained of a cuckoo in the distance, as of anything we +heard of our little neighbours. We did not see them; only once, as I was +running along the passage, I caught a glimpse at the other end of a +little pinafored figure led by a nurse, disappearing through a doorway. +I did not see its face; in fact the glimpse was of the hastiest. Yet +_something_ about the wee figure, a certain round-about bunchiness, and +a sort of pulling back from the maid, as she went into the room, +recalled vaguely to my heart, rather than to my mind, two little +toddling creatures, that far away across the sea I had learnt to love +and look for. When I went into our room, there were tears in my eyes, +and when mamma asked me the reason, I told her that I had seen a child +that somehow had reminded me of my two little trots. + +'"Poor little trots," said mamma. "I wonder if the one that was left +still misses the other?" + +'But that was all we said about them. + +'The next morning I was in a fever to go out and see all that was to be +seen. I dragged poor mamma into all the churches, and half the shops, +and would have had her all through the castle too, but that she declared +she could do no more. So we came to a halt at the great "Place," and +sat down on a nice shady seat to watch the people. I, consoling myself +with the reflection, that as we were to be four months at Pau, there was +still a _little_ time left for sight-seeing. + +'It was very amusing. There were people of all nations--_children_ of +all nations, little French boys and girls, prettily but simply dressed, +some chatting merrily, some walking primly beside their white capped +bonnes; little Russians, looking rather grand, but not so grand as their +nurses in their rich costumes of bright scarlet and blue, embroidered in +gold; some very pert, shrill-voiced Americans, and a few unmistakable +English. We amused ourselves by guessing the nationality of all these +little people. + +'"_Those_ are Italians or Spaniards, mamma, look what dark eyes they +have, and _those_ are----" I suddenly stopped. "Oh, mamma!" I exclaimed, +and when she looked at me, she saw I had grown quite pale, and in +another moment, seeing to what I was pointing, she understood the +reason. There, right before us, coming slowly up the middle of the +Place, Bessie in the middle, each child with a hand of hers tugging back +manfully in the old way, each, yes, _really_, each under the other arm +hugging a woolly lamb, came the two funny little trots! + +'I felt at first as if I were dreaming. _Could_ it be the trots? I sat +still in a half stupid way, staring, but Gip--I was forgetting to tell +you that _of course_ Gip had come with us to Pau--Gip had far more +presence of mind than I. He did not stop to wonder _how_ it could be the +trots, he was simply satisfied that it _was_ the trots, and forwards he +darted, leaping, barking furiously, wagging his tail, giving every sort +of welcome in dog language, that he could think of. + +'"Dip, Dip; see Bessie, here is a doggie like Dip," said one trot. + +'"Dip, Dip, pretty Dip," said the other. + +'The sound of their voices seemed to bring back my common sense. They +_were_ my own dear trots. "Dip, Dip" would have satisfied me, even if I +had not seen them. The trots never _could_ manage the letter "G!" I flew +forwards, and kneeling down on the ground, little caring how I soiled my +nice new dress, or what the people on the Place thought of me, I +regularly hugged my two pets. + +'"Here is Dip's kind lady too," they both said at once, smiling and +happy, but not by any means particularly surprised to see me. I looked +up at Bessie at last, and held out my hand. She shook it heartily. + +'"I _am_ pleased to see you again, miss, to be sure; who would have +thought it?" she said. "And they haven't forgot you, haven't Doll and +Dot. They are always speaking of Gip and you, miss." + +'"But, Bessie," I began, and then I hesitated. How could I tell her what +I had thought? "How was it you left St. Austin's so suddenly?"--the +trots were not in mourning now, they were prettily dressed in dark blue +sailor serge, as bunchy as ever. + +'Bessie thought for a minute. + +'"Let me see," she said, "oh yes, I remember! We did leave suddenly. My +mistress's father died, and she was sent for off to Edinburgh, and she +took Doll and me, and left Dot to keep her papa company. Master said +he'd be lost without one of them, and he couldn't get off to Edinburgh +for a fortnight after us. But we'll never try _that_ again, miss. Dot +did nothing but cry for Doll, and Doll for Dot. Dot, so Martha the +housemaid said, was always saying, 'Doll's done to 'Ebben,' till it was +pitiful to hear, and Dot was just as bad in Edinburgh about Doll." + +'"But Dot _did_ 'do to 'Ebben," said Doll, who as well as Dot was +listening to what Bessie was saying. "And then Doll 'tummed to 'Ebben +too," said Dot, "and then 'Ebben was nice." + +'I kissed the pets again, partly to prevent Bessie seeing the tears in +my eyes. I understood it all now, without asking any more, and Bessie +never knew what it was I _had_ thought. + +'Only you can fancy how sorry I was to find the trots were leaving Pau +that very afternoon! They were the children whose dear little voices I +had heard through the wall, who the landlord had feared might disturb +us! They were going on to Italy for the winter. + +'"If only I had known last night who they were," I said to mamma +regretfully. + +'Mamma, however, was always wise. "Think rather," she said, "how very +glad you should be to know it this morning. And who can tell but what +some time or other you may see the trots again." + +'But I never did!' + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GOOD ENDINGS. + + But I lost my happy childhood. + + * * * + + It slipped from me you shall know, + It was in the dewy alleys + Of the land of long ago. + + * * * + + Not in sadness, + Nor reproach, these words I say, + God is good, and gives new gladness, + When the old He takes away. + + +"You never did? oh what a pity!" exclaimed Sybil. "You really never, +never did, mother?" + +Auntie looked rather "funny," as the children call it. + +"As _trots_ I never saw them again," she said, "and at the time I wrote +out that story I had not seen them again at all." + +"But you've seen them since," cried all the three children at once, +"you've seen them since they've grown big. Oh auntie, oh mother, do tell +us." + +"I couldn't just now, truly I couldn't," said auntie, "it would lead me +into another story which isn't written yet. All that I know about 'the +two funny little trots' I have told you. Do you like it?" + +"Awfully," said Sybil. + +"_Very_ much," said Floss. + +"It's lovely," said Carrots. + +Auntie smiled at the children. They looked so pleased and interested, it +was evident that for the time they had forgotten their sorrow and +anxiety. Suddenly, just as she was thinking sadly how soon it must +return to their minds, there came a loud ring at the bell. They all +started, they had been sitting so quietly. + +"It must be the post," said Sybil. Auntie had thought so too, but had +not said it, as it was very unlikely this post would bring any letter +from Captain Desart. + +It did however! Fletcher appeared with one in another minute; the thin +large envelope, and the black, rather scrawly writing that Floss and +Carrots knew so well. It would have been no use trying to conceal it +from them, so auntie opened it quietly, though her fingers trembled as +she did so. She read it very quickly, it was not a long letter, and then +she looked up with the tears in her eyes. "Children, dear children," she +said, "it _is_ good news. Your dear mother is a little better, and they +have good hopes of her." + +Oh how glad they were! They kissed auntie and Sybil and each other, and +it seemed as if a great heavy stone had been lifted off their hearts. +There was still of course reason for _anxiety_, but there was hope, +"good hope," wrote Captain Desart, and what does not that mean? Auntie +felt so hopeful herself that she could not find it in her heart to +check the children for being so. + +"It is because you made the story of the trots end nicely that that nice +letter came," said Sybil, and nothing that her mother could say would +persuade her that _she_ had nothing to do with the ending, that she had +just told it as it really happened! + +_I_ am telling you the story of Floss and Carrots as it really happened +too, and I am so glad that it--the story of this part of their young +lives, that is to say--ends happily too. Their mother did get better, +wonderfully better, and was able to come back to England in the spring, +looking stronger than for many years. To England, but not to Sandyshore. +Captain Desart got another appointment much farther south, where the +climate was milder and better and the winters not to be dreaded for a +delicate person. So they all left the Cove House! + +Their new home was of course by the sea too, but Carrots never would +allow that it was the same sea. His own old sea stayed behind at +Sandyshore, though if he were to go to look for it there now I doubt if +he would find it. When old friends once get away into the country of +long ago, they are hard to find again--we learn to doubt if they are to +be found anywhere except in their own corners of our memory. + +And it is long ago now since the days when Carrots and his dear Floss +ran races on the sands and made "plans" together. Long ago, in so far +that you would not be able _anywhere_ to find these children whom I +loved so much, and whom I have told you a little about. You would, at +least I _hope_ you would, like to know what became of them, how they +grew up, and what Carrots did when he got to be a man. But this I cannot +now tell you, for my little book is long enough--I only hope you are not +tired of it--only I may tell you one thing. If any of you know a very +good, kind, gentle, brave man--so good that he cannot but be kind; so +brave that he cannot but be gentle, I should like you to think that, +perhaps, whatever he is--clergyman, doctor, soldier, sailor, it doesn't +matter in the least--_perhaps_ when that man was a boy, he was my little +Carrots. Especially if he has large "doggy-looking," brown eyes, and +hair that once _might_ have been called "red." + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "Carrots:", by Mrs. Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "CARROTS:" *** + +***** This file should be named 33544.txt or 33544.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/4/33544/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Constantia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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