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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/36861-8.txt b/36861-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24b49bd --- /dev/null +++ b/36861-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2977 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green Casket, by Mary Louisa 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: The Green Casket + and other stories + +Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth + +Release Date: July 26, 2011 [EBook #36861] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN CASKET *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: FLOSSIE'S CONFESSION. Page 44.] + + + + + + +THE GREEN CASKET + +AND OTHER STORIES + +BY Mrs. MOLESWORTH + +AUTHOR OF 'THE CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'US,' 'CARROTS,' 'THE RECTORY CHILDREN,' +'NESTA,' ETC. + + + W. & R. CHAMBERS + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + 1890 + + + Edinburgh: + Printed by W. & R. Chambers. + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + THE GREEN CASKET 9 + LEO'S POST-OFFICE 55 + BRAVE LITTLE DENIS 77 + + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration] + +The Green Casket. + + + + +CHAPTER I.--RUTH'S START IN LIFE. + + +'Then good morning, Mrs. Perry. It all promises very nicely, I think. +You may depend upon our taking good care of Ruth, and doing our best to +train her well. Naylor takes great pride in her training. You will tell +Ruth what I say, and impress upon her those two or three broad rules, +and if she attends to those, it will be all right.' + +Mrs. Perry courtesied--her best courtesy, you may be sure; for it was not +every day she was honoured with an interview by so grand a personage as +old Lady Melicent Bourne of the Tower House, at Hopley. She had known +Lady Melicent all her life, for before she married, Mrs. Perry's own home +had been at Hopley; but I hardly think this in any way lessened her awe +of the great old lady--rather the opposite. And there had been no small +excitement in the neat cottage beside the forge at Wharton, five miles +from Hopley, when the postman brought a letter from my lady's own maid, +own cousin to Mrs. Perry, the blacksmith's wife, to say that the place of +under-housemaid was vacant at last, and Ruth was to be sent over to be +seen by Lady Melicent herself. Ruth went, and was approved of, and came +home with a message desiring her mother to go in her turn to the Tower +House for a talk with her daughter's future mistress. For Lady Melicent +was old-fashioned enough to take personal interest in her servants; even +the younger ones were safe to be 'known all about' by her. + +'And she said it that nicely, mother,' Ruth added eagerly, for she had +returned full of admiration and enthusiasm about the sweet old lady. +'You are not to ill-convenience yourself; any morning saving Friday +would do, she said, from eleven to twelve, and Cousin Ellen is to see +that you stay to dinner. Her ladyship remembers you as well as can be; +she thinks I favour you a bit, and she hopes as I'll favour you in my +ways too. And so do I, I'm sure, dear mother.' + +And on the child chattered, for a child she was--not yet sixteen--and +the only sister among several brothers who had joined with their parents +in taking 'choice care' of little Ruth. Yet she was not spoilt; her +mother was too sensible to have allowed anything of that kind. Ruth was +unselfish, well-meaning, and straightforward, though with some weak +points which her sheltered life at home had scarcely yet tested fairly. + +She was standing at the cottage door--'father' allowed no hanging about +the forge or gossip with the neighbours--scarcely in sight herself, but +eagerly looking out for her mother, when Mrs. Perry appeared, walking +rather slowly up the hill which led from the little railway station. In +a moment Ruth's hat was on, and she had flown to meet her mother. + +'Yes, love,' said Mrs. Perry, in answer to the girl's breathless, +half-unspoken inquiry. 'It's all right. You're to go on Thursday week. +And a very lucky girl you are, take it all together. Eight pounds wages, +to be raised to ten in a year if you stop on and do well, church and +Sunday-school every Sunday, and now and then an evening service if +Cousin Ellen can take you; pleasant work and not too much of it, and +best of all, a real good kind lady for your mistress.' + +'I don't see as how it could be nicer, and not so far from home +neither,' said Ruth. 'Why do you say "take it all together," mother? +I see no wrong side at all.' + +Mrs. Perry smiled. + +'There's that to most things in this world, I misdoubt me, Ruthie. But +I'm rather tired, child. We'll have a talk when I've got my things off, +and have rested a little. It's hot to-day, and I've been on my feet a +good bit. Cousin Ellen, she would have me to see all there was to be +seen--she took me round the fields and showed me the cows and the dairy +and the poultry-yard and the gardens. It's a sweet place, though not +large of course.' + +'Lady Melicent's been there a good many years, hasn't she?' asked Ruth, +as they slowly ascended the hill. + +'Nigh upon twenty-five. Ever since her husband's death, when she had +to leave Bourne Park. She had no son, only Miss Rosalind, who's now Mrs. +Vyner; so the Park went to a cousin, and my lady took the Tower House, +not caring to stay as a widow too near to where she had been so happy as +a wife. I remember her coming--her and Miss Rosalind--as if it had been +yesterday. I was a girl of fifteen. Well, here we are, and I shall be +glad to sit me down, I can tell you, Ruth.' + +'And there'll be a cup of tea for you in half a minute, mother. It's all +ready. I set the kettle on when I heard the train whistling--and it's +just on the boil now. There's some hot toast too. Father and the boys'll +not be in for over an hour; we'll have nice time for our talk.' + +She took her mother's shawl and bonnet and ran off with them, returning +with the good woman's slippers. Then she drew close to Mrs. Perry's +arm-chair the little table on which she had already set out the +tea-things, and stooped for the crisp slice of toast, which she began to +butter. It was all done neatly and carefully--with even more care than +usual, for Ruth was touched and grateful for all her mother was doing +for her, and the coming event of her leaving home for the first time was +casting a tender shadow over these little duties and services--a shadow +which the girl hardly herself as yet understood. + +'Now then, mother,' she went on, when Mrs. Perry's first cup of tea had +somewhat refreshed her, 'tell me the rest. What is it you're not so sure +I'll like at the Tower House?' + +'Nay, child. I didn't say that. It's nothing to mind. My lady spoke most +kind and sensible. There's just two or three rules she's strict about, +I was to tell you, and talkin' of them'll explain other things. She will +have those about her to speak the truth, first and foremost, and to be +civil and respectful when they're found fault with; and if you meet with +any accident, Ruth--breaking or spoiling anything in your charge, you're +to up and tell it, straight away. These rules she will have attended to. +Others, like about being up in time in the morning, and never going out +without the housekeeper's leave, you'd find in every house. But I can +see that my lady's very keen about truth-speaking and no underhand +ways.' + +'_Of course_,' said Ruth, with a little surprise. 'But so would any +right-thinking lady be, mother.' + +'I don't know as to that--there's many as don't care much so long as the +work's well done, about how things go on that don't come under their own +notice. But of course no lady likes things broke and not told of.' + +'I'd never think of not telling, never, mother,' said Ruth, proudly. +'I'd be only too anxious to make it good too, out of my own money.' + +'There's many times that's impossible,' said Mrs. Perry. 'But here +comes in the difficulty you may find yourself in. You'll not be under +Cousin Ellen, you see, child--Mrs. Mossop, as they call her at the +Tower House--being as she's the lady's-maid, but it's Naylor, the +head-housemaid, you must look to. She's a good-principled woman, so my +lady says, and so Ellen says; but she's inclined to be jealous, and she +has a very queer temper. You must try and not put her out, and if so be +as you should do so ever--for nobody's perfect--you must bear it patient, +and not go complaining to Ellen. Ellen couldn't stand it, she says so +herself: it'd make such trouble, and my lady couldn't have it neither. +So it won't be all roses, Ruthie, but still nothing so very bad after +all. A little patience, and taking care to be quite straightforward, and +you'll make your way.' + +Ruth looked grave. + +'Do you mean, mother, that if I broke anything by accident I must tell +Naylor and no one else? I'm sure I hope I shan't break anything; but if +I did, I'd much rather tell Cousin Ellen, or even my lady herself. She +seems that kind.' + +'Well, but that's just what you mustn't do, my dear. It'd make ever such +a deal of trouble. If there was anything very serious--but that I hope +there never would be--you might better tell her ladyship than Ellen. It +would never do to vex her, so kind as she is, and speakin' for you for +the place and all--and it would never do to trouble Lady Melicent if +you could possibly make shift without. You must just try and be very +careful, Ruth, and don't go and get afraid of Naylor; she's a good woman +at heart.' + +'Yes,' said the girl, 'I'll do my best;' but she gave a little sigh +nevertheless. There is no such thing as perfect happiness in this world, +Ruth was beginning to find. + +The next few days were full of bustle, rather pleasant bustle than +otherwise. There were her 'things' to see to, one or two new dresses to +get made, the choosing of which had been deferred till her prospects +were certain, though Mrs. Perry was far too neat and methodical not to +have the rest of her daughter's modest wardrobe in good order. There was +the purchase of her box, and the presenting of different little gifts +by her brothers and some of her school-fellows; there was the bidding +goodbye to the neighbours, and the farewell tea-drinking in the vicarage +nursery, where Ruth was a great favourite, and had sometimes spent a few +days when extra help had been needed. Altogether the little maiden felt +herself something of a heroine in her way, and though the tears were not +_very_ far off when the eventful Thursday came, she managed to keep them +from falling, and to wave back a last goodbye to mother, with a smiling +face, from the window of the third-class railway carriage as the train +whizzed out of Wharton station. + +She had hardly time to realise she was off before it pulled up again at +Hopley. Ruth could almost have found it in her heart to wish she had +been going a _little_ farther away; it would have seemed rather grander! +But here she was; and there was Cousin Ellen on the platform looking out +for her, a vision which Ruth was by no means sorry to see, in spite of +her valour. + +'How good of you to come to meet me, Cousin Ellen!' said the girl +gratefully, as she kissed her. + +'I thought you'd be glad to have me,' said Mossop, as we must call her. +She glanced round a little nervously as she spoke. The Tower House +dog-cart was standing at the gate, and a young groom was directing the +porter to lift up the box. He was scarcely within earshot, but Mossop +lowered her voice. 'I just wanted to tell you, Ruth, love,' she said, +'you must call me Mrs. Mossop now as the others do. And I must not seem +to favour you, you know--mother explained, didn't she?' + +'Yes,' said Ruth, 'yes, cou----, Mrs. Mossop I mean. I'll be particular,' +but her heart sank a little--it seemed so formal and strange. Mossop saw +the look on her face. + +'Don't look so frightened, dear,' she said. 'You'll get used to it all, +soon. Only I wanted you to understand, so that you won't feel hurt if +I treat you just as I would another in your place. Now jump in--that's +right. Yes, thank you, Joseph, that's all,' and off they drove. + +It was not quite strange to Ruth. She had been several times at Hopley, +and once, as we have seen, to the Tower House. But places wear a +different air when we know we have come to them 'for good,' and though +all looked bright and pleasant that still summer afternoon, Ruth caught +herself wondering if she would ever think Hopley as pretty as Wharton, +or the newly-restored church, of which she caught a glimpse through the +trees, as beautiful as the old, ivy-covered one 'at home.' + +There was no question of seeing Lady Melicent that evening, but to Ruth +the making acquaintance with her seven or eight fellow-servants was even +more formidable. Naylor, a thin, grave-faced, middle-aged woman, shook +hands with her civilly enough, and told Betsy the kitchenmaid to take +her up to the bedroom they were to share together. Then came tea in the +servants' hall, at which Mrs. Mossop was not present. But the others were +kindly, and after it was over Naylor took her up-stairs and showed her +what there was to do in the evening, adding that she had better get her +box unpacked, so as to be ready to begin work regularly the next morning. + +'And if there's anything you don't understand,' the upper-housemaid went +on, 'be sure you ask me. Don't go on muddling for want of a word or two.' + +'Thank you,' said Ruth. But she felt rather confused. The house seemed +very large to her, and compared with the vicarage at Wharton, which had +been hitherto her model of elegance and spaciousness, it was so. And +being rambling and old-fashioned, it appeared to a stranger larger than +it really was. + +'The first thing you have to do of a morning is to sweep and dust my +lady's "boudore,"' said Naylor, 'and the book-room at the end of the +passage opening from it. Then you'll come to me in the drawing-room, +and I'll show you what to do. But there's no need for you to touch +the ornaments, neither in the "boudore" nor the book-room. I do those +myself, the last thing when the rooms are finished.' + +'Yes, thank you,' said Ruth again. + +'My lady is very particular about her china. She has some very rare, +though the best is behind glass and under lock and key, I'm glad to say.' + +Then she sent the girl off to her unpacking, which would not have taken +her long had she not lost her way by wandering up a wrong stair, and +having to come down again to the kitchen to ask for Betsy's guidance, +which made all the servants laugh except Naylor, who looked rather sour. +But she smoothed down again when Ruth reappeared in a quarter of an +hour, armed with her little work-box, to announce that her things were +all arranged, and she was ready to do any sewing required. Naylor soon +found her some pillowcases in want of repair, and Ruth sat quietly at +work till supper, for her, soon followed by bedtime. + +And so her first evening passed, and if some tears fell on her Testament +as she read her verses, they were not very many nor bitter. + +'I'll do my best,' she thought, 'and it'll be nice to write home in a +few days and tell dear mother and all, that I'm getting on well.' + + + + +CHAPTER II.--AN ACCIDENT AND A SCOLDING. + + +The Tower House, as I have said, was rambling and old-fashioned. Lady +Melicent's boudoir was a pretty, simply-furnished room on the first +floor; a long passage with windows at one side led from this to what +most people would have called the library, but for which my lady +preferred the less imposing name of book-room. This book-room was in +the square tower which gave its name to the house; it had a window on +every side, and all the wall-space that was not window was covered with +well-filled bookshelves. It had a second door besides the one out of +the passage; this second door led on to another and narrower lobby from +which a stair ran down to the back part of the house. So that when Ruth +had finished her morning sweeping and dusting of these rooms, she did +not need to pass through them again, but withdrew with her brushes and +dusters down the back-stairs. + +The ornaments of which Naylor had spoken were some delicate old china +cups and saucers and teapots on the boudoir mantelpiece, and on one or +two brackets in the corners. In the book-room there were fewer; only +a handsome old timepiece above the fireplace and some punch-bowls and +Indian vases on a side-table. It was all very interesting and wonderful +to Ruth when she found herself installed in the boudoir for her cleaning +the next morning. She took the greatest pains to do it thoroughly and +neatly, and was careful to put back everything, even to my lady's +paper-knife on her little table, exactly as she had found it. + +Then, looking round with satisfaction, she turned to the passage leading +to the book-room. The morning sun was streaming in brightly, for the +windows were to the east, and as Ruth stepped along, her eyes fell with +admiration on an old carved cabinet standing against the wall. It had +glass doors, and was filled with delicate and costly china, principally +figures, which Ruth admired more than cups and saucers. On the top of +the cabinet, outside, were also some beautiful things. A box, or casket, +especially attracted her; it was of bright green--malachite was the name +of the stone, but that Ruth did not know--set in gold, and it gleamed +brilliantly in the sunshine. + +'My goodness!' thought the little housemaid, 'it is splendid. I never +saw such a colour. But how dusty the top of the cabinet is! How I would +like to lift all the things off--there's not so many--and dust it well; +but I mustn't, I suppose. Naylor said none of the ornaments.' + +So she only gave another admiring glance and hastened to the book-room, +just finishing her work there in time to tidy herself a little for +prayers. + +Lady Melicent read these herself, and when they were over, she called +back Naylor, who led Ruth forward. + +'I am glad to see you, Ruth,' said the old lady with the smile that had +so won her young handmaiden's heart. 'You will feel a little strange at +first, but that will soon go off. Pay great attention to what Naylor +tells you, and I have no doubt you will get on nicely.' + +Then with a word or two of inquiry after her mother, she dismissed the +eager blushing girl. + +'A sweet girl and a good one, or I am much mistaken,' thought Lady +Melicent, as she poured out her coffee. 'I am sure I shall be able to +trust Flossie with her, and there will be some time before that for her +to get used to the place, and for Naylor to judge of her.' + +The next few days passed quickly. Ruth was fully occupied in learning +her work, of which, though not too much, there was enough. It was only +at night sometimes, if she happened to be lying awake after placid, +good-natured Betsy was asleep, not to say snoring, that Ruth felt a +little, 'a very little,' she said to herself, homesick. But it always +passed off again by the next morning, and she wrote cheerfully to her +mother. Of Cousin Ellen she saw little, but this she was prepared for. +On Sundays, however, Mossop generally managed to have a little walk and +talk with her young relative, and often got leave for Ruth to go with +her to the evening service. + +Ruth had been about three weeks at the Tower House when the first cloud +appeared on her fair horizon. It happened thus. At eleven o'clock every +morning a small basin of beef-tea was carried up to Lady Melicent in her +boudoir. Mrs. Mossop always saw to this herself, and herself as a rule +carried down the pretty china bowl with a cover and stand in which the +soup was served. For this bowl was a favourite of the old lady's; it had +been a present from her daughter. Now one day Lady Melicent had a slight +cold, and as it was chilly and rainy, a fire was lighted by Naylor at +her desire in the boudoir, early in the morning. It so happened that +Mossop was unusually busy, and after having carried up the beef-tea, she +did not return to the boudoir to fetch the empty basin. Later in the day +Ruth met Naylor on the back-stairs. + +'Oh dear,' said the housemaid, whose arms were filled with linen from +the laundry, 'I do hope my lady's fire's all right. Run in, Ruth, +there's a good girl, and see to it. My lady's down at luncheon in the +dining-room.' + +Off flew willing Ruth. Doubly willing on account of Naylor's +graciousness. For it was not often the upper-housemaid was so amiable. +She was only just in time to rescue the fire, but with a little skill +and patience she got it to burn brightly, and getting up from her knees +she turned to leave the room. As she did so, she caught sight of the +china basin. + +'Cousin Ellen has forgotten it,' she said to herself; 'I'll take it +down.' + +She reached forward to lift it, but she was a little embarrassed by +the wood and coals she was carrying, and somehow--who ever can say +exactly how such things happen?--her hand slipped, or the bowl slipped, +or her foot slipped--anyway the china fell to the ground, and darting +forward to pick it up, Ruth saw to her horror that the basin was broken +into several pieces. The poor girl was sadly distressed. Still she did +not think it so _very_ bad, for she knew nothing of the history of the +china. She gathered it together, and went slowly down-stairs in search +of Naylor. She met her just at the kitchen door. + +'O Naylor,' she said anxiously, 'I am so sorry. I've had an accident, +and my lady's soup-bowl is broke.' + +She held it out as she spoke; she was not afraid; she was just simply, +as she said 'so sorry,' but quite unprepared for the storm that burst +upon her. How Naylor did scold! Every sharp word she could think of was +hurled at Ruth; strangest of all she was almost the _most_ blamed for +having done as she had been told, in at once and straight-forwardly +telling what had occurred. + +'Bold, impudent, and impertinent girl that you are, to come like that, +as cool as a cucumber. "O Naylor, I've broke my lady's bowl,"' and here +she imitated the girl's tone and voice in a very insulting way, 'as if +you'd something pleasant to tell.' + +Pale and trembling, Ruth stood endeavouring to keep back her tears. 'If +I could match it,' she said, 'I'd do anything.' + +'Match it!' said Naylor contemptuously. 'Why, Mrs. Vyner brought it +herself from Paris, or somewhere farther off still. It's china as you +never sees the likes of in a shop. _Match_ it, indeed!' + +'I didn't know'---- began the girl, but it was no use; her sobs and tears +burst out, and she rushed away--up to her own room, nearly knocking down +Mossop on the stair. + +'Why, child, whatever's the?'---- she began; but Ruth only shook her head +and flew on. She had been warned not to complain to Cousin Ellen, and +she wasn't going to do so. She cried till her eyes were 'like boiled +gooseberries,' and then, suddenly remembering where she was, and that +she had her work to do, she tried to cure them by plunging her face into +cold water, and with aching head and still more sorely aching heart, +crept down-stairs with her needlework to the corner of the servants' +hall where she sat of an afternoon. + +'If only I could run away! oh, if only I could run home!' she said to +herself. + +Betsy consoled her in her own way, which was not a very wise one, though +kindly meant, when the two girls were alone in their room at night. + +'_I_ wouldn't take on like that for all the chinay bowls in the world,' +she said. 'Things must get broken sometimes. Not but what you brought it +on yourself by telling. I'd have left it there where it fell, and let +them think the cat did it.' + +'But, Betsy, I promised my lady and mother too, as I'd always tell if I +had any accident,' wept Ruth. + +'And what did my lady promise?' said Betsy. 'Leastways _I_ was promised +as I'd never be scolded if I up and told if I broke anything. Catch me! +I'll not risk it. And if you'd any sense, you'd not trust their fine +words no more than I do.' + +'It wasn't my lady. I don't believe she'd scold. But Naylor is really +_dreadful_ when she loses her temper,' and Ruth shivered at the mere +recollection. + +'Then take my advice, and don't you tell on yourself never again, whatever +happens.' + +Ruth did not answer. She was tired out, and did not feel as if she could +argue with Betsy. The next day things had calmed down again. Naylor was +quiet and rather subdued, and nothing more, rather to Ruth's surprise, +was said about the bowl. But the girl felt nervous and upset. It seemed +to her as if it would be long before she got back the happy bright +confidence she had been so full of. + +But Ruth was very young; at her age troubles _do_ melt away, however +terrible they seem at the time. She had felt inclined at first to write +off a long letter to her mother, telling her how miserable she was, and +how she didn't think she _could_ bear it. But a little reflection showed +her that this would only make Mrs. Perry very dull and uneasy about her, +and still more that if 'father or the boys' got hold of the letter--and +it would, she knew, be rather hard for mother to keep it from them--they +might insist on her being fetched home again, and there would be a nice +ending to her first start in life! How everyone would laugh at her, +and besides--would she not _deserve_ to be laughed at, if she showed so +little courage and patience? On the whole she decided to wait a bit, +and in this I think she was right. It is a very different thing when a +girl away from home conceals from her parents anything really _wrong_: +Ruth had not done wrong; and indeed no one was much to blame for the +trouble, except Naylor for losing her temper. And--and--after all, Ruth +asked herself, would it be _quite_ nice for her to write off a long +description of the housemaid's infirmity, for a real infirmity it was? +She did not want to lower Lady Melicent's household, and perhaps have +Naylor gossiped about in the neighbourhood through her. For there was no +saying how her indignant brothers might chatter. Anyway she would wait +till she could have a talk with Cousin Ellen. + +This came on Sunday. As Ruth was starting for the children's service in +the afternoon, which she had been told she might always attend, as it +only came once a month, she heard some one calling her, and standing +still to see who it was, in another moment Mrs. Mossop appeared. + +'O Cousin Ellen,' said Ruth joyfully, 'are you coming to church? I am +so glad.' + +'I thought maybe you'd like a walk and a talk with me,' said the +lady's-maid. 'I've not seen you to speak to since Wednesday, and I +thought it best not to seem to be seeking you. But I _was_ sorry, child; +sorry both for you and for the accident. You must be very careful, Ruth.' + +'I was as sorry as sorry could be,' said the girl. 'Indeed I'd have +done _anything_ if I could have got another bowl. But--did you know how +Naylor spoke to me, Cousin Ellen?' and Ruth hesitated a little. 'It was +just awful.' + +'I know how she is,' said Mossop, 'but it's no use thinking about it. +I was just glad of one thing, and that was that you told at once.' + +Ruth hardly seemed to feel this cheering. + +'I could almost have wished I hadn't told,' she said. 'I don't know +_what_ I'll do if ever I have to tell anything again.' + +'Don't say that, my dear,' said Mossop, eagerly. 'After all, Naylor +isn't my lady, and it's her temper. You'll find it much worse in the end +if you hid anything, believe me. Have you written to your mother about +it?' + +'No,' said Ruth, 'I thought I'd wait,' and she went on to explain her +reasons. Mossop approved of them. + +'Yes,' she said, 'wait a bit. Writing makes things seem so much worse. +Telling is different. Maybe I'll be going over to Wharton some day, and +I could tell your mother. You'll feel all right again soon, and it's to +be hoped you'll have no more bad luck. I can't say but what I was very +put out myself about that basin--real "Severs" it was. I suppose, to go +to the roots of things, it was my fault for having left it about. I said +so to my lady.' + +'Oh dear, Cousin Ellen, I'm sure no one could ever think _you_ to blame,' +said Ruth. 'Indeed, indeed, I will try to be careful.' + +Her tone was rather melancholy still. Mossop looked at her with a little +smile. + +'I'm much mistaken if you won't be hearing something in a day or two +that'll cheer you up. But I mustn't tell you about it.' + +And Ruth could not persuade her to say more. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III.--THE OLD CABINET IN THE PASSAGE. + + +The very day that Ruth was crying about the broken basin, a conversation +which concerned her, though she little knew it, was going on a good many +miles away. + +In a pretty room in a large country-house--a much larger and 'grander' +house than the Towers, a lady, sweet and young, was lying on a sofa. +In front of her stood a little girl--a pretty little creature of eight +or nine. She had a bright expression usually, but just now she seemed +uncomfortable and ill at ease. She fidgeted from one foot to the other, +and frowned as she looked down, and her face was flushed. + +'Tell me, Flossie,' said the lady. 'You're quite old enough to explain. +Why don't you want to go to grandmamma's? I should feel so happy about +you with her while I am away, and then papa and I will come to fetch you +when I am quite strong again.' + +'Mayn't I go with you, mamma?' said the child. + +Mrs. Vyner shook her head. + +'No, dear, it is impossible. You must either go to grandmamma's or stay +here with Miss Kelly. And if you don't go to the Towers, I must tell +grandmamma that you don't want to go.' + +'No, no,' said Flossie, 'don't do that, mamma; I'll go, but please don't +be long away. And please tell grandmamma that I'm too little to be always +in her room. Mayn't I have a nursery, like at home?' + +'I thought you loved being a great deal with grandmamma,' said Mrs. Vyner +in a disappointed tone. 'I don't understand you, Flossie. However, you +are to have a sort of nursery, and there is a very nice young servant +there who is to take you out and amuse you. For I should be sorry to +disappoint Miss Kelly of her holiday when she has had none for so long.' + +Florentia's face brightened a little. + +'I'll go into the boudoir as seldom as I can, and _never_ along the +passage to the book-room,' she murmured to herself, but her mother did +not catch the words. + +It was a week or so after this--fully a week, it may have been ten days, +after Ruth's accident--that Lady Melicent sent for her one morning to +speak to her. Ruth felt just a little frightened; surely nothing was +going to be said about the basin _now_, so long after? + +But the old lady's kind face reassured her. + +'I sent for you, Ruth,' she said, 'to tell you that for a few weeks your +work is going to be a little changed. Not disagreeably so, I hope. My +little grand-daughter, Miss Vyner--Miss Flossie they generally call +her--is coming to stay with me while her parents are abroad. Her nursery +governess is to have a holiday, so we must take care of her ourselves. +Mossop will superintend, but you, Ruth, will be with her altogether. You +will dress her, and take her out and amuse her. I feel that I may have +confidence in you, for you have been carefully brought up, and you have +shown that you are obedient and straightforward. I was sorry for my bowl +to be broken, and I hope in future you will be more careful, but I was +very glad you told about it.' + +Ruth flushed a little; partly with shame, for she did feel she had been +careless, but more with pleasure. She was glad to have pleased Lady +Melicent, and she was delighted to hear the news. To be under Cousin +Ellen instead of Naylor was nice of itself, and to have the care of +little Miss Flossie _would_ be a treat! + +'Thank you very much, my lady,' she said timidly. 'I will do my best, +and indeed I will try to be more careful.' + +She felt in such good spirits the next day or two, that she did not mind +the _rather_ grim looks she got from Naylor. Not that Naylor minded a +little extra work to oblige my lady, but she felt sure Ruth would have +her head turned once she was removed from _her_ authority, even for a +time. + +A week, then a fortnight, passed. All was ready for the little visitor. +Two days before her arrival Ruth was sweeping the passage leading to the +book-room early one morning, when her glance again fell on the cabinet +and its contents. It was a very sunny day, and the bright rays showed +off as before the green casket, and revealed at the same time that the +cabinet was very dusty indeed. Ruth drew near. To a very tidy, expert +housemaid there is a sort of fascination in dust. Her fingers quivered. + +'I'm _sure_ Naylor often forgets that cabinet,' she said. 'She'd much +better let me do it. And what's more, I will, just for this once.' + +She lifted off carefully some of the ornaments, and placed them safely +on the floor. Then she raised the green casket, admiring it as she did +so, when, oh horror! The lid seemed in some extraordinary way to detach +itself, and fell to the ground with a sharp sound; and when the girl, +trembling with fear, stooped to pick it up, she saw it was in two pieces; +a corner, a good-sized corner, was broken off! For a moment or two, Ruth +was really too appalled to move; then she looked at it closely. It was +a neat fracture, by replacing it on the box, and 'standing' the whole +on the cabinet again, the breakage did not show. Just then Ruth heard +Naylor's voice; quick as thought she put back the two or three uninjured +ornaments beside the casket as usual, and flew down the passage to the +book-room, and there Naylor found her a few minutes later, quietly +dusting. The temptation to conceal this new misfortune was too great, +and Ruth yielded to it. + +At first she only said to herself she would wait till the evening--Naylor +was in a fussy humour, she could see. But evening came, and then next +morning, and her courage grew ever fainter, till at last came the +day Miss Flossie was expected, and _then_ Ruth felt it was too late. +She could not tell _now_, and have a scene like the last time, just +as the little lady arrived. And evidently Naylor had not discovered +the breakage, though the cabinet and the ornaments were carefully +dusted. This puzzled Ruth a little; she could only suppose that the +upper-housemaid dusted with her feather brush without moving the things +about. And she tried to put the matter altogether out of her mind, +though there were times--when she knelt to say her prayers, morning and +evening, was the worst time--that she could not succeed in doing so, and +more than one night she cried herself to sleep, crying more bitter tears +than even the day Naylor had been so harsh and unkind. For _then_ Ruth's +conscience was clear. Ah, the difference that makes! + +Florentia proved to be a quiet, easily-managed child. Indeed she was +rather too quiet in the opinion of her grandmother and the old servants, +who had known her much more lively. + +'Are you quite well, darling?' asked Lady Melicent one day. 'I never +hear you racing about and laughing as you did in the winter. Wouldn't +you like a nice game of ball in the long passage? You could play with +Ruth at the end near the book-room where there is no furniture.' + +'No, thank you, Granny,' the little girl replied. 'I'd rather go out +a walk with Ruth. I like best playing in the garden.' + +'And you like Ruth, dear? She is kind to you, I am sure?' + +'Yes, thank you, grandmamma. I like Ruth, and she likes playing in the +garden best too.' + +A sudden thought struck Lady Melicent. 'Flossie,' she said, 'will you +run and fetch me the atlas which you will see lying on the side-table in +the book-room. Your mother wants me to show you where they are now, on +the map.' + +Flossie hesitated. Lady Melicent and she were in the boudoir. + +'In the book-room?' she repeated. + +'Yes,' said her grandmother decidedly, 'in the book-room. Be quick, +dear.' + +Flossie went. But she was not quick, and when after some minutes she +returned, she seemed rather out of breath. + +'Why have you been so long? It doesn't take a minute to run down the +passage,' said the old lady. + +Flossie grew red. + +'I went the other way,' she said. 'I don't like the passage. I went +down-stairs, and up the back-stairs.' + +Her grandmother looked at her keenly. + +'What a strange idea!' she said. 'Do you think there is an ogre in the +passage?' + +But Flossie did not laugh or even smile. And just then Ruth came to +fetch her. Lady Melicent sighed when she was left alone. 'I wonder,' she +thought, 'if I took Ruth into my confidence, if perhaps she might help +to make Flossie tell. I can see the child will not be happy till she +does, and I do not want to ask her. I should be so afraid of making her +deny it. Ruth behaved so well about my beef-tea bowl, I am sure she has +nothing underhand about her.' + +And the old lady looked quite anxious and depressed. + +Ruth and her little charge meanwhile were sauntering slowly up and down +the garden. In spite of Flossie's saying that it amused her to 'play' +in the garden, it did not look very like it. She seemed spiritless and +dull, and Ruth too appeared to have lost her usual bright happy eagerness. +Neither spoke for some time; at last Ruth half started, as it suddenly +struck her that she was scarcely fulfilling her duty. + +'Miss Flossie, dear,' she said, 'wouldn't you like a game? It's not warm +to-day, and we're walking along so slowly. Shall I fetch your ball or +your hoop? Or would you like to run races?' + +'No, thank you; I'd rather just walk along,' said the child. Then after +a moment's silence she went on. 'I don't like much being at the Tower +House now. Do you like it, Ruth? Would you not rather be at your own +home?' + +Ruth hesitated. + +'Yes, for some things I would,' she said. 'But I was very pleased to +come here.' + +'_Were_ you?' said Flossie, rather incredulously. 'You don't look very +happy. I thought so the first day. I wrote to mother that you had a kind +face, but not a happy one.' + +'_Did_ you, Miss Flossie?' exclaimed Ruth, rather taken aback. 'Well, at +home I was called the merriest of everybody, and, and--I've been merry +here sometimes.' + +'But you're not now, Ruth,' said Flossie gravely. Then she peered up +into the little maid's face with her big gray eyes. 'I'll tell you what, +Ruth,' she said, 'I believe you've something on your mind. It's very bad +to have something on your mind. _I know about it_,' she went on +mysteriously. + +Ruth grew scarlet. + +'You know about me having something on my mind, Miss Flossie,' she said. +'What do you mean?' + +Flossie did not at once answer. + +'I hate passing that way,' she murmured to herself. 'I shut my eyes +tight not to see the cabi----. What are you staring at me like that for, +Ruth?' she broke off suddenly, finding the girl's eyes fixed upon her. +'I only said it's very bad to have something on your mind, and so it +is.' + +Ruth by this time was as pale as she had been red. + +'But what do you mean--how do you know, Miss Flossie? How do you know +I have anything on my mind, and what were you saying about the old +cabinet?' + +'I was speaking to myself. You shouldn't listen,' said Flossie crossly. +'_I've_ something on my mind, but you needn't ask about it. You may be +sorry for me, just as I'm sorry for you, but you needn't ask questions +about what it is.' + +'I--I wasn't asking questions,' said Ruth, more and more bewildered. 'I +was only wondering why--what--what made you speak of the old cabinet in +the passage? Did anyone--Naylor or anyone--say anything about it since +you came, Miss Flossie?' + +It was Flossie's turn to start. + +'No,' she said, 'of course not. Nobody knows--oh, I wish I hadn't come +here!' she suddenly broke off, 'and I wish you wouldn't speak of horrid +things, Ruth. You weren't here in the winter; you couldn't know. And oh, +I _am_ so unhappy,' and throwing herself into Ruth's arms, the little +girl burst into loud weeping. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--A DOUBLE CONFESSION. + + +This was what was on little Flossie's mind, and on her grandmother's +mind too, for that matter! It had happened several months ago, during +the child's last visit to the Tower House. + +One day Flossie had a cold. Not a very bad one, but enough to make her +cross and uncomfortable. She was tired of reading, tired of her dolls, +tired of everything, and it was a very woebegone-looking little girl +that came to say good-night to grandmamma. + +'I wish I'd something to amuse me,' she said dolefully. 'If my cold +isn't better to-morrow and I can't go out, I don't know what to do all +day.' + +Lady Melicent considered. + +'I'll tell you what, Flossie,' she said. 'You might make some bead-mats. +That would amuse you. I have some very pretty beads in the green casket +that stands on the old cabinet in the passage--at least I think they're +there. I'll see to-morrow.' + +Flossie jumped with pleasure. + +'Oh, that would be nice, granny. Can't you look for them to-night? I +might make a mat for mamma's birthday. Mayn't I go and look for them?' + +'No, dear. The passage is cold, and besides that, the cabinet is too +high for you to reach up to. You might pull over some of the heavy +ornaments and hurt yourself. Wait till to-morrow, and I will find the +beads for you. I won't forget.' + +Flossie was sitting reading in the boudoir the next morning, when Lady +Melicent came in with two or three little cardboard boxes in her hand. +She looked at the child. + +'Flossie,' she said quietly, 'here are the beads. I found them up-stairs +in my work-box. They were not in the green casket.' + +'Thank you, grandmamma,' said Flossie. But she scarcely looked up. + +'Don't you care about making the mats now, Flossie?' said Lady Melicent. +'You seemed so pleased with the idea last night.' + +'I would like to make a mat for mother very much,' said Flossie, getting +up and coming round to her grandmother. + +But that was all she said, and two days after, the little girl left +rather suddenly, as her father came over to fetch her and her cold was +better. And ever since then there had been a little ache in grandmother's +heart about Flossie. For that morning, when she went to look for the +beads in the malachite casket, she had found it broken, and speaking of +it to Naylor, the housemaid had thought it right to tell her that it was +Miss Flossie's doing. + +'I saw her climbing up on a chair, when I was in the book-room,' said +Naylor. 'And I heard something fall. It was the green box. She put it +back again in its place, but the lid was broke off the hinges, and one +corner off. I'm very sorry, and I'm sure Miss Flossie was, for I heard +her crying.' Flossie was a great favourite of Naylor's. + +'I wish she had told me about it herself,' said the old lady with a +sigh. 'But don't say anything about it, Naylor. She will forget about it +probably for the time, but when she comes back again, I hope she will +tell me.' + +Flossie did not forget about it, though she tried to do so. But the +broken casket was the mysterious 'something on her mind,' of which she +had spoken to Ruth. And the remembrance of it was what had prevented her +enjoying as usual the thought of a visit to the Tower House, and given +her such a dislike to the long passage which had once been her favourite +play-room. + +You can now understand with what a strange mixture of feelings Ruth +listened to Flossie's story. She soothed the poor little girl as well +as she could, though feeling dreadfully ashamed when Flossie went on to +blame herself bitterly. + +'It was so naughty and mean of me not to tell granny,' she sobbed, +'for she's always so kind. And sometimes I've been afraid she'd think +somebody else had broken it. Do you think granny has never found it out, +Ruth?' + +'I can't say, I'm sure, Miss Flossie,' said Ruth sadly. 'But it's clear +there's only one thing to be done now, and that's for you to tell my +lady yourself all about it.' + +'I'll tell her when I go to have my good-night talk with her,' said +Flossie. 'O Ruth, I'll _never_ hide anything again.' + +Her words were fervently echoed in Ruth's heart. She was on the point of +confessing her own secret to the little girl, but a moment's reflection +made her hesitate. No, she too must tell all to Lady Melicent herself, +and it must be for her to judge if Flossie should be told. + +'And if my lady thinks me not fit to be trusted any more, and I have to +go home in disgrace, I must just bear it. It's my own fault,' thought +Ruth. + +It was a tearful but a happy little girl who came trotting up to be +undressed and put to bed at the Tower House that evening. + +'Granny has been so kind,' she said, 'and I am so glad I've told her. +It was dreadful to have it on my mind, Ruth dear. And granny has been +telling me how good you were about the basin, and I said to her it was +you that said I must tell. And do you know, she _did_ know I'd broken +it, only she waited for me to tell myself. It's never been mended, but +now she's going to send it to be done.' + +Ruth sympathised in Flossie's joy, and the child was too happy to notice +the girl's sadness. All Florentia said only made her own confession the +more difficult. + +'There is no real need for it,' said the tempter. 'No one can be blamed +now. Indeed, it was not you who broke it after all.' + +But Ruth had a conscience. + +Late that evening there came a timid knock at my lady's door, and in +answer to her 'come in,' a pale and trembling girl appeared. + +'Ruth!' exclaimed the old lady in surprise. 'Is there anything wrong?' + +'Oh no, my lady. Miss Flossie's in bed and asleep, quite happy. It's not +about her. It's--it's--oh, my lady, it's about me. I--I broke, at least +I didn't, but I thought I did, and that's just as bad. I thought I broke +the green casket, and--and--I couldn't bear to tell--just as there'd +been such trouble about the bowl, and--if I must go home, I'll not +complain, my lady. I'--but here she broke down into sobs. + +Lady Melicent stared at her in concern. + +'You broke or thought you broke the green casket,' she said. 'Why, +Flossie has just been telling me, what indeed I knew already--that _she_ +broke it,' and she looked at Ruth as if she half feared that the girl +was dreaming. + +'That was how I came to tell myself,' said Ruth. 'Miss Flossie has been +so unhappy about it that at last she could bear it no longer, and this +afternoon in the garden she told me. And then I felt that ashamed to +think that I, more than twice her age, and knowing how wrong it was, +had been hiding what I thought I'd done. It was last week--I knew +I shouldn't touch the cabinet, but it looked so dusty one morning I +felt somehow tempted to do it, and the green box, leastways the lid, +slipped--of course I see now how it was. The hinges were loose, and it +was broke already. But I _thought_ I'd done it, and I couldn't bear to +tell for fear your ladyship should think me really too bad, and just as +Miss Flossie was coming and all. So I waited, and then I got so as I +couldn't tell. I wondered Naylor never noticed it. I wouldn't have let +another be blamed for it. But when she didn't seem to have found it was +broke, I thought I needn't. And now I'm quite ready to go home; it's +only what I deserve.' + +'No, Ruth, I should be very sorry for you to go home. I am very glad you +have told me now. You did not tell Miss Flossie?' + +'No, my lady. I thought it best to tell you first.' + +'That was wise. I think there is no need for Miss Flossie to be told of +it. She has had a lesson herself, and she respects you, Ruth. It may make +you feel ashamed, but that you must bear. I should not like her to lose +her feeling of looking up to you. And I am sure you will be even more +anxious than before to teach her to be perfectly open and straightforward.' + +Ruth could scarcely speak; her tears, though they were tears of relief +and gratitude, nearly choked her. + +'And,' continued my lady, going on speaking partly for the sake of +giving the girl time to recover her composure, 'I do not think it will +be necessary to tell Naylor, either.' + +'Oh, thank you, my lady,' said Ruth fervently. And she could not help +smiling a little, as she caught sight of Lady Melicent's face. + +'As for Mossop,' added Lady Melicent, 'I will leave it to you. I daresay +you will like to tell her when you have an opportunity, as you are away +from your mother.' + +'Yes, thank you, my lady,' said Ruth again. 'And indeed--I don't think +you will ever have reason to regret your kindness.' + +She could scarcely speak yet: the tears were still so near. But little +Flossie was not the only person in the Tower House who fell asleep that +night with a lightened heart and warm gratitude to the dear old lady. + +The rest of Flossie's visit passed most cheerily, and Lady Melicent had +not reason to complain that she no longer heard her little visitor's +merry voice and laugh about the house. And a very unexpected event came +to pass before the end of the summer, which greatly added to Ruth's +happiness at Tower House. Naylor got married! Her husband was the +gardener at a neighbouring house; a very meek and mild little man who +gave in to her in everything, so it is to be hoped her temper improved. +The new upper-housemaid was quite as good at 'training' as Naylor, and +by no means so great at scolding, which, I think, no one regretted. And +Lady Melicent lived long enough for Ruth herself in time to be promoted +to what had once been Naylor's post, which she filled with honourable +faithfulness till her dear mistress's death. + +In the old lady's will she left 'to her faithful servant Ruth Perry, a +casket of green malachite.' That was many years ago. The green casket +has for long been the most valued ornament of the best room in Ruth's +comfortable farmhouse, and her children, and grandchildren too, have +all heard its story. + +[Illustration] + + + + +LEO'S POST-OFFICE. + + +'Oh dear!' said Leo's mother, 'there, I have run out of stamps again. +And I don't like getting them from the servants. It is so apt to cause +mistakes. It is really very stupid of me. Have you any, Marion?' + +Marion was Leo's big sister. She was fifteen. + +'I have one or two--yes, three,' Marion answered. 'Will that do, mamma?' + +'It must do; oh yes, I think there are only three letters that really +matter. I can't send for any so late. The servants are all busy; these +letters can be put in the pillar-box just opposite. But I really must +not let myself run out of stamps in this way.' + +'Some days you have so many more letters than others. It must be +difficult to know how many stamps you need,' said Marion, who thought +mamma so perfect that she did not even like to hear her calling herself +'stupid' for running short of stamps. + +'I wish we had a post-office in the house,' said Cynthia, the next +sister. 'I did so want a postcard to send to Fletcher's to order my new +piece of music, and when I was out I forgot to get any, though mamma +said I might buy a whole packet. It's cheaper--for you get twelve for +eightpence, and if you buy one at a time it's a penny each.' + +'Or two for three-halfpence,' said Leo. 'That would make ninepence for +twelve, not eightpence.' + +'That's just like Leo,' said Cynthia; 'he's always counting about money +and things like that. You're a regular little merchant, Leo.' + +'Don't laugh at him,' said his mother. 'He is very careful and exact, +and being careful and exact doesn't need to make anyone selfish or +miserly. Leo has always money ready for birthdays and Christmas +presents.' + +Leo looked pleased, but he did not say anything; he was always rather +a silent little boy. But later that same evening, when he knew that his +mother would be alone, he came up to her quietly. + +'Mamma,' he said, 'I want to ask you something. Would you mind letting +me have a little money out of my packet?' + +'What for, dear?' she asked. + +Leo grew rather red. + +'It was what you were saying about running out of stamps that put it +in my head,' he said. 'And what Cynthia said too about my being like a +merchant--I would like to be a merchant, mamma, if that means selling +things. I'd awfully like to have a shop, but of course I can't--at least +not a proper shop. But oh, mamma, I've been thinking if I might have a +post-office,' and Leo's eyes gleamed with eagerness. + +'A post-office, my dear boy!' said his mother, 'how _could_ you have a +post-office?' + +'Oh, of course I don't mean a regular post-office. I couldn't have +telegraphs, nor get people to post their letters in our letter-box. You +wouldn't like it, would you, mamma?' he said gravely. 'But I just mean +a post-office for selling stamps, and postcards, and perhaps newspaper +wrappers. And wouldn't it be nice for you, mamma, always to be able to +get stamps in a minute, however late it was--you'd never have to say +you'd run out of them, then?' + +[Illustration: THE LARGE ORDER] + +Mamma smiled. + +'Yes, that would be very nice, certainly,' she said. 'But it wouldn't +be much good to _you_, Leo, if you gave your trouble and lent your +money for nothing? You should make some profit, even if it were only +a halfpenny on a dozen stamps.' + +'Or a penny on twelve postcards,' said Leo consideringly. 'I might buy a +whole packet and sell them in ones or twos. That would be very nice. But +even without that, I would so like to have a post-office, mamma. It +would really be a help to you.' + +So it was settled. Mamma gave Leo five shillings out of his 'packet,' +which was a private savings-bank she kept for him, and Leo, as happy as +a king, set off to the chemist's shop round the corner, which was the +nearest post-office in the neighbourhood, and laid out the whole five +shillings in penny stamps, halfpenny stamps, a packet of postcards, +another of newspaper wrappers, a few twopence-halfpenny stamps, and two +or three foreign postcards, just in case mamma were writing to France, +or Germany, as she sometimes did. The chemist did look rather astonished +at such extensive purchases, but he was very civil and obliging; and as +he was a nice man, Leo felt glad he had gone to him instead of to the +big post-office a quarter of a mile off. + +'For he must gain something on as much as five shillings,' thought Leo. + +Then he came home and began to make his arrangements. He had to +consult his sisters about them, but they were very kind and very much +interested, and were quite pleased that the post-office should be in the +schoolroom, which of course was as much their room as Leo's. + +There was a little old-fashioned cupboard or bookcase in the schoolroom, +in which, above the enclosed part which had glass doors, were two little +drawers not used for anything in particular. On these drawers Leo had +set his heart. 'They would be just the thing,' he thought. And luckily +Marion and Cynthia thought the same. So the drawers were cleared of such +contents as they had, and Leo set to work. + +In one drawer he arranged all his wares, as neatly as possible--using +the lids of some old cardboard boxes as divisions. There were the penny +stamps in one, the halfpenny ones in another, the wrappers and post-cards +behind. And as of course Leo could not stand all day long at the +post-office to wait for people coming to buy, he made the second drawer +into his 'till.' In this he made divisions too, one for the money paid +for stamps, another for that for postcards, and so on. Each division was +marked accordingly, so that every morning or evening he could count up +his sales, and see that all was right. Besides all this, he wrote out +in his neatest, roundest writing a set of _rules_ for 'Hertford Square +Post-office,' as he called it, and to the card on which these rules were +written he fastened a pencil by a long string, as he had seen done in +real post-offices for telegrams, and a number of tiny little papers on +which everybody who bought stamps was to mark down the number they had +had, and to drop the little paper into the drawer. + +And then with great triumph he summoned mamma and his sisters, and Miss +Nesbitt, and nurse, and the butler, and in short everybody he could get +hold of, to come and admire. + +'It is really very neat and nice,' said mamma; and by way of 'handsel' +or 'good-luck' to the new post-office, she immediately bought six stamps, +for which she gave a whole penny extra, though Leo explained that of +course he did not expect that _usually_. + +'I hope your rules will be kept,' said Marion who had been reading them +over. 'The principal one is about paying at once. Well, of course, +that's a very good rule. It is so easy to forget to pay for such little +things, if one doesn't do it at once. And then about the time of closing +every evening.' + +'At eight o'clock--when I go to bed,' Leo said. 'I shall come round then +for the last time and shut up.' + +'But,' said Cynthia, '_supposing_ mamma wanted a stamp quite late at +night. It might happen, you know, and that was to be the good of having +a post-office in the house. And if you had locked them all up'---- + +'I can't lock them up,' said Leo; 'there's no key.' + +'Well then,' said Marion, 'I think you should make a rule that if mamma +wants anything after eight, she should be allowed to have it, or if +any one else does, they might too, if they got her to sign one of the +papers. Of course it wouldn't often happen, but just in case.' + +'Very well,' Leo agreed; 'I'll add on that new rule,' and so he did. + +All went well for some time. The stock, of stamps especially, was sold +out several times in the course of the first week or two, and everybody +paid regularly. Once or twice, it must be owned, Cynthia forgot to pay, +and more than once or twice people forgot to mark down what they had +taken. But Cynthia was always ready with her pennies as soon as Leo +asked her, and except for this the money was all right. More than +all right indeed, for one day a friend of his mother's made such big +purchases that he was quite cleared out, and had to set off to the +chemist's at once, and thanks to this and to other smaller profits, by +the end of the first week he had gained threepence, and by the end of +the second, twopence-halfpenny more. + +So Leo began to think his post-office a great success. + +But one morning he had a start. + +He had left all quite correct the evening before; the money was right, +and he knew exactly how many stamps he had left, when he had made his +last round, as he called it, at bedtime; but this morning, though the +money was the same, the stamps were not; three penny ones were gone. + +[Illustration: One morning he had a start.] + +Leo counted them all over and over again, 'to be quite sure,' even +though in his heart he had been quite sure from the first. Then he ran +up-stairs to ask his mother if possibly she had taken them after he was +in bed, and forgotten to mark them down. No, mamma had not had any. Leo +began to look quite distressed. + +'Don't worry about it,' said his mother. 'It's the first time anything +has gone wrong. I will pay the threepence, dear. It has just been some +mistake.' + +Leo thanked her and ran off, determining to count more carefully than +ever. And for two or three days all was right. Then again, one morning, +it happened again that stamps were missing. Two penny and one halfpenny +this time! + +'Dear, dear,' thought Leo, 'I don't like this at all,' and again mamma +was consulted. 'If this goes on,' he said, 'I must give it up.' + +But mamma advised him to wait a little; perhaps some one would remember +having taken them. + +So Leo waited, though far from easy in his mind. Only one thing consoled +him. + +'If it was a robber,' he thought, 'they'd have been _more_ likely to +take the pennies than the stamps.' + +[Illustration: "IT REALLY IS VERY QUEER"] + +For some days poor Leo was in great trouble about the strange +disappearance of his stamps. He asked everybody, but nobody had had any +they had not paid for. And he was sure nobody in the house would say +what was not true. He began to think of robbers and burglars, only, as +Benjamin the footman reminded him, 'It wasn't common-sense to suppose +burglars'd steal postage-stamps and nought else; not that there was much +chance of silver plate about. Mr. Trev, the butler, and he--Benjamin +himself--was a deal too sharp.' + +Benjamin seemed a little cross about the stamps, and so did Trev, Leo +thought. And mamma advised him to say no more about it. If it happened +again--well, she began to be afraid he would have to give up his +post-office, and for some evenings, to make quite sure, she counted them +over herself with him at bedtime, and as they each time proved right the +next morning, she almost thought Leo must have miscounted. + +But alas! Two mornings after that, and again stamps were missing, two +this time, and, by way of variety this time, a newspaper wrapper! + +'It really is very queer,' said Leo's mother when he flew to tell her +of the new troubles. 'I really do feel as if I would like to find out +who takes them. I've a great mind to sit up late one evening and watch.' + +'Oh no, mamma, please don't,' said poor Leo, looking quite frightened; +'at least if you do, you must let me sit up too. Just think if it was +real robbers,' for he could not quite get the idea out of his head that +burglars after all might have to do with it. + +Mamma laughed, but still she promised him that she would choose a night +when his father was at home. + +'I don't think I should care to sit up late all alone,' she said, 'even +though I don't think it likely that burglars are stealing your stamps, +Leo.' + +Now I must explain that Leo's father was a _very_ busy man. Some +evenings he did not get home till long after not only Leo, but his big +sisters and even his mother, were in bed, and sometimes he had to go off +so early in the morning that for several days together, now and then, +they scarcely saw him. This was a great trouble to them all, for they +were very fond indeed of their father, and he was very fond of them. But +it could not be helped for the present, though Leo was already looking +forward to the time when he should 'be a man,' and able to help papa. + +Lately, since Leo had started his post-office, his father had been even +extra busy, and if he had heard about the matter at all, he had not paid +much attention, or else he had quite forgotten it. The schoolroom in +these children's house was at the end of the hall, and between it and +the dining-room was a tiny little book-room or study, where their father +kept all his own papers, and where he used to write when he _was_ at +home. Sometimes when he came home very late and let himself in with his +latchkey, he would go straight to this little room, where a good fire +was kept up, and there he would write answers to any letters he found +waiting for him, and leave them on the hall-table all ready to be posted +the _very_ first thing in the morning by whichever of the servants was +the earliest about; but I don't think any of the children or their +mother knew of this custom of his, as it had never happened to come in +their way. + +The very evening of the day on which Leo and his mother had been talking +so seriously about the missing stamps, papa, for a wonder, came home +quite early. It was really a great treat to them all. He had dinner quite +comfortably with mamma, and after dinner, when Marion and Cynthia and +Leo were all in the drawing-room as usual, they kept saying to each +other _how_ nice it was to have papa with them. + +'If only you could come home every day as early as this,' said Cynthia +to him. + +'But perhaps if I could, you wouldn't think so much of me,' said her +father laughing. + +'And I'm afraid mamma wouldn't let me sit up till nine _every_ night,' +said Leo, who had got an hour's grace this evening. 'Mamma,' he went on, +coming close to her and whispering, 'do you think you'll sit up to-night +and _watch_? I wouldn't mind you doing it with papa, you know.' + +'I'll see about it,' said his mother, smiling, while his father looked +up and asked what they were whispering about--it was a shame to have +secrets from him when he was so seldom at home! + +And as he spoke, he got up slowly from his comfortable chair by the +fire. + +'I'm afraid I must go down-stairs to the study,' he said. 'I have some +letters to write, though I do feel very lazy about it.' + +But immediately a cry was set up. + +'O papa, do wait till we've gone to bed,' said the three voices. 'We +shall be going in half an hour.' + +So of course papa gave in. + +Mamma had an interesting book to read after the children had gone to +bed, and their father had left her to write his letters. She read on for +some time, and then she began to feel chilly, and looking up she saw +that the fire was getting low. + +'I'll go down to the study,' she thought. 'There's sure to be a good +fire there.' + +As she went down-stairs it struck her that she would take a look into +the schoolroom, and just notice if the 'post-office' drawers were shut, +and all looking as usual. + +'I might even,' she said to herself, 'count the stamps and compare my +counting with Leo's to-morrow.' + +But it was dark in the schoolroom. The fire, however, was not quite out; +she turned to look for a match or a spill to light one of the candles. +Her back was turned to the door, but as she stood there she heard it +creak a little as some one pushed it open and came into the room. And +this some one, much to her surprise, marched straight up to the stamp +drawer, not to the money one, as if well acquainted with the arrangements, +and by the light which came in from the hall stood quietly helping himself +to some stamps. And who do you think it was? Why no one in the world but +Leo's father himself! + +Mamma all but burst out laughing, but she managed to stay quite still +for a moment. Then she called out: 'What _are_ you doing in that drawer?' + +It was papa's turn to jump then! But he soon got over his start. + +'What are you doing there all by yourself in the dark?' he said. 'And +what should I be doing but taking a stamp or two, of course,' he went +on, coolly. 'I've always forgotten to say what a good idea it is to have +stamps and wrappers and things so handy here. I never knew you kept them +here till a few nights ago, when I came in here to see if there was any +coal, as my fire was nearly out, and the drawer was open.' + +'Ah,' thought Mamma, 'Leo did say he had asked Cynthia to shut it the +night he had a headache, and no doubt she forgot.' + +'And,' papa went on, 'I was so glad to see where the stamps were, as I +sometimes run short. Since then I've helped myself to whatever I wanted, +two or three times.' + +[Illustration: The Culprit] + +'So _you_ are the culprit,' Leo's mother exclaimed, laughing. And then +she told the whole story. + + * * * * * + +His father was very much interested, and very sorry to have caused any +anxiety. He put a whole shilling into the 'till,' which more than put +Leo's accounts straight. And the next day he did something still nicer. +He brought Leo home the neatest little letter-weigher you ever saw, and +told him to add a new rule, to say that letters should be weighed at a +charge of a farthing each, in case anyone was in doubt how many stamps +to put on. And he also gave Leo a present of a packet of big envelopes +of different sizes, which he told him he might sell for a halfpenny +each, as they were thick and strong. So Leo's business is flourishing +and increasing very much, and he has even thoughts of adding luggage +labels and registered-letter envelopes to his stock in trade. + +And since the night that mamma watched for the burglars, not a single +stamp or postcard or anything has ever been missing. + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration: DENIS IS FRIGHTENED. Page 121.] + + + + +BRAVE LITTLE DENIS. + + The brave man is not he who feels no fear, + For that were stupid and irrational; + But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, + And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. + + JOANNA BAILLIE. + + + + +CHAPTER I.--WHAT IS 'BRAVE?' + + +The news had come up to the nursery, and there was great excitement and +rejoicing. Linda and Nettie chattered so fast, and had so many questions +to ask, that the 'big' boys, Alex and Lambert, when they came in to tea +could not at first find out what it was all about, or get anyone to +explain. And when at last baby--Miss Baby, who was two years old and +quite understood that, when nurse wanted to speak, it was not the time +to pull her shoes off and complain that 'hers toes was told'--condescended +to be quiet and let poor nurse answer, the noise did not grow any less, +I can assure you. + +'Going to Baronscourt for Christmas. Hurrah!' shouted Alex. 'Three +cheers for Granny, Lambert,' which Lambert was only too ready to join in. + +'Do you think Granny will make us a Christmas-tree, nurse?' asked Nettie. + +'She _should_,' said Linda, 'because of missing last year, you know.' + +'Me kismas-tee, too,' said Baby. + +'Silly little girl, everybody can't have a Christmas-tree for themselves,' +said Linda; at which snub Baby began her preparations for a scream, which +was only averted by Alex good-naturedly picking up his little sister and +instructing her to give three cheers for Granny. + +'Now join too, Denis,' said Linda. 'Why don't you cheer too?' + +Denis raised his grave little face. + +'I want to finish this story,' he said, dropping his eyes again on the +book in his hands. + +'What a fancy he's taken for reading, all of a sudden,' said Linda in +a lower voice to nurse. 'I don't believe he understands it. He reads +awfully slowly when he's at his lessons.' + +'Well, Miss Linda, he's only five,' said nurse. 'It's nice for him to +find something to keep him quiet sometimes. But he is rather strange +this afternoon. I don't know what he's got in his head, sitting there +by himself, though to be sure he's always a good bit quieter than his +brothers.' + +'He's such a baby for his age,' said Linda, rather contemptuously. 'When +Alex was seven--that's only two years older than Denis is now--he could +do all sorts of things--jump his pony and play cricket, and'---- + +'I don't think you can remember much about it, Linda,' said Alex, who +had overheard her. 'When I was seven you were only five, and that's +three years ago, and when Lam was five he couldn't do any better than +Den.' + +'Because Lambert was delicate, and Denis is not a bit delicate; he's +just very babyish,' said Linda, turning away, as if that settled the +question. + +Denis looked up and opened his lips as if going to speak, but then shut +them again and said nothing. + +'Aren't you glad to go to Baronscourt, Den?' said gentle little Nettie, +the sister who came next him in age. She was sitting beside him at the +tea-table, and spoke in rather a low voice. 'Don't you remember how +pretty it is there? It's only six months since we were there last. You +can't have forgotten it.' + +'No,' said Denis; 'I've not forgotten it.' + +'Then, aren't you glad to go?' + +'I'm glad to see Granny and Prince,' said Denis; but that was all Nettie +could get out of him. + +He was always a quiet little boy, but during the next few days, if +anyone had noticed him closely, it would have been seen that he was even +quieter than usual. But these next few days were very busy ones, for the +Christmas visit to Baronscourt had been decided on hurriedly, and the +nursery arrangements were rather upset. Only once, when the children's +mother had come up to see them, she noticed Denis sitting silently in a +corner with a very grave look on his little face. + +'Is he not well?' she asked nurse, and nurse, after a glance in the +child's direction, replied 'that she did not think he was ill; he was +often very quiet--it would pass off again.' + +'The change to Baronscourt will brighten him up,' said his mother. And +then she went on to tell nurse some of the arrangements. + +'I had a letter this morning,' she said. 'The house will be very full, +but they can take us all in. The girls will have the little room next to +mine, and the boys will have the turret room at the end of the picture +gallery.' + +A movement beside her made her stop and look round. Denis had left his +corner and was standing beside her, listening with all his ears, and +gazing up in her face with his large soft blue eyes. + +'And where will nurse, and 'Liza, and baby, and me sleep,' he asked. + +His mother laughed. + +'You won't be forgotten,' she said. 'Nurse and baby will have the old +nursery, and you will have a little cot beside them, I daresay.' + +A look of satisfaction crept over his face. + +'And 'Liza?' he asked. + +'Oh, poor 'Liza won't be forgotten either,' said his mother. + +Denis grew brighter after this conversation, and at tea that afternoon, +when all the children were talking, he joined in as usual. + +'Mother told me where you'se all to sleep at Granny's house,' he announced, +impatiently. 'I'm to sleep with nurse and baby.' + +'Yes, of course, because you're such a baby yourself,' said Linda. +'Nettie and I are to have a room to ourselves like we have at home. +I hope it'll be the turret room at the end of the gallery. I do so +love the gallery--at night, you know, when the moon comes in through +the coloured glass and makes all the faces of the pictures look so +queer--red and purple, and blue and green. The red ones look quite +jolly, but the green and blue ones look dreadful.' + +'Like ghosts,' suggested Lambert. + +'Yes, something like that, I suppose,' said Linda, as if she was in the +habit of seeing ghosts, and knew quite what they were like. + +'Or like us when we play snapdragon--at the end, you know, when they +throw salt in among the brandy,' suggested Nettie. + +'Don't talk about that, please, Nettie,' whispered Denis, tugging softly +at his sister's arm. + +Nettie looked surprised, but she understood Den better than did any of +the others, so she said no more; but later in the evening, when they +were alone, she asked him what he meant. + +'I don't know,' said Denis; 'don't ask me; I want to forget about it,' +and he gave a little shiver. + +And question as Nettie would, he could not be got to explain further. + +There was only one Sunday at home before the day came for going. It was +a cold and snowy day; too cold, it was decided, for the children to go +to church, so in the afternoon their mother sent for them all to read +with her. The stormy weather led to their talking about adventures in +winter--about poor travellers being lost in the snow, and the brave +things that had been done to rescue them sometimes, and the children's +mother told them some stories which they thought very interesting. + +'What is "brave?"' asked Denis suddenly. He was sitting beside his +mother, and was holding her hand. + +Mother looked round. + +'Suppose you each answer Denis's question?' she said. 'I'll begin with +you, Alex, as you're the oldest. What does true bravery mean?' + +'Den didn't say "true" bravery, mother,' objected Linda, who had already +shrugged her plump shoulders contemptuously at her little brother's +question, with a muttered 'So silly--anybody could tell that.'--'He only +said, "what does 'brave' mean?" If you say "true bravery," it gets more +puzzling.' + +Mother looked at Linda with a rather amused expression. + +'That is why I added the word you object to, my dear Linda. I _want_ you +all to think about it a little, not just to answer what "anybody can +tell," without reflecting at all.' Linda blushed. _Sometimes_ it was +annoying that mother had such quick ears. But she said nothing. 'Come, +Alex,' continued mother, 'what is true bravery?' + +'Oh, I don't know. _I_ don't see anything puzzling,' said Alex, looking +puzzled, nevertheless. 'It just means not being afraid of anything. +It's just the way people are made. Some are afraid, and some aren't. +I'm never afraid, but it's just that I'm made that way,' he went on. + +'But if that's it, it has nothing to do with being good,' said Lambert, +who was more thoughtful than Alex. 'I mean, it's no use thinking about +a thing that comes of itself like that, mother. And yet being brave is +always counted as if it was something good, something to be praised for.' + +He raised his face to his mother's, questioningly. + +'Well, try and put your feeling about it into words,' she said. + +Lambert hesitated. + +'I know,' said Linda, confidently. 'Mother means that true bravery is +when there's no pretending about it. Some people who are really afraid +_pretend_ they're not--boastingly, you know.' + +'And that is _one_ sort of cowardice,' said her mother. 'They don't own +the truth, because they're afraid of being thought afraid. You're right +so far, Linda; but you do not go quite far enough.' + +A little eager sound from Nettie caught her attention. + +'Well, Nettie, have you something to say?' she asked. + +'I don't quite know,' Nettie began. 'I thought I could see it, but I'm +not sure. But isn't it a little like this, mother--that whether one's +afraid or not, one should try to do anything that's right to do?' + +Her mother smiled. + +'Yes, that is something like it,' she said. 'That's what I have been +wanting you to get to see. The _mastering the fear_--that is the truest +bravery of all. Not for what others may or may not think of us, but +because it is right. When a duty comes in the way, something right or +good or kind to do, a really brave person, man, woman, or child, will +do it even if it is something which they fear to do.' + +'But still,' Lambert objected, 'there are some people praised for being +brave who don't feel fear--like what Alex said. Should they not be +praised, mother?' + +'Certainly they should be praised for doing right at risk to +themselves,' said his mother. 'It is a great blessing to be naturally +brave--what is called physically brave. But I doubt if even the +naturally bravest men have never known fear. It is the determination to +do their duty at all costs that keeps them brave and gives strength and +courage. And this even the most timid by nature can learn; so this is +what I call true bravery. Not the unreasoning courage of a lion or a +bulldog, but the courage of a man who knows his duty and will do it.' + +The children sat silent--each in his or her own way thinking over their +mother's words. One only had said nothing, but he was pondering deeply, +and his mother, glancing round, saw Denis gazing before him with a curious +look in his innocent blue eyes. + +'Do you understand a little, Denis, my boy?' she asked, with a smile. + +'I fink so,' he answered softly, and she felt him squeeze the hand he +held. But that was all he said. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II.--GRANNY AND THE CHILDREN. + + +Two days later, in the dusk of a mid-winter afternoon, they were all +arriving at Baronscourt. The ground was white with snow. + +'What a storm there must have been here,' said the children's father. +'The snow is quite deep, much deeper than with us.' For their home was +at some hours' distance, and farther south. + +'Do you fink anybody will be lost in the snow, Nettie?' whispered Denis +to his sister. + +They two were seated opposite their father and mother in their +grandmother's brougham, which had been sent to the station to meet them, +with a large covered wagonette for the rest of the party. + +Nettie smiled at Denis. + +'Not here, Den,' she said. 'It's very seldom people are lost in the snow +in England. It's in far-away hilly countries like Switzerland.' + +'Was it there that mother was reading about?' asked Denis, only half +satisfied. + +'Yes,' said Nettie. 'It's there that they have the great big dogs that +are so good, going looking for the poor people in the snow.' + +'I shouldn't like to live in that country, though I _would_ love the +dogs,' said Denis. And then jumping up in his seat with a scream of +delight, 'O Nettie, O Nettie,' he cried, 'look, look! There's dear +little Prin coming to meet us all in the snow; dear little Prin; oh, +I hope he won't get covered up. Mayn't we stop to take him in?' + +'We're quite close to the house, dear,' said his mother, smiling at his +pleasure. 'Prin will be all right. Granny will not let him go far alone, +you may be sure.' + +And as she said so, Prince, whose little smooth, jet-black body looked +very funny in the snow, turned round after two or three sharp barks of +welcome, and made for the house again. + +'He's gone to tell them we're come,' said Denis; 'isn't he a _sensible_ +dog, Nettie? I don't think I love _anybody_ better than Prin,' he said, +ecstatically. + +They were at the front door by this time, and there, a little way back +in the shelter of the hall, for it was very cold, and she was no longer +a young lady, stood dear Granny waiting to welcome them. + +Granny, I must tell you, was not the children's grandmother, but +the great-aunt of their mother. She seemed, therefore, a kind of +great-grandmother to Denis and his brothers and sisters, and to have +called her 'Aunt,' or anything else but 'Granny,' would have been +impossible. She was old; very old, I daresay she seemed to the children, +but yet there was a delightful sort of youngness about her, which made +them feel as if they could tell her anything, with a certainty of being +understood. And of all the children she loved and who loved her, I don't +think any felt this beautiful sort of sympathy more than quiet little +Denis. It was a long time--in child life a very long time--since he had +seen her, six months ago, a tenth part of the whole time which Denis +had spent in this world--but when he saw dear Granny standing there in +the doorway, her sweet gentle old face all over smiles of pleasure, it +seemed to him that he had never been away from her at all. + +'Dear Granny,' he said softly, when his turn came to be kissed, 'dear +Granny, I do 'amember you so well--you and Prin;' and he was not at +all offended when the others laughed at his funny little speech--a long +speech for Den; he thought they were only laughing because they all felt +so pleased to be back with Granny and Prin again. + +'My dear little boy,' Granny said, as she kissed him, 'this is very +sweet of you. And you may be sure Granny and Prin haven't forgotten +you.' + +And Denis, looking up, thought that Granny was the prettiest lady in the +world, 'next to mother.' She _was_ very pretty, at least in the sight of +those who do not think beauty is only to be found in the bright eyes and +fresh roses of youth. And, indeed, Granny's eyes were bright still, and +when she was very pleased, or sometimes when she was very vexed--for +Granny could be vexed when it was right she should be--her cheeks, soft +and withered as they were, would grow rosy as when she was a girl. They +were rosy just now, with pleasure, of course, and perhaps with a little +tiredness; for there were a great many people staying in the house, and +large as Granny's heart was, it was rather tiring to so old a lady to +attend to so many guests. + +'I am so glad you have come, my dear,' she whispered to Denis's mother. +'You will help me better than anyone. It was right I think to fill the +old house again this Christmas, but my heart fails me sometimes when +I think of those who are no longer among us. And yet they _are_ among +us--just at these times, my dear, all the old faces seem to be smiling +back at me, the last of the generation. The house seems filled with +their presence to me as much as with the living friends who are about me.' + +The children's mother pressed Granny's arm. + +'Dear Granny,' she said, 'don't talk like that. We couldn't do without +you yet awhile. You are tired, dear Granny. Now it will be all right. +I shall do all, and you must rest.' + +Denis had been standing close beside them. He heard what Granny said +without understanding thoroughly what she meant, and a very grave, +awe-struck look came over his face. + +'Does Granny mean that they come out really?' he said to himself with a +little shiver. 'Granny doesn't seem frightened,' he added. 'I mustn't be +frightened, but I'm so glad I'm to sleep in nurse's room.' + +Poor little man. There was disappointment in store for him. His mother +would not let Granny go up-stairs to show them their rooms as she wished +to do. + +'No, no, Granny,' she said, 'I know them all quite well. Take Granny +back to the library, Edith,' she added to one of the young ladies +staying in the house. 'I'll come down in five minutes when I have +settled the children in the nursery.' + +Granny's maid met them at the top of the first stair, and went with them +to their rooms. + +'Yes,' said the children's mother, 'that will all do beautifully. Linda +and Nettie in the room beside me, nurse and baby in the old nursery, the +boys in one of the turret rooms, and Denis--let me see--isn't there to +be a little bed for him in the nursery?' + +They were on their way from the nursery to the boys' room when she said +this; Denis beside his mother still, holding her hand. + +'No, ma'am,' said Tanner, the maid, 'my lady thought Master Denis would +be better in the little room beside his brothers'. It's a very little +room, but big enough, I daresay, for such a little gentleman. It would +not have been easy to put another bed in the nursery, without filling it +up so. And my lady thought Master Denis would be proud to have a room of +his own.' + +'Yes, indeed,' said his mother; 'how kind of her.' + +They were passing along the picture gallery. All of them together, +except nurse and baby, who had stayed behind by the nursery fire. Linda, +Alex, Lambert, and Nettie in front; mother and Denis and Tanner behind. +Denis tightened his hold of his mother's hand, but said nothing. + +'I wish _we_ had one of the turret rooms,' said Linda; 'this gallery is +_so_ lovely to run along every time one goes to one's room. I like this +gallery the best of anything in the house.' + +'And best of all in the moonlight,' said Alex. 'Don't you remember, +Linda? For my part I prefer it in the day-time, or well lit up, like +just now.' + +'What a goose you are!' said Linda. 'Do you mean to say you'd be +_afraid_ to come here in the moonlight?' + +'Hush, children, don't talk so foolishly,' said their mother, for she +never liked that silly kind of talk, especially before the little ones. +'I quite agree with you, Linda, about this gallery being charming.' + +They all stood for a moment--they were close to the end door by now, +the door that opened into the anteroom, from whence opened the turret +rooms--and looked back. It was worth looking at. Lighted by the +old-fashioned lamps that hung at intervals from the dark oak ceiling, +which reflected their rays like a black mirror, the old gallery, with +its coloured glass windows at one side, the small, leadened panes +looking quaint and mysterious, though their tints could not, of course, +be seen, and the rows and rows of silent portraits looking down upon you +from the other side, seemed like a dream of a long-ago world, the merry +voices and bright glances of the children striking one as almost out of +place, and the grave faces appearing to gaze at them in disapproval. + +'It was not meant for a picture gallery long ago,' said their mother: +'if it had been, these windows would not have been placed so, and they +certainly would not have had coloured glass. These portraits used to +be in the large saloon and the drawing-room, but they made them look so +gloomy that Granny's father hung them up here,' and so saying she opened +the door and crossed the passage to the boys' room, followed by all the +five. + +'How jolly!' said Alex and Lambert in a breath, and with good reason, +for their room looked the picture of comfort, with its deep window-seats +and wainscoted walls, and the radiance of the brightly-burning fire over +all. + +'The boys don't have fires in their bedroom at home,' observed Linda. + +'And they need not have one here every day,' said their mother. 'It's +just for a welcome at the beginning.' + +'And because it really is so cold. I hardly think my lady would be +pleased if they hadn't one,' said Tanner with a smile, which made Alex +and Lambert think she was very kind indeed. + +Then they all turned to look at Denis's little room. It was very snug +and cosy, though very tiny. It did not open into his brothers', but was +just across the little anteroom. + +'You will be very happy in here, won't you, Den?' said his mother +brightly; and not noticing that the little fellow did not reply, she +hurried away, for she was anxious to go down to the library and help +Granny with afternoon tea for her guests. + + + + +CHAPTER III.--THE PICTURE GALLERY. + + +Linda and Nettie turned to go back to the nursery, where tea was waiting +for them. Denis took hold of Nettie's hand to go too, but Alex and Lambert +remained behind to explore further their new quarters. + +'Nettie,' said Denis, pulling his little sister back a little. 'I wish +I might have slept in the old nursery with nurse and baby.' + +'Why, Denis dear?' said Nettie in surprise; 'your little room is so +pretty, and I never knew you were frightened of sleeping alone.' + +'I'm not,' said Denis. 'It's not that.' + +'What is it, then?' said Nettie. 'It's such a pity you don't like it, +when Granny's planned it so to please us. We should seem pleased, Denis, +for you know Granny is rather sad. Last Christmas she was too sad to +have anybody, for poor old uncle had died, you know. And it's _so_ good +of her to have us all this Christmas. Mother says Granny's only pleasure +is to make other people happy.' + +'I do love Granny,' said Denis. + +'Well then, don't you think you should try to be pleased with what she's +planned for us--with your nice little room?' + +'I _are_ pleased with my room,' replied Denis. 'I like it werry much.' + +Nettie stared at him as if she thought he was losing his senses. + +'Then what _do_ you mean?' she asked. + +Denis looked round. They were still in the picture gallery. He pulled +Nettie on, and when they were in the passage on to which at this end the +gallery opened, he shut the door and drew his sister into a corner. + +'Nettie,' he said, 'you won't never tell, will you?' + +'No,' said Nettie, rather rashly. + +'I wouldn't tell anybody but you, Nettie. Linda can't hear, can she?' + +'Oh no, she's run on to the nursery.' + +'Nettie,' he continued, 'it's not my room. It's the picshurs,' here +he shook his head solemnly. 'It's having to pass the picshurs. It's +dreadful. But, O Nettie, don't tell. It began last year when we was +here. They try to catch me, Nettie. I'm almost sure they do. They come +down off the wall and run after me--at least I _fink_ they do.' + +'But they _can't_,' said Nettie, very much impressed, but still full +of common sense; 'they _can't_, Denis. Pictures is pictures--they can't +walk or run. Just think, they're not alive--they're not even like dolls. +They're only thin bits of paper or wood--or--or--whatever it is pictures +are painted on.' + +But Denis still shook his head. + +'I know that,' he said. 'I've thought of that, but it's no good. When +I'm not there I think that way, but as soon as I'm there it begins. Their +eyes all look at me, and I'm sure they begin to get down to run after me +as soon as I've passed. It's worst at night, like now, when the lamps is +lighted. It isn't so bad in the day. But, O Nettie, it must be worstest +in the moonlight,' and he gave a little shiver; 'don't you 'amember what +Linda said about it--all the colours on the faces, you know?' + +'But anyway,' said practical Nettie, 'you don't need to see them in the +moonlight. You never need to go along there after the lamps are put out +at night.' + +'No,' said Denis, but not as if he found much consolation in the +thought. + +'And if you'd let me tell mother,' continued Nettie, 'I'm sure she'd +change it some way. You might sleep with Alex, and Lam have your room.' + +'_That_ wouldn't do any good,' objected Denis. 'It's not the room I mind.' + +'Oh no, of course. I forgot. But Den, I daresay it could be settled for +you to sleep in the old nursery after all.' + +'No,' said Denis. 'I'm going to try, Nettie. I want to be brave, and I +don't want to vex Granny and mother. So you mustn't tell. You won't, I +know, 'cos you've p'omised. I'm going to try running very fast along the +gallery every time and look at the window side, not at the pictures. +Then _p'raps_ it won't come.' + +'It. What?' asked Nettie, in an awe-struck tone. She was very much +impressed by the whole, and felt no small admiration for Denis. 'Is +there one more than the others that tries to catch you?' + +'No,' said Denis. 'I mean the _feeling_ when I say "it." Oh, it's +dreadful!' he repeated. 'But do you know, Nettie,' he went on, 'I fink +Granny knows somefin about it. She said somefin to mother. But _she_ +didn't seem frightened. P'raps they don't try to catch her. She said +they smiled at her?' and Denis looked up at Nettie with great +bewilderment. + +'She couldn't have meant the pictures,' said Nettie decisively. + +'She said, the old faces, and there isn't any other old faces,' +persisted Denis. + +'Well, never mind about that,' said Nettie, resolving privately, +nevertheless, to try to find out what it was Granny _had_ said. 'You +didn't understand, perhaps, Denis. You're only a very little boy still, +you know, and big people do say things sometimes that sound quite +different from what they mean. We must go to the nursery to tea now, but +I'll tell you one thing. Every time you have to run along the gallery +I'll _try_ to go with you, and then p'raps you'll get not to mind. Of +course if you were frightened in the night, you have Alex and Lambert +close to.' + +'I'm not frightened in the night. I'm not frightened _nowhere_ 'cept +_there_. Thank you, dear Nettie. You'll hold my hand, won't you? and +we'll run together, and p'raps I'll get not to mind. I don't fink I can +leave off minding, but I want to be brave.' + +And holding up his little face to be kissed, Denis went back to the +nursery with Nettie, his heart somewhat lighter, I think, for having +confided his secret to some one. + +It did not occur to Nettie that it would have been right for her to tell +it. For one thing she had 'promised,' and with these children that word +was a solemn one. Then, too, she fully shared Denis's dislike to +complain or give trouble, partly from the wish to please Granny who was +'so kind,' partly from the strange reserve one often finds in even very +little children. Few but those who have watched them very constantly and +closely have any idea how much children will endure rather than complain. + +For some time nothing happened to cause Nettie to think more seriously +of poor little Den's strange fancy. He seemed to wish not to speak of +it, and she did not lead him to do so, hoping always that he might come +to forget it. But she did not forget her other promise. Every time that +Denis had to traverse the dreaded gallery, his faithful little sister, +if she knew of it, was sure to start up to go with him. They used to run +as fast as the slippery polished floor would allow them, holding each +other's hands, and, Denis at least, steadily avoiding to look at the +portraits. In the morning early he did not mind it so much, though even +then Nettie often came to fetch him, if he had not already made his +appearance when Linda and she were summoned to the nursery breakfast. + +'It's queer how Miss Nettie and Master Denis cling to each other,' the +under-nurse remarked one day. 'I never noticed it so much before. It's +like as if he couldn't move without her.' + +'Miss Nettie's a very kind little girl,' the head-nurse replied, 'but +I do think she spoils Master Denis a little. He's getting a big boy.' + +That very evening, as they were beginning tea--and tea-time at Christmas +is always after dark--nurse told Denis to run to his brothers' room to +tell them to come, for Alex and Lambert, having gone off to wash their +hands, had not returned. Denis began slowly to clamber down from his +chair, somewhat encumbered by Prince, who was, as usual, in his arms. + +'Make haste, Master Denis,' said nurse, rather sharply, though not +unkindly. 'You shouldn't have the dog always in your arms, my dear. +At meal times it isn't nice.' + +Denis cast an appealing glance at Nettie. She had already left her place +and was at his side. + +'Put Prince down, Den,' she said, and the little boy did so, while +Prince, shaking himself, ran to the hearth-rug, moving round and round +till he had burrowed an imaginary hole, where he comfortably ensconced +himself. + +'Mayn't I go instead of Denis?' said Nettie. 'I'd run much quicker.' + +Another time nurse would probably have said 'yes,' but her attention was +aroused. She did not quite understand Denis and Nettie, and it seemed to +her that they were not just the same as usual. + +'No, my dear,' she said. 'It is better for Master Denis to go, as I told +him first.' + +But the children hesitated. + +'Mayn't we both go?' persisted Nettie, taking Denis's hand. But nurse +shook her head. + +'Miss Nettie, Master Denis will never be a big, sensible boy if you +treat him so. Why should he not run off himself at once when I tell him?' + +The tears came to Nettie's eyes, but Denis gave her hand a little squeeze. +'Whatever you do, don't tell,' the squeeze seemed to say, and Nettie +dared not do anything more. + +'I'll go, Nettie dear,' said Denis, and his little sister, looking at +him, saw that, though he was very pale, there was a look of determination +on his face. He turned to the door, and Nettie, choking back a sob, +turned back to her place at table, when suddenly the door burst open +with a bang, and the two truants, Alex and Lambert, rushed in breathless +and laughing. With a great sigh of relief Denis clambered up again on to +his chair. + +'We've had such a race,' Alex began; 'we wanted to see who'd get to the +end of the gallery first. I expect those old grandfathers and grandmothers +are rather shocked at the noise we make, sometimes.' + +'There's one at this end who does look so cross,' said Lambert. 'The +one with the yellow satin dress, and her mouth screwed up _so_.' He +illustrated his words with great effect--'just like Linda, when she's in +a temper. Ah! yes, that's it, Linda,' for his sister had turned from him +with dignified disgust. 'I'm sure I don't want such an ugly old thing +for a great-grandmother, but I'm afraid she must be some relation, she's +so like Linda.' + +'Nurse,' began Linda, '_do_ make Lambert leave off, he is _so_'---- + +But a voice at the door interrupted her. + +'Boys,' it said, and the children looking round caught sight of their +father. Up jumped the boys, and would have rushed towards him, had he +not stopped them. 'Don't be so excited,' he went on. 'I only want to +tell you that if the weather continues as it is, your cousins and I +are going to Hatchetts to skate to-morrow. There is to be a large party +there, for it is a capital place. Alex and Lambert, you may come with +us if you like. We shall be back before your bedtime, any way.' + +There was a shout of satisfaction from the boys, but Linda looked +considerably annoyed. + +'I'm sure father wouldn't take you,' she whispered to Lambert, who was +sitting beside her, 'if he knew how rude you are.' + +'I wish Nettie and I might go,' she said aloud. '_Couldn't_ we, father? +The pond here is such a horrid little place for skating, and we can +skate so well now.' + +'Me go too. Mayn't me go too?' began Baby, at which everybody except +Linda laughed. + +'You, my pet!' said her father. 'Why, you'd be lost in the snow, and +what would we do then without our Baby?' + +Denis looked very grave. + +'Prin would try to get her out,' he remarked. 'Like the dogs up in those +snowy hills.' + +'He means the St Bernard dogs,' said Nettie. 'Mother told us stories +about them.' + +'Ah, yes!' said her father. 'But they are ever so much bigger than +Prince, my boy. Much more fear of Prince being lost himself in a +snowstorm, than of his rescuing anyone else, poor little dog.' + +'But there isn't going to be a snowstorm,' said Linda. 'Father, mightn't +we go--I anyway?' + +'No, my dear,' said her father. 'It's too uncertain. I hope the weather +will keep up. If it doesn't, no one can go. But it is too uncertain for +little girls: the boys must learn to rough it, but you and Nettie must +be content to skate on the pond here for the present.' + +Linda's face clouded over still more. She hated being called 'a little +girl,' especially before her brothers. Her father turned away, either +not seeing, or not wishing to seem to see, her vexation. + +'Get to bed early, then, and be up in good time,' he called out to the +boys as he left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--MASTERING THE FEAR. + + +The morning dawned bright and clear. The frost seemed settled, the sky +gave no signs of storm. The party of gentlemen and boys started on their +skating expedition in great spirits. + +'Do you wish you were big enough to go too, Denis?' said Nettie, as they +stood at the door after watching them start. + +'Not without Prinnie,' said Denis, hugging his pet, as he spoke. 'I don't +care to go anywhere without Prin, and it would hurt his dear little feet +to put skates on them, wouldn't it.' + +Nettie burst out laughing at the idea. + +'Come in, children. Don't stay there in the cold,' their mother called +out; and as they went into the library at her summons, Granny asked them +what they were laughing at. + +''Twas Nettie,' said Denis, gravely as usual; and when Nettie told her +what had amused her, Granny looked rather anxiously at Denis. + +'And do you never laugh, my boy?' she asked. 'If you say funny things +that make other people laugh, how is it you don't laugh yourself?' + +Denis lifted up his face for a kiss, but there was an expression in his +eyes which Granny did not quite understand. + +'That child looks--I don't know how exactly,' she said to his mother, +when Denis and Nettie had gone up-stairs. 'He is such a dear little +fellow, but there is a look of suffering or endurance in his face that I +can't understand. Your nurses are really kind to the children, I suppose?' + +'Perfectly--I'm sure of it,' replied Denis's mother. 'He is always +quiet. Perhaps he is a little disappointed to-day at seeing Alex and +Lambert go off.' + +But Granny wasn't satisfied. She resolved to watch little Denis for +herself. + +He was looking graver than usual even, for the thought was heavy on his +mind that with his brothers away the whole day, the dreaded gallery +would be worse than ever. With Alex or Lambert at hand, he could often +manage to make the journeys to and from the nursery in their company; +but to-day he had no one to depend on but Nettie, and nurse did not like +Nettie always roaming about with him. It would not do to get Nettie +scolded for being so good to him. Poor Denis! He felt terribly deserted +as he followed Nettie up-stairs, Prin at his feet. + +'Dear Prin,' he whispered, 'I wish it was time for us to go back home +where there's no picshur gallery to frighten us. Only then, dear Prin, +you wouldn't be coming too, for your home is here, you know, dear Prin.' + +Prin wagged his tail and looked up at Denis. It was all that he could +do, poor little dog. + +The day kept up fine and bright till towards two o'clock. The clouds +began to gather in leaden masses, and the dull, gray-blue look one knows +so well in winter, came over the sky. + +'I'm afraid it's going to snow again,' said the children's mother, on +their way home from the despised pond, where Linda and Nettie and some +of the young ladies staying in the house had been amusing themselves by +skating, and Denis had been allowed to slide, with Prince at his heels, +of course. + +'What a nuisance!' said one of the girls. 'All our skating will be over +if it does, till the pond is cleared again. It is just nice now. And oh, +by the bye, you will be uneasy about uncle and the boys if it snows'--for +this young lady was a cousin of Linda's and the others--'won't you, aunt? +Hatchetts is an awkward place to get away from in a snowstorm.' + +Denis listened with all his ears, while his mother looked up anxiously +at the sky. + +'If it really comes on as bad as that, I hope they won't attempt to come +home to-night,' she said. + +'They might be losted in the snow, and we have no big dogs!' exclaimed +Denis in great distress, as already a few flakes began to fall. + +'Don't be afraid, my boy,' said his mother. 'Father will not do anything +rash, you may be sure.' + +But her relief nevertheless was great when, about four o'clock, a +servant who had started with the party in the morning, came back with +the news that the gentlemen were going to stay away all night. He had +started as soon as the weather gave signs of changing, so he had got +back without difficulty. The snow had not begun yet where they were +skating, he said, but it was plain to be seen that it was coming, though +the gentlemen hoped to have two or three hours' good exercise, as they +would dine and sleep with the friend on whose property they were. + +It was well they had so decided. By five o'clock the snowstorm was at +its height. It was too dark to distinguish anything from the windows, +but news came in from outside that the snow lay deep already, and gave +no signs of leaving off. + +'We must make ourselves as comfortable as we can,' said Granny, as she +told the servants to put more wood on the fire, 'and be thankful that +our dear ones are not out in any danger. So you've come to say good-night, +dears, have you?' she went on, as the little girls and Denis just then +came into the drawing-room. 'Good-night, my darlings; you've had a happy +day, I hope, in spite of the weather?' + +'Oh yes, Granny,' they answered eagerly. 'We've had blind-man's buff +with Cousin Edith and the others in the hall.' + +'And now you're sleepy and ready for bed. Good-night and pleasant +dreams,' and the children trotted off again. Granny had kissed Denis +among the others, and had been pleased to see his little face rosier +than usual, thanks to the romp they had been having. Afterwards she +wondered to herself for not having remembered that with his brothers +away the little fellow would be rather lonely in his part of the house, +but somehow it did not come into her mind just then. Nor did it occur to +his mother. So the children were put to bed as usual, and Denis made no +complaint. Indeed, once in his little room he felt quite safe. Nurse +had brought him herself through the gallery well wrapped up in her arms, +having undressed him by the nursery fire, and he hid his face on her +shoulder as she carried him, and avoided all sight of his silent enemies +on the wall. + +'You're quite comfortable, Master Denis?' she asked, as she left him. + +'Quite,' he replied, 'and nurse, you'll let me have Prin up to-morrow +morning?' + +'Oh yes, dear,' she answered kindly; 'you were a good little boy about +him this afternoon. You shall have him to-morrow.' + +Denis gave a sigh as he composed himself to sleep. He was not quite easy +in his mind about Prince, whom nurse had sent downstairs because Baby +was in a cross humour, and cried when he jumped on her. + +'Poor Prince,' thought Denis. 'I hope he's not very unhappy. Robert' +(Robert was a young footman) 'p'omised to be kind to him, and not let +him go out in the snow. I hope father, and Alex, and Lambert won't be +lost in the snow, 'cos Prin is too little to get them out. I hope'---- +But what he hoped more was lost in a confusion of ideas--Prince, and +his father and brothers, and the falling snow seemed all mixed together +in his brain, for Denis fell fast asleep. + +The snowstorm was over, though he did not know it; since six or seven +o'clock no more had fallen. The clouds dispersed, though some of them +were still to be seen hurry-scurrying over the face of the moon in a +very provoking way, for she had come out in full, anxious to see what +was going on down there on the earth, which she had not had a good sight +of for some time past. She peeped in at the window of little Denis's +room and saw him sleeping sweetly, his little face flushed as he lay, +a contrast to those of the long rows of Granny's faded ancestors which +she glanced at for a moment, through the windows of the gallery, as the +clouds passed by. + +Suddenly Denis woke, and half-started up in his bed. What had awakened +him? For a minute or two he could not tell. It was not the moon, though +she was there again, peeping in at the chinks left at the corners of the +window-blind, and lighting up the white cover of his bed. No, it could +not have been the moon, for, as he became more fully awake, he felt +sure he had heard some sound. He sat up and listened. Yes, there it was +again, a low wail or cry, once or twice repeated, and seeming not far +off. Denis sat bolt upright; he did not feel afraid, he only wondered +very much what it could be; again he heard it; it sounded like a cry for +help. What could it be? Visions of Alex and Lambert in the snow came +into his mind. How dreadful if it was one of them! and the cry sounded +so near too, as if it were some one at the side door to the garden--a +door which opened close by the stair leading to the nursery. What could +he do? Oh, if he only had one of these great brave dogs that his mother +had read about! The thought made him start--was not the cry like the +whine of a dog. Could it be Prince, his own dear little Prince out there +alone; poor tender Prince, that could not bear the cold, and would +be frightened? Could Robert have forgotten him? Up jumped Denis, and +without stopping for slippers or dressing-gown ran to the door. + +'I will call Alex and Lambert,' he thought; 'they'll come with me to let +in poor Prin.' + +But suddenly he remembered that Alex and Lambert were not there; they +were staying away till to-morrow. Denis stopped short--he must go +_alone_ to rescue Prince, alone through the terrible gallery. Bad enough +in the daytime and with Nettie's hand, or in the evening with all the +cheerful lamps lighted, what would it be in the middle of the night, in +the dark?--no, not in the dark, as just then his eyes fell on the strip +of brightness across the floor; worse still, it would be moonlight in +the gallery, and Denis shivered as he remembered what Linda had said of +the look of the old portraits in the moonlight. + +'No,' he said aloud, 'I can't go. I can't, poor little Prin. I can't +pass along there and feel them running after me with their faces all red +and blue and green, and dreadful. I can't.' + +But just then a rather low piteous whine reached his ears. It half broke +his heart to hear it, and at the same moment, as if by magic, some of +his mother's words that Sunday afternoon returned to the little fellow's +mind. 'Mastering the fear--that is the truest bravery of all; when +something good or kind to do comes in the way, to do it even if one is +frightened.' Denis stood up again. 'I'll try to be brave,' he thought. +'I fink God will take care of me if I go to let Prin in, so that he +won't die of cold.' + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V.--A FRIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +He drew on his little dressing-gown, for he was shivering with cold and +excitement. But his slippers he would not put on. 'I can run so much +faster without them,' he said, speaking to himself in a low voice. +Then he opened the door, crossed the little anteroom, and hesitating +a moment, threw open the large door of the gallery. An instant he +waited before he found courage to look up. Then he did so, with a +half-acknowledged feeling that if anything _too_ appalling met his eye, +he could still rush back into the shelter of his own room. + +But all was still, strangely still, and the curious effect of the +moonlight, streaming in, in fitful patches through the coloured windows, +for a moment made him forget his fears in a sort of awe-struck +admiration. It was even stranger than Linda had described it, for the +clouds quickly rushing across the moon, caused a mixture of light and +shadow, coloured by the tints of the glass, like broken and confused +rainbows. And had Denis not been too frightened to look at the faces on +the wall, the effect of this jumble of light and colour and shadow would +have been almost comical. + +But a glance was enough. Then literally gathering up his garments--that +is to say, taking the skirts of his dressing-gown in his hands--the poor +little chap dashed into the enemy's country, looking neither to right +nor to left, and ran--his little bare feet making a quick pitter-patter +on the polished floor--ran as if for dear life! Fortunately he did not +stumble: had he done so, I doubt if he would have been able to get up +again--the terrible thought that something had caught him and made him +fall would probably have altogether overcome him--but oh how long the +gallery seemed, and oh how thankful he was to reach the other end and +burst through the swing baize door that closed it! + +Here, in the passage, leading to the nursery, all was dark, or seemed so +at first, though as Denis felt his way to the staircase, his eyes got +used to the darkness, and gradually began to discern some light in it. +He knew his way so well that even without this he could have found the +stair; and once on it, a little more light came up from the fanlight on +the top of the garden-door below, and now Prin's voice was heard again, +quite plainly, showing that he was just outside the door, seldom closed +to him, poor little dog, as he was accustomed to come in and out by it +with the children on their way to and from the garden. + +'I'm coming, Prin, dear little Prin,' cried Denis, quite brightly and +cheerfully now, as he reached the foot of the stair, and Prin in return +gave a hopeful little bark; 'one moment, dear Prin, till Denis opens +the door for you,' he went on, as he fumbled for the handle, which +he knew he could reach. He reached it, and turned it, but oh, what a +disappointment; the door would not open as it did in the daytime--it was +bolted! At first Denis thought it might be locked, and he felt about for +a key. But there was no key, and peering about in the uncertain light he +saw high up something which looked like a bolt--far too high for him to +reach, and probably too hard for his little hands to pull back. He had +never thought of this, and he was terribly distressed--especially when +another faint whine from Prince seemed to ask why he was so slow. But it +roused him too. + +'Poor Prin,' he said, 'Denis can't get the door open. Den will have +to go and get nurse to help. He'll be as quick as he can. Stay there, +dear Prin,' and then he turned to climb the stair again, his feet this +time perfectly numb with cold. He must get up two flights--past the +day-nursery, to where nurse and baby slept, in what was called 'the old +nursery,' a story higher than the other. But so long as there was no +gallery to face, Denis did not seem to mind. He got on all right till he +was crossing the landing or passage on to which the swing-door opened; +then just as he was putting his foot on the first step of the second +flight he was startled by a noise--a sound of footsteps approaching him, +and, oh terror! from the direction of the gallery. In his fear he stood +still, as if not knowing what to do. The steps came nearer and nearer +with a rather slow, dragging sound. Denis still stood as if turned to +stone. The baize door swung open, a light warmer and brighter than the +moon rays gleamed through, and a figure stood full in the boy's sight. +A tall figure, it seemed to him, clothed in yellow, with pale face and +powdered hair, all distinctly seen by the flame of the taper held in +its hand. + +'The lady in the yellow satin!' screamed poor Denis; 'oh, it's come +true! She's got out of the frame to catch me. O mother, mother, it's so +dreadful, and I did so try to be brave!' + +His eyes closed, his legs gave way, and he half fell forward. What would +have happened I don't know, if a sweet, well-known voice had not reached +his ears. + +'Denis, my boy, don't be frightened. Don't you know me? It's your own +old Granny.' + +And half-laughing, half-crying, Granny went on talking till the boy took +courage again and opened his eyes. + +'Granny!' he said, and then shivering again, seemed as if he could +hardly believe it. + +'Yes, dear, Granny, in her old white cashmere dressing-gown. Look, dear, +and see.' + +'And white hair, like the picshur,' he said, recovering himself. 'And +what a funny thing on the top of your head, Granny--all +frilly--like'---- + +'That's my nightcap,' said Granny, now fairly laughing, and then she +went on to explain that from her room, which had an unused door opening +on to the same landing as the boys' room, she had heard him moving +about, and fearing that something was wrong, and knowing the little +fellow to be alone, she had come round by the other way to see. + +'For that other door is never opened, and there is a chest of drawers +against it,' she said. 'And when I found there was not a little boy in +bed in your room, I came back to look for him, you see, Denis, and I +thought I heard voices down below. For my ears are sharp still, though +I'm such an old woman.' + +'It was me talking to poor Prin,' said Denis. And then in his turn he +had to explain all, and Granny, taking him back with her to her nice +cheerful room where a fire was still burning, rang the bell for her +maid, and in a few minutes poor Prince, the cause of all the upset, was +happily warming himself and forgetting all his troubles on Granny's +hearth-rug. + +'I'll go back to bed now, please,' said Denis; 'I'm not a bit frightened +now. I don't fink I'll ever be frightened again,' he added in a +half-whisper, as he bade Granny a second good-night. And you may fancy +how proud he was, when Granny answered, 'Frightened or not, you've shown +yourself my own brave little Denis.' + +Mother was told all about it next morning, and of the good fruit her +words had borne. But as she kissed her little boy, she explained to him +and to Nettie, too, that in such a case there would have been no +cowardice in telling her of Denis's fears. + +'I would not wish any of you to be tried needlessly, dears, you know,' +she said. 'It would have been easy to put Denis into another room. Still +I am thankful to see that, when there was need, my boy could battle with +his fears and master them.' + +But somehow, from that time, the picture gallery ceased to be a place +of terror to Denis. For one thing, Granny pleased herself by showing +him all the old portraits in the bright daytime, and telling him many +interesting and curious stories about their originals, till he got to +have quite a friendly feeling to the bewigged and bepowdered long-ago +ladies and gentlemen. Especially to the lady in the yellow satin dress, +with the mouth like Linda's! + +Granny often smiled to herself when she put on her old-fashioned +lace-frilled nightcap, and thought of how she had frightened poor little +Denis. To 'make up,' she said, she gave him a present of Prince to be +his very own; and you may be quite sure he was never again left out in +the cold and snow, and that no dog ever led a happier life than he, in +faithfully serving the brave little master who had overcome his terror, +to do a good and kind action. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + + Edinburgh: + Printed by W. & R. Chambers. + + +BOOKS PUBLISHED BY W. & R. CHAMBERS. + + +=TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH.= By ROBERT CHAMBERS, LL.D., with Portrait and +Illustrations 2s. 6d. + +=GREAT THINKERS AND WORKERS=, being the Lives of Thomas Carlyle, +Lord Armstrong, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Sir Titus Salt, W. M. +Thackeray, Sir Henry Bessemer, John Ruskin, James Nasmyth, Charles +Kingsley, Builders of the Forth Bridge, &c. _Numerous Illustrations_ +2s. 6d. + +=GOOD AND GREAT WOMEN=: a Book for Girls. Queen Victoria, Florence +Nightingale, Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Mrs. Beecher-Stowe, Jenny Lind, +Charlotte Brontë, Mrs. Hemans, Dorothy Pattison. _Numerous Illustrations_ +2s. 6d. + +=HISTORIC EVENTS, GREAT.= The Conquest of India, Indian Mutiny, +French Revolutions, the Crusades, the Conquest of Mexico, Napoleon's +Russian Campaign. _Illustrated_ 2s. 6d. + +=HISTORICAL CELEBRITIES.= Oliver Cromwell, Washington, Napoleon +Bonaparte, Duke of Wellington. _Illustrated_ 2s. 6d. + +=LITERARY CELEBRITIES.= Wordsworth, Campbell, Moore, Macaulay, Jeffrey. +_Numerous Illustrations_ 2s. 6d. + +=TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE, RECENT=--Lieutenant Greely, Joseph Thomson, +Stanley, Livingstone, Lady Brassey, Vambery, Burton, &c. _Illustrated_ +2s. 6d. + +=HEROES OF ROMANTIC ADVENTURE=--Lord Clive, Captain John Smith, Good +Knight Bayard, Garibaldi. _Illustrated_ 2s. + +=ANIMAL FRIENDS, OUR=--The Dog, Cat, Horse, and Elephant; with numerous +Illustrations 2s. + +=BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LIFE AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF.= _Illustrated_, cloth 2s. + +=SHIPWRECKS AND TALES OF THE SEA.= _Illustrated_, cloth 2s. + +=MARITIME DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE.= _Illustrated._ 2s. + + +BOOKS PUBLISHED BY W. & R. CHAMBERS. + +NEW SERIES OF CHAMBERS'S LIBRARY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. + +=THEIR HAPPIEST CHRISTMAS=; a Tale for the Young. By EDNA LYALL, Author +of _Donovan_, _We Two_, &c. 1s. + +=FIRESIDE AMUSEMENTS=; a Book of Indoor Games. Illustrated 1s. + +=THE STEADFAST GABRIEL=; a Tale of Wichnor Wood. By MARY HOWITT. +_Illustrated_ 1s. + +=THE GREEN CASKET; LEO'S POST-OFFICE; BRAVE LITTLE DENIS.= By Mrs. +MOLESWORTH, Author of _The Cuckoo Clock_, &c. _Illustrated_ 1s. + + +CHAMBERS'S SIXPENNY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG. + +Cloth, with Illustrations. + +=NESTA=; or, Fragments of a Little Life. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH, Author of +_Tell me a Story_, _Carrots_, &c. + +=POOR MISS CAROLINA.= By L. T. MEADE, Author of _Scamp and I_, &c. + +=MALCOLM AND DORIS=; or, Learning to Help. By DAVINA WATERSON. + +=A FARTHINGFUL.= By L. T. MEADE. + +=THE GOLDEN LADY.= By L. T. MEADE. + +=WILLIE NICHOLLS=; or, False Shame and True Shame. + +=FRED STAMFORD'S START IN LIFE.= By Mrs. FAIRBAIRN. + +=DICKORY DOCK.= By L. T. MEADE. + + + W. & R. CHAMBERS, + 47 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON; AND EDINBURGH. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Green Casket, by Mary Louisa Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN CASKET *** + +***** This file should be named 36861-8.txt or 36861-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/6/36861/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Garcia 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: The Green Casket + and other stories + +Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth + +Release Date: July 26, 2011 [EBook #36861] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN CASKET *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0000"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/scover.jpg" width="280" height="400" +title="Front Cover." +alt="Front Cover." /></a> +</div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page1" name="page1"></a>[1]</span></p> + +<p class="center"> +<big>THE GREEN CASKET</big> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page2" name="page2"></a>[2]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page3" name="page3"></a>[3]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page4" name="page4"></a>[4]</span></p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo004.jpg"><img src="images/illo004.png" width="280" height="375" +title="FLOSSIE'S CONFESSION." +alt="FLOSSIE'S CONFESSION." /></a> +<br /> +FLOSSIE'S CONFESSION. <span class="sc"><a href="#page44">Page 44</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page5" name="page5"></a>[5]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> +<small> + THE<br /> +</small> +<big> + GREEN CASKET<br /> +</big> +<small> + AND<br /> +</small> + OTHER STORIES +</h1> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<small>BY</small><br /> +<big> +<span class="sc">Mrs. MOLESWORTH</span></big> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small> +AUTHOR OF 'THE CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'US,' 'CARROTS,' <br /> +'THE RECTORY CHILDREN,' 'NESTA,' ETC. +</small> +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +W. & R. CHAMBERS <br /> +LONDON AND EDINBURGH <br /> +<small>1890</small> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page6" name="page6"></a>[6]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +Edinburgh: <br /> +Printed by W. & R. Chambers. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page7" name="page7"></a>[7]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo007.jpg"><img src="images/illo007.png" width="300" height="130" +title="CONTENTS." +alt="CONTENTS." /></a> +</div> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONTENTS. +</h2> + +<table summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td></td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td>THE GREEN CASKET</td><td align="right"><a href="#page9">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>LEO'S POST-OFFICE</td><td align="right"><a href="#page55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>BRAVE LITTLE DENIS</td><td align="right"><a href="#page77">77</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo007a.jpg"><img src="images/illo007a.png" width="120" height="175" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page8" name="page8"></a>[8]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page9" name="page9"></a>[9]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo009.jpg"><img src="images/illo009.png" width="265" height="285" +title="The Green Casket." +alt="The Green Casket." /></a> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +<big> +<span class="sc">The Green Casket.</span> +</big> +</p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I.—RUTH'S START IN LIFE. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo009a.png" width="60" height="120" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +'Then good morning, Mrs. Perry. It all promises very nicely, I think. +You may depend upon our taking good care of Ruth, and doing our best to +train her well. Naylor takes great pride in her training. You will tell +Ruth what I say, and impress upon + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>[10]</span> + + her those two or three broad rules, +and if she attends to those, it will be all right.' +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Perry courtesied—her best courtesy, you may be sure; for it was not +every day she was honoured with an interview by so grand a personage as +old Lady Melicent Bourne of the Tower House, at Hopley. She had known +Lady Melicent all her life, for before she married, Mrs. Perry's own home +had been at Hopley; but I hardly think this in any way lessened her awe +of the great old lady—rather the opposite. And there had been no small +excitement in the neat cottage beside the forge at Wharton, five miles +from Hopley, when the postman brought a letter from my lady's own maid, +own cousin to Mrs. Perry, the blacksmith's wife, to say that the place of +under-housemaid was vacant at last, and Ruth was to be sent over to be +seen by Lady Melicent herself. Ruth went, and was approved of, and came +home with a message desiring her mother to go in her turn to the Tower +House for a talk with her daughter's future mistress. For Lady Melicent +was old-fashioned enough to take personal interest in her servants; even +the younger ones were safe to be 'known all about' by her. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>[11]</span></p> + +<p> +'And she said it that nicely, mother,' Ruth added eagerly, for she had +returned full of admiration and enthusiasm about the sweet old lady. +'You are not to ill-convenience yourself; any morning saving Friday +would do, she said, from eleven to twelve, and Cousin Ellen is to see +that you stay to dinner. Her ladyship remembers you as well as can be; +she thinks I favour you a bit, and she hopes as I'll favour you in my +ways too. And so do I, I'm sure, dear mother.' +</p> +<p> +And on the child chattered, for a child she was—not yet sixteen—and +the only sister among several brothers who had joined with their parents +in taking 'choice care' of little Ruth. Yet she was not spoilt; her +mother was too sensible to have allowed anything of that kind. Ruth was +unselfish, well-meaning, and straightforward, though with some weak +points which her sheltered life at home had scarcely yet tested fairly. +</p> +<p> +She was standing at the cottage door—'father' allowed no hanging about +the forge or gossip with the neighbours—scarcely in sight herself, but +eagerly looking out for her mother, when Mrs. Perry appeared, walking +rather slowly up the hill which led from the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>[12]</span> + + little railway station. In +a moment Ruth's hat was on, and she had flown to meet her mother. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, love,' said Mrs. Perry, in answer to the girl's breathless, +half-unspoken inquiry. 'It's all right. You're to go on Thursday week. +And a very lucky girl you are, take it all together. Eight pounds wages, +to be raised to ten in a year if you stop on and do well, church and +Sunday-school every Sunday, and now and then an evening service if +Cousin Ellen can take you; pleasant work and not too much of it, and +best of all, a real good kind lady for your mistress.' +</p> +<p> +'I don't see as how it could be nicer, and not so far from home +neither,' said Ruth. 'Why do you say "take it all together," mother? +I see no wrong side at all.' +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Perry smiled. +</p> +<p> +'There's that to most things in this world, I misdoubt me, Ruthie. But +I'm rather tired, child. We'll have a talk when I've got my things off, +and have rested a little. It's hot to-day, and I've been on my feet a +good bit. Cousin Ellen, she would have me to see all there was to be +seen—she took me round the fields and showed me the cows and the dairy +and the poultry-yard and the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>[13]</span> + + gardens. It's a sweet place, though not +large of course.' +</p> +<p> +'Lady Melicent's been there a good many years, hasn't she?' asked Ruth, +as they slowly ascended the hill. +</p> +<p> +'Nigh upon twenty-five. Ever since her husband's death, when she had +to leave Bourne Park. She had no son, only Miss Rosalind, who's now Mrs. +Vyner; so the Park went to a cousin, and my lady took the Tower House, +not caring to stay as a widow too near to where she had been so happy as +a wife. I remember her coming—her and Miss Rosalind—as if it had been +yesterday. I was a girl of fifteen. Well, here we are, and I shall be +glad to sit me down, I can tell you, Ruth.' +</p> +<p> +'And there'll be a cup of tea for you in half a minute, mother. It's all +ready. I set the kettle on when I heard the train whistling—and it's +just on the boil now. There's some hot toast too. Father and the boys'll +not be in for over an hour; we'll have nice time for our talk.' +</p> +<p> +She took her mother's shawl and bonnet and ran off with them, returning +with the good woman's slippers. Then she drew close to Mrs. Perry's +arm-chair the little table on + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>[14]</span> + + which she had already set out the +tea-things, and stooped for the crisp slice of toast, which she began to +butter. It was all done neatly and carefully—with even more care than +usual, for Ruth was touched and grateful for all her mother was doing +for her, and the coming event of her leaving home for the first time was +casting a tender shadow over these little duties and services—a shadow +which the girl hardly herself as yet understood. +</p> +<p> +'Now then, mother,' she went on, when Mrs. Perry's first cup of tea had +somewhat refreshed her, 'tell me the rest. What is it you're not so sure +I'll like at the Tower House?' +</p> +<p> +'Nay, child. I didn't say that. It's nothing to mind. My lady spoke most +kind and sensible. There's just two or three rules she's strict about, +I was to tell you, and talkin' of them'll explain other things. She will +have those about her to speak the truth, first and foremost, and to be +civil and respectful when they're found fault with; and if you meet with +any accident, Ruth—breaking or spoiling anything in your charge, you're +to up and tell it, straight away. These rules she will have attended to. +Others, like about being up in time in the morning, and never + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>[15]</span> + + going out +without the housekeeper's leave, you'd find in every house. But I can +see that my lady's very keen about truth-speaking and no underhand +ways.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Of course</i>,' said Ruth, with a little surprise. 'But so would any +right-thinking lady be, mother.' +</p> +<p> +'I don't know as to that—there's many as don't care much so long as the +work's well done, about how things go on that don't come under their own +notice. But of course no lady likes things broke and not told of.' +</p> +<p> +'I'd never think of not telling, never, mother,' said Ruth, proudly. +'I'd be only too anxious to make it good too, out of my own money.' +</p> +<p> +'There's many times that's impossible,' said Mrs. Perry. 'But here +comes in the difficulty you may find yourself in. You'll not be under +Cousin Ellen, you see, child—Mrs. Mossop, as they call her at the +Tower House—being as she's the lady's-maid, but it's Naylor, the +head-housemaid, you must look to. She's a good-principled woman, so my +lady says, and so Ellen says; but she's inclined to be jealous, and she +has a very queer temper. You must try and not put her out, and if so be +as you + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>[16]</span> + + should do so ever—for nobody's perfect—you must bear it patient, +and not go complaining to Ellen. Ellen couldn't stand it, she says so +herself: it'd make such trouble, and my lady couldn't have it neither. +So it won't be all roses, Ruthie, but still nothing so very bad after +all. A little patience, and taking care to be quite straightforward, and +you'll make your way.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth looked grave. +</p> +<p> +'Do you mean, mother, that if I broke anything by accident I must tell +Naylor and no one else? I'm sure I hope I shan't break anything; but if +I did, I'd much rather tell Cousin Ellen, or even my lady herself. She +seems that kind.' +</p> +<p> +'Well, but that's just what you mustn't do, my dear. It'd make ever such +a deal of trouble. If there was anything very serious—but that I hope +there never would be—you might better tell her ladyship than Ellen. It +would never do to vex her, so kind as she is, and speakin' for you for +the place and all—and it would never do to trouble Lady Melicent if +you could possibly make shift without. You must just try and be very +careful, Ruth, and don't go and get afraid of Naylor; she's a good woman +at heart.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>[17]</span></p> + +<p> +'Yes,' said the girl, 'I'll do my best;' but she gave a little sigh +nevertheless. There is no such thing as perfect happiness in this world, +Ruth was beginning to find. +</p> +<p> +The next few days were full of bustle, rather pleasant bustle than +otherwise. There were her 'things' to see to, one or two new dresses to +get made, the choosing of which had been deferred till her prospects +were certain, though Mrs. Perry was far too neat and methodical not to +have the rest of her daughter's modest wardrobe in good order. There was +the purchase of her box, and the presenting of different little gifts +by her brothers and some of her school-fellows; there was the bidding +goodbye to the neighbours, and the farewell tea-drinking in the vicarage +nursery, where Ruth was a great favourite, and had sometimes spent a few +days when extra help had been needed. Altogether the little maiden felt +herself something of a heroine in her way, and though the tears were not +<i>very</i> far off when the eventful Thursday came, she managed to keep them +from falling, and to wave back a last goodbye to mother, with a smiling +face, from the window of the third-class railway carriage as the train +whizzed out of Wharton station. +</p> +<p> +She had hardly time to realise she was off + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>[18]</span> + + before it pulled up again at +Hopley. Ruth could almost have found it in her heart to wish she had +been going a <i>little</i> farther away; it would have seemed rather grander! +But here she was; and there was Cousin Ellen on the platform looking out +for her, a vision which Ruth was by no means sorry to see, in spite of +her valour. +</p> +<p> +'How good of you to come to meet me, Cousin Ellen!' said the girl +gratefully, as she kissed her. +</p> +<p> +'I thought you'd be glad to have me,' said Mossop, as we must call her. +She glanced round a little nervously as she spoke. The Tower House +dog-cart was standing at the gate, and a young groom was directing the +porter to lift up the box. He was scarcely within earshot, but Mossop +lowered her voice. 'I just wanted to tell you, Ruth, love,' she said, +'you must call me Mrs. Mossop now as the others do. And I must not seem +to favour you, you know—mother explained, didn't she?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said Ruth, 'yes, cou——, Mrs. Mossop I mean. I'll be particular,' +but her heart sank a little—it seemed so formal and strange. Mossop saw +the look on her face. +</p> +<p> +'Don't look so frightened, dear,' she said. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>[19]</span> + + 'You'll get used to it all, +soon. Only I wanted you to understand, so that you won't feel hurt if +I treat you just as I would another in your place. Now jump in—that's +right. Yes, thank you, Joseph, that's all,' and off they drove. +</p> +<p> +It was not quite strange to Ruth. She had been several times at Hopley, +and once, as we have seen, to the Tower House. But places wear a +different air when we know we have come to them 'for good,' and though +all looked bright and pleasant that still summer afternoon, Ruth caught +herself wondering if she would ever think Hopley as pretty as Wharton, +or the newly-restored church, of which she caught a glimpse through the +trees, as beautiful as the old, ivy-covered one 'at home.' +</p> +<p> +There was no question of seeing Lady Melicent that evening, but to Ruth +the making acquaintance with her seven or eight fellow-servants was even +more formidable. Naylor, a thin, grave-faced, middle-aged woman, shook +hands with her civilly enough, and told Betsy the kitchenmaid to take +her up to the bedroom they were to share together. Then came tea in the +servants' hall, at which Mrs. Mossop was not present. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>[20]</span> + + But the others were +kindly, and after it was over Naylor took her up-stairs and showed her +what there was to do in the evening, adding that she had better get her +box unpacked, so as to be ready to begin work regularly the next morning. +</p> +<p> +'And if there's anything you don't understand,' the upper-housemaid went +on, 'be sure you ask me. Don't go on muddling for want of a word or two.' +</p> +<p> +'Thank you,' said Ruth. But she felt rather confused. The house seemed +very large to her, and compared with the vicarage at Wharton, which had +been hitherto her model of elegance and spaciousness, it was so. And +being rambling and old-fashioned, it appeared to a stranger larger than +it really was. +</p> +<p> +'The first thing you have to do of a morning is to sweep and dust my +lady's "boudore,"' said Naylor, 'and the book-room at the end of the +passage opening from it. Then you'll come to me in the drawing-room, +and I'll show you what to do. But there's no need for you to touch +the ornaments, neither in the "boudore" nor the book-room. I do those +myself, the last thing when the rooms are finished.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>[21]</span></p> + +<p> +'Yes, thank you,' said Ruth again. +</p> +<p> +'My lady is very particular about her china. She has some very rare, +though the best is behind glass and under lock and key, I'm glad to say.' +</p> +<p> +Then she sent the girl off to her unpacking, which would not have taken +her long had she not lost her way by wandering up a wrong stair, and +having to come down again to the kitchen to ask for Betsy's guidance, +which made all the servants laugh except Naylor, who looked rather sour. +But she smoothed down again when Ruth reappeared in a quarter of an +hour, armed with her little work-box, to announce that her things were +all arranged, and she was ready to do any sewing required. Naylor soon +found her some pillowcases in want of repair, and Ruth sat quietly at +work till supper, for her, soon followed by bedtime. +</p> +<p> +And so her first evening passed, and if some tears fell on her Testament +as she read her verses, they were not very many nor bitter. +</p> +<p> +'I'll do my best,' she thought, 'and it'll be nice to write home in a +few days and tell dear mother and all, that I'm getting on well.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>[22]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER II.—AN ACCIDENT AND A SCOLDING. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo022.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +The Tower House, as I have said, was rambling and old-fashioned. Lady +Melicent's boudoir was a pretty, simply-furnished room on the first +floor; a long passage with windows at one side led from this to what +most people would have called the library, but for which my lady +preferred the less imposing name of book-room. This book-room was in +the square tower which gave its name to the house; it had a window on +every side, and all the wall-space that was not window was covered with +well-filled bookshelves. It had a second door besides the one out of +the passage; this second door led on to another and narrower lobby from +which a stair ran down to the back part of the house. So that when Ruth +had finished her morning sweeping and dusting of these rooms, she did +not need to pass through them again, but withdrew with her brushes and +dusters down the back-stairs. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>[23]</span></p> + +<p> +The ornaments of which Naylor had spoken were some delicate old china +cups and saucers and teapots on the boudoir mantelpiece, and on one or +two brackets in the corners. In the book-room there were fewer; only +a handsome old timepiece above the fireplace and some punch-bowls and +Indian vases on a side-table. It was all very interesting and wonderful +to Ruth when she found herself installed in the boudoir for her cleaning +the next morning. She took the greatest pains to do it thoroughly and +neatly, and was careful to put back everything, even to my lady's +paper-knife on her little table, exactly as she had found it. +</p> +<p> +Then, looking round with satisfaction, she turned to the passage leading +to the book-room. The morning sun was streaming in brightly, for the +windows were to the east, and as Ruth stepped along, her eyes fell with +admiration on an old carved cabinet standing against the wall. It had +glass doors, and was filled with delicate and costly china, principally +figures, which Ruth admired more than cups and saucers. On the top of +the cabinet, outside, were also some beautiful things. A box, or casket, +especially attracted her; it was of bright green—malachite was + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>[24]</span> + + the name +of the stone, but that Ruth did not know—set in gold, and it gleamed +brilliantly in the sunshine. +</p> +<p> +'My goodness!' thought the little housemaid, 'it is splendid. I never +saw such a colour. But how dusty the top of the cabinet is! How I would +like to lift all the things off—there's not so many—and dust it well; +but I mustn't, I suppose. Naylor said none of the ornaments.' +</p> +<p> +So she only gave another admiring glance and hastened to the book-room, +just finishing her work there in time to tidy herself a little for +prayers. +</p> +<p> +Lady Melicent read these herself, and when they were over, she called +back Naylor, who led Ruth forward. +</p> +<p> +'I am glad to see you, Ruth,' said the old lady with the smile that had +so won her young handmaiden's heart. 'You will feel a little strange at +first, but that will soon go off. Pay great attention to what Naylor +tells you, and I have no doubt you will get on nicely.' +</p> +<p> +Then with a word or two of inquiry after her mother, she dismissed the +eager blushing girl. +</p> +<p> +'A sweet girl and a good one, or I am + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>[25]</span> + + much mistaken,' thought Lady +Melicent, as she poured out her coffee. 'I am sure I shall be able to +trust Flossie with her, and there will be some time before that for her +to get used to the place, and for Naylor to judge of her.' +</p> +<p> +The next few days passed quickly. Ruth was fully occupied in learning +her work, of which, though not too much, there was enough. It was only +at night sometimes, if she happened to be lying awake after placid, +good-natured Betsy was asleep, not to say snoring, that Ruth felt a +little, 'a very little,' she said to herself, homesick. But it always +passed off again by the next morning, and she wrote cheerfully to her +mother. Of Cousin Ellen she saw little, but this she was prepared for. +On Sundays, however, Mossop generally managed to have a little walk and +talk with her young relative, and often got leave for Ruth to go with +her to the evening service. +</p> +<p> +Ruth had been about three weeks at the Tower House when the first cloud +appeared on her fair horizon. It happened thus. At eleven o'clock every +morning a small basin of beef-tea was carried up to Lady Melicent in her +boudoir. Mrs. Mossop always saw to this herself, and herself as a rule +carried down + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>[26]</span> + + the pretty china bowl with a cover and stand in which the +soup was served. For this bowl was a favourite of the old lady's; it had +been a present from her daughter. Now one day Lady Melicent had a slight +cold, and as it was chilly and rainy, a fire was lighted by Naylor at +her desire in the boudoir, early in the morning. It so happened that +Mossop was unusually busy, and after having carried up the beef-tea, she +did not return to the boudoir to fetch the empty basin. Later in the day +Ruth met Naylor on the back-stairs. +</p> +<p> +'Oh dear,' said the housemaid, whose arms were filled with linen from +the laundry, 'I do hope my lady's fire's all right. Run in, Ruth, +there's a good girl, and see to it. My lady's down at luncheon in the +dining-room.' +</p> +<p> +Off flew willing Ruth. Doubly willing on account of Naylor's +graciousness. For it was not often the upper-housemaid was so amiable. +She was only just in time to rescue the fire, but with a little skill +and patience she got it to burn brightly, and getting up from her knees +she turned to leave the room. As she did so, she caught sight of the +china basin. +</p> +<p> +'Cousin Ellen has forgotten it,' she said to herself; 'I'll take it +down.' +</p> +<p> +She reached forward to lift it, but she was + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>[27]</span> + + a little embarrassed by +the wood and coals she was carrying, and somehow—who ever can say +exactly how such things happen?—her hand slipped, or the bowl slipped, +or her foot slipped—anyway the china fell to the ground, and darting +forward to pick it up, Ruth saw to her horror that the basin was broken +into several pieces. The poor girl was sadly distressed. Still she did +not think it so <i>very</i> bad, for she knew nothing of the history of the +china. She gathered it together, and went slowly down-stairs in search +of Naylor. She met her just at the kitchen door. +</p> +<p> +'O Naylor,' she said anxiously, 'I am so sorry. I've had an accident, +and my lady's soup-bowl is broke.' +</p> +<p> +She held it out as she spoke; she was not afraid; she was just simply, +as she said 'so sorry,' but quite unprepared for the storm that burst +upon her. How Naylor did scold! Every sharp word she could think of was +hurled at Ruth; strangest of all she was almost the <i>most</i> blamed for +having done as she had been told, in at once and straight-forwardly +telling what had occurred. +</p> +<p> +'Bold, impudent, and impertinent girl that you are, to come like that, +as cool as a cucumber. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>[28]</span> + + "O Naylor, I've broke my lady's bowl,"' and here +she imitated the girl's tone and voice in a very insulting way, 'as if +you'd something pleasant to tell.' +</p> +<p> +Pale and trembling, Ruth stood endeavouring to keep back her tears. 'If +I could match it,' she said, 'I'd do anything.' +</p> +<p> +'Match it!' said Naylor contemptuously. 'Why, Mrs. Vyner brought it +herself from Paris, or somewhere farther off still. It's china as you +never sees the likes of in a shop. <i>Match</i> it, indeed!' +</p> +<p> +'I didn't know'—— began the girl, but it was no use; her sobs and tears +burst out, and she rushed away—up to her own room, nearly knocking down +Mossop on the stair. +</p> +<p> +'Why, child, whatever's the?'—— she began; but Ruth only shook her head +and flew on. She had been warned not to complain to Cousin Ellen, and +she wasn't going to do so. She cried till her eyes were 'like boiled +gooseberries,' and then, suddenly remembering where she was, and that +she had her work to do, she tried to cure them by plunging her face into +cold water, and with aching head and still more sorely aching heart, +crept down-stairs with her needlework + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>[29]</span> + + to the corner of the servants' +hall where she sat of an afternoon. +</p> +<p> +'If only I could run away! oh, if only I could run home!' she said to +herself. +</p> +<p> +Betsy consoled her in her own way, which was not a very wise one, though +kindly meant, when the two girls were alone in their room at night. +</p> +<p> +'<i>I</i> wouldn't take on like that for all the chinay bowls in the world,' +she said. 'Things must get broken sometimes. Not but what you brought it +on yourself by telling. I'd have left it there where it fell, and let +them think the cat did it.' +</p> +<p> +'But, Betsy, I promised my lady and mother too, as I'd always tell if I +had any accident,' wept Ruth. +</p> +<p> +'And what did my lady promise?' said Betsy. 'Leastways <i>I</i> was promised +as I'd never be scolded if I up and told if I broke anything. Catch me! +I'll not risk it. And if you'd any sense, you'd not trust their fine +words no more than I do.' +</p> +<p> +'It wasn't my lady. I don't believe she'd scold. But Naylor is really +<i>dreadful</i> when she loses her temper,' and Ruth shivered at the mere +recollection. +</p> +<p> +'Then take my advice, and don't you + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>[30]</span> + + tell on yourself never again, whatever +happens.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not answer. She was tired out, and did not feel as if she could +argue with Betsy. The next day things had calmed down again. Naylor was +quiet and rather subdued, and nothing more, rather to Ruth's surprise, +was said about the bowl. But the girl felt nervous and upset. It seemed +to her as if it would be long before she got back the happy bright +confidence she had been so full of. +</p> +<p> +But Ruth was very young; at her age troubles <i>do</i> melt away, however +terrible they seem at the time. She had felt inclined at first to write +off a long letter to her mother, telling her how miserable she was, and +how she didn't think she <i>could</i> bear it. But a little reflection showed +her that this would only make Mrs. Perry very dull and uneasy about her, +and still more that if 'father or the boys' got hold of the letter—and +it would, she knew, be rather hard for mother to keep it from them—they +might insist on her being fetched home again, and there would be a nice +ending to her first start in life! How everyone would laugh at her, +and besides—would she not <i>deserve</i> to be laughed at, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>[31]</span> + + if she showed so +little courage and patience? On the whole she decided to wait a bit, +and in this I think she was right. It is a very different thing when a +girl away from home conceals from her parents anything really <i>wrong</i>: +Ruth had not done wrong; and indeed no one was much to blame for the +trouble, except Naylor for losing her temper. And—and—after all, Ruth +asked herself, would it be <i>quite</i> nice for her to write off a long +description of the housemaid's infirmity, for a real infirmity it was? +She did not want to lower Lady Melicent's household, and perhaps have +Naylor gossiped about in the neighbourhood through her. For there was no +saying how her indignant brothers might chatter. Anyway she would wait +till she could have a talk with Cousin Ellen. +</p> +<p> +This came on Sunday. As Ruth was starting for the children's service in +the afternoon, which she had been told she might always attend, as it +only came once a month, she heard some one calling her, and standing +still to see who it was, in another moment Mrs. Mossop appeared. +</p> +<p> +'O Cousin Ellen,' said Ruth joyfully, 'are you coming to church? I am +so glad.' +</p> +<p> +'I thought maybe you'd like a walk and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>[32]</span> + + a talk with me,' said the +lady's-maid. 'I've not seen you to speak to since Wednesday, and I +thought it best not to seem to be seeking you. But I <i>was</i> sorry, child; +sorry both for you and for the accident. You must be very careful, Ruth.' +</p> +<p> +'I was as sorry as sorry could be,' said the girl. 'Indeed I'd have +done <i>anything</i> if I could have got another bowl. But—did you know how +Naylor spoke to me, Cousin Ellen?' and Ruth hesitated a little. 'It was +just awful.' +</p> +<p> +'I know how she is,' said Mossop, 'but it's no use thinking about it. +I was just glad of one thing, and that was that you told at once.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth hardly seemed to feel this cheering. +</p> +<p> +'I could almost have wished I hadn't told,' she said. 'I don't know +<i>what</i> I'll do if ever I have to tell anything again.' +</p> +<p> +'Don't say that, my dear,' said Mossop, eagerly. 'After all, Naylor +isn't my lady, and it's her temper. You'll find it much worse in the end +if you hid anything, believe me. Have you written to your mother about +it?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said Ruth, 'I thought I'd wait,' and she went on to explain her +reasons. Mossop approved of them. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>[33]</span></p> + +<p> +'Yes,' she said, 'wait a bit. Writing makes things seem so much worse. +Telling is different. Maybe I'll be going over to Wharton some day, and +I could tell your mother. You'll feel all right again soon, and it's to +be hoped you'll have no more bad luck. I can't say but what I was very +put out myself about that basin—real "Severs" it was. I suppose, to go +to the roots of things, it was my fault for having left it about. I said +so to my lady.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh dear, Cousin Ellen, I'm sure no one could ever think <i>you</i> to blame,' +said Ruth. 'Indeed, indeed, I will try to be careful.' +</p> +<p> +Her tone was rather melancholy still. Mossop looked at her with a little +smile. +</p> +<p> +'I'm much mistaken if you won't be hearing something in a day or two +that'll cheer you up. But I mustn't tell you about it.' +</p> +<p> +And Ruth could not persuade her to say more. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0005"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo033.jpg"><img src="images/illo033.png" width="275" height="145" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>[34]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III.—THE OLD CABINET IN THE PASSAGE. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo022.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +The very day that Ruth was crying about the broken basin, a conversation +which concerned her, though she little knew it, was going on a good many +miles away. +</p> +<p> +In a pretty room in a large country-house—a much larger and 'grander' +house than the Towers, a lady, sweet and young, was lying on a sofa. +In front of her stood a little girl—a pretty little creature of eight +or nine. She had a bright expression usually, but just now she seemed +uncomfortable and ill at ease. She fidgeted from one foot to the other, +and frowned as she looked down, and her face was flushed. +</p> +<p> +'Tell me, Flossie,' said the lady. 'You're quite old enough to explain. +Why don't you want to go to grandmamma's? I should feel so happy about +you with her while I am away, and then papa and I will come to fetch you +when I am quite strong again.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>[35]</span></p> + +<p> +'Mayn't I go with you, mamma?' said the child. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Vyner shook her head. +</p> +<p> +'No, dear, it is impossible. You must either go to grandmamma's or stay +here with Miss Kelly. And if you don't go to the Towers, I must tell +grandmamma that you don't want to go.' +</p> +<p> +'No, no,' said Flossie, 'don't do that, mamma; I'll go, but please don't +be long away. And please tell grandmamma that I'm too little to be always +in her room. Mayn't I have a nursery, like at home?' +</p> +<p> +'I thought you loved being a great deal with grandmamma,' said Mrs. Vyner +in a disappointed tone. 'I don't understand you, Flossie. However, you +are to have a sort of nursery, and there is a very nice young servant +there who is to take you out and amuse you. For I should be sorry to +disappoint Miss Kelly of her holiday when she has had none for so long.' +</p> +<p> +Florentia's face brightened a little. +</p> +<p> +'I'll go into the boudoir as seldom as I can, and <i>never</i> along the +passage to the book-room,' she murmured to herself, but her mother did +not catch the words. +</p> +<p> +It was a week or so after this—fully a week, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>[36]</span> + + it may have been ten days, +after Ruth's accident—that Lady Melicent sent for her one morning to +speak to her. Ruth felt just a little frightened; surely nothing was +going to be said about the basin <i>now</i>, so long after? +</p> +<p> +But the old lady's kind face reassured her. +</p> +<p> +'I sent for you, Ruth,' she said, 'to tell you that for a few weeks your +work is going to be a little changed. Not disagreeably so, I hope. My +little grand-daughter, Miss Vyner—Miss Flossie they generally call +her—is coming to stay with me while her parents are abroad. Her nursery +governess is to have a holiday, so we must take care of her ourselves. +Mossop will superintend, but you, Ruth, will be with her altogether. You +will dress her, and take her out and amuse her. I feel that I may have +confidence in you, for you have been carefully brought up, and you have +shown that you are obedient and straightforward. I was sorry for my bowl +to be broken, and I hope in future you will be more careful, but I was +very glad you told about it.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth flushed a little; partly with shame, for she did feel she had been +careless, but more with pleasure. She was glad to have + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>[37]</span> + + pleased Lady +Melicent, and she was delighted to hear the news. To be under Cousin +Ellen instead of Naylor was nice of itself, and to have the care of +little Miss Flossie <i>would</i> be a treat! +</p> +<p> +'Thank you very much, my lady,' she said timidly. 'I will do my best, +and indeed I will try to be more careful.' +</p> +<p> +She felt in such good spirits the next day or two, that she did not mind +the <i>rather</i> grim looks she got from Naylor. Not that Naylor minded a +little extra work to oblige my lady, but she felt sure Ruth would have +her head turned once she was removed from <i>her</i> authority, even for a +time. +</p> +<p> +A week, then a fortnight, passed. All was ready for the little visitor. +Two days before her arrival Ruth was sweeping the passage leading to the +book-room early one morning, when her glance again fell on the cabinet +and its contents. It was a very sunny day, and the bright rays showed +off as before the green casket, and revealed at the same time that the +cabinet was very dusty indeed. Ruth drew near. To a very tidy, expert +housemaid there is a sort of fascination in dust. Her fingers quivered. +</p> +<p> +'I'm <i>sure</i> Naylor often forgets that + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>[38]</span> + + cabinet,' she said. 'She'd much +better let me do it. And what's more, I will, just for this once.' +</p> +<p> +She lifted off carefully some of the ornaments, and placed them safely +on the floor. Then she raised the green casket, admiring it as she did +so, when, oh horror! The lid seemed in some extraordinary way to detach +itself, and fell to the ground with a sharp sound; and when the girl, +trembling with fear, stooped to pick it up, she saw it was in two pieces; +a corner, a good-sized corner, was broken off! For a moment or two, Ruth +was really too appalled to move; then she looked at it closely. It was +a neat fracture, by replacing it on the box, and 'standing' the whole +on the cabinet again, the breakage did not show. Just then Ruth heard +Naylor's voice; quick as thought she put back the two or three uninjured +ornaments beside the casket as usual, and flew down the passage to the +book-room, and there Naylor found her a few minutes later, quietly +dusting. The temptation to conceal this new misfortune was too great, +and Ruth yielded to it. +</p> +<p> +At first she only said to herself she would wait till the evening—Naylor +was in a fussy humour, she could see. But evening came, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>[39]</span> + + and then next +morning, and her courage grew ever fainter, till at last came the +day Miss Flossie was expected, and <i>then</i> Ruth felt it was too late. +She could not tell <i>now</i>, and have a scene like the last time, just +as the little lady arrived. And evidently Naylor had not discovered +the breakage, though the cabinet and the ornaments were carefully +dusted. This puzzled Ruth a little; she could only suppose that the +upper-housemaid dusted with her feather brush without moving the things +about. And she tried to put the matter altogether out of her mind, +though there were times—when she knelt to say her prayers, morning and +evening, was the worst time—that she could not succeed in doing so, and +more than one night she cried herself to sleep, crying more bitter tears +than even the day Naylor had been so harsh and unkind. For <i>then</i> Ruth's +conscience was clear. Ah, the difference that makes! +</p> +<p> +Florentia proved to be a quiet, easily-managed child. Indeed she was +rather too quiet in the opinion of her grandmother and the old servants, +who had known her much more lively. +</p> +<p> +'Are you quite well, darling?' asked Lady Melicent one day. 'I never +hear you racing + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>[40]</span> + + about and laughing as you did in the winter. Wouldn't +you like a nice game of ball in the long passage? You could play with +Ruth at the end near the book-room where there is no furniture.' +</p> +<p> +'No, thank you, Granny,' the little girl replied. 'I'd rather go out +a walk with Ruth. I like best playing in the garden.' +</p> +<p> +'And you like Ruth, dear? She is kind to you, I am sure?' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, thank you, grandmamma. I like Ruth, and she likes playing in the +garden best too.' +</p> +<p> +A sudden thought struck Lady Melicent. 'Flossie,' she said, 'will you +run and fetch me the atlas which you will see lying on the side-table in +the book-room. Your mother wants me to show you where they are now, on +the map.' +</p> +<p> +Flossie hesitated. Lady Melicent and she were in the boudoir. +</p> +<p> +'In the book-room?' she repeated. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said her grandmother decidedly, 'in the book-room. Be quick, +dear.' +</p> +<p> +Flossie went. But she was not quick, and when after some minutes she +returned, she seemed rather out of breath. +</p> +<p> +'Why have you been so long? It doesn't + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>[41]</span> + + take a minute to run down the +passage,' said the old lady. +</p> +<p> +Flossie grew red. +</p> +<p> +'I went the other way,' she said. 'I don't like the passage. I went +down-stairs, and up the back-stairs.' +</p> +<p> +Her grandmother looked at her keenly. +</p> +<p> +'What a strange idea!' she said. 'Do you think there is an ogre in the +passage?' +</p> +<p> +But Flossie did not laugh or even smile. And just then Ruth came to +fetch her. Lady Melicent sighed when she was left alone. 'I wonder,' she +thought, 'if I took Ruth into my confidence, if perhaps she might help +to make Flossie tell. I can see the child will not be happy till she +does, and I do not want to ask her. I should be so afraid of making her +deny it. Ruth behaved so well about my beef-tea bowl, I am sure she has +nothing underhand about her.' +</p> +<p> +And the old lady looked quite anxious and depressed. +</p> +<p> +Ruth and her little charge meanwhile were sauntering slowly up and down +the garden. In spite of Flossie's saying that it amused her to 'play' +in the garden, it did not look very like it. She seemed spiritless and +dull, and Ruth too appeared to have lost her + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>[42]</span> + + usual bright happy eagerness. +Neither spoke for some time; at last Ruth half started, as it suddenly +struck her that she was scarcely fulfilling her duty. +</p> +<p> +'Miss Flossie, dear,' she said, 'wouldn't you like a game? It's not warm +to-day, and we're walking along so slowly. Shall I fetch your ball or +your hoop? Or would you like to run races?' +</p> +<p> +'No, thank you; I'd rather just walk along,' said the child. Then after +a moment's silence she went on. 'I don't like much being at the Tower +House now. Do you like it, Ruth? Would you not rather be at your own +home?' +</p> +<p> +Ruth hesitated. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, for some things I would,' she said. 'But I was very pleased to +come here.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Were</i> you?' said Flossie, rather incredulously. 'You don't look very +happy. I thought so the first day. I wrote to mother that you had a kind +face, but not a happy one.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>Did</i> you, Miss Flossie?' exclaimed Ruth, rather taken aback. 'Well, at +home I was called the merriest of everybody, and, and—I've been merry +here sometimes.' +</p> +<p> +'But you're not now, Ruth,' said Flossie + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>[43]</span> + + gravely. Then she peered up +into the little maid's face with her big gray eyes. 'I'll tell you what, +Ruth,' she said, 'I believe you've something on your mind. It's very bad +to have something on your mind. <i>I know about it</i>,' she went on +mysteriously. +</p> +<p> +Ruth grew scarlet. +</p> +<p> +'You know about me having something on my mind, Miss Flossie,' she said. +'What do you mean?' +</p> +<p> +Flossie did not at once answer. +</p> +<p> +'I hate passing that way,' she murmured to herself. 'I shut my eyes +tight not to see the cabi——. What are you staring at me like that for, +Ruth?' she broke off suddenly, finding the girl's eyes fixed upon her. +'I only said it's very bad to have something on your mind, and so it +is.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth by this time was as pale as she had been red. +</p> +<p> +'But what do you mean—how do you know, Miss Flossie? How do you know +I have anything on my mind, and what were you saying about the old +cabinet?' +</p> +<p> +'I was speaking to myself. You shouldn't listen,' said Flossie crossly. +'<i>I've</i> something on my mind, but you needn't ask about it. You may be +sorry for me, just as I'm sorry + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>[44]</span> + + for you, but you needn't ask questions +about what it is.' +</p> +<p> +'I—I wasn't asking questions,' said Ruth, more and more bewildered. 'I +was only wondering why—what—what made you speak of the old cabinet in +the passage? Did anyone—Naylor or anyone—say anything about it since +you came, Miss Flossie?' +</p> +<p> +It was Flossie's turn to start. +</p> +<p> +'No,' she said, 'of course not. Nobody knows—oh, I wish I hadn't come +here!' she suddenly broke off, 'and I wish you wouldn't speak of horrid +things, Ruth. You weren't here in the winter; you couldn't know. And oh, +I <i>am</i> so unhappy,' and throwing herself into Ruth's arms, the little +girl burst into loud weeping. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0006"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo044.jpg"><img src="images/illo044.png" width="225" height="245" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>[45]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV.—A DOUBLE CONFESSION. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo022.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +This was what was on little Flossie's mind, and on her grandmother's +mind too, for that matter! It had happened several months ago, during +the child's last visit to the Tower House. +</p> +<p> +One day Flossie had a cold. Not a very bad one, but enough to make her +cross and uncomfortable. She was tired of reading, tired of her dolls, +tired of everything, and it was a very woebegone-looking little girl +that came to say good-night to grandmamma. +</p> +<p> +'I wish I'd something to amuse me,' she said dolefully. 'If my cold +isn't better to-morrow and I can't go out, I don't know what to do all +day.' +</p> +<p> +Lady Melicent considered. +</p> +<p> +'I'll tell you what, Flossie,' she said. 'You might make some bead-mats. +That would amuse you. I have some very pretty beads in the green casket +that stands on the old + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>[46]</span> + + cabinet in the passage—at least I think they're +there. I'll see to-morrow.' +</p> +<p> +Flossie jumped with pleasure. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, that would be nice, granny. Can't you look for them to-night? I +might make a mat for mamma's birthday. Mayn't I go and look for them?' +</p> +<p> +'No, dear. The passage is cold, and besides that, the cabinet is too +high for you to reach up to. You might pull over some of the heavy +ornaments and hurt yourself. Wait till to-morrow, and I will find the +beads for you. I won't forget.' +</p> +<p> +Flossie was sitting reading in the boudoir the next morning, when Lady +Melicent came in with two or three little cardboard boxes in her hand. +She looked at the child. +</p> +<p> +'Flossie,' she said quietly, 'here are the beads. I found them up-stairs +in my work-box. They were not in the green casket.' +</p> +<p> +'Thank you, grandmamma,' said Flossie. But she scarcely looked up. +</p> +<p> +'Don't you care about making the mats now, Flossie?' said Lady Melicent. +'You seemed so pleased with the idea last night.' +</p> +<p> +'I would like to make a mat for mother very much,' said Flossie, getting +up and coming round to her grandmother. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>[47]</span></p> + +<p> +But that was all she said, and two days after, the little girl left +rather suddenly, as her father came over to fetch her and her cold was +better. And ever since then there had been a little ache in grandmother's +heart about Flossie. For that morning, when she went to look for the +beads in the malachite casket, she had found it broken, and speaking of +it to Naylor, the housemaid had thought it right to tell her that it was +Miss Flossie's doing. +</p> +<p> +'I saw her climbing up on a chair, when I was in the book-room,' said +Naylor. 'And I heard something fall. It was the green box. She put it +back again in its place, but the lid was broke off the hinges, and one +corner off. I'm very sorry, and I'm sure Miss Flossie was, for I heard +her crying.' Flossie was a great favourite of Naylor's. +</p> +<p> +'I wish she had told me about it herself,' said the old lady with a +sigh. 'But don't say anything about it, Naylor. She will forget about it +probably for the time, but when she comes back again, I hope she will +tell me.' +</p> +<p> +Flossie did not forget about it, though she tried to do so. But the +broken casket was the mysterious 'something on her mind,' of + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>[48]</span> + + which she +had spoken to Ruth. And the remembrance of it was what had prevented her +enjoying as usual the thought of a visit to the Tower House, and given +her such a dislike to the long passage which had once been her favourite +play-room. +</p> +<p> +You can now understand with what a strange mixture of feelings Ruth +listened to Flossie's story. She soothed the poor little girl as well +as she could, though feeling dreadfully ashamed when Flossie went on to +blame herself bitterly. +</p> +<p> +'It was so naughty and mean of me not to tell granny,' she sobbed, +'for she's always so kind. And sometimes I've been afraid she'd think +somebody else had broken it. Do you think granny has never found it out, +Ruth?' +</p> +<p> +'I can't say, I'm sure, Miss Flossie,' said Ruth sadly. 'But it's clear +there's only one thing to be done now, and that's for you to tell my +lady yourself all about it.' +</p> +<p> +'I'll tell her when I go to have my good-night talk with her,' said +Flossie. 'O Ruth, I'll <i>never</i> hide anything again.' +</p> +<p> +Her words were fervently echoed in Ruth's heart. She was on the point of +confessing her own secret to the little girl, but a moment's reflection +made her hesitate. No, she too + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>[49]</span> + + must tell all to Lady Melicent herself, +and it must be for her to judge if Flossie should be told. +</p> +<p> +'And if my lady thinks me not fit to be trusted any more, and I have to +go home in disgrace, I must just bear it. It's my own fault,' thought +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +It was a tearful but a happy little girl who came trotting up to be +undressed and put to bed at the Tower House that evening. +</p> +<p> +'Granny has been so kind,' she said, 'and I am so glad I've told her. +It was dreadful to have it on my mind, Ruth dear. And granny has been +telling me how good you were about the basin, and I said to her it was +you that said I must tell. And do you know, she <i>did</i> know I'd broken +it, only she waited for me to tell myself. It's never been mended, but +now she's going to send it to be done.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth sympathised in Flossie's joy, and the child was too happy to notice +the girl's sadness. All Florentia said only made her own confession the +more difficult. +</p> +<p> +'There is no real need for it,' said the tempter. 'No one can be blamed +now. Indeed, it was not you who broke it after all.' +</p> +<p> +But Ruth had a conscience. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>[50]</span></p> + +<p> +Late that evening there came a timid knock at my lady's door, and in +answer to her 'come in,' a pale and trembling girl appeared. +</p> +<p> +'Ruth!' exclaimed the old lady in surprise. 'Is there anything wrong?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh no, my lady. Miss Flossie's in bed and asleep, quite happy. It's not +about her. It's—it's—oh, my lady, it's about me. I—I broke, at least +I didn't, but I thought I did, and that's just as bad. I thought I broke +the green casket, and—and—I couldn't bear to tell—just as there'd +been such trouble about the bowl, and—if I must go home, I'll not +complain, my lady. I'—but here she broke down into sobs. +</p> +<p> +Lady Melicent stared at her in concern. +</p> +<p> +'You broke or thought you broke the green casket,' she said. 'Why, +Flossie has just been telling me, what indeed I knew already—that <i>she</i> +broke it,' and she looked at Ruth as if she half feared that the girl +was dreaming. +</p> +<p> +'That was how I came to tell myself,' said Ruth. 'Miss Flossie has been +so unhappy about it that at last she could bear it no longer, and this +afternoon in the garden she told me. And then I felt that ashamed to +think that I, more than twice her age, and knowing + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>[51]</span> + + how wrong it was, +had been hiding what I thought I'd done. It was last week—I knew +I shouldn't touch the cabinet, but it looked so dusty one morning I +felt somehow tempted to do it, and the green box, leastways the lid, +slipped—of course I see now how it was. The hinges were loose, and it +was broke already. But I <i>thought</i> I'd done it, and I couldn't bear to +tell for fear your ladyship should think me really too bad, and just as +Miss Flossie was coming and all. So I waited, and then I got so as I +couldn't tell. I wondered Naylor never noticed it. I wouldn't have let +another be blamed for it. But when she didn't seem to have found it was +broke, I thought I needn't. And now I'm quite ready to go home; it's +only what I deserve.' +</p> +<p> +'No, Ruth, I should be very sorry for you to go home. I am very glad you +have told me now. You did not tell Miss Flossie?' +</p> +<p> +'No, my lady. I thought it best to tell you first.' +</p> +<p> +'That was wise. I think there is no need for Miss Flossie to be told of +it. She has had a lesson herself, and she respects you, Ruth. It may make +you feel ashamed, but that you must bear. I should not like her to lose +her feeling of looking up to you. And + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>[52]</span> + + I am sure you will be even more +anxious than before to teach her to be perfectly open and straightforward.' +</p> +<p> +Ruth could scarcely speak; her tears, though they were tears of relief +and gratitude, nearly choked her. +</p> +<p> +'And,' continued my lady, going on speaking partly for the sake of +giving the girl time to recover her composure, 'I do not think it will +be necessary to tell Naylor, either.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, thank you, my lady,' said Ruth fervently. And she could not help +smiling a little, as she caught sight of Lady Melicent's face. +</p> +<p> +'As for Mossop,' added Lady Melicent, 'I will leave it to you. I daresay +you will like to tell her when you have an opportunity, as you are away +from your mother.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, thank you, my lady,' said Ruth again. 'And indeed—I don't think +you will ever have reason to regret your kindness.' +</p> +<p> +She could scarcely speak yet: the tears were still so near. But little +Flossie was not the only person in the Tower House who fell asleep that +night with a lightened heart and warm gratitude to the dear old lady. +</p> +<p> +The rest of Flossie's visit passed most cheerily, and Lady Melicent had +not reason + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>[53]</span> + + to complain that she no longer heard her little visitor's +merry voice and laugh about the house. And a very unexpected event came +to pass before the end of the summer, which greatly added to Ruth's +happiness at Tower House. Naylor got married! Her husband was the +gardener at a neighbouring house; a very meek and mild little man who +gave in to her in everything, so it is to be hoped her temper improved. +The new upper-housemaid was quite as good at 'training' as Naylor, and +by no means so great at scolding, which, I think, no one regretted. And +Lady Melicent lived long enough for Ruth herself in time to be promoted +to what had once been Naylor's post, which she filled with honourable +faithfulness till her dear mistress's death. +</p> +<p> +In the old lady's will she left 'to her faithful servant Ruth Perry, a +casket of green malachite.' That was many years ago. The green casket +has for long been the most valued ornament of the best room in Ruth's +comfortable farmhouse, and her children, and grandchildren too, have +all heard its story. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>[54]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0007"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo054.jpg"><img src="images/illo054.png" width="275" height="180" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>[55]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + <span class="sc">Leo's Post-office.</span> +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo055.png" width="50" height="120" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +'Oh dear!' said Leo's mother, 'there, I have run out of stamps again. +And I don't like getting them from the servants. It is so apt to cause +mistakes. It is really very stupid of me. Have you any, Marion?' +</p> +<p> +Marion was Leo's big sister. She was fifteen. +</p> +<p> +'I have one or two—yes, three,' Marion answered. 'Will that do, mamma?' +</p> +<p> +'It must do; oh yes, I think there are only three letters that really +matter. I can't send for any so late. The servants are all busy; these +letters can be put in the pillar-box just opposite. But I really must +not let myself run out of stamps in this way.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>[56]</span></p> + +<p> +'Some days you have so many more letters than others. It must be +difficult to know how many stamps you need,' said Marion, who thought +mamma so perfect that she did not even like to hear her calling herself +'stupid' for running short of stamps. +</p> +<p> +'I wish we had a post-office in the house,' said Cynthia, the next +sister. 'I did so want a postcard to send to Fletcher's to order my new +piece of music, and when I was out I forgot to get any, though mamma +said I might buy a whole packet. It's cheaper—for you get twelve for +eightpence, and if you buy one at a time it's a penny each.' +</p> +<p> +'Or two for three-halfpence,' said Leo. 'That would make ninepence for +twelve, not eightpence.' +</p> +<p> +'That's just like Leo,' said Cynthia; 'he's always counting about money +and things like that. You're a regular little merchant, Leo.' +</p> +<p> +'Don't laugh at him,' said his mother. 'He is very careful and exact, +and being careful and exact doesn't need to make anyone selfish or +miserly. Leo has always money ready for birthdays and Christmas +presents.' +</p> +<p> +Leo looked pleased, but he did not say anything; he was always rather +a silent little boy. But later that same evening, when he + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>[57]</span> + + knew that his +mother would be alone, he came up to her quietly. +</p> +<p> +'Mamma,' he said, 'I want to ask you something. Would you mind letting +me have a little money out of my packet?' +</p> +<p> +'What for, dear?' she asked. +</p> +<p> +Leo grew rather red. +</p> +<p> +'It was what you were saying about running out of stamps that put it +in my head,' he said. 'And what Cynthia said too about my being like a +merchant—I would like to be a merchant, mamma, if that means selling +things. I'd awfully like to have a shop, but of course I can't—at least +not a proper shop. But oh, mamma, I've been thinking if I might have a +post-office,' and Leo's eyes gleamed with eagerness. +</p> +<p> +'A post-office, my dear boy!' said his mother, 'how <i>could</i> you have a +post-office?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, of course I don't mean a regular post-office. I couldn't have +telegraphs, nor get people to post their letters in our letter-box. You +wouldn't like it, would you, mamma?' he said gravely. 'But I just mean +a post-office for selling stamps, and postcards, and perhaps newspaper +wrappers. And wouldn't it be nice for you, mamma, always to be able to +get stamps in a minute, however late it +<!--following two lines moved up from page 59--> + was—you'd never have to say +you'd run out of them, then?' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>[58]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0008"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo058.jpg"><img src="images/illo058.png" width="290" height="455" +title="The Large Order" +alt="THE LARGE ORDER" /></a> +<br /> +THE LARGE ORDER +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>[59]</span></p> + +<p> +Mamma smiled. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, that would be very nice, certainly,' she said. 'But it wouldn't +be much good to <i>you</i>, Leo, if you gave your trouble and lent your +money for nothing? You should make some profit, even if it were only +a halfpenny on a dozen stamps.' +</p> +<p> +'Or a penny on twelve postcards,' said Leo consideringly. 'I might buy a +whole packet and sell them in ones or twos. That would be very nice. But +even without that, I would so like to have a post-office, mamma. It +would really be a help to you.' +</p> +<p> +So it was settled. Mamma gave Leo five shillings out of his 'packet,' +which was a private savings-bank she kept for him, and Leo, as happy as +a king, set off to the chemist's shop round the corner, which was the +nearest post-office in the neighbourhood, and laid out the whole five +shillings in penny stamps, halfpenny stamps, a packet of postcards, +another of newspaper wrappers, a few twopence-halfpenny stamps, and two +or three foreign postcards, just in case mamma were writing to France, +or Germany, as she sometimes did. The chemist did look rather + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page60" name="page60"></a>[60]</span> + + astonished +at such extensive purchases, but he was very civil and obliging; and as +he was a nice man, Leo felt glad he had gone to him instead of to the +big post-office a quarter of a mile off. +</p> +<p> +'For he must gain something on as much as five shillings,' thought Leo. +</p> +<p> +Then he came home and began to make his arrangements. He had to +consult his sisters about them, but they were very kind and very much +interested, and were quite pleased that the post-office should be in the +schoolroom, which of course was as much their room as Leo's. +</p> +<p> +There was a little old-fashioned cupboard or bookcase in the schoolroom, +in which, above the enclosed part which had glass doors, were two little +drawers not used for anything in particular. On these drawers Leo had +set his heart. 'They would be just the thing,' he thought. And luckily +Marion and Cynthia thought the same. So the drawers were cleared of such +contents as they had, and Leo set to work. +</p> +<p> +In one drawer he arranged all his wares, as neatly as possible—using +the lids of some old cardboard boxes as divisions. There were the penny +stamps in one, the halfpenny ones + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page61" name="page61"></a>[61]</span> + + in another, the wrappers and post-cards +behind. And as of course Leo could not stand all day long at the +post-office to wait for people coming to buy, he made the second drawer +into his 'till.' In this he made divisions too, one for the money paid +for stamps, another for that for postcards, and so on. Each division was +marked accordingly, so that every morning or evening he could count up +his sales, and see that all was right. Besides all this, he wrote out +in his neatest, roundest writing a set of <i>rules</i> for 'Hertford Square +Post-office,' as he called it, and to the card on which these rules were +written he fastened a pencil by a long string, as he had seen done in +real post-offices for telegrams, and a number of tiny little papers on +which everybody who bought stamps was to mark down the number they had +had, and to drop the little paper into the drawer. +</p> +<p> +And then with great triumph he summoned mamma and his sisters, and Miss +Nesbitt, and nurse, and the butler, and in short everybody he could get +hold of, to come and admire. +</p> +<p> +'It is really very neat and nice,' said mamma; and by way of 'handsel' +or 'good-luck' to the new post-office, she immediately + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page62" name="page62"></a>[62]</span> + + bought six stamps, +for which she gave a whole penny extra, though Leo explained that of +course he did not expect that <i>usually</i>. +</p> +<p> +'I hope your rules will be kept,' said Marion who had been reading them +over. 'The principal one is about paying at once. Well, of course, +that's a very good rule. It is so easy to forget to pay for such little +things, if one doesn't do it at once. And then about the time of closing +every evening.' +</p> +<p> +'At eight o'clock—when I go to bed,' Leo said. 'I shall come round then +for the last time and shut up.' +</p> +<p> +'But,' said Cynthia, '<i>supposing</i> mamma wanted a stamp quite late at +night. It might happen, you know, and that was to be the good of having +a post-office in the house. And if you had locked them all up'—— +</p> +<p> +'I can't lock them up,' said Leo; 'there's no key.' +</p> +<p> +'Well then,' said Marion, 'I think you should make a rule that if mamma +wants anything after eight, she should be allowed to have it, or if +any one else does, they might too, if they got her to sign one of the +papers. Of course it wouldn't often happen, but just in case.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page63" name="page63"></a>[63]</span></p> + +<p> +'Very well,' Leo agreed; 'I'll add on that new rule,' and so he did. +</p> +<p> +All went well for some time. The stock, of stamps especially, was sold +out several times in the course of the first week or two, and everybody +paid regularly. Once or twice, it must be owned, Cynthia forgot to pay, +and more than once or twice people forgot to mark down what they had +taken. But Cynthia was always ready with her pennies as soon as Leo +asked her, and except for this the money was all right. More than +all right indeed, for one day a friend of his mother's made such big +purchases that he was quite cleared out, and had to set off to the +chemist's at once, and thanks to this and to other smaller profits, by +the end of the first week he had gained threepence, and by the end of +the second, twopence-halfpenny more. +</p> +<p> +So Leo began to think his post-office a great success. +</p> +<p> +But one morning he had a start. +</p> +<p> +He had left all quite correct the evening before; the money was right, +and he knew exactly how many stamps he had left, when he had made his +last round, as he called it, at bedtime; but this morning, though the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page64" name="page64"></a>[64]</span> + + money was the same, the stamps were not; three penny ones were gone. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0009"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo064.jpg"><img src="images/illo064.png" width="275" height="425" +title="One morning he had a start." +alt="One morning he had a start." /></a> +<br /> +One morning he had a start. +</div> + +<p> +Leo counted them all over and over again, 'to be quite sure,' even +though in his heart + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>[65]</span> + + he had been quite sure from the first. Then he ran +up-stairs to ask his mother if possibly she had taken them after he was +in bed, and forgotten to mark them down. No, mamma had not had any. Leo +began to look quite distressed. +</p> +<p> +'Don't worry about it,' said his mother. 'It's the first time anything +has gone wrong. I will pay the threepence, dear. It has just been some +mistake.' +</p> +<p> +Leo thanked her and ran off, determining to count more carefully than +ever. And for two or three days all was right. Then again, one morning, +it happened again that stamps were missing. Two penny and one halfpenny +this time! +</p> +<p> +'Dear, dear,' thought Leo, 'I don't like this at all,' and again mamma +was consulted. 'If this goes on,' he said, 'I must give it up.' +</p> +<p> +But mamma advised him to wait a little; perhaps some one would remember +having taken them. +</p> +<p> +So Leo waited, though far from easy in his mind. Only one thing consoled +him. +</p> +<p> +'If it was a robber,' he thought, 'they'd have been <i>more</i> likely to +take the pennies than the stamps.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>[66]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0010"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo066.jpg"><img src="images/illo066.png" width="290" height="210" +title="'IT REALLY IS VERY QUEER'" +alt="'IT REALLY IS VERY QUEER'" /></a> +<br /> +'IT REALLY IS VERY QUEER' +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>[67]</span></p> + +<p> +For some days poor Leo was in great trouble about the strange +disappearance of his stamps. He asked everybody, but nobody had had any +they had not paid for. And he was sure nobody in the house would say +what was not true. He began to think of robbers and burglars, only, as +Benjamin the footman reminded him, 'It wasn't common-sense to suppose +burglars'd steal postage-stamps and nought else; not that there was much +chance of silver plate about. Mr. Trev, the butler, and he—Benjamin +himself—was a deal too sharp.' +</p> +<p> +Benjamin seemed a little cross about the stamps, and so did Trev, Leo +thought. And mamma advised him to say no more about it. If it happened +again—well, she began to be afraid he would have to give up his +post-office, and for some evenings, to make quite sure, she counted them +over herself with him at bedtime, and as they each time proved right the +next morning, she almost thought Leo must have miscounted. +</p> +<p> +But alas! Two mornings after that, and again stamps were missing, two +this time, and, by way of variety this time, a newspaper wrapper! +</p> +<p> +'It really is very queer,' said Leo's mother + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>[68]</span> + + when he flew to tell her +of the new troubles. 'I really do feel as if I would like to find out +who takes them. I've a great mind to sit up late one evening and watch.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh no, mamma, please don't,' said poor Leo, looking quite frightened; +'at least if you do, you must let me sit up too. Just think if it was +real robbers,' for he could not quite get the idea out of his head that +burglars after all might have to do with it. +</p> +<p> +Mamma laughed, but still she promised him that she would choose a night +when his father was at home. +</p> +<p> +'I don't think I should care to sit up late all alone,' she said, 'even +though I don't think it likely that burglars are stealing your stamps, +Leo.' +</p> +<p> +Now I must explain that Leo's father was a <i>very</i> busy man. Some +evenings he did not get home till long after not only Leo, but his big +sisters and even his mother, were in bed, and sometimes he had to go off +so early in the morning that for several days together, now and then, +they scarcely saw him. This was a great trouble to them all, for they +were very fond indeed of their father, and he was very fond of them. But +it could not be + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>[69]</span> + + helped for the present, though Leo was already looking +forward to the time when he should 'be a man,' and able to help papa. +</p> +<p> +Lately, since Leo had started his post-office, his father had been even +extra busy, and if he had heard about the matter at all, he had not paid +much attention, or else he had quite forgotten it. The schoolroom in +these children's house was at the end of the hall, and between it and +the dining-room was a tiny little book-room or study, where their father +kept all his own papers, and where he used to write when he <i>was</i> at +home. Sometimes when he came home very late and let himself in with his +latchkey, he would go straight to this little room, where a good fire +was kept up, and there he would write answers to any letters he found +waiting for him, and leave them on the hall-table all ready to be posted +the <i>very</i> first thing in the morning by whichever of the servants was +the earliest about; but I don't think any of the children or their +mother knew of this custom of his, as it had never happened to come in +their way. +</p> +<p> +The very evening of the day on which Leo and his mother had been talking +so seriously + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>[70]</span> + + about the missing stamps, papa, for a wonder, came home +quite early. It was really a great treat to them all. He had dinner quite +comfortably with mamma, and after dinner, when Marion and Cynthia and +Leo were all in the drawing-room as usual, they kept saying to each +other <i>how</i> nice it was to have papa with them. +</p> +<p> +'If only you could come home every day as early as this,' said Cynthia +to him. +</p> +<p> +'But perhaps if I could, you wouldn't think so much of me,' said her +father laughing. +</p> +<p> +'And I'm afraid mamma wouldn't let me sit up till nine <i>every</i> night,' +said Leo, who had got an hour's grace this evening. 'Mamma,' he went on, +coming close to her and whispering, 'do you think you'll sit up to-night +and <i>watch</i>? I wouldn't mind you doing it with papa, you know.' +</p> +<p> +'I'll see about it,' said his mother, smiling, while his father looked +up and asked what they were whispering about—it was a shame to have +secrets from him when he was so seldom at home! +</p> +<p> +And as he spoke, he got up slowly from his comfortable chair by the +fire. +</p> +<p> +'I'm afraid I must go down-stairs to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>[71]</span> + + the study,' he said. 'I have some +letters to write, though I do feel very lazy about it.' +</p> +<p> +But immediately a cry was set up. +</p> +<p> +'O papa, do wait till we've gone to bed,' said the three voices. 'We +shall be going in half an hour.' +</p> +<p> +So of course papa gave in. +</p> +<p> +Mamma had an interesting book to read after the children had gone to +bed, and their father had left her to write his letters. She read on for +some time, and then she began to feel chilly, and looking up she saw +that the fire was getting low. +</p> +<p> +'I'll go down to the study,' she thought. 'There's sure to be a good +fire there.' +</p> +<p> +As she went down-stairs it struck her that she would take a look into +the schoolroom, and just notice if the 'post-office' drawers were shut, +and all looking as usual. +</p> +<p> +'I might even,' she said to herself, 'count the stamps and compare my +counting with Leo's to-morrow.' +</p> +<p> +But it was dark in the schoolroom. The fire, however, was not quite out; +she turned to look for a match or a spill to light one of the candles. +Her back was turned to the door, but as she stood there she heard it +creak a + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>[72]</span> + + little as some one pushed it open and came into the room. And +this some one, much to her surprise, marched straight up to the stamp +drawer, not to the money one, as if well acquainted with the arrangements, +and by the light which came in from the hall stood quietly helping himself +to some stamps. And who do you think it was? Why no one in the world but +Leo's father himself! +</p> +<p> +Mamma all but burst out laughing, but she managed to stay quite still +for a moment. Then she called out: 'What <i>are</i> you doing in that drawer?' +</p> +<p> +It was papa's turn to jump then! But he soon got over his start. +</p> +<p> +'What are you doing there all by yourself in the dark?' he said. 'And +what should I be doing but taking a stamp or two, of course,' he went +on, coolly. 'I've always forgotten to say what a good idea it is to have +stamps and wrappers and things so handy here. I never knew you kept them +here till a few nights ago, when I came in here to see if there was any +coal, as my fire was nearly out, and the drawer was open.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah,' thought Mamma, 'Leo did say he had asked Cynthia to shut it the +night he had a headache, and no doubt she forgot.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>[73]</span></p> + +<p> +'And,' papa went on, 'I was so glad to see where the stamps were, as I +sometimes run short. Since then I've helped myself to whatever I wanted, +two or three times.' +</p> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0011"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo073.jpg"><img src="images/illo073.png" width="190" height="450" +title="The Culprit" +alt="The Culprit" /></a> +<br /> +The Culprit +</div> + +<p> +'So <i>you</i> are the culprit,' Leo's mother exclaimed, laughing. And then +she told the whole story. +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +His father was very much interested, and very sorry to have caused any +anxiety. He put a + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>[74]</span> + + whole shilling into the 'till,' which more than put +Leo's accounts straight. And the next day he did something still nicer. +He brought Leo home the neatest little letter-weigher you ever saw, and +told him to add a new rule, to say that letters should be weighed at a +charge of a farthing each, in case anyone was in doubt how many stamps +to put on. And he also gave Leo a present of a packet of big envelopes +of different sizes, which he told him he might sell for a halfpenny +each, as they were thick and strong. So Leo's business is flourishing +and increasing very much, and he has even thoughts of adding luggage +labels and registered-letter envelopes to his stock in trade. +</p> +<p> +And since the night that mamma watched for the burglars, not a single +stamp or postcard or anything has ever been missing. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0012"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo074.jpg"><img src="images/illo074.png" width="265" height="140" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page75" name="page75"></a>[75]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>[76]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0013"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo076.jpg"><img src="images/illo076.png" width="280" height="375" +title="DENIS IS FRIGHTENED." +alt="DENIS IS FRIGHTENED." /></a> +<br /> +DENIS IS FRIGHTENED. <span class="sc"><a href="#page121">Page 121</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page77" name="page77"></a>[77]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + <span class="sc">Brave Little Denis.</span> +</h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> The brave man is not he who feels no fear, </p> +<p class="i2"> For that were stupid and irrational; </p> +<p class="i2"> But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, </p> +<p class="i2"> And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. </p> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Joanna Baillie.</span> </p> +</div> +</div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER I.—WHAT IS 'BRAVE?' +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo009a.png" width="60" height="120" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +The news had come up to the nursery, and there was great excitement and +rejoicing. Linda and Nettie chattered so fast, and had so many questions +to ask, that the 'big' boys, Alex and Lambert, when they came in to tea +could not at first find out what it was all about, or get anyone to +explain. And when at last baby—Miss Baby, who was two years old and +quite understood that, when nurse wanted to speak, it was not the time +to pull her shoes off and complain that 'hers toes was told'—condescended +to be quiet and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>[78]</span> + + let poor nurse answer, the noise did not grow any less, +I can assure you. +</p> +<p> +'Going to Baronscourt for Christmas. Hurrah!' shouted Alex. 'Three +cheers for Granny, Lambert,' which Lambert was only too ready to join in. +</p> +<p> +'Do you think Granny will make us a Christmas-tree, nurse?' asked Nettie. +</p> +<p> +'She <i>should</i>,' said Linda, 'because of missing last year, you know.' +</p> +<p> +'Me kismas-tee, too,' said Baby. +</p> +<p> +'Silly little girl, everybody can't have a Christmas-tree for themselves,' +said Linda; at which snub Baby began her preparations for a scream, which +was only averted by Alex good-naturedly picking up his little sister and +instructing her to give three cheers for Granny. +</p> +<p> +'Now join too, Denis,' said Linda. 'Why don't you cheer too?' +</p> +<p> +Denis raised his grave little face. +</p> +<p> +'I want to finish this story,' he said, dropping his eyes again on the +book in his hands. +</p> +<p> +'What a fancy he's taken for reading, all of a sudden,' said Linda in +a lower voice to nurse. 'I don't believe he understands it. He reads +awfully slowly when he's at his lessons.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page79" name="page79"></a>[79]</span></p> + +<p> +'Well, Miss Linda, he's only five,' said nurse. 'It's nice for him to +find something to keep him quiet sometimes. But he is rather strange +this afternoon. I don't know what he's got in his head, sitting there +by himself, though to be sure he's always a good bit quieter than his +brothers.' +</p> +<p> +'He's such a baby for his age,' said Linda, rather contemptuously. 'When +Alex was seven—that's only two years older than Denis is now—he could +do all sorts of things—jump his pony and play cricket, and'—— +</p> +<p> +'I don't think you can remember much about it, Linda,' said Alex, who +had overheard her. 'When I was seven you were only five, and that's +three years ago, and when Lam was five he couldn't do any better than +Den.' +</p> +<p> +'Because Lambert was delicate, and Denis is not a bit delicate; he's +just very babyish,' said Linda, turning away, as if that settled the +question. +</p> +<p> +Denis looked up and opened his lips as if going to speak, but then shut +them again and said nothing. +</p> +<p> +'Aren't you glad to go to Baronscourt, Den?' said gentle little Nettie, +the sister who came next him in age. She was sitting beside + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>[80]</span> + + him at the +tea-table, and spoke in rather a low voice. 'Don't you remember how +pretty it is there? It's only six months since we were there last. You +can't have forgotten it.' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said Denis; 'I've not forgotten it.' +</p> +<p> +'Then, aren't you glad to go?' +</p> +<p> +'I'm glad to see Granny and Prince,' said Denis; but that was all Nettie +could get out of him. +</p> +<p> +He was always a quiet little boy, but during the next few days, if +anyone had noticed him closely, it would have been seen that he was even +quieter than usual. But these next few days were very busy ones, for the +Christmas visit to Baronscourt had been decided on hurriedly, and the +nursery arrangements were rather upset. Only once, when the children's +mother had come up to see them, she noticed Denis sitting silently in a +corner with a very grave look on his little face. +</p> +<p> +'Is he not well?' she asked nurse, and nurse, after a glance in the +child's direction, replied 'that she did not think he was ill; he was +often very quiet—it would pass off again.' +</p> +<p> +'The change to Baronscourt will brighten + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page81" name="page81"></a>[81]</span> + + him up,' said his mother. And +then she went on to tell nurse some of the arrangements. +</p> +<p> +'I had a letter this morning,' she said. 'The house will be very full, +but they can take us all in. The girls will have the little room next to +mine, and the boys will have the turret room at the end of the picture +gallery.' +</p> +<p> +A movement beside her made her stop and look round. Denis had left his +corner and was standing beside her, listening with all his ears, and +gazing up in her face with his large soft blue eyes. +</p> +<p> +'And where will nurse, and 'Liza, and baby, and me sleep,' he asked. +</p> +<p> +His mother laughed. +</p> +<p> +'You won't be forgotten,' she said. 'Nurse and baby will have the old +nursery, and you will have a little cot beside them, I daresay.' +</p> +<p> +A look of satisfaction crept over his face. +</p> +<p> +'And 'Liza?' he asked. +</p> +<p> +'Oh, poor 'Liza won't be forgotten either,' said his mother. +</p> +<p> +Denis grew brighter after this conversation, and at tea that afternoon, +when all the children were talking, he joined in as usual. +</p> +<p> +'Mother told me where you'se all to sleep + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page82" name="page82"></a>[82]</span> + + at Granny's house,' he announced, +impatiently. 'I'm to sleep with nurse and baby.' +</p> +<p> +'Yes, of course, because you're such a baby yourself,' said Linda. +'Nettie and I are to have a room to ourselves like we have at home. +I hope it'll be the turret room at the end of the gallery. I do so +love the gallery—at night, you know, when the moon comes in through +the coloured glass and makes all the faces of the pictures look so +queer—red and purple, and blue and green. The red ones look quite +jolly, but the green and blue ones look dreadful.' +</p> +<p> +'Like ghosts,' suggested Lambert. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, something like that, I suppose,' said Linda, as if she was in the +habit of seeing ghosts, and knew quite what they were like. +</p> +<p> +'Or like us when we play snapdragon—at the end, you know, when they +throw salt in among the brandy,' suggested Nettie. +</p> +<p> +'Don't talk about that, please, Nettie,' whispered Denis, tugging softly +at his sister's arm. +</p> +<p> +Nettie looked surprised, but she understood Den better than did any of +the others, so she said no more; but later in the evening, when they +were alone, she asked him what he meant. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page83" name="page83"></a>[83]</span></p> + +<p> +'I don't know,' said Denis; 'don't ask me; I want to forget about it,' +and he gave a little shiver. +</p> +<p> +And question as Nettie would, he could not be got to explain further. +</p> +<p> +There was only one Sunday at home before the day came for going. It was +a cold and snowy day; too cold, it was decided, for the children to go +to church, so in the afternoon their mother sent for them all to read +with her. The stormy weather led to their talking about adventures in +winter—about poor travellers being lost in the snow, and the brave +things that had been done to rescue them sometimes, and the children's +mother told them some stories which they thought very interesting. +</p> +<p> +'What is "brave?"' asked Denis suddenly. He was sitting beside his +mother, and was holding her hand. +</p> +<p> +Mother looked round. +</p> +<p> +'Suppose you each answer Denis's question?' she said. 'I'll begin with +you, Alex, as you're the oldest. What does true bravery mean?' +</p> +<p> +'Den didn't say "true" bravery, mother,' objected Linda, who had already +shrugged her plump shoulders contemptuously at her + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page84" name="page84"></a>[84]</span> + + little brother's +question, with a muttered 'So silly—anybody could tell that.'—'He only +said, "what does 'brave' mean?" If you say "true bravery," it gets more +puzzling.' +</p> +<p> +Mother looked at Linda with a rather amused expression. +</p> +<p> +'That is why I added the word you object to, my dear Linda. I <i>want</i> you +all to think about it a little, not just to answer what "anybody can +tell," without reflecting at all.' Linda blushed. <i>Sometimes</i> it was +annoying that mother had such quick ears. But she said nothing. 'Come, +Alex,' continued mother, 'what is true bravery?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh, I don't know. <i>I</i> don't see anything puzzling,' said Alex, looking +puzzled, nevertheless. 'It just means not being afraid of anything. +It's just the way people are made. Some are afraid, and some aren't. +I'm never afraid, but it's just that I'm made that way,' he went on. +</p> +<p> +'But if that's it, it has nothing to do with being good,' said Lambert, +who was more thoughtful than Alex. 'I mean, it's no use thinking about +a thing that comes of itself like that, mother. And yet being brave is +always counted as if it was something good, something to be praised for.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page85" name="page85"></a>[85]</span></p> + +<p> +He raised his face to his mother's, questioningly. +</p> +<p> +'Well, try and put your feeling about it into words,' she said. +</p> +<p> +Lambert hesitated. +</p> +<p> +'I know,' said Linda, confidently. 'Mother means that true bravery is +when there's no pretending about it. Some people who are really afraid +<i>pretend</i> they're not—boastingly, you know.' +</p> +<p> +'And that is <i>one</i> sort of cowardice,' said her mother. 'They don't own +the truth, because they're afraid of being thought afraid. You're right +so far, Linda; but you do not go quite far enough.' +</p> +<p> +A little eager sound from Nettie caught her attention. +</p> +<p> +'Well, Nettie, have you something to say?' she asked. +</p> +<p> +'I don't quite know,' Nettie began. 'I thought I could see it, but I'm +not sure. But isn't it a little like this, mother—that whether one's +afraid or not, one should try to do anything that's right to do?' +</p> +<p> +Her mother smiled. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, that is something like it,' she said. 'That's what I have been +wanting you to get to see. The <i>mastering the fear</i>—that is + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page86" name="page86"></a>[86]</span> + + the truest +bravery of all. Not for what others may or may not think of us, but +because it is right. When a duty comes in the way, something right or +good or kind to do, a really brave person, man, woman, or child, will +do it even if it is something which they fear to do.' +</p> +<p> +'But still,' Lambert objected, 'there are some people praised for being +brave who don't feel fear—like what Alex said. Should they not be +praised, mother?' +</p> +<p> +'Certainly they should be praised for doing right at risk to +themselves,' said his mother. 'It is a great blessing to be naturally +brave—what is called physically brave. But I doubt if even the +naturally bravest men have never known fear. It is the determination to +do their duty at all costs that keeps them brave and gives strength and +courage. And this even the most timid by nature can learn; so this is +what I call true bravery. Not the unreasoning courage of a lion or a +bulldog, but the courage of a man who knows his duty and will do it.' +</p> +<p> +The children sat silent—each in his or her own way thinking over their +mother's words. One only had said nothing, but he was pondering deeply, +and his mother, glancing round, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page87" name="page87"></a>[87]</span> + + saw Denis gazing before him with a curious +look in his innocent blue eyes. +</p> +<p> +'Do you understand a little, Denis, my boy?' she asked, with a smile. +</p> +<p> +'I fink so,' he answered softly, and she felt him squeeze the hand he +held. But that was all he said. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0014"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo087.jpg"><img src="images/illo087.png" width="280" height="280" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page88" name="page88"></a>[88]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER II.—GRANNY AND THE CHILDREN. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo022.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +Two days later, in the dusk of a mid-winter afternoon, they were all +arriving at Baronscourt. The ground was white with snow. +</p> +<p> +'What a storm there must have been here,' said the children's father. +'The snow is quite deep, much deeper than with us.' For their home was +at some hours' distance, and farther south. +</p> +<p> +'Do you fink anybody will be lost in the snow, Nettie?' whispered Denis +to his sister. +</p> +<p> +They two were seated opposite their father and mother in their +grandmother's brougham, which had been sent to the station to meet them, +with a large covered wagonette for the rest of the party. +</p> +<p> +Nettie smiled at Denis. +</p> +<p> +'Not here, Den,' she said. 'It's very seldom people are lost in the snow +in England. It's in far-away hilly countries like Switzerland.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page89" name="page89"></a>[89]</span></p> + +<p> +'Was it there that mother was reading about?' asked Denis, only half +satisfied. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said Nettie. 'It's there that they have the great big dogs that +are so good, going looking for the poor people in the snow.' +</p> +<p> +'I shouldn't like to live in that country, though I <i>would</i> love the +dogs,' said Denis. And then jumping up in his seat with a scream of +delight, 'O Nettie, O Nettie,' he cried, 'look, look! There's dear +little Prin coming to meet us all in the snow; dear little Prin; oh, +I hope he won't get covered up. Mayn't we stop to take him in?' +</p> +<p> +'We're quite close to the house, dear,' said his mother, smiling at his +pleasure. 'Prin will be all right. Granny will not let him go far alone, +you may be sure.' +</p> +<p> +And as she said so, Prince, whose little smooth, jet-black body looked +very funny in the snow, turned round after two or three sharp barks of +welcome, and made for the house again. +</p> +<p> +'He's gone to tell them we're come,' said Denis; 'isn't he a <i>sensible</i> +dog, Nettie? I don't think I love <i>anybody</i> better than Prin,' he said, +ecstatically. +</p> +<p> +They were at the front door by this time, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page90" name="page90"></a>[90]</span> + + and there, a little way back +in the shelter of the hall, for it was very cold, and she was no longer +a young lady, stood dear Granny waiting to welcome them. +</p> +<p> +Granny, I must tell you, was not the children's grandmother, but +the great-aunt of their mother. She seemed, therefore, a kind of +great-grandmother to Denis and his brothers and sisters, and to have +called her 'Aunt,' or anything else but 'Granny,' would have been +impossible. She was old; very old, I daresay she seemed to the children, +but yet there was a delightful sort of youngness about her, which made +them feel as if they could tell her anything, with a certainty of being +understood. And of all the children she loved and who loved her, I don't +think any felt this beautiful sort of sympathy more than quiet little +Denis. It was a long time—in child life a very long time—since he had +seen her, six months ago, a tenth part of the whole time which Denis +had spent in this world—but when he saw dear Granny standing there in +the doorway, her sweet gentle old face all over smiles of pleasure, it +seemed to him that he had never been away from her at all. +</p> +<p> +'Dear Granny,' he said softly, when his turn came to be kissed, 'dear +Granny, I do + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page91" name="page91"></a>[91]</span> + + 'amember you so well—you and Prin;' and he was not at +all offended when the others laughed at his funny little speech—a long +speech for Den; he thought they were only laughing because they all felt +so pleased to be back with Granny and Prin again. +</p> +<p> +'My dear little boy,' Granny said, as she kissed him, 'this is very +sweet of you. And you may be sure Granny and Prin haven't forgotten +you.' +</p> +<p> +And Denis, looking up, thought that Granny was the prettiest lady in the +world, 'next to mother.' She <i>was</i> very pretty, at least in the sight of +those who do not think beauty is only to be found in the bright eyes and +fresh roses of youth. And, indeed, Granny's eyes were bright still, and +when she was very pleased, or sometimes when she was very vexed—for +Granny could be vexed when it was right she should be—her cheeks, soft +and withered as they were, would grow rosy as when she was a girl. They +were rosy just now, with pleasure, of course, and perhaps with a little +tiredness; for there were a great many people staying in the house, and +large as Granny's heart was, it was rather tiring to so old a lady to +attend to so many guests. +</p> +<p> +'I am so glad you have come, my dear,' + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page92" name="page92"></a>[92]</span> + + she whispered to Denis's mother. +'You will help me better than anyone. It was right I think to fill the +old house again this Christmas, but my heart fails me sometimes when +I think of those who are no longer among us. And yet they <i>are</i> among +us—just at these times, my dear, all the old faces seem to be smiling +back at me, the last of the generation. The house seems filled with +their presence to me as much as with the living friends who are about me.' +</p> +<p> +The children's mother pressed Granny's arm. +</p> +<p> +'Dear Granny,' she said, 'don't talk like that. We couldn't do without +you yet awhile. You are tired, dear Granny. Now it will be all right. +I shall do all, and you must rest.' +</p> +<p> +Denis had been standing close beside them. He heard what Granny said +without understanding thoroughly what she meant, and a very grave, +awe-struck look came over his face. +</p> +<p> +'Does Granny mean that they come out really?' he said to himself with a +little shiver. 'Granny doesn't seem frightened,' he added. 'I mustn't be +frightened, but I'm so glad I'm to sleep in nurse's room.' +</p> +<p> +Poor little man. There was disappointment in store for him. His mother +would + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page93" name="page93"></a>[93]</span> + + not let Granny go up-stairs to show them their rooms as she wished +to do. +</p> +<p> +'No, no, Granny,' she said, 'I know them all quite well. Take Granny +back to the library, Edith,' she added to one of the young ladies +staying in the house. 'I'll come down in five minutes when I have +settled the children in the nursery.' +</p> +<p> +Granny's maid met them at the top of the first stair, and went with them +to their rooms. +</p> +<p> +'Yes,' said the children's mother, 'that will all do beautifully. Linda +and Nettie in the room beside me, nurse and baby in the old nursery, the +boys in one of the turret rooms, and Denis—let me see—isn't there to +be a little bed for him in the nursery?' +</p> +<p> +They were on their way from the nursery to the boys' room when she said +this; Denis beside his mother still, holding her hand. +</p> +<p> +'No, ma'am,' said Tanner, the maid, 'my lady thought Master Denis would +be better in the little room beside his brothers'. It's a very little +room, but big enough, I daresay, for such a little gentleman. It would +not have been easy to put another bed in the nursery, without filling it +up so. And my lady thought Master Denis would be proud to have a room of +his own.' +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page94" name="page94"></a>[94]</span></p> + +<p> +'Yes, indeed,' said his mother; 'how kind of her.' +</p> +<p> +They were passing along the picture gallery. All of them together, +except nurse and baby, who had stayed behind by the nursery fire. Linda, +Alex, Lambert, and Nettie in front; mother and Denis and Tanner behind. +Denis tightened his hold of his mother's hand, but said nothing. +</p> +<p> +'I wish <i>we</i> had one of the turret rooms,' said Linda; 'this gallery is +<i>so</i> lovely to run along every time one goes to one's room. I like this +gallery the best of anything in the house.' +</p> +<p> +'And best of all in the moonlight,' said Alex. 'Don't you remember, +Linda? For my part I prefer it in the day-time, or well lit up, like +just now.' +</p> +<p> +'What a goose you are!' said Linda. 'Do you mean to say you'd be +<i>afraid</i> to come here in the moonlight?' +</p> +<p> +'Hush, children, don't talk so foolishly,' said their mother, for she +never liked that silly kind of talk, especially before the little ones. +'I quite agree with you, Linda, about this gallery being charming.' +</p> +<p> +They all stood for a moment—they were close to the end door by now, +the door that + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page95" name="page95"></a>[95]</span> + + opened into the anteroom, from whence opened the turret +rooms—and looked back. It was worth looking at. Lighted by the +old-fashioned lamps that hung at intervals from the dark oak ceiling, +which reflected their rays like a black mirror, the old gallery, with +its coloured glass windows at one side, the small, leadened panes +looking quaint and mysterious, though their tints could not, of course, +be seen, and the rows and rows of silent portraits looking down upon you +from the other side, seemed like a dream of a long-ago world, the merry +voices and bright glances of the children striking one as almost out of +place, and the grave faces appearing to gaze at them in disapproval. +</p> +<p> +'It was not meant for a picture gallery long ago,' said their mother: +'if it had been, these windows would not have been placed so, and they +certainly would not have had coloured glass. These portraits used to +be in the large saloon and the drawing-room, but they made them look so +gloomy that Granny's father hung them up here,' and so saying she opened +the door and crossed the passage to the boys' room, followed by all the +five. +</p> +<p> +'How jolly!' said Alex and Lambert in a breath, and with good reason, +for their room + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page96" name="page96"></a>[96]</span> + + looked the picture of comfort, with its deep window-seats +and wainscoted walls, and the radiance of the brightly-burning fire over +all. +</p> +<p> +'The boys don't have fires in their bedroom at home,' observed Linda. +</p> +<p> +'And they need not have one here every day,' said their mother. 'It's +just for a welcome at the beginning.' +</p> +<p> +'And because it really is so cold. I hardly think my lady would be +pleased if they hadn't one,' said Tanner with a smile, which made Alex +and Lambert think she was very kind indeed. +</p> +<p> +Then they all turned to look at Denis's little room. It was very snug +and cosy, though very tiny. It did not open into his brothers', but was +just across the little anteroom. +</p> +<p> +'You will be very happy in here, won't you, Den?' said his mother +brightly; and not noticing that the little fellow did not reply, she +hurried away, for she was anxious to go down to the library and help +Granny with afternoon tea for her guests. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>[97]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER III.—THE PICTURE GALLERY. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo097.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +Linda and Nettie turned to go back to the nursery, where tea was waiting +for them. Denis took hold of Nettie's hand to go too, but Alex and Lambert +remained behind to explore further their new quarters. +</p> +<p> +'Nettie,' said Denis, pulling his little sister back a little. 'I wish +I might have slept in the old nursery with nurse and baby.' +</p> +<p> +'Why, Denis dear?' said Nettie in surprise; 'your little room is so +pretty, and I never knew you were frightened of sleeping alone.' +</p> +<p> +'I'm not,' said Denis. 'It's not that.' +</p> +<p> +'What is it, then?' said Nettie. 'It's such a pity you don't like it, +when Granny's planned it so to please us. We should seem pleased, Denis, +for you know Granny is rather sad. Last Christmas she was too sad to +have anybody, for poor old uncle had died, you know. And it's <i>so</i> good +of her to have us all this Christmas. Mother says Granny's + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>[98]</span> + + only pleasure +is to make other people happy.' +</p> +<p> +'I do love Granny,' said Denis. +</p> +<p> +'Well then, don't you think you should try to be pleased with what she's +planned for us—with your nice little room?' +</p> +<p> +'I <i>are</i> pleased with my room,' replied Denis. 'I like it werry much.' +</p> +<p> +Nettie stared at him as if she thought he was losing his senses. +</p> +<p> +'Then what <i>do</i> you mean?' she asked. +</p> +<p> +Denis looked round. They were still in the picture gallery. He pulled +Nettie on, and when they were in the passage on to which at this end the +gallery opened, he shut the door and drew his sister into a corner. +</p> +<p> +'Nettie,' he said, 'you won't never tell, will you?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said Nettie, rather rashly. +</p> +<p> +'I wouldn't tell anybody but you, Nettie. Linda can't hear, can she?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh no, she's run on to the nursery.' +</p> +<p> +'Nettie,' he continued, 'it's not my room. It's the picshurs,' here +he shook his head solemnly. 'It's having to pass the picshurs. It's +dreadful. But, O Nettie, don't tell. It began last year when we was +here. They try to catch me, Nettie. I'm almost sure + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>[99]</span> + + they do. They come +down off the wall and run after me—at least I <i>fink</i> they do.' +</p> +<p> +'But they <i>can't</i>,' said Nettie, very much impressed, but still full +of common sense; 'they <i>can't</i>, Denis. Pictures is pictures—they can't +walk or run. Just think, they're not alive—they're not even like dolls. +They're only thin bits of paper or wood—or—or—whatever it is pictures +are painted on.' +</p> +<p> +But Denis still shook his head. +</p> +<p> +'I know that,' he said. 'I've thought of that, but it's no good. When +I'm not there I think that way, but as soon as I'm there it begins. Their +eyes all look at me, and I'm sure they begin to get down to run after me +as soon as I've passed. It's worst at night, like now, when the lamps is +lighted. It isn't so bad in the day. But, O Nettie, it must be worstest +in the moonlight,' and he gave a little shiver; 'don't you 'amember what +Linda said about it—all the colours on the faces, you know?' +</p> +<p> +'But anyway,' said practical Nettie, 'you don't need to see them in the +moonlight. You never need to go along there after the lamps are put out +at night.' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said Denis, but not as if he found much consolation in the +thought. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>[100]</span></p> + +<p> +'And if you'd let me tell mother,' continued Nettie, 'I'm sure she'd +change it some way. You might sleep with Alex, and Lam have your room.' +</p> +<p> +'<i>That</i> wouldn't do any good,' objected Denis. 'It's not the room I mind.' +</p> +<p> +'Oh no, of course. I forgot. But Den, I daresay it could be settled for +you to sleep in the old nursery after all.' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said Denis. 'I'm going to try, Nettie. I want to be brave, and I +don't want to vex Granny and mother. So you mustn't tell. You won't, I +know, 'cos you've p'omised. I'm going to try running very fast along the +gallery every time and look at the window side, not at the pictures. +Then <i>p'raps</i> it won't come.' +</p> +<p> +'It. What?' asked Nettie, in an awe-struck tone. She was very much +impressed by the whole, and felt no small admiration for Denis. 'Is +there one more than the others that tries to catch you?' +</p> +<p> +'No,' said Denis. 'I mean the <i>feeling</i> when I say "it." Oh, it's +dreadful!' he repeated. 'But do you know, Nettie,' he went on, 'I fink +Granny knows somefin about it. She said somefin to mother. But <i>she</i> +didn't seem frightened. P'raps they don't try to catch + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>[101]</span> + + her. She +said they smiled at her?' and Denis looked up at Nettie with great +bewilderment. +</p> +<p> +'She couldn't have meant the pictures,' said Nettie decisively. +</p> +<p> +'She said, the old faces, and there isn't any other old faces,' +persisted Denis. +</p> +<p> +'Well, never mind about that,' said Nettie, resolving privately, +nevertheless, to try to find out what it was Granny <i>had</i> said. 'You +didn't understand, perhaps, Denis. You're only a very little boy still, +you know, and big people do say things sometimes that sound quite +different from what they mean. We must go to the nursery to tea now, but +I'll tell you one thing. Every time you have to run along the gallery +I'll <i>try</i> to go with you, and then p'raps you'll get not to mind. Of +course if you were frightened in the night, you have Alex and Lambert +close to.' +</p> +<p> +'I'm not frightened in the night. I'm not frightened <i>nowhere</i> 'cept +<i>there</i>. Thank you, dear Nettie. You'll hold my hand, won't you? and +we'll run together, and p'raps I'll get not to mind. I don't fink I can +leave off minding, but I want to be brave.' +</p> +<p> +And holding up his little face to be kissed, Denis went back to the +nursery with Nettie, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>[102]</span> + + his heart somewhat lighter, I think, for having +confided his secret to some one. +</p> +<p> +It did not occur to Nettie that it would have been right for her to tell +it. For one thing she had 'promised,' and with these children that word +was a solemn one. Then, too, she fully shared Denis's dislike to +complain or give trouble, partly from the wish to please Granny who was +'so kind,' partly from the strange reserve one often finds in even very +little children. Few but those who have watched them very constantly and +closely have any idea how much children will endure rather than complain. +</p> +<p> +For some time nothing happened to cause Nettie to think more seriously +of poor little Den's strange fancy. He seemed to wish not to speak of +it, and she did not lead him to do so, hoping always that he might come +to forget it. But she did not forget her other promise. Every time that +Denis had to traverse the dreaded gallery, his faithful little sister, +if she knew of it, was sure to start up to go with him. They used to run +as fast as the slippery polished floor would allow them, holding each +other's hands, and, Denis at least, steadily avoiding to look at the +portraits. In the morning early he did + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>[103]</span> + + not mind it so much, though even +then Nettie often came to fetch him, if he had not already made his +appearance when Linda and she were summoned to the nursery breakfast. +</p> +<p> +'It's queer how Miss Nettie and Master Denis cling to each other,' the +under-nurse remarked one day. 'I never noticed it so much before. It's +like as if he couldn't move without her.' +</p> +<p> +'Miss Nettie's a very kind little girl,' the head-nurse replied, 'but +I do think she spoils Master Denis a little. He's getting a big boy.' +</p> +<p> +That very evening, as they were beginning tea—and tea-time at Christmas +is always after dark—nurse told Denis to run to his brothers' room to +tell them to come, for Alex and Lambert, having gone off to wash their +hands, had not returned. Denis began slowly to clamber down from his +chair, somewhat encumbered by Prince, who was, as usual, in his arms. +</p> +<p> +'Make haste, Master Denis,' said nurse, rather sharply, though not +unkindly. 'You shouldn't have the dog always in your arms, my dear. +At meal times it isn't nice.' +</p> +<p> +Denis cast an appealing glance at Nettie. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>[104]</span> + + She had already left her place +and was at his side. +</p> +<p> +'Put Prince down, Den,' she said, and the little boy did so, while +Prince, shaking himself, ran to the hearth-rug, moving round and round +till he had burrowed an imaginary hole, where he comfortably ensconced +himself. +</p> +<p> +'Mayn't I go instead of Denis?' said Nettie. 'I'd run much quicker.' +</p> +<p> +Another time nurse would probably have said 'yes,' but her attention was +aroused. She did not quite understand Denis and Nettie, and it seemed to +her that they were not just the same as usual. +</p> +<p> +'No, my dear,' she said. 'It is better for Master Denis to go, as I told +him first.' +</p> +<p> +But the children hesitated. +</p> +<p> +'Mayn't we both go?' persisted Nettie, taking Denis's hand. But nurse +shook her head. +</p> +<p> +'Miss Nettie, Master Denis will never be a big, sensible boy if you +treat him so. Why should he not run off himself at once when I tell him?' +</p> +<p> +The tears came to Nettie's eyes, but Denis gave her hand a little squeeze. +'Whatever you do, don't tell,' the squeeze seemed to say, and Nettie +dared not do anything more. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>[105]</span></p> + +<p> +'I'll go, Nettie dear,' said Denis, and his little sister, looking at +him, saw that, though he was very pale, there was a look of determination +on his face. He turned to the door, and Nettie, choking back a sob, +turned back to her place at table, when suddenly the door burst open +with a bang, and the two truants, Alex and Lambert, rushed in breathless +and laughing. With a great sigh of relief Denis clambered up again on to +his chair. +</p> +<p> +'We've had such a race,' Alex began; 'we wanted to see who'd get to the +end of the gallery first. I expect those old grandfathers and grandmothers +are rather shocked at the noise we make, sometimes.' +</p> +<p> +'There's one at this end who does look so cross,' said Lambert. 'The +one with the yellow satin dress, and her mouth screwed up <i>so</i>.' He +illustrated his words with great effect—'just like Linda, when she's in +a temper. Ah! yes, that's it, Linda,' for his sister had turned from him +with dignified disgust. 'I'm sure I don't want such an ugly old thing +for a great-grandmother, but I'm afraid she must be some relation, she's +so like Linda.' +</p> +<p> +'Nurse,' began Linda, '<i>do</i> make Lambert leave off, he is <i>so</i>'—— +</p> +<p> +But a voice at the door interrupted her. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>[106]</span></p> + +<p> +'Boys,' it said, and the children looking round caught sight of their +father. Up jumped the boys, and would have rushed towards him, had he +not stopped them. 'Don't be so excited,' he went on. 'I only want to +tell you that if the weather continues as it is, your cousins and I +are going to Hatchetts to skate to-morrow. There is to be a large party +there, for it is a capital place. Alex and Lambert, you may come with +us if you like. We shall be back before your bedtime, any way.' +</p> +<p> +There was a shout of satisfaction from the boys, but Linda looked +considerably annoyed. +</p> +<p> +'I'm sure father wouldn't take you,' she whispered to Lambert, who was +sitting beside her, 'if he knew how rude you are.' +</p> +<p> +'I wish Nettie and I might go,' she said aloud. '<i>Couldn't</i> we, father? +The pond here is such a horrid little place for skating, and we can +skate so well now.' +</p> +<p> +'Me go too. Mayn't me go too?' began Baby, at which everybody except +Linda laughed. +</p> +<p> +'You, my pet!' said her father. 'Why, you'd be lost in the snow, and +what would we do then without our Baby?' +</p> +<p> +Denis looked very grave. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>[107]</span></p> + +<p> +'Prin would try to get her out,' he remarked. 'Like the dogs up in those +snowy hills.' +</p> +<p> +'He means the St Bernard dogs,' said Nettie. 'Mother told us stories +about them.' +</p> +<p> +'Ah, yes!' said her father. 'But they are ever so much bigger than +Prince, my boy. Much more fear of Prince being lost himself in a +snowstorm, than of his rescuing anyone else, poor little dog.' +</p> +<p> +'But there isn't going to be a snowstorm,' said Linda. 'Father, mightn't +we go—I anyway?' +</p> +<p> +'No, my dear,' said her father. 'It's too uncertain. I hope the weather +will keep up. If it doesn't, no one can go. But it is too uncertain for +little girls: the boys must learn to rough it, but you and Nettie must +be content to skate on the pond here for the present.' +</p> +<p> +Linda's face clouded over still more. She hated being called 'a little +girl,' especially before her brothers. Her father turned away, either +not seeing, or not wishing to seem to see, her vexation. +</p> +<p> +'Get to bed early, then, and be up in good time,' he called out to the +boys as he left the room. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>[108]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER IV.—MASTERING THE FEAR. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo022.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +The morning dawned bright and clear. The frost seemed settled, the sky +gave no signs of storm. The party of gentlemen and boys started on their +skating expedition in great spirits. +</p> +<p> +'Do you wish you were big enough to go too, Denis?' said Nettie, as they +stood at the door after watching them start. +</p> +<p> +'Not without Prinnie,' said Denis, hugging his pet, as he spoke. 'I don't +care to go anywhere without Prin, and it would hurt his dear little feet +to put skates on them, wouldn't it.' +</p> +<p> +Nettie burst out laughing at the idea. +</p> +<p> +'Come in, children. Don't stay there in the cold,' their mother called +out; and as they went into the library at her summons, Granny asked them +what they were laughing at. +</p> +<p> +''Twas Nettie,' said Denis, gravely as usual; and when Nettie told her +what had amused + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>[109]</span> + + her, Granny looked rather anxiously at Denis. +</p> +<p> +'And do you never laugh, my boy?' she asked. 'If you say funny things +that make other people laugh, how is it you don't laugh yourself?' +</p> +<p> +Denis lifted up his face for a kiss, but there was an expression in his +eyes which Granny did not quite understand. +</p> +<p> +'That child looks—I don't know how exactly,' she said to his mother, +when Denis and Nettie had gone up-stairs. 'He is such a dear little +fellow, but there is a look of suffering or endurance in his face that I +can't understand. Your nurses are really kind to the children, I suppose?' +</p> +<p> +'Perfectly—I'm sure of it,' replied Denis's mother. 'He is always +quiet. Perhaps he is a little disappointed to-day at seeing Alex and +Lambert go off.' +</p> +<p> +But Granny wasn't satisfied. She resolved to watch little Denis for +herself. +</p> +<p> +He was looking graver than usual even, for the thought was heavy on his +mind that with his brothers away the whole day, the dreaded gallery +would be worse than ever. With Alex or Lambert at hand, he could often +manage to make the journeys to and from the nursery in + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>[110]</span> + + their company; +but to-day he had no one to depend on but Nettie, and nurse did not like +Nettie always roaming about with him. It would not do to get Nettie +scolded for being so good to him. Poor Denis! He felt terribly deserted +as he followed Nettie up-stairs, Prin at his feet. +</p> +<p> +'Dear Prin,' he whispered, 'I wish it was time for us to go back home +where there's no picshur gallery to frighten us. Only then, dear Prin, +you wouldn't be coming too, for your home is here, you know, dear Prin.' +</p> +<p> +Prin wagged his tail and looked up at Denis. It was all that he could +do, poor little dog. +</p> +<p> +The day kept up fine and bright till towards two o'clock. The clouds +began to gather in leaden masses, and the dull, gray-blue look one knows +so well in winter, came over the sky. +</p> +<p> +'I'm afraid it's going to snow again,' said the children's mother, on +their way home from the despised pond, where Linda and Nettie and some +of the young ladies staying in the house had been amusing themselves by +skating, and Denis had been allowed to slide, with Prince at his heels, +of course. +</p> +<p> +'What a nuisance!' said one of the girls. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>[111]</span> + + 'All our skating will be over +if it does, till the pond is cleared again. It is just nice now. And oh, +by the bye, you will be uneasy about uncle and the boys if it snows'—for +this young lady was a cousin of Linda's and the others—'won't you, aunt? +Hatchetts is an awkward place to get away from in a snowstorm.' +</p> +<p> +Denis listened with all his ears, while his mother looked up anxiously +at the sky. +</p> +<p> +'If it really comes on as bad as that, I hope they won't attempt to come +home to-night,' she said. +</p> +<p> +'They might be losted in the snow, and we have no big dogs!' exclaimed +Denis in great distress, as already a few flakes began to fall. +</p> +<p> +'Don't be afraid, my boy,' said his mother. 'Father will not do anything +rash, you may be sure.' +</p> +<p> +But her relief nevertheless was great when, about four o'clock, a +servant who had started with the party in the morning, came back with +the news that the gentlemen were going to stay away all night. He had +started as soon as the weather gave signs of changing, so he had got +back without difficulty. The snow had not begun yet where they were +skating, he said, but it was plain to be seen that it was + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>[112]</span> + + coming, though +the gentlemen hoped to have two or three hours' good exercise, as they +would dine and sleep with the friend on whose property they were. +</p> +<p> +It was well they had so decided. By five o'clock the snowstorm was at +its height. It was too dark to distinguish anything from the windows, +but news came in from outside that the snow lay deep already, and gave +no signs of leaving off. +</p> +<p> +'We must make ourselves as comfortable as we can,' said Granny, as she +told the servants to put more wood on the fire, 'and be thankful that +our dear ones are not out in any danger. So you've come to say good-night, +dears, have you?' she went on, as the little girls and Denis just then +came into the drawing-room. 'Good-night, my darlings; you've had a happy +day, I hope, in spite of the weather?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh yes, Granny,' they answered eagerly. 'We've had blind-man's buff +with Cousin Edith and the others in the hall.' +</p> +<p> +'And now you're sleepy and ready for bed. Good-night and pleasant +dreams,' and the children trotted off again. Granny had kissed Denis +among the others, and had been pleased to see his little face rosier +than usual, thanks + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>[113]</span> + + to the romp they had been having. Afterwards she +wondered to herself for not having remembered that with his brothers +away the little fellow would be rather lonely in his part of the house, +but somehow it did not come into her mind just then. Nor did it occur to +his mother. So the children were put to bed as usual, and Denis made no +complaint. Indeed, once in his little room he felt quite safe. Nurse +had brought him herself through the gallery well wrapped up in her arms, +having undressed him by the nursery fire, and he hid his face on her +shoulder as she carried him, and avoided all sight of his silent enemies +on the wall. +</p> +<p> +'You're quite comfortable, Master Denis?' she asked, as she left him. +</p> +<p> +'Quite,' he replied, 'and nurse, you'll let me have Prin up to-morrow +morning?' +</p> +<p> +'Oh yes, dear,' she answered kindly; 'you were a good little boy about +him this afternoon. You shall have him to-morrow.' +</p> +<p> +Denis gave a sigh as he composed himself to sleep. He was not quite easy +in his mind about Prince, whom nurse had sent downstairs because Baby +was in a cross humour, and cried when he jumped on her. +</p> +<p> +'Poor Prince,' thought Denis. 'I hope he's + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>[114]</span> + + not very unhappy. Robert' +(Robert was a young footman) 'p'omised to be kind to him, and not let +him go out in the snow. I hope father, and Alex, and Lambert won't be +lost in the snow, 'cos Prin is too little to get them out. I hope'—— +But what he hoped more was lost in a confusion of ideas—Prince, and +his father and brothers, and the falling snow seemed all mixed together +in his brain, for Denis fell fast asleep. +</p> +<p> +The snowstorm was over, though he did not know it; since six or seven +o'clock no more had fallen. The clouds dispersed, though some of them +were still to be seen hurry-scurrying over the face of the moon in a +very provoking way, for she had come out in full, anxious to see what +was going on down there on the earth, which she had not had a good sight +of for some time past. She peeped in at the window of little Denis's +room and saw him sleeping sweetly, his little face flushed as he lay, +a contrast to those of the long rows of Granny's faded ancestors which +she glanced at for a moment, through the windows of the gallery, as the +clouds passed by. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Denis woke, and half-started up in his bed. What had awakened +him? For a minute or two he could not tell. It was not + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>[115]</span> + + the moon, though +she was there again, peeping in at the chinks left at the corners of the +window-blind, and lighting up the white cover of his bed. No, it could +not have been the moon, for, as he became more fully awake, he felt +sure he had heard some sound. He sat up and listened. Yes, there it was +again, a low wail or cry, once or twice repeated, and seeming not far +off. Denis sat bolt upright; he did not feel afraid, he only wondered +very much what it could be; again he heard it; it sounded like a cry for +help. What could it be? Visions of Alex and Lambert in the snow came +into his mind. How dreadful if it was one of them! and the cry sounded +so near too, as if it were some one at the side door to the garden—a +door which opened close by the stair leading to the nursery. What could +he do? Oh, if he only had one of these great brave dogs that his mother +had read about! The thought made him start—was not the cry like the +whine of a dog. Could it be Prince, his own dear little Prince out there +alone; poor tender Prince, that could not bear the cold, and would +be frightened? Could Robert have forgotten him? Up jumped Denis, and +without stopping for slippers or dressing-gown ran to the door. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>[116]</span></p> + +<p> +'I will call Alex and Lambert,' he thought; 'they'll come with me to let +in poor Prin.' +</p> +<p> +But suddenly he remembered that Alex and Lambert were not there; they +were staying away till to-morrow. Denis stopped short—he must go +<i>alone</i> to rescue Prince, alone through the terrible gallery. Bad enough +in the daytime and with Nettie's hand, or in the evening with all the +cheerful lamps lighted, what would it be in the middle of the night, in +the dark?—no, not in the dark, as just then his eyes fell on the strip +of brightness across the floor; worse still, it would be moonlight in +the gallery, and Denis shivered as he remembered what Linda had said of +the look of the old portraits in the moonlight. +</p> +<p> +'No,' he said aloud, 'I can't go. I can't, poor little Prin. I can't +pass along there and feel them running after me with their faces all red +and blue and green, and dreadful. I can't.' +</p> +<p> +But just then a rather low piteous whine reached his ears. It half broke +his heart to hear it, and at the same moment, as if by magic, some of +his mother's words that Sunday afternoon returned to the little fellow's +mind. + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>[117]</span> + + 'Mastering the fear—that is the truest bravery of all; when +something good or kind to do comes in the way, to do it even if one is +frightened.' Denis stood up again. 'I'll try to be brave,' he thought. +'I fink God will take care of me if I go to let Prin in, so that he +won't die of cold.' +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="figure"> +<a name="image-0015"><!--IMG--></a> +<a href="images/illo117.jpg"><img src="images/illo117.png" width="260" height="325" +title="(decoration)" +alt="(decoration)" /></a> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>[118]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER V.—A FRIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. +</h2> + +<div class="dropcap"> +<img src="images/illo118.png" width="50" height="50" +title="" +alt="" /> +</div> + +<p> +He drew on his little dressing-gown, for he was shivering with cold and +excitement. But his slippers he would not put on. 'I can run so much +faster without them,' he said, speaking to himself in a low voice. +Then he opened the door, crossed the little anteroom, and hesitating +a moment, threw open the large door of the gallery. An instant he +waited before he found courage to look up. Then he did so, with a +half-acknowledged feeling that if anything <i>too</i> appalling met his eye, +he could still rush back into the shelter of his own room. +</p> +<p> +But all was still, strangely still, and the curious effect of the +moonlight, streaming in, in fitful patches through the coloured windows, +for a moment made him forget his fears in a sort of awe-struck +admiration. It was even stranger than Linda had described it, for the +clouds quickly rushing across the moon, caused a mixture of light and +shadow, + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>[119]</span> + + coloured by the tints of the glass, like broken and confused +rainbows. And had Denis not been too frightened to look at the faces on +the wall, the effect of this jumble of light and colour and shadow would +have been almost comical. +</p> +<p> +But a glance was enough. Then literally gathering up his garments—that +is to say, taking the skirts of his dressing-gown in his hands—the poor +little chap dashed into the enemy's country, looking neither to right +nor to left, and ran—his little bare feet making a quick pitter-patter +on the polished floor—ran as if for dear life! Fortunately he did not +stumble: had he done so, I doubt if he would have been able to get up +again—the terrible thought that something had caught him and made him +fall would probably have altogether overcome him—but oh how long the +gallery seemed, and oh how thankful he was to reach the other end and +burst through the swing baize door that closed it! +</p> +<p> +Here, in the passage, leading to the nursery, all was dark, or seemed so +at first, though as Denis felt his way to the staircase, his eyes got +used to the darkness, and gradually began to discern some light in it. +He knew his way so well that even without this he could + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>[120]</span> + + have found the +stair; and once on it, a little more light came up from the fanlight on +the top of the garden-door below, and now Prin's voice was heard again, +quite plainly, showing that he was just outside the door, seldom closed +to him, poor little dog, as he was accustomed to come in and out by it +with the children on their way to and from the garden. +</p> +<p> +'I'm coming, Prin, dear little Prin,' cried Denis, quite brightly and +cheerfully now, as he reached the foot of the stair, and Prin in return +gave a hopeful little bark; 'one moment, dear Prin, till Denis opens +the door for you,' he went on, as he fumbled for the handle, which +he knew he could reach. He reached it, and turned it, but oh, what a +disappointment; the door would not open as it did in the daytime—it was +bolted! At first Denis thought it might be locked, and he felt about for +a key. But there was no key, and peering about in the uncertain light he +saw high up something which looked like a bolt—far too high for him to +reach, and probably too hard for his little hands to pull back. He had +never thought of this, and he was terribly distressed—especially when +another faint whine from Prince seemed to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>[121]</span> + + ask why he was so slow. But it +roused him too. +</p> +<p> +'Poor Prin,' he said, 'Denis can't get the door open. Den will have +to go and get nurse to help. He'll be as quick as he can. Stay there, +dear Prin,' and then he turned to climb the stair again, his feet this +time perfectly numb with cold. He must get up two flights—past the +day-nursery, to where nurse and baby slept, in what was called 'the old +nursery,' a story higher than the other. But so long as there was no +gallery to face, Denis did not seem to mind. He got on all right till he +was crossing the landing or passage on to which the swing-door opened; +then just as he was putting his foot on the first step of the second +flight he was startled by a noise—a sound of footsteps approaching him, +and, oh terror! from the direction of the gallery. In his fear he stood +still, as if not knowing what to do. The steps came nearer and nearer +with a rather slow, dragging sound. Denis still stood as if turned to +stone. The baize door swung open, a light warmer and brighter than the +moon rays gleamed through, and a figure stood full in the boy's sight. +A tall figure, it seemed to him, clothed in yellow, with pale face and +powdered hair, all + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>[122]</span> + + distinctly seen by the flame of the taper held in +its hand. +</p> +<p> +'The lady in the yellow satin!' screamed poor Denis; 'oh, it's come +true! She's got out of the frame to catch me. O mother, mother, it's so +dreadful, and I did so try to be brave!' +</p> +<p> +His eyes closed, his legs gave way, and he half fell forward. What would +have happened I don't know, if a sweet, well-known voice had not reached +his ears. +</p> +<p> +'Denis, my boy, don't be frightened. Don't you know me? It's your own +old Granny.' +</p> +<p> +And half-laughing, half-crying, Granny went on talking till the boy took +courage again and opened his eyes. +</p> +<p> +'Granny!' he said, and then shivering again, seemed as if he could +hardly believe it. +</p> +<p> +'Yes, dear, Granny, in her old white cashmere dressing-gown. Look, dear, +and see.' +</p> +<p> +'And white hair, like the picshur,' he said, recovering himself. 'And +what a funny thing on the top of your head, Granny—all +frilly—like'—— +</p> +<p> +'That's my nightcap,' said Granny, now fairly laughing, and then she +went on to + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>[123]</span> + + explain that from her room, which had an unused door opening +on to the same landing as the boys' room, she had heard him moving +about, and fearing that something was wrong, and knowing the little +fellow to be alone, she had come round by the other way to see. +</p> +<p> +'For that other door is never opened, and there is a chest of drawers +against it,' she said. 'And when I found there was not a little boy in +bed in your room, I came back to look for him, you see, Denis, and I +thought I heard voices down below. For my ears are sharp still, though +I'm such an old woman.' +</p> +<p> +'It was me talking to poor Prin,' said Denis. And then in his turn he +had to explain all, and Granny, taking him back with her to her nice +cheerful room where a fire was still burning, rang the bell for her +maid, and in a few minutes poor Prince, the cause of all the upset, was +happily warming himself and forgetting all his troubles on Granny's +hearth-rug. +</p> +<p> +'I'll go back to bed now, please,' said Denis; 'I'm not a bit frightened +now. I don't fink I'll ever be frightened again,' he added in a +half-whisper, as he bade Granny a second + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>[124]</span> + + good-night. And you may fancy +how proud he was, when Granny answered, 'Frightened or not, you've shown +yourself my own brave little Denis.' +</p> +<p> +Mother was told all about it next morning, and of the good fruit her +words had borne. But as she kissed her little boy, she explained to him +and to Nettie, too, that in such a case there would have been no +cowardice in telling her of Denis's fears. +</p> +<p> +'I would not wish any of you to be tried needlessly, dears, you know,' +she said. 'It would have been easy to put Denis into another room. Still +I am thankful to see that, when there was need, my boy could battle with +his fears and master them.' +</p> +<p> +But somehow, from that time, the picture gallery ceased to be a place +of terror to Denis. For one thing, Granny pleased herself by showing +him all the old portraits in the bright daytime, and telling him many +interesting and curious stories about their originals, till he got to +have quite a friendly feeling to the bewigged and bepowdered long-ago +ladies and gentlemen. Especially to the lady in the yellow satin dress, +with the mouth like Linda's! +</p> +<p> +Granny often smiled to herself when she + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>[125]</span> + + put on her old-fashioned +lace-frilled nightcap, and thought of how she had frightened poor little +Denis. To 'make up,' she said, she gave him a present of Prince to be +his very own; and you may be quite sure he was never again left out in +the cold and snow, and that no dog ever led a happier life than he, in +faithfully serving the brave little master who had overcome his terror, +to do a good and kind action. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<h3> +THE END. +</h3> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"> +Edinburgh: <br /> +Printed by W. & R. Chambers. +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="nopage1" name="nopage1"></a>[pg]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p><!--[Blank Page]--><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="nopage2" name="nopage2"></a>[pg]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<big> +BOOKS PUBLISHED BY W. & R. CHAMBERS. +</big> +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="booklist"> +<b>TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH.</b> By <span class="sc">Robert Chambers</span>, LL.D., with +Portrait and Illustrations. <span class="bookprice">2s. 6d.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>GREAT THINKERS AND WORKERS</b>, being the Lives of Thomas Carlyle, +Lord Armstrong, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Sir Titus Salt, W. 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Queen Victoria, Florence +Nightingale, Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Mrs. Beecher-Stowe, Jenny Lind, +Charlotte Brontë, Mrs. Hemans, Dorothy Pattison. <i>Numerous Illustrations.</i> +<span class="bookprice">2s. 6d.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>HISTORIC EVENTS, GREAT.</b> The Conquest of India, Indian Mutiny, +French Revolutions, the Crusades, the Conquest of Mexico, Napoleon's +Russian Campaign. <i>Illustrated.</i> <span class="bookprice">2s. 6d.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>HISTORICAL CELEBRITIES.</b> Oliver Cromwell, Washington, Napoleon +Bonaparte, Duke of Wellington. <i>Illustrated.</i> <span class="bookprice">2s. 6d.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>LITERARY CELEBRITIES.</b> Wordsworth, Campbell, Moore, Macaulay, +Jeffrey. <i>Numerous Illustrations.</i> <span class="bookprice">2s. 6d.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE, RECENT</b>—Lieutenant Greely, Joseph Thomson, +Stanley, Livingstone, Lady Brassey, Vambery, Burton, &c. <i>Illustrated.</i> +<span class="bookprice">2s. 6d.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>HEROES OF ROMANTIC ADVENTURE</b>—Lord Clive, Captain John Smith, +Good Knight Bayard, Garibaldi. <i>Illustrated.</i> <span class="bookprice">2s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>ANIMAL FRIENDS, OUR</b>—The Dog, Cat, Horse, and Elephant; with +numerous Illustrations. <span class="bookprice">2s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LIFE AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF.</b> <i>Illustrated</i>, +cloth. <span class="bookprice">2s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>SHIPWRECKS AND TALES OF THE SEA.</b> <i>Illustrated</i>, cloth. <span class="bookprice">2s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>MARITIME DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE.</b> <i>Illustrated.</i> <span class="bookprice">2s.</span> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="nopage3" name="nopage3"></a>[pg]</span></p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<small> +BOOKS PUBLISHED BY W. & R. CHAMBERS. +</small> +</p> +<p class="center"> +<big> +NEW SERIES OF CHAMBERS'S LIBRARY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. +</big> +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="booklist"> +<b>THEIR HAPPIEST CHRISTMAS</b>; a Tale for the Young. By <span class="sc">Edna +Lyall</span>, Author of <i>Donovan</i>, <i>We Two</i>, &c. <span class="bookprice">1s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>FIRESIDE AMUSEMENTS</b>; a Book of Indoor Games. Illustrated. <span class="bookprice">1s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>THE STEADFAST GABRIEL</b>; a Tale of Wichnor Wood. By <span class="sc">Mary +Howitt</span>. <i>Illustrated.</i> <span class="bookprice">1s.</span> +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>THE GREEN CASKET; LEO'S POST-OFFICE; BRAVE LITTLE DENIS.</b> By Mrs. +<span class="sc">Molesworth</span>, Author of <i>The Cuckoo Clock</i>, &c. <i>Illustrated.</i> <span class="bookprice">1s.</span> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +<big> +CHAMBERS'S SIXPENNY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG. +</big> +</p> +<p class="center"> +<small> +Cloth, with Illustrations. +</small> +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="booklist"> +<b>NESTA</b>; or, Fragments of a Little Life. By Mrs. <span class="sc">Molesworth</span>, +Author of <i>Tell me a Story</i>, <i>Carrots</i>, &c. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>POOR MISS CAROLINA.</b> By <span class="sc">L. T. Meade</span>, Author of <i>Scamp and I</i>, &c. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>MALCOLM AND DORIS</b>; or, Learning to Help. By <span class="sc">Davina Waterson</span>. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>A FARTHINGFUL.</b> By <span class="sc">L. T. Meade</span>. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>THE GOLDEN LADY.</b> By <span class="sc">L. T. Meade</span>. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>WILLIE NICHOLLS</b>; or, False Shame and True Shame. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>FRED STAMFORD'S START IN LIFE.</b> By Mrs. <span class="sc">Fairbairn</span>. +</p> +<p class="booklist"> +<b>DICKORY DOCK.</b> By <span class="sc">L. T. Meade</span>. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p class="center"> +W. & R. CHAMBERS, <br /> +47 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON; AND EDINBURGH. +</p> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Green Casket, by Mary Louisa Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN CASKET *** + +***** This file should be named 36861-h.htm or 36861-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/6/36861/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Garcia 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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a/36861-h/images/scover.jpg b/36861-h/images/scover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..df2186a --- /dev/null +++ b/36861-h/images/scover.jpg diff --git a/36861.txt b/36861.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac28b93 --- /dev/null +++ b/36861.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2977 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Green Casket, by Mary Louisa 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: The Green Casket + and other stories + +Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth + +Release Date: July 26, 2011 [EBook #36861] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN CASKET *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Garcia and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: FLOSSIE'S CONFESSION. Page 44.] + + + + + + +THE GREEN CASKET + +AND OTHER STORIES + +BY Mrs. MOLESWORTH + +AUTHOR OF 'THE CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'US,' 'CARROTS,' 'THE RECTORY CHILDREN,' +'NESTA,' ETC. + + + W. & R. CHAMBERS + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + 1890 + + + Edinburgh: + Printed by W. & R. Chambers. + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + THE GREEN CASKET 9 + LEO'S POST-OFFICE 55 + BRAVE LITTLE DENIS 77 + + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration] + +The Green Casket. + + + + +CHAPTER I.--RUTH'S START IN LIFE. + + +'Then good morning, Mrs. Perry. It all promises very nicely, I think. +You may depend upon our taking good care of Ruth, and doing our best to +train her well. Naylor takes great pride in her training. You will tell +Ruth what I say, and impress upon her those two or three broad rules, +and if she attends to those, it will be all right.' + +Mrs. Perry courtesied--her best courtesy, you may be sure; for it was not +every day she was honoured with an interview by so grand a personage as +old Lady Melicent Bourne of the Tower House, at Hopley. She had known +Lady Melicent all her life, for before she married, Mrs. Perry's own home +had been at Hopley; but I hardly think this in any way lessened her awe +of the great old lady--rather the opposite. And there had been no small +excitement in the neat cottage beside the forge at Wharton, five miles +from Hopley, when the postman brought a letter from my lady's own maid, +own cousin to Mrs. Perry, the blacksmith's wife, to say that the place of +under-housemaid was vacant at last, and Ruth was to be sent over to be +seen by Lady Melicent herself. Ruth went, and was approved of, and came +home with a message desiring her mother to go in her turn to the Tower +House for a talk with her daughter's future mistress. For Lady Melicent +was old-fashioned enough to take personal interest in her servants; even +the younger ones were safe to be 'known all about' by her. + +'And she said it that nicely, mother,' Ruth added eagerly, for she had +returned full of admiration and enthusiasm about the sweet old lady. +'You are not to ill-convenience yourself; any morning saving Friday +would do, she said, from eleven to twelve, and Cousin Ellen is to see +that you stay to dinner. Her ladyship remembers you as well as can be; +she thinks I favour you a bit, and she hopes as I'll favour you in my +ways too. And so do I, I'm sure, dear mother.' + +And on the child chattered, for a child she was--not yet sixteen--and +the only sister among several brothers who had joined with their parents +in taking 'choice care' of little Ruth. Yet she was not spoilt; her +mother was too sensible to have allowed anything of that kind. Ruth was +unselfish, well-meaning, and straightforward, though with some weak +points which her sheltered life at home had scarcely yet tested fairly. + +She was standing at the cottage door--'father' allowed no hanging about +the forge or gossip with the neighbours--scarcely in sight herself, but +eagerly looking out for her mother, when Mrs. Perry appeared, walking +rather slowly up the hill which led from the little railway station. In +a moment Ruth's hat was on, and she had flown to meet her mother. + +'Yes, love,' said Mrs. Perry, in answer to the girl's breathless, +half-unspoken inquiry. 'It's all right. You're to go on Thursday week. +And a very lucky girl you are, take it all together. Eight pounds wages, +to be raised to ten in a year if you stop on and do well, church and +Sunday-school every Sunday, and now and then an evening service if +Cousin Ellen can take you; pleasant work and not too much of it, and +best of all, a real good kind lady for your mistress.' + +'I don't see as how it could be nicer, and not so far from home +neither,' said Ruth. 'Why do you say "take it all together," mother? +I see no wrong side at all.' + +Mrs. Perry smiled. + +'There's that to most things in this world, I misdoubt me, Ruthie. But +I'm rather tired, child. We'll have a talk when I've got my things off, +and have rested a little. It's hot to-day, and I've been on my feet a +good bit. Cousin Ellen, she would have me to see all there was to be +seen--she took me round the fields and showed me the cows and the dairy +and the poultry-yard and the gardens. It's a sweet place, though not +large of course.' + +'Lady Melicent's been there a good many years, hasn't she?' asked Ruth, +as they slowly ascended the hill. + +'Nigh upon twenty-five. Ever since her husband's death, when she had +to leave Bourne Park. She had no son, only Miss Rosalind, who's now Mrs. +Vyner; so the Park went to a cousin, and my lady took the Tower House, +not caring to stay as a widow too near to where she had been so happy as +a wife. I remember her coming--her and Miss Rosalind--as if it had been +yesterday. I was a girl of fifteen. Well, here we are, and I shall be +glad to sit me down, I can tell you, Ruth.' + +'And there'll be a cup of tea for you in half a minute, mother. It's all +ready. I set the kettle on when I heard the train whistling--and it's +just on the boil now. There's some hot toast too. Father and the boys'll +not be in for over an hour; we'll have nice time for our talk.' + +She took her mother's shawl and bonnet and ran off with them, returning +with the good woman's slippers. Then she drew close to Mrs. Perry's +arm-chair the little table on which she had already set out the +tea-things, and stooped for the crisp slice of toast, which she began to +butter. It was all done neatly and carefully--with even more care than +usual, for Ruth was touched and grateful for all her mother was doing +for her, and the coming event of her leaving home for the first time was +casting a tender shadow over these little duties and services--a shadow +which the girl hardly herself as yet understood. + +'Now then, mother,' she went on, when Mrs. Perry's first cup of tea had +somewhat refreshed her, 'tell me the rest. What is it you're not so sure +I'll like at the Tower House?' + +'Nay, child. I didn't say that. It's nothing to mind. My lady spoke most +kind and sensible. There's just two or three rules she's strict about, +I was to tell you, and talkin' of them'll explain other things. She will +have those about her to speak the truth, first and foremost, and to be +civil and respectful when they're found fault with; and if you meet with +any accident, Ruth--breaking or spoiling anything in your charge, you're +to up and tell it, straight away. These rules she will have attended to. +Others, like about being up in time in the morning, and never going out +without the housekeeper's leave, you'd find in every house. But I can +see that my lady's very keen about truth-speaking and no underhand +ways.' + +'_Of course_,' said Ruth, with a little surprise. 'But so would any +right-thinking lady be, mother.' + +'I don't know as to that--there's many as don't care much so long as the +work's well done, about how things go on that don't come under their own +notice. But of course no lady likes things broke and not told of.' + +'I'd never think of not telling, never, mother,' said Ruth, proudly. +'I'd be only too anxious to make it good too, out of my own money.' + +'There's many times that's impossible,' said Mrs. Perry. 'But here +comes in the difficulty you may find yourself in. You'll not be under +Cousin Ellen, you see, child--Mrs. Mossop, as they call her at the +Tower House--being as she's the lady's-maid, but it's Naylor, the +head-housemaid, you must look to. She's a good-principled woman, so my +lady says, and so Ellen says; but she's inclined to be jealous, and she +has a very queer temper. You must try and not put her out, and if so be +as you should do so ever--for nobody's perfect--you must bear it patient, +and not go complaining to Ellen. Ellen couldn't stand it, she says so +herself: it'd make such trouble, and my lady couldn't have it neither. +So it won't be all roses, Ruthie, but still nothing so very bad after +all. A little patience, and taking care to be quite straightforward, and +you'll make your way.' + +Ruth looked grave. + +'Do you mean, mother, that if I broke anything by accident I must tell +Naylor and no one else? I'm sure I hope I shan't break anything; but if +I did, I'd much rather tell Cousin Ellen, or even my lady herself. She +seems that kind.' + +'Well, but that's just what you mustn't do, my dear. It'd make ever such +a deal of trouble. If there was anything very serious--but that I hope +there never would be--you might better tell her ladyship than Ellen. It +would never do to vex her, so kind as she is, and speakin' for you for +the place and all--and it would never do to trouble Lady Melicent if +you could possibly make shift without. You must just try and be very +careful, Ruth, and don't go and get afraid of Naylor; she's a good woman +at heart.' + +'Yes,' said the girl, 'I'll do my best;' but she gave a little sigh +nevertheless. There is no such thing as perfect happiness in this world, +Ruth was beginning to find. + +The next few days were full of bustle, rather pleasant bustle than +otherwise. There were her 'things' to see to, one or two new dresses to +get made, the choosing of which had been deferred till her prospects +were certain, though Mrs. Perry was far too neat and methodical not to +have the rest of her daughter's modest wardrobe in good order. There was +the purchase of her box, and the presenting of different little gifts +by her brothers and some of her school-fellows; there was the bidding +goodbye to the neighbours, and the farewell tea-drinking in the vicarage +nursery, where Ruth was a great favourite, and had sometimes spent a few +days when extra help had been needed. Altogether the little maiden felt +herself something of a heroine in her way, and though the tears were not +_very_ far off when the eventful Thursday came, she managed to keep them +from falling, and to wave back a last goodbye to mother, with a smiling +face, from the window of the third-class railway carriage as the train +whizzed out of Wharton station. + +She had hardly time to realise she was off before it pulled up again at +Hopley. Ruth could almost have found it in her heart to wish she had +been going a _little_ farther away; it would have seemed rather grander! +But here she was; and there was Cousin Ellen on the platform looking out +for her, a vision which Ruth was by no means sorry to see, in spite of +her valour. + +'How good of you to come to meet me, Cousin Ellen!' said the girl +gratefully, as she kissed her. + +'I thought you'd be glad to have me,' said Mossop, as we must call her. +She glanced round a little nervously as she spoke. The Tower House +dog-cart was standing at the gate, and a young groom was directing the +porter to lift up the box. He was scarcely within earshot, but Mossop +lowered her voice. 'I just wanted to tell you, Ruth, love,' she said, +'you must call me Mrs. Mossop now as the others do. And I must not seem +to favour you, you know--mother explained, didn't she?' + +'Yes,' said Ruth, 'yes, cou----, Mrs. Mossop I mean. I'll be particular,' +but her heart sank a little--it seemed so formal and strange. Mossop saw +the look on her face. + +'Don't look so frightened, dear,' she said. 'You'll get used to it all, +soon. Only I wanted you to understand, so that you won't feel hurt if +I treat you just as I would another in your place. Now jump in--that's +right. Yes, thank you, Joseph, that's all,' and off they drove. + +It was not quite strange to Ruth. She had been several times at Hopley, +and once, as we have seen, to the Tower House. But places wear a +different air when we know we have come to them 'for good,' and though +all looked bright and pleasant that still summer afternoon, Ruth caught +herself wondering if she would ever think Hopley as pretty as Wharton, +or the newly-restored church, of which she caught a glimpse through the +trees, as beautiful as the old, ivy-covered one 'at home.' + +There was no question of seeing Lady Melicent that evening, but to Ruth +the making acquaintance with her seven or eight fellow-servants was even +more formidable. Naylor, a thin, grave-faced, middle-aged woman, shook +hands with her civilly enough, and told Betsy the kitchenmaid to take +her up to the bedroom they were to share together. Then came tea in the +servants' hall, at which Mrs. Mossop was not present. But the others were +kindly, and after it was over Naylor took her up-stairs and showed her +what there was to do in the evening, adding that she had better get her +box unpacked, so as to be ready to begin work regularly the next morning. + +'And if there's anything you don't understand,' the upper-housemaid went +on, 'be sure you ask me. Don't go on muddling for want of a word or two.' + +'Thank you,' said Ruth. But she felt rather confused. The house seemed +very large to her, and compared with the vicarage at Wharton, which had +been hitherto her model of elegance and spaciousness, it was so. And +being rambling and old-fashioned, it appeared to a stranger larger than +it really was. + +'The first thing you have to do of a morning is to sweep and dust my +lady's "boudore,"' said Naylor, 'and the book-room at the end of the +passage opening from it. Then you'll come to me in the drawing-room, +and I'll show you what to do. But there's no need for you to touch +the ornaments, neither in the "boudore" nor the book-room. I do those +myself, the last thing when the rooms are finished.' + +'Yes, thank you,' said Ruth again. + +'My lady is very particular about her china. She has some very rare, +though the best is behind glass and under lock and key, I'm glad to say.' + +Then she sent the girl off to her unpacking, which would not have taken +her long had she not lost her way by wandering up a wrong stair, and +having to come down again to the kitchen to ask for Betsy's guidance, +which made all the servants laugh except Naylor, who looked rather sour. +But she smoothed down again when Ruth reappeared in a quarter of an +hour, armed with her little work-box, to announce that her things were +all arranged, and she was ready to do any sewing required. Naylor soon +found her some pillowcases in want of repair, and Ruth sat quietly at +work till supper, for her, soon followed by bedtime. + +And so her first evening passed, and if some tears fell on her Testament +as she read her verses, they were not very many nor bitter. + +'I'll do my best,' she thought, 'and it'll be nice to write home in a +few days and tell dear mother and all, that I'm getting on well.' + + + + +CHAPTER II.--AN ACCIDENT AND A SCOLDING. + + +The Tower House, as I have said, was rambling and old-fashioned. Lady +Melicent's boudoir was a pretty, simply-furnished room on the first +floor; a long passage with windows at one side led from this to what +most people would have called the library, but for which my lady +preferred the less imposing name of book-room. This book-room was in +the square tower which gave its name to the house; it had a window on +every side, and all the wall-space that was not window was covered with +well-filled bookshelves. It had a second door besides the one out of +the passage; this second door led on to another and narrower lobby from +which a stair ran down to the back part of the house. So that when Ruth +had finished her morning sweeping and dusting of these rooms, she did +not need to pass through them again, but withdrew with her brushes and +dusters down the back-stairs. + +The ornaments of which Naylor had spoken were some delicate old china +cups and saucers and teapots on the boudoir mantelpiece, and on one or +two brackets in the corners. In the book-room there were fewer; only +a handsome old timepiece above the fireplace and some punch-bowls and +Indian vases on a side-table. It was all very interesting and wonderful +to Ruth when she found herself installed in the boudoir for her cleaning +the next morning. She took the greatest pains to do it thoroughly and +neatly, and was careful to put back everything, even to my lady's +paper-knife on her little table, exactly as she had found it. + +Then, looking round with satisfaction, she turned to the passage leading +to the book-room. The morning sun was streaming in brightly, for the +windows were to the east, and as Ruth stepped along, her eyes fell with +admiration on an old carved cabinet standing against the wall. It had +glass doors, and was filled with delicate and costly china, principally +figures, which Ruth admired more than cups and saucers. On the top of +the cabinet, outside, were also some beautiful things. A box, or casket, +especially attracted her; it was of bright green--malachite was the name +of the stone, but that Ruth did not know--set in gold, and it gleamed +brilliantly in the sunshine. + +'My goodness!' thought the little housemaid, 'it is splendid. I never +saw such a colour. But how dusty the top of the cabinet is! How I would +like to lift all the things off--there's not so many--and dust it well; +but I mustn't, I suppose. Naylor said none of the ornaments.' + +So she only gave another admiring glance and hastened to the book-room, +just finishing her work there in time to tidy herself a little for +prayers. + +Lady Melicent read these herself, and when they were over, she called +back Naylor, who led Ruth forward. + +'I am glad to see you, Ruth,' said the old lady with the smile that had +so won her young handmaiden's heart. 'You will feel a little strange at +first, but that will soon go off. Pay great attention to what Naylor +tells you, and I have no doubt you will get on nicely.' + +Then with a word or two of inquiry after her mother, she dismissed the +eager blushing girl. + +'A sweet girl and a good one, or I am much mistaken,' thought Lady +Melicent, as she poured out her coffee. 'I am sure I shall be able to +trust Flossie with her, and there will be some time before that for her +to get used to the place, and for Naylor to judge of her.' + +The next few days passed quickly. Ruth was fully occupied in learning +her work, of which, though not too much, there was enough. It was only +at night sometimes, if she happened to be lying awake after placid, +good-natured Betsy was asleep, not to say snoring, that Ruth felt a +little, 'a very little,' she said to herself, homesick. But it always +passed off again by the next morning, and she wrote cheerfully to her +mother. Of Cousin Ellen she saw little, but this she was prepared for. +On Sundays, however, Mossop generally managed to have a little walk and +talk with her young relative, and often got leave for Ruth to go with +her to the evening service. + +Ruth had been about three weeks at the Tower House when the first cloud +appeared on her fair horizon. It happened thus. At eleven o'clock every +morning a small basin of beef-tea was carried up to Lady Melicent in her +boudoir. Mrs. Mossop always saw to this herself, and herself as a rule +carried down the pretty china bowl with a cover and stand in which the +soup was served. For this bowl was a favourite of the old lady's; it had +been a present from her daughter. Now one day Lady Melicent had a slight +cold, and as it was chilly and rainy, a fire was lighted by Naylor at +her desire in the boudoir, early in the morning. It so happened that +Mossop was unusually busy, and after having carried up the beef-tea, she +did not return to the boudoir to fetch the empty basin. Later in the day +Ruth met Naylor on the back-stairs. + +'Oh dear,' said the housemaid, whose arms were filled with linen from +the laundry, 'I do hope my lady's fire's all right. Run in, Ruth, +there's a good girl, and see to it. My lady's down at luncheon in the +dining-room.' + +Off flew willing Ruth. Doubly willing on account of Naylor's +graciousness. For it was not often the upper-housemaid was so amiable. +She was only just in time to rescue the fire, but with a little skill +and patience she got it to burn brightly, and getting up from her knees +she turned to leave the room. As she did so, she caught sight of the +china basin. + +'Cousin Ellen has forgotten it,' she said to herself; 'I'll take it +down.' + +She reached forward to lift it, but she was a little embarrassed by +the wood and coals she was carrying, and somehow--who ever can say +exactly how such things happen?--her hand slipped, or the bowl slipped, +or her foot slipped--anyway the china fell to the ground, and darting +forward to pick it up, Ruth saw to her horror that the basin was broken +into several pieces. The poor girl was sadly distressed. Still she did +not think it so _very_ bad, for she knew nothing of the history of the +china. She gathered it together, and went slowly down-stairs in search +of Naylor. She met her just at the kitchen door. + +'O Naylor,' she said anxiously, 'I am so sorry. I've had an accident, +and my lady's soup-bowl is broke.' + +She held it out as she spoke; she was not afraid; she was just simply, +as she said 'so sorry,' but quite unprepared for the storm that burst +upon her. How Naylor did scold! Every sharp word she could think of was +hurled at Ruth; strangest of all she was almost the _most_ blamed for +having done as she had been told, in at once and straight-forwardly +telling what had occurred. + +'Bold, impudent, and impertinent girl that you are, to come like that, +as cool as a cucumber. "O Naylor, I've broke my lady's bowl,"' and here +she imitated the girl's tone and voice in a very insulting way, 'as if +you'd something pleasant to tell.' + +Pale and trembling, Ruth stood endeavouring to keep back her tears. 'If +I could match it,' she said, 'I'd do anything.' + +'Match it!' said Naylor contemptuously. 'Why, Mrs. Vyner brought it +herself from Paris, or somewhere farther off still. It's china as you +never sees the likes of in a shop. _Match_ it, indeed!' + +'I didn't know'---- began the girl, but it was no use; her sobs and tears +burst out, and she rushed away--up to her own room, nearly knocking down +Mossop on the stair. + +'Why, child, whatever's the?'---- she began; but Ruth only shook her head +and flew on. She had been warned not to complain to Cousin Ellen, and +she wasn't going to do so. She cried till her eyes were 'like boiled +gooseberries,' and then, suddenly remembering where she was, and that +she had her work to do, she tried to cure them by plunging her face into +cold water, and with aching head and still more sorely aching heart, +crept down-stairs with her needlework to the corner of the servants' +hall where she sat of an afternoon. + +'If only I could run away! oh, if only I could run home!' she said to +herself. + +Betsy consoled her in her own way, which was not a very wise one, though +kindly meant, when the two girls were alone in their room at night. + +'_I_ wouldn't take on like that for all the chinay bowls in the world,' +she said. 'Things must get broken sometimes. Not but what you brought it +on yourself by telling. I'd have left it there where it fell, and let +them think the cat did it.' + +'But, Betsy, I promised my lady and mother too, as I'd always tell if I +had any accident,' wept Ruth. + +'And what did my lady promise?' said Betsy. 'Leastways _I_ was promised +as I'd never be scolded if I up and told if I broke anything. Catch me! +I'll not risk it. And if you'd any sense, you'd not trust their fine +words no more than I do.' + +'It wasn't my lady. I don't believe she'd scold. But Naylor is really +_dreadful_ when she loses her temper,' and Ruth shivered at the mere +recollection. + +'Then take my advice, and don't you tell on yourself never again, whatever +happens.' + +Ruth did not answer. She was tired out, and did not feel as if she could +argue with Betsy. The next day things had calmed down again. Naylor was +quiet and rather subdued, and nothing more, rather to Ruth's surprise, +was said about the bowl. But the girl felt nervous and upset. It seemed +to her as if it would be long before she got back the happy bright +confidence she had been so full of. + +But Ruth was very young; at her age troubles _do_ melt away, however +terrible they seem at the time. She had felt inclined at first to write +off a long letter to her mother, telling her how miserable she was, and +how she didn't think she _could_ bear it. But a little reflection showed +her that this would only make Mrs. Perry very dull and uneasy about her, +and still more that if 'father or the boys' got hold of the letter--and +it would, she knew, be rather hard for mother to keep it from them--they +might insist on her being fetched home again, and there would be a nice +ending to her first start in life! How everyone would laugh at her, +and besides--would she not _deserve_ to be laughed at, if she showed so +little courage and patience? On the whole she decided to wait a bit, +and in this I think she was right. It is a very different thing when a +girl away from home conceals from her parents anything really _wrong_: +Ruth had not done wrong; and indeed no one was much to blame for the +trouble, except Naylor for losing her temper. And--and--after all, Ruth +asked herself, would it be _quite_ nice for her to write off a long +description of the housemaid's infirmity, for a real infirmity it was? +She did not want to lower Lady Melicent's household, and perhaps have +Naylor gossiped about in the neighbourhood through her. For there was no +saying how her indignant brothers might chatter. Anyway she would wait +till she could have a talk with Cousin Ellen. + +This came on Sunday. As Ruth was starting for the children's service in +the afternoon, which she had been told she might always attend, as it +only came once a month, she heard some one calling her, and standing +still to see who it was, in another moment Mrs. Mossop appeared. + +'O Cousin Ellen,' said Ruth joyfully, 'are you coming to church? I am +so glad.' + +'I thought maybe you'd like a walk and a talk with me,' said the +lady's-maid. 'I've not seen you to speak to since Wednesday, and I +thought it best not to seem to be seeking you. But I _was_ sorry, child; +sorry both for you and for the accident. You must be very careful, Ruth.' + +'I was as sorry as sorry could be,' said the girl. 'Indeed I'd have +done _anything_ if I could have got another bowl. But--did you know how +Naylor spoke to me, Cousin Ellen?' and Ruth hesitated a little. 'It was +just awful.' + +'I know how she is,' said Mossop, 'but it's no use thinking about it. +I was just glad of one thing, and that was that you told at once.' + +Ruth hardly seemed to feel this cheering. + +'I could almost have wished I hadn't told,' she said. 'I don't know +_what_ I'll do if ever I have to tell anything again.' + +'Don't say that, my dear,' said Mossop, eagerly. 'After all, Naylor +isn't my lady, and it's her temper. You'll find it much worse in the end +if you hid anything, believe me. Have you written to your mother about +it?' + +'No,' said Ruth, 'I thought I'd wait,' and she went on to explain her +reasons. Mossop approved of them. + +'Yes,' she said, 'wait a bit. Writing makes things seem so much worse. +Telling is different. Maybe I'll be going over to Wharton some day, and +I could tell your mother. You'll feel all right again soon, and it's to +be hoped you'll have no more bad luck. I can't say but what I was very +put out myself about that basin--real "Severs" it was. I suppose, to go +to the roots of things, it was my fault for having left it about. I said +so to my lady.' + +'Oh dear, Cousin Ellen, I'm sure no one could ever think _you_ to blame,' +said Ruth. 'Indeed, indeed, I will try to be careful.' + +Her tone was rather melancholy still. Mossop looked at her with a little +smile. + +'I'm much mistaken if you won't be hearing something in a day or two +that'll cheer you up. But I mustn't tell you about it.' + +And Ruth could not persuade her to say more. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III.--THE OLD CABINET IN THE PASSAGE. + + +The very day that Ruth was crying about the broken basin, a conversation +which concerned her, though she little knew it, was going on a good many +miles away. + +In a pretty room in a large country-house--a much larger and 'grander' +house than the Towers, a lady, sweet and young, was lying on a sofa. +In front of her stood a little girl--a pretty little creature of eight +or nine. She had a bright expression usually, but just now she seemed +uncomfortable and ill at ease. She fidgeted from one foot to the other, +and frowned as she looked down, and her face was flushed. + +'Tell me, Flossie,' said the lady. 'You're quite old enough to explain. +Why don't you want to go to grandmamma's? I should feel so happy about +you with her while I am away, and then papa and I will come to fetch you +when I am quite strong again.' + +'Mayn't I go with you, mamma?' said the child. + +Mrs. Vyner shook her head. + +'No, dear, it is impossible. You must either go to grandmamma's or stay +here with Miss Kelly. And if you don't go to the Towers, I must tell +grandmamma that you don't want to go.' + +'No, no,' said Flossie, 'don't do that, mamma; I'll go, but please don't +be long away. And please tell grandmamma that I'm too little to be always +in her room. Mayn't I have a nursery, like at home?' + +'I thought you loved being a great deal with grandmamma,' said Mrs. Vyner +in a disappointed tone. 'I don't understand you, Flossie. However, you +are to have a sort of nursery, and there is a very nice young servant +there who is to take you out and amuse you. For I should be sorry to +disappoint Miss Kelly of her holiday when she has had none for so long.' + +Florentia's face brightened a little. + +'I'll go into the boudoir as seldom as I can, and _never_ along the +passage to the book-room,' she murmured to herself, but her mother did +not catch the words. + +It was a week or so after this--fully a week, it may have been ten days, +after Ruth's accident--that Lady Melicent sent for her one morning to +speak to her. Ruth felt just a little frightened; surely nothing was +going to be said about the basin _now_, so long after? + +But the old lady's kind face reassured her. + +'I sent for you, Ruth,' she said, 'to tell you that for a few weeks your +work is going to be a little changed. Not disagreeably so, I hope. My +little grand-daughter, Miss Vyner--Miss Flossie they generally call +her--is coming to stay with me while her parents are abroad. Her nursery +governess is to have a holiday, so we must take care of her ourselves. +Mossop will superintend, but you, Ruth, will be with her altogether. You +will dress her, and take her out and amuse her. I feel that I may have +confidence in you, for you have been carefully brought up, and you have +shown that you are obedient and straightforward. I was sorry for my bowl +to be broken, and I hope in future you will be more careful, but I was +very glad you told about it.' + +Ruth flushed a little; partly with shame, for she did feel she had been +careless, but more with pleasure. She was glad to have pleased Lady +Melicent, and she was delighted to hear the news. To be under Cousin +Ellen instead of Naylor was nice of itself, and to have the care of +little Miss Flossie _would_ be a treat! + +'Thank you very much, my lady,' she said timidly. 'I will do my best, +and indeed I will try to be more careful.' + +She felt in such good spirits the next day or two, that she did not mind +the _rather_ grim looks she got from Naylor. Not that Naylor minded a +little extra work to oblige my lady, but she felt sure Ruth would have +her head turned once she was removed from _her_ authority, even for a +time. + +A week, then a fortnight, passed. All was ready for the little visitor. +Two days before her arrival Ruth was sweeping the passage leading to the +book-room early one morning, when her glance again fell on the cabinet +and its contents. It was a very sunny day, and the bright rays showed +off as before the green casket, and revealed at the same time that the +cabinet was very dusty indeed. Ruth drew near. To a very tidy, expert +housemaid there is a sort of fascination in dust. Her fingers quivered. + +'I'm _sure_ Naylor often forgets that cabinet,' she said. 'She'd much +better let me do it. And what's more, I will, just for this once.' + +She lifted off carefully some of the ornaments, and placed them safely +on the floor. Then she raised the green casket, admiring it as she did +so, when, oh horror! The lid seemed in some extraordinary way to detach +itself, and fell to the ground with a sharp sound; and when the girl, +trembling with fear, stooped to pick it up, she saw it was in two pieces; +a corner, a good-sized corner, was broken off! For a moment or two, Ruth +was really too appalled to move; then she looked at it closely. It was +a neat fracture, by replacing it on the box, and 'standing' the whole +on the cabinet again, the breakage did not show. Just then Ruth heard +Naylor's voice; quick as thought she put back the two or three uninjured +ornaments beside the casket as usual, and flew down the passage to the +book-room, and there Naylor found her a few minutes later, quietly +dusting. The temptation to conceal this new misfortune was too great, +and Ruth yielded to it. + +At first she only said to herself she would wait till the evening--Naylor +was in a fussy humour, she could see. But evening came, and then next +morning, and her courage grew ever fainter, till at last came the +day Miss Flossie was expected, and _then_ Ruth felt it was too late. +She could not tell _now_, and have a scene like the last time, just +as the little lady arrived. And evidently Naylor had not discovered +the breakage, though the cabinet and the ornaments were carefully +dusted. This puzzled Ruth a little; she could only suppose that the +upper-housemaid dusted with her feather brush without moving the things +about. And she tried to put the matter altogether out of her mind, +though there were times--when she knelt to say her prayers, morning and +evening, was the worst time--that she could not succeed in doing so, and +more than one night she cried herself to sleep, crying more bitter tears +than even the day Naylor had been so harsh and unkind. For _then_ Ruth's +conscience was clear. Ah, the difference that makes! + +Florentia proved to be a quiet, easily-managed child. Indeed she was +rather too quiet in the opinion of her grandmother and the old servants, +who had known her much more lively. + +'Are you quite well, darling?' asked Lady Melicent one day. 'I never +hear you racing about and laughing as you did in the winter. Wouldn't +you like a nice game of ball in the long passage? You could play with +Ruth at the end near the book-room where there is no furniture.' + +'No, thank you, Granny,' the little girl replied. 'I'd rather go out +a walk with Ruth. I like best playing in the garden.' + +'And you like Ruth, dear? She is kind to you, I am sure?' + +'Yes, thank you, grandmamma. I like Ruth, and she likes playing in the +garden best too.' + +A sudden thought struck Lady Melicent. 'Flossie,' she said, 'will you +run and fetch me the atlas which you will see lying on the side-table in +the book-room. Your mother wants me to show you where they are now, on +the map.' + +Flossie hesitated. Lady Melicent and she were in the boudoir. + +'In the book-room?' she repeated. + +'Yes,' said her grandmother decidedly, 'in the book-room. Be quick, +dear.' + +Flossie went. But she was not quick, and when after some minutes she +returned, she seemed rather out of breath. + +'Why have you been so long? It doesn't take a minute to run down the +passage,' said the old lady. + +Flossie grew red. + +'I went the other way,' she said. 'I don't like the passage. I went +down-stairs, and up the back-stairs.' + +Her grandmother looked at her keenly. + +'What a strange idea!' she said. 'Do you think there is an ogre in the +passage?' + +But Flossie did not laugh or even smile. And just then Ruth came to +fetch her. Lady Melicent sighed when she was left alone. 'I wonder,' she +thought, 'if I took Ruth into my confidence, if perhaps she might help +to make Flossie tell. I can see the child will not be happy till she +does, and I do not want to ask her. I should be so afraid of making her +deny it. Ruth behaved so well about my beef-tea bowl, I am sure she has +nothing underhand about her.' + +And the old lady looked quite anxious and depressed. + +Ruth and her little charge meanwhile were sauntering slowly up and down +the garden. In spite of Flossie's saying that it amused her to 'play' +in the garden, it did not look very like it. She seemed spiritless and +dull, and Ruth too appeared to have lost her usual bright happy eagerness. +Neither spoke for some time; at last Ruth half started, as it suddenly +struck her that she was scarcely fulfilling her duty. + +'Miss Flossie, dear,' she said, 'wouldn't you like a game? It's not warm +to-day, and we're walking along so slowly. Shall I fetch your ball or +your hoop? Or would you like to run races?' + +'No, thank you; I'd rather just walk along,' said the child. Then after +a moment's silence she went on. 'I don't like much being at the Tower +House now. Do you like it, Ruth? Would you not rather be at your own +home?' + +Ruth hesitated. + +'Yes, for some things I would,' she said. 'But I was very pleased to +come here.' + +'_Were_ you?' said Flossie, rather incredulously. 'You don't look very +happy. I thought so the first day. I wrote to mother that you had a kind +face, but not a happy one.' + +'_Did_ you, Miss Flossie?' exclaimed Ruth, rather taken aback. 'Well, at +home I was called the merriest of everybody, and, and--I've been merry +here sometimes.' + +'But you're not now, Ruth,' said Flossie gravely. Then she peered up +into the little maid's face with her big gray eyes. 'I'll tell you what, +Ruth,' she said, 'I believe you've something on your mind. It's very bad +to have something on your mind. _I know about it_,' she went on +mysteriously. + +Ruth grew scarlet. + +'You know about me having something on my mind, Miss Flossie,' she said. +'What do you mean?' + +Flossie did not at once answer. + +'I hate passing that way,' she murmured to herself. 'I shut my eyes +tight not to see the cabi----. What are you staring at me like that for, +Ruth?' she broke off suddenly, finding the girl's eyes fixed upon her. +'I only said it's very bad to have something on your mind, and so it +is.' + +Ruth by this time was as pale as she had been red. + +'But what do you mean--how do you know, Miss Flossie? How do you know +I have anything on my mind, and what were you saying about the old +cabinet?' + +'I was speaking to myself. You shouldn't listen,' said Flossie crossly. +'_I've_ something on my mind, but you needn't ask about it. You may be +sorry for me, just as I'm sorry for you, but you needn't ask questions +about what it is.' + +'I--I wasn't asking questions,' said Ruth, more and more bewildered. 'I +was only wondering why--what--what made you speak of the old cabinet in +the passage? Did anyone--Naylor or anyone--say anything about it since +you came, Miss Flossie?' + +It was Flossie's turn to start. + +'No,' she said, 'of course not. Nobody knows--oh, I wish I hadn't come +here!' she suddenly broke off, 'and I wish you wouldn't speak of horrid +things, Ruth. You weren't here in the winter; you couldn't know. And oh, +I _am_ so unhappy,' and throwing herself into Ruth's arms, the little +girl burst into loud weeping. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--A DOUBLE CONFESSION. + + +This was what was on little Flossie's mind, and on her grandmother's +mind too, for that matter! It had happened several months ago, during +the child's last visit to the Tower House. + +One day Flossie had a cold. Not a very bad one, but enough to make her +cross and uncomfortable. She was tired of reading, tired of her dolls, +tired of everything, and it was a very woebegone-looking little girl +that came to say good-night to grandmamma. + +'I wish I'd something to amuse me,' she said dolefully. 'If my cold +isn't better to-morrow and I can't go out, I don't know what to do all +day.' + +Lady Melicent considered. + +'I'll tell you what, Flossie,' she said. 'You might make some bead-mats. +That would amuse you. I have some very pretty beads in the green casket +that stands on the old cabinet in the passage--at least I think they're +there. I'll see to-morrow.' + +Flossie jumped with pleasure. + +'Oh, that would be nice, granny. Can't you look for them to-night? I +might make a mat for mamma's birthday. Mayn't I go and look for them?' + +'No, dear. The passage is cold, and besides that, the cabinet is too +high for you to reach up to. You might pull over some of the heavy +ornaments and hurt yourself. Wait till to-morrow, and I will find the +beads for you. I won't forget.' + +Flossie was sitting reading in the boudoir the next morning, when Lady +Melicent came in with two or three little cardboard boxes in her hand. +She looked at the child. + +'Flossie,' she said quietly, 'here are the beads. I found them up-stairs +in my work-box. They were not in the green casket.' + +'Thank you, grandmamma,' said Flossie. But she scarcely looked up. + +'Don't you care about making the mats now, Flossie?' said Lady Melicent. +'You seemed so pleased with the idea last night.' + +'I would like to make a mat for mother very much,' said Flossie, getting +up and coming round to her grandmother. + +But that was all she said, and two days after, the little girl left +rather suddenly, as her father came over to fetch her and her cold was +better. And ever since then there had been a little ache in grandmother's +heart about Flossie. For that morning, when she went to look for the +beads in the malachite casket, she had found it broken, and speaking of +it to Naylor, the housemaid had thought it right to tell her that it was +Miss Flossie's doing. + +'I saw her climbing up on a chair, when I was in the book-room,' said +Naylor. 'And I heard something fall. It was the green box. She put it +back again in its place, but the lid was broke off the hinges, and one +corner off. I'm very sorry, and I'm sure Miss Flossie was, for I heard +her crying.' Flossie was a great favourite of Naylor's. + +'I wish she had told me about it herself,' said the old lady with a +sigh. 'But don't say anything about it, Naylor. She will forget about it +probably for the time, but when she comes back again, I hope she will +tell me.' + +Flossie did not forget about it, though she tried to do so. But the +broken casket was the mysterious 'something on her mind,' of which she +had spoken to Ruth. And the remembrance of it was what had prevented her +enjoying as usual the thought of a visit to the Tower House, and given +her such a dislike to the long passage which had once been her favourite +play-room. + +You can now understand with what a strange mixture of feelings Ruth +listened to Flossie's story. She soothed the poor little girl as well +as she could, though feeling dreadfully ashamed when Flossie went on to +blame herself bitterly. + +'It was so naughty and mean of me not to tell granny,' she sobbed, +'for she's always so kind. And sometimes I've been afraid she'd think +somebody else had broken it. Do you think granny has never found it out, +Ruth?' + +'I can't say, I'm sure, Miss Flossie,' said Ruth sadly. 'But it's clear +there's only one thing to be done now, and that's for you to tell my +lady yourself all about it.' + +'I'll tell her when I go to have my good-night talk with her,' said +Flossie. 'O Ruth, I'll _never_ hide anything again.' + +Her words were fervently echoed in Ruth's heart. She was on the point of +confessing her own secret to the little girl, but a moment's reflection +made her hesitate. No, she too must tell all to Lady Melicent herself, +and it must be for her to judge if Flossie should be told. + +'And if my lady thinks me not fit to be trusted any more, and I have to +go home in disgrace, I must just bear it. It's my own fault,' thought +Ruth. + +It was a tearful but a happy little girl who came trotting up to be +undressed and put to bed at the Tower House that evening. + +'Granny has been so kind,' she said, 'and I am so glad I've told her. +It was dreadful to have it on my mind, Ruth dear. And granny has been +telling me how good you were about the basin, and I said to her it was +you that said I must tell. And do you know, she _did_ know I'd broken +it, only she waited for me to tell myself. It's never been mended, but +now she's going to send it to be done.' + +Ruth sympathised in Flossie's joy, and the child was too happy to notice +the girl's sadness. All Florentia said only made her own confession the +more difficult. + +'There is no real need for it,' said the tempter. 'No one can be blamed +now. Indeed, it was not you who broke it after all.' + +But Ruth had a conscience. + +Late that evening there came a timid knock at my lady's door, and in +answer to her 'come in,' a pale and trembling girl appeared. + +'Ruth!' exclaimed the old lady in surprise. 'Is there anything wrong?' + +'Oh no, my lady. Miss Flossie's in bed and asleep, quite happy. It's not +about her. It's--it's--oh, my lady, it's about me. I--I broke, at least +I didn't, but I thought I did, and that's just as bad. I thought I broke +the green casket, and--and--I couldn't bear to tell--just as there'd +been such trouble about the bowl, and--if I must go home, I'll not +complain, my lady. I'--but here she broke down into sobs. + +Lady Melicent stared at her in concern. + +'You broke or thought you broke the green casket,' she said. 'Why, +Flossie has just been telling me, what indeed I knew already--that _she_ +broke it,' and she looked at Ruth as if she half feared that the girl +was dreaming. + +'That was how I came to tell myself,' said Ruth. 'Miss Flossie has been +so unhappy about it that at last she could bear it no longer, and this +afternoon in the garden she told me. And then I felt that ashamed to +think that I, more than twice her age, and knowing how wrong it was, +had been hiding what I thought I'd done. It was last week--I knew +I shouldn't touch the cabinet, but it looked so dusty one morning I +felt somehow tempted to do it, and the green box, leastways the lid, +slipped--of course I see now how it was. The hinges were loose, and it +was broke already. But I _thought_ I'd done it, and I couldn't bear to +tell for fear your ladyship should think me really too bad, and just as +Miss Flossie was coming and all. So I waited, and then I got so as I +couldn't tell. I wondered Naylor never noticed it. I wouldn't have let +another be blamed for it. But when she didn't seem to have found it was +broke, I thought I needn't. And now I'm quite ready to go home; it's +only what I deserve.' + +'No, Ruth, I should be very sorry for you to go home. I am very glad you +have told me now. You did not tell Miss Flossie?' + +'No, my lady. I thought it best to tell you first.' + +'That was wise. I think there is no need for Miss Flossie to be told of +it. She has had a lesson herself, and she respects you, Ruth. It may make +you feel ashamed, but that you must bear. I should not like her to lose +her feeling of looking up to you. And I am sure you will be even more +anxious than before to teach her to be perfectly open and straightforward.' + +Ruth could scarcely speak; her tears, though they were tears of relief +and gratitude, nearly choked her. + +'And,' continued my lady, going on speaking partly for the sake of +giving the girl time to recover her composure, 'I do not think it will +be necessary to tell Naylor, either.' + +'Oh, thank you, my lady,' said Ruth fervently. And she could not help +smiling a little, as she caught sight of Lady Melicent's face. + +'As for Mossop,' added Lady Melicent, 'I will leave it to you. I daresay +you will like to tell her when you have an opportunity, as you are away +from your mother.' + +'Yes, thank you, my lady,' said Ruth again. 'And indeed--I don't think +you will ever have reason to regret your kindness.' + +She could scarcely speak yet: the tears were still so near. But little +Flossie was not the only person in the Tower House who fell asleep that +night with a lightened heart and warm gratitude to the dear old lady. + +The rest of Flossie's visit passed most cheerily, and Lady Melicent had +not reason to complain that she no longer heard her little visitor's +merry voice and laugh about the house. And a very unexpected event came +to pass before the end of the summer, which greatly added to Ruth's +happiness at Tower House. Naylor got married! Her husband was the +gardener at a neighbouring house; a very meek and mild little man who +gave in to her in everything, so it is to be hoped her temper improved. +The new upper-housemaid was quite as good at 'training' as Naylor, and +by no means so great at scolding, which, I think, no one regretted. And +Lady Melicent lived long enough for Ruth herself in time to be promoted +to what had once been Naylor's post, which she filled with honourable +faithfulness till her dear mistress's death. + +In the old lady's will she left 'to her faithful servant Ruth Perry, a +casket of green malachite.' That was many years ago. The green casket +has for long been the most valued ornament of the best room in Ruth's +comfortable farmhouse, and her children, and grandchildren too, have +all heard its story. + +[Illustration] + + + + +LEO'S POST-OFFICE. + + +'Oh dear!' said Leo's mother, 'there, I have run out of stamps again. +And I don't like getting them from the servants. It is so apt to cause +mistakes. It is really very stupid of me. Have you any, Marion?' + +Marion was Leo's big sister. She was fifteen. + +'I have one or two--yes, three,' Marion answered. 'Will that do, mamma?' + +'It must do; oh yes, I think there are only three letters that really +matter. I can't send for any so late. The servants are all busy; these +letters can be put in the pillar-box just opposite. But I really must +not let myself run out of stamps in this way.' + +'Some days you have so many more letters than others. It must be +difficult to know how many stamps you need,' said Marion, who thought +mamma so perfect that she did not even like to hear her calling herself +'stupid' for running short of stamps. + +'I wish we had a post-office in the house,' said Cynthia, the next +sister. 'I did so want a postcard to send to Fletcher's to order my new +piece of music, and when I was out I forgot to get any, though mamma +said I might buy a whole packet. It's cheaper--for you get twelve for +eightpence, and if you buy one at a time it's a penny each.' + +'Or two for three-halfpence,' said Leo. 'That would make ninepence for +twelve, not eightpence.' + +'That's just like Leo,' said Cynthia; 'he's always counting about money +and things like that. You're a regular little merchant, Leo.' + +'Don't laugh at him,' said his mother. 'He is very careful and exact, +and being careful and exact doesn't need to make anyone selfish or +miserly. Leo has always money ready for birthdays and Christmas +presents.' + +Leo looked pleased, but he did not say anything; he was always rather +a silent little boy. But later that same evening, when he knew that his +mother would be alone, he came up to her quietly. + +'Mamma,' he said, 'I want to ask you something. Would you mind letting +me have a little money out of my packet?' + +'What for, dear?' she asked. + +Leo grew rather red. + +'It was what you were saying about running out of stamps that put it +in my head,' he said. 'And what Cynthia said too about my being like a +merchant--I would like to be a merchant, mamma, if that means selling +things. I'd awfully like to have a shop, but of course I can't--at least +not a proper shop. But oh, mamma, I've been thinking if I might have a +post-office,' and Leo's eyes gleamed with eagerness. + +'A post-office, my dear boy!' said his mother, 'how _could_ you have a +post-office?' + +'Oh, of course I don't mean a regular post-office. I couldn't have +telegraphs, nor get people to post their letters in our letter-box. You +wouldn't like it, would you, mamma?' he said gravely. 'But I just mean +a post-office for selling stamps, and postcards, and perhaps newspaper +wrappers. And wouldn't it be nice for you, mamma, always to be able to +get stamps in a minute, however late it was--you'd never have to say +you'd run out of them, then?' + +[Illustration: THE LARGE ORDER] + +Mamma smiled. + +'Yes, that would be very nice, certainly,' she said. 'But it wouldn't +be much good to _you_, Leo, if you gave your trouble and lent your +money for nothing? You should make some profit, even if it were only +a halfpenny on a dozen stamps.' + +'Or a penny on twelve postcards,' said Leo consideringly. 'I might buy a +whole packet and sell them in ones or twos. That would be very nice. But +even without that, I would so like to have a post-office, mamma. It +would really be a help to you.' + +So it was settled. Mamma gave Leo five shillings out of his 'packet,' +which was a private savings-bank she kept for him, and Leo, as happy as +a king, set off to the chemist's shop round the corner, which was the +nearest post-office in the neighbourhood, and laid out the whole five +shillings in penny stamps, halfpenny stamps, a packet of postcards, +another of newspaper wrappers, a few twopence-halfpenny stamps, and two +or three foreign postcards, just in case mamma were writing to France, +or Germany, as she sometimes did. The chemist did look rather astonished +at such extensive purchases, but he was very civil and obliging; and as +he was a nice man, Leo felt glad he had gone to him instead of to the +big post-office a quarter of a mile off. + +'For he must gain something on as much as five shillings,' thought Leo. + +Then he came home and began to make his arrangements. He had to +consult his sisters about them, but they were very kind and very much +interested, and were quite pleased that the post-office should be in the +schoolroom, which of course was as much their room as Leo's. + +There was a little old-fashioned cupboard or bookcase in the schoolroom, +in which, above the enclosed part which had glass doors, were two little +drawers not used for anything in particular. On these drawers Leo had +set his heart. 'They would be just the thing,' he thought. And luckily +Marion and Cynthia thought the same. So the drawers were cleared of such +contents as they had, and Leo set to work. + +In one drawer he arranged all his wares, as neatly as possible--using +the lids of some old cardboard boxes as divisions. There were the penny +stamps in one, the halfpenny ones in another, the wrappers and post-cards +behind. And as of course Leo could not stand all day long at the +post-office to wait for people coming to buy, he made the second drawer +into his 'till.' In this he made divisions too, one for the money paid +for stamps, another for that for postcards, and so on. Each division was +marked accordingly, so that every morning or evening he could count up +his sales, and see that all was right. Besides all this, he wrote out +in his neatest, roundest writing a set of _rules_ for 'Hertford Square +Post-office,' as he called it, and to the card on which these rules were +written he fastened a pencil by a long string, as he had seen done in +real post-offices for telegrams, and a number of tiny little papers on +which everybody who bought stamps was to mark down the number they had +had, and to drop the little paper into the drawer. + +And then with great triumph he summoned mamma and his sisters, and Miss +Nesbitt, and nurse, and the butler, and in short everybody he could get +hold of, to come and admire. + +'It is really very neat and nice,' said mamma; and by way of 'handsel' +or 'good-luck' to the new post-office, she immediately bought six stamps, +for which she gave a whole penny extra, though Leo explained that of +course he did not expect that _usually_. + +'I hope your rules will be kept,' said Marion who had been reading them +over. 'The principal one is about paying at once. Well, of course, +that's a very good rule. It is so easy to forget to pay for such little +things, if one doesn't do it at once. And then about the time of closing +every evening.' + +'At eight o'clock--when I go to bed,' Leo said. 'I shall come round then +for the last time and shut up.' + +'But,' said Cynthia, '_supposing_ mamma wanted a stamp quite late at +night. It might happen, you know, and that was to be the good of having +a post-office in the house. And if you had locked them all up'---- + +'I can't lock them up,' said Leo; 'there's no key.' + +'Well then,' said Marion, 'I think you should make a rule that if mamma +wants anything after eight, she should be allowed to have it, or if +any one else does, they might too, if they got her to sign one of the +papers. Of course it wouldn't often happen, but just in case.' + +'Very well,' Leo agreed; 'I'll add on that new rule,' and so he did. + +All went well for some time. The stock, of stamps especially, was sold +out several times in the course of the first week or two, and everybody +paid regularly. Once or twice, it must be owned, Cynthia forgot to pay, +and more than once or twice people forgot to mark down what they had +taken. But Cynthia was always ready with her pennies as soon as Leo +asked her, and except for this the money was all right. More than +all right indeed, for one day a friend of his mother's made such big +purchases that he was quite cleared out, and had to set off to the +chemist's at once, and thanks to this and to other smaller profits, by +the end of the first week he had gained threepence, and by the end of +the second, twopence-halfpenny more. + +So Leo began to think his post-office a great success. + +But one morning he had a start. + +He had left all quite correct the evening before; the money was right, +and he knew exactly how many stamps he had left, when he had made his +last round, as he called it, at bedtime; but this morning, though the +money was the same, the stamps were not; three penny ones were gone. + +[Illustration: One morning he had a start.] + +Leo counted them all over and over again, 'to be quite sure,' even +though in his heart he had been quite sure from the first. Then he ran +up-stairs to ask his mother if possibly she had taken them after he was +in bed, and forgotten to mark them down. No, mamma had not had any. Leo +began to look quite distressed. + +'Don't worry about it,' said his mother. 'It's the first time anything +has gone wrong. I will pay the threepence, dear. It has just been some +mistake.' + +Leo thanked her and ran off, determining to count more carefully than +ever. And for two or three days all was right. Then again, one morning, +it happened again that stamps were missing. Two penny and one halfpenny +this time! + +'Dear, dear,' thought Leo, 'I don't like this at all,' and again mamma +was consulted. 'If this goes on,' he said, 'I must give it up.' + +But mamma advised him to wait a little; perhaps some one would remember +having taken them. + +So Leo waited, though far from easy in his mind. Only one thing consoled +him. + +'If it was a robber,' he thought, 'they'd have been _more_ likely to +take the pennies than the stamps.' + +[Illustration: "IT REALLY IS VERY QUEER"] + +For some days poor Leo was in great trouble about the strange +disappearance of his stamps. He asked everybody, but nobody had had any +they had not paid for. And he was sure nobody in the house would say +what was not true. He began to think of robbers and burglars, only, as +Benjamin the footman reminded him, 'It wasn't common-sense to suppose +burglars'd steal postage-stamps and nought else; not that there was much +chance of silver plate about. Mr. Trev, the butler, and he--Benjamin +himself--was a deal too sharp.' + +Benjamin seemed a little cross about the stamps, and so did Trev, Leo +thought. And mamma advised him to say no more about it. If it happened +again--well, she began to be afraid he would have to give up his +post-office, and for some evenings, to make quite sure, she counted them +over herself with him at bedtime, and as they each time proved right the +next morning, she almost thought Leo must have miscounted. + +But alas! Two mornings after that, and again stamps were missing, two +this time, and, by way of variety this time, a newspaper wrapper! + +'It really is very queer,' said Leo's mother when he flew to tell her +of the new troubles. 'I really do feel as if I would like to find out +who takes them. I've a great mind to sit up late one evening and watch.' + +'Oh no, mamma, please don't,' said poor Leo, looking quite frightened; +'at least if you do, you must let me sit up too. Just think if it was +real robbers,' for he could not quite get the idea out of his head that +burglars after all might have to do with it. + +Mamma laughed, but still she promised him that she would choose a night +when his father was at home. + +'I don't think I should care to sit up late all alone,' she said, 'even +though I don't think it likely that burglars are stealing your stamps, +Leo.' + +Now I must explain that Leo's father was a _very_ busy man. Some +evenings he did not get home till long after not only Leo, but his big +sisters and even his mother, were in bed, and sometimes he had to go off +so early in the morning that for several days together, now and then, +they scarcely saw him. This was a great trouble to them all, for they +were very fond indeed of their father, and he was very fond of them. But +it could not be helped for the present, though Leo was already looking +forward to the time when he should 'be a man,' and able to help papa. + +Lately, since Leo had started his post-office, his father had been even +extra busy, and if he had heard about the matter at all, he had not paid +much attention, or else he had quite forgotten it. The schoolroom in +these children's house was at the end of the hall, and between it and +the dining-room was a tiny little book-room or study, where their father +kept all his own papers, and where he used to write when he _was_ at +home. Sometimes when he came home very late and let himself in with his +latchkey, he would go straight to this little room, where a good fire +was kept up, and there he would write answers to any letters he found +waiting for him, and leave them on the hall-table all ready to be posted +the _very_ first thing in the morning by whichever of the servants was +the earliest about; but I don't think any of the children or their +mother knew of this custom of his, as it had never happened to come in +their way. + +The very evening of the day on which Leo and his mother had been talking +so seriously about the missing stamps, papa, for a wonder, came home +quite early. It was really a great treat to them all. He had dinner quite +comfortably with mamma, and after dinner, when Marion and Cynthia and +Leo were all in the drawing-room as usual, they kept saying to each +other _how_ nice it was to have papa with them. + +'If only you could come home every day as early as this,' said Cynthia +to him. + +'But perhaps if I could, you wouldn't think so much of me,' said her +father laughing. + +'And I'm afraid mamma wouldn't let me sit up till nine _every_ night,' +said Leo, who had got an hour's grace this evening. 'Mamma,' he went on, +coming close to her and whispering, 'do you think you'll sit up to-night +and _watch_? I wouldn't mind you doing it with papa, you know.' + +'I'll see about it,' said his mother, smiling, while his father looked +up and asked what they were whispering about--it was a shame to have +secrets from him when he was so seldom at home! + +And as he spoke, he got up slowly from his comfortable chair by the +fire. + +'I'm afraid I must go down-stairs to the study,' he said. 'I have some +letters to write, though I do feel very lazy about it.' + +But immediately a cry was set up. + +'O papa, do wait till we've gone to bed,' said the three voices. 'We +shall be going in half an hour.' + +So of course papa gave in. + +Mamma had an interesting book to read after the children had gone to +bed, and their father had left her to write his letters. She read on for +some time, and then she began to feel chilly, and looking up she saw +that the fire was getting low. + +'I'll go down to the study,' she thought. 'There's sure to be a good +fire there.' + +As she went down-stairs it struck her that she would take a look into +the schoolroom, and just notice if the 'post-office' drawers were shut, +and all looking as usual. + +'I might even,' she said to herself, 'count the stamps and compare my +counting with Leo's to-morrow.' + +But it was dark in the schoolroom. The fire, however, was not quite out; +she turned to look for a match or a spill to light one of the candles. +Her back was turned to the door, but as she stood there she heard it +creak a little as some one pushed it open and came into the room. And +this some one, much to her surprise, marched straight up to the stamp +drawer, not to the money one, as if well acquainted with the arrangements, +and by the light which came in from the hall stood quietly helping himself +to some stamps. And who do you think it was? Why no one in the world but +Leo's father himself! + +Mamma all but burst out laughing, but she managed to stay quite still +for a moment. Then she called out: 'What _are_ you doing in that drawer?' + +It was papa's turn to jump then! But he soon got over his start. + +'What are you doing there all by yourself in the dark?' he said. 'And +what should I be doing but taking a stamp or two, of course,' he went +on, coolly. 'I've always forgotten to say what a good idea it is to have +stamps and wrappers and things so handy here. I never knew you kept them +here till a few nights ago, when I came in here to see if there was any +coal, as my fire was nearly out, and the drawer was open.' + +'Ah,' thought Mamma, 'Leo did say he had asked Cynthia to shut it the +night he had a headache, and no doubt she forgot.' + +'And,' papa went on, 'I was so glad to see where the stamps were, as I +sometimes run short. Since then I've helped myself to whatever I wanted, +two or three times.' + +[Illustration: The Culprit] + +'So _you_ are the culprit,' Leo's mother exclaimed, laughing. And then +she told the whole story. + + * * * * * + +His father was very much interested, and very sorry to have caused any +anxiety. He put a whole shilling into the 'till,' which more than put +Leo's accounts straight. And the next day he did something still nicer. +He brought Leo home the neatest little letter-weigher you ever saw, and +told him to add a new rule, to say that letters should be weighed at a +charge of a farthing each, in case anyone was in doubt how many stamps +to put on. And he also gave Leo a present of a packet of big envelopes +of different sizes, which he told him he might sell for a halfpenny +each, as they were thick and strong. So Leo's business is flourishing +and increasing very much, and he has even thoughts of adding luggage +labels and registered-letter envelopes to his stock in trade. + +And since the night that mamma watched for the burglars, not a single +stamp or postcard or anything has ever been missing. + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration: DENIS IS FRIGHTENED. Page 121.] + + + + +BRAVE LITTLE DENIS. + + The brave man is not he who feels no fear, + For that were stupid and irrational; + But he whose noble soul its fear subdues, + And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from. + + JOANNA BAILLIE. + + + + +CHAPTER I.--WHAT IS 'BRAVE?' + + +The news had come up to the nursery, and there was great excitement and +rejoicing. Linda and Nettie chattered so fast, and had so many questions +to ask, that the 'big' boys, Alex and Lambert, when they came in to tea +could not at first find out what it was all about, or get anyone to +explain. And when at last baby--Miss Baby, who was two years old and +quite understood that, when nurse wanted to speak, it was not the time +to pull her shoes off and complain that 'hers toes was told'--condescended +to be quiet and let poor nurse answer, the noise did not grow any less, +I can assure you. + +'Going to Baronscourt for Christmas. Hurrah!' shouted Alex. 'Three +cheers for Granny, Lambert,' which Lambert was only too ready to join in. + +'Do you think Granny will make us a Christmas-tree, nurse?' asked Nettie. + +'She _should_,' said Linda, 'because of missing last year, you know.' + +'Me kismas-tee, too,' said Baby. + +'Silly little girl, everybody can't have a Christmas-tree for themselves,' +said Linda; at which snub Baby began her preparations for a scream, which +was only averted by Alex good-naturedly picking up his little sister and +instructing her to give three cheers for Granny. + +'Now join too, Denis,' said Linda. 'Why don't you cheer too?' + +Denis raised his grave little face. + +'I want to finish this story,' he said, dropping his eyes again on the +book in his hands. + +'What a fancy he's taken for reading, all of a sudden,' said Linda in +a lower voice to nurse. 'I don't believe he understands it. He reads +awfully slowly when he's at his lessons.' + +'Well, Miss Linda, he's only five,' said nurse. 'It's nice for him to +find something to keep him quiet sometimes. But he is rather strange +this afternoon. I don't know what he's got in his head, sitting there +by himself, though to be sure he's always a good bit quieter than his +brothers.' + +'He's such a baby for his age,' said Linda, rather contemptuously. 'When +Alex was seven--that's only two years older than Denis is now--he could +do all sorts of things--jump his pony and play cricket, and'---- + +'I don't think you can remember much about it, Linda,' said Alex, who +had overheard her. 'When I was seven you were only five, and that's +three years ago, and when Lam was five he couldn't do any better than +Den.' + +'Because Lambert was delicate, and Denis is not a bit delicate; he's +just very babyish,' said Linda, turning away, as if that settled the +question. + +Denis looked up and opened his lips as if going to speak, but then shut +them again and said nothing. + +'Aren't you glad to go to Baronscourt, Den?' said gentle little Nettie, +the sister who came next him in age. She was sitting beside him at the +tea-table, and spoke in rather a low voice. 'Don't you remember how +pretty it is there? It's only six months since we were there last. You +can't have forgotten it.' + +'No,' said Denis; 'I've not forgotten it.' + +'Then, aren't you glad to go?' + +'I'm glad to see Granny and Prince,' said Denis; but that was all Nettie +could get out of him. + +He was always a quiet little boy, but during the next few days, if +anyone had noticed him closely, it would have been seen that he was even +quieter than usual. But these next few days were very busy ones, for the +Christmas visit to Baronscourt had been decided on hurriedly, and the +nursery arrangements were rather upset. Only once, when the children's +mother had come up to see them, she noticed Denis sitting silently in a +corner with a very grave look on his little face. + +'Is he not well?' she asked nurse, and nurse, after a glance in the +child's direction, replied 'that she did not think he was ill; he was +often very quiet--it would pass off again.' + +'The change to Baronscourt will brighten him up,' said his mother. And +then she went on to tell nurse some of the arrangements. + +'I had a letter this morning,' she said. 'The house will be very full, +but they can take us all in. The girls will have the little room next to +mine, and the boys will have the turret room at the end of the picture +gallery.' + +A movement beside her made her stop and look round. Denis had left his +corner and was standing beside her, listening with all his ears, and +gazing up in her face with his large soft blue eyes. + +'And where will nurse, and 'Liza, and baby, and me sleep,' he asked. + +His mother laughed. + +'You won't be forgotten,' she said. 'Nurse and baby will have the old +nursery, and you will have a little cot beside them, I daresay.' + +A look of satisfaction crept over his face. + +'And 'Liza?' he asked. + +'Oh, poor 'Liza won't be forgotten either,' said his mother. + +Denis grew brighter after this conversation, and at tea that afternoon, +when all the children were talking, he joined in as usual. + +'Mother told me where you'se all to sleep at Granny's house,' he announced, +impatiently. 'I'm to sleep with nurse and baby.' + +'Yes, of course, because you're such a baby yourself,' said Linda. +'Nettie and I are to have a room to ourselves like we have at home. +I hope it'll be the turret room at the end of the gallery. I do so +love the gallery--at night, you know, when the moon comes in through +the coloured glass and makes all the faces of the pictures look so +queer--red and purple, and blue and green. The red ones look quite +jolly, but the green and blue ones look dreadful.' + +'Like ghosts,' suggested Lambert. + +'Yes, something like that, I suppose,' said Linda, as if she was in the +habit of seeing ghosts, and knew quite what they were like. + +'Or like us when we play snapdragon--at the end, you know, when they +throw salt in among the brandy,' suggested Nettie. + +'Don't talk about that, please, Nettie,' whispered Denis, tugging softly +at his sister's arm. + +Nettie looked surprised, but she understood Den better than did any of +the others, so she said no more; but later in the evening, when they +were alone, she asked him what he meant. + +'I don't know,' said Denis; 'don't ask me; I want to forget about it,' +and he gave a little shiver. + +And question as Nettie would, he could not be got to explain further. + +There was only one Sunday at home before the day came for going. It was +a cold and snowy day; too cold, it was decided, for the children to go +to church, so in the afternoon their mother sent for them all to read +with her. The stormy weather led to their talking about adventures in +winter--about poor travellers being lost in the snow, and the brave +things that had been done to rescue them sometimes, and the children's +mother told them some stories which they thought very interesting. + +'What is "brave?"' asked Denis suddenly. He was sitting beside his +mother, and was holding her hand. + +Mother looked round. + +'Suppose you each answer Denis's question?' she said. 'I'll begin with +you, Alex, as you're the oldest. What does true bravery mean?' + +'Den didn't say "true" bravery, mother,' objected Linda, who had already +shrugged her plump shoulders contemptuously at her little brother's +question, with a muttered 'So silly--anybody could tell that.'--'He only +said, "what does 'brave' mean?" If you say "true bravery," it gets more +puzzling.' + +Mother looked at Linda with a rather amused expression. + +'That is why I added the word you object to, my dear Linda. I _want_ you +all to think about it a little, not just to answer what "anybody can +tell," without reflecting at all.' Linda blushed. _Sometimes_ it was +annoying that mother had such quick ears. But she said nothing. 'Come, +Alex,' continued mother, 'what is true bravery?' + +'Oh, I don't know. _I_ don't see anything puzzling,' said Alex, looking +puzzled, nevertheless. 'It just means not being afraid of anything. +It's just the way people are made. Some are afraid, and some aren't. +I'm never afraid, but it's just that I'm made that way,' he went on. + +'But if that's it, it has nothing to do with being good,' said Lambert, +who was more thoughtful than Alex. 'I mean, it's no use thinking about +a thing that comes of itself like that, mother. And yet being brave is +always counted as if it was something good, something to be praised for.' + +He raised his face to his mother's, questioningly. + +'Well, try and put your feeling about it into words,' she said. + +Lambert hesitated. + +'I know,' said Linda, confidently. 'Mother means that true bravery is +when there's no pretending about it. Some people who are really afraid +_pretend_ they're not--boastingly, you know.' + +'And that is _one_ sort of cowardice,' said her mother. 'They don't own +the truth, because they're afraid of being thought afraid. You're right +so far, Linda; but you do not go quite far enough.' + +A little eager sound from Nettie caught her attention. + +'Well, Nettie, have you something to say?' she asked. + +'I don't quite know,' Nettie began. 'I thought I could see it, but I'm +not sure. But isn't it a little like this, mother--that whether one's +afraid or not, one should try to do anything that's right to do?' + +Her mother smiled. + +'Yes, that is something like it,' she said. 'That's what I have been +wanting you to get to see. The _mastering the fear_--that is the truest +bravery of all. Not for what others may or may not think of us, but +because it is right. When a duty comes in the way, something right or +good or kind to do, a really brave person, man, woman, or child, will +do it even if it is something which they fear to do.' + +'But still,' Lambert objected, 'there are some people praised for being +brave who don't feel fear--like what Alex said. Should they not be +praised, mother?' + +'Certainly they should be praised for doing right at risk to +themselves,' said his mother. 'It is a great blessing to be naturally +brave--what is called physically brave. But I doubt if even the +naturally bravest men have never known fear. It is the determination to +do their duty at all costs that keeps them brave and gives strength and +courage. And this even the most timid by nature can learn; so this is +what I call true bravery. Not the unreasoning courage of a lion or a +bulldog, but the courage of a man who knows his duty and will do it.' + +The children sat silent--each in his or her own way thinking over their +mother's words. One only had said nothing, but he was pondering deeply, +and his mother, glancing round, saw Denis gazing before him with a curious +look in his innocent blue eyes. + +'Do you understand a little, Denis, my boy?' she asked, with a smile. + +'I fink so,' he answered softly, and she felt him squeeze the hand he +held. But that was all he said. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II.--GRANNY AND THE CHILDREN. + + +Two days later, in the dusk of a mid-winter afternoon, they were all +arriving at Baronscourt. The ground was white with snow. + +'What a storm there must have been here,' said the children's father. +'The snow is quite deep, much deeper than with us.' For their home was +at some hours' distance, and farther south. + +'Do you fink anybody will be lost in the snow, Nettie?' whispered Denis +to his sister. + +They two were seated opposite their father and mother in their +grandmother's brougham, which had been sent to the station to meet them, +with a large covered wagonette for the rest of the party. + +Nettie smiled at Denis. + +'Not here, Den,' she said. 'It's very seldom people are lost in the snow +in England. It's in far-away hilly countries like Switzerland.' + +'Was it there that mother was reading about?' asked Denis, only half +satisfied. + +'Yes,' said Nettie. 'It's there that they have the great big dogs that +are so good, going looking for the poor people in the snow.' + +'I shouldn't like to live in that country, though I _would_ love the +dogs,' said Denis. And then jumping up in his seat with a scream of +delight, 'O Nettie, O Nettie,' he cried, 'look, look! There's dear +little Prin coming to meet us all in the snow; dear little Prin; oh, +I hope he won't get covered up. Mayn't we stop to take him in?' + +'We're quite close to the house, dear,' said his mother, smiling at his +pleasure. 'Prin will be all right. Granny will not let him go far alone, +you may be sure.' + +And as she said so, Prince, whose little smooth, jet-black body looked +very funny in the snow, turned round after two or three sharp barks of +welcome, and made for the house again. + +'He's gone to tell them we're come,' said Denis; 'isn't he a _sensible_ +dog, Nettie? I don't think I love _anybody_ better than Prin,' he said, +ecstatically. + +They were at the front door by this time, and there, a little way back +in the shelter of the hall, for it was very cold, and she was no longer +a young lady, stood dear Granny waiting to welcome them. + +Granny, I must tell you, was not the children's grandmother, but +the great-aunt of their mother. She seemed, therefore, a kind of +great-grandmother to Denis and his brothers and sisters, and to have +called her 'Aunt,' or anything else but 'Granny,' would have been +impossible. She was old; very old, I daresay she seemed to the children, +but yet there was a delightful sort of youngness about her, which made +them feel as if they could tell her anything, with a certainty of being +understood. And of all the children she loved and who loved her, I don't +think any felt this beautiful sort of sympathy more than quiet little +Denis. It was a long time--in child life a very long time--since he had +seen her, six months ago, a tenth part of the whole time which Denis +had spent in this world--but when he saw dear Granny standing there in +the doorway, her sweet gentle old face all over smiles of pleasure, it +seemed to him that he had never been away from her at all. + +'Dear Granny,' he said softly, when his turn came to be kissed, 'dear +Granny, I do 'amember you so well--you and Prin;' and he was not at +all offended when the others laughed at his funny little speech--a long +speech for Den; he thought they were only laughing because they all felt +so pleased to be back with Granny and Prin again. + +'My dear little boy,' Granny said, as she kissed him, 'this is very +sweet of you. And you may be sure Granny and Prin haven't forgotten +you.' + +And Denis, looking up, thought that Granny was the prettiest lady in the +world, 'next to mother.' She _was_ very pretty, at least in the sight of +those who do not think beauty is only to be found in the bright eyes and +fresh roses of youth. And, indeed, Granny's eyes were bright still, and +when she was very pleased, or sometimes when she was very vexed--for +Granny could be vexed when it was right she should be--her cheeks, soft +and withered as they were, would grow rosy as when she was a girl. They +were rosy just now, with pleasure, of course, and perhaps with a little +tiredness; for there were a great many people staying in the house, and +large as Granny's heart was, it was rather tiring to so old a lady to +attend to so many guests. + +'I am so glad you have come, my dear,' she whispered to Denis's mother. +'You will help me better than anyone. It was right I think to fill the +old house again this Christmas, but my heart fails me sometimes when +I think of those who are no longer among us. And yet they _are_ among +us--just at these times, my dear, all the old faces seem to be smiling +back at me, the last of the generation. The house seems filled with +their presence to me as much as with the living friends who are about me.' + +The children's mother pressed Granny's arm. + +'Dear Granny,' she said, 'don't talk like that. We couldn't do without +you yet awhile. You are tired, dear Granny. Now it will be all right. +I shall do all, and you must rest.' + +Denis had been standing close beside them. He heard what Granny said +without understanding thoroughly what she meant, and a very grave, +awe-struck look came over his face. + +'Does Granny mean that they come out really?' he said to himself with a +little shiver. 'Granny doesn't seem frightened,' he added. 'I mustn't be +frightened, but I'm so glad I'm to sleep in nurse's room.' + +Poor little man. There was disappointment in store for him. His mother +would not let Granny go up-stairs to show them their rooms as she wished +to do. + +'No, no, Granny,' she said, 'I know them all quite well. Take Granny +back to the library, Edith,' she added to one of the young ladies +staying in the house. 'I'll come down in five minutes when I have +settled the children in the nursery.' + +Granny's maid met them at the top of the first stair, and went with them +to their rooms. + +'Yes,' said the children's mother, 'that will all do beautifully. Linda +and Nettie in the room beside me, nurse and baby in the old nursery, the +boys in one of the turret rooms, and Denis--let me see--isn't there to +be a little bed for him in the nursery?' + +They were on their way from the nursery to the boys' room when she said +this; Denis beside his mother still, holding her hand. + +'No, ma'am,' said Tanner, the maid, 'my lady thought Master Denis would +be better in the little room beside his brothers'. It's a very little +room, but big enough, I daresay, for such a little gentleman. It would +not have been easy to put another bed in the nursery, without filling it +up so. And my lady thought Master Denis would be proud to have a room of +his own.' + +'Yes, indeed,' said his mother; 'how kind of her.' + +They were passing along the picture gallery. All of them together, +except nurse and baby, who had stayed behind by the nursery fire. Linda, +Alex, Lambert, and Nettie in front; mother and Denis and Tanner behind. +Denis tightened his hold of his mother's hand, but said nothing. + +'I wish _we_ had one of the turret rooms,' said Linda; 'this gallery is +_so_ lovely to run along every time one goes to one's room. I like this +gallery the best of anything in the house.' + +'And best of all in the moonlight,' said Alex. 'Don't you remember, +Linda? For my part I prefer it in the day-time, or well lit up, like +just now.' + +'What a goose you are!' said Linda. 'Do you mean to say you'd be +_afraid_ to come here in the moonlight?' + +'Hush, children, don't talk so foolishly,' said their mother, for she +never liked that silly kind of talk, especially before the little ones. +'I quite agree with you, Linda, about this gallery being charming.' + +They all stood for a moment--they were close to the end door by now, +the door that opened into the anteroom, from whence opened the turret +rooms--and looked back. It was worth looking at. Lighted by the +old-fashioned lamps that hung at intervals from the dark oak ceiling, +which reflected their rays like a black mirror, the old gallery, with +its coloured glass windows at one side, the small, leadened panes +looking quaint and mysterious, though their tints could not, of course, +be seen, and the rows and rows of silent portraits looking down upon you +from the other side, seemed like a dream of a long-ago world, the merry +voices and bright glances of the children striking one as almost out of +place, and the grave faces appearing to gaze at them in disapproval. + +'It was not meant for a picture gallery long ago,' said their mother: +'if it had been, these windows would not have been placed so, and they +certainly would not have had coloured glass. These portraits used to +be in the large saloon and the drawing-room, but they made them look so +gloomy that Granny's father hung them up here,' and so saying she opened +the door and crossed the passage to the boys' room, followed by all the +five. + +'How jolly!' said Alex and Lambert in a breath, and with good reason, +for their room looked the picture of comfort, with its deep window-seats +and wainscoted walls, and the radiance of the brightly-burning fire over +all. + +'The boys don't have fires in their bedroom at home,' observed Linda. + +'And they need not have one here every day,' said their mother. 'It's +just for a welcome at the beginning.' + +'And because it really is so cold. I hardly think my lady would be +pleased if they hadn't one,' said Tanner with a smile, which made Alex +and Lambert think she was very kind indeed. + +Then they all turned to look at Denis's little room. It was very snug +and cosy, though very tiny. It did not open into his brothers', but was +just across the little anteroom. + +'You will be very happy in here, won't you, Den?' said his mother +brightly; and not noticing that the little fellow did not reply, she +hurried away, for she was anxious to go down to the library and help +Granny with afternoon tea for her guests. + + + + +CHAPTER III.--THE PICTURE GALLERY. + + +Linda and Nettie turned to go back to the nursery, where tea was waiting +for them. Denis took hold of Nettie's hand to go too, but Alex and Lambert +remained behind to explore further their new quarters. + +'Nettie,' said Denis, pulling his little sister back a little. 'I wish +I might have slept in the old nursery with nurse and baby.' + +'Why, Denis dear?' said Nettie in surprise; 'your little room is so +pretty, and I never knew you were frightened of sleeping alone.' + +'I'm not,' said Denis. 'It's not that.' + +'What is it, then?' said Nettie. 'It's such a pity you don't like it, +when Granny's planned it so to please us. We should seem pleased, Denis, +for you know Granny is rather sad. Last Christmas she was too sad to +have anybody, for poor old uncle had died, you know. And it's _so_ good +of her to have us all this Christmas. Mother says Granny's only pleasure +is to make other people happy.' + +'I do love Granny,' said Denis. + +'Well then, don't you think you should try to be pleased with what she's +planned for us--with your nice little room?' + +'I _are_ pleased with my room,' replied Denis. 'I like it werry much.' + +Nettie stared at him as if she thought he was losing his senses. + +'Then what _do_ you mean?' she asked. + +Denis looked round. They were still in the picture gallery. He pulled +Nettie on, and when they were in the passage on to which at this end the +gallery opened, he shut the door and drew his sister into a corner. + +'Nettie,' he said, 'you won't never tell, will you?' + +'No,' said Nettie, rather rashly. + +'I wouldn't tell anybody but you, Nettie. Linda can't hear, can she?' + +'Oh no, she's run on to the nursery.' + +'Nettie,' he continued, 'it's not my room. It's the picshurs,' here +he shook his head solemnly. 'It's having to pass the picshurs. It's +dreadful. But, O Nettie, don't tell. It began last year when we was +here. They try to catch me, Nettie. I'm almost sure they do. They come +down off the wall and run after me--at least I _fink_ they do.' + +'But they _can't_,' said Nettie, very much impressed, but still full +of common sense; 'they _can't_, Denis. Pictures is pictures--they can't +walk or run. Just think, they're not alive--they're not even like dolls. +They're only thin bits of paper or wood--or--or--whatever it is pictures +are painted on.' + +But Denis still shook his head. + +'I know that,' he said. 'I've thought of that, but it's no good. When +I'm not there I think that way, but as soon as I'm there it begins. Their +eyes all look at me, and I'm sure they begin to get down to run after me +as soon as I've passed. It's worst at night, like now, when the lamps is +lighted. It isn't so bad in the day. But, O Nettie, it must be worstest +in the moonlight,' and he gave a little shiver; 'don't you 'amember what +Linda said about it--all the colours on the faces, you know?' + +'But anyway,' said practical Nettie, 'you don't need to see them in the +moonlight. You never need to go along there after the lamps are put out +at night.' + +'No,' said Denis, but not as if he found much consolation in the +thought. + +'And if you'd let me tell mother,' continued Nettie, 'I'm sure she'd +change it some way. You might sleep with Alex, and Lam have your room.' + +'_That_ wouldn't do any good,' objected Denis. 'It's not the room I mind.' + +'Oh no, of course. I forgot. But Den, I daresay it could be settled for +you to sleep in the old nursery after all.' + +'No,' said Denis. 'I'm going to try, Nettie. I want to be brave, and I +don't want to vex Granny and mother. So you mustn't tell. You won't, I +know, 'cos you've p'omised. I'm going to try running very fast along the +gallery every time and look at the window side, not at the pictures. +Then _p'raps_ it won't come.' + +'It. What?' asked Nettie, in an awe-struck tone. She was very much +impressed by the whole, and felt no small admiration for Denis. 'Is +there one more than the others that tries to catch you?' + +'No,' said Denis. 'I mean the _feeling_ when I say "it." Oh, it's +dreadful!' he repeated. 'But do you know, Nettie,' he went on, 'I fink +Granny knows somefin about it. She said somefin to mother. But _she_ +didn't seem frightened. P'raps they don't try to catch her. She said +they smiled at her?' and Denis looked up at Nettie with great +bewilderment. + +'She couldn't have meant the pictures,' said Nettie decisively. + +'She said, the old faces, and there isn't any other old faces,' +persisted Denis. + +'Well, never mind about that,' said Nettie, resolving privately, +nevertheless, to try to find out what it was Granny _had_ said. 'You +didn't understand, perhaps, Denis. You're only a very little boy still, +you know, and big people do say things sometimes that sound quite +different from what they mean. We must go to the nursery to tea now, but +I'll tell you one thing. Every time you have to run along the gallery +I'll _try_ to go with you, and then p'raps you'll get not to mind. Of +course if you were frightened in the night, you have Alex and Lambert +close to.' + +'I'm not frightened in the night. I'm not frightened _nowhere_ 'cept +_there_. Thank you, dear Nettie. You'll hold my hand, won't you? and +we'll run together, and p'raps I'll get not to mind. I don't fink I can +leave off minding, but I want to be brave.' + +And holding up his little face to be kissed, Denis went back to the +nursery with Nettie, his heart somewhat lighter, I think, for having +confided his secret to some one. + +It did not occur to Nettie that it would have been right for her to tell +it. For one thing she had 'promised,' and with these children that word +was a solemn one. Then, too, she fully shared Denis's dislike to +complain or give trouble, partly from the wish to please Granny who was +'so kind,' partly from the strange reserve one often finds in even very +little children. Few but those who have watched them very constantly and +closely have any idea how much children will endure rather than complain. + +For some time nothing happened to cause Nettie to think more seriously +of poor little Den's strange fancy. He seemed to wish not to speak of +it, and she did not lead him to do so, hoping always that he might come +to forget it. But she did not forget her other promise. Every time that +Denis had to traverse the dreaded gallery, his faithful little sister, +if she knew of it, was sure to start up to go with him. They used to run +as fast as the slippery polished floor would allow them, holding each +other's hands, and, Denis at least, steadily avoiding to look at the +portraits. In the morning early he did not mind it so much, though even +then Nettie often came to fetch him, if he had not already made his +appearance when Linda and she were summoned to the nursery breakfast. + +'It's queer how Miss Nettie and Master Denis cling to each other,' the +under-nurse remarked one day. 'I never noticed it so much before. It's +like as if he couldn't move without her.' + +'Miss Nettie's a very kind little girl,' the head-nurse replied, 'but +I do think she spoils Master Denis a little. He's getting a big boy.' + +That very evening, as they were beginning tea--and tea-time at Christmas +is always after dark--nurse told Denis to run to his brothers' room to +tell them to come, for Alex and Lambert, having gone off to wash their +hands, had not returned. Denis began slowly to clamber down from his +chair, somewhat encumbered by Prince, who was, as usual, in his arms. + +'Make haste, Master Denis,' said nurse, rather sharply, though not +unkindly. 'You shouldn't have the dog always in your arms, my dear. +At meal times it isn't nice.' + +Denis cast an appealing glance at Nettie. She had already left her place +and was at his side. + +'Put Prince down, Den,' she said, and the little boy did so, while +Prince, shaking himself, ran to the hearth-rug, moving round and round +till he had burrowed an imaginary hole, where he comfortably ensconced +himself. + +'Mayn't I go instead of Denis?' said Nettie. 'I'd run much quicker.' + +Another time nurse would probably have said 'yes,' but her attention was +aroused. She did not quite understand Denis and Nettie, and it seemed to +her that they were not just the same as usual. + +'No, my dear,' she said. 'It is better for Master Denis to go, as I told +him first.' + +But the children hesitated. + +'Mayn't we both go?' persisted Nettie, taking Denis's hand. But nurse +shook her head. + +'Miss Nettie, Master Denis will never be a big, sensible boy if you +treat him so. Why should he not run off himself at once when I tell him?' + +The tears came to Nettie's eyes, but Denis gave her hand a little squeeze. +'Whatever you do, don't tell,' the squeeze seemed to say, and Nettie +dared not do anything more. + +'I'll go, Nettie dear,' said Denis, and his little sister, looking at +him, saw that, though he was very pale, there was a look of determination +on his face. He turned to the door, and Nettie, choking back a sob, +turned back to her place at table, when suddenly the door burst open +with a bang, and the two truants, Alex and Lambert, rushed in breathless +and laughing. With a great sigh of relief Denis clambered up again on to +his chair. + +'We've had such a race,' Alex began; 'we wanted to see who'd get to the +end of the gallery first. I expect those old grandfathers and grandmothers +are rather shocked at the noise we make, sometimes.' + +'There's one at this end who does look so cross,' said Lambert. 'The +one with the yellow satin dress, and her mouth screwed up _so_.' He +illustrated his words with great effect--'just like Linda, when she's in +a temper. Ah! yes, that's it, Linda,' for his sister had turned from him +with dignified disgust. 'I'm sure I don't want such an ugly old thing +for a great-grandmother, but I'm afraid she must be some relation, she's +so like Linda.' + +'Nurse,' began Linda, '_do_ make Lambert leave off, he is _so_'---- + +But a voice at the door interrupted her. + +'Boys,' it said, and the children looking round caught sight of their +father. Up jumped the boys, and would have rushed towards him, had he +not stopped them. 'Don't be so excited,' he went on. 'I only want to +tell you that if the weather continues as it is, your cousins and I +are going to Hatchetts to skate to-morrow. There is to be a large party +there, for it is a capital place. Alex and Lambert, you may come with +us if you like. We shall be back before your bedtime, any way.' + +There was a shout of satisfaction from the boys, but Linda looked +considerably annoyed. + +'I'm sure father wouldn't take you,' she whispered to Lambert, who was +sitting beside her, 'if he knew how rude you are.' + +'I wish Nettie and I might go,' she said aloud. '_Couldn't_ we, father? +The pond here is such a horrid little place for skating, and we can +skate so well now.' + +'Me go too. Mayn't me go too?' began Baby, at which everybody except +Linda laughed. + +'You, my pet!' said her father. 'Why, you'd be lost in the snow, and +what would we do then without our Baby?' + +Denis looked very grave. + +'Prin would try to get her out,' he remarked. 'Like the dogs up in those +snowy hills.' + +'He means the St Bernard dogs,' said Nettie. 'Mother told us stories +about them.' + +'Ah, yes!' said her father. 'But they are ever so much bigger than +Prince, my boy. Much more fear of Prince being lost himself in a +snowstorm, than of his rescuing anyone else, poor little dog.' + +'But there isn't going to be a snowstorm,' said Linda. 'Father, mightn't +we go--I anyway?' + +'No, my dear,' said her father. 'It's too uncertain. I hope the weather +will keep up. If it doesn't, no one can go. But it is too uncertain for +little girls: the boys must learn to rough it, but you and Nettie must +be content to skate on the pond here for the present.' + +Linda's face clouded over still more. She hated being called 'a little +girl,' especially before her brothers. Her father turned away, either +not seeing, or not wishing to seem to see, her vexation. + +'Get to bed early, then, and be up in good time,' he called out to the +boys as he left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--MASTERING THE FEAR. + + +The morning dawned bright and clear. The frost seemed settled, the sky +gave no signs of storm. The party of gentlemen and boys started on their +skating expedition in great spirits. + +'Do you wish you were big enough to go too, Denis?' said Nettie, as they +stood at the door after watching them start. + +'Not without Prinnie,' said Denis, hugging his pet, as he spoke. 'I don't +care to go anywhere without Prin, and it would hurt his dear little feet +to put skates on them, wouldn't it.' + +Nettie burst out laughing at the idea. + +'Come in, children. Don't stay there in the cold,' their mother called +out; and as they went into the library at her summons, Granny asked them +what they were laughing at. + +''Twas Nettie,' said Denis, gravely as usual; and when Nettie told her +what had amused her, Granny looked rather anxiously at Denis. + +'And do you never laugh, my boy?' she asked. 'If you say funny things +that make other people laugh, how is it you don't laugh yourself?' + +Denis lifted up his face for a kiss, but there was an expression in his +eyes which Granny did not quite understand. + +'That child looks--I don't know how exactly,' she said to his mother, +when Denis and Nettie had gone up-stairs. 'He is such a dear little +fellow, but there is a look of suffering or endurance in his face that I +can't understand. Your nurses are really kind to the children, I suppose?' + +'Perfectly--I'm sure of it,' replied Denis's mother. 'He is always +quiet. Perhaps he is a little disappointed to-day at seeing Alex and +Lambert go off.' + +But Granny wasn't satisfied. She resolved to watch little Denis for +herself. + +He was looking graver than usual even, for the thought was heavy on his +mind that with his brothers away the whole day, the dreaded gallery +would be worse than ever. With Alex or Lambert at hand, he could often +manage to make the journeys to and from the nursery in their company; +but to-day he had no one to depend on but Nettie, and nurse did not like +Nettie always roaming about with him. It would not do to get Nettie +scolded for being so good to him. Poor Denis! He felt terribly deserted +as he followed Nettie up-stairs, Prin at his feet. + +'Dear Prin,' he whispered, 'I wish it was time for us to go back home +where there's no picshur gallery to frighten us. Only then, dear Prin, +you wouldn't be coming too, for your home is here, you know, dear Prin.' + +Prin wagged his tail and looked up at Denis. It was all that he could +do, poor little dog. + +The day kept up fine and bright till towards two o'clock. The clouds +began to gather in leaden masses, and the dull, gray-blue look one knows +so well in winter, came over the sky. + +'I'm afraid it's going to snow again,' said the children's mother, on +their way home from the despised pond, where Linda and Nettie and some +of the young ladies staying in the house had been amusing themselves by +skating, and Denis had been allowed to slide, with Prince at his heels, +of course. + +'What a nuisance!' said one of the girls. 'All our skating will be over +if it does, till the pond is cleared again. It is just nice now. And oh, +by the bye, you will be uneasy about uncle and the boys if it snows'--for +this young lady was a cousin of Linda's and the others--'won't you, aunt? +Hatchetts is an awkward place to get away from in a snowstorm.' + +Denis listened with all his ears, while his mother looked up anxiously +at the sky. + +'If it really comes on as bad as that, I hope they won't attempt to come +home to-night,' she said. + +'They might be losted in the snow, and we have no big dogs!' exclaimed +Denis in great distress, as already a few flakes began to fall. + +'Don't be afraid, my boy,' said his mother. 'Father will not do anything +rash, you may be sure.' + +But her relief nevertheless was great when, about four o'clock, a +servant who had started with the party in the morning, came back with +the news that the gentlemen were going to stay away all night. He had +started as soon as the weather gave signs of changing, so he had got +back without difficulty. The snow had not begun yet where they were +skating, he said, but it was plain to be seen that it was coming, though +the gentlemen hoped to have two or three hours' good exercise, as they +would dine and sleep with the friend on whose property they were. + +It was well they had so decided. By five o'clock the snowstorm was at +its height. It was too dark to distinguish anything from the windows, +but news came in from outside that the snow lay deep already, and gave +no signs of leaving off. + +'We must make ourselves as comfortable as we can,' said Granny, as she +told the servants to put more wood on the fire, 'and be thankful that +our dear ones are not out in any danger. So you've come to say good-night, +dears, have you?' she went on, as the little girls and Denis just then +came into the drawing-room. 'Good-night, my darlings; you've had a happy +day, I hope, in spite of the weather?' + +'Oh yes, Granny,' they answered eagerly. 'We've had blind-man's buff +with Cousin Edith and the others in the hall.' + +'And now you're sleepy and ready for bed. Good-night and pleasant +dreams,' and the children trotted off again. Granny had kissed Denis +among the others, and had been pleased to see his little face rosier +than usual, thanks to the romp they had been having. Afterwards she +wondered to herself for not having remembered that with his brothers +away the little fellow would be rather lonely in his part of the house, +but somehow it did not come into her mind just then. Nor did it occur to +his mother. So the children were put to bed as usual, and Denis made no +complaint. Indeed, once in his little room he felt quite safe. Nurse +had brought him herself through the gallery well wrapped up in her arms, +having undressed him by the nursery fire, and he hid his face on her +shoulder as she carried him, and avoided all sight of his silent enemies +on the wall. + +'You're quite comfortable, Master Denis?' she asked, as she left him. + +'Quite,' he replied, 'and nurse, you'll let me have Prin up to-morrow +morning?' + +'Oh yes, dear,' she answered kindly; 'you were a good little boy about +him this afternoon. You shall have him to-morrow.' + +Denis gave a sigh as he composed himself to sleep. He was not quite easy +in his mind about Prince, whom nurse had sent downstairs because Baby +was in a cross humour, and cried when he jumped on her. + +'Poor Prince,' thought Denis. 'I hope he's not very unhappy. Robert' +(Robert was a young footman) 'p'omised to be kind to him, and not let +him go out in the snow. I hope father, and Alex, and Lambert won't be +lost in the snow, 'cos Prin is too little to get them out. I hope'---- +But what he hoped more was lost in a confusion of ideas--Prince, and +his father and brothers, and the falling snow seemed all mixed together +in his brain, for Denis fell fast asleep. + +The snowstorm was over, though he did not know it; since six or seven +o'clock no more had fallen. The clouds dispersed, though some of them +were still to be seen hurry-scurrying over the face of the moon in a +very provoking way, for she had come out in full, anxious to see what +was going on down there on the earth, which she had not had a good sight +of for some time past. She peeped in at the window of little Denis's +room and saw him sleeping sweetly, his little face flushed as he lay, +a contrast to those of the long rows of Granny's faded ancestors which +she glanced at for a moment, through the windows of the gallery, as the +clouds passed by. + +Suddenly Denis woke, and half-started up in his bed. What had awakened +him? For a minute or two he could not tell. It was not the moon, though +she was there again, peeping in at the chinks left at the corners of the +window-blind, and lighting up the white cover of his bed. No, it could +not have been the moon, for, as he became more fully awake, he felt +sure he had heard some sound. He sat up and listened. Yes, there it was +again, a low wail or cry, once or twice repeated, and seeming not far +off. Denis sat bolt upright; he did not feel afraid, he only wondered +very much what it could be; again he heard it; it sounded like a cry for +help. What could it be? Visions of Alex and Lambert in the snow came +into his mind. How dreadful if it was one of them! and the cry sounded +so near too, as if it were some one at the side door to the garden--a +door which opened close by the stair leading to the nursery. What could +he do? Oh, if he only had one of these great brave dogs that his mother +had read about! The thought made him start--was not the cry like the +whine of a dog. Could it be Prince, his own dear little Prince out there +alone; poor tender Prince, that could not bear the cold, and would +be frightened? Could Robert have forgotten him? Up jumped Denis, and +without stopping for slippers or dressing-gown ran to the door. + +'I will call Alex and Lambert,' he thought; 'they'll come with me to let +in poor Prin.' + +But suddenly he remembered that Alex and Lambert were not there; they +were staying away till to-morrow. Denis stopped short--he must go +_alone_ to rescue Prince, alone through the terrible gallery. Bad enough +in the daytime and with Nettie's hand, or in the evening with all the +cheerful lamps lighted, what would it be in the middle of the night, in +the dark?--no, not in the dark, as just then his eyes fell on the strip +of brightness across the floor; worse still, it would be moonlight in +the gallery, and Denis shivered as he remembered what Linda had said of +the look of the old portraits in the moonlight. + +'No,' he said aloud, 'I can't go. I can't, poor little Prin. I can't +pass along there and feel them running after me with their faces all red +and blue and green, and dreadful. I can't.' + +But just then a rather low piteous whine reached his ears. It half broke +his heart to hear it, and at the same moment, as if by magic, some of +his mother's words that Sunday afternoon returned to the little fellow's +mind. 'Mastering the fear--that is the truest bravery of all; when +something good or kind to do comes in the way, to do it even if one is +frightened.' Denis stood up again. 'I'll try to be brave,' he thought. +'I fink God will take care of me if I go to let Prin in, so that he +won't die of cold.' + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V.--A FRIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +He drew on his little dressing-gown, for he was shivering with cold and +excitement. But his slippers he would not put on. 'I can run so much +faster without them,' he said, speaking to himself in a low voice. +Then he opened the door, crossed the little anteroom, and hesitating +a moment, threw open the large door of the gallery. An instant he +waited before he found courage to look up. Then he did so, with a +half-acknowledged feeling that if anything _too_ appalling met his eye, +he could still rush back into the shelter of his own room. + +But all was still, strangely still, and the curious effect of the +moonlight, streaming in, in fitful patches through the coloured windows, +for a moment made him forget his fears in a sort of awe-struck +admiration. It was even stranger than Linda had described it, for the +clouds quickly rushing across the moon, caused a mixture of light and +shadow, coloured by the tints of the glass, like broken and confused +rainbows. And had Denis not been too frightened to look at the faces on +the wall, the effect of this jumble of light and colour and shadow would +have been almost comical. + +But a glance was enough. Then literally gathering up his garments--that +is to say, taking the skirts of his dressing-gown in his hands--the poor +little chap dashed into the enemy's country, looking neither to right +nor to left, and ran--his little bare feet making a quick pitter-patter +on the polished floor--ran as if for dear life! Fortunately he did not +stumble: had he done so, I doubt if he would have been able to get up +again--the terrible thought that something had caught him and made him +fall would probably have altogether overcome him--but oh how long the +gallery seemed, and oh how thankful he was to reach the other end and +burst through the swing baize door that closed it! + +Here, in the passage, leading to the nursery, all was dark, or seemed so +at first, though as Denis felt his way to the staircase, his eyes got +used to the darkness, and gradually began to discern some light in it. +He knew his way so well that even without this he could have found the +stair; and once on it, a little more light came up from the fanlight on +the top of the garden-door below, and now Prin's voice was heard again, +quite plainly, showing that he was just outside the door, seldom closed +to him, poor little dog, as he was accustomed to come in and out by it +with the children on their way to and from the garden. + +'I'm coming, Prin, dear little Prin,' cried Denis, quite brightly and +cheerfully now, as he reached the foot of the stair, and Prin in return +gave a hopeful little bark; 'one moment, dear Prin, till Denis opens +the door for you,' he went on, as he fumbled for the handle, which +he knew he could reach. He reached it, and turned it, but oh, what a +disappointment; the door would not open as it did in the daytime--it was +bolted! At first Denis thought it might be locked, and he felt about for +a key. But there was no key, and peering about in the uncertain light he +saw high up something which looked like a bolt--far too high for him to +reach, and probably too hard for his little hands to pull back. He had +never thought of this, and he was terribly distressed--especially when +another faint whine from Prince seemed to ask why he was so slow. But it +roused him too. + +'Poor Prin,' he said, 'Denis can't get the door open. Den will have +to go and get nurse to help. He'll be as quick as he can. Stay there, +dear Prin,' and then he turned to climb the stair again, his feet this +time perfectly numb with cold. He must get up two flights--past the +day-nursery, to where nurse and baby slept, in what was called 'the old +nursery,' a story higher than the other. But so long as there was no +gallery to face, Denis did not seem to mind. He got on all right till he +was crossing the landing or passage on to which the swing-door opened; +then just as he was putting his foot on the first step of the second +flight he was startled by a noise--a sound of footsteps approaching him, +and, oh terror! from the direction of the gallery. In his fear he stood +still, as if not knowing what to do. The steps came nearer and nearer +with a rather slow, dragging sound. Denis still stood as if turned to +stone. The baize door swung open, a light warmer and brighter than the +moon rays gleamed through, and a figure stood full in the boy's sight. +A tall figure, it seemed to him, clothed in yellow, with pale face and +powdered hair, all distinctly seen by the flame of the taper held in +its hand. + +'The lady in the yellow satin!' screamed poor Denis; 'oh, it's come +true! She's got out of the frame to catch me. O mother, mother, it's so +dreadful, and I did so try to be brave!' + +His eyes closed, his legs gave way, and he half fell forward. What would +have happened I don't know, if a sweet, well-known voice had not reached +his ears. + +'Denis, my boy, don't be frightened. Don't you know me? It's your own +old Granny.' + +And half-laughing, half-crying, Granny went on talking till the boy took +courage again and opened his eyes. + +'Granny!' he said, and then shivering again, seemed as if he could +hardly believe it. + +'Yes, dear, Granny, in her old white cashmere dressing-gown. Look, dear, +and see.' + +'And white hair, like the picshur,' he said, recovering himself. 'And +what a funny thing on the top of your head, Granny--all +frilly--like'---- + +'That's my nightcap,' said Granny, now fairly laughing, and then she +went on to explain that from her room, which had an unused door opening +on to the same landing as the boys' room, she had heard him moving +about, and fearing that something was wrong, and knowing the little +fellow to be alone, she had come round by the other way to see. + +'For that other door is never opened, and there is a chest of drawers +against it,' she said. 'And when I found there was not a little boy in +bed in your room, I came back to look for him, you see, Denis, and I +thought I heard voices down below. For my ears are sharp still, though +I'm such an old woman.' + +'It was me talking to poor Prin,' said Denis. And then in his turn he +had to explain all, and Granny, taking him back with her to her nice +cheerful room where a fire was still burning, rang the bell for her +maid, and in a few minutes poor Prince, the cause of all the upset, was +happily warming himself and forgetting all his troubles on Granny's +hearth-rug. + +'I'll go back to bed now, please,' said Denis; 'I'm not a bit frightened +now. I don't fink I'll ever be frightened again,' he added in a +half-whisper, as he bade Granny a second good-night. And you may fancy +how proud he was, when Granny answered, 'Frightened or not, you've shown +yourself my own brave little Denis.' + +Mother was told all about it next morning, and of the good fruit her +words had borne. But as she kissed her little boy, she explained to him +and to Nettie, too, that in such a case there would have been no +cowardice in telling her of Denis's fears. + +'I would not wish any of you to be tried needlessly, dears, you know,' +she said. 'It would have been easy to put Denis into another room. Still +I am thankful to see that, when there was need, my boy could battle with +his fears and master them.' + +But somehow, from that time, the picture gallery ceased to be a place +of terror to Denis. For one thing, Granny pleased herself by showing +him all the old portraits in the bright daytime, and telling him many +interesting and curious stories about their originals, till he got to +have quite a friendly feeling to the bewigged and bepowdered long-ago +ladies and gentlemen. Especially to the lady in the yellow satin dress, +with the mouth like Linda's! + +Granny often smiled to herself when she put on her old-fashioned +lace-frilled nightcap, and thought of how she had frightened poor little +Denis. To 'make up,' she said, she gave him a present of Prince to be +his very own; and you may be quite sure he was never again left out in +the cold and snow, and that no dog ever led a happier life than he, in +faithfully serving the brave little master who had overcome his terror, +to do a good and kind action. + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + + Edinburgh: + Printed by W. & R. Chambers. + + +BOOKS PUBLISHED BY W. & R. CHAMBERS. + + +=TRADITIONS OF EDINBURGH.= By ROBERT CHAMBERS, LL.D., with Portrait and +Illustrations 2s. 6d. + +=GREAT THINKERS AND WORKERS=, being the Lives of Thomas Carlyle, +Lord Armstrong, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Sir Titus Salt, W. M. +Thackeray, Sir Henry Bessemer, John Ruskin, James Nasmyth, Charles +Kingsley, Builders of the Forth Bridge, &c. _Numerous Illustrations_ +2s. 6d. + +=GOOD AND GREAT WOMEN=: a Book for Girls. Queen Victoria, Florence +Nightingale, Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Mrs. Beecher-Stowe, Jenny Lind, +Charlotte Bronte, Mrs. Hemans, Dorothy Pattison. _Numerous Illustrations_ +2s. 6d. + +=HISTORIC EVENTS, GREAT.= The Conquest of India, Indian Mutiny, +French Revolutions, the Crusades, the Conquest of Mexico, Napoleon's +Russian Campaign. _Illustrated_ 2s. 6d. + +=HISTORICAL CELEBRITIES.= Oliver Cromwell, Washington, Napoleon +Bonaparte, Duke of Wellington. _Illustrated_ 2s. 6d. + +=LITERARY CELEBRITIES.= Wordsworth, Campbell, Moore, Macaulay, Jeffrey. +_Numerous Illustrations_ 2s. 6d. + +=TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE, RECENT=--Lieutenant Greely, Joseph Thomson, +Stanley, Livingstone, Lady Brassey, Vambery, Burton, &c. _Illustrated_ +2s. 6d. + +=HEROES OF ROMANTIC ADVENTURE=--Lord Clive, Captain John Smith, Good +Knight Bayard, Garibaldi. _Illustrated_ 2s. + +=ANIMAL FRIENDS, OUR=--The Dog, Cat, Horse, and Elephant; with numerous +Illustrations 2s. + +=BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LIFE AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF.= _Illustrated_, cloth 2s. + +=SHIPWRECKS AND TALES OF THE SEA.= _Illustrated_, cloth 2s. + +=MARITIME DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE.= _Illustrated._ 2s. + + +BOOKS PUBLISHED BY W. & R. CHAMBERS. + +NEW SERIES OF CHAMBERS'S LIBRARY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. + +=THEIR HAPPIEST CHRISTMAS=; a Tale for the Young. By EDNA LYALL, Author +of _Donovan_, _We Two_, &c. 1s. + +=FIRESIDE AMUSEMENTS=; a Book of Indoor Games. Illustrated 1s. + +=THE STEADFAST GABRIEL=; a Tale of Wichnor Wood. By MARY HOWITT. +_Illustrated_ 1s. + +=THE GREEN CASKET; LEO'S POST-OFFICE; BRAVE LITTLE DENIS.= By Mrs. +MOLESWORTH, Author of _The Cuckoo Clock_, &c. _Illustrated_ 1s. + + +CHAMBERS'S SIXPENNY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG. + +Cloth, with Illustrations. + +=NESTA=; or, Fragments of a Little Life. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH, Author of +_Tell me a Story_, _Carrots_, &c. + +=POOR MISS CAROLINA.= By L. T. MEADE, Author of _Scamp and I_, &c. + +=MALCOLM AND DORIS=; or, Learning to Help. By DAVINA WATERSON. + +=A FARTHINGFUL.= By L. T. MEADE. + +=THE GOLDEN LADY.= By L. T. MEADE. + +=WILLIE NICHOLLS=; or, False Shame and True Shame. + +=FRED STAMFORD'S START IN LIFE.= By Mrs. FAIRBAIRN. + +=DICKORY DOCK.= By L. T. MEADE. + + + W. & R. CHAMBERS, + 47 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON; AND EDINBURGH. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Green Casket, by Mary Louisa Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREEN CASKET *** + +***** This file should be named 36861.txt or 36861.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/6/36861/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Garcia 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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