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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/39047-8.txt b/39047-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0087c50 --- /dev/null +++ b/39047-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4798 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Nurse Heatherdale's Story, 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: Nurse Heatherdale's Story + +Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth + +Illustrator: Leonard Leslie Brooke + +Release Date: March 4, 2012 [EBook #39047] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + + + + + + + + NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY + + BY MRS MOLESWORTH + + + ILLUSTRATED BY + L LESLIE BROOKE + + MACMILLAN & CO + LONDON MDCCCXCI + + + TO + MY FAR-AWAY + BUT FAITHFUL FRIEND + GISÉLA + + LINDFIELD, + _August_ 22, 1891. + + +[Illustration: She was sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in +the window of the little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in +behind her.--P. 31.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT 1 + + CHAPTER II AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL 17 + + CHAPTER III TRELUAN 36 + + CHAPTER IV A NURSERY TEA 51 + + CHAPTER V THE SHOP IN THE VILLAGE 66 + + CHAPTER VI THE SMUGGLERS' CAVES 82 + + CHAPTER VII A RAINY DAY 96 + + CHAPTER VIII THE OLD LATIN GRAMMAR 110 + + CHAPTER IX UPSET PLANS 124 + + CHAPTER X THE NEW BABY 137 + + CHAPTER XI IN DISGRACE AGAIN 151 + + CHAPTER XII LOST 167 + + CHAPTER XIII 'OLD SIR DAVID'S' SECRET 183 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + 'Hasn't her a nice face?' 14 + + She was sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, + in the window of the little room; the bright summer + sunshine streaming in behind her 31 + + Then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise 74 + + Miss Bess and Master Francis were talking eagerly with + old Prideaux 82 + + 'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby + wants to kiss thoo' 113 + + 'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty + you look!' 129 + + Sir Hulbert, holding Master Francis with one arm and + the side of the ladder with the other, followed 179 + + + + +NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT + + +I could fancy it was only yesterday! That first time I saw them. And to +think how many years ago it is really! And how many times I have told +the story--or, perhaps, I should say the _stories_, for after all it is +only a string of simple day-by-day events I have to tell, though to me +and to the children about me they seem so interesting and, in some ways, +I think I may say, rather out of the common. So that now that I am +getting old, or 'beginning to think just a tiny bit about some day +getting old,' which is the only way Miss Erica will let me say it, and +knowing that nobody else _can_ know all the ins and outs which make the +whole just as I do, and having a nice quiet time to myself most days +(specially since dear tiresome little Master Ramsey is off to school +with his brothers), I am going to try to put it down as well as I can. +My 'as well as I can' won't be anything very scholarly or fine, I know +well; but if one knows what one wants to say it seems to me the words +will come. And the story will be there for the dear children, who are +never sharp judging of old Heather--and for their children after them, +maybe. + +I was standing at our cottage door that afternoon--a beautiful summer +afternoon it was, early in June. I was looking idly enough across the +common, for our cottage stood--stands still, perhaps--I have not been +there for many a year--just at the edge of Brayling Common, where it +skirts the pine-woods, when I saw them pass. Quite a little troop they +looked, though they were scarcely near enough for me to see them +plainly. There was the donkey, old Larkins's donkey, which they had +hired for the time, with a tot of a girl riding on it, the page-boy +leading it, and a nursemaid walking on one side, and on the other an +older little lady--somewhere about ten years old she looked, though she +was really only eight. What an air she had, to be sure! What a grand +way of holding herself and stepping along like a little princess, for +all that she and her sisters were dressed as simple as simple. Pink +cotton frocks, if I remember right, a bit longer in the skirts than our +young ladies wear them now, and nice white cotton stockings,--it was +long before black silk ones were the fashion for children,--and +ankle-strap shoes, and white sun-bonnets, made with casers and cords, +nice and shady for the complexions, though you really had to be close to +before you could see a child's face inside of them. And some way behind, +another little lady, a good bit shorter than Miss Bess--I meant to give +all their names in order later on, but it seems strange-like not to say +it--and looking quite three years younger, though there was really not +two between them. And alongside of her a boy, thin and pale and +darkish-haired--that, I could see, as he had no sun-bonnet of course, +only a cap of some kind. He too was a good bit taller than Miss ----, +the middle young lady I mean, though short for his age, which was eleven +past. They were walking together, these two--they were mostly always +together, and I saw that the boy was a little lame, just a touch, but +enough to take the spring out of his step that one likes to see in a +young thing. And though I couldn't see her face, only some long fair +curls, long enough to come below the cape of her bonnet, a feeling came +over me that the child beside him was walking slow, keeping back as it +were, on purpose to bear him company. There was something gentle and +pitying-like in her little figure, in the way she went closer to the boy +and took his hand when the nurse turned round and called back +something--I couldn't hear the words but I fancied the tone was +sharp--to the two children behind, which made them press forward a +little. The other young lady turned as they came nearer and said +something with a sort of toss-up of her proud little head to the nurse. +And then I saw that she held out her hand to her younger sister, who +kept hold all the same of the boy's hand on the other side. And that was +how they were walking when they went in among the trees and were lost to +my sight. + +But I still stood looking after them, even when there was nothing more +of them to be seen. Not even the dog--oh, I forgot about him--he was the +very last of the party--a brisk, shortish haired, wiry-looking rough +terrier, who, just as he got to the entrance of the wood, turned round +and stood for a moment barking, for all the world as if he might be +saying, 'My young ladies have gone a-walking in the wood now, and +nobody's to come a-troubling of them. So I give you fair notice.' He did +think, did Fusser, that was _his_ name, that he managed all the affairs +of the family. Many a time we've laughed at him for it. + +'Dear me,' thought I to myself, 'I could almost make a story out of +those young ladies and gentleman, though I've only seen them for a +minute, or two at the most.' + +For I was very fond of children even then, and knew a good deal about +their ways, though not so much--no, nor nothing like--what I do now! But +I was in rather a dreamy sort of humour. I had just left my first +place,--that of nursery-maid with the family where my mother had been +before me, and where I had stayed on older than I should have done by +rights, because of thinking I was going to be married. And six months +before, my poor Charles had died suddenly, or so at least it had seemed +to us all. For he caught cold, and it went to his chest, and he was gone +in a fortnight. The doctor said for all he looked strong, he was really +sadly delicate, and it was bound to be sooner or later. It may have been +true, leastways the doctor meant to comfort me by saying so, though I +don't know that I found much comfort in the thought. Not so much anyhow +as in mother's simple words that it was God's will, and so it must be +right. And in thinking how happy we had been. Never a word or a coldness +all the four years we were plighted. But it was hard to bear, and it +changed all my life for me. I never could bring myself to think of +another. + +Still I was only twenty-one, and after I'd been at home a bit, the young +ladies would have me back to cheer me up, they said. I travelled with +them that spring; but when they all went up to London, and Miss Marian +was to be married, and the two little ones were all day with the +governess, I really couldn't for shame stay on when there was no need of +me. So, though with many tears, I came home, and was casting about in my +mind what I had best do--mother being hale and hearty, and no call for +dress-making of a plain kind in our village--that afternoon, when I +stood watching the stranger little gentry and old Larkins's donkey and +the dog, as they crossed the common into the firwood. + +It was mother's voice that woke me up, so to say. + +'Martha,' she called out in her cheery way, 'what's thee doing, child? +I'm about tidied up; come and get thy work, and let's sit down a bit +comfortable. I don't like to see thee so down-like, and such bright +summer weather, though mayhap the very sunshine makes it harder for +thee, poor dear.' + +And she gave a little sigh, which was a good deal for her, for she was +not one as made much talk of feelings and sorrows. It seemed to spirit +me up somehow. + +'I wasn't like that just now, mother,' I said cheerfully. 'I've been +watching some children--gentry--going over the common--three little +young ladies and a boy, and Larkins's donkey. They made me think of Miss +Charlotte and Miss Marian when first I went there, though plainer +dressed a good deal than our young ladies were. But real gentry, I +should say.' + +'And you'd say right,' mother answered. 'They are lodging at Widow +Nutfold's, quite a party of them. Their father's Sir----; dear, dear, +I've forgot the name, but he's a barrowknight, and the family's name is +Penrose. They come from somewhere far off, near by the sea--quite furrin +parts, I take it.' + +'Not out of England, you don't mean, do you?' I asked. For mother, of +course, kept all her old country talk, while I, with having been so many +years with Miss Marian and her sisters, and treated more like a friend +than a servant, and great pains taken with my reading and writing, had +come to speak less old-fashioned, so to say, and to give the proper +meaning to my words. 'Foreign parts really means out of this country, +where they talk French or Italian, you know, mother.' + +But mother only shook her head. + +'Nay,' she said, 'I mean what I say. Furrin parts is furrin parts. I +wouldn't say as they come from where the folks is nigger blacks, or from +old Boney's country neither, as they used to frighten us about when I +was a child. But these gentry come from furrin parts. Why, I had it from +Sarah Nutfold's own lips, last Saturday as never was, at Brayling +market, and old neighbours of forty years; it's not sense to think she'd +go for to deceive me.' + +Mother was just a little offended, I could see, and I thought to myself +I must take care of seeming to set her right. + +'Of course not,' I said. 'You couldn't have it surer than from Mrs. +Nutfold. I daresay she's pleased to have them to cheer her up a bit. +They seem nice little ladies to look at, though they're on the outside +of plain as to their dress.' + +'And more sense, too,' said mother. 'I always thought our young ladies +too expensive, though where money's no consideration, 'tis a temptation +to a lady to dress up her children, I suppose.' + +'But they were never _over_-dressed,' I said, in my turn, a little +ruffled. 'Nothing could be simpler than their white frocks to look at.' + +'Ay, to look at, I'll allow,' said mother. 'But when you come to look +_into_ them, Martha, it was another story. Embroidery and tucks and real +Walansian!' and she held up her hands. 'Still they've got it, and +they've a right to spend it, seein' too as they're generous to those who +need. But these little ladies at Sarah's are not rich, I take it. There +was a deal of settlin' about the prices when my lady came to take the +rooms. She and the gentleman's up in London, but one or two of the +children got ill and needed country air. It's a heavy charge on Sarah +Nutfold, for the nurse is not one of the old sort, and my lady asked +Sarah, private-like, to have an eye on her.' + +'There now,' I cried, 'I could have said as much! The way she turned +just now so sharp on the poor boy and the middle little lady. I could +see she wasn't one of the right kind, though I didn't hear what she +said. No one should be a nurse, or have to do with children, mother, +who doesn't right down love them in her heart.' + +'You're about right there, Martha,' mother agreed. + +Just then father came in, and we sat round, the three of us, to our tea. + +'It's a pleasure to have thee at home again, my girl, for a bit,' he +said. And the kind look in his eyes made me feel both cheered and sad +together. It was the first day I had been with them at tea-time, for I +had got home pretty late the night before. 'And I hope it'll be a +longish bit this time,' he went on. + +I gave a little sigh. + +'I'd like to stay a while; but I don't know that it would be good for me +to stay very long, father, thank you,' I said. 'I'm young and strong and +fit for work, and I'd like to feel I was able to help you and mother if +ever the time comes that you're laid by.' + +'Please God we'll never need help of that kind, my girl,' said father. +'But it's best to be at work, I know, when one's had a trouble. The +day'll maybe come, Martha, when you'll be glad to have saved a little +more for a home of your own, after all. So I'd not be the one to stand +in your way, a few months hence--nor mother neither--if a good place +offers.' + +'Thank you, father,' I said again; 'but the only home of my own I'll +ever care for will be here--by mother and you.' + +And so it proved. + +I little thought how soon father's words about not standing in my way if +a nice place offered would be put to the test. + +I saw the children who were lodging at Mrs. Nutfold's several times in +the course of the next week or two. They seemed to have a great fancy +for the pine-woods, and from where they lived they could not, to get to +them, but pass across the common within sight of our cottage. And once +or twice I met them in the village street. Not all of them +together--once it was only the two youngest with the nurse; they were +waiting at the door of the post-office, which was also the grocer's and +the baker's, while she was inside chattering and laughing a deal more +than she'd any call to, it seemed to me. (I'm afraid I took a real +right-down dislike to that nurse, which isn't a proper thing to do +before one has any certain reason for it.) And dear little ladies they +looked, though the elder one--that was the middle one of the three--had +rather an anxious expression in her face, that struck me. The baby--she +was nearly three, but I heard them call her baby--was a little fat +bundle of smiles and dimples. I don't think even a cross nurse would +have had power to trouble _her_ much. + +Another time it was the two elder girls and the lame boy I met. It was a +windy day, and the eldest Missy's big flapping bonnet had blown back, so +I had a good look at her. She was a beautiful child--blue eyes, very +dark blue, or seeming so from the clear black eyebrows and thick long +eyelashes, and dark almost black hair, with just a little wave in it; +not so long or curling as her sister's, which was out-of-the-way +beautiful hair, but seeming somehow just to suit her, as everything +about her did. She came walking along with the proud springing step I +had noticed that first day, and she was talking away to the others as if +to cheer and encourage them, even though the boy was full three years +older than she, and supposed to be taking charge of her and her sister, +I fancy. + +'Nonsense, Franz,' she was saying in her decided spoken way, 'nonsense. +I won't have you and Lally treated like that. And I don't care--I mean I +can't help if it does trouble mamma. Mammas must be troubled about their +children sometimes; that's what being a mamma means.' + +I managed to keep near them for a bit. I hope it was not a mean +taking-advantage. I have often told them of it since--it was really that +I did feel such an interest in the dear children, and my mind misgave me +from the first about that nurse--it did so indeed. + +'If only----' said the boy with a tiny sigh. But again came that +clear-spoken little voice, 'Nonsense, Franz.' + +I never did hear a child of her age speak so well as Miss Bess. It's +pretty to hear broken talking in a child sometimes, lisping, and some of +the funny turns they'll give their words; but it's even prettier to hear +clear complete talk like hers in a young child. + +Then came a gentle, pitiful little voice. + +'It isn't nonsense, Queen, darling. It's _howid_ for Franz, but it +wasn't nonsense he was going to say. I know what it was,' and she gave +the boy's hand a little squeeze. + +'It was only--if aunty _was_ my mamma, Bess, but you know she isn't. And +_aunts_ aren't forced to be troubled about not their own children.' + +'Yes they are,' the elder girl replied. 'At least when they're instead +of own mammas. And then, you know, Franz, it's not only you, it's Lally +too, and----' + +That was all I heard. I couldn't pretend to be obliged to walk slowly +just behind them, for in reality I was rather in a hurry, so I hastened +past; but just as I did so, their little dog, who was with them, looked +up at me with a friendly half-bark, half-growl. That made the children +smile at me too, and for the life of me, even if 'twas not good manners, +I couldn't help smiling in return. + +'Hasn't her a nice face?' I heard the second little young lady say, and +it sent me home with quite a warm feeling in my heart. + +[Illustration: 'Hasn't her a nice face?'] + +It was about a week after that, when one evening as we were sitting +together--father, mother, and I--and father was just saying there'd be +daylight enough to need no candles that night--we heard the click of the +little garden gate, and a voice at the door that mother knew in a moment +was Widow Nutfold's. + +'Good evening to you, Mrs. Heatherdale,' she said, 'and many excuses for +disturbing of you so late, but I'm that put about. Is your Martha at +home?--thank goodness, my dear,' as I came forward out of the dusk to +speak to her. 'It's more you nor your good mother I've come after; +you'll be thinking I'm joking when you hear what it is. Can you slip +on your bonnet and come off with me now this very minute to help with my +little ladies? Would you believe it--that their good-for-nothing girl is +off--gone--packed up this very evening--and left me with 'em all on my +hands, and Miss Baby beginning with a cold on her chest, and Master +Francis all but crying with the rheumatics in his poor leg. And even the +page-boy, as was here at first, was took back to London last week.' + +The good woman held up her hands in despair, and then by degrees we got +the whole story--how the nurse had not been meaning to stay longer than +suited her own convenience, but had concealed this from her lady; and +having heard by a letter that afternoon of another situation which she +could have if she went at once, off she had gone, in spite of all poor +Widow Nutfold could say or do. + +'She took a dislike to me seein' as I tried to look after her a bit and +to stop her nasty cross ways, and she told me that impertinent, as I +wanted to be nurse, I might be it now. She has a week or two's money +owing her, but she was that scornful she said she'd let it go; she had +been a great silly for taking the place.' + +'But she might be had up and made to give back some of her wages,' said +father. + +'Sir Hulbert and my lady are not that sort, and she knows it,' said Mrs. +Nutfold. 'The wages was pretty fair--it was the dulness of the life down +in Cornwall the girl objected to most, I fancy.' + +'Cornwall,' repeated mother. 'There now, Martha, if that isn't furrin +parts, I don't know what is.' + +But I hadn't time to say any more. I hurried on my shawl and bonnet, and +rolled up an apron or two, and slipped a cap into a bandbox, and there I +was. + +'Good-night, mother,' I said. 'I'll look round in the morning--and I +don't suppose I'll be wanted to stay more than a day or two. My lady's +sure to find some one at once, being in London too.' + +'I should think so,' said old Sarah, but there was something in her tone +I did not quite understand. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL + + +We hurried across the common--it was still daylight though the sun had +set some little time. The red and gold were still lingering in the sky +and casting a beautiful glow on the heather and the gorse bushes. For +Brayling Common is not like what the word makes most people think +of--there's no grass at all--it's all heather and gorse, and here and +there clumps of brambles, and low down on the sandy soil all sorts of +hardy, running, clinging little plants that ask for nothing but sunshine +and air. For of moisture there's but scanty supply; it no sooner rains +than it dries up again. But oh it is beautiful--the colours of it I've +never seen equalled--not even in Italy or Switzerland, where I went with +my first ladies, as I said before. The heather seems to change its shade +a dozen times a day, as well as with every season--according as the sky +is cloudy or bright, or the sun overhead or on his way up or down. I +cannot say it the right way, but I know that many far cleverer than me +would feel the same; you may travel far before you'd see a sweeter piece +of nature than our common, with its wonderful changefulness and yet +always beautiful. + +There's little footpaths in all directions, as well as a few wider +tracks. It takes strangers some time to learn their way, I can tell you. +The footpaths are seldom wide enough for two, so it's a queer sort of +backwards and forwards talking one has to be content with. And we walked +too fast to have breath for much, only Widow Nutfold would now and then +throw back to me, so to say, some odds and ends of explaining about the +children that she thought I'd best know. + +'They're dear young ladies,' she said, 'though Miss Elisabeth is a bit +masterful and Miss Baby--Augusta's her proper name--a bit spoilt. Take +them all together, I think Miss Lally's my favourite, or would be if she +was a little happier, poor child! I can't stand whiney children.' + +I smiled to myself--I knew that the good woman's experience of children +was not great--she had married late and never had one of her own. It +was real goodness that made her take such an interest in the little +Penroses. + +'Poor child,' I said, 'perhaps the cross nurse has made her so,' at +which Sarah gave a sort of grunt. 'What is her real name--the middle +young lady's, I mean?' + +'Oh, bless you, I couldn't take upon me to say it--it's too outlandish. +Miss Lally we call her--' and I could hear that Mrs. Nutfold's breath +was getting short--she was stout in her later years--and that she was a +little cross. 'You must ask for yourself, Martha.' + +So I said no more, though I had wanted to hear about the boy, who had +spoken of their mother as his aunty, and how he had come to be so +delicate and lame. And in a few minutes more we found ourselves at the +door of Clover Cottage; that was Mrs. Nutfold's house, though 'Bramble +Cottage' would have suited it better, standing where it did. + +She took the key out of her pocket. + +'I locked them in,' she said, nodding her head, 'though they didn't know +it.' + +'Gracious,' says I, 'you don't mean as the children are all alone?' + +'To be sure--who'd be with them? I wasn't going to make a chatter all +over the place about that impident woman a-goin' off. And Bella, my +girl, goes home at five. 'Twas after she left there was all the upset.' + +I felt rather startled at hearing this. Suppose they had set themselves +on fire! But old Sarah seemed quite easy in her mind, as she opened the +door and went in, me following. + +'Twas a nice roomy cottage, and so clean. Besides the large kitchen at +one side, with a good back-kitchen behind it, and a tidy bedroom for +Mrs. Nutfold, there was a fair-sized parlour, with casement windows and +deep window-seats--all old-fashioned, but roomy and airy. And upstairs +two nice bed-rooms and a small one. I knew it well, having been there +off and on to help Mrs. Nutfold with her lodgers at the busy season +before I went away to a regular place. So I was a little surprised when +she turned to the kitchen, instead of opening the parlour door. And at +first, what with coming out of the half-light and the red glow still in +my eyes, and what with that there Fusser setting upon me with such a +barking and jumping--all meant for a welcome, I soon found--as never +was, I scarce could see or hear. But I soon got myself together again. + +'Down Fusser, naughty Fuss,' said the children, and, 'he won't bite, +it's only meant for "How do you do?"' said the eldest girl. And then she +turned to me as pretty as might be. 'Is this Martha?' says she, holding +out her little hand. 'I _am_ pleased to see you. It's very good of you, +and oh, Mrs. Nutfold, I'm so glad you've come back. Baby is getting so +sleepy.' + +Poor little soul--so she was. They had set her up on Sarah's old +rocking-chair near the fire as well as they could, to keep her warm +because of her cold, and it was a chilly evening rather. But it was past +her bed-time, and she was fractious with all the upset. I just was +stooping down to look at her when she gave a little cry and held out her +arms to me. 'Baby so tired,' she said, 'want to go to bed.' + +'And so you shall, my love,' I said. 'I'll have off my bonnet in a +moment, and then Martha will put Miss Baby to bed all nice and snug.' + +'Marfa,' said a little voice beside me. It was the middle young lady. 'I +like that name, don't you, Francie?' + +That was the boy--they were all there, poor dears. Old Sarah had thought +they'd be cosier in the kitchen while she was out. I smiled back at +Miss Lally, as they called her. She was standing by Master Francis; both +looking up at me, with a kind of mixture of hope and fear, a sort of +asking, 'Will she be good to us?' in their faces, which touched me very +much. Master Francis was not a pretty child like the others. He was pale +and thin, and his eyes looked too dark for his face. He was small too, +no taller than Miss Bess, and with none of her upright hearty look. But +when he smiled his expression was very sweet. He smiled now, with a sort +of relief and pleasure, and I saw that he gave a little squeeze to Miss +Lally's hand, which he was holding. + +'Yes,' he said, 'it's a nice name. The other nurse was called "Sharp;" +it suited her too,' with a twinkle in his eyes I was pleased to see. +'Lally can't say her "th's" properly,' he went on, as if he was excusing +her a little, 'nor her "r's" sometimes, though Bess and I are trying to +teach her.' + +'It's so babyish at _her_ age, nearly six, not to speak properly,' said +Miss Bess, with her little toss of the head, at which Miss Lally's face +puckered up, and the corners of her mouth went down, and I saw what +Sarah Nutfold meant by saying she was rather a 'whiney' child. I didn't +give her time for more just then. I had got Miss Baby up in my arms, +where she was leaning her sleepy head on my shoulder in her pretty baby +way. I felt quite in my right place again. + +'Come along, Miss Lally, dear,' I said. 'It must be your bed-time too, +and if you'll come upstairs with Miss Baby and me, you'll be able to +show me all the things--the baths, and the sponges, and +everything--won't that be nice?' + +She brightened up in a moment--dear child, it's always been like that +with her. Give her a hint of anything she could do for others, and she'd +forget her own troubles--fancy or real ones--that minute. + +'The hot water's all ready,' said Mrs. Nutfold. 'I kep' the fire up, so +as you shouldn't have no trouble I could help, Martha, my dear.' + +And then the three of us went upstairs to the big room at the back, +where I was to sleep with Miss Baby in her cot, and which we called the +night nursery. Miss Lally was as bright as a child could be, and that +handy and helpful. But more than once I heard a sigh come from the very +depths of her little heart, it seemed. + +'Sharp never lettened me help wif Baby going to bed, this nice way,' she +said, and sighed again. + +'Never mind about Sharp, my dear,' I said. 'She had her ways, and Martha +has hers. What are you sighing about?' + +'I'm so fwightened her'll come back and you go, Marfa,' she said, +nestling up to me. Baby was safe in bed by now, prayers said and all. +'And--I'm sleepy, but I don't like going to bed till Queen comes.' + +'Who may she be, my dear?' I asked, and then I remembered their talking +that day in the street. 'Oh, it's Miss Bess, you mean.' + +'Yes--it's in the English hist_ory_,' said the child, making a great +effort over the 'r.' 'There was a queen they called "Good Queen Bess," +so I made that my name for Bess. But mamma laughed one day and said that +queen wasn't "good." I was so sorry. So I just call Bess "Queen" for +short. And I say "good" to myself, for my Bess _is_ good; only I wish +she wouldn't be vexed when I don't speak words right,' and again the +little creature sighed as if all the burdens of this weary world were on +her shoulders. + +'It's that Miss Bess wants you to speak as cleverly as she does, I +suppose. It'll come in time, no fear. When I was a little girl I +couldn't say the letter "l," try as I might. I used to leave it out +altogether--I remember one day telling mother I had seen such a sweet +"ittie 'amb"--I meant "little lamb."' + +'Oh, how funny,' said Miss Lally laughing. She was always ready to +laugh. 'It's a good thing I can say "l's," isn't it? My name wouldn't +be--nothing--would it?--without the "l's."' + +'But it's only a short, isn't it, Missy?' I said. + +'Yes, my _weal_ name is "Lalage." Do you fink it's a pretty name?' she +said. She was getting sleepy, and it was too much trouble to worry about +her speaking. + +'Yes, indeed, I think it's a sweet name. So soft and gentle like,' I +said, which pleased her, I could see. + +'Papa says so too--but mamma doesn't like it so much. It was Francie's +mamma's name, but she's dead. And poor Francie's papa's dead too. He was +papa's brother,' said Miss Lally, in her old-fashioned way. There was a +funny mixture of old-fashionedness and simple, almost baby ways about +all those children. I've never known any quite like them. No doubt it +came in part from their being brought up so much by themselves, and +having no other companions than each other. But from the first I always +felt they were dear children, and more than common interesting. + +A few days passed--very quiet and peaceful, and yet full of life too +they seemed to me. I felt more like myself again, as folks say, than +since my great trouble. It _was_ sweet to have real little ones to see +to again--if Miss Baby had only known it, that first evening's bathing +her and tucking her up in bed brought tears of pleasure to my eyes. + +'Come now,' I said, to myself, 'this'll never do. You mustn't let +yourself go for to get so fond of these young ladies and gentleman that +you're only with for a day or two at most,' but I knew all the same I +couldn't help it, and I settled in my own mind that as soon as I could I +would look out for a place again. I wasn't afraid of what some would +count a hardish place--indeed, I rather liked it. I've always been that +fond of children that whatever I have to do for them comes right--what +does try my temper is to see things half done, or left undone by silly +upsetting girls who haven't a grain of the real nurse's spirit in them. + +My lady wrote at once on hearing from Mrs. Nutfold. She was very angry +indeed about Sharp's behaviour, and at first was by way of coming down +immediately to see to things. But by the next day, when she had got a +second letter saying how old Sarah had fetched me, and that I was +willing to stay for the time, she wrote again, putting off for a few +days, and glad to do so, seeing how cleverly her good Mrs. Nutfold had +managed. That was how she put it--my lady always had a gracious way with +her, I will say--and I was to be thanked for my obligingness; she was +sure her little dears would be happy with any one so well thought of by +the dame. They were very busy indeed just then, she and Sir Hulbert, she +said, and very gay. But when I came to know her better I did her +justice, and saw she was not the butterfly I was inclined to think her. +She was just frantic to get her husband forward, so to speak, and far +more ambitious for him than caring about anything for herself. He had +had a trying and disappointing life of it in some ways, had Sir Hulbert, +and it had not soured him. He was a right-down high-minded gentleman, +though not so clever as my lady, perhaps. And she adored him. They +adored each other--seldom have I heard of a happier couple: only on one +point was there ever disunion between them, as I shall explain, all in +good time. + +A week therefore--fully a week--had gone by before my little ladies' +mother came to see them. And when she did come it was at short notice +enough--a letter by the post--and Mayne, the postman, never passed our +way much before ten in the morning. So the dame told as how she'd be +down by the first train, and get to Clover Cottage by eleven, or soon +after. We were just setting off on our morning walk when Sarah came +calling after us to tell. She was for us not going, and stopping in till +her ladyship arrived; but when I put it to her that the children would +get so excited, hanging about and nothing to do, she gave in. + +'I'll bring them back before eleven,' I said. 'They'll be looking fresh +and rosy, and with us out of the way you and the girl can get the rooms +all tidied up as you'd like for my lady to find them.' + +And Sarah allowed it was a good thought. + +'You've a head on your shoulders, my girl,' was how she put it. + +So off we set--our usual way, over the common to the firwoods. There's +many a pretty walk about Brayling, and a great variety; but none took +the young ladies' and Master Francie's fancy like the firwoods. They had +never seen anything of the kind before, their home being by the +seashore was maybe the reason--or one reason. For I feel much the same +myself about loving firwoods, though, so to say, I was born and bred +among them. There's a charm one can't quite explain about them--the +sameness and the stillness and the great tops so high up, and yet the +bareness and openness down below, though always in the shade. And the +scent, and the feel of the crisp crunching soil one treads on, soil made +of the millions of the fir needles, with here and there the cones as +they have fallen. + +'It's like fairy stories,' Miss Lally used to say, with her funny little +sigh. + +But we couldn't linger long in the woods that morning, though a +beautiful morning it was. Miss Bess and Miss Baby were in the greatest +delight about 'mamma' coming, and always asking me if I didn't think it +must be eleven o'clock. Miss Lally was pleased too, in her quiet way, +only I noticed that she was a good deal taken up with Master Francie, +who seemed to have something on his mind, and at last they both called +to Miss Bess, and said something to her which I didn't hear, evidently +asking her opinion. + +'Nonsense,' said Miss Bess, in her quick decided way; 'I have no +patience with you being so silly. As if mamma would be so unjust.' + +'But,' said Master Francis hesitatingly, 'you know, Bess--sometimes----' + +'Yes,' put in Miss Lally, 'she might think it had been partly Francie's +fault.' + +'Nonsense,' said Miss Bess again; 'mamma knows well enough that Sharp +was horrid. I am sure Francie has been as good as good for ever so long, +and old Mrs. Nutfold will tell mamma so, even if possibly she did not +understand.' + +Their faces grew a little lighter after this, and by the time we had got +home and I had tidied them all up, I really felt that my lady would be +difficult to please if she didn't think all four looking as bright and +well as she could wish. + +I kept myself out of the way when I heard the carriage driving up, +though the children would have dragged me forward. But I was a complete +stranger to Lady Penrose, and things having happened as they had, I felt +that she might like to be alone with the children, at first, and that no +doubt Sarah Nutfold would be eager to have a talk with her. I sat down +to my sewing quietly--there was plenty of mending on hand, Sharp's +service having been but eye-service in every way--and I won't deny but +that my heart was a little heavy thinking how soon, how very soon, most +likely, I should have to leave these children, whom already, in these +few days, I had grown to love so dearly. + +I was not left very long to my meditations, however; before an hour had +passed there came a clear voice up the old staircase, 'Martha, Martha, +come quick, mamma wants you,' and hastening out I met Miss Bess at the +door. She turned and ran down again, I following her more slowly. + +How well I remember the group I saw as I opened the parlour door! It was +like a picture. Lady Penrose herself was more than pretty--beautiful, I +have heard her called, and I think it was no exaggeration. She was +sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in the window of the +little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in behind her and +lighting up her fair hair--hair for all the world like Miss Lally's, +though perhaps a thought darker. Miss Baby was on her knee and Miss Bess +on a stool at her feet, holding one of her hands. Miss Lally and Master +Francie were a little bit apart, close together as usual. + +'Come in,' said my lady. 'Come in, Martha,' as I hesitated a little in +the doorway. 'I am very pleased to see you and to thank you for all your +kindness to these little people.' + +She half rose from her chair as I drew near, and shook hands with me in +the pretty gracious way she had. + +'I am sure it has been a pleasure to me, my lady,' I said. 'I've been +used to children for so long that I was feeling quite lost at home doing +nothing.' + +'And you are very fond of children, truly fond of them,' my lady went +on, glancing up at me with a quick observant look, that somehow reminded +me of Miss Bess; 'so at least Mrs. Nutfold tells me, and I think I +should have known it for myself even if she had not said so. I have to +go back to town this afternoon--supposing you all run out into the +garden for a few minutes, children; I want to talk to Martha a little, +and it will soon be your dinner time.' + +She got up as she spoke, putting Miss Baby down gently; the child began +grumbling a little--but, 'No, no, Baby, you must do as I tell you,' +checked her in a moment. + +'Take her out with you, Bess,' she added. I could see that my lady was +not one to be trifled with. + +When they had all left the room she turned to me again. 'Sit down, +Martha, for a minute or two. One can always talk so much more +comfortably sitting,' she said pleasantly. 'And I have no doubt the +children have given you plenty of exercise lately, though you don't look +delicate,' she added, with again the little look of inquiry. + +'Thank you, my lady; no, I am not delicate; as a rule I am strong and +well, though this last year has brought me troubles and upsets, and I +haven't felt quite myself.' + +'Naturally,' she said. 'Mrs. Nutfold has told me about you. I was +talking to her just now when I first arrived.' Truly my lady was not one +to let the grass grow under the feet. 'She says you will be looking for +a situation again before long. Is there any chance of your being able to +take one at once, that is to say if mine seems likely to suit you.' + +She spoke so quick and it was so unexpected that I felt for a moment +half stupid and dazed-like. + +'Are you sure, my lady, that I should suit you?' I managed to say at +last. 'I have only been in one place in my life, and you might want more +experience.' + +'You were with Mrs. Wyngate, in ----shire, I believe? I know her sister +and can easily hear any particulars I want, but I feel sure you would +suit me.' + +She went on to give me a good many particulars, all in the same clear +decided way. 'The Wyngates are very rich,' she said, as she ended. 'You +must have seen a great deal of luxury there. Now we are not rich--not at +all rich--though we have a large country place that has belonged to the +family for many hundreds of years; but we are obliged to live plainly +and the place is rather lonely. I don't want you to decide all at once. +Think it all over, and consult your parents, and let me have your answer +when I come down again.' + +'That will be the difficulty,' I replied; 'my parents wanted me to stay +on some time with them. There is nothing about the work or the wages I +should object to, and though Mrs. Wyngate was very kind, I have never +cared for much luxury in the nursery--indeed, I should have liked +plainer ways; and I love the country, and as for the young ladies and +gentleman, my lady, if it isn't taking a liberty to say so, I love them +dearly already. But it is father and mother----' + +'Well, well,' said my lady, 'we must see. The children are very happy +with you, and I hope it may be arranged, but of course you must consult +your parents.' + +She went back to London that same afternoon, and that very evening, when +they were all in bed, I slipped on my bonnet and ran home to talk it +over with father and mother. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TRELUAN + + +There were fors and againsts, as there are with most things in this +world. Father was sorry for me to leave so soon and go so far, and he +scarce thought the wages what I might now look for. Mother felt with him +about the parting, but mother was a far-seeing woman. She thought the +change would be the best thing for me after my trouble, and she thought +a deal of my being with real gentry. Not but that Mrs. Wyngate's family +was all one could think highly of, but Mr. Wyngate's great fortune had +been made in trade, and there was a little more talk and thought of +riches and display among them than quite suited mother's ideas, and she +had sometimes feared it spoiling me. + +'The wages I wouldn't put first,' she said. 'A good home and simple ways +among real gentlefolk--that's what I'd choose for thee, my girl. And +the children are good children and not silly spoilt things, and +straightforward and well-bred, I take it?' + +'All that and more,' I answered. 'If anything, they've been a bit too +strict brought up, I'd say. If I go to them I shall try to make Miss +Lally brighten up--not that she's a dull child, but she has the look of +taking things to heart more than one likes to see at her age. And poor +Master Francis--I'm sure he'd be none the worse of a little petting--so +delicate as he is and his lameness.' + +'You'll find your work to do, if you go--no fear,' said mother. 'Maybe +it's a call.' + +I got to think so myself--and when my lady wrote that all she heard from +Mrs. Wyngate was most satisfactory, I made up my mind to accept her +offer, and told her so when she came down again for a few hours the end +of the week. + +We stayed but a fortnight longer at Brayling--and a busy fortnight it +was. I had my own things to see to a little, and would fain have +finished the set of shirts I had begun for father. The days seemed to +fly. I scarce could believe it was not a dream when I found myself with +all the family in a second-class railway carriage, starting from +Paddington on our long journey. + +It was a long journey, especially as, to save expense, we had come up +from Brayling that same morning. We were not to reach the little town +where we left the railway till nearly midnight, to sleep there, I was +glad for the poor children's sake to hear, and start again the next +morning on a nineteen miles' journey by coach. + +'And then,' said Miss Lally, with one of her deep sighs, 'we shall be at +home.' + +I thought there was some content in her sigh this time. + +'Shall you be glad, dearie, to be at home again?' I said. + +'I fink so,' she answered. 'And oh, I am glad you've comed wif us, +'stead of Sharp. And Francie's almost more gladder still, aren't you, +dear old Francie?' + +'I should just think I was,' said the boy. + +'Sharp,'--and the little girl lowered her voice and glanced round; we +were, so to speak, alone at one end of the carriage,--Miss Lally, her +cousin and I, for Miss Baby was already asleep in my arms and Miss Bess +talking, like a grown-up young lady, at the other end, with her papa +and mamma--'Sharp,' said Miss Lally, 'really _hated_ poor Francie, +because she thought he told mamma about her tempers. And she made mamma +think he was naughty when he wasn't. Francie and I were frightened when +Sharp went away that mamma would think it was his fault. But she didn't. +Queen spoke to her, and Mrs. Dame' (that was her name for old Sarah) +'did too. And you didn't get scolded, did you, Francie?' + +'No,' said Master Francie quietly, 'I didn't.' + +He looked as if he were going to say more, but just then Miss Bess, who +had had enough for the time, of being grown up--and indeed she was but a +complete child at heart--got up from her seat and came to our end of the +carriage. Sir Hulbert was reading his newspaper, and my lady was making +notes in a little memorandum book. + +'What are you talking about?' said the eldest little sister, sitting +down beside me. 'You all look very comfortable, Baby especially.' + +'We are talking about Sharp going away,' replied Miss Lally, 'and +Francie thinking he'd be scolded for it.' + +'Oh! do leave off about that and talk of something nicer. Franz is +really silly. If you'd only speak right out to mamma,' she went on, +'things would be ever so much better.' + +The boy shook his head rather sadly. + +'Now you know,' said Miss Bess, 'they would be. Mamma is never unjust.' + +She was speaking in her clear decided way, and feeling a little afraid +lest their voices should reach to the other end--I wouldn't have liked +my lady to think I encouraged the children in talking her over--I tried +to change the conversation. + +'Won't you tell me a little about your home?' I said. 'You know it'll +all be quite new to me; I've only seen the sea once or twice in my life, +and never lived by it.' + +'Treluan isn't quite close to the sea,' said Master Francis, evidently +taking up my feeling. 'We can see it from some of the top rooms, and +from one end of the west terrace at high tides, and we can hear it too +when it's stormy. But it's really two miles to the coast.' + +'There are such dear little bays, lots of them,' said Miss Bess. 'We can +play Robinson Crusoe and smugglers and all sorts of things, for the bays +are quite separated from each other by the rocks.' + +'There's caves in some,' said Miss Lally, 'rather f'ightening caves, +they're so dark;' but her eyes sparkled as if she were quite able to +enjoy some adventures. + +'We shall be at no loss for nice walks, I see; but how do you amuse +yourselves on wet days?' + +'Oh! we've always plenty to do,' said Miss Bess. 'Miss Kirstin comes +from the Vicarage every morning for our lessons, and twice a week papa +teaches Franz and me Latin in the afternoon, and the house is very big, +you know. When we can't go out, we may race about in the attics over the +nurseries. There's a stair goes up to the tower, just by the nursery +door, and you pass the attics on the way. They're called the tower +attics, because there are lots more over the other end of the house. +Francie's room is in the tower.' + +It was easy to see by this talk that Treluan was a large and important +place. + +'I suppose the house is very, very old?' I said. + +'Oh yes! thousands--I mean hundreds--of years old. Centuries mean +hundreds, don't they, Franz?' said she, turning to her cousin. + +'Yes, dear,' he answered gently, though I could see he was inclined to +smile a little. 'If you know English history,' he went on to me, 'I +could tell you exactly how old, Treluan is. The first bit of it was +built in the reign of King Henry the Third, though it's been changed +ever so often since then. About a hundred years ago the Penroses were +very rich, very rich indeed. But when one of them died--our great, great +grand-uncle, I think it was--and his nephew took possession, it was +found the old man had sold a lot of the land secretly--it wasn't to be +told till his death--and no one has ever been able to find out what he +did with the money. It was the best of the land too.' + +'And they were so surprised,' said Miss Bess, 'for he'd been a very +saving old man, and they thought there'd be lots of money over, any way. +Wasn't it too bad of him--horrid old thing?' + +'Queen,' said Miss Lally gravely. 'You know we fixed never to call him +that, 'cos he's dead. He was a--oh, what's that word?--something like +those things in the hall at home--helmet--was it that? No--do tell me, +Queen.' + +'You're muddling it up with crusaders, you silly little thing,' said +Miss Bess. 'How could he have been a crusader only a hundred years ago?' + +'No, no, it isn't that--I said it was _like_ it,' said Miss Lally, +ready to cry. 'What's the other word for helmet?' + +'I know,' said Master Francis, '_vizor_--and----' + +'Yes, yes--and the old man was a _miser_, that's it,' said the child. +'Papa said so, and he said it's like a' illness, once people get it they +can't leave off.' + +Miss Bess and Master Francis could not help laughing at the funny way +the child said it, nor could I myself, for that matter. And then they +went on to tell me more of the strange old story--how their great +grandfather and their grandfather after him had always gone on hoping +the missing money would sooner or later turn up, though it never did, +till--putting what the children told me together with my lady's own +words--it became clear that poor Sir Hulbert had come into a sadly +impoverished state of things. + +'Perhaps the late baronet and his father were not of the "saving" sort,' +I said to myself, and from what I came to hear afterwards, I fancy I was +about right. + +After a while my lady came to our end of the carriage. She was afraid, +she said, I'd find Miss Baby too heavy--wouldn't I lay her comfortably +on the seat, there was plenty of room?--my lady was always thoughtful +for others--and then when we had got the child settled, she sat down +and joined in our talk a little. + +'We've been telling Martha about Treluan and about the old uncle that +did something with the money,' said Miss Bess. + +My lady did not seem to mind. + +'It is a queer story, isn't it?' she said. 'Worse than queer, +indeed----' and she sighed. 'Though even with it, things would not be as +they are, if other people had not added their part to them.' + +She glanced round in a half impatient way, and somehow her glance fell +on Master Francis, and I almost started as I caught sight of the +expression that had come over her face--it was a look of real dislike. + +'Sit up, Francis--do, for goodness' sake,' she said sharply; 'you make +yourself into a regular humpback.' + +The boy's pale, almost sallow face reddened all over. He had been +listening with interest to the talking, and taking his part in it. Now +he straightened himself nervously, murmuring something that sounded +like, 'I beg your pardon, Aunt Helen,' and sat gazing out of the window +beside him as if lost in his own thoughts. I busied myself with pulling +the rugs better over Miss Baby, so that my lady should not see my face +just then. But I think she felt sorry for her sharp tone, for when she +spoke again it was even more pleasantly than usual. + +'Have you told nurse other things about Treluan, children?' she said. +'It is really a dear old place,' she went on to me; 'it might be made +_quite_ delightful if Sir Hulbert could spend a little more upon it. I +had set my heart on new furnishing your room this year, Bess darling, +but I'm afraid it will have to wait.' + +'Never mind, dear,' said Miss Bess comfortingly, in her old-fashioned +way, 'there's no hurry. If I could have fresh covers to the chairs, the +furniture itself--I mean the _wood_ part--is quite good.' + +'I did get some nice chintz in London,' said her mamma; 'there was some +selling off rather cheap. But it's the getting things made--everything +down with us is so difficult and expensive,' and my lady sighed. Her +mind seemed full of the one idea, and I began to think she should try to +take a cheerier view of things. + +'If you'll excuse me mentioning it,' I said, 'I have had some experience +in the cutting out of chair-covers and such things. It would be a great +pleasure to me to help to make the young ladies' rooms nice.' + +'That would be very nice indeed,' said my lady; 'I really should like to +do what we can to brighten up the old house. I expect it will look very +gloomy to you, nurse, till you get used to it. I do want Bess's room to +look better. Of course Lally is in the nursery still, and won't need a +room of her own for a long time yet.' + +Miss Lally was sitting beside me, and as her mamma spoke, I heard a very +tiny little sigh. + +'Never mind, Miss Lally dear,' I whispered. 'We'll brighten up the +nurseries too, nicely.' + +These little scraps of talk come back to my mind now, when I think of +that first journey down to Treluan so many years ago. I put them down +such as they are, as they may help better than words of my own to give +an idea of the dear children and all about them, as they then were. + +We reached Treluan the afternoon of the next day. It was a dull day +unfortunately, though the very middle of summer--rainy and gray. Of +course every one knows that there's much weather of that kind in the +west country, but no doubt it added to the impression of gloom with +which the first sight of the old house struck me, I must confess. +Gloom, perhaps, is hardly the word to use; it was more a feeling of +desertedness, almost of decayed grandeur, quite unlike anything I had +ever seen before. For in my former place everything had been bright and +new, fresh and perfect of its kind. Afterwards, when I came to see into +things better, I found there was no neglect or mismanagement; everything +that _could_ be done was done by Sir Hulbert outside, and my lady in her +own department--uphill and trying work though it must often have been +for them. + +But that first evening, when I looked round the great lofty hall into +which my lady had led the way, dusky and dim already with the rain +pattering against the high arched windows and a chilly feeling in the +air, the half dozen servants or so, who had come out to meet +us--evidently the whole establishment--standing round, I must own that +in spite of the children's eager excitement and delight at finding +themselves at home again, my heart went down. I did feel so +very far away from home and father and mother, and everything +I had ever known. The first thing to cheer me was when the old +housekeeper--cook-housekeeper she really was--Mrs. Brent, came forward +after speaking to my lady, and shook me kindly by the hand. + +'Welcome to Treluan, Nurse Heatherdale,' she said. And here I should +explain that as there was already a Martha in the house, my lady had +expressed her wish that I should be called 'nurse,' or 'Heatherdale,' +from which came my name of 'Heather,' that I have always been called by. +'Welcome to Treluan, and don't go for to think that it's always as dull +as you see it just now, as like as not to-morrow will be bright and +sunny.' + +She was a homely-looking body with a very kind face, not Cornish bred I +found afterwards, though she had lived there many years. Something about +her made me think of mother, and I felt the tears rise to my eyes, +though no one saw. + +'Shall I show nurse the way upstairs, my lady?' she said. For Mrs. Brent +was like her looks, simple and friendly like. She had never known +Treluan in its grand days of course, though she had known it when things +were a good deal easier than at present; and that evening, when the +children were asleep, she came up to sit with me a bit, and, though with +perfect respect to her master and mistress and no love of gossip in her +talk (for of that she was quite free), she explained to me a few things +which already had puzzled me a little. No praise was too high for Sir +Hulbert with her, and my lady was a really good, high-minded woman. 'But +she takes her troubles too heavy,' said Mrs. Brent; 'she's like to break +her heart at having no son of her own, and that and other things make +her not show her best self to poor little Master Francis, though, +considering he's been here since he was four, 'tis a wonder he doesn't +seem to her like a child of her own. And Sir Hulbert feels it; it's a +real grief to him, for he loved Master Francis's father dearly through +all the troubles he caused them, and anyway 'tis not fair to visit the +father's sin on the innocent child.' + +Then she told me how Master Francis's father had made things worse by +his extravagance, half-breaking his young wife's heart and leaving debts +behind him, when he was killed by an accident; and that Sir Hulbert, for +the honour of the family, had taken these debts upon himself. + +'His wife was a pretty young creature, half a foreigner. Sir Hulbert had +her brought here with the boy, and here she died, not long before Miss +Lalage was born, and so, failing a son, Master Francis is the heir, and +a sweet, good young gentleman he is, though nothing as to looks. 'Tis a +pity he's so shy and timid in his ways; it gives my lady the idea he's +not straightforward, though that I'm very sure he is, and most +affectionate at heart, though he hasn't the knack of showing it.' + +'Except to Miss Lally, I should say,' I put in; 'how those two do cling +together, to be sure.' + +'He loves them all dearly, my lady too, though he's frightened of her. +Miss Lally's the one he's most at home with, because she's so little, +and none of Miss Bess's masterful ways about her. Poor dear Miss Lally, +many's the trouble she's got into for Master Francis's sake.' + +All this was very interesting to me, and helped to clear my mind in some +ways from the first, which was, I take it, a good thing. Mrs. Brent said +little about Sharp, but I could see she had not approved of her; and she +was so kind as to add some words about myself, and feeling sure I would +make the children happy, especially the two whom it was easy to see were +her own favourites, Miss Lally and her cousin. This made me feel the +more earnest to do my very best in every way for the young creatures +under my care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A NURSERY TEA + + +Writing down that talk with good Mrs. Brent made me put aside the +account of our arrival at Treluan, clearly though I remember it. Even to +this day I never go up the great staircase--of course it is not often +that I pass that way--without recalling the feelings with which I +stepped up it for the first time--Mrs. Brent in front, carrying a small +hand-lamp, the passages being so dark, though it was still early in the +evening; the children running on before me, except Miss Baby, who was +rather sleepy and very cross, poor dear, so that half way up I had to +lift her in my arms. All up the dark wainscoted walls, dead and gone +Penroses looked down upon us, in every sort of ancient costume. They +used to give me a half eerie feeling till I got to know them better and +to take a certain pride in them, feeling myself, as I came to do, +almost like one of the family, though in a humble way. + +At the top of the great staircase we passed along the gallery, which +runs right across one side of the hall below; then through a door on the +right and down a long passage ending in a small landing, from which a +back staircase ran down again to the ground floor. The nurseries in +those days were the two large rooms beyond, now turned into a +billiard-room, my present lady thinking them scarcely warm enough for +the winter. It is handy too to have the billiard-room near the +tower, where the smoking-room now is, and the spare rooms for +gentlemen-visitors. A door close beside the nurseries opened on to the +tower stair; some little way up this stair another door leads into the +two or three big attics over the nurseries, which the children used as +playrooms in the wet weather. Master Francis's room was the lowest door +on the tower staircase, half way as it were, as to level, between the +nurseries and the attics. The ground-floor rooms of the tower were +entered from below, as the separate staircase only began from the +nursery floor. All these particulars, of course, I learnt by degrees, +having but a very general idea of things that first night; but plans of +houses and buildings have always had an interest for me, and as a girl +I think I had a quick eye for sizes and proportions. I do remember the +first time I saw the ground-floor room of the tower, under Master +Francis's, so to say, wondering to myself how it came to be so low in +the ceiling, seeing that the floor of his room was several feet higher +than that of the nurseries. No doubt others would have been struck by +this also, had the lowest room in the tower been one in regular use, but +as long as any one could remember it had only been a sort of +lumber-room. It was only by accident that I went into it one day, months +after I had come to Treluan. + +The nurseries were nice airy rooms; the schoolroom was underneath the +day nursery, down on the ground floor; and Miss Bess's room was off the +little landing I spoke of before you came to the nursery passage. But +all seemed dim and dusky in the half light, that first evening. It was +long before the days of gas, of course, except in towns, though that, I +am told, is now thought nothing of compared to this new electric light, +which Sir Bevil is thinking of establishing here, to be made on the +premises in some wonderful way. And even lamps at that time were very +different from what they are now, when every time my lady goes up to +town she brings back some beautiful new invention for turning night into +day. + +I was glad, I remember, June though it was, to see a bright fire in the +nursery grate--Mrs. Brent was always thoughtful--and the tea laid out +nice and tidy on the table. Miss Baby brightened up at sight of it, and +the others gathered round to see what good things the housekeeper had +provided for them by way of welcome home. + +'I hope there's some clotted cream,' said Miss Bess; 'yes, that's right! +Nurse has never seen it before, I'm sure. Fancy, Mrs. Brent, mamma says +the silly people in London call it Devonshire cream, and I'm sure it's +far more Cornish. And honey and some of your own little scones and +saffron cakes, that is nice! Mayn't we have tea immediately?' + +'I must wash my hands,' said Master Francis, 'they did get so black in +the carriage.' + +'And mine too,' said Miss Lally. 'Oh, nurse, mayn't Francis wash his for +once in the night nursery, to be quick?' + +'Why didn't you both keep your gloves on, you dirty children?' said Miss +Bess in her masterful way. 'My hands are as clean as clean, and of +course Francis mustn't begin muddling in the nursery. You'd never have +asked Sharp that, Lally. It's just the sort of thing mamma doesn't like. +I shall take my things off in my own room at once.' And she marched to +the door as she spoke, stopping for a moment on the way to say to +me--'Heatherdale, you'll come into my room, won't you, as soon as ever +you can, to talk about the new chair-covers?' + +'I won't forget about them, Miss Bess,' I said quietly; 'but for a few +days I am sure to be busy, unpacking and looking over the things that +were left here.' + +The child said nothing more, but I saw by the lift of her head that she +was not altogether pleased. + +'Now Master Francis,' I went on, 'perhaps you had better run off to your +own room to wash your hands. It's always best to keep to regular ways.' + +The boy obeyed at once. I had, to tell the truth, been on the point of +letting him do as Miss Lally had wanted, but Miss Bess's speech had +given me a hint, though I was not sorry for her not to have seen it. I +should be showing Master Francis no true kindness to begin by any look +of spoiling him, and I saw by a little smile on Mrs. Brent's face that +she thought me wise, even though it was not till later in the evening +that I had the long talk with her that I have already mentioned. + +Our tea was bright and cheery, Miss Baby's spirits returned, and she +kept us all laughing by her funny little speeches. My lady came in when +we had nearly finished, just to see how all the children were--perhaps +too, for she was full of kind thoughtfulness, to make me feel myself +more at home. She sat down in the chair by the fire, with a little sigh, +and I was sorry to see the anxious, harassed look on her beautiful face. + +'You all look very comfortable,' she said; 'please give me a cup of tea, +nurse. I found such a lot of things to do immediately, that I've not had +time to think of tea yet, and poor Sir Hulbert is off in the rain to see +about some broken fences. Oh dear! what a contrary world it seems,' she +added half laughingly. + +'How did the fences get broken, mamma?' said Miss Bess; 'and why didn't +Garth get them mended at once without waiting to tease papa the moment +he got home?' + +'Some cattle got wild and broke them, and if they are not put right at +once, more damage may be done. But all these repairs are expensive. It +only happened two days ago; poor Garth was obliged to tell papa before +doing it. Dear me,' she said again, 'it really does seem sometimes as if +money would put everything in life right.' + +'Oh! my lady,' I exclaimed hastily, and then I got red with shame at my +forwardness and stopped short. I felt very sorry for her; the one +thought seemed never out of her mind, and bid fair to poison her happy +home. I felt too that it was scarcely the sort of talk for the children +to hear, Miss Bess being already in some ways so old for her years, and +the two others scarce as light-hearted as they should have been. + +My lady smiled at me. + +'Say on, Heatherdale; I'd like to hear what you think about it.' + +I felt my face getting still redder, but I had brought it on myself. + +'It was only, my lady,' I began, 'that it seems to me that there are so +many troubles worse than want of money. There's my last lady's sister, +for instance, Mrs. Vernon,--everything in the world has she that money +can give, but she's lost all her babies, one after the other, and she's +just heart-broken. Then there's young Lady Mildred Parry, whose parents +own the finest place near my home, and she's their only child; but she +had a fall from her horse two years ago and her back is injured for +life; she often drives past our cottage, lying all stretched-out-like, +in a carriage made on purpose.' + +My lady was silent. Suddenly, to my surprise, Master Francis looked up +quickly. + +'I don't think I'd mind that so very much,' he said, 'not if my back +didn't hurt badly. I think it would be better than walking with your leg +always aching, and I daresay everybody loves that girl dreadfully.' + +He stopped as suddenly as he had begun, giving a quick frightened glance +round, and growing not red but still paler than usual, as was his way. + +'Poor little Francie,' said Miss Lally, stretching her little hand out +to him and looking half ready to cry. + +'Don't be silly, Lally; if Francis's leg hurts him he has only to say +so, and it will be attended to as it has always been. If everybody loves +that young Lady Mildred, no doubt it is because she is sweet and loving +_to_ everybody.' + +Then she grew silent again and seemed to be thinking. + +'You are right, nurse,' she said. 'I am very grateful when I see my +dear children all well and happy.' + +'And _good_,' added Miss Bess with her little toss of the head. + +'Well, yes, of course,' said her mother smiling. It was seldom, if ever, +Miss Bess was pulled up for anything she took it into her head to say, +whether called for or not. + +'But,' my lady went on in a lower voice, turning to me, as if she hardly +wished the children to hear, 'want of money isn't my only, nor indeed my +worst trouble.--I must go,' and she got up as she spoke; 'there are +twenty things waiting for me to attend to downstairs. Good-night, +children dear; I'll come up and peep at you in bed if I possibly can, +but I'm not sure if I shall be able. If not, nurse must do instead of me +for to-night,' and she turned towards the door, moving in the quick +graceful way she always did. + +'Franz!' said Miss Bess reprovingly; the poor boy was already getting +off his chair, but he was too late to open the door. I doubt if his aunt +noticed his moving at all. + +'You're always so slow and clumsy,' said his eldest cousin. The words +sounded unkind, but it was greatly that Miss Bess wanted him to please +her mamma, for the child had an excellent heart. + +There was plenty to do after that first evening for all of us. I got +sleepy Miss Baby to bed as soon as might be. The poor dear, she _was_ +sleepy! I remember how, when she knelt down in her little white +nightgown to say her prayers, she could only just get out, 'T'ank God +for b'inging us safe home;' as she had evidently been taught to say +after a journey. + +'Baby thinks that's enough, when she's been ter-a-velling,' explained +Miss Lally. + +Then I set to work to unpack, and it was quite surprising how handy the +two elder girls--and not they only, but Master Francis too--were in +helping me, and explaining where their things were kept and all the +nursery ways. Then I had to be shown Miss Bess's room, and nearly +offended her little ladyship by saying I hadn't time just then to settle +about the new covers. For I was determined to give some attention to +Master Francis also. + +His room was very plain, not to say bare; not that I hold with pampering +boys, but he being delicate, it did seem to me he might have had a couch +or easy-chair to rest his poor leg. He was very eager to make the best +of things, telling me I had no idea what a beautiful view there was +from his windows, of which there were three. + +'I love the tower,' he said. 'I wouldn't change my room here for any +other in the house.' + +And I must say I thought it was very nice of him to put things in that +way, considering too the sharp tone in which I had heard his aunt speak +to him that very evening. + +When I woke the next morning I found that Mrs. Brent's words had come +true, for the sun was pouring in at the window, and when I drew up the +blind and looked out I would scarce have known the place to be the same. +The outlook was bare, to be sure, compared with the well-wooded country +about my home; but the grounds just around the house were carefully +kept, though in a plain way, no bedding-out plants or rare foreign +shrubs, such as I had been used to see at Mr. Wyngate's country place. +But all about Treluan there was the charm which no money will buy--the +charm of age, very difficult to put into words, though I felt it +strongly. + +A little voice just then came across the room. + +'Nurse, dear.' It was Miss Lalage. 'It's a very fine day, isn't it? I +have been watching the sun getting up ever so long. When I first +wokened, it was nearly quite dark.' + +I looked at the child. She was sitting up in her cot; her face looked +tired, and her large gray eyes had dark lines beneath them, as if she +had not slept well. Miss Baby was still slumbering away in happy +content--she was a child to sleep, to be sure! A round of the clock was +nothing for her. + +'My dear Miss Lally,' I said, 'you have never been awake since dawn, +surely. Is your head aching, or is something the matter?' + +She gave a little sigh. + +'No, fank you, it's nothing but finking, I mean th-inking. Oh! I wish I +could speak quite right, Bess says it's so babyish.' + +'Thinking! and what have you been thinking about, dearie? You should +have none but happy thoughts. Isn't it nice to be at home again? and +this beautiful summer weather! We can go such nice walks. You've got to +show me all the pretty places about.' + +'Yes,' said Miss Lally. 'I'd like that, but we'll be having lessons next +week,--not all day long, we can go beautiful walks in the afternoons.' + +'Was it about lessons you were troubling your little head?' + +'No,' she said, though not very heartily. 'I don't like them much, at +least not those _very_ high up sums--up you know to the _very_ top of +the slate--that won't never come right. But I wasn't finking of them; it +was about poor mamma, having such ter-oubles. Francie and I do fink such +a lot about it. Bess does too, but she's so clever, she's sure she'll do +something when she's big to get a lot of money for papa and mamma. But +I'm not clever, and Francie has got his sore leg; we can't fink of +anything we could do, unless we could find some fairies; but Francie's +sure there aren't any, and he's past ten, so he must know.' + +'You can do a great deal, dear Miss Lally,' I said. 'Don't get it into +your head you can't. Rich or poor, there's nothing helps papas and +mammas so much as their children being good, and loving, and obedient; +and who knows but what Master Francis may be a very clever man some day, +whether his poor leg gets better or not.' + +The little girl seemed pleased. It needed but a kind word or two to +cheer her up at any time. + +'Oh! I am so glad Sharp has gone away and you comed,' she said. + +She was rather silent while I was dressing her, but when she had had +her bath, and I was putting on her shoes and stockings, she began again. + +'Nurse,' she asked, 'do stockings cost a lot of money to buy?' + +'Pretty well,' I said. 'At my home, mother always taught us to knit our +own. I could show you a pair I knitted before I was much bigger than +you.' + +How the child's face did light up! + +'I've seen a little girl knitting who's not much bigger than me. +Couldn't you show me how to make some stockings, and then mamma wouldn't +have to buy so many?' + +'Certainly I could; I have plenty of needles with me, and I daresay we +could get some wool,' I replied. 'I'll tell you what, Miss Lally; you +might knit some for Master Francis; that would be pleasing him as well +as your mamma. There's a village not far off, I suppose--you can +generally buy wool at a village shop.' + +'There's our village across the park, and there's two shops. I'll ask +Bess; she'll know if we could get wool. Oh! nurse, how pleased I am; I +wonder if we could go to-day. I've got some pennies and a shilling. I do +like to have nice things to think of. I wish Francie would be quick, I +do so want to tell him, or do you think I should keep it a surprise for +him?' + +And she danced about in her eager delight, which at last woke Miss Baby, +who opened her eyes and stared about her, with a sleepy smile of content +on her plump rosy face. She was a picture of a child, and so easy +minded. It is wonderful, to be sure, how children brought up like little +birds in one nest yet differ from each other. I began to feel very +satisfied that I should never regret having come to Treluan. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SHOP IN THE VILLAGE + + +Before many days had passed I felt quite settled down. The weather was +most lovely for some time just then, and this I think always helps to +make one feel more at home in a strange place. That first day, and for +two or three following, we could not go long walks, as I had really so +much to see to indoors. Miss Bess had to make up her mind to wait as +patiently as she could, till other things were attended to, for the +doing up of her room, and, what I was more sorry for, poor Miss Lally +had also to wait about beginning the knitting she had so set her heart +on. + +I think it was the fourth day after our arrival that I began at last to +feel pretty clear. All the nursery drawers and cupboards tidied up and +neatly arranged; the children's clothes looked over and planned about +for the rest of the summer. My lady went over them with me, and I could +see that it was a comfort to her to feel assured that I understood the +need for economy, and prided myself, thanks to my good old mother, on +neat patches and darns quite as much as on skill on making new things. +My poor lady--it went to my heart to see how often she would have liked +to get fresh and pretty frocks and hats for the young ladies, for she +had good taste and great love of order. But after all there is often a +good deal of pleasure in contriving and making the best of what one has. + +'You must take nurse a good walk to-day, children,' said my lady as she +left the room. 'I shall be busy with your papa, but you might get as far +as the sea, I think, if you took old Jacob and the little cart for Baby +if she gets tired, and for Francis if his leg hurts him. How has it +been, by the by, for the last day or two, Francis?' + +Her tone was rather cold, but still I could see a little flush of +pleasure come over the boy's face. + +'Oh! much better, thank you, auntie,' he said eagerly. 'It's only just +after the day in the railway that it seems to hurt more.' + +'Then try to be bright and cheerful,' she said. 'Remember you are not +the only one in the world that has troubles to bear.' + +The boy didn't answer, but I could see his thin little face grow pale +again, and I just wished that my lady had stopped at her first kindly +inquiry. A deal of mischief is done, it seems to me, by people not +knowing when it is best to stop. + +Jacob, the donkey, was old and no mistake. Larkins's 'Peter' was young +compared to him, and the cart was nothing but a cart such as light +luggage might be carried in. It had no seats, but we took a couple of +footstools with us, which served the purpose, and many a pleasant ramble +we had with the shabby little old cart and poor Jacob. + +'Which way shall we go?' said Miss Bess, as we started down the drive. +'You know, nurse, there's ever so many ways to the sea here. It's all +divided into separate little bays. You can't get from one to the other +except at low tide, and with a lot of scrambling over the rocks, so we +generally fix before we start which bay we'll go to.' + +'Oh! do let's go to Polwithan Bay!' said Miss Lally. + +'It's not nearly so pretty as Trewan,' said Miss Bess, 'and there are +the smugglers' caves at Trewan. We often call it the Smugglers' Bay +because of that. We've got names of our own for the bays as well as the +proper ones.' + +'There's one we call Picnic Bay,' said Master Francis, 'because there +are such beautiful big flat stones for picnic tables. But I think the +Smugglers' Bay is the most curious of all. I'm sure nurse would like to +see it. Why do you want to go to Polwithan, Lally? It is rather a stupid +little bay.' + +'Can we go to the Smugglers' Bay by the village?' asked Miss Lally, and +then I understood her, though I did not know that tightly clutched in +her hot little hand were the shilling and the three or four pennies she +had taken out of her money box on the chance of buying the wool for her +stockings. + +'It would be ever such a round,' said Miss Bess; but then she added +politely--she was very particular about politeness, when she wasn't put +out--'but of course if nurse wants to see the village that wouldn't +matter. We've plenty of time. Would you like to see it, nurse?' + +A glance at Miss Lally's anxious little face decided me. + +'Well, I won't say but what it would interest me to see the village,' I +replied. 'Of course it's just as well and might be handy for me to know +my way about, so as to be able to find the post-office or fetch any +little thing from the shop if it were wanted.' + +This was quite true, though I won't deny but that another reason was +strongest and Miss Lally knew it, for she crept up to me and slid her +little hand into mine gratefully. + +'Very well, then,' said Miss Bess, 'we'll go round by the village. But +remember if you're tired, Lally, you mustn't grumble, for it was you +that first spoke of going that way.' + +'There's the cart if Miss Lally's tired,' I said. 'Three could easily +get into it, and Jacob can't be knocked up if only Miss Baby goes in it +all the way there.' + +'Nurse,' said Miss Lally suddenly--I don't think she had heard what we +were saying--'there's two shops in the village.' + +'Are there, my dear,' I said; 'and is one the post-office? And what do +they sell?' + +'Yes, one is the post-office, but they sell other things 'aside stamps,' +Miss Lally replied. 'They are both _everything_ shops.' + +'But the _not_ the post-office one is much the nicest,' said Master +Francis. 'It's kept by old Prideaux--he's an old sailor and----' Here +the boy looked round, but there was no one in sight. Still he lowered +his voice. 'People do say that after he left off being a proper sailor +he was a smuggler. It runs in the family, Mrs. Brent says,' he went on +in the old-fashioned way I noticed in all the children. 'His father was +a regular smuggler. Brent says she's seen some queer transactions when +she was a girl in the kitchen behind the shop.' + +'I thought Mrs. Brent was a stranger in these parts by her birth and +upbringing,' I said. + +'So she is,' said Master Francis, 'but she came here on a visit when she +was a girl to her uncle at the High Meadows Farm, and that's how she +came first to Treluan. Grandfather was alive then, and papa and Uncle +Hulbert were boys. Even then Prideaux was an old man. Uncle Hulbert says +he knows lots of queer stories--he does tell them sometimes, but not as +if they had happened here, and you have to pretend to think he and his +father had nothing to do with them themselves.' + +'It was he that told us first about the smugglers' caves, wasn't it?' +said Miss Bess. 'Fancy, nurse, some treasures were found in one of the +caves, not so very long ago, hid away in a dark corner far in. There +was lace and some beautiful fine silk stockings and some bottles of +brandy----' + +'And a lot of cigars and tobacco, but they had gone all bad, and some of +the brandy hadn't any taste in it, though some was quite good. But +grandpapa was a dreadfully honest man; he would send all the things up +to London, just as they were found, for he said they belonged to the +Queen.' + +'I wonder if the Queen wored the silk stockings her own self?' said Miss +Lally. + +'If _we_ found some treasures,' said Miss Bess, 'do you think we'd have +to send them to the Queen too? It would be very greedy of her to keep +them, when she has such lots and lots of everything.' + +'That's just because she's queen; she can't help it. It's part of being +a queen, and I daresay she gives away lots too. Besides, you wouldn't +care for brandy or cigars, Bess?' said Master Francis. + +'We could sell them,' answered Miss Bess, 'if they were good.' + +'P'raps the Queen would send us a nice present back,' said Miss Lally. +'Fancy, if she sent us a whole pound, what beautiful things we could +buy.' + +'It would be great fun to find treasures, whatever they were,' said Miss +Bess. 'If we see old Prideaux to-day, I'll ask him if he thinks +possibly there's still some in the caves. Only it wouldn't do to go into +his shop on purpose to ask him--he'd think it funny.' + +'And you'll have to be very careful how you ask him,' said Master +Francis. 'Besides, I'm quite sure if there were any to be found, he'd +have found them before this.' + +'Does he sell wool in his shop, do you think, Miss Bess?' I inquired, +and I felt Miss Lally's hand squeeze mine. 'Wool, or worsted for +knitting stockings, I mean. I want to get some, and that would be a +reason for speaking to him.' + +'I daresay he does; at least his daughter's always knitting, and she +must get wool somewhere. Anyway we can ask,' answered Miss Bess, quite +pleased with the idea. + +'Now, nurse,' said Master Francis suddenly, 'keep your eyes open. When +we turn into the field at the end of this little lane--we've come by a +short-cut to the village, for the cart can go through the field quite +well--you'll have your first good view of the sea. We can see it from +some of the windows at Treluan and from the end of the terrace, but +nothing like as well.' + +I was glad he had prepared me, for we had been interested in our +talking, and I hadn't paid much attention to the way we were going. Now +I did keep my eyes open, and I was well rewarded. The field was a +sloping one--sloping upwards, I mean, as we entered it--and till we got +to the top of the rising ground we saw nothing but the clear sky above +the grass, but then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise. The +coast-line lay before us for a considerable distance at each side. Just +below us were the rocky bays or creeks the children had told me of, the +sand gleaming yellow and white in the sunshine, for the tide was half +way out, though near enough still for us to see the glisten of the foam +and the edge of the little waves, as they rippled in sleepily. And +farther out the deep purple-blue of the ocean, softening into a misty +gray, there, where the sky and the water met or melted into each other. +A little to the right rose the smoke of several houses--lazily, for it +was a very still day. These houses lay nestled in together, on the way +to the shore, and seemed scarcely enough to be called a village; but as +we left the field again to rejoin the road, I saw that these few houses +were only the centre of it, so to speak, as others straggled along +the road in both directions for some way, the church being one of the +buildings the nearest to Treluan house. + +[Illustration: Then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise.] + +'It is a beautiful view,' said I, after a moment's silence, as we all +stood still at the top of the slope, the children glancing at me, as if +to see what I thought of it. 'I've never seen anything approaching to it +before, and yet it's a bare sort of country--many wouldn't believe it +could be so beautiful with so few trees, but I suppose the sea makes up +for a good deal.' + +'And it's such a lovely day,' said Master Francis. 'I should say the sun +makes up for a good deal. We've lots of days here when it's so gray and +dull that the sea and the sky seem all muddled up together. I'm not so +very fond of the sea myself. People say it's so beautiful in a storm, +and I suppose it is, but I don't care for that kind of beauty, there's +something so furious and wild about it. I don't think raging should be +counted beautiful. Shouldn't we only call good things beautiful?' + +He looked up with a puzzle in his eyes. Master Francis always had +thoughts beyond his age and far beyond me to answer. + +'I can't say, I'm sure,' I replied. 'It would take very clever people +indeed to explain things like that, though there's verses in the Bible +that do seem to bear upon it, especially in the Psalms.' + +'I know there are, but when it tells of Heaven, it says "there shall be +no more sea,"' said Master Francis very gravely. 'And I think I like +that best.' + +'Dear Francie,' said Miss Lally, taking his hand, as she always did when +she saw him looking extra grave, though of course she could not +understand what he had been saying. + +We were out of the field by this time, and Miss Bess caught hold of +Jacob's reins, for up till now the old fellow had been droning along at +his own pace. + +'Come along, Jacob, waken up,' she said, as she tugged at him, 'or we'll +not get to Polwithan Bay to-day, specially if we're going to gossip with +old Prideaux on the way.' + +We passed the church in a moment, and close beside it the Vicarage. + +'That's where Miss Kirstin lives,' said Miss Bess. 'Come along quick, I +don't want her to see us.' + +'Don't you like her, my dear?' I said, a little surprised. + +'Oh yes! we like her very well, but she makes us think of lessons, and +while it is holidays we may as well forget them,' and by the way in +which Master Francis and Miss Lally joined her in hurrying past Mr. +Kirstin's house, I could see they were of the same mind. + +Miss Kirstin, when I came to know her, I found to be a good well-meaning +young lady, but she hadn't the knack of making lessons very interesting. +It wasn't perhaps altogether her fault; in those days books for young +people, both for lessons and amusement, were very different from what +they are now. School-books were certainly very dry and dull, and there +was a sort of feeling that making lessons pleasant or taking to children +would have been weak indulgence. + +The church was a beautiful old building. I am not learned enough to +describe it, and perhaps after all it was more beautiful from age than +from anything remarkable in itself. I came to love it well; it was a +real grief to me and to others besides me when it had to be partly +pulled down a few years ago, and all the wonderful growth of ivy spoilt. +Though I won't say but what our new vicar--the third from Mr. Kirstin +our present one is--is well fitted for his work, both with rich and +poor, and one whom it is impossible not to respect as well as love, +though Mr. Kirstin was a worthy and kind old man in his way. + +A bit farther along the road we passed the post-office, which the +children pointed out to me. The mistress came to the door when she saw +us, and curtsied to the little ladies, with a smile and a word of +'Welcome home again, Miss Penrose!' She took a good look at me out of +the corner of her eye, I could see. For having lived so much in small +country places, I knew how even a fresh servant at the big house will +set all the village talking. + +Miss Lally glanced in at the shop window as we passed. There was indeed, +as she had said, a mixture of 'everything,' from tin pails and +mother-of-pearl buttons to red herrings and tallow-candles. + +'Nurse,' she whispered, '_in case_ we can't get the wool at Prideaux', +we might come back here, but I'm afraid Bess wouldn't like to turn back. +Oh! I do hope'--with one of her little sighs--'they'll have it at the +other shop.' + +And so they had, though when we got there a little difficulty arose. The +two elder children both wanted to come in, having got their heads full +of asking the old man about the smugglers' caves, and thinking it was +for myself I wanted the wool. Never a word said poor Miss Lally, when +her sister told her to stay outside with Miss Baby and the cart; but I +was getting to know the look of her little face too well by this time +not to understand the puckers about her eyes, and the droop at the +corners of her mouth. + +'We may as well all go in,' I said, lifting Miss Baby out of the cart. +'There's no one else in the shop, and I want Miss Lally's opinion about +the wool.' + +'_Lally's!_' said Miss Bess rather scornfully; 'she doesn't know +anything about wool, or knitting stockings, nurse.' + +'Ah! well, but perhaps she's going to know something about it,' I said. +'It's a little secret we've got, Miss Bess; you shall hear about it all +in good time.' + +'Oh, well, if it's a secret,' said Miss Bess good-naturedly--she was a +nice-minded child, as they all were--'Franz and I will keep out of the +way while you and Lally get your wool. We'll talk to old Prideaux.' + +He was in the shop, as well as his daughter, who was knitting away as +the children had described her, and the old wife came hurrying out of +the kitchen, when she heard it was the little gentry from Treluan that +were in the shop. They did make a fuss over the children, to be sure; it +wasn't easy for Miss Lally and me to get our bit of business done. But +Sally Prideaux found us just what we wanted--the same wool that she was +knitting stockings of herself, only she had not much of it in stock, and +might be some little time before she could get more. But I told Miss +Lally there'd be enough for a short pair of socks for her cousin--boys +didn't wear knickerbockers and long stockings in those days--adding that +it was best not to undertake too big a piece of work for the first. + +The wool cost one-and-sixpence. It was touching to see the little +creature counting over the money she had been holding tightly in her +hand all the way, and her look of distress when she found it only came +up to one and fourpence halfpenny. + +'Don't you trouble, my dear,' I said, 'I have some coppers in my +pocket.' + +She thanked me as if I had given her three pounds instead of three +halfpence, saying in a whisper--'I'll pay you back, nursie, when I get +my twopence next Saturday;' and then as happy as a little queen she +clambered down off the high stool, her precious parcel in her hand. + +'Won't Francie be pleased?' she said. 'They must be ready for his +birthday, nurse. And won't mamma be pleased when she finds I can knit +stockings, and that she won't have to buy any more?' + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SMUGGLERS' CAVES + + +The others seemed to have been very well entertained while Miss Lally +and I were busy. Mrs. Prideaux had set Miss Baby on the counter, where +she was admiring her to her heart's content--Miss Baby smiling and +chattering, apparently very well pleased. Miss Bess and Master Francis +were talking eagerly with old Prideaux; they turned to us as we came +near. + +[Illustration: Miss Bess and Master Francis were talking eagerly with +old Prideaux.] + +'Oh, nurse!' said Miss Bess, 'Mr. Prideaux says that he shouldn't wonder +if there were treasures hidden away in the smugglers' caves, though it +wouldn't be safe for us to look for them. He says they'd be so very far +in, where it's quite, quite dark.' + +'And one or two of the caves really go a tremendous way underground. +Didn't you say there's one they've never got to the end of?' asked +Master Francis. + +'So they say,' replied the old man, with his queer Cornish accent. It +did sound strange to me then, their talk--though I've got so used to it +now that I scarce notice it at all. 'But I wouldn't advise you to begin +searching for treasures, Master Francis. If there's any there, you'd +have to dig to get at them. I remember when I was a boy a deal of talk +about the caves, and some of us wasted our time seeking and digging. But +the only one that could have told for sure where to look was gone. He +met his death some distance from here, one terrible stormy winter, and +took his secret with him. I have heard tell as he "walks" in one of the +caves, when the weather's quite beyond the common stormy. But it's not +much use, for at such times folk are fain to stay at home, so there's +not much chance of any one ever meeting him.' + +'Then how has he ever been seen?' asked Miss Bess in her quick way; 'and +who was he, Mr. Prideaux? do tell us.' + +But the old man didn't seem inclined to say much more. Perhaps indeed +Miss Bess was too sharp for him, and he did not know how to answer her +first question. + +'Such things is best not said much about,' he replied mysteriously; 'and +talking of treasures, by all accounts you'd have a better chance of +finding some nearer home.' + +He smiled, as if he could have said more had he chosen to do so. The +children opened their eyes in bewilderment. + +'What do you mean?' exclaimed the two elder ones. Miss Lally's mind was +running too much on her stockings for her to pay much attention. +Prideaux did not seem at all embarrassed. + +'Well, sir, it's no secret hereabouts,' he said, addressing Master +Francis in particular, 'that the old, old Squire, Sir David, the last of +that name--there were several David Penroses before him, but never one +since--it's no secret, as I was saying, that a deal of money or property +of some kind disappeared in his last years, and it stands to reason +that, being as great a miser as was ever heard tell of, he couldn't have +spent it. Why, more than half of the lands changed hands in his time, +and what did he do with what he got for them?' + +'That was our great, great grand-uncle,' said Master Francis to me; 'you +remember I told you about him, but I never thought----' he stopped +short. 'It _is_ very queer,' he went on again, as if speaking to +himself. + +But just then, Miss Baby having had enough of Mrs. Prideaux' pettings, +set up a shout. + +'Nurse, nurse,' she said, 'Baby wants to go back to Jacob. Poor Jacob so +tired waiting. Dood-bye, Mrs. Pideaux,' and she began wriggling to get +off the counter, so that I had to hurry forward to lift her down. + +'We'd best be going on,' I said, 'or we'll be losing the finest part of +the afternoon.' + +I didn't feel quite sure that Prideaux' talk was quite what my lady +would approve of for the children. They had a way of taking things up +more seriously than is common with such young creatures, and certainly +they had got in the way--and I couldn't but feel but what my lady was to +blame for this--of thinking too much of the family troubles, especially +the want of wealth, which seemed to them a greater misfortune than it +need have done. Still, being quite a stranger, and them seeming at +liberty to talk to the people about as they did, I didn't feel that it +would have been my place to begin making new rules or putting a stop to +things, as likely as not quite harmless. I resolved, however, to find +out my lady's wishes in such matters at the first opportunity. + +Another half hour brought us close to the shore; the road was a good +one, being used for carting gravel and sea-weed in large quantities to +the village and round about from the little bay--Treluan Bay, that is to +say--it led directly to. But as we were bound for Polwithan Bay, where +the smugglers' caves were, and had made a round for the sake of coming +through the village, we had to cross several fields and follow a rough +track instead of going straight down to the sands. Jacob didn't seem to +mind, I must say, nor Miss Baby neither, though she must have been +pretty well jolted, but it was worth the trouble. + +'Isn't it lovely, nurse?' said Miss Bess, when at last we found +ourselves in the bay on the smooth firm sand, the sea in front of us, +and so encircled on three sides by the rocks that even the path by which +we had come was hidden. + +'This bay is so beautifully shut in,' said Master Francis. 'You could +really fancy that there was no one in the world but us ourselves. I +think it's such a nice feeling.' + +'It's nice when we're all together,' said Miss Lally; 'it would be +rather frightening if anybody was alone.' + +'Alone or not,' said Miss Bess, 'it wouldn't be at all nice when +tea-time came if we had nothing to eat. And fancy, what _should_ we do +at night--we couldn't sleep out on the sand?' + +'We'd have to go into the caves,' said Master Francis. 'It would be +rather fun, with a good fire and with lots of blankets.' + +'And where would you get blankets from, or wood for a fire, you silly +boy?' said Miss Bess. + +'Can we see the caves?' I asked, for having heard so much talk about +them, I felt curious to see them. + +'Of course,' said Master Francis. 'We always explore them every time we +come to this bay. Do you see those two or three dark holes over there +among the rocks, nurse? Those are the caves; come along and I'll show +them to you.' + +I was a little disappointed. I had never seen a cave in my life, but I +had a confused remembrance of pictures in an old book at home of some +caves--'The Mammoth Caves of Kentucky,' I afterwards found they +were--which looked very large and wonderful, and somehow I suppose I had +all the time been picturing to myself that these ones were something of +the same kind. I didn't say anything to the children though, as they +took great pride in showing me all the sights. And after all, when we +got to the caves, they turned out much more curious and interesting than +I expected from the outside. The largest one, though its entrance was so +small, was really as big as a fair-sized church, and narrowing again far +back into a dark mysterious-looking passage, from which Master Francis +told me two or three smaller chambers opened out. + +'And then,' he said, 'after that the passage goes on again--ever so far. +In the old days the smugglers blocked it up with pieces of rock, and it +isn't so very long ago that this was found out. It was somewhere down +along that passage that they found the things I told you of.' + +We went a few yards along the passage, but it soon grew almost quite +dark, and we turned back again. + +'I can quite see it wouldn't be safe to try exploring down there,' I +said. + +'Yes, I suppose so,' said Master Francis, with a sigh. 'I wish I could +find some treasure, all the same. I wonder----' he went on, then stopped +short. 'Nurse,' he began again, 'did you hear what old Prideaux said of +our great grand-uncle the miser? Could it really be true, do you think, +that he hid away money or treasures of some kind?' and he lowered his +voice mysteriously. + +'I shouldn't think it was likely,' I replied. For I had a feeling that +it would not be well for the children to get any such ideas into their +heads. It sounded to me like a sort of fairy tale. I had never come +across anything so romantic and strange in real life. Though for that +matter, Treluan itself, and the kind of old-world feeling about the +place, was quite unlike anything I had ever known before. + +We were outside the cave again by this time; the sunshine seemed +deliciously warm and bright after the chill and gloom inside. Miss Bess +had been listening eagerly to what Master Francis was saying. + +'I can't see but what old Sir David _might_ have hidden treasures away, +as he was a real miser,' she said. + +'And you know that misers are so suspicious, that even when they're +dying they won't trust anybody. I know I've read a story like that,' +said the boy. 'Oh! Bess, just fancy if we could find a lot of money or +diamonds! Wouldn't uncle and aunt be pleased?' + +His whole face lighted up at the very idea. + +'I daresay he hid it all away in a stocking,' put in Miss Lally, whose +head was still full of her knitting. 'I've heard a story of an old woman +miser that did that.' + +'And where would the stocking be hid?' said Miss Bess. 'Besides, if a +stocking was ever so full, it couldn't hold enough money to be a real +treasure.' + +'It might be stuffed with bank notes,' said Master Francis. 'There's +banknotes worth ever so much; aren't there, nurse?' + +'I remember once seeing one of a thousand pounds,' I said. 'That was at +my last place. Mr. Wyngate had to do with business in the city, and he +once brought one home to show the young ladies.' + +'Well, then, you see, Queen,' said Miss Lally, 'there might be a +stocking with enough money to make papa and mamma as rich as rich.' + +'I'm quite sure Sir David's money wasn't put in a stocking,' said Miss +Bess decidedly. 'You've got rather silly ideas, Lally, considering +you're getting on for six.' + +Miss Lally began to look rather doleful. She had been so bright and +cheerful all day that I didn't like to see her little face overcast. We +had left Jacob outside the cave, of course; there was one satisfaction +with him--he was not likely to run away. + +'Miss Baby, dear,' I said, 'aren't you getting hungry? Where's the +basket you were holding in the cart?' + +'Nice cakes in basket,' said the little girl. 'Baby looked, but Baby +didn't eaten them.' + +The basket was still in the cart, and I think they were all very pleased +when they saw what I had brought for them. Some of Mrs. Brent's nice +little saffron buns and a bottle of milk. I remember that I didn't like +the taste of the saffron buns at first, and now I might be Cornish born +and bred, I think it such an improvement to cakes! + +'Another time,' I said, 'we might bring our tea with us. I daresay my +lady wouldn't object.' + +'I'm sure she wouldn't mind,' said Miss Bess. 'We used to have picnic +teas sometimes, when our _quite_, quite old nurse was with us--the one +that's married over to St. Iwalds.' + +'Bess,' said Master Francis, 'you should say "over at," not "over to."' + +'Thank you,' said Miss Bess, 'I don't want you to teach me grammar. +_That_ isn't parson's business.' + +Master Francis grew very red. + +'Did you know, nurse,' said Miss Lally, 'Francie's going to be a +clergy-gentleman?' + +They couldn't help laughing at her, and the laugh brought back good +humour. + +'I want to be one,' said Master Francis, 'but I'm afraid it costs a +great lot to go to college.' + +Poor children, through all their talk and plans the one trouble seemed +always to keep coming up. + +'I fancy that's according a good deal to how young gentlemen take it. +There's some that spend a fortune at college, I've heard, but some that +are very careful; and I expect you'd be that kind, Master Francis.' + +'Yes,' he said, in his grave way. 'I wouldn't want to cost Uncle Hulbert +more than I can help. I wish one could be a clergyman without going to +college though.' + +'You've got to go to school first,' said Miss Bess. 'You needn't bother +about college for a long time yet.' + +Miss Lally sighed. + +'I don't like Francie having to go to school,' she said. 'And the boys +are so rough there; I hope they won't hurt your poor leg, Francie.' + +'It isn't _that_ I mind,' said Master Francie--the boy had a fine spirit +of his own though he was so delicate--'what I mind is the going alone +and being so far away from everybody.' + +'It's a pity,' I said without thinking, 'but what one of you young +ladies had been a young gentleman, to have been a companion for Master +Francis, and to have gone to school together, maybe.' + +'Oh!' said Miss Bess quickly, 'you must never say that to mamma, nurse. +You don't know what a trouble it is to her not to have a boy. She'd have +liked Lally to be a boy most of all. She wanted her to be a boy; she +always says so.' + +Here Master Francis gave a deep sigh in his turn. + +'Oh! how I wish,' he said, 'that I could turn myself into a girl and +Lally into a boy. I wouldn't _like_ to be a girl at all, and I daresay +Lally wouldn't like to be a boy. But to please Aunt Helen I'd do it.' + +'No,' said Miss Lally, 'I don't think I would--not even to please mamma. +I couldn't bear to be a boy.' + +I was rather sorry I had led to this talk. + +'Isn't it best,' I said, 'to take things as they are? Master Francis is +just like your brother--the same name and everything.' + +'I'd like it that way,' said Master Francis, with a pleased look in his +eyes. But I heard Miss Bess, who was walking close beside me, say in a +low voice, 'Mamma will never think of it that way!' + +This talk made some things clearer to me than before, and that evening, +after the children were in bed, I went down to the housekeeper's room +and eased my mind by telling her about it, I felt so afraid of having +said anything uncalled for. But Mrs. Brent comforted me. + +'It's best for you to know,' she said, 'that my lady does make a great +trouble, too great a trouble, to my thinking, of not having a son. And +no doubt it has to do with her coldness to Master Francis, though I +doubt if she really knows this herself, for she's a lady that means to +do right and justly to all about her; I will say that for her.' + +It was really something to be thankful for to have such a good and +sensible woman to ask advice from, for a stranger, as I still was. The +more I knew her, the more she reminded me of my good mother. Plain and +homely in her ways, with no love of gossip about her, yet not afraid to +speak out her mind when she saw it right to do so. Many things would +have been harder at Treluan, the poor dear children would have had less +pleasure in their lives, but for Mrs. Brent's kind thought for them. +That very evening I had had a reason, so to say, for paying a special +visit to the housekeeper's room; for when we had got in from our long +walk, rather tired and certainly very hungry, a nice surprise was +waiting for us in the nursery. The tea-table was already set out most +carefully. There was a pile of Mrs. Brent's hot scones and a beautiful +dish of strawberries. + +'Oh, nurse!' cried Miss Bess, who had run on first, 'quick, quick, look +what a nice tea. I'm sure it's Mrs. Brent! Isn't it good of her?' + +'It's like a birfday,' said Miss Lally. + +And Miss Baby, who had been grumbling a good deal and crying, 'I want my +tea,' nearly jumped out of my arms--I had had to carry her upstairs--at +the sight of it. + +For I'm afraid there's no denying that in those days breakfast, dinner, +and tea filled a large place in Miss Augusta's thoughts. I hope she'll +forgive me for saying so, if she ever sees this. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A RAINY DAY + + +That lovely weather lasted on for about a fortnight without a break, and +many a pleasant ramble we had, for though lessons began again, Miss +Kirstin always left immediately after luncheon, which was the children's +dinner, for the three elder ones always joined Sir Hulbert and my lady +in the dining-room. + +Two afternoons in the week, as I think I have said, Master Francis and +Miss Bess had Latin lessons from Sir Hulbert. Miss Bess, by all +accounts, did not take very kindly to the Latin grammar, and but for +Master Francis helping her--many a time indeed sitting up after his own +lessons were done to set hers right--she would often have got into +trouble with her papa. For indulgent as he was, Sir Hulbert could be +strict when strictness was called for. + +Miss Bess was a curious mixture; to see her and hear her talk you'd have +thought her twice as clever as Miss Lally, and so in some ways she was. +But when it came to book learning, it was a different story. Teaching +Miss Lally--and I had something to do with her in this way, for I used +to hear over the lessons she was getting ready for Miss Kirstin--was +really like running along a smooth road, the child was so eager and +attentive, never losing a word of what was said to her. Miss Bess used +to say that her sister had a splendid memory by nature. But in my long +life I've watched and thought about some things a great deal, and it +seems to me that a good memory has to do with our own trying, more than +some people would say,--above all, with the habit of really giving +attention to whatever you're doing. And this habit Miss Bess had not +been taught to train herself to; and being a lively impulsive child, no +doubt it came a little harder to her. + +A dear child she was, all the same. Looking back upon those days, I +would find it hard to say which of them all seemed nearest my heart. + +The days of the Latin lessons we generally had a short walk in the +morning, as well as one after tea, so as to suit Sir Hulbert's time in +the afternoon; and those afternoons were Miss Lally's great time for +her knitting, which she was determined to keep a secret till she had +made some progress in it and finished her first pair of socks. How she +did work at it, poor dear! Her little face all puckered up with +earnestness, her little hot hands grasping the needles, as if she would +never let them go. And she mastered it really wonderfully, considering +she was not yet six years old! + +She had more time for it after a bit, for the beautiful hot summer +weather changed, as it often does, about the middle of July, and we had +two or three weeks of almost constant rain. Thanks to her knitting, Miss +Lally took this quite cheerfully, and if poor Master Francis had been +left in peace, we should have had no grumbling from him either. A book +and a quiet corner was all he asked, and though he said nothing about +it, I think he was glad now and then of a rest from the long walks which +my lady thought the right thing, whenever the weather was at all fit for +going out. But dear, dear! how Miss Bess did tease and worry sometimes! +She was a strong child, and needed plenty of exercise to keep her +content. + +I remember one day, when things really came to a point with her, and, +strangely enough,--it is curious on looking back to see the thread, like +a road winding along a hill, sometimes lost to view and sometimes clear +again, unbroken through all, leading from little things to big, in a way +one could never have pictured,--strangely enough, as I was saying, the +trifling events of that very afternoon were the beginning of much that +changed the whole life at Treluan. + +It was raining that afternoon, not so very heavily, but in a steady +hopeless way, rather depressing to the spirits, I must allow. It was not +a Latin day--I think some of us wished it had been! + +'Now, Bess!' said Master Francis, when the three children came up from +their dinner, 'before we do anything else'--there had been a talk of a +game of 'hide-and-seek,' or 'I spy,' to cheer them up a bit--'before we +do anything else, let's get our Latin done, or part of it, any way, as +long as we remember what uncle corrected yesterday, and then we'll feel +comfortable for the afternoon.' + +'Very well,' said Miss Bess, though her voice was not very encouraging. + +She was standing by the window, staring out at the close-falling rain, +and as she spoke she moved slowly towards the table, where Master +Francis was already spreading out the books. + +'I don't think it's a good plan to begin lessons the very moment we've +finished our dinner,' she added. + +'It isn't the very minute after,' put in Miss Lally, not very wisely. +'You forget, Queen, we went into the 'servatory with mamma, while she +cut some flowers, for ever so long.' + +Being put in the wrong didn't sweeten Miss Bess's temper. + +''Servatory--you baby!' said she. 'Nurse, can't you teach Lally to spell +"Constantinople"?' + +Miss Lally's face puckered up, and she came close to me. + +'Nursie,' she whispered, 'may I go into the other room with my knitting; +I'm sure Queen is going to tease me.' + +I nodded my head. I used to give her leave sometimes to go into the +night nursery by herself, when she was likely to be disturbed at her +work, and that generally by Miss Bess. For though Master Francis +couldn't have but seen she had some secret from him, he was far too kind +and sensible to seem to notice it. Whereas Miss Bess, who had been +taken into her confidence, never got into a contrary humour without +teasing the poor child by hints about stockings, or wool, or something. +And the contrary humour was on her this afternoon, I saw well. + +'Now, Bess, begin, do!' said Master Francis. 'These are the words we +have to copy out and learn. I'll read them over, and then we can write +them out and hear each other.' + +He did as he said, but it was precious little attention he got from his +cousin, though it was some time before he found it out. Looking up, he +saw that she had dressed up one hand in her handkerchief, like an old +man in a nightcap, and at every word poor Master Francis said, made him +gravely bow. It was all I could do to keep from laughing, though I +pretended not to see. + +'O Bess!' said the boy reproachfully, 'I don't believe you've been +listening a bit.' + +'Well, never mind if I haven't. I'd forget it all by to-morrow morning +anyway. Show me the words, and I'll write them out.' + +She leant across him to get the book, and in so doing upset the ink. The +bottle was not very full, so not much damage would have been done if +Master Francis's exercise-book had not been lying open just in the way. + +'Oh! Bess,' he cried in great distress. 'Just look. It was such a long +exercise and I had copied it out so neatly, and you know uncle hates +blots and untidiness.' + +Miss Bess looked very sorry. + +'I'll tell papa it was my fault,' she said. But Master Francis shook his +head. + +'I must copy it out again,' I heard him say in a low voice, with a sigh, +as he pushed it away and gave his attention to his cousin and the words +she had to learn. + +She was quieter after that, for a while, and in half an hour or so +Master Francis let her go. He set to work at his unlucky exercise again, +and seeing this, should really have sobered Miss Bess. But she was in a +queer humour that afternoon, it only seemed to make her more fidgety. + +'You really needn't do it,' she said to Master Francis crossly. 'I told +you I'd explain it to papa.' But the boy shook his head. He'd have taken +any amount of trouble rather than risk vexing his uncle. + +'It was partly my own fault for leaving it about,' he said gently, +which only seemed to provoke Miss Bess more. + +'You do so like to make yourself a martyr. It's quite true what mamma +says,' she added in a lower voice, which I did think unkind. + +But in some humours children are best left alone for the time, so I took +no notice. + +Miss Bess returned to her former place in the window. Miss Baby was +contentedly setting out her doll's tea-things on the rug in front of the +fire,--at Treluan even in the summer one needs a little fire when there +comes a spell of rainy weather. Miss Bess glanced at her, but didn't +seem to think she'd find any amusement there. Miss Baby was too young to +be fair game for teasing. + +'What's Lally doing?' she said suddenly, turning to me. 'Has she hidden +herself as usual? I hate secrets. They make people so tiresome. I'll +just go and tell her she'd better come in here.' + +She turned, as she spoke, to the night nursery. + +'Now, Miss Bess, my dear,' I couldn't help saying, 'do not tease the +poor child. I'll tell you what you might do. Get one of your pretty +books and read aloud a nice story to Miss Lally in the other room, till +Master Francis is ready for a game.' + +'I've read all our books hundreds of times. I'll tell her a story +instead!' she replied. + +'That would be very nice,' I could not but say, though something in her +way of speaking made me feel a little doubtful, as Miss Bess opened the +night nursery door and closed it behind her carefully. + +For a few minutes we were at peace. No sound to be heard, except the +scratching of Master Francis's busy pen and Miss Augusta's pressing +invitations to the dollies to have--'thome more tea'--or--'a bit of this +bootiful cake,' and I began to hope that in her quiet way Miss Lally had +smoothed down her elder sister, when suddenly--dear, dear! my heart did +leap into my mouth--there came from the next room the most terrible +screams and roars that ever I have heard all the long years I have been +in the nursery! + +'Goodness gracious!' I cried, 'what can be the matter. There's no fire +in there!' and I rushed towards the door. + +To my surprise Master Francis and Miss Baby remained quite composed. + +'It's only Lally,' said the boy. 'She does scream like that sometimes, +though she hasn't done it for a good while now. I daresay it's only Bess +pulling her hair a little.' + +It was not even that. When I opened the door, Miss Bess, who was +standing by her sister--Miss Lally still roaring, though not quite so +loudly--looked up quietly. + +'I've been telling her stories, nurse,' she said. 'But she doesn't like +them at all.' + +Miss Lally ran to me sobbing. I couldn't but feel sorry for her, as she +clung to me, and yet I was provoked, thinking it really too bad to have +had such a fright for nothing at all. + +'Queen has been telling me such _howid_ things,' she said among her +tears, as she calmed down a little. 'She said it was going to be such a +pretty story and it was all about a little girl, who wasn't a little +girl, weally. They tied her sleeves with green ribbons, afore she was +christened, and so the naughty fairies stealed her away and left a howid +squealing pertence little girl instead. And it was just, _just_ like me, +and, Queen says, they _did_ tie me in green ribbons. She knows they did, +she can 'amember;' and here her cries began again. 'And Queen says +'praps I'll never come right again, and I can't bear to be a pertence +little girl. Queen told it me once before, but I'd forgot, and now it's +all come back.' + +She buried her face on my shoulder. I had sat down and taken her on my +knees, and I could feel her all shaking and quivering, though through it +all she still clutched her knitting and the four needles. + +'Miss Bess,' I said, in a voice I don't think I had yet used since I had +been with them, 'I _am_ surprised at you! Come away with me, my dear,' I +said to Miss Lally. 'Come into the other room. Miss Bess will stay here +till such time as she can promise to behave better, both to you and +Master Francis.' + +Miss Bess had turned away when I began to speak, and I think she had +felt ashamed. But my word about Master Francis had been a mistake. + +'You needn't scold me about spilling the ink on Francis's book!' she +said angrily. 'You know that was an accident.' + +'There's accidents and accidents,' I replied, which I know wasn't wise; +but the child had tried my temper too, I won't deny. + +I took Miss Lally into a corner of the day nursery and talked to her in +a low voice, not to disturb Master Francis, who was still busy writing. + +'My dear,' I said, 'so far as I can put a stop to it, I won't have Miss +Bess teasing you, but all the same I can't have you screaming in that +terrible way for really nothing at all. Your own sense might tell you +that there's no such things as fairies changing babies in that way. Miss +Bess only said it to tease.' + +She was still sobbing, but all the same she had not forgotten to wrap up +her precious knitting in her little apron, so that her cousin shouldn't +catch sight of it, and her heart was already softening to her sister. + +'Queen didn't mean to make me cry,' she said. 'But I can't bear that +story; nobody would love me if I was only a pertence little girl.' + +'But you're not that, my dear; you're a very real little girl,' I said. +'You're your papa's and mamma's dear little daughter and God's own +child. That's what your christening meant.' + +Miss Lally's sobs stopped. + +'I forgot about that,' she said very gravely, seeming to find great +comfort in the thought. 'If I had been a pertence little girl, I +couldn't have been took to church like Baby was. Could I? And I know I +was, for I have got godfather and godmother and a silver mug wif my name +on.' + +'And better things than that, thank God, as you'll soon begin to +understand, my dear Miss Lally,' I answered, as she held up her little +face to be kissed. + +'May I go back to Queen now?' she asked, but I don't think she was +altogether sorry when I shook my head. + +'Not just yet, my dear, I think,' I replied. + +'Only where am I to do my knitting?' she whispered. 'I can't do it here; +Francie would be sure to see,' and the corners of her mouth began to go +down again. 'Oh! I know,' she went on in another moment, brightening up. +'I could work so nicely in the attic, there's a little seat in the +corner, by the window, where Francie and I used to go sometimes when +Sharp told us to get out of the way.' + +'Wouldn't you be cold, my dear,' I said doubtfully. But I was anxious to +please her, so I fetched a little shawl for her and we went up together +to the attic. + +It did not feel chilly, and the corner by the window--the kind they call +a 'storm window,' with a sort of little separate roof of its own--was +very cosy. You have a peep of the sea from that window too. + +'Isn't it a good plan?' said Miss Lally joyfully. 'I can knit here _so_ +nicely, and I have been getting on so well this afternoon. There's no +stitches dropped, not one, nursie. Mightn't I come here every day?' + +'We'll see, my dear,' I said, thinking to myself that it might really be +good for her--being a nervous child, and excitable too, for all she +seemed so quiet--to be at peace and undisturbed now and then by herself. +'We'll see, only you must come downstairs at once if you feel cold or +chilly.' + +I looked round me as I was leaving the attic. There was a big cupboard, +or closet rather, at the end near the door. Miss Lally's window was at +this end too. The closet door stood half open, but it seemed empty. + +'That's where we wait when we're playing "I spy" up here,' said Miss +Lally. 'Mouses live in that cupboard. We've seen them running out of +their holes; but I like mouses, they've such dear bright eyes and long +tails.' + +I can't say that I agreed with Miss Lally's tastes. Mice are creatures +I've never been able to take to, still they'd do her no harm, that was +certain, so seeing her quite happy at her work I went down to the +nursery again. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE OLD LATIN GRAMMAR + + +Master Francis was still writing busily when I went back to the nursery. +He looked pale and tired, and once or twice I heard him sigh. I knew it +was not good for him to be stooping so long over his lessons, especially +as the children had not been out all that day. + +'Really,' I said, half to myself, but his ears were quick and he heard +me, 'Miss Bess has done nothing but mischief this afternoon. I feel +sometimes as if I couldn't manage her.' + +The boy looked up quickly. + +'O nurse!' he said, 'please don't speak like that. I mean I wouldn't for +anything have uncle or auntie think I had put her out, or that there had +been any trouble. It just comes over her sometimes like that, and she's +very sorry afterwards. I suppose Lally and I haven't spirits enough for +her, she is so clever and bright, and it must be dull for her, now and +then.' + +'I'm sure, Master Francis, my dear,' I said, 'no one could be kinder and +nicer with Miss Bess than you; and as for cleverness, she may be quick +and bright, but I'd like to know where she'd be for her lessons but for +you helping her many a time.' + +I was still feeling a bit provoked with Miss Bess, I must allow. + +'I'm nearly three years older, you know,' replied Master Francis, though +all the same I could see a pleased look on his face. It wasn't that he +cared for praise--boy or man, I have never in my life known any human +being so out and out humble as Mr. Francis; it's that that gives him his +wonderful power over others, I've often thought,--but he did love to +think he was of the least use to any of those he was so devoted to. + +'I'm so glad to help her,' he said softly. 'Nurse,' he added after a +little silence, 'I do feel so sad about things sometimes. If I had been +big and strong, I might have looked forward to doing all sorts of things +for them all, but now I often feel I can never be anything but a +trouble, and such an expense to uncle and aunt. You really don't know +what my leg costs,' he added in a way that made me inclined both to +laugh and cry at once. + +'Dear Master Francis,' I said, 'you shouldn't take it so.' I should have +liked to say more, but I felt I could scarcely do so without hinting at +blame where I had no right to do so. + +He didn't seem to notice me. + +'If it had to be,' he went on in the same voice, 'why couldn't I have +been a girl, or why couldn't one of them have been a boy? That would +have stopped it being quite so bad for poor auntie.' + +'Whys and wherefores are not for us to answer, my dear, though things +often clear themselves up when least expected,' I said. 'And now I must +see what Miss Bess is after, that's to say if you've got your writing +finished.' + +'It's just about done,' he said, 'and I'm sure Bess won't tease any +more. Do fetch her in, nurse. Why, baby! what is it, my pet?' he added, +for there was Miss Augusta standing beside him, having deserted her toys +on the hearthrug. For, though without understanding anything we had been +saying, she had noticed the melancholy tone of her cousin's voice. + +'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants to kiss thoo.' + +[Illustration: 'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants +to kiss thoo.'] + +The boy picked her up in his arms, and I saw the fair shaggy head and +fat dimpled cheeks clasped close and near to his thin white face, and if +there were tears in Master Francis's eyes I am sure it wasn't anything +to be ashamed of. Never was a braver spirit, and no one that knows him +now could think him less a hero could they look back over the whole of +his life. + +I found Miss Bess sitting quietly with the pincushion on her lap, by the +window, making patterns with the pins, apparently quite content. She had +not been crying, indeed it took a great deal to get a tear from that +child, she had such a spirit of her own. Still she was sorry for what +she had done, and she bore no malice, that I could see by the clear look +in her pretty eyes as she glanced up at me. + +'Nurse,' she said, though more with the air of a little queen granting a +favour than a tiresome child asking to be forgiven, 'I'm not going to +tease any more. It's gone now, and I'm going to be good. I'm very sorry +for making Lally cry, though she is a little silly--of course I wouldn't +care to do it if she wasn't,--and I'm _dreadfully_ sorry for poor old +Franz's exercise. Look what I have been doing to make me remember,' and +I saw that she had marked the words 'Bess sorry' with the pins. 'If you +leave it there for a few days, and just say "pincushion" if you see me +beginning again, it'll remind me.' + +It wasn't very easy for me to keep as grave as I wished, but I answered +quietly-- + +'Very well, Miss Bess, I hope you'll keep to what you say,' and we went +back, quite friendly again, to the other room. + +Master Francis and she began settling what games they would play, and I +took the opportunity of slipping upstairs to the attic to call Miss +Lally down. She came running out, as bright as could be, and gave me her +knitting to hide away for her. + +'Nursie,' she said, 'I really think there's good fairies in the attic. +I've got on so well. Four whole rows all round and none stitches +dropped.' + +So that rainy day ended more cheerfully than it had begun. + +Unluckily, however, the worst of the mischief caused by Miss Bess's +heedlessness didn't show for some little time to come. The next Latin +lesson passed off by all accounts very well, especially for Miss Bess. +For, thanks to her new resolutions, she was in a most biddable mood, +and quite ready to take her cousin's advice as to learning her list of +words again, giving up half an hour of her playtime on purpose. + +She came dancing upstairs in the highest spirits. + +'Nursie,' she said,--and when she called me so I knew I was in high +favour,--'I'm getting so good, I'm quite frightened at myself. Papa said +I had never known my lessons so well.' + +'I am very glad, I am sure, my love; and I hope,' I couldn't help +adding, 'that Master Francis got some of the praise of it.' + +For Master Francis was following her into the room, looking not quite so +joyful. Miss Bess seemed a little taken aback. + +'Do you know,' she said, 'I never thought of it. I was so pleased at +being praised.' And as the child was honesty itself, I was certain it +was just as she said. + +'I'll run down now,' she went on, 'and tell papa that it was Franz who +helped me.' + +'No, please don't,' said the boy, catching hold of her. 'I am as pleased +as I can be, Bess, that you got praised, and it's harder for you than +for me, or even for Lally, to try hard at lessons, for you've always +got such a lot of other things taking you up; and I wouldn't like,' he +added slowly, 'for uncle to think I wanted to be praised. You see I'm +older than you.' + +'I'm sure you don't get too much praise ever, poor Franz!' said Miss +Bess. 'Your exercise was as neat as neat, and yet papa wasn't pleased +with it.' + +Then I understood better why Master Francis looked a little sad. + +'It was the one I had to copy over,' he said. + +All the same he wouldn't let Miss Bess go down to her papa. Sir Hulbert +was busy, he knew; he had several letters to write, he had heard him +say, so Miss Bess had to give in. + +'I'll tell you what it is,' she said. 'People who are generally rather +naughty, like me,'--Miss Bess was in a humble mood!--'get made a great +fuss about when they're good. But people who are always good, like +Franz, never get any praise for it, and if ever they do the least bit +wrong, they are far worse scolded.' + +This made Master Francis laugh. It was something, as Miss Bess said, +among the children themselves. Miss Lally, who was always loving and +gentle to her cousin, he just counted upon in a quiet steady sort of +way. But a word of approval from flighty Miss Bess would set him up as +if she'd been the Queen herself. + +That was a Friday. The next Latin day was Tuesday. Of course I don't +know much about such things myself, but the lessons were taken in turns. +One day they'd words and writing exercises out of a book on purpose, and +another day they'd have regular Latin grammar, out of a thick old book, +which had been Sir Hulbert's own when he was a boy, and which he thought +a great deal of. Lesson-books were still expensive too, and even in +small things money was considered at Treluan. It was on that Tuesday +then that, to my distress, I saw that Master Francis had been crying +when he came back to the nursery. It was the first time I had seen his +eyes red, and he had been trying to make them right again, I'm sure, for +he hadn't come straight up from the library. Miss Bess was not with him; +it was a fine day and she had gone out driving with her mamma, having +been dressed all ready and her lesson shortened for once on purpose. + +I didn't seem to notice Master Francis, sorry though I felt, but Miss +Lally burst out at once. + +'Francie, darling,' she said, running up to him and throwing her arms +round him. 'What's the matter? It isn't your leg, is it?' + +'I wouldn't mind that, you know, Lally,' he said. + +'But sometimes, when the pain's been dreadful bad, it squeezes the tears +out, and you can't help it,' she said. + +'No,' he answered, 'it isn't my leg. I think I'd better not tell you, +Lally, for you might tell it to Bess, and I just won't have her know. +Everything's been so nice with her lately, and it just would seem as if +I'd got her into trouble.' + +'Was papa vexed with you for something?' the child went on. 'You'd +better tell me, Francie, I really won't tell Bess if you don't want me, +and I'm sure nursie won't. I'm becustomed to keeping secrets now. +Sometimes secrets are quite right, nursie says.' + +I could scarcely help smiling at her funny little air. + +'It wasn't anything _very_ much, after all,' said Master Francis. 'It +was only that uncle said----,' and here his voice quivered and he +stopped short. + +'Tell it from the beginning,' said Miss Lally in her motherly way, 'and +then when you get up to the bad part it won't seem so hard to tell.' + +It was a relief to him to have her sympathy, I could see, and I think he +cared a little for mine too. + +'Well,' he began, 'it's all about that Latin grammar--no, not the +lesson,' seeing that Miss Lally was going to interrupt him, 'but the +book. Uncle's fat old Latin grammar, you know, Lally. We didn't use it +last Friday, it wasn't the day, and we hadn't needed to look at it +ourselves since last Wednesday--that was the ink-spilling day. So it was +not found out till to-day; and--and uncle was--so--so vexed when he saw +how spoilt it was, and the worst of it was I began something about it +having been Bess, and that she hadn't told me, and that made uncle much +worse----.' Here Master Francis stopped, he seemed on the point of +crying again, and he was a boy to feel very ashamed of tears, as I have +said. + +'I don't think Miss Bess could have known the book had got inked,' I +said. 'And I scarce see how it happened, unless the ink got spilt on the +table, and it may have been lying open--I've seen Miss Bess fling her +books down open on their faces, so to speak, many a time,--and it may +have dried in and been shut up when all the books were cleared away, and +no one noticed.' + +'Yes,' said Master Francis eagerly, 'that's how it must have been. I +never meant that Bess had done it and hidden it. I said it in a hurry +because I was so sorry for uncle to think I hadn't taken care of his +book, and I was very sorry about the book too. But I made it far worse. +Uncle said it was mean of me to try to put my carelessness upon another, +a younger child, and a girl; O Lally! you never heard him speak like +that; it was _dreadful_.' + +'Was it worse than that time when big Jem put the blame on little Pat +about the dogs not being fed?' asked Miss Lally very solemnly. + +Master Francis flushed all over. + +'You needn't have said that, Lally,' he said turning away. 'I'm not so +bad as that, any way.' + +It was very seldom he spoke in that voice to Miss Lally, and she hadn't +meant to vex him, poor child, though her speech had been a mistake. + +'Come, come, Master Francis,' I said, 'you're taking the whole thing too +much to heart, I think. Perhaps Sir Hulbert was worried this morning.' + +'No, no,' said Master Francis, 'he spoke quite quietly. A sort of cold, +kind way, that's much worse than scolding. He said whatever Bess's +faults were, she was quite, quite open and honest, and of course I know +she is; but he said that this sort of thing made him a little afraid +that my being delicate and not--not like other boys, was spoiling me, +and that I must never try to make up for not being strong and manly by +getting into mean and cunning ways to defend myself.' + +Young as she was, Miss Lally quite understood; she quite forgot all +about his having been vexed with her a moment before. + +'O Francie!' she cried, running to him and flinging her arms round him, +in a way she sometimes did, as if he needed her protection; 'how could +papa say so to you? Nobody could think you mean or cunning. It's only +that you're too good. I'll tell Bess as soon as she comes in, and she'll +tell papa all about it, then he'll see.' + +'No, dear,' said Master Francis, 'that's just what you mustn't do. Don't +you remember you promised?' + +Miss Lally's face fell. + +'Don't you see,' Master Francis went on, 'that _would_ look mean? As if +I had made Bess tell on herself to put the blame off me. And I do want +everything to be happy with Bess and me ourselves as long as I am here. +It won't be for so very long,' he added. 'Uncle says it will be a very +good thing indeed for me to go to school.' + +This was too much for Miss Lally, she burst out crying, and hugged +Master Francis tighter than before. I had got to understand more of her +ways by now, and I knew that once she was started on a regular sobbing +fit, it soon got beyond her own power to stop. So I whispered to Master +Francis that he must help to cheer her up, and between us we managed to +calm her down. That was just one of the things so nice about the dear +boy, he was always ready to forget about himself if there was anything +to do for another. + +Miss Bess came back from her drive brimming over with spirits, and +though it would have been wrong to bear her any grudge, it vexed me +rather to see the other two so pale and extra quiet, though Master +Francis did his best, I will say, to seem as cheerful as usual. + +Miss Bess's quick eyes soon saw there had been something amiss. But I +passed it off by saying Miss Lally had been troubled about something, +but we weren't going to think about it any more. + +Think about it I did, however, so far as it concerned Master Francis, +especially. Till now I had been always pleased to see that his uncle was +really much attached to the boy, and ready to do him justice. But this +notion, which seemed to have begun in Sir Hulbert's mind, that just +because the poor child was delicate and in a sense infirm, he must be +mean spirited and unmanly in mind, seemed to me a very sad one, and +likely to bring much unhappiness. Nor could I feel sure that my lady was +not to blame for it. She was frank and generous herself, but inclined to +take up prejudices, and not always careful enough in her way of speaking +of those she had any feeling against. + +I did what I could, whenever I had any opportunity, to stand up for the +boy in a quiet way, and with all respect to those who were his natural +guardians. But, on the whole, much as I knew we should miss him in the +nursery, I was scarcely sorry to hear not many weeks after the little +events I have been telling about, that Master Francis's going to school +was decided upon. It was to be immediately after the Christmas holidays, +and we were now in the month of October. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +UPSET PLANS + + +But, as everybody knows, things in this world seldom turn out as they +are planned. + +There was a great deal of writing and considering about Master Francis's +school, and I could see that both Sir Hulbert and my lady had it much on +their minds. They would never have thought of sending him anywhere but +of the best, but in those days schools, even for little boys, cost, I +fancy, quite as much or more than now. And I can't say but what I think +that the worry and the difficulty about it rather added to his aunt's +prejudice against the boy. + +However, before long, all was settled, the school was chosen and the +very day fixed, and in our different ways we began to get accustomed to +the idea. Master Francis, I could see, had two quite opposite ways of +looking at it: he was bitterly sorry to go, to leave the home and those +in it whom he loved so dearly, more dearly, I think, than any one +understood. And he took much to heart also the fresh expenses for his +uncle. But, on the other hand, he was eager to get on with his learning; +he liked it for its own sake, and, as he used to say to me sometimes +when we were talking alone-- + +'It's only by my mind, you know, nurse, that I can hope to be good for +anything. If I had been strong and my leg all right, I'd have been a +soldier like papa, I suppose.' + +'There's soldiers and soldiers, you must remember, Master Francis,' I +would reply. 'There's victories to be won far greater than those on the +battlefield. And many a one who's done the best work in this world has +been but feeble and weakly in health.' + +His eyes used to brighten up when I spoke like that. Sometimes, too, I +would try to cheer him by reminding him there was no saying but what he +might turn out a fairly strong man yet. Many a delicate boy got improved +at school, I had heard. + +But alas!--or 'alas' at least it seemed at the time--everything was +changed by what happened that winter. + +It was cold, colder than is usual in this part of the world, and I +think Master Francis had got it in his head to try and harden himself by +way of preparing for school life. My lady used to say little things +sometimes, with a good motive, I daresay, about not minding the cold and +plucking up a spirit, and what her brothers used to do when they were +young, all of which Master Francis took to heart in a way she would not +then have believed if she had been told it. Dear me! it is strange to +think of it, when I remember how perfectly in later years those two came +to understand each other, and how nobody--after she lost her good +husband--was such a staff and support to her, such a counsellor and +comfort, as the nephew she had so little known--her 'more than son,' as +I had often heard her call him. + +But I am wandering away from my story. I was just getting to Master +Francis's illness. How it came about no one could really tell. It is not +often one can trace back illnesses to their cause. Most often I fancy +there are more than one. But just after Christmas Master Francis began +with rheumatic fever. We couldn't at first believe it was going to be +anything so bad. For my lady's sake, and indeed for everybody's, I tried +to cheer up and be hopeful, in spite of the doctor's gloomy looks. It +was a real disappointment to myself and took down my pride a bit, for I +had done my best by the child, hoping to start him for school as strong +and well as was possible for him. And any one less just and fair than my +lady might have had back thoughts, such as damp feet, or sheets not +aired enough, or chills of some kind, that a little care might have +avoided. + +It was my belief that he had been feeling worse than usual for some +time, but never a complaint had he made, perhaps he wouldn't own it to +himself. + +It wasn't till two nights after Christmas that, sitting by the nursery +fire, just after Miss Augusta had been put to bed, he said to me-- + +'Nurse, I can't help it, my leg is so dreadfully bad, and not my leg +only, the pain of it seems all over. I'm _all_ bad legs to-night,' and +he tried to smile. 'May I go to bed now, and perhaps it will be all +right in the morning?' + +I _was_ frightened! Sir Hulbert and my lady were dining out that +evening, which but seldom happened, and when I got over my start a +little I wasn't sorry for it, hoping that a good night might show it was +nothing serious. + +We got him to bed as fast as we could. There was no going down to +dessert that evening, so Miss Bess and Miss Lalage set to work to help +me, like the womanly little ladies they were; one of them running +downstairs to see about plenty of hot water for a good bath and hot +bottles, and the other fetching the under housemaid to see to a fire in +his room. I doubt if he had ever had one before. Bedroom fires were not +in my lady's rule, and I don't hold with them myself, except in illness +or extra cold weather. + +He cheered up a little, and even laughed at the fuss we made. And before +his uncle and aunt returned he was sound asleep, looking quiet and +comfortable, so that I didn't think it needful to say anything to them +that night. But long before morning, for I crept upstairs to his room +every hour or two, I saw that it was not going off as I had hoped. He +started and moaned in his sleep, and once or twice when I found him +awake, he seemed almost lightheaded, and as if he hardly knew me. Once I +heard him whisper: 'Oh! it hurts so,' as if he could scarcely bear it. + +About five o'clock I dressed myself and took up my watch beside him. My +lady was an early riser; by eight o'clock, in answer to a message from +me, she was with us herself in her dressing-gown. Master Francis was +awake. + +'O my lady!' I said, 'I'd no thought of bringing you up so early, and +you were late last night too.' For they had had a long drive. 'It was +only that I dursn't take upon me to send for the doctor without asking.' + +'No, no, of course not,' she said. And indeed that was a liberty my lady +would not have been pleased with any one's taking. 'Do you really think +it necessary?' + +The poor child was looking a little better just then, the pain was not +so bad. He seemed quiet and dreamy-like, though his face was flushed and +his eyes very bright. + +'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you look!' + +[Illustration: 'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you +look!'] + +And so she did in her long white dressing-gown, with her lovely fair +hair hanging about, for all the world like Miss Lally's. + +I think myself the fever was on his brain a little already, else he +would scarce have dared speak so to his aunt. + +She took no notice, but drew me out of the room. + +'What in the world's the matter with him?' she said, anxious and yet +irritated at the same time. 'Has he been doing anything foolish that can +have made him ill?' + +I shook my head. + +'It's seldom one can tell how illness comes, but I feel sure the doctor +should see him,' I replied. + +So he was sent for, and before the day was many hours older, there was +little doubt left--though, as I said before, I tried for a bit to hope +it was only a bad cold--that Master Francis was in for something very +serious. + +Almost from the first the doctor spoke of rheumatic fever. There was a +sort of comfort in this, bad as it was--the comfort of knowing there was +no infection to fear. It was a great comfort to Master Francis himself, +whenever he felt the least bit easier, now and then to see his cousins +for a minute or two at a time, without any risk to them. For one of his +first questions to the doctor was whether his illness was anything the +others could catch. + +After that for a few days he was so bad that he could really think of +nothing but how to bear the pain patiently. Then when he grew a shade +better, he began thinking about going to school. + +'What was the day of the month? Would he be well, _quite_ well, by the +20th, or whatever day school began? Uncle would be _so_ disappointed if +it had to be put off'--and so on, over and over again, till at last I +had to speak, not only to the doctor, but to Sir Hulbert himself, about +the way the boy was worrying in his mind. + +The doctor tried to put him off by saying he was getting on famously, +and such-like speeches. A few quiet words from Sir Hulbert had far more +effect. + +'My dear boy,' he said gravely, 'what you have to do is to try to get +well and not fret yourself. If it is God's will that your going to +school should be put off, you must not take it to heart. You're not in +such a hurry to leave us as all that, are you?' + +The last few words were spoken very kindly and he smiled as he said +them. I was glad of it, for I had not thought his uncle quite as tender +of the boy as he had used to be. They pleased Master Francis, I could +see, and another thought came into his mind which helped to quiet him. + +'Anyway, nurse,' he said to me one day, 'there'll be a good deal of +expense saved if I don't go to school till Easter.' + +It never struck him that there are few things more expensive than +illness, and as I had no idea till my lady told me that the term had to +be paid for, whether he went to school or not, I was able to agree with +him. + +I was deeply sorry for my lady in those days. Some might be hard upon +her, for not forgetting all else in thankfulness that the child's life +was spared, and I know she tried to do so, but it was difficult. And +when she spoke out to me one day, and told me about the schooling having +to be paid all the same, I really did feel for her; knowing through Mrs. +Brent, as I have mentioned, all the past history of the troubles brought +about by poor Master Francis's father. + +'I hope he'll live to be a comfort to you yet, if I may say so, my lady, +and I've a strong feeling that he will,' I said (she reminded me of +those words long after), 'and in the meantime you may trust to Mrs. +Brent and me to keep all expense down as much as possible, while seeing +that Master Francis has all he needs. I'm sure we can manage without a +sick-nurse now.' + +For there had been some talk of having one sent for from London, though +in those days it was less done than seems the case now. + +And after a while things began to mend. It was not a _very_ bad attack, +less so than we had feared at first. In about ten days' time Mrs. Brent +and Susan the housemaid and I, who had taken it in turns to sit up all +night, were able to go to bed as usual, only seeing to it that the fire +was made up once in the night, so as to last on till morning, and the +day's work grew steadily lighter. + +Once they had finished their lessons, the little girls were always eager +to keep their cousin company. He was only allowed to have them one at a +time. Miss Bess used to take the first turn, but it was hard work for +her, poor child, to keep still, though it grew easier for her when it +got the length of his being able for reading aloud. But Miss Lally from +the first was a perfect model of a little sick-nurse. Mouse was no word +for her, so still and noiseless and yet so watchful was she, and if ever +she was left in charge of giving him his medicine at a certain time, I +could feel as sure as sure that it wouldn't be forgotten. When he was +inclined to talk a little, she knew just how to manage him--how to amuse +him without exciting him at all, and always to cheer him up. + +The weather was unusually bad just then, though we did our best to +prevent Master Francis feeling it, by keeping his room always at an +even heat, but there were many days on which the young ladies couldn't +get out. Altogether it was a trying time, and for no one more than for +my lady. + +I couldn't help thinking sometimes how different it would have been if +Master Francis had been her own child, when the joy of his recovering +would have made all other troubles seem nothing. I felt it both for her +and for him, though I don't think he noticed it himself; and after all, +now that I can look back on things having come so perfectly right, +perhaps it is foolish to recall those shadows. Only it makes the picture +of their lives more true. + +Through it all I could see my lady was trying her best to have none but +kind and nice feelings. + +'The doctor says that though Francis will really be almost as well as +usual in three or four weeks from now, there can be no question of his +going to school for ever so long--perhaps not at all this year.' + +'Dear, dear,' I said. 'But you won't have to go on paying for it all the +same, my lady?' + +She smiled at this. + +'No, no, not quite so bad as that, only this one term, which is paid +already. Sir Hulbert might have got off paying it if he had really +explained how difficult it was. But that's just the sort of thing it +would really be lowering for him to do,' and she sighed. 'The doctor +says too,' she went on again, 'that by rights the boy should have a +course of German baths, that might do him good for all his life; but how +we _could_ manage that I can't see, though Sir Hulbert is actually +thinking of it. I doubt if he would think of it as much if it were for +one of our own children,' she added rather bitterly. + +'He feels Master Francis a sort of charge, I suppose,' I said, meaning +to show my sympathy. + +'He is a charge indeed,' said his aunt. 'And to think that all this time +he might have been really improving at school.' + +I could say nothing more, but I did grieve that she couldn't take things +in a different spirit. + +'It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.' Miss Lally had a fine +time for her knitting just then, with Master Francis out of the way. Of +course if he had been at school there would have been no difficulty, and +she had planned to have his socks ready to send him on his birthday, the +end of March. Now she had got on so fast--one sock finished and the heel +of the other turned, though not without many sighs and even a few +tears--that she hoped to have them as a surprise the first day he came +down to the nursery. + +'I'll have to begin working in the attic again, after that,' she said to +me, 'for I'm going to make a pair for baby.' + +'That's to say if the weather gets warmer,' I said to her. 'You +certainly couldn't have sat up in the attic these last few weeks, Miss +Lally.' + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEW BABY + + +The weather did improve. The winter having been so unusually severe was +made up for, as I think often happens, by a bright and early spring. By +the beginning of April Master Francis was able to be out again, though +of course only for a little in the middle of the day, and we had to be +very careful lest he should catch the least cold. I was exceedingly +glad, really more glad than I can say, that his getting well went +through without any backcasts. For himself he was really better than the +doctor had dared to hope, but as he began to move about more freely I +was grieved to see that the stiffness of his leg seemed worse than +before his illness. I don't think it pained him much, at least he didn't +complain. + +In the meantime I thought it would be best to say nothing about it, +half hoping that he didn't notice it himself, but I heard no talk of his +going to school. + +I shall never forget one morning in April--it was towards the end of the +month, a most lovely sunny morning it was, as I went up the winding +staircase leading to Master Francis's room in the tower. The sunshine +came pouring in through the narrow windows as brilliant as if it had +been midsummer, and the songs of the birds outside seemed to tell how +they were enjoying it, yet it was only half-past six! The little ladies +below were all sleeping soundly, but Master Francis, I knew, always woke +very early, and somehow I had a feeling that he must be the first to +hear the good news. + +As I knocked at the door I heard him moving inside. He had got up to +open the window; the room seemed flooded with light as I went in. Master +Francis was sitting up in bed reading, or learning some of his lessons +more likely, for he was well enough now to have gone back to regular +ways. He looked up very brightly. + +'Isn't it a most beautiful morning, nurse?' he said. 'The sunshine woke +me even earlier than usual, so I'm looking over my Latin. Auntie +doesn't mind my reading in bed in the morning. It isn't like at night +with candles.' + +'No, of course not,' I said. 'But, Master Francis, I want you to leave +off thinking about your lessons for a minute. I rather fancy you'll have +a holiday to-day. I've got a piece of news for you! I wonder if you can +guess what has happened?' + +He opened his eyes wide in surprise. + +'It must be something good,' he said, 'or you wouldn't look so pleased. +What _can_ it be? It can't be that Uncle Hulbert's got a lot of money.' + +'There are some things better than money,' I said. 'What would you think +if a dear little baby boy had come in the night?' + +His whole face flushed pink with pleasure. + +'Nurse!' he said. 'Is it really true? Oh! how pleased I am. Just the +very thing auntie has wanted so--a little boy of her own. I may count +him like a brother, mayn't I? Won't Bess and Lally be pleased! Do they +know? Mayn't I get up at once, and when do you think I may see him?' + +'Some time to-day, I hope,' I answered. 'No, the young ladies don't know +yet. They're fast asleep. But I thought you'd like to know.' + +'How good of you!' he said. 'I'm just _so_ pleased that I don't know +what to do.' + +What a morning of excitement it was, to be sure! The children were all +half off their heads with delight. All, that is to say, except Miss +Baby, who burst out crying in the middle of her breakfast, sobbing that +she 'wouldn't have no--something----' We couldn't make out what for ever +so long, till we found it was her name she was crying about, as of +course we were all talking of the new little brother as 'the baby.' We +comforted her by saying that anyway he would not be 'Miss Baby'; and +perhaps from that it came about that her old name clung to her till she +was quite a big girl, and almost from the first Master Bevil got his +real name. + +He was a great darling--so strong and hearty too--and so handsome even +as an infant. Everything seemed to go right with him from the very +beginning. + +'Surely,' I often said to myself, 'he will bring a blessing with him. +And now that my lady's great wish has been granted, I do hope she will +feel more trustful and less anxious.' + +I hoped too that she would now have happier feelings to poor Master +Francis, especially when she saw his devotion to the baby boy. For of +all the children I must say he was the one who loved the little creature +the most. + +And for a while all seemed tending in the right way, but when the baby +was a few weeks old, I began to fear that something of the old trouble +was in the air again. Fresh money difficulties happened about that time, +though of course I didn't know exactly what they were. But it was easy +to see that my lady was fretted, she was not one to hide anything she +was feeling. + +One day, it was in June, as far as I remember, my lady was in the +nursery with Miss Lally and Miss Baby and the real baby. The two elder +children were downstairs at their lessons with Sir Hulbert. Master Bevil +was looking beautiful that afternoon. We had laid him down on a rug on +the floor, and he was kicking and crowing as if he had been six months +old, his little sisters chattering and laughing to him, while my lady +sat by in the rocking-chair, looking for once as if she had thrown all +her cares aside. + +'He really is getting on beautifully,' she said to me. 'Doesn't he look +a great big boy?' + +I was rather glad of the remark, for it gave me a chance to say +something that had been on my mind. + +'We'll have to be thinking of short-coating him, before we know where we +are, my lady,' I said with a smile. 'And there's another thing I've been +thinking of. He's such a heavy boy to carry already, and as time gets on +it would be a pity for our walks to be shortened in the fine weather. We +had a beautiful basket for the donkey at Mrs. Wyngate's, it was made so +that even a little baby could lie quite comfortably in it.' + +'That would be very nice,' my lady answered. 'I'll speak to Sir Hulbert +about it. Only----,' and again a rather worried look came into her face. +I could see that she had got back to the old thought, 'everything costs +money.' 'We must do something about it before long,' she added. + +Just then Miss Bess ran into the room, followed more slowly by her +cousin. + +'What are you talking about?' she said. + +'About how dear fat baby is to go walks with us when he gets still +fatter and heavier,' said Miss Lally. 'Poor nurse couldn't carry him so +very far, you know, and mamma says perhaps----' + +'Oh! nonsense,' interrupted Miss Bess; 'we'd carry him in turns, the +darling.' + +My lady looked up quickly at this. + +'Don't talk so foolishly, child,' she said sharply. For, fond as she was +of Miss Bess, she could put her down sometimes, and just now the little +girl scarcely deserved it, it seemed to me. 'I won't allow anything of +that kind,' she went on. 'You are far too young, all of you--Francis +especially, must never attempt to carry baby. Do you hear, children? +Nurse, you must be strict about this.' + +'Certainly, my lady,' I replied. 'Master Francis and the young ladies +have never done more than just hold Master Bevil in their arms for a +moment, me standing close by.' + +Then they went on to talk about getting a basket for the donkey, which +they were very much taken up about. I didn't notice at the time that +Master Francis had only looked in for an instant and gone off again; but +that evening at tea time, when Miss Bess and Miss Lally said something +about old Jacob, Master Francis asked what they meant, which I +remembered afterwards as showing that he had not heard his aunt's strict +orders. + +It was a week or two after that, that one lovely afternoon we all set +out on a walk together. We had planned to go rather farther than we had +yet been with the baby, resting here and there on the way, it was so +warm and sunny and he was not _yet_ so very heavy, of course. + +All went well, and we found ourselves close to home again in nice time. +For of course I knew that if we stayed out too long it would be only +natural for my lady to be anxious. + +'It's rather too soon to go in and it's such a beautiful afternoon,' +said Miss Bess as we were coming up the drive. 'Do let us go into the +little wood, for half an hour or so, nurse, and you might tell us a +story.' + +The little wood skirts the drive at one side. It is a sweet place, in +the early summer especially, so many wild flowers and ferns, and lots of +squirrels overhead among the branches, and little rabbits scudding about +down below. + +We found a cosy nook, where we settled ourselves. The little brother was +fast asleep, the three elder ones sat round me, while Miss Baby toddled +off a little way, busy about some of her own funny little plays by +herself, though well within sight. + +I was in the middle of a long story of having been lost in the firwoods +at home as a child, when a loud scream made us all start, and looking up +I saw to my alarm that Miss Baby was no longer to be seen. + +'Dear, dear,' I cried, jumping up in a fright. 'She must have hurt +herself. Here, Master Francis, hold the baby for a moment, don't get +up;' and I put his little cousin down safely in his arms. + +I meant him not to stir till I came back, but he didn't understand this. +Miss Bess was already off after her little sister, and after a minute or +two we found her, not hurt at all, but crying loudly at having fallen +down and dirtied her frock in running away from what _she_ called a +'bear,' coming out of the wood--most likely only a branch of a tree +swaying about. + +It took a little time to quiet her and to set her to rights again, and +when we got back to the other children I was surprised to see that the +baby was now in Miss Lally's arms, Master Francis kneeling beside them +wiping something with his handkerchief. + +'There's nothing wrong, I hope,' I said, rather startled again. + +'Oh no!' said Miss Lally. 'It's only that little brother cried and +Francie walked him up and down and somefing caught Francie's foot and he +felled, but baby didn't fall. Francie held him tight, only a twig +scratched baby's nose a tiny little bit. But he doesn't mind, he's +laughing.' + +So he was, though sure enough there was a thin red line right across his +plump little nose, and the least little mark of blood on the +handkerchief with which his cousin had been tenderly dabbing it. Master +Francis himself was so pale that I hadn't the heart to say more to him +than just a word. + +'I had meant you to sit still with him, my dear.' + +'But he cried so,' said the boy. + +However, there was no harm done, though I thought to myself I'd be more +careful than ever, but unluckily just as we were within a few steps of +the house whom should we see but my lady coming to meet us. I'm never +one for hiding things, but I did wish she had not happened to come just +then. + +She noticed the scratch in a moment, as she stooped to kiss the baby, +though really there was nothing to mind, seeing the dear child so rosy +and happy looking. + +'What's the matter with his nose?' she said quickly. 'You haven't any +pins about you, nurse, surely?' + +Pins were not in my way, certainly, but I could have found it in my +heart to wish I could own to one just then, for Master Francis started +forward. + +'Oh no! Aunt Helen,' he said, 'it was my fault. I was walking him about +for a minute or two, while nurse went after Baby, and my foot slipt, but +I only came down on my knees and _he_ didn't fall. It was only a twig +scratched his nose, a tiny bit.' + +My lady grew first red then white. + +'He might have been killed,' she said; and she caught the baby from me +and kissed him over and over again. Then she turned to Master Francis, +and I could see that she was doing her best to keep in her anger. + +'Francis, how dared you, after what I said the other day so very +strongly about your _never_ carrying the baby? Your own sense might have +told you you are not able to carry him, but besides that, what I said +makes it distinct disobedience. Nurse, did you _know_ of it?' + +'It was I myself gave Master Bevil to Master Francis to hold,' I said, +flurried like at my lady's displeasure. 'I hadn't meant him to walk +about with him.' + +'Of course not,' said my lady. 'There now, you see, Francis, double +disobedience! I must speak to your uncle. Take back baby, nurse, he must +have some _pomade divine_ on his nose when he gets in;' and before any +of us had time to speak again she had turned and hurried back to the +house. My lady had always a quick way with her, pleased or displeased. + +'She's gone to tell papa,' said the young ladies, looking very +distressed. + +Master Francis was quite white and shaking like. + +'Nurse,' he said at last, when he had got voice enough to speak, 'I +really don't know what auntie meant about something she said the other +day.' + +'O Franz! you can't have forgotten,' said Miss Bess, who often spoke +sharply when she was really very sorry. 'Mamma did say most plainly that +none of us were to carry baby about.' + +But the boy still looked quite puzzled, and when we talked it over, we +were all satisfied that he hadn't been in the room at the time. + +'I must try to put it right with my lady,' I said, feeling that if any +one had been to blame in the matter it was certainly me much more than +Master Francis, for not having kept my eye better on Miss Baby in the +wood. + +But we were a very silent and rather sad party as we made our way back +slowly to the house. + +I couldn't see my lady till late that evening, and then, though I did +my best, I didn't altogether succeed. She had already spoken to Sir +Hulbert, and nothing would convince her that Master Francis had not +heard at least some part of what she said. + +Sir Hulbert was always calm and just; he sent for the boy the next +morning, and had a long talk with him. Master Francis came back to the +nursery looking pale and grave, but more thoughtful than unhappy. + +'Uncle has been very good and kind,' was all he said. 'And I will try +never to vex him and auntie again.' + +Later that evening, when he happened to be alone with me, after the +young ladies had gone to bed, he said a little more. I was sitting by +the fire with Master Bevil on my knee. Master Francis knelt down beside +me and kissed the little creature tenderly. Then he stroked his tiny +nose--the mark of the scratch had almost gone already. + +'You darling!' he said. 'Oh! how glad I am you weren't really hurt. +Nurse,' he went on, 'I'd do anything for this baby, I do _love_ him so. +I only wish I could say it to auntie the way I can to you. If only I +were big and strong, or very clever, and could work for him, to get him +everything he should have, and then it would make up a little for all +the trouble I've been always to them.' + +He spoke quite simply. There wasn't a thought of himself--as if he had +anything to complain of, or put up with, I mean--in what he said. But +all the more it touched me very much, and I felt the tears come into my +eye, but I wouldn't have Master Francis see it, and I began laughing and +playing with the baby. + +'See his dear little feet,' I said. 'They're almost the prettiest part +of him. He kicks so, he wears out his little boots in no time. It would +be nice if Miss Lally could knit some for him.' + +Master Francis looked surprised. + +'Why,' he said, 'do you call those little white things boots? And are +they made the same way as my socks? I've got them on now; aren't they +splendid? I really think it was very clever of Lally.' + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN DISGRACE AGAIN + + +He held out one foot to be admired. + +'Yes,' I said, 'they are very nice indeed, and Miss Lally was so patient +about them. I'll have to think of some other knitting for her.' + +'O nurse!' said Master Francis quickly, then he stopped. 'I must ask +Lally first,' he went on; and I heard him say, as if speaking to +himself--'it would be nice to please auntie.' + +For a day or two after that I saw there was some mystery going on. +Master Francis and Miss Lally were whispering together and looking very +important, and one fine afternoon the secret was confided to me. + +Miss Bess was out with her mamma, and Master Francis had disappeared +when we came in from our walk, a rather short one that day. Suddenly, +just as we were sitting down to tea, and I was wondering what had +become of him, he hurried in, and threw a small soft white packet on to +Miss Lally's lap. + +'O Francie!' she said, 'have you really got it?' + +Then she undid the parcel and showed it to me; it was white wool. + +'Francie has bought it with his own money,' she said, 'for me to knit a +pair of boots for baby, and oh! nursie, will you show me how? They're to +be a present from Francie and me; me the knitting and Francie the wool, +and we want it to be quite a secret till they're ready. It's so warm now +I can knit up in the attic. Won't mamma be pleased?' + +'Certainly, my dear,' I said. 'I'll do my best to teach you. They'll be +rather difficult, for we'll have to put in some fancy stitches, but I +think you can manage it now.' + +Master Francis stood by, looking as interested and pleased as Miss Lally +herself. + +'That was all the wool Prideaux' daughter had,' he said. 'Do you think +there'll be enough, nurse? She'll have some more in a few days.' + +'I doubt if there'll be enough,' I said, 'but I can tell better when +we've got them begun.' + +Begun they were, that very evening. Miss Lally and Master Francis set to +work to wind the wool, having first spent some time at an extra washing +of their hands, for fear of soiling it in the very least. + +'It's so beautifully white,' said Miss Lally, 'like it says in the +Bible, isn't it, nursie? It would be a pity to dirty it.' + +Dear me! how happy those two were over their innocent secret, and how +little I thought what would come of Master Bevil's white wool bootikins! + +The knitting got on nicely, though there were some difficulties in the +way. The weather was getting warmer, and it is not easy for even little +ladies to keep their hands quite spotlessly clean. The ball of wool had +to be tied up in a little bag, as it would keep falling on the floor, +and besides this, Miss Lally spread out a clean towel in the corner +where she sat to work in the attic. + +I gave Miss Bess a hint that there was a new secret and got her to +promise not to tease the children, and she was really good about it, as +was her way if she felt she was trusted. Altogether, for some little +time things seemed to be going smoothly. Master Francis was most +particular to do nothing that could in the least annoy his uncle and +aunt, or could seem like disobedience to them. + +After the long spell of fine weather, July set in with heavy rain. I +had now been a whole year with the dear children. I remember saying so +to them one morning when we were all at breakfast. + +It was about a week since the baby's boots had been in hand. One was +already finished, in great part by Miss Lally herself, though I had had +to do a little to it in the evenings after they were all in bed, setting +it right for her to go on with the next day. + +With the wet weather there was less walking out, of course, and all the +more time for the knitting. On the day I am speaking of the children +came down from the attic in the afternoon with rather doleful faces. + +'Nursie,' said Miss Lally, 'I have been getting on so nicely,' and +indeed I had not required to do more than glance at her work for two or +three days. 'I thought I would have had it ready for you to begin the +lace part round the top, only, just fancy the wool's done!' + +'They'll have more at the shop by now,' said Master Francis. 'If only it +would clear up I could go to the village for it.' + +'It may be finer to-morrow,' I said, 'but there's no chance of you going +out to-day; even if it left off raining, the ground's far too wet for +you with your rheumatism. Now, Miss Lally, my dear, don't you begin +looking so doleful about it; you've got on far quicker than you could +have expected.' + +She did look rather doleful all the same, and the worst of it was that +though Master Francis would have given up anything for himself, he never +could bear Miss Lally to be disappointed. + +'I'm so much better now, nurse,' he said. 'I don't believe even going +out in the rain would hurt me.' + +'It's _possible_ it mightn't hurt you, but----' I was beginning, when I +heard Master Bevil crying out in the other room. Miss Lally had now a +little room of her own on the other side of the nursery, and we had +saved enough of Miss Bess's chintz to smarten it up. This had been done +some months ago. I hadn't too much time now, and the young girl who +helped me was no hand at sewing at all. Off I hurried to the baby +without finishing what I was saying to Master Francis, and indeed I +never gave another thought to what he'd said about fetching the wool +till tea-time came, and he didn't answer when we called him, thinking he +was in his own room. + +Just then, unluckily, my lady came up to the nursery to say good-bye to +the children, or good-night rather, for she and Sir Hulbert were going +to dine at Carris Court, which is a long drive from Treluan, and the +roads were just then very heavy with the rain. She came in looking quite +bright and cheery. I can see her now in her black lace dress--it was far +from new--it was seldom my lady spent anything on herself--but it suited +her beautifully, showing off her lovely hair and fair complexion. One +little diamond star was her only ornament. I forget if I mentioned that +as well as the strange disappearance of money at the death of old Sir +David, a great many valuable family jewels, worth thousands of pounds, +were also missing, so it was but little that Sir Hulbert had been able +to give his wife, and what money she had of her own she wouldn't have +spent in such ways, knowing from the first how things were with him. + +She came in, as I said, looking so beautiful and bright that I felt +grieved when almost in a moment her look changed. + +'Where is Francis?' she asked quickly. + +'He must be somewhere downstairs, my lady,' I said. 'He's not in his +room, but no doubt he'll be coming directly.' + +Esther, the nursery-maid, was just then coming in with some tea-cakes +Mrs. Brent had sent us up. + +'Go and look for Master Francis, and tell him to come at once,' said my +lady. 'Surely he can't have gone out anywhere,' she added to me; 'it's +pouring, besides he isn't allowed to go out without leave.' + +'He'd never think of such a thing,' I said quickly, 'after being so ill +too.' But even as I spoke the words, there came into my mind what the +boy had said that afternoon, and I began to feel a little anxious, +though of course I didn't let my lady see it, and I did my best to +smooth things when Esther came back to say that he was nowhere to be +found. It was little use, however, my lady began to be thoroughly put +out. + +She hurried off to Sir Hulbert, feeling both anxious and angry, and a +good half-hour was spent in looking for the boy before Sir Hulbert could +persuade her to start. He was vexed too, and no wonder, just when my +lady had been looking so happy. + +'Really,' I thought to myself, 'Master Francis is tiresome after all.' +And I was thankful when they at last drove off, there being no real +cause for anxiety. + +No sooner had the sound of the carriage-wheels died away than the +nursery door opened and Master Francis burst in, looking for once like +a regular pickle of a boy. His eyes bright and his cheeks rosy, though +he was covered with mud from head to foot, his boots really not to be +thought of as fit to come up a tidy staircase. + +'Hurrah!' he cried, shaking a little parcel over his head. 'I've got it, +Lally. And I'm not a bit wet after all, nurse!' + +'Oh no!' said Miss Bess, who did love to put in her word, 'not at all. +Quite nice and dry and tidy and fit to sit down to tea, after worrying +mamma out of her wits and nearly stopping papa and her going to Carris.' + +Master Francis's face fell at once. I was sorry for him and yet that +provoked I couldn't but join in with Miss Bess. + +'Go upstairs to your room at once, Master Francis, and undress and get +straight into your bed. I'll come up in a few minutes with some hot tea +for you. How you could do such a thing close upon getting better of +rheumatic fever, and the trouble and worry it gave, passes me! And +considering, too, what I said to you this very afternoon.' + +'You didn't actually say I wasn't to go,' he said quickly. 'You know +quite well why I went, and I'm not a _bit_ wet really. I'm all muffled +up in things to keep me dry. I'm nearly suffocating.' + +'All the worse,' I said. 'If you're overheated all the more certain +you'll get a chill. Don't stand talking, go at once.' + +He went off, and I was beginning to pour out the tea, which had been +kept back all this time, when, as I lifted the teapot in my hand I +almost dropped it, nearly scalding Miss Baby who was sitting close by +me, so startled was I by a sudden terrible scream from Miss Lally; and, +as I have said before, anything like Miss Lally's screams I never did +hear in any nursery. Besides which, once she was started, there was +never any saying when she'd leave off. + +'Now, whatever's the matter with you, my dear?' I said, but it was +little use talking quietly to her. She only sobbed something about 'poor +Francie and nursie scolding him,' and then went on with her screaming +till I was obliged to put her in the other room by herself to get quiet. + +Of all the party Miss Bess and Miss Baby were the only ones who did +justice to Mrs. Brent's tea-cakes that evening. They did take Miss +Lally's screaming fits quietly, I must say, which was a good thing, and +even Master Bevil had strong nerves, I suppose, for he slept on sweetly +through it all, poor dear. For myself, I was out and out upset for once, +provoked and yet sorry too. + +I went up to Master Francis and did the best I could for him to prevent +his taking cold. He was as sorry as could be by this time, and he had +really not meant to be disobedient, but though I was ready to believe +him, I felt much afraid that this new scrape wouldn't be passed over +very lightly by his uncle and aunt. After a while Miss Lally quieted +down, partly, I think, because I promised her she might go up to her +cousin if she would leave off crying, and the two passed the evening +together very soberly and sadly, winding the fresh skein of white wool +which had been the cause of all the trouble. + +After all Master Francis did not take cold. He came down to breakfast +the next morning looking pretty much as usual, though I could see he was +uneasy in his mind. Miss Lally too was feeling rather ashamed of her +screaming fit the night before, for she was growing a big girl now, old +enough to understand that she should have more self-command. Altogether +it was a rather silent nursery that morning, for Miss Bess was concerned +for her cousin too. + +I had quite meant to try to see my lady before anything was said to +Master Francis. But she was tired and later of getting up than usual, +and I didn't like to disturb her. Sir Hulbert, I found, had gone out +early and would not be in till luncheon-time, so I hoped I would still +have my chance. + +I hardly saw the elder children till their dinner time. It was an extra +long morning of lessons with Miss Kirstin, for it was still raining, and +on wet days she sometimes helped them with what they had to learn by +themselves. + +The three hurried up together to make themselves tidy before going down +to the dining-room, and I just saw them for a moment. Master Bevil was +rather fractious, and I was feeling a little worried about him, so that +what had happened the night before was not quite so fresh in my mind as +it had been; but I did ask Miss Lally, who came to me to have her hair +brushed, if she had seen her mamma, and if my lady was feeling rested. + +'She's getting up for luncheon,' was the child's answer, 'but I haven't +seen her. Mrs. Brent told us she was very tired last night. Mrs. Brent +waited up to tell mamma Francie had come in.' + +After luncheon the two young ladies came up together. I looked past +them anxiously for Master Francis. + +'No,' said Miss Lally, understanding my look, 'he's not coming. He's +gone to papa's room, and papa and mamma are both there.' + +My heart sank at the words. + +'Mamma's coming up to see baby in a little while,' said Miss Bess. 'She +was so tired, poor little mamma, she only woke in time to dress for +luncheon, and papa said he was very glad.' + +Miss Lally came round and whispered to me. + +'Nurse,' she said, 'may I go up to the attic? I want to knit a great lot +to-day, and if I stayed down here mamma would see.' + +'Very well, my dear,' I said. 'Only be sure to come downstairs if you +feel chilly.' + +There was really no reason, now that she had a room of her own, for her +ever to sit in the attic, but she had taken a fancy to it, I suppose, +and off she went. + +Miss Bess stood looking out of the window, in a rather idle way she had. + +'Oh dear!' she said impatiently; 'is it _never_ going to leave off +raining? I am so tired of not getting out.' + +'Get something to do, my dear,' I said. 'Then the time will pass more +quickly. It won't stop raining for you watching it, you know. Weren't +you saying something about the schoolroom books needing arranging, and +that you hadn't had time to do them?' + +Miss Bess was in a very giving-in mood. + +'Very well,' she said, moving off slowly. 'I suppose I may as well do +them. But I need somebody to help me; where's Lally?' + +'Don't disturb her yet awhile, poor dear,' I said. 'She does so want to +get on with the work I've told you about.' + +Miss Bess stood looking uncertain. Suddenly an idea struck her. + +'May I have Baby then?' she asked. 'She could hold up the books to me, +and that's about all the help I need, really.' + +I saw no objection, and Miss Baby trotted off very proud, Miss Bess +leading her by the hand. + +The nursery seemed very quiet the next half-hour or so, or maybe longer. +I was beginning to wonder when my lady would be coming, and feeling glad +that Master Bevil, who had just wakened up from a nice sleep, was +looking quite like himself again before she saw him, when suddenly the +door burst open and Master Francis looked in. He was not crying, but +his face had the strained white look I could not bear to see on it. + +'Is there no one here?' he said. + +Somehow I didn't like to question him, grieved though I felt at things +going wrong again. + +'No,' I replied. 'Miss Bess is in the schoolroom with----,' then it +suddenly struck me that my lady might be coming in at any moment, and +that it might be better for Master Francis not to be there. 'Miss +Lally,' I went on quickly, 'is at her knitting in the attic, if you like +to go to her there.' + +He turned and went. Afterwards he told me that he caught sight of my +lady coming along the passage as he left the room, and that he hurried +upstairs to avoid her. He didn't find Miss Lally in the attic as he +expected, but her knitting was there lying on the floor, thrown down +hurriedly, and though she had not forgotten to spread out the clean +towel as usual, in her haste she hadn't noticed that the newly-wound +ball of white wool had rolled some distance away from the half-finished +boot and the pins. + +Afterwards I will tell what happened to Master Francis, up there by +himself in the attic. + +To make all clear, I may here explain why he had not found Miss Lally in +her nook. The book-tidying in the schoolroom had gone on pretty well, +but after a bit, though Miss Baby did her best, Miss Bess found the want +of some one who could read the titles, and she ran upstairs to beg Miss +Lally to come for a few minutes. The few minutes turned into an hour or +more, for the young ladies, just like children as they were, came across +some old favourites in their tidying, and began reading out bits here +and there to each other. And then to please Miss Baby they made houses +and castles of the books on the floor, which she thought a beautiful new +game, so that Miss Lally forgot about her knitting, while feeling, so to +say, at the back of her mind quite easy about it, thinking she had left +it safely lying on the clean cloth. + +They were both so much taken up with what they were about, that it never +struck them to wonder what Master Francis was doing with himself all the +afternoon. + +My lady and I meanwhile were having a long talk in the nursery. It had +been as I feared, Sir Hulbert having spoken most severely to the boy, +and my lady having said some bitter things, which already she was +repenting, more especially when I was able to explain that Master +Francis had really not been so distinctly disobedient as had seemed the +case. + +'We must try and put it right again, I suppose,' she said rather sadly, +as she was leaving the room. 'I wish I didn't take up things so hotly at +the time, but I was really frightened as well as angry. Still Sir +Hulbert would not have spoken so strongly if it hadn't been for me.' + +This was a great deal for my lady to say, and I felt honoured by her +confidence. I began to be more hopeful again, and tried to set out the +tea rather nicer than usual to cheer them up a little. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LOST + + +The three young ladies came in together, Miss Baby looking very +important, but calling out for her tea. + +'It's quite ready, my dear,' I said. 'But where's Master Francis?' + +'_I_ don't know,' said Miss Bess. 'I haven't seen him all the +afternoon.' + +I turned to Miss Lally. + +'He went up to sit with you, my dear, in the attic,' I said. + +'I didn't see him,' said Miss Lally, and then she explained how Miss +Bess had fetched her down ever so long ago. 'I daresay Francie's in his +own room,' she went on. 'I'll run up and see, and I'll look in the attic +too, for I left my work lying about.' + +She ran off. + +'Nurse,' said Miss Bess, 'do you think Francis got a very bad scolding? +You saw him, didn't you? Did he seem very unhappy?' + +'I'm afraid so, my dear, but I think it will come all right again. I've +seen your mamma since, and she quite sees now that he didn't really mean +to be disobedient.' + +'I wish you had told mamma that before they spoke to Francis,' said Miss +Bess, who I must say was rather a Job's comforter sometimes. + +We waited anxiously till we heard Miss Lally's footsteps returning. She +ran in alone, looking rather troubled. + +'He's not there, not in his own room, or the attic, or nowhere, but he +must have been in the attic, for my work's gone.' + +A great fear came over me. Could the poor boy have run away in his +misery at having again angered his uncle and aunt? for the look on his +face had been strange, when he glanced in at the nursery door, asking +for Miss Lally. Was he meaning perhaps to bid her good-bye before +setting off in some wild way? And what she said of the knitting having +gone made me still more uneasy. Had he perhaps taken it with him as a +remembrance? for of all the queer mixtures of old-fashionedness and +childishness that ever I came across, Master Francis was the strangest, +though, as I have said, there was a good deal of this in all the +children. + +I got up at Miss Lally's words. Master Bevil was asleep, luckily. + +'You go on with your tea, my dears, there's good children,' I said. 'I +must see about Master Francis, he must be somewhere about the house. +He'd never have thought of going out again in such weather,' for it was +pouring in torrents. + +I went downstairs, asking everybody I met if they had seen him, but they +all shook their heads, and at last, after searching through the library +and the big drawing-rooms, and even more unlikely places, I got so +frightened that I made bold to knock at Sir Hulbert's study door, where +he was busy writing, my lady working beside him. + +They had been talking of Master Francis just before I went in, and they +were far more distressed than annoyed at my news, my lady growing quite +pale. + +'O Hulbert!' she exclaimed, 'if he has run away it is my fault.' + +'Nonsense, Helen,' he said, meaning to cheer her. 'The boy has got sense +and good feeling, he'd never risk making himself ill again. And where +would he run away to? He couldn't go to sea. But certainly the sooner +we find him the better.' + +He went off to speak to some of the men, while my lady and I, Mrs. Brent +and some of the others, started again to search through the house. We +did search, looking in really impossible corners, where he couldn't have +squeezed himself in. Then the baby awoke, and I had to go to him, and +Miss Bess and Miss Lally took their turn at this melancholy game of +hide-and-seek, but it was all no use. The dull gray afternoon darkened +into night, the rain still pouring down, and nothing was heard of the +missing boy. Sir Hulbert at last left off pretending not to be anxious. +He had his strongest horse put into the dog-cart, and drove away to the +town to give notice to the police, stopping on the way at every place +where it was the least likely the boy could have been seen. + +He didn't get back till eleven o'clock. My lady and Mrs. Brent and me +were waiting up for him, for Master Bevil was sleeping sweetly, and I +had put the nursery-maid to watch beside him. The young ladies, poor +dears, were in bed too, and, as is happily the way with children, had +fallen asleep in spite of their tears and sad distress. + +We knew the moment we saw Sir Hulbert that he had no good tidings to +give us. His sunburnt face looked almost white, as he came into the hall +soaking wet and shook his head. + +'I have done everything, Nelly,' he said, 'everything that can be done, +and now we must try to be patient till some news comes. It is +impossible, everybody says, that a boy like him, so well known in the +neighbourhood too, could disappear without some one seeing him, or that +he could remain in hiding for long. It is perfectly extraordinary that +we have not found him already, and somehow I can scarcely believe he is +doing it on purpose. He has such good feeling, and must know how anxious +we should be.' + +Sir Hulbert was standing by the fire, which my lady had had lighted in +the hall, as he spoke. He seemed almost thinking aloud. My lady crept up +to him with a look on her face I could not bear to see. + +'Hulbert,' she said in a low voice, 'I said things to him enough to make +him doubt our caring at all.' And then she broke down into bitter though +silent weeping. + +We got her to bed with difficulty. There was really no use whatever in +sitting up, and who knew what need for strength the next day might +bring? Then there were the other poor children to think of. So by +midnight the house was all quiet as usual. I was thankful that the wind +had fallen, for all through the evening there had been sounds of wailing +and sobbing, such as stormy weather always brings at Treluan, enough to +make you miserable if there was nothing the matter--the rain pattering +against the window like cold tiny hands, tapping and praying to be let +in. + +Sad as I was, and though I could scarcely have believed it of myself, I +had scarcely laid my head down before I too, like the children, fell +fast asleep. I was dreaming, a strange confused dream, which I never was +able to remember clearly; but it was something about searching in the +smugglers' caves for Master Francis, followed by an old man, who I +somehow fancied was the miser baronet, Sir David. His hair was snow +white, and there was a confusion in my mind of thinking it like Miss +Lally's wool. Anyhow, I had got the idea of whiteness in my head, so +that, when something woke me--afterwards I knew it was the sound of my +own name--and I opened my eyes to see by the glimmer of the night-light +what seemed at first a shining figure by my bed-side, I did not feel +surprised. And the first words I said were 'white as wool.' + +'No, no,' said Miss Lally, for it was she, in her little night-dress, +her fair hair all tumbling over her shoulders, 'it isn't about my wool, +nurse, please wake up quite. It's something so strange--such a queer +noise. Please get up and come to my room to see what it is.' + +Miss Lally's room was a tiny place at the side of the nursery nearest +the tower, though not opening on to the tower stair. + +I got up at once and crossed the day nursery with her, lighting a candle +on the way. But when we got into her room all was perfectly silent. + +'What was it you heard, my dear?' I asked. + +'A sort of knocking,' she said, 'and a queer kind of little cry, like a +rabbit caught in a trap when you hear it a long way off.' + +'It must have been the wind and rain again,' I was beginning to say, but +she stopped me. + +'Hush, listen!' she said, holding up her little hand, 'there it is +again.' + +It was just as she had said, and it seemed to come from the direction of +the tower. + +'Isn't it like as if it was from Francie's room?' said Miss Lally, +shivering a little; 'and yet we know he's not there, nursie.' + +But something was there, or close by, and something _living_, I seemed +to feel. + +'Put on your dressing-gown,' I said to the little girl, 'and your +slippers, and we'll go up and see. You're not frightened, dear?' + +'Oh no!' she said. 'If only it was Francie!' + +But she clung to my hand as we went up the stair, leaving the nursery +door wide open, so as to hear Master Bevil if he woke up. + +Master Francis's room was all dark, of course, and it struck very chill +as we went in, the candle flickering as we pushed the door open. It +seemed so strange to see the empty bed, and everything unused about the +room, just as if he was really quite away. We stood perfectly still. All +was silent. We were just about leaving the room to go to the attic when +the faintest breath of a sound seemed to come again, I couldn't tell +from where. It was more like a sigh in the air. + +'Stop,' said Miss Lally, squeezing my hand, and then again we heard the +muffled taps, much more clearly than downstairs. Miss Lally's ears were +very sharp. + +'I hear talking,' she whispered, and before I knew what she was about +she had laid herself down on the floor and put her ear to the ground, at +a part where there was no carpet. 'Nursie,' she went on, looking up with +a very white face and shining eyes, 'it is Francie. He must have felled +through the floor. I can hear him saying, "O Lally! O Bess! Oh, somebody +come."' + +I stooped down as she had done. It was silent again; but after a moment +began the knocking and a sort of sobbing cry; my ears weren't sharp +enough to make it into words, but I seized the first thing that came to +hand, I think it was the candlestick, and thumped it on the floor as +hard as ever I could, calling out, close down through the boarding, +'Master Francie, we hear you.' + +But there was nothing we could do by ourselves, and we were losing +precious time. + +'Miss Lally,' I said, 'you won't be frightened to stay here alone; I'll +leave you the candle. Go on knocking and calling to him, to keep up his +heart, in case he can hear, while I go for your papa.' + +In less time than it takes to tell it, I had roused Sir Hulbert and +brought him back with me, my lady following after. Nothing would have +kept her behind. We were met by eager words from Miss Lally. + +'Papa, nursie,' she cried, 'I've made him hear, and I can make out that +he says something about the window.' + +Without speaking Sir Hulbert strode across the room and flung it open. +Oh, how thankful we were that the wind had fallen and all was still. + +'Francis, my boy,' we heard Sir Hulbert shout--he was leaning out as far +as ever he could--'Francis, my boy, can you hear me?' + +Something answered, but we inside the room couldn't distinguish what it +said, but in another moment Sir Hulbert turned towards us. + +'He says something about the cupboard in the attic,' he said. 'What can +he mean? But come at once.' + +He caught up my lady's little hand-lamp and led the way, we three +following. When we reached the attic he went straight to the big +cupboard I have spoken of. The doors were standing wide open. Sir +Hulbert went in, but came out again, looking rather blank. + +'I can see nothing,' he said. 'I fancied he said the word "mouse," but +his voice had got so faint.' + +'If you knock on the floor,' I began, but Miss Lally stopped me by +darting into the closet. + +'Papa,' she said, 'hold the light here. I know where the mouse-hole is.' + +What they had thought a mouse-hole was really a hole with jagged edges +cut out in one of the boards, which you could thrust your hand into. Sir +Hulbert did so, beginning to see what it was meant for, and pulled. A +trap-door, cleverly made, for all that it looked so roughly done, gave +way, and by the light of the lamp we saw a kind of ladder leading +downwards into the dark. Sir Hulbert stooped down and leaned over the +edge. + +'Francis,' he called, and a very faint voice--we couldn't have heard it +till the door was opened--answered-- + +'Yes, I'm here. Take care, the ladder's broken.' + +Luckily there was another ladder in the attic. Sir Hulbert and I dragged +it out, and managed to slip it down the hole, in the same direction as +the other. We were so afraid it would be too short, but it wasn't. My +lady and I held it steady at the top, while Sir Hulbert went down with +the lamp, Miss Lally holding a candle beside us. + +Sir Hulbert went down very slowly, not knowing how or in what state +Master Francis might be lying at the foot. Our hearts were beating like +hammers, for all we were so quiet. + +First we heard an exclamation of surprise. I rather think it was 'by +Jove!' though Sir Hulbert was a most particular gentleman in his way of +speaking--then came a hearty shout-- + +'All right, he's here, no bones broken.' + +'Shall I come down?' cried my lady. + +'I think you may,' Sir Hulbert answered, 'if you're very careful. I'll +bring the light to the foot of the ladder again.' + +When my lady got down, Miss Lally and I strained our ears to hear. I +knew the child was quivering to go down herself, and it was like her to +be so patient. + +Strange were the words that first reached us. + +'Auntie, auntie!' we heard Master Francis say, in his poor weak voice. +'It's old Sir David's treasure! You won't be poor any more. Oh! I'm so +glad now I fell down the hole, but I thought I'd die before I could tell +any one.' + +Miss Lally and I stared at each other. Could it be true? or was Master +Francis off his head? We had not long to wait. + +They managed to get him up--after all it was not so very far to +climb,--my lady coming first with the lamp, and Sir Hulbert, holding +Master Francis with one arm and the side of the ladder with the other, +followed, for the boy had revived wonderfully, once he knew he was safe. + +[Illustration: Sir Hulbert, holding Master Francis with one arm and the +side of the ladder with the other, followed.] + +My lady was crying, I saw it the moment the light fell on her face, and +as soon as Master Francis was up beside us, she threw her arms round him +and kissed him as never before. + +'Oh! my poor dear boy,' she said, 'I am so thankful, but do tell us how +it all happened.' + +She must have heard, and indeed seen something of the strange discovery +that had been made, but for the moment I don't think there was a thought +in her heart except thankfulness that he was safe. + +Before Master Francis could answer, Sir Hulbert interrupted. + +'Better not ask him anything for a minute or two,' he said. 'Nurse, you +will find my brandy-flask downstairs in the study. He'd better have a +little mixed with water; and ring the bell as you pass to waken Crooks, +and some one must light the fire in Francis's room.' + +I was back in five minutes with what was wanted; and then I found Miss +Lally having her turn at petting her cousin. As soon as he had had a +little brandy and water we took him down to the nursery, where the fire +was still smouldering, Sir Hulbert carefully closing the trap-door as it +had been before, and then following us downstairs. + +Once in the nursery, anxious though we were to get him to bed, it was +impossible not to let him tell something of what had happened. It began +by a cry from Miss Lally. + +'Why, Francie, you've got my knitting sticking out of your pocket. But +two of the needles have dropped out,' she went on rather dolefully. + +'They'll be lying down in that room,' said Master Francis. 'I was +carrying it in my hand when I went down the ladder after the ball of +wool, and when I fell I dropped it, and I found it afterwards. It was +the ball of wool that did it all,' and then he went on to explain. + +He had not found Miss Lally in the attic, for Miss Bess had already +called her down, but seeing her knitting lying on the floor, he had sat +down to wait for her, thinking she'd be sure to come back. Then he +noticed that the ball of wool must have rolled away as she threw her +work down, and disappeared into the cupboard. The door was wide open, +and he traced it by the thread in his hand to the 'mouse-hole' in the +corner, down which it had dropped, and putting his hand through to see +if he could feel it, to his surprise the board yielded. Pulling a little +more, the trap-door opened, and he saw the steps leading downwards. + +It was not dark in the secret room in the day-time, for it had two +narrow slits of windows hardly to be noticed from the outside, so, with +a boy's natural curiosity, he determined to go down. He hadn't strength +to lift the trap-door fully back, but he managed to stick it open enough +to let him pass through; he had not got down many steps, however, before +he heard it bang to above him. The shock may have jarred the ladder, +which was a roughly-made rotten old thing. Anyway, the next moment +Master Francis felt it give way, and he fell several feet on to the +floor below. He was bruised, and a little stunned for a few minutes, but +he soon came quite to himself, and, still full of curiosity, began to +look about him. The place where he was was only a sort of entrance to a +larger room, which was really under his own bedroom, and lighted, as I +have said, by narrow deep windows, without glass. And though there was +no door between the two, the large room was on a much lower level, and +another ladder led down to it. This time he was very careful, and got to +the bottom without any accident. + +Looking about him, he saw standing along one side of the room a +collection of the queerest-shaped objects of all sizes that could be +imagined, all wrapped up in some kind of linen or canvas, grown gray +with age and dust. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +'OLD SIR DAVID'S' SECRET + + +At first he thought the queer-looking things he saw must be odd-shaped +pieces of stone, or petrifactions, such as you see in old-fashioned +rockeries in gardens sometimes. But when he went close up to them and +touched one, he found that the covering was soft, though whatever was +inside it was hard. He pulled the cloth off it, and saw to his surprise +that it was a heavy silver tea-urn, though so black and discoloured that +it looked more like copper or iron. He examined two or three other +things, standing by near it; they also proved to be large pieces of +plate--great heavy dinner-table centres, candelabra, and such +things,--and, child though he was, Master Francis could see they must be +of considerable value. But this was not what struck him the most. Like a +flash of lightning it darted into his mind that there must be still +more valuable things in this queer store-room. + +'I do believe,' he said to himself, 'that this is old Sir David's +treasure!' + +He was right. It would take too long to describe how he went on +examining into all these strange objects. Several, that looked like +well-stuffed sacks, were tied up so tightly that he couldn't undo the +cord. He made a little hole in one of them with his pocket-knife, and +out rolled, to his delight, ever so many gold pieces! + +'Then,' said Master Francis to us, 'I really felt as if I could have +jumped with joy; but I thought I'd better fetch Uncle Hulbert before I +poked about any more, and I went up the short ladder again, meaning to +go back the way I'd come. I had never thought till that minute that I +couldn't manage it, but the long ladder was broken away so high above my +head that I couldn't possibly reach up to it, and the bits of it that +had fallen on to the floor were quite rotten. And the trap-door seemed +so close shut, that I was afraid no one would hear me however I +shouted.' + +He did shout though, poor boy; it was the only thing he could do. The +short ladder was a fixture and he couldn't move it from its place, even +if it had been long enough to be of any use. After a while he got so +tired of calling out, that he seemed to have no voice left, and I think +he must have fallen into a sort of doze, for the next thing he +remembered was waking up to find that it was quite dark. Then he began +to feel terribly frightened, and to think that perhaps he would be left +there to die of hunger. + +'And the worst of it was,' he said in his simple way, 'that nobody would +ever have known of the treasure.' + +He called out again from time to time, and then a new idea struck him. +He felt about for a bit of wood on the floor and set to work, knocking +as hard as he could. Most likely he fell asleep by fits and starts, +waking up every now and then to knock and call out again, and when the +house was all shut up and silent for the night, of course the sound he +made seemed much louder, only unluckily we were all asleep and might +never have heard it except for dear little Miss Lally. + +It was not till after Master Francis caught the sound of our knocking +back in reply that it came into his head to make his way close up to the +windows--luckily it was not a very dark night--and call through them, +for there was no glass in them, as I have said. If he had done that +before it is just possible we might have heard him sooner, as in our +searching we had been in and out of his room, above where he was, +several times. + +There is not much more for me to tell. Master Francis was ill enough to +have to stay in bed for a day or two, and at first we were a little +afraid that the cold and the terror, and the strange excitement +altogether, might bring on another illness. But it was not so. I think +he was really too happy to fall ill again! + +In a day or two Sir Hulbert was able to tell him all about the +discovery. It was kept quite secret till the family lawyer could be sent +for, and then he and my lady and Sir Hulbert all went down through the +trap-door again with Mr. Crooks, the butler, to help them, and +everything was opened out and examined. It was a real miser's hoard. + +Besides the plate, which was really the least valuable, for it was so +clumsy and heavy that a good deal of it was only fit to be melted down, +there were five or six sacks filled with gold and some with silver coin. +Of course something was lost upon it with its being so old, but taking +it all in all, a very large sum was realised, for a great many of the +Penrose diamonds had been hidden away also, _some_ of which--the most +valuable, though not the most beautiful--were sold. + +Altogether, though it didn't make Sir Hulbert into a millionaire, it +made him a rich man, as rich, I think, as he cared to be. And, strangely +enough, as the old proverb has it, 'it never rains but it pours,' only +two or three years after, money came to my lady which she had never +expected. So that to any one visiting Treluan, as it now is, and seeing +all that has been done by the family, not only for themselves, but for +those about them,--the church, the schools, the cottages on the estate +being perfect models of their kind--it would be difficult to believe +there had ever been want of money to be wisely and generously spent. + +Dear, dear, how many years ago it all is now! There's not many living, +if any, to remember the ins and outs as I do, which is indeed my excuse +for having put it down in my own way. + +Miss Bess,--Miss Penrose, as I should say,--Miss Lalage, and even Miss +Augusta have been married this many a day; and Lady Helen, Miss Bess's +eldest daughter, is sixteen past, and it is she that has promised to +look over my writing and correct it. + +Master Bevil, Sir Bevil now, for Sir Hulbert did not live to be an old +man, has two fine boys of his own, whom I took care of from their +babyhood, as I did their father, and I'm feeling quite lost since Master +Ramsey has gone to school. + +And of dear Master Francis. What words can I say that would be enough? +He is the only one of the flock that has not married, and yet who could +be happier than he is? He never thinks of himself, his whole life has +been given to the noblest work. His writings, I am told, though they're +too learned for my old head, have made him a name far and wide. And all +this he has done in spite of delicate health and frequent suffering. He +seems older than his years, and Sir Bevil is in hopes that before long +he may persuade his cousin to give up his hard London parish and make +his regular home where he is so longed for, in Treluan itself, as our +vicar, and indeed I pray that it may be so while I am still here to see +it. + +Above all, for my dear lady's sake, I scarcely like to own to myself +that she is beginning to fail, for though I speak of myself as an old +woman and feel it is true, yet I can't bear to think that her years are +running near to the appointed threescore and ten, for she is nine years +older than I. She has certainly never been the same, and no wonder, +since Sir Hulbert's death, but she has had many comforts, and almost the +greatest of them has been, as I think I have said before, Master +Francis. + + * * * * * + +Mother and my aunts want me to add on a few words of my own to dear old +nurse's story. She gave it me to read and correct here and there, more +than a year ago, and I meant to have done so at once. But for some +months past I hardly felt as if I had the heart to undertake it, +especially as I didn't like bringing back the remembrance of their old +childish days to mother and my aunts, or to Uncle Bevil and Uncle +Francis, as we always call him, just in the first freshness of their +grief at dear grandmamma's death. And I needed to ask them a few things +to make the narrative quite clear for any who may ever care to read it. + +But now that the spring has come back again, making us all feel bright +and hopeful (we have all been at Treluan together for Uncle Bevil's +birthday), I have enjoyed doing it, and they all tell me that they have +enjoyed hearing about the story and answering my questions. + +Dear grandmamma loved the spring so! She was so gentle and sweet, +though she never lost her quick eager way either. And though she died +last year, just before the daffodils and primroses were coming out, +somehow this spring the sight of them again has not made us feel sad +about her, but _happy_ in the best way of all. + +Perhaps I should have said before that I am 'Nelly,' 'Miss Bess's' +eldest daughter. Aunt Lalage has only one daughter, who is named after +mother, and _I_ think very like what mother must have been at her age. + +There are five of _us_, and Aunt Augusta has two boys, like Uncle Bevil. + +What used to be 'the secret room,' where our miser ancestor kept the +hoard so strangely discovered, has been joined, by taking down the +ceiling, to what in the old days was Uncle Francis's room, and enters +from a door lower down the tower stair, and Uncle Bevil's boys have made +it into what they call their 'Museum.' We are all very fond of showing +it to visitors, and explaining how it used to be, and telling the whole +story. Uncle Francis always maintains that Aunt Lally saved his life, +and though she gets very red when he says so, I do think it is true. She +really was very brave for such a little girl. If I heard knockings in +the night, I am afraid I should hide my head under the clothes, and put +my fingers in my ears. + +Uncle Francis and Aunt Lally always do seem almost more brother and +sister to each other than any of the rest; and her husband, Uncle +Geoffrey, whom next to Uncle Francis I think I like best of all my +uncles, was one of _his_--I mean Uncle Francis's; what a confusion I'm +getting into--best friends at college. + +When I began this, after correcting nurse's manuscript, I thought +nothing would be easier than to write a story in the most beautiful +language, but I find it so much harder than I expected that I am not +sorry to think that there is really nothing more of importance to tell. +And I must say my admiration for the way in which nurse has performed +_her_ task has increased exceedingly! + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nurse Heatherdale's Story, by +Mary Louisa Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY *** + +***** This file should be named 39047-8.txt or 39047-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/4/39047/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.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: Nurse Heatherdale's Story + +Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth + +Illustrator: Leonard Leslie Brooke + +Release Date: March 4, 2012 [EBook #39047] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY</h1> + +<h2>BY MRS MOLESWORTH</h2> + + +<p class="center">ILLUSTRATED BY<br /> +L LESLIE BROOKE</p> + +<p class="center">MACMILLAN & CO<br /> +LONDON MDCCCXCI</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">TO<br /> +MY FAR-AWAY<br /> +BUT FAITHFUL FRIEND<br /> +GISÉLA</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Lindfield</span>, <br /> +<i>August</i> 22, 1891. </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>She was sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in +the window of the little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in +behind her.—P. 31.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table summary="contents"> +<tr><td></td><td></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER I </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Love at First Sight</span> </a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER II </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">An Unexpected Proposal</span> </a></td><td align="right">17</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER III </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Treluan</span> </a></td><td align="right">36</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER IV </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">A Nursery Tea</span> </a></td><td align="right">51</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER V </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">The Shop in the Village</span> </a></td><td align="right">66</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER VI </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">The Smugglers' Caves</span> </a></td><td align="right">82</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER VII </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">A Rainy Day</span> </a></td><td align="right">96</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER VIII </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">The Old Latin Grammar</span> </a></td><td align="right">110</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER IX </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">Upset Plans</span> </a></td><td align="right">124</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER X </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">The New Baby</span> </a></td><td align="right">137</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER XI </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">In Disgrace again</span> </a></td><td align="right">151</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER XII </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Lost</span> </a></td><td align="right">167</td></tr> +<tr><td>CHAPTER XIII </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">'Old Sir David's' Secret</span> </a></td><td align="right">183</td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table summary="illustrations"> +<tr><td></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus1">'Hasn't her a nice face?' </a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus2">She was sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in the window of +the little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in behind her </a></td><td align="right">31</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus3">Then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise </a></td><td align="right">74</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus4">Miss Bess and Master Francis were talking eagerly with old Prideaux </a></td><td align="right">82</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus5">'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants to kiss thoo'</a></td><td align="right">113</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus6">'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you look!' </a></td><td align="right">129</td></tr> + +<tr><td><a href="#illus7">Sir Hulbert, holding Master Francis with one arm and the side of the ladder with the other, followed </a></td><td align="right">179</td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT</h3> + + +<p>I could fancy it was only yesterday! That first time I saw them. And to +think how many years ago it is really! And how many times I have told +the story—or, perhaps, I should say the <i>stories</i>, for after all it is +only a string of simple day-by-day events I have to tell, though to me +and to the children about me they seem so interesting and, in some ways, +I think I may say, rather out of the common. So that now that I am +getting old, or 'beginning to think just a tiny bit about some day +getting old,' which is the only way Miss Erica will let me say it, and +knowing that nobody else <i>can</i> know all the ins and outs which make the +whole just<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> as I do, and having a nice quiet time to myself most days +(specially since dear tiresome little Master Ramsey is off to school +with his brothers), I am going to try to put it down as well as I can. +My 'as well as I can' won't be anything very scholarly or fine, I know +well; but if one knows what one wants to say it seems to me the words +will come. And the story will be there for the dear children, who are +never sharp judging of old Heather—and for their children after them, +maybe.</p> + +<p>I was standing at our cottage door that afternoon—a beautiful summer +afternoon it was, early in June. I was looking idly enough across the +common, for our cottage stood—stands still, perhaps—I have not been +there for many a year—just at the edge of Brayling Common, where it +skirts the pine-woods, when I saw them pass. Quite a little troop they +looked, though they were scarcely near enough for me to see them +plainly. There was the donkey, old Larkins's donkey, which they had +hired for the time, with a tot of a girl riding on it, the page-boy +leading it, and a nursemaid walking on one side, and on the other an +older little lady—somewhere about ten years old she looked, though she +was really only eight. What an air she had, to be sure! What a grand +way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> of holding herself and stepping along like a little princess, for +all that she and her sisters were dressed as simple as simple. Pink +cotton frocks, if I remember right, a bit longer in the skirts than our +young ladies wear them now, and nice white cotton stockings,—it was +long before black silk ones were the fashion for children,—and +ankle-strap shoes, and white sun-bonnets, made with casers and cords, +nice and shady for the complexions, though you really had to be close to +before you could see a child's face inside of them. And some way behind, +another little lady, a good bit shorter than Miss Bess—I meant to give +all their names in order later on, but it seems strange-like not to say +it—and looking quite three years younger, though there was really not +two between them. And alongside of her a boy, thin and pale and +darkish-haired—that, I could see, as he had no sun-bonnet of course, +only a cap of some kind. He too was a good bit taller than Miss ——, +the middle young lady I mean, though short for his age, which was eleven +past. They were walking together, these two—they were mostly always +together, and I saw that the boy was a little lame, just a touch, but +enough to take the spring out of his step that one likes to see in a +young thing. And though I couldn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> see her face, only some long fair +curls, long enough to come below the cape of her bonnet, a feeling came +over me that the child beside him was walking slow, keeping back as it +were, on purpose to bear him company. There was something gentle and +pitying-like in her little figure, in the way she went closer to the boy +and took his hand when the nurse turned round and called back +something—I couldn't hear the words but I fancied the tone was +sharp—to the two children behind, which made them press forward a +little. The other young lady turned as they came nearer and said +something with a sort of toss-up of her proud little head to the nurse. +And then I saw that she held out her hand to her younger sister, who +kept hold all the same of the boy's hand on the other side. And that was +how they were walking when they went in among the trees and were lost to +my sight.</p> + +<p>But I still stood looking after them, even when there was nothing more +of them to be seen. Not even the dog—oh, I forgot about him—he was the +very last of the party—a brisk, shortish haired, wiry-looking rough +terrier, who, just as he got to the entrance of the wood, turned round +and stood for a moment barking, for all the world as if he might be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +saying, 'My young ladies have gone a-walking in the wood now, and +nobody's to come a-troubling of them. So I give you fair notice.' He did +think, did Fusser, that was <i>his</i> name, that he managed all the affairs +of the family. Many a time we've laughed at him for it.</p> + +<p>'Dear me,' thought I to myself, 'I could almost make a story out of +those young ladies and gentleman, though I've only seen them for a +minute, or two at the most.'</p> + +<p>For I was very fond of children even then, and knew a good deal about +their ways, though not so much—no, nor nothing like—what I do now! But +I was in rather a dreamy sort of humour. I had just left my first +place,—that of nursery-maid with the family where my mother had been +before me, and where I had stayed on older than I should have done by +rights, because of thinking I was going to be married. And six months +before, my poor Charles had died suddenly, or so at least it had seemed +to us all. For he caught cold, and it went to his chest, and he was gone +in a fortnight. The doctor said for all he looked strong, he was really +sadly delicate, and it was bound to be sooner or later. It may have been +true, leastways the doctor meant to comfort me by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> saying so, though I +don't know that I found much comfort in the thought. Not so much anyhow +as in mother's simple words that it was God's will, and so it must be +right. And in thinking how happy we had been. Never a word or a coldness +all the four years we were plighted. But it was hard to bear, and it +changed all my life for me. I never could bring myself to think of +another.</p> + +<p>Still I was only twenty-one, and after I'd been at home a bit, the young +ladies would have me back to cheer me up, they said. I travelled with +them that spring; but when they all went up to London, and Miss Marian +was to be married, and the two little ones were all day with the +governess, I really couldn't for shame stay on when there was no need of +me. So, though with many tears, I came home, and was casting about in my +mind what I had best do—mother being hale and hearty, and no call for +dress-making of a plain kind in our village—that afternoon, when I +stood watching the stranger little gentry and old Larkins's donkey and +the dog, as they crossed the common into the firwood.</p> + +<p>It was mother's voice that woke me up, so to say.</p> + +<p>'Martha,' she called out in her cheery way, 'what's thee doing, child? +I'm about tidied up; come and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> get thy work, and let's sit down a bit +comfortable. I don't like to see thee so down-like, and such bright +summer weather, though mayhap the very sunshine makes it harder for +thee, poor dear.'</p> + +<p>And she gave a little sigh, which was a good deal for her, for she was +not one as made much talk of feelings and sorrows. It seemed to spirit +me up somehow.</p> + +<p>'I wasn't like that just now, mother,' I said cheerfully. 'I've been +watching some children—gentry—going over the common—three little +young ladies and a boy, and Larkins's donkey. They made me think of Miss +Charlotte and Miss Marian when first I went there, though plainer +dressed a good deal than our young ladies were. But real gentry, I +should say.'</p> + +<p>'And you'd say right,' mother answered. 'They are lodging at Widow +Nutfold's, quite a party of them. Their father's Sir——; dear, dear, +I've forgot the name, but he's a barrowknight, and the family's name is +Penrose. They come from somewhere far off, near by the sea—quite furrin +parts, I take it.'</p> + +<p>'Not out of England, you don't mean, do you?' I asked. For mother, of +course, kept all her old country talk, while I, with having been so many +years with Miss Marian and her sisters, and treated more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> like a friend +than a servant, and great pains taken with my reading and writing, had +come to speak less old-fashioned, so to say, and to give the proper +meaning to my words. 'Foreign parts really means out of this country, +where they talk French or Italian, you know, mother.'</p> + +<p>But mother only shook her head.</p> + +<p>'Nay,' she said, 'I mean what I say. Furrin parts is furrin parts. I +wouldn't say as they come from where the folks is nigger blacks, or from +old Boney's country neither, as they used to frighten us about when I +was a child. But these gentry come from furrin parts. Why, I had it from +Sarah Nutfold's own lips, last Saturday as never was, at Brayling +market, and old neighbours of forty years; it's not sense to think she'd +go for to deceive me.'</p> + +<p>Mother was just a little offended, I could see, and I thought to myself +I must take care of seeming to set her right.</p> + +<p>'Of course not,' I said. 'You couldn't have it surer than from Mrs. +Nutfold. I daresay she's pleased to have them to cheer her up a bit. +They seem nice little ladies to look at, though they're on the outside +of plain as to their dress.'</p> + +<p>'And more sense, too,' said mother. 'I always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> thought our young ladies +too expensive, though where money's no consideration, 'tis a temptation +to a lady to dress up her children, I suppose.'</p> + +<p>'But they were never <i>over</i>-dressed,' I said, in my turn, a little +ruffled. 'Nothing could be simpler than their white frocks to look at.'</p> + +<p>'Ay, to look at, I'll allow,' said mother. 'But when you come to look +<i>into</i> them, Martha, it was another story. Embroidery and tucks and real +Walansian!' and she held up her hands. 'Still they've got it, and +they've a right to spend it, seein' too as they're generous to those who +need. But these little ladies at Sarah's are not rich, I take it. There +was a deal of settlin' about the prices when my lady came to take the +rooms. She and the gentleman's up in London, but one or two of the +children got ill and needed country air. It's a heavy charge on Sarah +Nutfold, for the nurse is not one of the old sort, and my lady asked +Sarah, private-like, to have an eye on her.'</p> + +<p>'There now,' I cried, 'I could have said as much! The way she turned +just now so sharp on the poor boy and the middle little lady. I could +see she wasn't one of the right kind, though I didn't hear what she +said. No one should be a nurse, or have to do with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> children, mother, +who doesn't right down love them in her heart.'</p> + +<p>'You're about right there, Martha,' mother agreed.</p> + +<p>Just then father came in, and we sat round, the three of us, to our tea.</p> + +<p>'It's a pleasure to have thee at home again, my girl, for a bit,' he +said. And the kind look in his eyes made me feel both cheered and sad +together. It was the first day I had been with them at tea-time, for I +had got home pretty late the night before. 'And I hope it'll be a +longish bit this time,' he went on.</p> + +<p>I gave a little sigh.</p> + +<p>'I'd like to stay a while; but I don't know that it would be good for me +to stay very long, father, thank you,' I said. 'I'm young and strong and +fit for work, and I'd like to feel I was able to help you and mother if +ever the time comes that you're laid by.'</p> + +<p>'Please God we'll never need help of that kind, my girl,' said father. +'But it's best to be at work, I know, when one's had a trouble. The +day'll maybe come, Martha, when you'll be glad to have saved a little +more for a home of your own, after all. So I'd not be the one to stand +in your way, a few months hence—nor mother neither—if a good place +offers.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Thank you, father,' I said again; 'but the only home of my own I'll +ever care for will be here—by mother and you.'</p> + +<p>And so it proved.</p> + +<p>I little thought how soon father's words about not standing in my way if +a nice place offered would be put to the test.</p> + +<p>I saw the children who were lodging at Mrs. Nutfold's several times in +the course of the next week or two. They seemed to have a great fancy +for the pine-woods, and from where they lived they could not, to get to +them, but pass across the common within sight of our cottage. And once +or twice I met them in the village street. Not all of them +together—once it was only the two youngest with the nurse; they were +waiting at the door of the post-office, which was also the grocer's and +the baker's, while she was inside chattering and laughing a deal more +than she'd any call to, it seemed to me. (I'm afraid I took a real +right-down dislike to that nurse, which isn't a proper thing to do +before one has any certain reason for it.) And dear little ladies they +looked, though the elder one—that was the middle one of the three—had +rather an anxious expression in her face, that struck me. The baby—she +was nearly three, but I heard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> them call her baby—was a little fat +bundle of smiles and dimples. I don't think even a cross nurse would +have had power to trouble <i>her</i> much.</p> + +<p>Another time it was the two elder girls and the lame boy I met. It was a +windy day, and the eldest Missy's big flapping bonnet had blown back, so +I had a good look at her. She was a beautiful child—blue eyes, very +dark blue, or seeming so from the clear black eyebrows and thick long +eyelashes, and dark almost black hair, with just a little wave in it; +not so long or curling as her sister's, which was out-of-the-way +beautiful hair, but seeming somehow just to suit her, as everything +about her did. She came walking along with the proud springing step I +had noticed that first day, and she was talking away to the others as if +to cheer and encourage them, even though the boy was full three years +older than she, and supposed to be taking charge of her and her sister, +I fancy.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, Franz,' she was saying in her decided spoken way, 'nonsense. +I won't have you and Lally treated like that. And I don't care—I mean I +can't help if it does trouble mamma. Mammas must be troubled about their +children sometimes; that's what being a mamma means.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>I managed to keep near them for a bit. I hope it was not a mean +taking-advantage. I have often told them of it since—it was really that +I did feel such an interest in the dear children, and my mind misgave me +from the first about that nurse—it did so indeed.</p> + +<p>'If only——' said the boy with a tiny sigh. But again came that +clear-spoken little voice, 'Nonsense, Franz.'</p> + +<p>I never did hear a child of her age speak so well as Miss Bess. It's +pretty to hear broken talking in a child sometimes, lisping, and some of +the funny turns they'll give their words; but it's even prettier to hear +clear complete talk like hers in a young child.</p> + +<p>Then came a gentle, pitiful little voice.</p> + +<p>'It isn't nonsense, Queen, darling. It's <i>howid</i> for Franz, but it +wasn't nonsense he was going to say. I know what it was,' and she gave +the boy's hand a little squeeze.</p> + +<p>'It was only—if aunty <i>was</i> my mamma, Bess, but you know she isn't. And +<i>aunts</i> aren't forced to be troubled about not their own children.'</p> + +<p>'Yes they are,' the elder girl replied. 'At least when they're instead +of own mammas. And then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> you know, Franz, it's not only you, it's Lally +too, and——'</p> + +<p>That was all I heard. I couldn't pretend to be obliged to walk slowly +just behind them, for in reality I was rather in a hurry, so I hastened +past; but just as I did so, their little dog, who was with them, looked +up at me with a friendly half-bark, half-growl. That made the children +smile at me too, and for the life of me, even if 'twas not good manners, +I couldn't help smiling in return.</p> + +<p>'Hasn't her a nice face?' I heard the second little young lady say, and +it sent me home with quite a warm feeling in my heart.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>'Hasn't her a nice face?'</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>It was about a week after that, when one evening as we were sitting +together—father, mother, and I—and father was just saying there'd be +daylight enough to need no candles that night—we heard the click of the +little garden gate, and a voice at the door that mother knew in a moment +was Widow Nutfold's.</p> + +<p>'Good evening to you, Mrs. Heatherdale,' she said, 'and many excuses for +disturbing of you so late, but I'm that put about. Is your Martha at +home?—thank goodness, my dear,' as I came forward out of the dusk to +speak to her. 'It's more you nor your good mother I've come after; +you'll be thinking I'm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> joking when you hear what it is. Can you slip +on your bonnet and come off with me now this very minute to help with my +little ladies? Would you believe it—that their good-for-nothing girl is +off—gone—packed up this very evening—and left me with 'em all on my +hands, and Miss Baby beginning with a cold on her chest, and Master +Francis all but crying with the rheumatics in his poor leg. And even the +page-boy, as was here at first, was took back to London last week.'</p> + +<p>The good woman held up her hands in despair, and then by degrees we got +the whole story—how the nurse had not been meaning to stay longer than +suited her own convenience, but had concealed this from her lady; and +having heard by a letter that afternoon of another situation which she +could have if she went at once, off she had gone, in spite of all poor +Widow Nutfold could say or do.</p> + +<p>'She took a dislike to me seein' as I tried to look after her a bit and +to stop her nasty cross ways, and she told me that impertinent, as I +wanted to be nurse, I might be it now. She has a week or two's money +owing her, but she was that scornful she said she'd let it go; she had +been a great silly for taking the place.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>'But she might be had up and made to give back some of her wages,' said +father.</p> + +<p>'Sir Hulbert and my lady are not that sort, and she knows it,' said Mrs. +Nutfold. 'The wages was pretty fair—it was the dulness of the life down +in Cornwall the girl objected to most, I fancy.'</p> + +<p>'Cornwall,' repeated mother. 'There now, Martha, if that isn't furrin +parts, I don't know what is.'</p> + +<p>But I hadn't time to say any more. I hurried on my shawl and bonnet, and +rolled up an apron or two, and slipped a cap into a bandbox, and there I +was.</p> + +<p>'Good-night, mother,' I said. 'I'll look round in the morning—and I +don't suppose I'll be wanted to stay more than a day or two. My lady's +sure to find some one at once, being in London too.'</p> + +<p>'I should think so,' said old Sarah, but there was something in her tone +I did not quite understand.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL</h3> + + +<p>We hurried across the common—it was still daylight though the sun had +set some little time. The red and gold were still lingering in the sky +and casting a beautiful glow on the heather and the gorse bushes. For +Brayling Common is not like what the word makes most people think +of—there's no grass at all—it's all heather and gorse, and here and +there clumps of brambles, and low down on the sandy soil all sorts of +hardy, running, clinging little plants that ask for nothing but sunshine +and air. For of moisture there's but scanty supply; it no sooner rains +than it dries up again. But oh it is beautiful—the colours of it I've +never seen equalled—not even in Italy or Switzerland, where I went with +my first ladies, as I said before. The heather seems to change its shade +a dozen times a day, as well as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> with every season—according as the sky +is cloudy or bright, or the sun overhead or on his way up or down. I +cannot say it the right way, but I know that many far cleverer than me +would feel the same; you may travel far before you'd see a sweeter piece +of nature than our common, with its wonderful changefulness and yet +always beautiful.</p> + +<p>There's little footpaths in all directions, as well as a few wider +tracks. It takes strangers some time to learn their way, I can tell you. +The footpaths are seldom wide enough for two, so it's a queer sort of +backwards and forwards talking one has to be content with. And we walked +too fast to have breath for much, only Widow Nutfold would now and then +throw back to me, so to say, some odds and ends of explaining about the +children that she thought I'd best know.</p> + +<p>'They're dear young ladies,' she said, 'though Miss Elisabeth is a bit +masterful and Miss Baby—Augusta's her proper name—a bit spoilt. Take +them all together, I think Miss Lally's my favourite, or would be if she +was a little happier, poor child! I can't stand whiney children.'</p> + +<p>I smiled to myself—I knew that the good woman's experience of children +was not great—she had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> married late and never had one of her own. It +was real goodness that made her take such an interest in the little +Penroses.</p> + +<p>'Poor child,' I said, 'perhaps the cross nurse has made her so,' at +which Sarah gave a sort of grunt. 'What is her real name—the middle +young lady's, I mean?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, bless you, I couldn't take upon me to say it—it's too outlandish. +Miss Lally we call her—' and I could hear that Mrs. Nutfold's breath +was getting short—she was stout in her later years—and that she was a +little cross. 'You must ask for yourself, Martha.'</p> + +<p>So I said no more, though I had wanted to hear about the boy, who had +spoken of their mother as his aunty, and how he had come to be so +delicate and lame. And in a few minutes more we found ourselves at the +door of Clover Cottage; that was Mrs. Nutfold's house, though 'Bramble +Cottage' would have suited it better, standing where it did.</p> + +<p>She took the key out of her pocket.</p> + +<p>'I locked them in,' she said, nodding her head, 'though they didn't know +it.'</p> + +<p>'Gracious,' says I, 'you don't mean as the children are all alone?'</p> + +<p>'To be sure—who'd be with them? I wasn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> going to make a chatter all +over the place about that impident woman a-goin' off. And Bella, my +girl, goes home at five. 'Twas after she left there was all the upset.'</p> + +<p>I felt rather startled at hearing this. Suppose they had set themselves +on fire! But old Sarah seemed quite easy in her mind, as she opened the +door and went in, me following.</p> + +<p>'Twas a nice roomy cottage, and so clean. Besides the large kitchen at +one side, with a good back-kitchen behind it, and a tidy bedroom for +Mrs. Nutfold, there was a fair-sized parlour, with casement windows and +deep window-seats—all old-fashioned, but roomy and airy. And upstairs +two nice bed-rooms and a small one. I knew it well, having been there +off and on to help Mrs. Nutfold with her lodgers at the busy season +before I went away to a regular place. So I was a little surprised when +she turned to the kitchen, instead of opening the parlour door. And at +first, what with coming out of the half-light and the red glow still in +my eyes, and what with that there Fusser setting upon me with such a +barking and jumping—all meant for a welcome, I soon found—as never +was, I scarce could see or hear. But I soon got myself together again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Down Fusser, naughty Fuss,' said the children, and, 'he won't bite, +it's only meant for "How do you do?"' said the eldest girl. And then she +turned to me as pretty as might be. 'Is this Martha?' says she, holding +out her little hand. 'I <i>am</i> pleased to see you. It's very good of you, +and oh, Mrs. Nutfold, I'm so glad you've come back. Baby is getting so +sleepy.'</p> + +<p>Poor little soul—so she was. They had set her up on Sarah's old +rocking-chair near the fire as well as they could, to keep her warm +because of her cold, and it was a chilly evening rather. But it was past +her bed-time, and she was fractious with all the upset. I just was +stooping down to look at her when she gave a little cry and held out her +arms to me. 'Baby so tired,' she said, 'want to go to bed.'</p> + +<p>'And so you shall, my love,' I said. 'I'll have off my bonnet in a +moment, and then Martha will put Miss Baby to bed all nice and snug.'</p> + +<p>'Marfa,' said a little voice beside me. It was the middle young lady. 'I +like that name, don't you, Francie?'</p> + +<p>That was the boy—they were all there, poor dears. Old Sarah had thought +they'd be cosier in the kitchen while she was out. I smiled back at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +Miss Lally, as they called her. She was standing by Master Francis; both +looking up at me, with a kind of mixture of hope and fear, a sort of +asking, 'Will she be good to us?' in their faces, which touched me very +much. Master Francis was not a pretty child like the others. He was pale +and thin, and his eyes looked too dark for his face. He was small too, +no taller than Miss Bess, and with none of her upright hearty look. But +when he smiled his expression was very sweet. He smiled now, with a sort +of relief and pleasure, and I saw that he gave a little squeeze to Miss +Lally's hand, which he was holding.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' he said, 'it's a nice name. The other nurse was called "Sharp;" +it suited her too,' with a twinkle in his eyes I was pleased to see. +'Lally can't say her "th's" properly,' he went on, as if he was excusing +her a little, 'nor her "r's" sometimes, though Bess and I are trying to +teach her.'</p> + +<p>'It's so babyish at <i>her</i> age, nearly six, not to speak properly,' said +Miss Bess, with her little toss of the head, at which Miss Lally's face +puckered up, and the corners of her mouth went down, and I saw what +Sarah Nutfold meant by saying she was rather a 'whiney' child. I didn't +give her time for more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> just then. I had got Miss Baby up in my arms, +where she was leaning her sleepy head on my shoulder in her pretty baby +way. I felt quite in my right place again.</p> + +<p>'Come along, Miss Lally, dear,' I said. 'It must be your bed-time too, +and if you'll come upstairs with Miss Baby and me, you'll be able to +show me all the things—the baths, and the sponges, and +everything—won't that be nice?'</p> + +<p>She brightened up in a moment—dear child, it's always been like that +with her. Give her a hint of anything she could do for others, and she'd +forget her own troubles—fancy or real ones—that minute.</p> + +<p>'The hot water's all ready,' said Mrs. Nutfold. 'I kep' the fire up, so +as you shouldn't have no trouble I could help, Martha, my dear.'</p> + +<p>And then the three of us went upstairs to the big room at the back, +where I was to sleep with Miss Baby in her cot, and which we called the +night nursery. Miss Lally was as bright as a child could be, and that +handy and helpful. But more than once I heard a sigh come from the very +depths of her little heart, it seemed.</p> + +<p>'Sharp never lettened me help wif Baby going to bed, this nice way,' she +said, and sighed again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Never mind about Sharp, my dear,' I said. 'She had her ways, and Martha +has hers. What are you sighing about?'</p> + +<p>'I'm so fwightened her'll come back and you go, Marfa,' she said, +nestling up to me. Baby was safe in bed by now, prayers said and all. +'And—I'm sleepy, but I don't like going to bed till Queen comes.'</p> + +<p>'Who may she be, my dear?' I asked, and then I remembered their talking +that day in the street. 'Oh, it's Miss Bess, you mean.'</p> + +<p>'Yes—it's in the English hist<i>ory</i>,' said the child, making a great +effort over the 'r.' 'There was a queen they called "Good Queen Bess," +so I made that my name for Bess. But mamma laughed one day and said that +queen wasn't "good." I was so sorry. So I just call Bess "Queen" for +short. And I say "good" to myself, for my Bess <i>is</i> good; only I wish +she wouldn't be vexed when I don't speak words right,' and again the +little creature sighed as if all the burdens of this weary world were on +her shoulders.</p> + +<p>'It's that Miss Bess wants you to speak as cleverly as she does, I +suppose. It'll come in time, no fear. When I was a little girl I +couldn't say the letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> "l," try as I might. I used to leave it out +altogether—I remember one day telling mother I had seen such a sweet +"ittie 'amb"—I meant "little lamb."'</p> + +<p>'Oh, how funny,' said Miss Lally laughing. She was always ready to +laugh. 'It's a good thing I can say "l's," isn't it? My name wouldn't +be—nothing—would it?—without the "l's."'</p> + +<p>'But it's only a short, isn't it, Missy?' I said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, my <i>weal</i> name is "Lalage." Do you fink it's a pretty name?' she +said. She was getting sleepy, and it was too much trouble to worry about +her speaking.</p> + +<p>'Yes, indeed, I think it's a sweet name. So soft and gentle like,' I +said, which pleased her, I could see.</p> + +<p>'Papa says so too—but mamma doesn't like it so much. It was Francie's +mamma's name, but she's dead. And poor Francie's papa's dead too. He was +papa's brother,' said Miss Lally, in her old-fashioned way. There was a +funny mixture of old-fashionedness and simple, almost baby ways about +all those children. I've never known any quite like them. No doubt it +came in part from their being brought up so much by themselves, and +having no other companions than each other. But from the first I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> always +felt they were dear children, and more than common interesting.</p> + +<p>A few days passed—very quiet and peaceful, and yet full of life too +they seemed to me. I felt more like myself again, as folks say, than +since my great trouble. It <i>was</i> sweet to have real little ones to see +to again—if Miss Baby had only known it, that first evening's bathing +her and tucking her up in bed brought tears of pleasure to my eyes.</p> + +<p>'Come now,' I said, to myself, 'this'll never do. You mustn't let +yourself go for to get so fond of these young ladies and gentleman that +you're only with for a day or two at most,' but I knew all the same I +couldn't help it, and I settled in my own mind that as soon as I could I +would look out for a place again. I wasn't afraid of what some would +count a hardish place—indeed, I rather liked it. I've always been that +fond of children that whatever I have to do for them comes right—what +does try my temper is to see things half done, or left undone by silly +upsetting girls who haven't a grain of the real nurse's spirit in them.</p> + +<p>My lady wrote at once on hearing from Mrs. Nutfold. She was very angry +indeed about Sharp's behaviour, and at first was by way of coming down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +immediately to see to things. But by the next day, when she had got a +second letter saying how old Sarah had fetched me, and that I was +willing to stay for the time, she wrote again, putting off for a few +days, and glad to do so, seeing how cleverly her good Mrs. Nutfold had +managed. That was how she put it—my lady always had a gracious way with +her, I will say—and I was to be thanked for my obligingness; she was +sure her little dears would be happy with any one so well thought of by +the dame. They were very busy indeed just then, she and Sir Hulbert, she +said, and very gay. But when I came to know her better I did her +justice, and saw she was not the butterfly I was inclined to think her. +She was just frantic to get her husband forward, so to speak, and far +more ambitious for him than caring about anything for herself. He had +had a trying and disappointing life of it in some ways, had Sir Hulbert, +and it had not soured him. He was a right-down high-minded gentleman, +though not so clever as my lady, perhaps. And she adored him. They +adored each other—seldom have I heard of a happier couple: only on one +point was there ever disunion between them, as I shall explain, all in +good time.</p> + +<p>A week therefore—fully a week—had gone by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> before my little ladies' +mother came to see them. And when she did come it was at short notice +enough—a letter by the post—and Mayne, the postman, never passed our +way much before ten in the morning. So the dame told as how she'd be +down by the first train, and get to Clover Cottage by eleven, or soon +after. We were just setting off on our morning walk when Sarah came +calling after us to tell. She was for us not going, and stopping in till +her ladyship arrived; but when I put it to her that the children would +get so excited, hanging about and nothing to do, she gave in.</p> + +<p>'I'll bring them back before eleven,' I said. 'They'll be looking fresh +and rosy, and with us out of the way you and the girl can get the rooms +all tidied up as you'd like for my lady to find them.'</p> + +<p>And Sarah allowed it was a good thought.</p> + +<p>'You've a head on your shoulders, my girl,' was how she put it.</p> + +<p>So off we set—our usual way, over the common to the firwoods. There's +many a pretty walk about Brayling, and a great variety; but none took +the young ladies' and Master Francie's fancy like the firwoods. They had +never seen anything of the kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> before, their home being by the +seashore was maybe the reason—or one reason. For I feel much the same +myself about loving firwoods, though, so to say, I was born and bred +among them. There's a charm one can't quite explain about them—the +sameness and the stillness and the great tops so high up, and yet the +bareness and openness down below, though always in the shade. And the +scent, and the feel of the crisp crunching soil one treads on, soil made +of the millions of the fir needles, with here and there the cones as +they have fallen.</p> + +<p>'It's like fairy stories,' Miss Lally used to say, with her funny little +sigh.</p> + +<p>But we couldn't linger long in the woods that morning, though a +beautiful morning it was. Miss Bess and Miss Baby were in the greatest +delight about 'mamma' coming, and always asking me if I didn't think it +must be eleven o'clock. Miss Lally was pleased too, in her quiet way, +only I noticed that she was a good deal taken up with Master Francie, +who seemed to have something on his mind, and at last they both called +to Miss Bess, and said something to her which I didn't hear, evidently +asking her opinion.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense,' said Miss Bess, in her quick decided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> way; 'I have no +patience with you being so silly. As if mamma would be so unjust.'</p> + +<p>'But,' said Master Francis hesitatingly, 'you know, Bess—sometimes——'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' put in Miss Lally, 'she might think it had been partly Francie's +fault.'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense,' said Miss Bess again; 'mamma knows well enough that Sharp +was horrid. I am sure Francie has been as good as good for ever so long, +and old Mrs. Nutfold will tell mamma so, even if possibly she did not +understand.'</p> + +<p>Their faces grew a little lighter after this, and by the time we had got +home and I had tidied them all up, I really felt that my lady would be +difficult to please if she didn't think all four looking as bright and +well as she could wish.</p> + +<p>I kept myself out of the way when I heard the carriage driving up, +though the children would have dragged me forward. But I was a complete +stranger to Lady Penrose, and things having happened as they had, I felt +that she might like to be alone with the children, at first, and that no +doubt Sarah Nutfold would be eager to have a talk with her. I sat down +to my sewing quietly—there was plenty of mending on hand, Sharp's +service having been but eye-service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> in every way—and I won't deny but +that my heart was a little heavy thinking how soon, how very soon, most +likely, I should have to leave these children, whom already, in these +few days, I had grown to love so dearly.</p> + +<p>I was not left very long to my meditations, however; before an hour had +passed there came a clear voice up the old staircase, 'Martha, Martha, +come quick, mamma wants you,' and hastening out I met Miss Bess at the +door. She turned and ran down again, I following her more slowly.</p> + +<p>How well I remember the group I saw as I opened the parlour door! It was +like a picture. Lady Penrose herself was more than pretty—beautiful, I +have heard her called, and I think it was no exaggeration. She was +sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in the window of the +little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in behind her and +lighting up her fair hair—hair for all the world like Miss Lally's, +though perhaps a thought darker. Miss Baby was on her knee and Miss Bess +on a stool at her feet, holding one of her hands. Miss Lally and Master +Francie were a little bit apart, close together as usual.</p> + +<p>'Come in,' said my lady. 'Come in, Martha,' as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> I hesitated a little in +the doorway. 'I am very pleased to see you and to thank you for all your +kindness to these little people.'</p> + +<p>She half rose from her chair as I drew near, and shook hands with me in +the pretty gracious way she had.</p> + +<p>'I am sure it has been a pleasure to me, my lady,' I said. 'I've been +used to children for so long that I was feeling quite lost at home doing +nothing.'</p> + +<p>'And you are very fond of children, truly fond of them,' my lady went +on, glancing up at me with a quick observant look, that somehow reminded +me of Miss Bess; 'so at least Mrs. Nutfold tells me, and I think I +should have known it for myself even if she had not said so. I have to +go back to town this afternoon—supposing you all run out into the +garden for a few minutes, children; I want to talk to Martha a little, +and it will soon be your dinner time.'</p> + +<p>She got up as she spoke, putting Miss Baby down gently; the child began +grumbling a little—but, 'No, no, Baby, you must do as I tell you,' +checked her in a moment.</p> + +<p>'Take her out with you, Bess,' she added. I could see that my lady was +not one to be trifled with.</p> + +<p>When they had all left the room she turned to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> me again. 'Sit down, +Martha, for a minute or two. One can always talk so much more +comfortably sitting,' she said pleasantly. 'And I have no doubt the +children have given you plenty of exercise lately, though you don't look +delicate,' she added, with again the little look of inquiry.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, my lady; no, I am not delicate; as a rule I am strong and +well, though this last year has brought me troubles and upsets, and I +haven't felt quite myself.'</p> + +<p>'Naturally,' she said. 'Mrs. Nutfold has told me about you. I was +talking to her just now when I first arrived.' Truly my lady was not one +to let the grass grow under the feet. 'She says you will be looking for +a situation again before long. Is there any chance of your being able to +take one at once, that is to say if mine seems likely to suit you.'</p> + +<p>She spoke so quick and it was so unexpected that I felt for a moment +half stupid and dazed-like.</p> + +<p>'Are you sure, my lady, that I should suit you?' I managed to say at +last. 'I have only been in one place in my life, and you might want more +experience.'</p> + +<p>'You were with Mrs. Wyngate, in ——shire, I believe? I know her sister +and can easily hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> any particulars I want, but I feel sure you would +suit me.'</p> + +<p>She went on to give me a good many particulars, all in the same clear +decided way. 'The Wyngates are very rich,' she said, as she ended. 'You +must have seen a great deal of luxury there. Now we are not rich—not at +all rich—though we have a large country place that has belonged to the +family for many hundreds of years; but we are obliged to live plainly +and the place is rather lonely. I don't want you to decide all at once. +Think it all over, and consult your parents, and let me have your answer +when I come down again.'</p> + +<p>'That will be the difficulty,' I replied; 'my parents wanted me to stay +on some time with them. There is nothing about the work or the wages I +should object to, and though Mrs. Wyngate was very kind, I have never +cared for much luxury in the nursery—indeed, I should have liked +plainer ways; and I love the country, and as for the young ladies and +gentleman, my lady, if it isn't taking a liberty to say so, I love them +dearly already. But it is father and mother——'</p> + +<p>'Well, well,' said my lady, 'we must see. The children are very happy +with you, and I hope it may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> be arranged, but of course you must consult +your parents.'</p> + +<p>She went back to London that same afternoon, and that very evening, when +they were all in bed, I slipped on my bonnet and ran home to talk it +over with father and mother.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>TRELUAN</h3> + + +<p>There were fors and againsts, as there are with most things in this +world. Father was sorry for me to leave so soon and go so far, and he +scarce thought the wages what I might now look for. Mother felt with him +about the parting, but mother was a far-seeing woman. She thought the +change would be the best thing for me after my trouble, and she thought +a deal of my being with real gentry. Not but that Mrs. Wyngate's family +was all one could think highly of, but Mr. Wyngate's great fortune had +been made in trade, and there was a little more talk and thought of +riches and display among them than quite suited mother's ideas, and she +had sometimes feared it spoiling me.</p> + +<p>'The wages I wouldn't put first,' she said. 'A good home and simple ways +among real gentlefolk—that's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> what I'd choose for thee, my girl. And +the children are good children and not silly spoilt things, and +straightforward and well-bred, I take it?'</p> + +<p>'All that and more,' I answered. 'If anything, they've been a bit too +strict brought up, I'd say. If I go to them I shall try to make Miss +Lally brighten up—not that she's a dull child, but she has the look of +taking things to heart more than one likes to see at her age. And poor +Master Francis—I'm sure he'd be none the worse of a little petting—so +delicate as he is and his lameness.'</p> + +<p>'You'll find your work to do, if you go—no fear,' said mother. 'Maybe +it's a call.'</p> + +<p>I got to think so myself—and when my lady wrote that all she heard from +Mrs. Wyngate was most satisfactory, I made up my mind to accept her +offer, and told her so when she came down again for a few hours the end +of the week.</p> + +<p>We stayed but a fortnight longer at Brayling—and a busy fortnight it +was. I had my own things to see to a little, and would fain have +finished the set of shirts I had begun for father. The days seemed to +fly. I scarce could believe it was not a dream when I found myself with +all the family in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> second-class railway carriage, starting from +Paddington on our long journey.</p> + +<p>It was a long journey, especially as, to save expense, we had come up +from Brayling that same morning. We were not to reach the little town +where we left the railway till nearly midnight, to sleep there, I was +glad for the poor children's sake to hear, and start again the next +morning on a nineteen miles' journey by coach.</p> + +<p>'And then,' said Miss Lally, with one of her deep sighs, 'we shall be at +home.'</p> + +<p>I thought there was some content in her sigh this time.</p> + +<p>'Shall you be glad, dearie, to be at home again?' I said.</p> + +<p>'I fink so,' she answered. 'And oh, I am glad you've comed wif us, +'stead of Sharp. And Francie's almost more gladder still, aren't you, +dear old Francie?'</p> + +<p>'I should just think I was,' said the boy.</p> + +<p>'Sharp,'—and the little girl lowered her voice and glanced round; we +were, so to speak, alone at one end of the carriage,—Miss Lally, her +cousin and I, for Miss Baby was already asleep in my arms and Miss Bess +talking, like a grown-up young lady,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> at the other end, with her papa +and mamma—'Sharp,' said Miss Lally, 'really <i>hated</i> poor Francie, +because she thought he told mamma about her tempers. And she made mamma +think he was naughty when he wasn't. Francie and I were frightened when +Sharp went away that mamma would think it was his fault. But she didn't. +Queen spoke to her, and Mrs. Dame' (that was her name for old Sarah) +'did too. And you didn't get scolded, did you, Francie?'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Master Francie quietly, 'I didn't.'</p> + +<p>He looked as if he were going to say more, but just then Miss Bess, who +had had enough for the time, of being grown up—and indeed she was but a +complete child at heart—got up from her seat and came to our end of the +carriage. Sir Hulbert was reading his newspaper, and my lady was making +notes in a little memorandum book.</p> + +<p>'What are you talking about?' said the eldest little sister, sitting +down beside me. 'You all look very comfortable, Baby especially.'</p> + +<p>'We are talking about Sharp going away,' replied Miss Lally, 'and +Francie thinking he'd be scolded for it.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! do leave off about that and talk of something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> nicer. Franz is +really silly. If you'd only speak right out to mamma,' she went on, +'things would be ever so much better.'</p> + +<p>The boy shook his head rather sadly.</p> + +<p>'Now you know,' said Miss Bess, 'they would be. Mamma is never unjust.'</p> + +<p>She was speaking in her clear decided way, and feeling a little afraid +lest their voices should reach to the other end—I wouldn't have liked +my lady to think I encouraged the children in talking her over—I tried +to change the conversation.</p> + +<p>'Won't you tell me a little about your home?' I said. 'You know it'll +all be quite new to me; I've only seen the sea once or twice in my life, +and never lived by it.'</p> + +<p>'Treluan isn't quite close to the sea,' said Master Francis, evidently +taking up my feeling. 'We can see it from some of the top rooms, and +from one end of the west terrace at high tides, and we can hear it too +when it's stormy. But it's really two miles to the coast.'</p> + +<p>'There are such dear little bays, lots of them,' said Miss Bess. 'We can +play Robinson Crusoe and smugglers and all sorts of things, for the bays +are quite separated from each other by the rocks.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>'There's caves in some,' said Miss Lally, 'rather f'ightening caves, +they're so dark;' but her eyes sparkled as if she were quite able to +enjoy some adventures.</p> + +<p>'We shall be at no loss for nice walks, I see; but how do you amuse +yourselves on wet days?'</p> + +<p>'Oh! we've always plenty to do,' said Miss Bess. 'Miss Kirstin comes +from the Vicarage every morning for our lessons, and twice a week papa +teaches Franz and me Latin in the afternoon, and the house is very big, +you know. When we can't go out, we may race about in the attics over the +nurseries. There's a stair goes up to the tower, just by the nursery +door, and you pass the attics on the way. They're called the tower +attics, because there are lots more over the other end of the house. +Francie's room is in the tower.'</p> + +<p>It was easy to see by this talk that Treluan was a large and important +place.</p> + +<p>'I suppose the house is very, very old?' I said.</p> + +<p>'Oh yes! thousands—I mean hundreds—of years old. Centuries mean +hundreds, don't they, Franz?' said she, turning to her cousin.</p> + +<p>'Yes, dear,' he answered gently, though I could see he was inclined to +smile a little. 'If you know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> English history,' he went on to me, 'I +could tell you exactly how old, Treluan is. The first bit of it was +built in the reign of King Henry the Third, though it's been changed +ever so often since then. About a hundred years ago the Penroses were +very rich, very rich indeed. But when one of them died—our great, great +grand-uncle, I think it was—and his nephew took possession, it was +found the old man had sold a lot of the land secretly—it wasn't to be +told till his death—and no one has ever been able to find out what he +did with the money. It was the best of the land too.'</p> + +<p>'And they were so surprised,' said Miss Bess, 'for he'd been a very +saving old man, and they thought there'd be lots of money over, any way. +Wasn't it too bad of him—horrid old thing?'</p> + +<p>'Queen,' said Miss Lally gravely. 'You know we fixed never to call him +that, 'cos he's dead. He was a—oh, what's that word?—something like +those things in the hall at home—helmet—was it that? No—do tell me, +Queen.'</p> + +<p>'You're muddling it up with crusaders, you silly little thing,' said +Miss Bess. 'How could he have been a crusader only a hundred years ago?'</p> + +<p>'No, no, it isn't that—I said it was <i>like</i> it,' said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> Miss Lally, +ready to cry. 'What's the other word for helmet?'</p> + +<p>'I know,' said Master Francis, '<i>vizor</i>—and——'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes—and the old man was a <i>miser</i>, that's it,' said the child. +'Papa said so, and he said it's like a' illness, once people get it they +can't leave off.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bess and Master Francis could not help laughing at the funny way +the child said it, nor could I myself, for that matter. And then they +went on to tell me more of the strange old story—how their great +grandfather and their grandfather after him had always gone on hoping +the missing money would sooner or later turn up, though it never did, +till—putting what the children told me together with my lady's own +words—it became clear that poor Sir Hulbert had come into a sadly +impoverished state of things.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps the late baronet and his father were not of the "saving" sort,' +I said to myself, and from what I came to hear afterwards, I fancy I was +about right.</p> + +<p>After a while my lady came to our end of the carriage. She was afraid, +she said, I'd find Miss Baby too heavy—wouldn't I lay her comfortably +on the seat, there was plenty of room?—my lady was always thoughtful +for others—and then when we had got the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> child settled, she sat down +and joined in our talk a little.</p> + +<p>'We've been telling Martha about Treluan and about the old uncle that +did something with the money,' said Miss Bess.</p> + +<p>My lady did not seem to mind.</p> + +<p>'It is a queer story, isn't it?' she said. 'Worse than queer, +indeed——' and she sighed. 'Though even with it, things would not be as +they are, if other people had not added their part to them.'</p> + +<p>She glanced round in a half impatient way, and somehow her glance fell +on Master Francis, and I almost started as I caught sight of the +expression that had come over her face—it was a look of real dislike.</p> + +<p>'Sit up, Francis—do, for goodness' sake,' she said sharply; 'you make +yourself into a regular humpback.'</p> + +<p>The boy's pale, almost sallow face reddened all over. He had been +listening with interest to the talking, and taking his part in it. Now +he straightened himself nervously, murmuring something that sounded +like, 'I beg your pardon, Aunt Helen,' and sat gazing out of the window +beside him as if lost in his own thoughts. I busied myself with pulling +the rugs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> better over Miss Baby, so that my lady should not see my face +just then. But I think she felt sorry for her sharp tone, for when she +spoke again it was even more pleasantly than usual.</p> + +<p>'Have you told nurse other things about Treluan, children?' she said. +'It is really a dear old place,' she went on to me; 'it might be made +<i>quite</i> delightful if Sir Hulbert could spend a little more upon it. I +had set my heart on new furnishing your room this year, Bess darling, +but I'm afraid it will have to wait.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind, dear,' said Miss Bess comfortingly, in her old-fashioned +way, 'there's no hurry. If I could have fresh covers to the chairs, the +furniture itself—I mean the <i>wood</i> part—is quite good.'</p> + +<p>'I did get some nice chintz in London,' said her mamma; 'there was some +selling off rather cheap. But it's the getting things made—everything +down with us is so difficult and expensive,' and my lady sighed. Her +mind seemed full of the one idea, and I began to think she should try to +take a cheerier view of things.</p> + +<p>'If you'll excuse me mentioning it,' I said, 'I have had some experience +in the cutting out of chair-covers and such things. It would be a great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +pleasure to me to help to make the young ladies' rooms nice.'</p> + +<p>'That would be very nice indeed,' said my lady; 'I really should like to +do what we can to brighten up the old house. I expect it will look very +gloomy to you, nurse, till you get used to it. I do want Bess's room to +look better. Of course Lally is in the nursery still, and won't need a +room of her own for a long time yet.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally was sitting beside me, and as her mamma spoke, I heard a very +tiny little sigh.</p> + +<p>'Never mind, Miss Lally dear,' I whispered. 'We'll brighten up the +nurseries too, nicely.'</p> + +<p>These little scraps of talk come back to my mind now, when I think of +that first journey down to Treluan so many years ago. I put them down +such as they are, as they may help better than words of my own to give +an idea of the dear children and all about them, as they then were.</p> + +<p>We reached Treluan the afternoon of the next day. It was a dull day +unfortunately, though the very middle of summer—rainy and gray. Of +course every one knows that there's much weather of that kind in the +west country, but no doubt it added to the impression of gloom with +which the first sight of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> the old house struck me, I must confess. +Gloom, perhaps, is hardly the word to use; it was more a feeling of +desertedness, almost of decayed grandeur, quite unlike anything I had +ever seen before. For in my former place everything had been bright and +new, fresh and perfect of its kind. Afterwards, when I came to see into +things better, I found there was no neglect or mismanagement; everything +that <i>could</i> be done was done by Sir Hulbert outside, and my lady in her +own department—uphill and trying work though it must often have been +for them.</p> + +<p>But that first evening, when I looked round the great lofty hall into +which my lady had led the way, dusky and dim already with the rain +pattering against the high arched windows and a chilly feeling in the +air, the half dozen servants or so, who had come out to meet +us—evidently the whole establishment—standing round, I must own that +in spite of the children's eager excitement and delight at finding +themselves at home again, my heart went down. I did feel so +very far away from home and father and mother, and everything +I had ever known. The first thing to cheer me was when the old +housekeeper—cook-housekeeper she really was—Mrs. Brent, came forward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +after speaking to my lady, and shook me kindly by the hand.</p> + +<p>'Welcome to Treluan, Nurse Heatherdale,' she said. And here I should +explain that as there was already a Martha in the house, my lady had +expressed her wish that I should be called 'nurse,' or 'Heatherdale,' +from which came my name of 'Heather,' that I have always been called by. +'Welcome to Treluan, and don't go for to think that it's always as dull +as you see it just now, as like as not to-morrow will be bright and +sunny.'</p> + +<p>She was a homely-looking body with a very kind face, not Cornish bred I +found afterwards, though she had lived there many years. Something about +her made me think of mother, and I felt the tears rise to my eyes, +though no one saw.</p> + +<p>'Shall I show nurse the way upstairs, my lady?' she said. For Mrs. Brent +was like her looks, simple and friendly like. She had never known +Treluan in its grand days of course, though she had known it when things +were a good deal easier than at present; and that evening, when the +children were asleep, she came up to sit with me a bit, and, though with +perfect respect to her master and mistress and no love of gossip in her +talk (for of that she was quite free), she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> explained to me a few things +which already had puzzled me a little. No praise was too high for Sir +Hulbert with her, and my lady was a really good, high-minded woman. 'But +she takes her troubles too heavy,' said Mrs. Brent; 'she's like to break +her heart at having no son of her own, and that and other things make +her not show her best self to poor little Master Francis, though, +considering he's been here since he was four, 'tis a wonder he doesn't +seem to her like a child of her own. And Sir Hulbert feels it; it's a +real grief to him, for he loved Master Francis's father dearly through +all the troubles he caused them, and anyway 'tis not fair to visit the +father's sin on the innocent child.'</p> + +<p>Then she told me how Master Francis's father had made things worse by +his extravagance, half-breaking his young wife's heart and leaving debts +behind him, when he was killed by an accident; and that Sir Hulbert, for +the honour of the family, had taken these debts upon himself.</p> + +<p>'His wife was a pretty young creature, half a foreigner. Sir Hulbert had +her brought here with the boy, and here she died, not long before Miss +Lalage was born, and so, failing a son, Master Francis is the heir, and +a sweet, good young gentleman he is,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> though nothing as to looks. 'Tis a +pity he's so shy and timid in his ways; it gives my lady the idea he's +not straightforward, though that I'm very sure he is, and most +affectionate at heart, though he hasn't the knack of showing it.'</p> + +<p>'Except to Miss Lally, I should say,' I put in; 'how those two do cling +together, to be sure.'</p> + +<p>'He loves them all dearly, my lady too, though he's frightened of her. +Miss Lally's the one he's most at home with, because she's so little, +and none of Miss Bess's masterful ways about her. Poor dear Miss Lally, +many's the trouble she's got into for Master Francis's sake.'</p> + +<p>All this was very interesting to me, and helped to clear my mind in some +ways from the first, which was, I take it, a good thing. Mrs. Brent said +little about Sharp, but I could see she had not approved of her; and she +was so kind as to add some words about myself, and feeling sure I would +make the children happy, especially the two whom it was easy to see were +her own favourites, Miss Lally and her cousin. This made me feel the +more earnest to do my very best in every way for the young creatures +under my care.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A NURSERY TEA</h3> + + +<p>Writing down that talk with good Mrs. Brent made me put aside the +account of our arrival at Treluan, clearly though I remember it. Even to +this day I never go up the great staircase—of course it is not often +that I pass that way—without recalling the feelings with which I +stepped up it for the first time—Mrs. Brent in front, carrying a small +hand-lamp, the passages being so dark, though it was still early in the +evening; the children running on before me, except Miss Baby, who was +rather sleepy and very cross, poor dear, so that half way up I had to +lift her in my arms. All up the dark wainscoted walls, dead and gone +Penroses looked down upon us, in every sort of ancient costume. They +used to give me a half eerie feeling till I got to know them better and +to take a certain pride in them, feeling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> myself, as I came to do, +almost like one of the family, though in a humble way.</p> + +<p>At the top of the great staircase we passed along the gallery, which +runs right across one side of the hall below; then through a door on the +right and down a long passage ending in a small landing, from which a +back staircase ran down again to the ground floor. The nurseries in +those days were the two large rooms beyond, now turned into a +billiard-room, my present lady thinking them scarcely warm enough for +the winter. It is handy too to have the billiard-room near the +tower, where the smoking-room now is, and the spare rooms for +gentlemen-visitors. A door close beside the nurseries opened on to the +tower stair; some little way up this stair another door leads into the +two or three big attics over the nurseries, which the children used as +playrooms in the wet weather. Master Francis's room was the lowest door +on the tower staircase, half way as it were, as to level, between the +nurseries and the attics. The ground-floor rooms of the tower were +entered from below, as the separate staircase only began from the +nursery floor. All these particulars, of course, I learnt by degrees, +having but a very general idea of things that first night; but plans of +houses and buildings have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> always had an interest for me, and as a girl +I think I had a quick eye for sizes and proportions. I do remember the +first time I saw the ground-floor room of the tower, under Master +Francis's, so to say, wondering to myself how it came to be so low in +the ceiling, seeing that the floor of his room was several feet higher +than that of the nurseries. No doubt others would have been struck by +this also, had the lowest room in the tower been one in regular use, but +as long as any one could remember it had only been a sort of +lumber-room. It was only by accident that I went into it one day, months +after I had come to Treluan.</p> + +<p>The nurseries were nice airy rooms; the schoolroom was underneath the +day nursery, down on the ground floor; and Miss Bess's room was off the +little landing I spoke of before you came to the nursery passage. But +all seemed dim and dusky in the half light, that first evening. It was +long before the days of gas, of course, except in towns, though that, I +am told, is now thought nothing of compared to this new electric light, +which Sir Bevil is thinking of establishing here, to be made on the +premises in some wonderful way. And even lamps at that time were very +different from what they are now, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> every time my lady goes up to +town she brings back some beautiful new invention for turning night into +day.</p> + +<p>I was glad, I remember, June though it was, to see a bright fire in the +nursery grate—Mrs. Brent was always thoughtful—and the tea laid out +nice and tidy on the table. Miss Baby brightened up at sight of it, and +the others gathered round to see what good things the housekeeper had +provided for them by way of welcome home.</p> + +<p>'I hope there's some clotted cream,' said Miss Bess; 'yes, that's right! +Nurse has never seen it before, I'm sure. Fancy, Mrs. Brent, mamma says +the silly people in London call it Devonshire cream, and I'm sure it's +far more Cornish. And honey and some of your own little scones and +saffron cakes, that is nice! Mayn't we have tea immediately?'</p> + +<p>'I must wash my hands,' said Master Francis, 'they did get so black in +the carriage.'</p> + +<p>'And mine too,' said Miss Lally. 'Oh, nurse, mayn't Francis wash his for +once in the night nursery, to be quick?'</p> + +<p>'Why didn't you both keep your gloves on, you dirty children?' said Miss +Bess in her masterful way. 'My hands are as clean as clean, and of +course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> Francis mustn't begin muddling in the nursery. You'd never have +asked Sharp that, Lally. It's just the sort of thing mamma doesn't like. +I shall take my things off in my own room at once.' And she marched to +the door as she spoke, stopping for a moment on the way to say to +me—'Heatherdale, you'll come into my room, won't you, as soon as ever +you can, to talk about the new chair-covers?'</p> + +<p>'I won't forget about them, Miss Bess,' I said quietly; 'but for a few +days I am sure to be busy, unpacking and looking over the things that +were left here.'</p> + +<p>The child said nothing more, but I saw by the lift of her head that she +was not altogether pleased.</p> + +<p>'Now Master Francis,' I went on, 'perhaps you had better run off to your +own room to wash your hands. It's always best to keep to regular ways.'</p> + +<p>The boy obeyed at once. I had, to tell the truth, been on the point of +letting him do as Miss Lally had wanted, but Miss Bess's speech had +given me a hint, though I was not sorry for her not to have seen it. I +should be showing Master Francis no true kindness to begin by any look +of spoiling him, and I saw by a little smile on Mrs. Brent's face that +she thought me wise, even though it was not till later<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> in the evening +that I had the long talk with her that I have already mentioned.</p> + +<p>Our tea was bright and cheery, Miss Baby's spirits returned, and she +kept us all laughing by her funny little speeches. My lady came in when +we had nearly finished, just to see how all the children were—perhaps +too, for she was full of kind thoughtfulness, to make me feel myself +more at home. She sat down in the chair by the fire, with a little sigh, +and I was sorry to see the anxious, harassed look on her beautiful face.</p> + +<p>'You all look very comfortable,' she said; 'please give me a cup of tea, +nurse. I found such a lot of things to do immediately, that I've not had +time to think of tea yet, and poor Sir Hulbert is off in the rain to see +about some broken fences. Oh dear! what a contrary world it seems,' she +added half laughingly.</p> + +<p>'How did the fences get broken, mamma?' said Miss Bess; 'and why didn't +Garth get them mended at once without waiting to tease papa the moment +he got home?'</p> + +<p>'Some cattle got wild and broke them, and if they are not put right at +once, more damage may be done. But all these repairs are expensive. It +only happened two days ago; poor Garth was obliged to tell papa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> before +doing it. Dear me,' she said again, 'it really does seem sometimes as if +money would put everything in life right.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! my lady,' I exclaimed hastily, and then I got red with shame at my +forwardness and stopped short. I felt very sorry for her; the one +thought seemed never out of her mind, and bid fair to poison her happy +home. I felt too that it was scarcely the sort of talk for the children +to hear, Miss Bess being already in some ways so old for her years, and +the two others scarce as light-hearted as they should have been.</p> + +<p>My lady smiled at me.</p> + +<p>'Say on, Heatherdale; I'd like to hear what you think about it.'</p> + +<p>I felt my face getting still redder, but I had brought it on myself.</p> + +<p>'It was only, my lady,' I began, 'that it seems to me that there are so +many troubles worse than want of money. There's my last lady's sister, +for instance, Mrs. Vernon,—everything in the world has she that money +can give, but she's lost all her babies, one after the other, and she's +just heart-broken. Then there's young Lady Mildred Parry, whose parents +own the finest place near my home, and she's their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> only child; but she +had a fall from her horse two years ago and her back is injured for +life; she often drives past our cottage, lying all stretched-out-like, +in a carriage made on purpose.'</p> + +<p>My lady was silent. Suddenly, to my surprise, Master Francis looked up +quickly.</p> + +<p>'I don't think I'd mind that so very much,' he said, 'not if my back +didn't hurt badly. I think it would be better than walking with your leg +always aching, and I daresay everybody loves that girl dreadfully.'</p> + +<p>He stopped as suddenly as he had begun, giving a quick frightened glance +round, and growing not red but still paler than usual, as was his way.</p> + +<p>'Poor little Francie,' said Miss Lally, stretching her little hand out +to him and looking half ready to cry.</p> + +<p>'Don't be silly, Lally; if Francis's leg hurts him he has only to say +so, and it will be attended to as it has always been. If everybody loves +that young Lady Mildred, no doubt it is because she is sweet and loving +<i>to</i> everybody.'</p> + +<p>Then she grew silent again and seemed to be thinking.</p> + +<p>'You are right, nurse,' she said. 'I am very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> grateful when I see my +dear children all well and happy.'</p> + +<p>'And <i>good</i>,' added Miss Bess with her little toss of the head.</p> + +<p>'Well, yes, of course,' said her mother smiling. It was seldom, if ever, +Miss Bess was pulled up for anything she took it into her head to say, +whether called for or not.</p> + +<p>'But,' my lady went on in a lower voice, turning to me, as if she hardly +wished the children to hear, 'want of money isn't my only, nor indeed my +worst trouble.—I must go,' and she got up as she spoke; 'there are +twenty things waiting for me to attend to downstairs. Good-night, +children dear; I'll come up and peep at you in bed if I possibly can, +but I'm not sure if I shall be able. If not, nurse must do instead of me +for to-night,' and she turned towards the door, moving in the quick +graceful way she always did.</p> + +<p>'Franz!' said Miss Bess reprovingly; the poor boy was already getting +off his chair, but he was too late to open the door. I doubt if his aunt +noticed his moving at all.</p> + +<p>'You're always so slow and clumsy,' said his eldest cousin. The words +sounded unkind, but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> was greatly that Miss Bess wanted him to please +her mamma, for the child had an excellent heart.</p> + +<p>There was plenty to do after that first evening for all of us. I got +sleepy Miss Baby to bed as soon as might be. The poor dear, she <i>was</i> +sleepy! I remember how, when she knelt down in her little white +nightgown to say her prayers, she could only just get out, 'T'ank God +for b'inging us safe home;' as she had evidently been taught to say +after a journey.</p> + +<p>'Baby thinks that's enough, when she's been ter-a-velling,' explained +Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>Then I set to work to unpack, and it was quite surprising how handy the +two elder girls—and not they only, but Master Francis too—were in +helping me, and explaining where their things were kept and all the +nursery ways. Then I had to be shown Miss Bess's room, and nearly +offended her little ladyship by saying I hadn't time just then to settle +about the new covers. For I was determined to give some attention to +Master Francis also.</p> + +<p>His room was very plain, not to say bare; not that I hold with pampering +boys, but he being delicate, it did seem to me he might have had a couch +or easy-chair to rest his poor leg. He was very eager to make the best +of things, telling me I had no idea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> what a beautiful view there was +from his windows, of which there were three.</p> + +<p>'I love the tower,' he said. 'I wouldn't change my room here for any +other in the house.'</p> + +<p>And I must say I thought it was very nice of him to put things in that +way, considering too the sharp tone in which I had heard his aunt speak +to him that very evening.</p> + +<p>When I woke the next morning I found that Mrs. Brent's words had come +true, for the sun was pouring in at the window, and when I drew up the +blind and looked out I would scarce have known the place to be the same. +The outlook was bare, to be sure, compared with the well-wooded country +about my home; but the grounds just around the house were carefully +kept, though in a plain way, no bedding-out plants or rare foreign +shrubs, such as I had been used to see at Mr. Wyngate's country place. +But all about Treluan there was the charm which no money will buy—the +charm of age, very difficult to put into words, though I felt it +strongly.</p> + +<p>A little voice just then came across the room.</p> + +<p>'Nurse, dear.' It was Miss Lalage. 'It's a very fine day, isn't it? I +have been watching the sun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> getting up ever so long. When I first +wokened, it was nearly quite dark.'</p> + +<p>I looked at the child. She was sitting up in her cot; her face looked +tired, and her large gray eyes had dark lines beneath them, as if she +had not slept well. Miss Baby was still slumbering away in happy +content—she was a child to sleep, to be sure! A round of the clock was +nothing for her.</p> + +<p>'My dear Miss Lally,' I said, 'you have never been awake since dawn, +surely. Is your head aching, or is something the matter?'</p> + +<p>She gave a little sigh.</p> + +<p>'No, fank you, it's nothing but finking, I mean th-inking. Oh! I wish I +could speak quite right, Bess says it's so babyish.'</p> + +<p>'Thinking! and what have you been thinking about, dearie? You should +have none but happy thoughts. Isn't it nice to be at home again? and +this beautiful summer weather! We can go such nice walks. You've got to +show me all the pretty places about.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Miss Lally. 'I'd like that, but we'll be having lessons next +week,—not all day long, we can go beautiful walks in the afternoons.'</p> + +<p>'Was it about lessons you were troubling your little head?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>'No,' she said, though not very heartily. 'I don't like them much, at +least not those <i>very</i> high up sums—up you know to the <i>very</i> top of +the slate—that won't never come right. But I wasn't finking of them; it +was about poor mamma, having such ter-oubles. Francie and I do fink such +a lot about it. Bess does too, but she's so clever, she's sure she'll do +something when she's big to get a lot of money for papa and mamma. But +I'm not clever, and Francie has got his sore leg; we can't fink of +anything we could do, unless we could find some fairies; but Francie's +sure there aren't any, and he's past ten, so he must know.'</p> + +<p>'You can do a great deal, dear Miss Lally,' I said. 'Don't get it into +your head you can't. Rich or poor, there's nothing helps papas and +mammas so much as their children being good, and loving, and obedient; +and who knows but what Master Francis may be a very clever man some day, +whether his poor leg gets better or not.'</p> + +<p>The little girl seemed pleased. It needed but a kind word or two to +cheer her up at any time.</p> + +<p>'Oh! I am so glad Sharp has gone away and you comed,' she said.</p> + +<p>She was rather silent while I was dressing her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> but when she had had +her bath, and I was putting on her shoes and stockings, she began again.</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' she asked, 'do stockings cost a lot of money to buy?'</p> + +<p>'Pretty well,' I said. 'At my home, mother always taught us to knit our +own. I could show you a pair I knitted before I was much bigger than +you.'</p> + +<p>How the child's face did light up!</p> + +<p>'I've seen a little girl knitting who's not much bigger than me. +Couldn't you show me how to make some stockings, and then mamma wouldn't +have to buy so many?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly I could; I have plenty of needles with me, and I daresay we +could get some wool,' I replied. 'I'll tell you what, Miss Lally; you +might knit some for Master Francis; that would be pleasing him as well +as your mamma. There's a village not far off, I suppose—you can +generally buy wool at a village shop.'</p> + +<p>'There's our village across the park, and there's two shops. I'll ask +Bess; she'll know if we could get wool. Oh! nurse, how pleased I am; I +wonder if we could go to-day. I've got some pennies and a shilling. I do +like to have nice things to think of.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> I wish Francie would be quick, I +do so want to tell him, or do you think I should keep it a surprise for +him?'</p> + +<p>And she danced about in her eager delight, which at last woke Miss Baby, +who opened her eyes and stared about her, with a sleepy smile of content +on her plump rosy face. She was a picture of a child, and so easy +minded. It is wonderful, to be sure, how children brought up like little +birds in one nest yet differ from each other. I began to feel very +satisfied that I should never regret having come to Treluan.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE SHOP IN THE VILLAGE</h3> + + +<p>Before many days had passed I felt quite settled down. The weather was +most lovely for some time just then, and this I think always helps to +make one feel more at home in a strange place. That first day, and for +two or three following, we could not go long walks, as I had really so +much to see to indoors. Miss Bess had to make up her mind to wait as +patiently as she could, till other things were attended to, for the +doing up of her room, and, what I was more sorry for, poor Miss Lally +had also to wait about beginning the knitting she had so set her heart +on.</p> + +<p>I think it was the fourth day after our arrival that I began at last to +feel pretty clear. All the nursery drawers and cupboards tidied up and +neatly arranged; the children's clothes looked over and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> planned about +for the rest of the summer. My lady went over them with me, and I could +see that it was a comfort to her to feel assured that I understood the +need for economy, and prided myself, thanks to my good old mother, on +neat patches and darns quite as much as on skill on making new things. +My poor lady—it went to my heart to see how often she would have liked +to get fresh and pretty frocks and hats for the young ladies, for she +had good taste and great love of order. But after all there is often a +good deal of pleasure in contriving and making the best of what one has.</p> + +<p>'You must take nurse a good walk to-day, children,' said my lady as she +left the room. 'I shall be busy with your papa, but you might get as far +as the sea, I think, if you took old Jacob and the little cart for Baby +if she gets tired, and for Francis if his leg hurts him. How has it +been, by the by, for the last day or two, Francis?'</p> + +<p>Her tone was rather cold, but still I could see a little flush of +pleasure come over the boy's face.</p> + +<p>'Oh! much better, thank you, auntie,' he said eagerly. 'It's only just +after the day in the railway that it seems to hurt more.'</p> + +<p>'Then try to be bright and cheerful,' she said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> 'Remember you are not +the only one in the world that has troubles to bear.'</p> + +<p>The boy didn't answer, but I could see his thin little face grow pale +again, and I just wished that my lady had stopped at her first kindly +inquiry. A deal of mischief is done, it seems to me, by people not +knowing when it is best to stop.</p> + +<p>Jacob, the donkey, was old and no mistake. Larkins's 'Peter' was young +compared to him, and the cart was nothing but a cart such as light +luggage might be carried in. It had no seats, but we took a couple of +footstools with us, which served the purpose, and many a pleasant ramble +we had with the shabby little old cart and poor Jacob.</p> + +<p>'Which way shall we go?' said Miss Bess, as we started down the drive. +'You know, nurse, there's ever so many ways to the sea here. It's all +divided into separate little bays. You can't get from one to the other +except at low tide, and with a lot of scrambling over the rocks, so we +generally fix before we start which bay we'll go to.'</p> + +<p>'Oh! do let's go to Polwithan Bay!' said Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>'It's not nearly so pretty as Trewan,' said Miss Bess, 'and there are +the smugglers' caves at Trewan. We often call it the Smugglers' Bay +because of that.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> We've got names of our own for the bays as well as the +proper ones.'</p> + +<p>'There's one we call Picnic Bay,' said Master Francis, 'because there +are such beautiful big flat stones for picnic tables. But I think the +Smugglers' Bay is the most curious of all. I'm sure nurse would like to +see it. Why do you want to go to Polwithan, Lally? It is rather a stupid +little bay.'</p> + +<p>'Can we go to the Smugglers' Bay by the village?' asked Miss Lally, and +then I understood her, though I did not know that tightly clutched in +her hot little hand were the shilling and the three or four pennies she +had taken out of her money box on the chance of buying the wool for her +stockings.</p> + +<p>'It would be ever such a round,' said Miss Bess; but then she added +politely—she was very particular about politeness, when she wasn't put +out—'but of course if nurse wants to see the village that wouldn't +matter. We've plenty of time. Would you like to see it, nurse?'</p> + +<p>A glance at Miss Lally's anxious little face decided me.</p> + +<p>'Well, I won't say but what it would interest me to see the village,' I +replied. 'Of course it's just as well and might be handy for me to know +my way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> about, so as to be able to find the post-office or fetch any +little thing from the shop if it were wanted.'</p> + +<p>This was quite true, though I won't deny but that another reason was +strongest and Miss Lally knew it, for she crept up to me and slid her +little hand into mine gratefully.</p> + +<p>'Very well, then,' said Miss Bess, 'we'll go round by the village. But +remember if you're tired, Lally, you mustn't grumble, for it was you +that first spoke of going that way.'</p> + +<p>'There's the cart if Miss Lally's tired,' I said. 'Three could easily +get into it, and Jacob can't be knocked up if only Miss Baby goes in it +all the way there.'</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' said Miss Lally suddenly—I don't think she had heard what we +were saying—'there's two shops in the village.'</p> + +<p>'Are there, my dear,' I said; 'and is one the post-office? And what do +they sell?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, one is the post-office, but they sell other things 'aside stamps,' +Miss Lally replied. 'They are both <i>everything</i> shops.'</p> + +<p>'But the <i>not</i> the post-office one is much the nicest,' said Master +Francis. 'It's kept by old Prideaux—he's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> an old sailor and——' Here +the boy looked round, but there was no one in sight. Still he lowered +his voice. 'People do say that after he left off being a proper sailor +he was a smuggler. It runs in the family, Mrs. Brent says,' he went on +in the old-fashioned way I noticed in all the children. 'His father was +a regular smuggler. Brent says she's seen some queer transactions when +she was a girl in the kitchen behind the shop.'</p> + +<p>'I thought Mrs. Brent was a stranger in these parts by her birth and +upbringing,' I said.</p> + +<p>'So she is,' said Master Francis, 'but she came here on a visit when she +was a girl to her uncle at the High Meadows Farm, and that's how she +came first to Treluan. Grandfather was alive then, and papa and Uncle +Hulbert were boys. Even then Prideaux was an old man. Uncle Hulbert says +he knows lots of queer stories—he does tell them sometimes, but not as +if they had happened here, and you have to pretend to think he and his +father had nothing to do with them themselves.'</p> + +<p>'It was he that told us first about the smugglers' caves, wasn't it?' +said Miss Bess. 'Fancy, nurse, some treasures were found in one of the +caves, not so very long ago, hid away in a dark corner far in. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +was lace and some beautiful fine silk stockings and some bottles of +brandy——'</p> + +<p>'And a lot of cigars and tobacco, but they had gone all bad, and some of +the brandy hadn't any taste in it, though some was quite good. But +grandpapa was a dreadfully honest man; he would send all the things up +to London, just as they were found, for he said they belonged to the +Queen.'</p> + +<p>'I wonder if the Queen wored the silk stockings her own self?' said Miss +Lally.</p> + +<p>'If <i>we</i> found some treasures,' said Miss Bess, 'do you think we'd have +to send them to the Queen too? It would be very greedy of her to keep +them, when she has such lots and lots of everything.'</p> + +<p>'That's just because she's queen; she can't help it. It's part of being +a queen, and I daresay she gives away lots too. Besides, you wouldn't +care for brandy or cigars, Bess?' said Master Francis.</p> + +<p>'We could sell them,' answered Miss Bess, 'if they were good.'</p> + +<p>'P'raps the Queen would send us a nice present back,' said Miss Lally. +'Fancy, if she sent us a whole pound, what beautiful things we could +buy.'</p> + +<p>'It would be great fun to find treasures, whatever they were,' said Miss +Bess. 'If we see old Prideaux<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> to-day, I'll ask him if he thinks +possibly there's still some in the caves. Only it wouldn't do to go into +his shop on purpose to ask him—he'd think it funny.'</p> + +<p>'And you'll have to be very careful how you ask him,' said Master +Francis. 'Besides, I'm quite sure if there were any to be found, he'd +have found them before this.'</p> + +<p>'Does he sell wool in his shop, do you think, Miss Bess?' I inquired, +and I felt Miss Lally's hand squeeze mine. 'Wool, or worsted for +knitting stockings, I mean. I want to get some, and that would be a +reason for speaking to him.'</p> + +<p>'I daresay he does; at least his daughter's always knitting, and she +must get wool somewhere. Anyway we can ask,' answered Miss Bess, quite +pleased with the idea.</p> + +<p>'Now, nurse,' said Master Francis suddenly, 'keep your eyes open. When +we turn into the field at the end of this little lane—we've come by a +short-cut to the village, for the cart can go through the field quite +well—you'll have your first good view of the sea. We can see it from +some of the windows at Treluan and from the end of the terrace, but +nothing like as well.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>I was glad he had prepared me, for we had been interested in our +talking, and I hadn't paid much attention to the way we were going. Now +I did keep my eyes open, and I was well rewarded. The field was a +sloping one—sloping upwards, I mean, as we entered it—and till we got +to the top of the rising ground we saw nothing but the clear sky above +the grass, but then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise. The +coast-line lay before us for a considerable distance at each side. Just +below us were the rocky bays or creeks the children had told me of, the +sand gleaming yellow and white in the sunshine, for the tide was half +way out, though near enough still for us to see the glisten of the foam +and the edge of the little waves, as they rippled in sleepily. And +farther out the deep purple-blue of the ocean, softening into a misty +gray, there, where the sky and the water met or melted into each other. +A little to the right rose the smoke of several houses—lazily, for it +was a very still day. These houses lay nestled in together, on the way +to the shore, and seemed scarcely enough to be called a village; but as +we left the field again to rejoin the road, I saw that these few houses +were only the centre of it, so to speak, as others straggled along<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +the road in both directions for some way, the church being one of the +buildings the nearest to Treluan house.</p> + +<p>'It is a beautiful view,' said I, after a moment's silence, as we all +stood still at the top of the slope, the children glancing at me, as if +to see what I thought of it. 'I've never seen anything approaching to it +before, and yet it's a bare sort of country—many wouldn't believe it +could be so beautiful with so few trees, but I suppose the sea makes up +for a good deal.'</p> + +<p>'And it's such a lovely day,' said Master Francis. 'I should say the sun +makes up for a good deal. We've lots of days here when it's so gray and +dull that the sea and the sky seem all muddled up together. I'm not so +very fond of the sea myself. People say it's so beautiful in a storm, +and I suppose it is, but I don't care for that kind of beauty, there's +something so furious and wild about it. I don't think raging should be +counted beautiful. Shouldn't we only call good things beautiful?'</p> + +<p>He looked up with a puzzle in his eyes. Master Francis always had +thoughts beyond his age and far beyond me to answer.</p> + +<p>'I can't say, I'm sure,' I replied. 'It would take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> very clever people +indeed to explain things like that, though there's verses in the Bible +that do seem to bear upon it, especially in the Psalms.'</p> + +<p>'I know there are, but when it tells of Heaven, it says "there shall be +no more sea,"' said Master Francis very gravely. 'And I think I like +that best.'</p> + +<p>'Dear Francie,' said Miss Lally, taking his hand, as she always did when +she saw him looking extra grave, though of course she could not +understand what he had been saying.</p> + +<p>We were out of the field by this time, and Miss Bess caught hold of +Jacob's reins, for up till now the old fellow had been droning along at +his own pace.</p> + +<p>'Come along, Jacob, waken up,' she said, as she tugged at him, 'or we'll +not get to Polwithan Bay to-day, specially if we're going to gossip with +old Prideaux on the way.'</p> + +<p>We passed the church in a moment, and close beside it the Vicarage.</p> + +<p>'That's where Miss Kirstin lives,' said Miss Bess. 'Come along quick, I +don't want her to see us.'</p> + +<p>'Don't you like her, my dear?' I said, a little surprised.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Oh yes! we like her very well, but she makes us think of lessons, and +while it is holidays we may as well forget them,' and by the way in +which Master Francis and Miss Lally joined her in hurrying past Mr. +Kirstin's house, I could see they were of the same mind.</p> + +<p>Miss Kirstin, when I came to know her, I found to be a good well-meaning +young lady, but she hadn't the knack of making lessons very interesting. +It wasn't perhaps altogether her fault; in those days books for young +people, both for lessons and amusement, were very different from what +they are now. School-books were certainly very dry and dull, and there +was a sort of feeling that making lessons pleasant or taking to children +would have been weak indulgence.</p> + +<p>The church was a beautiful old building. I am not learned enough to +describe it, and perhaps after all it was more beautiful from age than +from anything remarkable in itself. I came to love it well; it was a +real grief to me and to others besides me when it had to be partly +pulled down a few years ago, and all the wonderful growth of ivy spoilt. +Though I won't say but what our new vicar—the third from Mr. Kirstin +our present one is—is well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> fitted for his work, both with rich and +poor, and one whom it is impossible not to respect as well as love, +though Mr. Kirstin was a worthy and kind old man in his way.</p> + +<p>A bit farther along the road we passed the post-office, which the +children pointed out to me. The mistress came to the door when she saw +us, and curtsied to the little ladies, with a smile and a word of +'Welcome home again, Miss Penrose!' She took a good look at me out of +the corner of her eye, I could see. For having lived so much in small +country places, I knew how even a fresh servant at the big house will +set all the village talking.</p> + +<p>Miss Lally glanced in at the shop window as we passed. There was indeed, +as she had said, a mixture of 'everything,' from tin pails and +mother-of-pearl buttons to red herrings and tallow-candles.</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' she whispered, '<i>in case</i> we can't get the wool at Prideaux', +we might come back here, but I'm afraid Bess wouldn't like to turn back. +Oh! I do hope'—with one of her little sighs—'they'll have it at the +other shop.'</p> + +<p>And so they had, though when we got there a little difficulty arose. The +two elder children both wanted to come in, having got their heads full +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> asking the old man about the smugglers' caves, and thinking it was +for myself I wanted the wool. Never a word said poor Miss Lally, when +her sister told her to stay outside with Miss Baby and the cart; but I +was getting to know the look of her little face too well by this time +not to understand the puckers about her eyes, and the droop at the +corners of her mouth.</p> + +<p>'We may as well all go in,' I said, lifting Miss Baby out of the cart. +'There's no one else in the shop, and I want Miss Lally's opinion about +the wool.'</p> + +<p>'<i>Lally's!</i>' said Miss Bess rather scornfully; 'she doesn't know +anything about wool, or knitting stockings, nurse.'</p> + +<p>'Ah! well, but perhaps she's going to know something about it,' I said. +'It's a little secret we've got, Miss Bess; you shall hear about it all +in good time.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, well, if it's a secret,' said Miss Bess good-naturedly—she was a +nice-minded child, as they all were—'Franz and I will keep out of the +way while you and Lally get your wool. We'll talk to old Prideaux.'</p> + +<p>He was in the shop, as well as his daughter, who was knitting away as +the children had described her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> and the old wife came hurrying out of +the kitchen, when she heard it was the little gentry from Treluan that +were in the shop. They did make a fuss over the children, to be sure; it +wasn't easy for Miss Lally and me to get our bit of business done. But +Sally Prideaux found us just what we wanted—the same wool that she was +knitting stockings of herself, only she had not much of it in stock, and +might be some little time before she could get more. But I told Miss +Lally there'd be enough for a short pair of socks for her cousin—boys +didn't wear knickerbockers and long stockings in those days—adding that +it was best not to undertake too big a piece of work for the first.</p> + +<p>The wool cost one-and-sixpence. It was touching to see the little +creature counting over the money she had been holding tightly in her +hand all the way, and her look of distress when she found it only came +up to one and fourpence halfpenny.</p> + +<p>'Don't you trouble, my dear,' I said, 'I have some coppers in my +pocket.'</p> + +<p>She thanked me as if I had given her three pounds instead of three +halfpence, saying in a whisper—'I'll pay you back, nursie, when I get +my twopence next Saturday;' and then as happy as a little queen she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +clambered down off the high stool, her precious parcel in her hand.</p> + +<p>'Won't Francie be pleased?' she said. 'They must be ready for his +birthday, nurse. And won't mamma be pleased when she finds I can knit +stockings, and that she won't have to buy any more?'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE SMUGGLERS' CAVES</h3> + + +<p>The others seemed to have been very well entertained while Miss Lally +and I were busy. Mrs. Prideaux had set Miss Baby on the counter, where +she was admiring her to her heart's content—Miss Baby smiling and +chattering, apparently very well pleased. Miss Bess and Master Francis +were talking eagerly with old Prideaux; they turned to us as we came +near.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Miss Bess and Master Francis were talking eagerly with +old Prideaux.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>'Oh, nurse!' said Miss Bess, 'Mr. Prideaux says that he shouldn't wonder +if there were treasures hidden away in the smugglers' caves, though it +wouldn't be safe for us to look for them. He says they'd be so very far +in, where it's quite, quite dark.'</p> + +<p>'And one or two of the caves really go a tremendous way underground. +Didn't you say there's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> one they've never got to the end of?' asked +Master Francis.</p> + +<p>'So they say,' replied the old man, with his queer Cornish accent. It +did sound strange to me then, their talk—though I've got so used to it +now that I scarce notice it at all. 'But I wouldn't advise you to begin +searching for treasures, Master Francis. If there's any there, you'd +have to dig to get at them. I remember when I was a boy a deal of talk +about the caves, and some of us wasted our time seeking and digging. But +the only one that could have told for sure where to look was gone. He +met his death some distance from here, one terrible stormy winter, and +took his secret with him. I have heard tell as he "walks" in one of the +caves, when the weather's quite beyond the common stormy. But it's not +much use, for at such times folk are fain to stay at home, so there's +not much chance of any one ever meeting him.'</p> + +<p>'Then how has he ever been seen?' asked Miss Bess in her quick way; 'and +who was he, Mr. Prideaux? do tell us.'</p> + +<p>But the old man didn't seem inclined to say much more. Perhaps indeed +Miss Bess was too sharp for him, and he did not know how to answer her +first question.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Such things is best not said much about,' he replied mysteriously; 'and +talking of treasures, by all accounts you'd have a better chance of +finding some nearer home.'</p> + +<p>He smiled, as if he could have said more had he chosen to do so. The +children opened their eyes in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' exclaimed the two elder ones. Miss Lally's mind was +running too much on her stockings for her to pay much attention. +Prideaux did not seem at all embarrassed.</p> + +<p>'Well, sir, it's no secret hereabouts,' he said, addressing Master +Francis in particular, 'that the old, old Squire, Sir David, the last of +that name—there were several David Penroses before him, but never one +since—it's no secret, as I was saying, that a deal of money or property +of some kind disappeared in his last years, and it stands to reason +that, being as great a miser as was ever heard tell of, he couldn't have +spent it. Why, more than half of the lands changed hands in his time, +and what did he do with what he got for them?'</p> + +<p>'That was our great, great grand-uncle,' said Master Francis to me; 'you +remember I told you about him, but I never thought——' he stopped +short. 'It <i>is</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> very queer,' he went on again, as if speaking to +himself.</p> + +<p>But just then, Miss Baby having had enough of Mrs. Prideaux' pettings, +set up a shout.</p> + +<p>'Nurse, nurse,' she said, 'Baby wants to go back to Jacob. Poor Jacob so +tired waiting. Dood-bye, Mrs. Pideaux,' and she began wriggling to get +off the counter, so that I had to hurry forward to lift her down.</p> + +<p>'We'd best be going on,' I said, 'or we'll be losing the finest part of +the afternoon.'</p> + +<p>I didn't feel quite sure that Prideaux' talk was quite what my lady +would approve of for the children. They had a way of taking things up +more seriously than is common with such young creatures, and certainly +they had got in the way—and I couldn't but feel but what my lady was to +blame for this—of thinking too much of the family troubles, especially +the want of wealth, which seemed to them a greater misfortune than it +need have done. Still, being quite a stranger, and them seeming at +liberty to talk to the people about as they did, I didn't feel that it +would have been my place to begin making new rules or putting a stop to +things, as likely as not quite harmless. I resolved, however, to find +out my lady's wishes in such matters at the first opportunity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another half hour brought us close to the shore; the road was a good +one, being used for carting gravel and sea-weed in large quantities to +the village and round about from the little bay—Treluan Bay, that is to +say—it led directly to. But as we were bound for Polwithan Bay, where +the smugglers' caves were, and had made a round for the sake of coming +through the village, we had to cross several fields and follow a rough +track instead of going straight down to the sands. Jacob didn't seem to +mind, I must say, nor Miss Baby neither, though she must have been +pretty well jolted, but it was worth the trouble.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it lovely, nurse?' said Miss Bess, when at last we found +ourselves in the bay on the smooth firm sand, the sea in front of us, +and so encircled on three sides by the rocks that even the path by which +we had come was hidden.</p> + +<p>'This bay is so beautifully shut in,' said Master Francis. 'You could +really fancy that there was no one in the world but us ourselves. I +think it's such a nice feeling.'</p> + +<p>'It's nice when we're all together,' said Miss Lally; 'it would be +rather frightening if anybody was alone.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Alone or not,' said Miss Bess, 'it wouldn't be at all nice when +tea-time came if we had nothing to eat. And fancy, what <i>should</i> we do +at night—we couldn't sleep out on the sand?'</p> + +<p>'We'd have to go into the caves,' said Master Francis. 'It would be +rather fun, with a good fire and with lots of blankets.'</p> + +<p>'And where would you get blankets from, or wood for a fire, you silly +boy?' said Miss Bess.</p> + +<p>'Can we see the caves?' I asked, for having heard so much talk about +them, I felt curious to see them.</p> + +<p>'Of course,' said Master Francis. 'We always explore them every time we +come to this bay. Do you see those two or three dark holes over there +among the rocks, nurse? Those are the caves; come along and I'll show +them to you.'</p> + +<p>I was a little disappointed. I had never seen a cave in my life, but I +had a confused remembrance of pictures in an old book at home of some +caves—'The Mammoth Caves of Kentucky,' I afterwards found they +were—which looked very large and wonderful, and somehow I suppose I had +all the time been picturing to myself that these ones were something of +the same kind. I didn't say anything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> to the children though, as they +took great pride in showing me all the sights. And after all, when we +got to the caves, they turned out much more curious and interesting than +I expected from the outside. The largest one, though its entrance was so +small, was really as big as a fair-sized church, and narrowing again far +back into a dark mysterious-looking passage, from which Master Francis +told me two or three smaller chambers opened out.</p> + +<p>'And then,' he said, 'after that the passage goes on again—ever so far. +In the old days the smugglers blocked it up with pieces of rock, and it +isn't so very long ago that this was found out. It was somewhere down +along that passage that they found the things I told you of.'</p> + +<p>We went a few yards along the passage, but it soon grew almost quite +dark, and we turned back again.</p> + +<p>'I can quite see it wouldn't be safe to try exploring down there,' I +said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I suppose so,' said Master Francis, with a sigh. 'I wish I could +find some treasure, all the same. I wonder——' he went on, then stopped +short. 'Nurse,' he began again, 'did you hear what old Prideaux said of +our great grand-uncle the miser?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> Could it really be true, do you think, +that he hid away money or treasures of some kind?' and he lowered his +voice mysteriously.</p> + +<p>'I shouldn't think it was likely,' I replied. For I had a feeling that +it would not be well for the children to get any such ideas into their +heads. It sounded to me like a sort of fairy tale. I had never come +across anything so romantic and strange in real life. Though for that +matter, Treluan itself, and the kind of old-world feeling about the +place, was quite unlike anything I had ever known before.</p> + +<p>We were outside the cave again by this time; the sunshine seemed +deliciously warm and bright after the chill and gloom inside. Miss Bess +had been listening eagerly to what Master Francis was saying.</p> + +<p>'I can't see but what old Sir David <i>might</i> have hidden treasures away, +as he was a real miser,' she said.</p> + +<p>'And you know that misers are so suspicious, that even when they're +dying they won't trust anybody. I know I've read a story like that,' +said the boy. 'Oh! Bess, just fancy if we could find a lot of money or +diamonds! Wouldn't uncle and aunt be pleased?'</p> + +<p>His whole face lighted up at the very idea.</p> + +<p>'I daresay he hid it all away in a stocking,' put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> in Miss Lally, whose +head was still full of her knitting. 'I've heard a story of an old woman +miser that did that.'</p> + +<p>'And where would the stocking be hid?' said Miss Bess. 'Besides, if a +stocking was ever so full, it couldn't hold enough money to be a real +treasure.'</p> + +<p>'It might be stuffed with bank notes,' said Master Francis. 'There's +banknotes worth ever so much; aren't there, nurse?'</p> + +<p>'I remember once seeing one of a thousand pounds,' I said. 'That was at +my last place. Mr. Wyngate had to do with business in the city, and he +once brought one home to show the young ladies.'</p> + +<p>'Well, then, you see, Queen,' said Miss Lally, 'there might be a +stocking with enough money to make papa and mamma as rich as rich.'</p> + +<p>'I'm quite sure Sir David's money wasn't put in a stocking,' said Miss +Bess decidedly. 'You've got rather silly ideas, Lally, considering +you're getting on for six.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally began to look rather doleful. She had been so bright and +cheerful all day that I didn't like to see her little face overcast. We +had left Jacob outside the cave, of course; there was one satisfaction +with him—he was not likely to run away.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Miss Baby, dear,' I said, 'aren't you getting hungry? Where's the +basket you were holding in the cart?'</p> + +<p>'Nice cakes in basket,' said the little girl. 'Baby looked, but Baby +didn't eaten them.'</p> + +<p>The basket was still in the cart, and I think they were all very pleased +when they saw what I had brought for them. Some of Mrs. Brent's nice +little saffron buns and a bottle of milk. I remember that I didn't like +the taste of the saffron buns at first, and now I might be Cornish born +and bred, I think it such an improvement to cakes!</p> + +<p>'Another time,' I said, 'we might bring our tea with us. I daresay my +lady wouldn't object.'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure she wouldn't mind,' said Miss Bess. 'We used to have picnic +teas sometimes, when our <i>quite</i>, quite old nurse was with us—the one +that's married over to St. Iwalds.'</p> + +<p>'Bess,' said Master Francis, 'you should say "over at," not "over to."'</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' said Miss Bess, 'I don't want you to teach me grammar. +<i>That</i> isn't parson's business.'</p> + +<p>Master Francis grew very red.</p> + +<p>'Did you know, nurse,' said Miss Lally, 'Francie's going to be a +clergy-gentleman?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<p>They couldn't help laughing at her, and the laugh brought back good +humour.</p> + +<p>'I want to be one,' said Master Francis, 'but I'm afraid it costs a +great lot to go to college.'</p> + +<p>Poor children, through all their talk and plans the one trouble seemed +always to keep coming up.</p> + +<p>'I fancy that's according a good deal to how young gentlemen take it. +There's some that spend a fortune at college, I've heard, but some that +are very careful; and I expect you'd be that kind, Master Francis.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' he said, in his grave way. 'I wouldn't want to cost Uncle Hulbert +more than I can help. I wish one could be a clergyman without going to +college though.'</p> + +<p>'You've got to go to school first,' said Miss Bess. 'You needn't bother +about college for a long time yet.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally sighed.</p> + +<p>'I don't like Francie having to go to school,' she said. 'And the boys +are so rough there; I hope they won't hurt your poor leg, Francie.'</p> + +<p>'It isn't <i>that</i> I mind,' said Master Francie—the boy had a fine spirit +of his own though he was so delicate—'what I mind is the going alone +and being so far away from everybody.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>'It's a pity,' I said without thinking, 'but what one of you young +ladies had been a young gentleman, to have been a companion for Master +Francis, and to have gone to school together, maybe.'</p> + +<p>'Oh!' said Miss Bess quickly, 'you must never say that to mamma, nurse. +You don't know what a trouble it is to her not to have a boy. She'd have +liked Lally to be a boy most of all. She wanted her to be a boy; she +always says so.'</p> + +<p>Here Master Francis gave a deep sigh in his turn.</p> + +<p>'Oh! how I wish,' he said, 'that I could turn myself into a girl and +Lally into a boy. I wouldn't <i>like</i> to be a girl at all, and I daresay +Lally wouldn't like to be a boy. But to please Aunt Helen I'd do it.'</p> + +<p>'No,' said Miss Lally, 'I don't think I would—not even to please mamma. +I couldn't bear to be a boy.'</p> + +<p>I was rather sorry I had led to this talk.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it best,' I said, 'to take things as they are? Master Francis is +just like your brother—the same name and everything.'</p> + +<p>'I'd like it that way,' said Master Francis, with a pleased look in his +eyes. But I heard Miss Bess, who was walking close beside me, say in a +low voice, 'Mamma will never think of it that way!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>This talk made some things clearer to me than before, and that evening, +after the children were in bed, I went down to the housekeeper's room +and eased my mind by telling her about it, I felt so afraid of having +said anything uncalled for. But Mrs. Brent comforted me.</p> + +<p>'It's best for you to know,' she said, 'that my lady does make a great +trouble, too great a trouble, to my thinking, of not having a son. And +no doubt it has to do with her coldness to Master Francis, though I +doubt if she really knows this herself, for she's a lady that means to +do right and justly to all about her; I will say that for her.'</p> + +<p>It was really something to be thankful for to have such a good and +sensible woman to ask advice from, for a stranger, as I still was. The +more I knew her, the more she reminded me of my good mother. Plain and +homely in her ways, with no love of gossip about her, yet not afraid to +speak out her mind when she saw it right to do so. Many things would +have been harder at Treluan, the poor dear children would have had less +pleasure in their lives, but for Mrs. Brent's kind thought for them. +That very evening I had had a reason, so to say, for paying a special +visit to the housekeeper's room;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> for when we had got in from our long +walk, rather tired and certainly very hungry, a nice surprise was +waiting for us in the nursery. The tea-table was already set out most +carefully. There was a pile of Mrs. Brent's hot scones and a beautiful +dish of strawberries.</p> + +<p>'Oh, nurse!' cried Miss Bess, who had run on first, 'quick, quick, look +what a nice tea. I'm sure it's Mrs. Brent! Isn't it good of her?'</p> + +<p>'It's like a birfday,' said Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>And Miss Baby, who had been grumbling a good deal and crying, 'I want my +tea,' nearly jumped out of my arms—I had had to carry her upstairs—at +the sight of it.</p> + +<p>For I'm afraid there's no denying that in those days breakfast, dinner, +and tea filled a large place in Miss Augusta's thoughts. I hope she'll +forgive me for saying so, if she ever sees this.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>A RAINY DAY</h3> + + +<p>That lovely weather lasted on for about a fortnight without a break, and +many a pleasant ramble we had, for though lessons began again, Miss +Kirstin always left immediately after luncheon, which was the children's +dinner, for the three elder ones always joined Sir Hulbert and my lady +in the dining-room.</p> + +<p>Two afternoons in the week, as I think I have said, Master Francis and +Miss Bess had Latin lessons from Sir Hulbert. Miss Bess, by all +accounts, did not take very kindly to the Latin grammar, and but for +Master Francis helping her—many a time indeed sitting up after his own +lessons were done to set hers right—she would often have got into +trouble with her papa. For indulgent as he was, Sir Hulbert could be +strict when strictness was called for.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss Bess was a curious mixture; to see her and hear her talk you'd have +thought her twice as clever as Miss Lally, and so in some ways she was. +But when it came to book learning, it was a different story. Teaching +Miss Lally—and I had something to do with her in this way, for I used +to hear over the lessons she was getting ready for Miss Kirstin—was +really like running along a smooth road, the child was so eager and +attentive, never losing a word of what was said to her. Miss Bess used +to say that her sister had a splendid memory by nature. But in my long +life I've watched and thought about some things a great deal, and it +seems to me that a good memory has to do with our own trying, more than +some people would say,—above all, with the habit of really giving +attention to whatever you're doing. And this habit Miss Bess had not +been taught to train herself to; and being a lively impulsive child, no +doubt it came a little harder to her.</p> + +<p>A dear child she was, all the same. Looking back upon those days, I +would find it hard to say which of them all seemed nearest my heart.</p> + +<p>The days of the Latin lessons we generally had a short walk in the +morning, as well as one after tea, so as to suit Sir Hulbert's time in +the afternoon;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> and those afternoons were Miss Lally's great time for +her knitting, which she was determined to keep a secret till she had +made some progress in it and finished her first pair of socks. How she +did work at it, poor dear! Her little face all puckered up with +earnestness, her little hot hands grasping the needles, as if she would +never let them go. And she mastered it really wonderfully, considering +she was not yet six years old!</p> + +<p>She had more time for it after a bit, for the beautiful hot summer +weather changed, as it often does, about the middle of July, and we had +two or three weeks of almost constant rain. Thanks to her knitting, Miss +Lally took this quite cheerfully, and if poor Master Francis had been +left in peace, we should have had no grumbling from him either. A book +and a quiet corner was all he asked, and though he said nothing about +it, I think he was glad now and then of a rest from the long walks which +my lady thought the right thing, whenever the weather was at all fit for +going out. But dear, dear! how Miss Bess did tease and worry sometimes! +She was a strong child, and needed plenty of exercise to keep her +content.</p> + +<p>I remember one day, when things really came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> to a point with her, and, +strangely enough,—it is curious on looking back to see the thread, like +a road winding along a hill, sometimes lost to view and sometimes clear +again, unbroken through all, leading from little things to big, in a way +one could never have pictured,—strangely enough, as I was saying, the +trifling events of that very afternoon were the beginning of much that +changed the whole life at Treluan.</p> + +<p>It was raining that afternoon, not so very heavily, but in a steady +hopeless way, rather depressing to the spirits, I must allow. It was not +a Latin day—I think some of us wished it had been!</p> + +<p>'Now, Bess!' said Master Francis, when the three children came up from +their dinner, 'before we do anything else'—there had been a talk of a +game of 'hide-and-seek,' or 'I spy,' to cheer them up a bit—'before we +do anything else, let's get our Latin done, or part of it, any way, as +long as we remember what uncle corrected yesterday, and then we'll feel +comfortable for the afternoon.'</p> + +<p>'Very well,' said Miss Bess, though her voice was not very encouraging.</p> + +<p>She was standing by the window, staring out at the close-falling rain, +and as she spoke she moved slowly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> towards the table, where Master +Francis was already spreading out the books.</p> + +<p>'I don't think it's a good plan to begin lessons the very moment we've +finished our dinner,' she added.</p> + +<p>'It isn't the very minute after,' put in Miss Lally, not very wisely. +'You forget, Queen, we went into the 'servatory with mamma, while she +cut some flowers, for ever so long.'</p> + +<p>Being put in the wrong didn't sweeten Miss Bess's temper.</p> + +<p>''Servatory—you baby!' said she. 'Nurse, can't you teach Lally to spell +"Constantinople"?'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally's face puckered up, and she came close to me.</p> + +<p>'Nursie,' she whispered, 'may I go into the other room with my knitting; +I'm sure Queen is going to tease me.'</p> + +<p>I nodded my head. I used to give her leave sometimes to go into the +night nursery by herself, when she was likely to be disturbed at her +work, and that generally by Miss Bess. For though Master Francis +couldn't have but seen she had some secret from him, he was far too kind +and sensible to seem to notice it. Whereas Miss Bess, who had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +taken into her confidence, never got into a contrary humour without +teasing the poor child by hints about stockings, or wool, or something. +And the contrary humour was on her this afternoon, I saw well.</p> + +<p>'Now, Bess, begin, do!' said Master Francis. 'These are the words we +have to copy out and learn. I'll read them over, and then we can write +them out and hear each other.'</p> + +<p>He did as he said, but it was precious little attention he got from his +cousin, though it was some time before he found it out. Looking up, he +saw that she had dressed up one hand in her handkerchief, like an old +man in a nightcap, and at every word poor Master Francis said, made him +gravely bow. It was all I could do to keep from laughing, though I +pretended not to see.</p> + +<p>'O Bess!' said the boy reproachfully, 'I don't believe you've been +listening a bit.'</p> + +<p>'Well, never mind if I haven't. I'd forget it all by to-morrow morning +anyway. Show me the words, and I'll write them out.'</p> + +<p>She leant across him to get the book, and in so doing upset the ink. The +bottle was not very full, so not much damage would have been done if +Master<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> Francis's exercise-book had not been lying open just in the way.</p> + +<p>'Oh! Bess,' he cried in great distress. 'Just look. It was such a long +exercise and I had copied it out so neatly, and you know uncle hates +blots and untidiness.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bess looked very sorry.</p> + +<p>'I'll tell papa it was my fault,' she said. But Master Francis shook his +head.</p> + +<p>'I must copy it out again,' I heard him say in a low voice, with a sigh, +as he pushed it away and gave his attention to his cousin and the words +she had to learn.</p> + +<p>She was quieter after that, for a while, and in half an hour or so +Master Francis let her go. He set to work at his unlucky exercise again, +and seeing this, should really have sobered Miss Bess. But she was in a +queer humour that afternoon, it only seemed to make her more fidgety.</p> + +<p>'You really needn't do it,' she said to Master Francis crossly. 'I told +you I'd explain it to papa.' But the boy shook his head. He'd have taken +any amount of trouble rather than risk vexing his uncle.</p> + +<p>'It was partly my own fault for leaving it about,'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> he said gently, +which only seemed to provoke Miss Bess more.</p> + +<p>'You do so like to make yourself a martyr. It's quite true what mamma +says,' she added in a lower voice, which I did think unkind.</p> + +<p>But in some humours children are best left alone for the time, so I took +no notice.</p> + +<p>Miss Bess returned to her former place in the window. Miss Baby was +contentedly setting out her doll's tea-things on the rug in front of the +fire,—at Treluan even in the summer one needs a little fire when there +comes a spell of rainy weather. Miss Bess glanced at her, but didn't +seem to think she'd find any amusement there. Miss Baby was too young to +be fair game for teasing.</p> + +<p>'What's Lally doing?' she said suddenly, turning to me. 'Has she hidden +herself as usual? I hate secrets. They make people so tiresome. I'll +just go and tell her she'd better come in here.'</p> + +<p>She turned, as she spoke, to the night nursery.</p> + +<p>'Now, Miss Bess, my dear,' I couldn't help saying, 'do not tease the +poor child. I'll tell you what you might do. Get one of your pretty +books and read aloud a nice story to Miss Lally in the other room, till +Master Francis is ready for a game.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I've read all our books hundreds of times. I'll tell her a story +instead!' she replied.</p> + +<p>'That would be very nice,' I could not but say, though something in her +way of speaking made me feel a little doubtful, as Miss Bess opened the +night nursery door and closed it behind her carefully.</p> + +<p>For a few minutes we were at peace. No sound to be heard, except the +scratching of Master Francis's busy pen and Miss Augusta's pressing +invitations to the dollies to have—'thome more tea'—or—'a bit of this +bootiful cake,' and I began to hope that in her quiet way Miss Lally had +smoothed down her elder sister, when suddenly—dear, dear! my heart did +leap into my mouth—there came from the next room the most terrible +screams and roars that ever I have heard all the long years I have been +in the nursery!</p> + +<p>'Goodness gracious!' I cried, 'what can be the matter. There's no fire +in there!' and I rushed towards the door.</p> + +<p>To my surprise Master Francis and Miss Baby remained quite composed.</p> + +<p>'It's only Lally,' said the boy. 'She does scream like that sometimes, +though she hasn't done it for a good while now. I daresay it's only Bess +pulling her hair a little.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was not even that. When I opened the door, Miss Bess, who was +standing by her sister—Miss Lally still roaring, though not quite so +loudly—looked up quietly.</p> + +<p>'I've been telling her stories, nurse,' she said. 'But she doesn't like +them at all.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally ran to me sobbing. I couldn't but feel sorry for her, as she +clung to me, and yet I was provoked, thinking it really too bad to have +had such a fright for nothing at all.</p> + +<p>'Queen has been telling me such <i>howid</i> things,' she said among her +tears, as she calmed down a little. 'She said it was going to be such a +pretty story and it was all about a little girl, who wasn't a little +girl, weally. They tied her sleeves with green ribbons, afore she was +christened, and so the naughty fairies stealed her away and left a howid +squealing pertence little girl instead. And it was just, <i>just</i> like me, +and, Queen says, they <i>did</i> tie me in green ribbons. She knows they did, +she can 'amember;' and here her cries began again. 'And Queen says +'praps I'll never come right again, and I can't bear to be a pertence +little girl. Queen told it me once before, but I'd forgot, and now it's +all come back.'</p> + +<p>She buried her face on my shoulder. I had sat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> down and taken her on my +knees, and I could feel her all shaking and quivering, though through it +all she still clutched her knitting and the four needles.</p> + +<p>'Miss Bess,' I said, in a voice I don't think I had yet used since I had +been with them, 'I <i>am</i> surprised at you! Come away with me, my dear,' I +said to Miss Lally. 'Come into the other room. Miss Bess will stay here +till such time as she can promise to behave better, both to you and +Master Francis.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bess had turned away when I began to speak, and I think she had +felt ashamed. But my word about Master Francis had been a mistake.</p> + +<p>'You needn't scold me about spilling the ink on Francis's book!' she +said angrily. 'You know that was an accident.'</p> + +<p>'There's accidents and accidents,' I replied, which I know wasn't wise; +but the child had tried my temper too, I won't deny.</p> + +<p>I took Miss Lally into a corner of the day nursery and talked to her in +a low voice, not to disturb Master Francis, who was still busy writing.</p> + +<p>'My dear,' I said, 'so far as I can put a stop to it, I won't have Miss +Bess teasing you, but all the same I can't have you screaming in that +terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> way for really nothing at all. Your own sense might tell you +that there's no such things as fairies changing babies in that way. Miss +Bess only said it to tease.'</p> + +<p>She was still sobbing, but all the same she had not forgotten to wrap up +her precious knitting in her little apron, so that her cousin shouldn't +catch sight of it, and her heart was already softening to her sister.</p> + +<p>'Queen didn't mean to make me cry,' she said. 'But I can't bear that +story; nobody would love me if I was only a pertence little girl.'</p> + +<p>'But you're not that, my dear; you're a very real little girl,' I said. +'You're your papa's and mamma's dear little daughter and God's own +child. That's what your christening meant.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally's sobs stopped.</p> + +<p>'I forgot about that,' she said very gravely, seeming to find great +comfort in the thought. 'If I had been a pertence little girl, I +couldn't have been took to church like Baby was. Could I? And I know I +was, for I have got godfather and godmother and a silver mug wif my name +on.'</p> + +<p>'And better things than that, thank God, as you'll soon begin to +understand, my dear Miss Lally,' I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> answered, as she held up her little +face to be kissed.</p> + +<p>'May I go back to Queen now?' she asked, but I don't think she was +altogether sorry when I shook my head.</p> + +<p>'Not just yet, my dear, I think,' I replied.</p> + +<p>'Only where am I to do my knitting?' she whispered. 'I can't do it here; +Francie would be sure to see,' and the corners of her mouth began to go +down again. 'Oh! I know,' she went on in another moment, brightening up. +'I could work so nicely in the attic, there's a little seat in the +corner, by the window, where Francie and I used to go sometimes when +Sharp told us to get out of the way.'</p> + +<p>'Wouldn't you be cold, my dear,' I said doubtfully. But I was anxious to +please her, so I fetched a little shawl for her and we went up together +to the attic.</p> + +<p>It did not feel chilly, and the corner by the window—the kind they call +a 'storm window,' with a sort of little separate roof of its own—was +very cosy. You have a peep of the sea from that window too.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it a good plan?' said Miss Lally joyfully. 'I can knit here <i>so</i> +nicely, and I have been getting on so well this afternoon. There's no +stitches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> dropped, not one, nursie. Mightn't I come here every day?'</p> + +<p>'We'll see, my dear,' I said, thinking to myself that it might really be +good for her—being a nervous child, and excitable too, for all she +seemed so quiet—to be at peace and undisturbed now and then by herself. +'We'll see, only you must come downstairs at once if you feel cold or +chilly.'</p> + +<p>I looked round me as I was leaving the attic. There was a big cupboard, +or closet rather, at the end near the door. Miss Lally's window was at +this end too. The closet door stood half open, but it seemed empty.</p> + +<p>'That's where we wait when we're playing "I spy" up here,' said Miss +Lally. 'Mouses live in that cupboard. We've seen them running out of +their holes; but I like mouses, they've such dear bright eyes and long +tails.'</p> + +<p>I can't say that I agreed with Miss Lally's tastes. Mice are creatures +I've never been able to take to, still they'd do her no harm, that was +certain, so seeing her quite happy at her work I went down to the +nursery again.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE OLD LATIN GRAMMAR</h3> + + +<p>Master Francis was still writing busily when I went back to the nursery. +He looked pale and tired, and once or twice I heard him sigh. I knew it +was not good for him to be stooping so long over his lessons, especially +as the children had not been out all that day.</p> + +<p>'Really,' I said, half to myself, but his ears were quick and he heard +me, 'Miss Bess has done nothing but mischief this afternoon. I feel +sometimes as if I couldn't manage her.'</p> + +<p>The boy looked up quickly.</p> + +<p>'O nurse!' he said, 'please don't speak like that. I mean I wouldn't for +anything have uncle or auntie think I had put her out, or that there had +been any trouble. It just comes over her sometimes like that, and she's +very sorry afterwards. I suppose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Lally and I haven't spirits enough for +her, she is so clever and bright, and it must be dull for her, now and +then.'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure, Master Francis, my dear,' I said, 'no one could be kinder and +nicer with Miss Bess than you; and as for cleverness, she may be quick +and bright, but I'd like to know where she'd be for her lessons but for +you helping her many a time.'</p> + +<p>I was still feeling a bit provoked with Miss Bess, I must allow.</p> + +<p>'I'm nearly three years older, you know,' replied Master Francis, though +all the same I could see a pleased look on his face. It wasn't that he +cared for praise—boy or man, I have never in my life known any human +being so out and out humble as Mr. Francis; it's that that gives him his +wonderful power over others, I've often thought,—but he did love to +think he was of the least use to any of those he was so devoted to.</p> + +<p>'I'm so glad to help her,' he said softly. 'Nurse,' he added after a +little silence, 'I do feel so sad about things sometimes. If I had been +big and strong, I might have looked forward to doing all sorts of things +for them all, but now I often feel I can never be anything but a +trouble, and such an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> expense to uncle and aunt. You really don't know +what my leg costs,' he added in a way that made me inclined both to +laugh and cry at once.</p> + +<p>'Dear Master Francis,' I said, 'you shouldn't take it so.' I should have +liked to say more, but I felt I could scarcely do so without hinting at +blame where I had no right to do so.</p> + +<p>He didn't seem to notice me.</p> + +<p>'If it had to be,' he went on in the same voice, 'why couldn't I have +been a girl, or why couldn't one of them have been a boy? That would +have stopped it being quite so bad for poor auntie.'</p> + +<p>'Whys and wherefores are not for us to answer, my dear, though things +often clear themselves up when least expected,' I said. 'And now I must +see what Miss Bess is after, that's to say if you've got your writing +finished.'</p> + +<p>'It's just about done,' he said, 'and I'm sure Bess won't tease any +more. Do fetch her in, nurse. Why, baby! what is it, my pet?' he added, +for there was Miss Augusta standing beside him, having deserted her toys +on the hearthrug. For, though without understanding anything we had been +saying, she had noticed the melancholy tone of her cousin's voice.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants to kiss thoo.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants +to kiss thoo.'</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>The boy picked her up in his arms, and I saw the fair shaggy head and +fat dimpled cheeks clasped close and near to his thin white face, and if +there were tears in Master Francis's eyes I am sure it wasn't anything +to be ashamed of. Never was a braver spirit, and no one that knows him +now could think him less a hero could they look back over the whole of +his life.</p> + +<p>I found Miss Bess sitting quietly with the pincushion on her lap, by the +window, making patterns with the pins, apparently quite content. She had +not been crying, indeed it took a great deal to get a tear from that +child, she had such a spirit of her own. Still she was sorry for what +she had done, and she bore no malice, that I could see by the clear look +in her pretty eyes as she glanced up at me.</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' she said, though more with the air of a little queen granting a +favour than a tiresome child asking to be forgiven, 'I'm not going to +tease any more. It's gone now, and I'm going to be good. I'm very sorry +for making Lally cry, though she is a little silly—of course I wouldn't +care to do it if she wasn't,—and I'm <i>dreadfully</i> sorry for poor old +Franz's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> exercise. Look what I have been doing to make me remember,' and +I saw that she had marked the words 'Bess sorry' with the pins. 'If you +leave it there for a few days, and just say "pincushion" if you see me +beginning again, it'll remind me.'</p> + +<p>It wasn't very easy for me to keep as grave as I wished, but I answered +quietly—</p> + +<p>'Very well, Miss Bess, I hope you'll keep to what you say,' and we went +back, quite friendly again, to the other room.</p> + +<p>Master Francis and she began settling what games they would play, and I +took the opportunity of slipping upstairs to the attic to call Miss +Lally down. She came running out, as bright as could be, and gave me her +knitting to hide away for her.</p> + +<p>'Nursie,' she said, 'I really think there's good fairies in the attic. +I've got on so well. Four whole rows all round and none stitches +dropped.'</p> + +<p>So that rainy day ended more cheerfully than it had begun.</p> + +<p>Unluckily, however, the worst of the mischief caused by Miss Bess's +heedlessness didn't show for some little time to come. The next Latin +lesson passed off by all accounts very well, especially for Miss Bess. +For, thanks to her new resolutions, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> was in a most biddable mood, +and quite ready to take her cousin's advice as to learning her list of +words again, giving up half an hour of her playtime on purpose.</p> + +<p>She came dancing upstairs in the highest spirits.</p> + +<p>'Nursie,' she said,—and when she called me so I knew I was in high +favour,—'I'm getting so good, I'm quite frightened at myself. Papa said +I had never known my lessons so well.'</p> + +<p>'I am very glad, I am sure, my love; and I hope,' I couldn't help +adding, 'that Master Francis got some of the praise of it.'</p> + +<p>For Master Francis was following her into the room, looking not quite so +joyful. Miss Bess seemed a little taken aback.</p> + +<p>'Do you know,' she said, 'I never thought of it. I was so pleased at +being praised.' And as the child was honesty itself, I was certain it +was just as she said.</p> + +<p>'I'll run down now,' she went on, 'and tell papa that it was Franz who +helped me.'</p> + +<p>'No, please don't,' said the boy, catching hold of her. 'I am as pleased +as I can be, Bess, that you got praised, and it's harder for you than +for me, or even for Lally, to try hard at lessons, for you've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> always +got such a lot of other things taking you up; and I wouldn't like,' he +added slowly, 'for uncle to think I wanted to be praised. You see I'm +older than you.'</p> + +<p>'I'm sure you don't get too much praise ever, poor Franz!' said Miss +Bess. 'Your exercise was as neat as neat, and yet papa wasn't pleased +with it.'</p> + +<p>Then I understood better why Master Francis looked a little sad.</p> + +<p>'It was the one I had to copy over,' he said.</p> + +<p>All the same he wouldn't let Miss Bess go down to her papa. Sir Hulbert +was busy, he knew; he had several letters to write, he had heard him +say, so Miss Bess had to give in.</p> + +<p>'I'll tell you what it is,' she said. 'People who are generally rather +naughty, like me,'—Miss Bess was in a humble mood!—'get made a great +fuss about when they're good. But people who are always good, like +Franz, never get any praise for it, and if ever they do the least bit +wrong, they are far worse scolded.'</p> + +<p>This made Master Francis laugh. It was something, as Miss Bess said, +among the children themselves. Miss Lally, who was always loving and +gentle to her cousin, he just counted upon in a quiet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> steady sort of +way. But a word of approval from flighty Miss Bess would set him up as +if she'd been the Queen herself.</p> + +<p>That was a Friday. The next Latin day was Tuesday. Of course I don't +know much about such things myself, but the lessons were taken in turns. +One day they'd words and writing exercises out of a book on purpose, and +another day they'd have regular Latin grammar, out of a thick old book, +which had been Sir Hulbert's own when he was a boy, and which he thought +a great deal of. Lesson-books were still expensive too, and even in +small things money was considered at Treluan. It was on that Tuesday +then that, to my distress, I saw that Master Francis had been crying +when he came back to the nursery. It was the first time I had seen his +eyes red, and he had been trying to make them right again, I'm sure, for +he hadn't come straight up from the library. Miss Bess was not with him; +it was a fine day and she had gone out driving with her mamma, having +been dressed all ready and her lesson shortened for once on purpose.</p> + +<p>I didn't seem to notice Master Francis, sorry though I felt, but Miss +Lally burst out at once.</p> + +<p>'Francie, darling,' she said, running up to him and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> throwing her arms +round him. 'What's the matter? It isn't your leg, is it?'</p> + +<p>'I wouldn't mind that, you know, Lally,' he said.</p> + +<p>'But sometimes, when the pain's been dreadful bad, it squeezes the tears +out, and you can't help it,' she said.</p> + +<p>'No,' he answered, 'it isn't my leg. I think I'd better not tell you, +Lally, for you might tell it to Bess, and I just won't have her know. +Everything's been so nice with her lately, and it just would seem as if +I'd got her into trouble.'</p> + +<p>'Was papa vexed with you for something?' the child went on. 'You'd +better tell me, Francie, I really won't tell Bess if you don't want me, +and I'm sure nursie won't. I'm becustomed to keeping secrets now. +Sometimes secrets are quite right, nursie says.'</p> + +<p>I could scarcely help smiling at her funny little air.</p> + +<p>'It wasn't anything <i>very</i> much, after all,' said Master Francis. 'It +was only that uncle said——,' and here his voice quivered and he +stopped short.</p> + +<p>'Tell it from the beginning,' said Miss Lally in her motherly way, 'and +then when you get up to the bad part it won't seem so hard to tell.'</p> + +<p>It was a relief to him to have her sympathy, I could see, and I think he +cared a little for mine too.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Well,' he began, 'it's all about that Latin grammar—no, not the +lesson,' seeing that Miss Lally was going to interrupt him, 'but the +book. Uncle's fat old Latin grammar, you know, Lally. We didn't use it +last Friday, it wasn't the day, and we hadn't needed to look at it +ourselves since last Wednesday—that was the ink-spilling day. So it was +not found out till to-day; and—and uncle was—so—so vexed when he saw +how spoilt it was, and the worst of it was I began something about it +having been Bess, and that she hadn't told me, and that made uncle much +worse——.' Here Master Francis stopped, he seemed on the point of +crying again, and he was a boy to feel very ashamed of tears, as I have +said.</p> + +<p>'I don't think Miss Bess could have known the book had got inked,' I +said. 'And I scarce see how it happened, unless the ink got spilt on the +table, and it may have been lying open—I've seen Miss Bess fling her +books down open on their faces, so to speak, many a time,—and it may +have dried in and been shut up when all the books were cleared away, and +no one noticed.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Master Francis eagerly, 'that's how it must have been. I +never meant that Bess had done<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> it and hidden it. I said it in a hurry +because I was so sorry for uncle to think I hadn't taken care of his +book, and I was very sorry about the book too. But I made it far worse. +Uncle said it was mean of me to try to put my carelessness upon another, +a younger child, and a girl; O Lally! you never heard him speak like +that; it was <i>dreadful</i>.'</p> + +<p>'Was it worse than that time when big Jem put the blame on little Pat +about the dogs not being fed?' asked Miss Lally very solemnly.</p> + +<p>Master Francis flushed all over.</p> + +<p>'You needn't have said that, Lally,' he said turning away. 'I'm not so +bad as that, any way.'</p> + +<p>It was very seldom he spoke in that voice to Miss Lally, and she hadn't +meant to vex him, poor child, though her speech had been a mistake.</p> + +<p>'Come, come, Master Francis,' I said, 'you're taking the whole thing too +much to heart, I think. Perhaps Sir Hulbert was worried this morning.'</p> + +<p>'No, no,' said Master Francis, 'he spoke quite quietly. A sort of cold, +kind way, that's much worse than scolding. He said whatever Bess's +faults were, she was quite, quite open and honest, and of course I know +she is; but he said that this sort of thing made him a little afraid +that my being delicate and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> not—not like other boys, was spoiling me, +and that I must never try to make up for not being strong and manly by +getting into mean and cunning ways to defend myself.'</p> + +<p>Young as she was, Miss Lally quite understood; she quite forgot all +about his having been vexed with her a moment before.</p> + +<p>'O Francie!' she cried, running to him and flinging her arms round him, +in a way she sometimes did, as if he needed her protection; 'how could +papa say so to you? Nobody could think you mean or cunning. It's only +that you're too good. I'll tell Bess as soon as she comes in, and she'll +tell papa all about it, then he'll see.'</p> + +<p>'No, dear,' said Master Francis, 'that's just what you mustn't do. Don't +you remember you promised?'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally's face fell.</p> + +<p>'Don't you see,' Master Francis went on, 'that <i>would</i> look mean? As if +I had made Bess tell on herself to put the blame off me. And I do want +everything to be happy with Bess and me ourselves as long as I am here. +It won't be for so very long,' he added. 'Uncle says it will be a very +good thing indeed for me to go to school.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was too much for Miss Lally, she burst out crying, and hugged +Master Francis tighter than before. I had got to understand more of her +ways by now, and I knew that once she was started on a regular sobbing +fit, it soon got beyond her own power to stop. So I whispered to Master +Francis that he must help to cheer her up, and between us we managed to +calm her down. That was just one of the things so nice about the dear +boy, he was always ready to forget about himself if there was anything +to do for another.</p> + +<p>Miss Bess came back from her drive brimming over with spirits, and +though it would have been wrong to bear her any grudge, it vexed me +rather to see the other two so pale and extra quiet, though Master +Francis did his best, I will say, to seem as cheerful as usual.</p> + +<p>Miss Bess's quick eyes soon saw there had been something amiss. But I +passed it off by saying Miss Lally had been troubled about something, +but we weren't going to think about it any more.</p> + +<p>Think about it I did, however, so far as it concerned Master Francis, +especially. Till now I had been always pleased to see that his uncle was +really much attached to the boy, and ready to do him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> justice. But this +notion, which seemed to have begun in Sir Hulbert's mind, that just +because the poor child was delicate and in a sense infirm, he must be +mean spirited and unmanly in mind, seemed to me a very sad one, and +likely to bring much unhappiness. Nor could I feel sure that my lady was +not to blame for it. She was frank and generous herself, but inclined to +take up prejudices, and not always careful enough in her way of speaking +of those she had any feeling against.</p> + +<p>I did what I could, whenever I had any opportunity, to stand up for the +boy in a quiet way, and with all respect to those who were his natural +guardians. But, on the whole, much as I knew we should miss him in the +nursery, I was scarcely sorry to hear not many weeks after the little +events I have been telling about, that Master Francis's going to school +was decided upon. It was to be immediately after the Christmas holidays, +and we were now in the month of October.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>UPSET PLANS</h3> + + +<p>But, as everybody knows, things in this world seldom turn out as they +are planned.</p> + +<p>There was a great deal of writing and considering about Master Francis's +school, and I could see that both Sir Hulbert and my lady had it much on +their minds. They would never have thought of sending him anywhere but +of the best, but in those days schools, even for little boys, cost, I +fancy, quite as much or more than now. And I can't say but what I think +that the worry and the difficulty about it rather added to his aunt's +prejudice against the boy.</p> + +<p>However, before long, all was settled, the school was chosen and the +very day fixed, and in our different ways we began to get accustomed to +the idea. Master Francis, I could see, had two quite opposite ways of +looking at it: he was bitterly sorry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> to go, to leave the home and those +in it whom he loved so dearly, more dearly, I think, than any one +understood. And he took much to heart also the fresh expenses for his +uncle. But, on the other hand, he was eager to get on with his learning; +he liked it for its own sake, and, as he used to say to me sometimes +when we were talking alone—</p> + +<p>'It's only by my mind, you know, nurse, that I can hope to be good for +anything. If I had been strong and my leg all right, I'd have been a +soldier like papa, I suppose.'</p> + +<p>'There's soldiers and soldiers, you must remember, Master Francis,' I +would reply. 'There's victories to be won far greater than those on the +battlefield. And many a one who's done the best work in this world has +been but feeble and weakly in health.'</p> + +<p>His eyes used to brighten up when I spoke like that. Sometimes, too, I +would try to cheer him by reminding him there was no saying but what he +might turn out a fairly strong man yet. Many a delicate boy got improved +at school, I had heard.</p> + +<p>But alas!—or 'alas' at least it seemed at the time—everything was +changed by what happened that winter.</p> + +<p>It was cold, colder than is usual in this part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> the world, and I +think Master Francis had got it in his head to try and harden himself by +way of preparing for school life. My lady used to say little things +sometimes, with a good motive, I daresay, about not minding the cold and +plucking up a spirit, and what her brothers used to do when they were +young, all of which Master Francis took to heart in a way she would not +then have believed if she had been told it. Dear me! it is strange to +think of it, when I remember how perfectly in later years those two came +to understand each other, and how nobody—after she lost her good +husband—was such a staff and support to her, such a counsellor and +comfort, as the nephew she had so little known—her 'more than son,' as +I had often heard her call him.</p> + +<p>But I am wandering away from my story. I was just getting to Master +Francis's illness. How it came about no one could really tell. It is not +often one can trace back illnesses to their cause. Most often I fancy +there are more than one. But just after Christmas Master Francis began +with rheumatic fever. We couldn't at first believe it was going to be +anything so bad. For my lady's sake, and indeed for everybody's, I tried +to cheer up and be hopeful, in spite of the doctor's gloomy looks. It +was a real<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> disappointment to myself and took down my pride a bit, for I +had done my best by the child, hoping to start him for school as strong +and well as was possible for him. And any one less just and fair than my +lady might have had back thoughts, such as damp feet, or sheets not +aired enough, or chills of some kind, that a little care might have +avoided.</p> + +<p>It was my belief that he had been feeling worse than usual for some +time, but never a complaint had he made, perhaps he wouldn't own it to +himself.</p> + +<p>It wasn't till two nights after Christmas that, sitting by the nursery +fire, just after Miss Augusta had been put to bed, he said to me—</p> + +<p>'Nurse, I can't help it, my leg is so dreadfully bad, and not my leg +only, the pain of it seems all over. I'm <i>all</i> bad legs to-night,' and +he tried to smile. 'May I go to bed now, and perhaps it will be all +right in the morning?'</p> + +<p>I <i>was</i> frightened! Sir Hulbert and my lady were dining out that +evening, which but seldom happened, and when I got over my start a +little I wasn't sorry for it, hoping that a good night might show it was +nothing serious.</p> + +<p>We got him to bed as fast as we could. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> was no going down to +dessert that evening, so Miss Bess and Miss Lalage set to work to help +me, like the womanly little ladies they were; one of them running +downstairs to see about plenty of hot water for a good bath and hot +bottles, and the other fetching the under housemaid to see to a fire in +his room. I doubt if he had ever had one before. Bedroom fires were not +in my lady's rule, and I don't hold with them myself, except in illness +or extra cold weather.</p> + +<p>He cheered up a little, and even laughed at the fuss we made. And before +his uncle and aunt returned he was sound asleep, looking quiet and +comfortable, so that I didn't think it needful to say anything to them +that night. But long before morning, for I crept upstairs to his room +every hour or two, I saw that it was not going off as I had hoped. He +started and moaned in his sleep, and once or twice when I found him +awake, he seemed almost lightheaded, and as if he hardly knew me. Once I +heard him whisper: 'Oh! it hurts so,' as if he could scarcely bear it.</p> + +<p>About five o'clock I dressed myself and took up my watch beside him. My +lady was an early riser; by eight o'clock, in answer to a message from +me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> she was with us herself in her dressing-gown. Master Francis was +awake.</p> + +<p>'O my lady!' I said, 'I'd no thought of bringing you up so early, and +you were late last night too.' For they had had a long drive. 'It was +only that I dursn't take upon me to send for the doctor without asking.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, of course not,' she said. And indeed that was a liberty my lady +would not have been pleased with any one's taking. 'Do you really think +it necessary?'</p> + +<p>The poor child was looking a little better just then, the pain was not +so bad. He seemed quiet and dreamy-like, though his face was flushed and +his eyes very bright.</p> + +<p>'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you look!'</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you +look!'</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>And so she did in her long white dressing-gown, with her lovely fair +hair hanging about, for all the world like Miss Lally's.</p> + +<p>I think myself the fever was on his brain a little already, else he +would scarce have dared speak so to his aunt.</p> + +<p>She took no notice, but drew me out of the room.</p> + +<p>'What in the world's the matter with him?' she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> said, anxious and yet +irritated at the same time. 'Has he been doing anything foolish that can +have made him ill?'</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>'It's seldom one can tell how illness comes, but I feel sure the doctor +should see him,' I replied.</p> + +<p>So he was sent for, and before the day was many hours older, there was +little doubt left—though, as I said before, I tried for a bit to hope +it was only a bad cold—that Master Francis was in for something very +serious.</p> + +<p>Almost from the first the doctor spoke of rheumatic fever. There was a +sort of comfort in this, bad as it was—the comfort of knowing there was +no infection to fear. It was a great comfort to Master Francis himself, +whenever he felt the least bit easier, now and then to see his cousins +for a minute or two at a time, without any risk to them. For one of his +first questions to the doctor was whether his illness was anything the +others could catch.</p> + +<p>After that for a few days he was so bad that he could really think of +nothing but how to bear the pain patiently. Then when he grew a shade +better, he began thinking about going to school.</p> + +<p>'What was the day of the month? Would he be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> well, <i>quite</i> well, by the +20th, or whatever day school began? Uncle would be <i>so</i> disappointed if +it had to be put off'—and so on, over and over again, till at last I +had to speak, not only to the doctor, but to Sir Hulbert himself, about +the way the boy was worrying in his mind.</p> + +<p>The doctor tried to put him off by saying he was getting on famously, +and such-like speeches. A few quiet words from Sir Hulbert had far more +effect.</p> + +<p>'My dear boy,' he said gravely, 'what you have to do is to try to get +well and not fret yourself. If it is God's will that your going to +school should be put off, you must not take it to heart. You're not in +such a hurry to leave us as all that, are you?'</p> + +<p>The last few words were spoken very kindly and he smiled as he said +them. I was glad of it, for I had not thought his uncle quite as tender +of the boy as he had used to be. They pleased Master Francis, I could +see, and another thought came into his mind which helped to quiet him.</p> + +<p>'Anyway, nurse,' he said to me one day, 'there'll be a good deal of +expense saved if I don't go to school till Easter.'</p> + +<p>It never struck him that there are few things more expensive than +illness, and as I had no idea till my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> lady told me that the term had to +be paid for, whether he went to school or not, I was able to agree with +him.</p> + +<p>I was deeply sorry for my lady in those days. Some might be hard upon +her, for not forgetting all else in thankfulness that the child's life +was spared, and I know she tried to do so, but it was difficult. And +when she spoke out to me one day, and told me about the schooling having +to be paid all the same, I really did feel for her; knowing through Mrs. +Brent, as I have mentioned, all the past history of the troubles brought +about by poor Master Francis's father.</p> + +<p>'I hope he'll live to be a comfort to you yet, if I may say so, my lady, +and I've a strong feeling that he will,' I said (she reminded me of +those words long after), 'and in the meantime you may trust to Mrs. +Brent and me to keep all expense down as much as possible, while seeing +that Master Francis has all he needs. I'm sure we can manage without a +sick-nurse now.'</p> + +<p>For there had been some talk of having one sent for from London, though +in those days it was less done than seems the case now.</p> + +<p>And after a while things began to mend. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> not a <i>very</i> bad attack, +less so than we had feared at first. In about ten days' time Mrs. Brent +and Susan the housemaid and I, who had taken it in turns to sit up all +night, were able to go to bed as usual, only seeing to it that the fire +was made up once in the night, so as to last on till morning, and the +day's work grew steadily lighter.</p> + +<p>Once they had finished their lessons, the little girls were always eager +to keep their cousin company. He was only allowed to have them one at a +time. Miss Bess used to take the first turn, but it was hard work for +her, poor child, to keep still, though it grew easier for her when it +got the length of his being able for reading aloud. But Miss Lally from +the first was a perfect model of a little sick-nurse. Mouse was no word +for her, so still and noiseless and yet so watchful was she, and if ever +she was left in charge of giving him his medicine at a certain time, I +could feel as sure as sure that it wouldn't be forgotten. When he was +inclined to talk a little, she knew just how to manage him—how to amuse +him without exciting him at all, and always to cheer him up.</p> + +<p>The weather was unusually bad just then, though we did our best to +prevent Master Francis feeling it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> by keeping his room always at an +even heat, but there were many days on which the young ladies couldn't +get out. Altogether it was a trying time, and for no one more than for +my lady.</p> + +<p>I couldn't help thinking sometimes how different it would have been if +Master Francis had been her own child, when the joy of his recovering +would have made all other troubles seem nothing. I felt it both for her +and for him, though I don't think he noticed it himself; and after all, +now that I can look back on things having come so perfectly right, +perhaps it is foolish to recall those shadows. Only it makes the picture +of their lives more true.</p> + +<p>Through it all I could see my lady was trying her best to have none but +kind and nice feelings.</p> + +<p>'The doctor says that though Francis will really be almost as well as +usual in three or four weeks from now, there can be no question of his +going to school for ever so long—perhaps not at all this year.'</p> + +<p>'Dear, dear,' I said. 'But you won't have to go on paying for it all the +same, my lady?'</p> + +<p>She smiled at this.</p> + +<p>'No, no, not quite so bad as that, only this one term, which is paid +already. Sir Hulbert might have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> got off paying it if he had really +explained how difficult it was. But that's just the sort of thing it +would really be lowering for him to do,' and she sighed. 'The doctor +says too,' she went on again, 'that by rights the boy should have a +course of German baths, that might do him good for all his life; but how +we <i>could</i> manage that I can't see, though Sir Hulbert is actually +thinking of it. I doubt if he would think of it as much if it were for +one of our own children,' she added rather bitterly.</p> + +<p>'He feels Master Francis a sort of charge, I suppose,' I said, meaning +to show my sympathy.</p> + +<p>'He is a charge indeed,' said his aunt. 'And to think that all this time +he might have been really improving at school.'</p> + +<p>I could say nothing more, but I did grieve that she couldn't take things +in a different spirit.</p> + +<p>'It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.' Miss Lally had a fine +time for her knitting just then, with Master Francis out of the way. Of +course if he had been at school there would have been no difficulty, and +she had planned to have his socks ready to send him on his birthday, the +end of March. Now she had got on so fast—one sock finished and the heel +of the other turned, though not without many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> sighs and even a few +tears—that she hoped to have them as a surprise the first day he came +down to the nursery.</p> + +<p>'I'll have to begin working in the attic again, after that,' she said to +me, 'for I'm going to make a pair for baby.'</p> + +<p>'That's to say if the weather gets warmer,' I said to her. 'You +certainly couldn't have sat up in the attic these last few weeks, Miss +Lally.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE NEW BABY</h3> + + +<p>The weather did improve. The winter having been so unusually severe was +made up for, as I think often happens, by a bright and early spring. By +the beginning of April Master Francis was able to be out again, though +of course only for a little in the middle of the day, and we had to be +very careful lest he should catch the least cold. I was exceedingly +glad, really more glad than I can say, that his getting well went +through without any backcasts. For himself he was really better than the +doctor had dared to hope, but as he began to move about more freely I +was grieved to see that the stiffness of his leg seemed worse than +before his illness. I don't think it pained him much, at least he didn't +complain.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I thought it would be best to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> say nothing about it, +half hoping that he didn't notice it himself, but I heard no talk of his +going to school.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget one morning in April—it was towards the end of the +month, a most lovely sunny morning it was, as I went up the winding +staircase leading to Master Francis's room in the tower. The sunshine +came pouring in through the narrow windows as brilliant as if it had +been midsummer, and the songs of the birds outside seemed to tell how +they were enjoying it, yet it was only half-past six! The little ladies +below were all sleeping soundly, but Master Francis, I knew, always woke +very early, and somehow I had a feeling that he must be the first to +hear the good news.</p> + +<p>As I knocked at the door I heard him moving inside. He had got up to +open the window; the room seemed flooded with light as I went in. Master +Francis was sitting up in bed reading, or learning some of his lessons +more likely, for he was well enough now to have gone back to regular +ways. He looked up very brightly.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it a most beautiful morning, nurse?' he said. 'The sunshine woke +me even earlier than usual, so I'm looking over my Latin. Auntie +doesn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> mind my reading in bed in the morning. It isn't like at night +with candles.'</p> + +<p>'No, of course not,' I said. 'But, Master Francis, I want you to leave +off thinking about your lessons for a minute. I rather fancy you'll have +a holiday to-day. I've got a piece of news for you! I wonder if you can +guess what has happened?'</p> + +<p>He opened his eyes wide in surprise.</p> + +<p>'It must be something good,' he said, 'or you wouldn't look so pleased. +What <i>can</i> it be? It can't be that Uncle Hulbert's got a lot of money.'</p> + +<p>'There are some things better than money,' I said. 'What would you think +if a dear little baby boy had come in the night?'</p> + +<p>His whole face flushed pink with pleasure.</p> + +<p>'Nurse!' he said. 'Is it really true? Oh! how pleased I am. Just the +very thing auntie has wanted so—a little boy of her own. I may count +him like a brother, mayn't I? Won't Bess and Lally be pleased! Do they +know? Mayn't I get up at once, and when do you think I may see him?'</p> + +<p>'Some time to-day, I hope,' I answered. 'No, the young ladies don't know +yet. They're fast asleep. But I thought you'd like to know.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> + +<p>'How good of you!' he said. 'I'm just <i>so</i> pleased that I don't know +what to do.'</p> + +<p>What a morning of excitement it was, to be sure! The children were all +half off their heads with delight. All, that is to say, except Miss +Baby, who burst out crying in the middle of her breakfast, sobbing that +she 'wouldn't have no—something——' We couldn't make out what for ever +so long, till we found it was her name she was crying about, as of +course we were all talking of the new little brother as 'the baby.' We +comforted her by saying that anyway he would not be 'Miss Baby'; and +perhaps from that it came about that her old name clung to her till she +was quite a big girl, and almost from the first Master Bevil got his +real name.</p> + +<p>He was a great darling—so strong and hearty too—and so handsome even +as an infant. Everything seemed to go right with him from the very +beginning.</p> + +<p>'Surely,' I often said to myself, 'he will bring a blessing with him. +And now that my lady's great wish has been granted, I do hope she will +feel more trustful and less anxious.'</p> + +<p>I hoped too that she would now have happier feelings to poor Master +Francis, especially when she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> saw his devotion to the baby boy. For of +all the children I must say he was the one who loved the little creature +the most.</p> + +<p>And for a while all seemed tending in the right way, but when the baby +was a few weeks old, I began to fear that something of the old trouble +was in the air again. Fresh money difficulties happened about that time, +though of course I didn't know exactly what they were. But it was easy +to see that my lady was fretted, she was not one to hide anything she +was feeling.</p> + +<p>One day, it was in June, as far as I remember, my lady was in the +nursery with Miss Lally and Miss Baby and the real baby. The two elder +children were downstairs at their lessons with Sir Hulbert. Master Bevil +was looking beautiful that afternoon. We had laid him down on a rug on +the floor, and he was kicking and crowing as if he had been six months +old, his little sisters chattering and laughing to him, while my lady +sat by in the rocking-chair, looking for once as if she had thrown all +her cares aside.</p> + +<p>'He really is getting on beautifully,' she said to me. 'Doesn't he look +a great big boy?'</p> + +<p>I was rather glad of the remark, for it gave me a chance to say +something that had been on my mind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>'We'll have to be thinking of short-coating him, before we know where we +are, my lady,' I said with a smile. 'And there's another thing I've been +thinking of. He's such a heavy boy to carry already, and as time gets on +it would be a pity for our walks to be shortened in the fine weather. We +had a beautiful basket for the donkey at Mrs. Wyngate's, it was made so +that even a little baby could lie quite comfortably in it.'</p> + +<p>'That would be very nice,' my lady answered. 'I'll speak to Sir Hulbert +about it. Only——,' and again a rather worried look came into her face. +I could see that she had got back to the old thought, 'everything costs +money.' 'We must do something about it before long,' she added.</p> + +<p>Just then Miss Bess ran into the room, followed more slowly by her +cousin.</p> + +<p>'What are you talking about?' she said.</p> + +<p>'About how dear fat baby is to go walks with us when he gets still +fatter and heavier,' said Miss Lally. 'Poor nurse couldn't carry him so +very far, you know, and mamma says perhaps——'</p> + +<p>'Oh! nonsense,' interrupted Miss Bess; 'we'd carry him in turns, the +darling.'</p> + +<p>My lady looked up quickly at this.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Don't talk so foolishly, child,' she said sharply. For, fond as she was +of Miss Bess, she could put her down sometimes, and just now the little +girl scarcely deserved it, it seemed to me. 'I won't allow anything of +that kind,' she went on. 'You are far too young, all of you—Francis +especially, must never attempt to carry baby. Do you hear, children? +Nurse, you must be strict about this.'</p> + +<p>'Certainly, my lady,' I replied. 'Master Francis and the young ladies +have never done more than just hold Master Bevil in their arms for a +moment, me standing close by.'</p> + +<p>Then they went on to talk about getting a basket for the donkey, which +they were very much taken up about. I didn't notice at the time that +Master Francis had only looked in for an instant and gone off again; but +that evening at tea time, when Miss Bess and Miss Lally said something +about old Jacob, Master Francis asked what they meant, which I +remembered afterwards as showing that he had not heard his aunt's strict +orders.</p> + +<p>It was a week or two after that, that one lovely afternoon we all set +out on a walk together. We had planned to go rather farther than we had +yet been with the baby, resting here and there on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> way, it was so +warm and sunny and he was not <i>yet</i> so very heavy, of course.</p> + +<p>All went well, and we found ourselves close to home again in nice time. +For of course I knew that if we stayed out too long it would be only +natural for my lady to be anxious.</p> + +<p>'It's rather too soon to go in and it's such a beautiful afternoon,' +said Miss Bess as we were coming up the drive. 'Do let us go into the +little wood, for half an hour or so, nurse, and you might tell us a +story.'</p> + +<p>The little wood skirts the drive at one side. It is a sweet place, in +the early summer especially, so many wild flowers and ferns, and lots of +squirrels overhead among the branches, and little rabbits scudding about +down below.</p> + +<p>We found a cosy nook, where we settled ourselves. The little brother was +fast asleep, the three elder ones sat round me, while Miss Baby toddled +off a little way, busy about some of her own funny little plays by +herself, though well within sight.</p> + +<p>I was in the middle of a long story of having been lost in the firwoods +at home as a child, when a loud scream made us all start, and looking up +I saw to my alarm that Miss Baby was no longer to be seen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Dear, dear,' I cried, jumping up in a fright. 'She must have hurt +herself. Here, Master Francis, hold the baby for a moment, don't get +up;' and I put his little cousin down safely in his arms.</p> + +<p>I meant him not to stir till I came back, but he didn't understand this. +Miss Bess was already off after her little sister, and after a minute or +two we found her, not hurt at all, but crying loudly at having fallen +down and dirtied her frock in running away from what <i>she</i> called a +'bear,' coming out of the wood—most likely only a branch of a tree +swaying about.</p> + +<p>It took a little time to quiet her and to set her to rights again, and +when we got back to the other children I was surprised to see that the +baby was now in Miss Lally's arms, Master Francis kneeling beside them +wiping something with his handkerchief.</p> + +<p>'There's nothing wrong, I hope,' I said, rather startled again.</p> + +<p>'Oh no!' said Miss Lally. 'It's only that little brother cried and +Francie walked him up and down and somefing caught Francie's foot and he +felled, but baby didn't fall. Francie held him tight, only a twig +scratched baby's nose a tiny little bit. But he doesn't mind, he's +laughing.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>So he was, though sure enough there was a thin red line right across his +plump little nose, and the least little mark of blood on the +handkerchief with which his cousin had been tenderly dabbing it. Master +Francis himself was so pale that I hadn't the heart to say more to him +than just a word.</p> + +<p>'I had meant you to sit still with him, my dear.'</p> + +<p>'But he cried so,' said the boy.</p> + +<p>However, there was no harm done, though I thought to myself I'd be more +careful than ever, but unluckily just as we were within a few steps of +the house whom should we see but my lady coming to meet us. I'm never +one for hiding things, but I did wish she had not happened to come just +then.</p> + +<p>She noticed the scratch in a moment, as she stooped to kiss the baby, +though really there was nothing to mind, seeing the dear child so rosy +and happy looking.</p> + +<p>'What's the matter with his nose?' she said quickly. 'You haven't any +pins about you, nurse, surely?'</p> + +<p>Pins were not in my way, certainly, but I could have found it in my +heart to wish I could own to one just then, for Master Francis started +forward.</p> + +<p>'Oh no! Aunt Helen,' he said, 'it was my fault.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> I was walking him about +for a minute or two, while nurse went after Baby, and my foot slipt, but +I only came down on my knees and <i>he</i> didn't fall. It was only a twig +scratched his nose, a tiny bit.'</p> + +<p>My lady grew first red then white.</p> + +<p>'He might have been killed,' she said; and she caught the baby from me +and kissed him over and over again. Then she turned to Master Francis, +and I could see that she was doing her best to keep in her anger.</p> + +<p>'Francis, how dared you, after what I said the other day so very +strongly about your <i>never</i> carrying the baby? Your own sense might have +told you you are not able to carry him, but besides that, what I said +makes it distinct disobedience. Nurse, did you <i>know</i> of it?'</p> + +<p>'It was I myself gave Master Bevil to Master Francis to hold,' I said, +flurried like at my lady's displeasure. 'I hadn't meant him to walk +about with him.'</p> + +<p>'Of course not,' said my lady. 'There now, you see, Francis, double +disobedience! I must speak to your uncle. Take back baby, nurse, he must +have some <i>pomade divine</i> on his nose when he gets in;' and before any +of us had time to speak again she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> had turned and hurried back to the +house. My lady had always a quick way with her, pleased or displeased.</p> + +<p>'She's gone to tell papa,' said the young ladies, looking very +distressed.</p> + +<p>Master Francis was quite white and shaking like.</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' he said at last, when he had got voice enough to speak, 'I +really don't know what auntie meant about something she said the other +day.'</p> + +<p>'O Franz! you can't have forgotten,' said Miss Bess, who often spoke +sharply when she was really very sorry. 'Mamma did say most plainly that +none of us were to carry baby about.'</p> + +<p>But the boy still looked quite puzzled, and when we talked it over, we +were all satisfied that he hadn't been in the room at the time.</p> + +<p>'I must try to put it right with my lady,' I said, feeling that if any +one had been to blame in the matter it was certainly me much more than +Master Francis, for not having kept my eye better on Miss Baby in the +wood.</p> + +<p>But we were a very silent and rather sad party as we made our way back +slowly to the house.</p> + +<p>I couldn't see my lady till late that evening, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> then, though I did +my best, I didn't altogether succeed. She had already spoken to Sir +Hulbert, and nothing would convince her that Master Francis had not +heard at least some part of what she said.</p> + +<p>Sir Hulbert was always calm and just; he sent for the boy the next +morning, and had a long talk with him. Master Francis came back to the +nursery looking pale and grave, but more thoughtful than unhappy.</p> + +<p>'Uncle has been very good and kind,' was all he said. 'And I will try +never to vex him and auntie again.'</p> + +<p>Later that evening, when he happened to be alone with me, after the +young ladies had gone to bed, he said a little more. I was sitting by +the fire with Master Bevil on my knee. Master Francis knelt down beside +me and kissed the little creature tenderly. Then he stroked his tiny +nose—the mark of the scratch had almost gone already.</p> + +<p>'You darling!' he said. 'Oh! how glad I am you weren't really hurt. +Nurse,' he went on, 'I'd do anything for this baby, I do <i>love</i> him so. +I only wish I could say it to auntie the way I can to you. If only I +were big and strong, or very clever, and could work for him, to get him +everything he should have, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> then it would make up a little for all +the trouble I've been always to them.'</p> + +<p>He spoke quite simply. There wasn't a thought of himself—as if he had +anything to complain of, or put up with, I mean—in what he said. But +all the more it touched me very much, and I felt the tears come into my +eye, but I wouldn't have Master Francis see it, and I began laughing and +playing with the baby.</p> + +<p>'See his dear little feet,' I said. 'They're almost the prettiest part +of him. He kicks so, he wears out his little boots in no time. It would +be nice if Miss Lally could knit some for him.'</p> + +<p>Master Francis looked surprised.</p> + +<p>'Why,' he said, 'do you call those little white things boots? And are +they made the same way as my socks? I've got them on now; aren't they +splendid? I really think it was very clever of Lally.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>IN DISGRACE AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>He held out one foot to be admired.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' I said, 'they are very nice indeed, and Miss Lally was so patient +about them. I'll have to think of some other knitting for her.'</p> + +<p>'O nurse!' said Master Francis quickly, then he stopped. 'I must ask +Lally first,' he went on; and I heard him say, as if speaking to +himself—'it would be nice to please auntie.'</p> + +<p>For a day or two after that I saw there was some mystery going on. +Master Francis and Miss Lally were whispering together and looking very +important, and one fine afternoon the secret was confided to me.</p> + +<p>Miss Bess was out with her mamma, and Master Francis had disappeared +when we came in from our walk, a rather short one that day. Suddenly, +just as we were sitting down to tea, and I was wondering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> what had +become of him, he hurried in, and threw a small soft white packet on to +Miss Lally's lap.</p> + +<p>'O Francie!' she said, 'have you really got it?'</p> + +<p>Then she undid the parcel and showed it to me; it was white wool.</p> + +<p>'Francie has bought it with his own money,' she said, 'for me to knit a +pair of boots for baby, and oh! nursie, will you show me how? They're to +be a present from Francie and me; me the knitting and Francie the wool, +and we want it to be quite a secret till they're ready. It's so warm now +I can knit up in the attic. Won't mamma be pleased?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly, my dear,' I said. 'I'll do my best to teach you. They'll be +rather difficult, for we'll have to put in some fancy stitches, but I +think you can manage it now.'</p> + +<p>Master Francis stood by, looking as interested and pleased as Miss Lally +herself.</p> + +<p>'That was all the wool Prideaux' daughter had,' he said. 'Do you think +there'll be enough, nurse? She'll have some more in a few days.'</p> + +<p>'I doubt if there'll be enough,' I said, 'but I can tell better when +we've got them begun.'</p> + +<p>Begun they were, that very evening. Miss Lally and Master Francis set to +work to wind the wool,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> having first spent some time at an extra washing +of their hands, for fear of soiling it in the very least.</p> + +<p>'It's so beautifully white,' said Miss Lally, 'like it says in the +Bible, isn't it, nursie? It would be a pity to dirty it.'</p> + +<p>Dear me! how happy those two were over their innocent secret, and how +little I thought what would come of Master Bevil's white wool bootikins!</p> + +<p>The knitting got on nicely, though there were some difficulties in the +way. The weather was getting warmer, and it is not easy for even little +ladies to keep their hands quite spotlessly clean. The ball of wool had +to be tied up in a little bag, as it would keep falling on the floor, +and besides this, Miss Lally spread out a clean towel in the corner +where she sat to work in the attic.</p> + +<p>I gave Miss Bess a hint that there was a new secret and got her to +promise not to tease the children, and she was really good about it, as +was her way if she felt she was trusted. Altogether, for some little +time things seemed to be going smoothly. Master Francis was most +particular to do nothing that could in the least annoy his uncle and +aunt, or could seem like disobedience to them.</p> + +<p>After the long spell of fine weather, July set in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> with heavy rain. I +had now been a whole year with the dear children. I remember saying so +to them one morning when we were all at breakfast.</p> + +<p>It was about a week since the baby's boots had been in hand. One was +already finished, in great part by Miss Lally herself, though I had had +to do a little to it in the evenings after they were all in bed, setting +it right for her to go on with the next day.</p> + +<p>With the wet weather there was less walking out, of course, and all the +more time for the knitting. On the day I am speaking of the children +came down from the attic in the afternoon with rather doleful faces.</p> + +<p>'Nursie,' said Miss Lally, 'I have been getting on so nicely,' and +indeed I had not required to do more than glance at her work for two or +three days. 'I thought I would have had it ready for you to begin the +lace part round the top, only, just fancy the wool's done!'</p> + +<p>'They'll have more at the shop by now,' said Master Francis. 'If only it +would clear up I could go to the village for it.'</p> + +<p>'It may be finer to-morrow,' I said, 'but there's no chance of you going +out to-day; even if it left off raining, the ground's far too wet for +you with your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> rheumatism. Now, Miss Lally, my dear, don't you begin +looking so doleful about it; you've got on far quicker than you could +have expected.'</p> + +<p>She did look rather doleful all the same, and the worst of it was that +though Master Francis would have given up anything for himself, he never +could bear Miss Lally to be disappointed.</p> + +<p>'I'm so much better now, nurse,' he said. 'I don't believe even going +out in the rain would hurt me.'</p> + +<p>'It's <i>possible</i> it mightn't hurt you, but——' I was beginning, when I +heard Master Bevil crying out in the other room. Miss Lally had now a +little room of her own on the other side of the nursery, and we had +saved enough of Miss Bess's chintz to smarten it up. This had been done +some months ago. I hadn't too much time now, and the young girl who +helped me was no hand at sewing at all. Off I hurried to the baby +without finishing what I was saying to Master Francis, and indeed I +never gave another thought to what he'd said about fetching the wool +till tea-time came, and he didn't answer when we called him, thinking he +was in his own room.</p> + +<p>Just then, unluckily, my lady came up to the nursery to say good-bye to +the children, or good-night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> rather, for she and Sir Hulbert were going +to dine at Carris Court, which is a long drive from Treluan, and the +roads were just then very heavy with the rain. She came in looking quite +bright and cheery. I can see her now in her black lace dress—it was far +from new—it was seldom my lady spent anything on herself—but it suited +her beautifully, showing off her lovely hair and fair complexion. One +little diamond star was her only ornament. I forget if I mentioned that +as well as the strange disappearance of money at the death of old Sir +David, a great many valuable family jewels, worth thousands of pounds, +were also missing, so it was but little that Sir Hulbert had been able +to give his wife, and what money she had of her own she wouldn't have +spent in such ways, knowing from the first how things were with him.</p> + +<p>She came in, as I said, looking so beautiful and bright that I felt +grieved when almost in a moment her look changed.</p> + +<p>'Where is Francis?' she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>'He must be somewhere downstairs, my lady,' I said. 'He's not in his +room, but no doubt he'll be coming directly.'</p> + +<p>Esther, the nursery-maid, was just then coming in with some tea-cakes +Mrs. Brent had sent us up.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Go and look for Master Francis, and tell him to come at once,' said my +lady. 'Surely he can't have gone out anywhere,' she added to me; 'it's +pouring, besides he isn't allowed to go out without leave.'</p> + +<p>'He'd never think of such a thing,' I said quickly, 'after being so ill +too.' But even as I spoke the words, there came into my mind what the +boy had said that afternoon, and I began to feel a little anxious, +though of course I didn't let my lady see it, and I did my best to +smooth things when Esther came back to say that he was nowhere to be +found. It was little use, however, my lady began to be thoroughly put +out.</p> + +<p>She hurried off to Sir Hulbert, feeling both anxious and angry, and a +good half-hour was spent in looking for the boy before Sir Hulbert could +persuade her to start. He was vexed too, and no wonder, just when my +lady had been looking so happy.</p> + +<p>'Really,' I thought to myself, 'Master Francis is tiresome after all.' +And I was thankful when they at last drove off, there being no real +cause for anxiety.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the sound of the carriage-wheels died away than the +nursery door opened and Master<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> Francis burst in, looking for once like +a regular pickle of a boy. His eyes bright and his cheeks rosy, though +he was covered with mud from head to foot, his boots really not to be +thought of as fit to come up a tidy staircase.</p> + +<p>'Hurrah!' he cried, shaking a little parcel over his head. 'I've got it, +Lally. And I'm not a bit wet after all, nurse!'</p> + +<p>'Oh no!' said Miss Bess, who did love to put in her word, 'not at all. +Quite nice and dry and tidy and fit to sit down to tea, after worrying +mamma out of her wits and nearly stopping papa and her going to Carris.'</p> + +<p>Master Francis's face fell at once. I was sorry for him and yet that +provoked I couldn't but join in with Miss Bess.</p> + +<p>'Go upstairs to your room at once, Master Francis, and undress and get +straight into your bed. I'll come up in a few minutes with some hot tea +for you. How you could do such a thing close upon getting better of +rheumatic fever, and the trouble and worry it gave, passes me! And +considering, too, what I said to you this very afternoon.'</p> + +<p>'You didn't actually say I wasn't to go,' he said quickly. 'You know +quite well why I went, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> I'm not a <i>bit</i> wet really. I'm all muffled +up in things to keep me dry. I'm nearly suffocating.'</p> + +<p>'All the worse,' I said. 'If you're overheated all the more certain +you'll get a chill. Don't stand talking, go at once.'</p> + +<p>He went off, and I was beginning to pour out the tea, which had been +kept back all this time, when, as I lifted the teapot in my hand I +almost dropped it, nearly scalding Miss Baby who was sitting close by +me, so startled was I by a sudden terrible scream from Miss Lally; and, +as I have said before, anything like Miss Lally's screams I never did +hear in any nursery. Besides which, once she was started, there was +never any saying when she'd leave off.</p> + +<p>'Now, whatever's the matter with you, my dear?' I said, but it was +little use talking quietly to her. She only sobbed something about 'poor +Francie and nursie scolding him,' and then went on with her screaming +till I was obliged to put her in the other room by herself to get quiet.</p> + +<p>Of all the party Miss Bess and Miss Baby were the only ones who did +justice to Mrs. Brent's tea-cakes that evening. They did take Miss +Lally's screaming fits quietly, I must say, which was a good thing, and +even Master Bevil had strong nerves, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> suppose, for he slept on sweetly +through it all, poor dear. For myself, I was out and out upset for once, +provoked and yet sorry too.</p> + +<p>I went up to Master Francis and did the best I could for him to prevent +his taking cold. He was as sorry as could be by this time, and he had +really not meant to be disobedient, but though I was ready to believe +him, I felt much afraid that this new scrape wouldn't be passed over +very lightly by his uncle and aunt. After a while Miss Lally quieted +down, partly, I think, because I promised her she might go up to her +cousin if she would leave off crying, and the two passed the evening +together very soberly and sadly, winding the fresh skein of white wool +which had been the cause of all the trouble.</p> + +<p>After all Master Francis did not take cold. He came down to breakfast +the next morning looking pretty much as usual, though I could see he was +uneasy in his mind. Miss Lally too was feeling rather ashamed of her +screaming fit the night before, for she was growing a big girl now, old +enough to understand that she should have more self-command. Altogether +it was a rather silent nursery that morning, for Miss Bess was concerned +for her cousin too.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>I had quite meant to try to see my lady before anything was said to +Master Francis. But she was tired and later of getting up than usual, +and I didn't like to disturb her. Sir Hulbert, I found, had gone out +early and would not be in till luncheon-time, so I hoped I would still +have my chance.</p> + +<p>I hardly saw the elder children till their dinner time. It was an extra +long morning of lessons with Miss Kirstin, for it was still raining, and +on wet days she sometimes helped them with what they had to learn by +themselves.</p> + +<p>The three hurried up together to make themselves tidy before going down +to the dining-room, and I just saw them for a moment. Master Bevil was +rather fractious, and I was feeling a little worried about him, so that +what had happened the night before was not quite so fresh in my mind as +it had been; but I did ask Miss Lally, who came to me to have her hair +brushed, if she had seen her mamma, and if my lady was feeling rested.</p> + +<p>'She's getting up for luncheon,' was the child's answer, 'but I haven't +seen her. Mrs. Brent told us she was very tired last night. Mrs. Brent +waited up to tell mamma Francie had come in.'</p> + +<p>After luncheon the two young ladies came up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> together. I looked past +them anxiously for Master Francis.</p> + +<p>'No,' said Miss Lally, understanding my look, 'he's not coming. He's +gone to papa's room, and papa and mamma are both there.'</p> + +<p>My heart sank at the words.</p> + +<p>'Mamma's coming up to see baby in a little while,' said Miss Bess. 'She +was so tired, poor little mamma, she only woke in time to dress for +luncheon, and papa said he was very glad.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally came round and whispered to me.</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' she said, 'may I go up to the attic? I want to knit a great lot +to-day, and if I stayed down here mamma would see.'</p> + +<p>'Very well, my dear,' I said. 'Only be sure to come downstairs if you +feel chilly.'</p> + +<p>There was really no reason, now that she had a room of her own, for her +ever to sit in the attic, but she had taken a fancy to it, I suppose, +and off she went.</p> + +<p>Miss Bess stood looking out of the window, in a rather idle way she had.</p> + +<p>'Oh dear!' she said impatiently; 'is it <i>never</i> going to leave off +raining? I am so tired of not getting out.'</p> + +<p>'Get something to do, my dear,' I said. 'Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> the time will pass more +quickly. It won't stop raining for you watching it, you know. Weren't +you saying something about the schoolroom books needing arranging, and +that you hadn't had time to do them?'</p> + +<p>Miss Bess was in a very giving-in mood.</p> + +<p>'Very well,' she said, moving off slowly. 'I suppose I may as well do +them. But I need somebody to help me; where's Lally?'</p> + +<p>'Don't disturb her yet awhile, poor dear,' I said. 'She does so want to +get on with the work I've told you about.'</p> + +<p>Miss Bess stood looking uncertain. Suddenly an idea struck her.</p> + +<p>'May I have Baby then?' she asked. 'She could hold up the books to me, +and that's about all the help I need, really.'</p> + +<p>I saw no objection, and Miss Baby trotted off very proud, Miss Bess +leading her by the hand.</p> + +<p>The nursery seemed very quiet the next half-hour or so, or maybe longer. +I was beginning to wonder when my lady would be coming, and feeling glad +that Master Bevil, who had just wakened up from a nice sleep, was +looking quite like himself again before she saw him, when suddenly the +door burst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> open and Master Francis looked in. He was not crying, but +his face had the strained white look I could not bear to see on it.</p> + +<p>'Is there no one here?' he said.</p> + +<p>Somehow I didn't like to question him, grieved though I felt at things +going wrong again.</p> + +<p>'No,' I replied. 'Miss Bess is in the schoolroom with——,' then it +suddenly struck me that my lady might be coming in at any moment, and +that it might be better for Master Francis not to be there. 'Miss +Lally,' I went on quickly, 'is at her knitting in the attic, if you like +to go to her there.'</p> + +<p>He turned and went. Afterwards he told me that he caught sight of my +lady coming along the passage as he left the room, and that he hurried +upstairs to avoid her. He didn't find Miss Lally in the attic as he +expected, but her knitting was there lying on the floor, thrown down +hurriedly, and though she had not forgotten to spread out the clean +towel as usual, in her haste she hadn't noticed that the newly-wound +ball of white wool had rolled some distance away from the half-finished +boot and the pins.</p> + +<p>Afterwards I will tell what happened to Master Francis, up there by +himself in the attic.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + +<p>To make all clear, I may here explain why he had not found Miss Lally in +her nook. The book-tidying in the schoolroom had gone on pretty well, +but after a bit, though Miss Baby did her best, Miss Bess found the want +of some one who could read the titles, and she ran upstairs to beg Miss +Lally to come for a few minutes. The few minutes turned into an hour or +more, for the young ladies, just like children as they were, came across +some old favourites in their tidying, and began reading out bits here +and there to each other. And then to please Miss Baby they made houses +and castles of the books on the floor, which she thought a beautiful new +game, so that Miss Lally forgot about her knitting, while feeling, so to +say, at the back of her mind quite easy about it, thinking she had left +it safely lying on the clean cloth.</p> + +<p>They were both so much taken up with what they were about, that it never +struck them to wonder what Master Francis was doing with himself all the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>My lady and I meanwhile were having a long talk in the nursery. It had +been as I feared, Sir Hulbert having spoken most severely to the boy, +and my lady having said some bitter things, which already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> she was +repenting, more especially when I was able to explain that Master +Francis had really not been so distinctly disobedient as had seemed the +case.</p> + +<p>'We must try and put it right again, I suppose,' she said rather sadly, +as she was leaving the room. 'I wish I didn't take up things so hotly at +the time, but I was really frightened as well as angry. Still Sir +Hulbert would not have spoken so strongly if it hadn't been for me.'</p> + +<p>This was a great deal for my lady to say, and I felt honoured by her +confidence. I began to be more hopeful again, and tried to set out the +tea rather nicer than usual to cheer them up a little.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>LOST</h3> + + +<p>The three young ladies came in together, Miss Baby looking very +important, but calling out for her tea.</p> + +<p>'It's quite ready, my dear,' I said. 'But where's Master Francis?'</p> + +<p>'<i>I</i> don't know,' said Miss Bess. 'I haven't seen him all the +afternoon.'</p> + +<p>I turned to Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>'He went up to sit with you, my dear, in the attic,' I said.</p> + +<p>'I didn't see him,' said Miss Lally, and then she explained how Miss +Bess had fetched her down ever so long ago. 'I daresay Francie's in his +own room,' she went on. 'I'll run up and see, and I'll look in the attic +too, for I left my work lying about.'</p> + +<p>She ran off.</p> + +<p>'Nurse,' said Miss Bess, 'do you think Francis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> got a very bad scolding? +You saw him, didn't you? Did he seem very unhappy?'</p> + +<p>'I'm afraid so, my dear, but I think it will come all right again. I've +seen your mamma since, and she quite sees now that he didn't really mean +to be disobedient.'</p> + +<p>'I wish you had told mamma that before they spoke to Francis,' said Miss +Bess, who I must say was rather a Job's comforter sometimes.</p> + +<p>We waited anxiously till we heard Miss Lally's footsteps returning. She +ran in alone, looking rather troubled.</p> + +<p>'He's not there, not in his own room, or the attic, or nowhere, but he +must have been in the attic, for my work's gone.'</p> + +<p>A great fear came over me. Could the poor boy have run away in his +misery at having again angered his uncle and aunt? for the look on his +face had been strange, when he glanced in at the nursery door, asking +for Miss Lally. Was he meaning perhaps to bid her good-bye before +setting off in some wild way? And what she said of the knitting having +gone made me still more uneasy. Had he perhaps taken it with him as a +remembrance? for of all the queer mixtures of old-fashionedness and +childishness that ever I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> came across, Master Francis was the strangest, +though, as I have said, there was a good deal of this in all the +children.</p> + +<p>I got up at Miss Lally's words. Master Bevil was asleep, luckily.</p> + +<p>'You go on with your tea, my dears, there's good children,' I said. 'I +must see about Master Francis, he must be somewhere about the house. +He'd never have thought of going out again in such weather,' for it was +pouring in torrents.</p> + +<p>I went downstairs, asking everybody I met if they had seen him, but they +all shook their heads, and at last, after searching through the library +and the big drawing-rooms, and even more unlikely places, I got so +frightened that I made bold to knock at Sir Hulbert's study door, where +he was busy writing, my lady working beside him.</p> + +<p>They had been talking of Master Francis just before I went in, and they +were far more distressed than annoyed at my news, my lady growing quite +pale.</p> + +<p>'O Hulbert!' she exclaimed, 'if he has run away it is my fault.'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, Helen,' he said, meaning to cheer her. 'The boy has got sense +and good feeling, he'd never risk making himself ill again. And where +would he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> run away to? He couldn't go to sea. But certainly the sooner +we find him the better.'</p> + +<p>He went off to speak to some of the men, while my lady and I, Mrs. Brent +and some of the others, started again to search through the house. We +did search, looking in really impossible corners, where he couldn't have +squeezed himself in. Then the baby awoke, and I had to go to him, and +Miss Bess and Miss Lally took their turn at this melancholy game of +hide-and-seek, but it was all no use. The dull gray afternoon darkened +into night, the rain still pouring down, and nothing was heard of the +missing boy. Sir Hulbert at last left off pretending not to be anxious. +He had his strongest horse put into the dog-cart, and drove away to the +town to give notice to the police, stopping on the way at every place +where it was the least likely the boy could have been seen.</p> + +<p>He didn't get back till eleven o'clock. My lady and Mrs. Brent and me +were waiting up for him, for Master Bevil was sleeping sweetly, and I +had put the nursery-maid to watch beside him. The young ladies, poor +dears, were in bed too, and, as is happily the way with children, had +fallen asleep in spite of their tears and sad distress.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>We knew the moment we saw Sir Hulbert that he had no good tidings to +give us. His sunburnt face looked almost white, as he came into the hall +soaking wet and shook his head.</p> + +<p>'I have done everything, Nelly,' he said, 'everything that can be done, +and now we must try to be patient till some news comes. It is +impossible, everybody says, that a boy like him, so well known in the +neighbourhood too, could disappear without some one seeing him, or that +he could remain in hiding for long. It is perfectly extraordinary that +we have not found him already, and somehow I can scarcely believe he is +doing it on purpose. He has such good feeling, and must know how anxious +we should be.'</p> + +<p>Sir Hulbert was standing by the fire, which my lady had had lighted in +the hall, as he spoke. He seemed almost thinking aloud. My lady crept up +to him with a look on her face I could not bear to see.</p> + +<p>'Hulbert,' she said in a low voice, 'I said things to him enough to make +him doubt our caring at all.' And then she broke down into bitter though +silent weeping.</p> + +<p>We got her to bed with difficulty. There was really no use whatever in +sitting up, and who knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> what need for strength the next day might +bring? Then there were the other poor children to think of. So by +midnight the house was all quiet as usual. I was thankful that the wind +had fallen, for all through the evening there had been sounds of wailing +and sobbing, such as stormy weather always brings at Treluan, enough to +make you miserable if there was nothing the matter—the rain pattering +against the window like cold tiny hands, tapping and praying to be let +in.</p> + +<p>Sad as I was, and though I could scarcely have believed it of myself, I +had scarcely laid my head down before I too, like the children, fell +fast asleep. I was dreaming, a strange confused dream, which I never was +able to remember clearly; but it was something about searching in the +smugglers' caves for Master Francis, followed by an old man, who I +somehow fancied was the miser baronet, Sir David. His hair was snow +white, and there was a confusion in my mind of thinking it like Miss +Lally's wool. Anyhow, I had got the idea of whiteness in my head, so +that, when something woke me—afterwards I knew it was the sound of my +own name—and I opened my eyes to see by the glimmer of the night-light +what seemed at first a shining figure by my bed-side, I did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> not feel +surprised. And the first words I said were 'white as wool.'</p> + +<p>'No, no,' said Miss Lally, for it was she, in her little night-dress, +her fair hair all tumbling over her shoulders, 'it isn't about my wool, +nurse, please wake up quite. It's something so strange—such a queer +noise. Please get up and come to my room to see what it is.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally's room was a tiny place at the side of the nursery nearest +the tower, though not opening on to the tower stair.</p> + +<p>I got up at once and crossed the day nursery with her, lighting a candle +on the way. But when we got into her room all was perfectly silent.</p> + +<p>'What was it you heard, my dear?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'A sort of knocking,' she said, 'and a queer kind of little cry, like a +rabbit caught in a trap when you hear it a long way off.'</p> + +<p>'It must have been the wind and rain again,' I was beginning to say, but +she stopped me.</p> + +<p>'Hush, listen!' she said, holding up her little hand, 'there it is +again.'</p> + +<p>It was just as she had said, and it seemed to come from the direction of +the tower.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it like as if it was from Francie's room?'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> said Miss Lally, +shivering a little; 'and yet we know he's not there, nursie.'</p> + +<p>But something was there, or close by, and something <i>living</i>, I seemed +to feel.</p> + +<p>'Put on your dressing-gown,' I said to the little girl, 'and your +slippers, and we'll go up and see. You're not frightened, dear?'</p> + +<p>'Oh no!' she said. 'If only it was Francie!'</p> + +<p>But she clung to my hand as we went up the stair, leaving the nursery +door wide open, so as to hear Master Bevil if he woke up.</p> + +<p>Master Francis's room was all dark, of course, and it struck very chill +as we went in, the candle flickering as we pushed the door open. It +seemed so strange to see the empty bed, and everything unused about the +room, just as if he was really quite away. We stood perfectly still. All +was silent. We were just about leaving the room to go to the attic when +the faintest breath of a sound seemed to come again, I couldn't tell +from where. It was more like a sigh in the air.</p> + +<p>'Stop,' said Miss Lally, squeezing my hand, and then again we heard the +muffled taps, much more clearly than downstairs. Miss Lally's ears were +very sharp.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I hear talking,' she whispered, and before I knew what she was about +she had laid herself down on the floor and put her ear to the ground, at +a part where there was no carpet. 'Nursie,' she went on, looking up with +a very white face and shining eyes, 'it is Francie. He must have felled +through the floor. I can hear him saying, "O Lally! O Bess! Oh, somebody +come."'</p> + +<p>I stooped down as she had done. It was silent again; but after a moment +began the knocking and a sort of sobbing cry; my ears weren't sharp +enough to make it into words, but I seized the first thing that came to +hand, I think it was the candlestick, and thumped it on the floor as +hard as ever I could, calling out, close down through the boarding, +'Master Francie, we hear you.'</p> + +<p>But there was nothing we could do by ourselves, and we were losing +precious time.</p> + +<p>'Miss Lally,' I said, 'you won't be frightened to stay here alone; I'll +leave you the candle. Go on knocking and calling to him, to keep up his +heart, in case he can hear, while I go for your papa.'</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it, I had roused Sir Hulbert and +brought him back with me, my lady following after. Nothing would have +kept her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> behind. We were met by eager words from Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>'Papa, nursie,' she cried, 'I've made him hear, and I can make out that +he says something about the window.'</p> + +<p>Without speaking Sir Hulbert strode across the room and flung it open. +Oh, how thankful we were that the wind had fallen and all was still.</p> + +<p>'Francis, my boy,' we heard Sir Hulbert shout—he was leaning out as far +as ever he could—'Francis, my boy, can you hear me?'</p> + +<p>Something answered, but we inside the room couldn't distinguish what it +said, but in another moment Sir Hulbert turned towards us.</p> + +<p>'He says something about the cupboard in the attic,' he said. 'What can +he mean? But come at once.'</p> + +<p>He caught up my lady's little hand-lamp and led the way, we three +following. When we reached the attic he went straight to the big +cupboard I have spoken of. The doors were standing wide open. Sir +Hulbert went in, but came out again, looking rather blank.</p> + +<p>'I can see nothing,' he said. 'I fancied he said the word "mouse," but +his voice had got so faint.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<p>'If you knock on the floor,' I began, but Miss Lally stopped me by +darting into the closet.</p> + +<p>'Papa,' she said, 'hold the light here. I know where the mouse-hole is.'</p> + +<p>What they had thought a mouse-hole was really a hole with jagged edges +cut out in one of the boards, which you could thrust your hand into. Sir +Hulbert did so, beginning to see what it was meant for, and pulled. A +trap-door, cleverly made, for all that it looked so roughly done, gave +way, and by the light of the lamp we saw a kind of ladder leading +downwards into the dark. Sir Hulbert stooped down and leaned over the +edge.</p> + +<p>'Francis,' he called, and a very faint voice—we couldn't have heard it +till the door was opened—answered—</p> + +<p>'Yes, I'm here. Take care, the ladder's broken.'</p> + +<p>Luckily there was another ladder in the attic. Sir Hulbert and I dragged +it out, and managed to slip it down the hole, in the same direction as +the other. We were so afraid it would be too short, but it wasn't. My +lady and I held it steady at the top, while Sir Hulbert went down with +the lamp, Miss Lally holding a candle beside us.</p> + +<p>Sir Hulbert went down very slowly, not knowing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> how or in what state +Master Francis might be lying at the foot. Our hearts were beating like +hammers, for all we were so quiet.</p> + +<p>First we heard an exclamation of surprise. I rather think it was 'by +Jove!' though Sir Hulbert was a most particular gentleman in his way of +speaking—then came a hearty shout—</p> + +<p>'All right, he's here, no bones broken.'</p> + +<p>'Shall I come down?' cried my lady.</p> + +<p>'I think you may,' Sir Hulbert answered, 'if you're very careful. I'll +bring the light to the foot of the ladder again.'</p> + +<p>When my lady got down, Miss Lally and I strained our ears to hear. I +knew the child was quivering to go down herself, and it was like her to +be so patient.</p> + +<p>Strange were the words that first reached us.</p> + +<p>'Auntie, auntie!' we heard Master Francis say, in his poor weak voice. +'It's old Sir David's treasure! You won't be poor any more. Oh! I'm so +glad now I fell down the hole, but I thought I'd die before I could tell +any one.'</p> + +<p>Miss Lally and I stared at each other. Could it be true? or was Master +Francis off his head? We had not long to wait.</p> + +<p>They managed to get him up—after all it was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> so very far to +climb,—my lady coming first with the lamp, and Sir Hulbert, holding +Master Francis with one arm and the side of the ladder with the other, +followed, for the boy had revived wonderfully, once he knew he was safe.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a> +<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>Sir Hulbert, holding Master Francis with one arm and the +side of the ladder with the other, followed.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>My lady was crying, I saw it the moment the light fell on her face, and +as soon as Master Francis was up beside us, she threw her arms round him +and kissed him as never before.</p> + +<p>'Oh! my poor dear boy,' she said, 'I am so thankful, but do tell us how +it all happened.'</p> + +<p>She must have heard, and indeed seen something of the strange discovery +that had been made, but for the moment I don't think there was a thought +in her heart except thankfulness that he was safe.</p> + +<p>Before Master Francis could answer, Sir Hulbert interrupted.</p> + +<p>'Better not ask him anything for a minute or two,' he said. 'Nurse, you +will find my brandy-flask downstairs in the study. He'd better have a +little mixed with water; and ring the bell as you pass to waken Crooks, +and some one must light the fire in Francis's room.'</p> + +<p>I was back in five minutes with what was wanted; and then I found Miss +Lally having her turn at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> petting her cousin. As soon as he had had a +little brandy and water we took him down to the nursery, where the fire +was still smouldering, Sir Hulbert carefully closing the trap-door as it +had been before, and then following us downstairs.</p> + +<p>Once in the nursery, anxious though we were to get him to bed, it was +impossible not to let him tell something of what had happened. It began +by a cry from Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>'Why, Francie, you've got my knitting sticking out of your pocket. But +two of the needles have dropped out,' she went on rather dolefully.</p> + +<p>'They'll be lying down in that room,' said Master Francis. 'I was +carrying it in my hand when I went down the ladder after the ball of +wool, and when I fell I dropped it, and I found it afterwards. It was +the ball of wool that did it all,' and then he went on to explain.</p> + +<p>He had not found Miss Lally in the attic, for Miss Bess had already +called her down, but seeing her knitting lying on the floor, he had sat +down to wait for her, thinking she'd be sure to come back. Then he +noticed that the ball of wool must have rolled away as she threw her +work down, and disappeared into the cupboard. The door was wide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> open, +and he traced it by the thread in his hand to the 'mouse-hole' in the +corner, down which it had dropped, and putting his hand through to see +if he could feel it, to his surprise the board yielded. Pulling a little +more, the trap-door opened, and he saw the steps leading downwards.</p> + +<p>It was not dark in the secret room in the day-time, for it had two +narrow slits of windows hardly to be noticed from the outside, so, with +a boy's natural curiosity, he determined to go down. He hadn't strength +to lift the trap-door fully back, but he managed to stick it open enough +to let him pass through; he had not got down many steps, however, before +he heard it bang to above him. The shock may have jarred the ladder, +which was a roughly-made rotten old thing. Anyway, the next moment +Master Francis felt it give way, and he fell several feet on to the +floor below. He was bruised, and a little stunned for a few minutes, but +he soon came quite to himself, and, still full of curiosity, began to +look about him. The place where he was was only a sort of entrance to a +larger room, which was really under his own bedroom, and lighted, as I +have said, by narrow deep windows, without glass. And though there was +no door between the two, the large room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> was on a much lower level, and +another ladder led down to it. This time he was very careful, and got to +the bottom without any accident.</p> + +<p>Looking about him, he saw standing along one side of the room a +collection of the queerest-shaped objects of all sizes that could be +imagined, all wrapped up in some kind of linen or canvas, grown gray +with age and dust.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>'OLD SIR DAVID'S' SECRET</h3> + + +<p>At first he thought the queer-looking things he saw must be odd-shaped +pieces of stone, or petrifactions, such as you see in old-fashioned +rockeries in gardens sometimes. But when he went close up to them and +touched one, he found that the covering was soft, though whatever was +inside it was hard. He pulled the cloth off it, and saw to his surprise +that it was a heavy silver tea-urn, though so black and discoloured that +it looked more like copper or iron. He examined two or three other +things, standing by near it; they also proved to be large pieces of +plate—great heavy dinner-table centres, candelabra, and such +things,—and, child though he was, Master Francis could see they must be +of considerable value. But this was not what struck him the most. Like a +flash of lightning it darted into his mind that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> there must be still +more valuable things in this queer store-room.</p> + +<p>'I do believe,' he said to himself, 'that this is old Sir David's +treasure!'</p> + +<p>He was right. It would take too long to describe how he went on +examining into all these strange objects. Several, that looked like +well-stuffed sacks, were tied up so tightly that he couldn't undo the +cord. He made a little hole in one of them with his pocket-knife, and +out rolled, to his delight, ever so many gold pieces!</p> + +<p>'Then,' said Master Francis to us, 'I really felt as if I could have +jumped with joy; but I thought I'd better fetch Uncle Hulbert before I +poked about any more, and I went up the short ladder again, meaning to +go back the way I'd come. I had never thought till that minute that I +couldn't manage it, but the long ladder was broken away so high above my +head that I couldn't possibly reach up to it, and the bits of it that +had fallen on to the floor were quite rotten. And the trap-door seemed +so close shut, that I was afraid no one would hear me however I +shouted.'</p> + +<p>He did shout though, poor boy; it was the only thing he could do. The +short ladder was a fixture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> and he couldn't move it from its place, even +if it had been long enough to be of any use. After a while he got so +tired of calling out, that he seemed to have no voice left, and I think +he must have fallen into a sort of doze, for the next thing he +remembered was waking up to find that it was quite dark. Then he began +to feel terribly frightened, and to think that perhaps he would be left +there to die of hunger.</p> + +<p>'And the worst of it was,' he said in his simple way, 'that nobody would +ever have known of the treasure.'</p> + +<p>He called out again from time to time, and then a new idea struck him. +He felt about for a bit of wood on the floor and set to work, knocking +as hard as he could. Most likely he fell asleep by fits and starts, +waking up every now and then to knock and call out again, and when the +house was all shut up and silent for the night, of course the sound he +made seemed much louder, only unluckily we were all asleep and might +never have heard it except for dear little Miss Lally.</p> + +<p>It was not till after Master Francis caught the sound of our knocking +back in reply that it came into his head to make his way close up to the +windows—luckily it was not a very dark night—and call<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> through them, +for there was no glass in them, as I have said. If he had done that +before it is just possible we might have heard him sooner, as in our +searching we had been in and out of his room, above where he was, +several times.</p> + +<p>There is not much more for me to tell. Master Francis was ill enough to +have to stay in bed for a day or two, and at first we were a little +afraid that the cold and the terror, and the strange excitement +altogether, might bring on another illness. But it was not so. I think +he was really too happy to fall ill again!</p> + +<p>In a day or two Sir Hulbert was able to tell him all about the +discovery. It was kept quite secret till the family lawyer could be sent +for, and then he and my lady and Sir Hulbert all went down through the +trap-door again with Mr. Crooks, the butler, to help them, and +everything was opened out and examined. It was a real miser's hoard.</p> + +<p>Besides the plate, which was really the least valuable, for it was so +clumsy and heavy that a good deal of it was only fit to be melted down, +there were five or six sacks filled with gold and some with silver coin. +Of course something was lost upon it with its being so old, but taking +it all in all, a very large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> sum was realised, for a great many of the +Penrose diamonds had been hidden away also, <i>some</i> of which—the most +valuable, though not the most beautiful—were sold.</p> + +<p>Altogether, though it didn't make Sir Hulbert into a millionaire, it +made him a rich man, as rich, I think, as he cared to be. And, strangely +enough, as the old proverb has it, 'it never rains but it pours,' only +two or three years after, money came to my lady which she had never +expected. So that to any one visiting Treluan, as it now is, and seeing +all that has been done by the family, not only for themselves, but for +those about them,—the church, the schools, the cottages on the estate +being perfect models of their kind—it would be difficult to believe +there had ever been want of money to be wisely and generously spent.</p> + +<p>Dear, dear, how many years ago it all is now! There's not many living, +if any, to remember the ins and outs as I do, which is indeed my excuse +for having put it down in my own way.</p> + +<p>Miss Bess,—Miss Penrose, as I should say,—Miss Lalage, and even Miss +Augusta have been married this many a day; and Lady Helen, Miss Bess's +eldest daughter, is sixteen past, and it is she that has promised to +look over my writing and correct it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<p>Master Bevil, Sir Bevil now, for Sir Hulbert did not live to be an old +man, has two fine boys of his own, whom I took care of from their +babyhood, as I did their father, and I'm feeling quite lost since Master +Ramsey has gone to school.</p> + +<p>And of dear Master Francis. What words can I say that would be enough? +He is the only one of the flock that has not married, and yet who could +be happier than he is? He never thinks of himself, his whole life has +been given to the noblest work. His writings, I am told, though they're +too learned for my old head, have made him a name far and wide. And all +this he has done in spite of delicate health and frequent suffering. He +seems older than his years, and Sir Bevil is in hopes that before long +he may persuade his cousin to give up his hard London parish and make +his regular home where he is so longed for, in Treluan itself, as our +vicar, and indeed I pray that it may be so while I am still here to see +it.</p> + +<p>Above all, for my dear lady's sake, I scarcely like to own to myself +that she is beginning to fail, for though I speak of myself as an old +woman and feel it is true, yet I can't bear to think that her years are +running near to the appointed threescore and ten, for she is nine years +older than I. She has certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> never been the same, and no wonder, +since Sir Hulbert's death, but she has had many comforts, and almost the +greatest of them has been, as I think I have said before, Master +Francis.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mother and my aunts want me to add on a few words of my own to dear old +nurse's story. She gave it me to read and correct here and there, more +than a year ago, and I meant to have done so at once. But for some +months past I hardly felt as if I had the heart to undertake it, +especially as I didn't like bringing back the remembrance of their old +childish days to mother and my aunts, or to Uncle Bevil and Uncle +Francis, as we always call him, just in the first freshness of their +grief at dear grandmamma's death. And I needed to ask them a few things +to make the narrative quite clear for any who may ever care to read it.</p> + +<p>But now that the spring has come back again, making us all feel bright +and hopeful (we have all been at Treluan together for Uncle Bevil's +birthday), I have enjoyed doing it, and they all tell me that they have +enjoyed hearing about the story and answering my questions.</p> + +<p>Dear grandmamma loved the spring so! She was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> so gentle and sweet, +though she never lost her quick eager way either. And though she died +last year, just before the daffodils and primroses were coming out, +somehow this spring the sight of them again has not made us feel sad +about her, but <i>happy</i> in the best way of all.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I should have said before that I am 'Nelly,' 'Miss Bess's' +eldest daughter. Aunt Lalage has only one daughter, who is named after +mother, and <i>I</i> think very like what mother must have been at her age.</p> + +<p>There are five of <i>us</i>, and Aunt Augusta has two boys, like Uncle Bevil.</p> + +<p>What used to be 'the secret room,' where our miser ancestor kept the +hoard so strangely discovered, has been joined, by taking down the +ceiling, to what in the old days was Uncle Francis's room, and enters +from a door lower down the tower stair, and Uncle Bevil's boys have made +it into what they call their 'Museum.' We are all very fond of showing +it to visitors, and explaining how it used to be, and telling the whole +story. Uncle Francis always maintains that Aunt Lally saved his life, +and though she gets very red when he says so, I do think it is true. She +really was very brave for such a little girl. If I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> heard knockings in +the night, I am afraid I should hide my head under the clothes, and put +my fingers in my ears.</p> + +<p>Uncle Francis and Aunt Lally always do seem almost more brother and +sister to each other than any of the rest; and her husband, Uncle +Geoffrey, whom next to Uncle Francis I think I like best of all my +uncles, was one of <i>his</i>—I mean Uncle Francis's; what a confusion I'm +getting into—best friends at college.</p> + +<p>When I began this, after correcting nurse's manuscript, I thought +nothing would be easier than to write a story in the most beautiful +language, but I find it so much harder than I expected that I am not +sorry to think that there is really nothing more of importance to tell. +And I must say my admiration for the way in which nurse has performed +<i>her</i> task has increased exceedingly!</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nurse Heatherdale's Story, by +Mary Louisa Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY *** + +***** This file should be named 39047-h.htm or 39047-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/4/39047/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.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: Nurse Heatherdale's Story + +Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth + +Illustrator: Leonard Leslie Brooke + +Release Date: March 4, 2012 [EBook #39047] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + + + + + + + + NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY + + BY MRS MOLESWORTH + + + ILLUSTRATED BY + L LESLIE BROOKE + + MACMILLAN & CO + LONDON MDCCCXCI + + + TO + MY FAR-AWAY + BUT FAITHFUL FRIEND + GISELA + + LINDFIELD, + _August_ 22, 1891. + + +[Illustration: She was sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in +the window of the little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in +behind her.--P. 31.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT 1 + + CHAPTER II AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL 17 + + CHAPTER III TRELUAN 36 + + CHAPTER IV A NURSERY TEA 51 + + CHAPTER V THE SHOP IN THE VILLAGE 66 + + CHAPTER VI THE SMUGGLERS' CAVES 82 + + CHAPTER VII A RAINY DAY 96 + + CHAPTER VIII THE OLD LATIN GRAMMAR 110 + + CHAPTER IX UPSET PLANS 124 + + CHAPTER X THE NEW BABY 137 + + CHAPTER XI IN DISGRACE AGAIN 151 + + CHAPTER XII LOST 167 + + CHAPTER XIII 'OLD SIR DAVID'S' SECRET 183 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + 'Hasn't her a nice face?' 14 + + She was sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, + in the window of the little room; the bright summer + sunshine streaming in behind her 31 + + Then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise 74 + + Miss Bess and Master Francis were talking eagerly with + old Prideaux 82 + + 'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby + wants to kiss thoo' 113 + + 'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty + you look!' 129 + + Sir Hulbert, holding Master Francis with one arm and + the side of the ladder with the other, followed 179 + + + + +NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT + + +I could fancy it was only yesterday! That first time I saw them. And to +think how many years ago it is really! And how many times I have told +the story--or, perhaps, I should say the _stories_, for after all it is +only a string of simple day-by-day events I have to tell, though to me +and to the children about me they seem so interesting and, in some ways, +I think I may say, rather out of the common. So that now that I am +getting old, or 'beginning to think just a tiny bit about some day +getting old,' which is the only way Miss Erica will let me say it, and +knowing that nobody else _can_ know all the ins and outs which make the +whole just as I do, and having a nice quiet time to myself most days +(specially since dear tiresome little Master Ramsey is off to school +with his brothers), I am going to try to put it down as well as I can. +My 'as well as I can' won't be anything very scholarly or fine, I know +well; but if one knows what one wants to say it seems to me the words +will come. And the story will be there for the dear children, who are +never sharp judging of old Heather--and for their children after them, +maybe. + +I was standing at our cottage door that afternoon--a beautiful summer +afternoon it was, early in June. I was looking idly enough across the +common, for our cottage stood--stands still, perhaps--I have not been +there for many a year--just at the edge of Brayling Common, where it +skirts the pine-woods, when I saw them pass. Quite a little troop they +looked, though they were scarcely near enough for me to see them +plainly. There was the donkey, old Larkins's donkey, which they had +hired for the time, with a tot of a girl riding on it, the page-boy +leading it, and a nursemaid walking on one side, and on the other an +older little lady--somewhere about ten years old she looked, though she +was really only eight. What an air she had, to be sure! What a grand +way of holding herself and stepping along like a little princess, for +all that she and her sisters were dressed as simple as simple. Pink +cotton frocks, if I remember right, a bit longer in the skirts than our +young ladies wear them now, and nice white cotton stockings,--it was +long before black silk ones were the fashion for children,--and +ankle-strap shoes, and white sun-bonnets, made with casers and cords, +nice and shady for the complexions, though you really had to be close to +before you could see a child's face inside of them. And some way behind, +another little lady, a good bit shorter than Miss Bess--I meant to give +all their names in order later on, but it seems strange-like not to say +it--and looking quite three years younger, though there was really not +two between them. And alongside of her a boy, thin and pale and +darkish-haired--that, I could see, as he had no sun-bonnet of course, +only a cap of some kind. He too was a good bit taller than Miss ----, +the middle young lady I mean, though short for his age, which was eleven +past. They were walking together, these two--they were mostly always +together, and I saw that the boy was a little lame, just a touch, but +enough to take the spring out of his step that one likes to see in a +young thing. And though I couldn't see her face, only some long fair +curls, long enough to come below the cape of her bonnet, a feeling came +over me that the child beside him was walking slow, keeping back as it +were, on purpose to bear him company. There was something gentle and +pitying-like in her little figure, in the way she went closer to the boy +and took his hand when the nurse turned round and called back +something--I couldn't hear the words but I fancied the tone was +sharp--to the two children behind, which made them press forward a +little. The other young lady turned as they came nearer and said +something with a sort of toss-up of her proud little head to the nurse. +And then I saw that she held out her hand to her younger sister, who +kept hold all the same of the boy's hand on the other side. And that was +how they were walking when they went in among the trees and were lost to +my sight. + +But I still stood looking after them, even when there was nothing more +of them to be seen. Not even the dog--oh, I forgot about him--he was the +very last of the party--a brisk, shortish haired, wiry-looking rough +terrier, who, just as he got to the entrance of the wood, turned round +and stood for a moment barking, for all the world as if he might be +saying, 'My young ladies have gone a-walking in the wood now, and +nobody's to come a-troubling of them. So I give you fair notice.' He did +think, did Fusser, that was _his_ name, that he managed all the affairs +of the family. Many a time we've laughed at him for it. + +'Dear me,' thought I to myself, 'I could almost make a story out of +those young ladies and gentleman, though I've only seen them for a +minute, or two at the most.' + +For I was very fond of children even then, and knew a good deal about +their ways, though not so much--no, nor nothing like--what I do now! But +I was in rather a dreamy sort of humour. I had just left my first +place,--that of nursery-maid with the family where my mother had been +before me, and where I had stayed on older than I should have done by +rights, because of thinking I was going to be married. And six months +before, my poor Charles had died suddenly, or so at least it had seemed +to us all. For he caught cold, and it went to his chest, and he was gone +in a fortnight. The doctor said for all he looked strong, he was really +sadly delicate, and it was bound to be sooner or later. It may have been +true, leastways the doctor meant to comfort me by saying so, though I +don't know that I found much comfort in the thought. Not so much anyhow +as in mother's simple words that it was God's will, and so it must be +right. And in thinking how happy we had been. Never a word or a coldness +all the four years we were plighted. But it was hard to bear, and it +changed all my life for me. I never could bring myself to think of +another. + +Still I was only twenty-one, and after I'd been at home a bit, the young +ladies would have me back to cheer me up, they said. I travelled with +them that spring; but when they all went up to London, and Miss Marian +was to be married, and the two little ones were all day with the +governess, I really couldn't for shame stay on when there was no need of +me. So, though with many tears, I came home, and was casting about in my +mind what I had best do--mother being hale and hearty, and no call for +dress-making of a plain kind in our village--that afternoon, when I +stood watching the stranger little gentry and old Larkins's donkey and +the dog, as they crossed the common into the firwood. + +It was mother's voice that woke me up, so to say. + +'Martha,' she called out in her cheery way, 'what's thee doing, child? +I'm about tidied up; come and get thy work, and let's sit down a bit +comfortable. I don't like to see thee so down-like, and such bright +summer weather, though mayhap the very sunshine makes it harder for +thee, poor dear.' + +And she gave a little sigh, which was a good deal for her, for she was +not one as made much talk of feelings and sorrows. It seemed to spirit +me up somehow. + +'I wasn't like that just now, mother,' I said cheerfully. 'I've been +watching some children--gentry--going over the common--three little +young ladies and a boy, and Larkins's donkey. They made me think of Miss +Charlotte and Miss Marian when first I went there, though plainer +dressed a good deal than our young ladies were. But real gentry, I +should say.' + +'And you'd say right,' mother answered. 'They are lodging at Widow +Nutfold's, quite a party of them. Their father's Sir----; dear, dear, +I've forgot the name, but he's a barrowknight, and the family's name is +Penrose. They come from somewhere far off, near by the sea--quite furrin +parts, I take it.' + +'Not out of England, you don't mean, do you?' I asked. For mother, of +course, kept all her old country talk, while I, with having been so many +years with Miss Marian and her sisters, and treated more like a friend +than a servant, and great pains taken with my reading and writing, had +come to speak less old-fashioned, so to say, and to give the proper +meaning to my words. 'Foreign parts really means out of this country, +where they talk French or Italian, you know, mother.' + +But mother only shook her head. + +'Nay,' she said, 'I mean what I say. Furrin parts is furrin parts. I +wouldn't say as they come from where the folks is nigger blacks, or from +old Boney's country neither, as they used to frighten us about when I +was a child. But these gentry come from furrin parts. Why, I had it from +Sarah Nutfold's own lips, last Saturday as never was, at Brayling +market, and old neighbours of forty years; it's not sense to think she'd +go for to deceive me.' + +Mother was just a little offended, I could see, and I thought to myself +I must take care of seeming to set her right. + +'Of course not,' I said. 'You couldn't have it surer than from Mrs. +Nutfold. I daresay she's pleased to have them to cheer her up a bit. +They seem nice little ladies to look at, though they're on the outside +of plain as to their dress.' + +'And more sense, too,' said mother. 'I always thought our young ladies +too expensive, though where money's no consideration, 'tis a temptation +to a lady to dress up her children, I suppose.' + +'But they were never _over_-dressed,' I said, in my turn, a little +ruffled. 'Nothing could be simpler than their white frocks to look at.' + +'Ay, to look at, I'll allow,' said mother. 'But when you come to look +_into_ them, Martha, it was another story. Embroidery and tucks and real +Walansian!' and she held up her hands. 'Still they've got it, and +they've a right to spend it, seein' too as they're generous to those who +need. But these little ladies at Sarah's are not rich, I take it. There +was a deal of settlin' about the prices when my lady came to take the +rooms. She and the gentleman's up in London, but one or two of the +children got ill and needed country air. It's a heavy charge on Sarah +Nutfold, for the nurse is not one of the old sort, and my lady asked +Sarah, private-like, to have an eye on her.' + +'There now,' I cried, 'I could have said as much! The way she turned +just now so sharp on the poor boy and the middle little lady. I could +see she wasn't one of the right kind, though I didn't hear what she +said. No one should be a nurse, or have to do with children, mother, +who doesn't right down love them in her heart.' + +'You're about right there, Martha,' mother agreed. + +Just then father came in, and we sat round, the three of us, to our tea. + +'It's a pleasure to have thee at home again, my girl, for a bit,' he +said. And the kind look in his eyes made me feel both cheered and sad +together. It was the first day I had been with them at tea-time, for I +had got home pretty late the night before. 'And I hope it'll be a +longish bit this time,' he went on. + +I gave a little sigh. + +'I'd like to stay a while; but I don't know that it would be good for me +to stay very long, father, thank you,' I said. 'I'm young and strong and +fit for work, and I'd like to feel I was able to help you and mother if +ever the time comes that you're laid by.' + +'Please God we'll never need help of that kind, my girl,' said father. +'But it's best to be at work, I know, when one's had a trouble. The +day'll maybe come, Martha, when you'll be glad to have saved a little +more for a home of your own, after all. So I'd not be the one to stand +in your way, a few months hence--nor mother neither--if a good place +offers.' + +'Thank you, father,' I said again; 'but the only home of my own I'll +ever care for will be here--by mother and you.' + +And so it proved. + +I little thought how soon father's words about not standing in my way if +a nice place offered would be put to the test. + +I saw the children who were lodging at Mrs. Nutfold's several times in +the course of the next week or two. They seemed to have a great fancy +for the pine-woods, and from where they lived they could not, to get to +them, but pass across the common within sight of our cottage. And once +or twice I met them in the village street. Not all of them +together--once it was only the two youngest with the nurse; they were +waiting at the door of the post-office, which was also the grocer's and +the baker's, while she was inside chattering and laughing a deal more +than she'd any call to, it seemed to me. (I'm afraid I took a real +right-down dislike to that nurse, which isn't a proper thing to do +before one has any certain reason for it.) And dear little ladies they +looked, though the elder one--that was the middle one of the three--had +rather an anxious expression in her face, that struck me. The baby--she +was nearly three, but I heard them call her baby--was a little fat +bundle of smiles and dimples. I don't think even a cross nurse would +have had power to trouble _her_ much. + +Another time it was the two elder girls and the lame boy I met. It was a +windy day, and the eldest Missy's big flapping bonnet had blown back, so +I had a good look at her. She was a beautiful child--blue eyes, very +dark blue, or seeming so from the clear black eyebrows and thick long +eyelashes, and dark almost black hair, with just a little wave in it; +not so long or curling as her sister's, which was out-of-the-way +beautiful hair, but seeming somehow just to suit her, as everything +about her did. She came walking along with the proud springing step I +had noticed that first day, and she was talking away to the others as if +to cheer and encourage them, even though the boy was full three years +older than she, and supposed to be taking charge of her and her sister, +I fancy. + +'Nonsense, Franz,' she was saying in her decided spoken way, 'nonsense. +I won't have you and Lally treated like that. And I don't care--I mean I +can't help if it does trouble mamma. Mammas must be troubled about their +children sometimes; that's what being a mamma means.' + +I managed to keep near them for a bit. I hope it was not a mean +taking-advantage. I have often told them of it since--it was really that +I did feel such an interest in the dear children, and my mind misgave me +from the first about that nurse--it did so indeed. + +'If only----' said the boy with a tiny sigh. But again came that +clear-spoken little voice, 'Nonsense, Franz.' + +I never did hear a child of her age speak so well as Miss Bess. It's +pretty to hear broken talking in a child sometimes, lisping, and some of +the funny turns they'll give their words; but it's even prettier to hear +clear complete talk like hers in a young child. + +Then came a gentle, pitiful little voice. + +'It isn't nonsense, Queen, darling. It's _howid_ for Franz, but it +wasn't nonsense he was going to say. I know what it was,' and she gave +the boy's hand a little squeeze. + +'It was only--if aunty _was_ my mamma, Bess, but you know she isn't. And +_aunts_ aren't forced to be troubled about not their own children.' + +'Yes they are,' the elder girl replied. 'At least when they're instead +of own mammas. And then, you know, Franz, it's not only you, it's Lally +too, and----' + +That was all I heard. I couldn't pretend to be obliged to walk slowly +just behind them, for in reality I was rather in a hurry, so I hastened +past; but just as I did so, their little dog, who was with them, looked +up at me with a friendly half-bark, half-growl. That made the children +smile at me too, and for the life of me, even if 'twas not good manners, +I couldn't help smiling in return. + +'Hasn't her a nice face?' I heard the second little young lady say, and +it sent me home with quite a warm feeling in my heart. + +[Illustration: 'Hasn't her a nice face?'] + +It was about a week after that, when one evening as we were sitting +together--father, mother, and I--and father was just saying there'd be +daylight enough to need no candles that night--we heard the click of the +little garden gate, and a voice at the door that mother knew in a moment +was Widow Nutfold's. + +'Good evening to you, Mrs. Heatherdale,' she said, 'and many excuses for +disturbing of you so late, but I'm that put about. Is your Martha at +home?--thank goodness, my dear,' as I came forward out of the dusk to +speak to her. 'It's more you nor your good mother I've come after; +you'll be thinking I'm joking when you hear what it is. Can you slip +on your bonnet and come off with me now this very minute to help with my +little ladies? Would you believe it--that their good-for-nothing girl is +off--gone--packed up this very evening--and left me with 'em all on my +hands, and Miss Baby beginning with a cold on her chest, and Master +Francis all but crying with the rheumatics in his poor leg. And even the +page-boy, as was here at first, was took back to London last week.' + +The good woman held up her hands in despair, and then by degrees we got +the whole story--how the nurse had not been meaning to stay longer than +suited her own convenience, but had concealed this from her lady; and +having heard by a letter that afternoon of another situation which she +could have if she went at once, off she had gone, in spite of all poor +Widow Nutfold could say or do. + +'She took a dislike to me seein' as I tried to look after her a bit and +to stop her nasty cross ways, and she told me that impertinent, as I +wanted to be nurse, I might be it now. She has a week or two's money +owing her, but she was that scornful she said she'd let it go; she had +been a great silly for taking the place.' + +'But she might be had up and made to give back some of her wages,' said +father. + +'Sir Hulbert and my lady are not that sort, and she knows it,' said Mrs. +Nutfold. 'The wages was pretty fair--it was the dulness of the life down +in Cornwall the girl objected to most, I fancy.' + +'Cornwall,' repeated mother. 'There now, Martha, if that isn't furrin +parts, I don't know what is.' + +But I hadn't time to say any more. I hurried on my shawl and bonnet, and +rolled up an apron or two, and slipped a cap into a bandbox, and there I +was. + +'Good-night, mother,' I said. 'I'll look round in the morning--and I +don't suppose I'll be wanted to stay more than a day or two. My lady's +sure to find some one at once, being in London too.' + +'I should think so,' said old Sarah, but there was something in her tone +I did not quite understand. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL + + +We hurried across the common--it was still daylight though the sun had +set some little time. The red and gold were still lingering in the sky +and casting a beautiful glow on the heather and the gorse bushes. For +Brayling Common is not like what the word makes most people think +of--there's no grass at all--it's all heather and gorse, and here and +there clumps of brambles, and low down on the sandy soil all sorts of +hardy, running, clinging little plants that ask for nothing but sunshine +and air. For of moisture there's but scanty supply; it no sooner rains +than it dries up again. But oh it is beautiful--the colours of it I've +never seen equalled--not even in Italy or Switzerland, where I went with +my first ladies, as I said before. The heather seems to change its shade +a dozen times a day, as well as with every season--according as the sky +is cloudy or bright, or the sun overhead or on his way up or down. I +cannot say it the right way, but I know that many far cleverer than me +would feel the same; you may travel far before you'd see a sweeter piece +of nature than our common, with its wonderful changefulness and yet +always beautiful. + +There's little footpaths in all directions, as well as a few wider +tracks. It takes strangers some time to learn their way, I can tell you. +The footpaths are seldom wide enough for two, so it's a queer sort of +backwards and forwards talking one has to be content with. And we walked +too fast to have breath for much, only Widow Nutfold would now and then +throw back to me, so to say, some odds and ends of explaining about the +children that she thought I'd best know. + +'They're dear young ladies,' she said, 'though Miss Elisabeth is a bit +masterful and Miss Baby--Augusta's her proper name--a bit spoilt. Take +them all together, I think Miss Lally's my favourite, or would be if she +was a little happier, poor child! I can't stand whiney children.' + +I smiled to myself--I knew that the good woman's experience of children +was not great--she had married late and never had one of her own. It +was real goodness that made her take such an interest in the little +Penroses. + +'Poor child,' I said, 'perhaps the cross nurse has made her so,' at +which Sarah gave a sort of grunt. 'What is her real name--the middle +young lady's, I mean?' + +'Oh, bless you, I couldn't take upon me to say it--it's too outlandish. +Miss Lally we call her--' and I could hear that Mrs. Nutfold's breath +was getting short--she was stout in her later years--and that she was a +little cross. 'You must ask for yourself, Martha.' + +So I said no more, though I had wanted to hear about the boy, who had +spoken of their mother as his aunty, and how he had come to be so +delicate and lame. And in a few minutes more we found ourselves at the +door of Clover Cottage; that was Mrs. Nutfold's house, though 'Bramble +Cottage' would have suited it better, standing where it did. + +She took the key out of her pocket. + +'I locked them in,' she said, nodding her head, 'though they didn't know +it.' + +'Gracious,' says I, 'you don't mean as the children are all alone?' + +'To be sure--who'd be with them? I wasn't going to make a chatter all +over the place about that impident woman a-goin' off. And Bella, my +girl, goes home at five. 'Twas after she left there was all the upset.' + +I felt rather startled at hearing this. Suppose they had set themselves +on fire! But old Sarah seemed quite easy in her mind, as she opened the +door and went in, me following. + +'Twas a nice roomy cottage, and so clean. Besides the large kitchen at +one side, with a good back-kitchen behind it, and a tidy bedroom for +Mrs. Nutfold, there was a fair-sized parlour, with casement windows and +deep window-seats--all old-fashioned, but roomy and airy. And upstairs +two nice bed-rooms and a small one. I knew it well, having been there +off and on to help Mrs. Nutfold with her lodgers at the busy season +before I went away to a regular place. So I was a little surprised when +she turned to the kitchen, instead of opening the parlour door. And at +first, what with coming out of the half-light and the red glow still in +my eyes, and what with that there Fusser setting upon me with such a +barking and jumping--all meant for a welcome, I soon found--as never +was, I scarce could see or hear. But I soon got myself together again. + +'Down Fusser, naughty Fuss,' said the children, and, 'he won't bite, +it's only meant for "How do you do?"' said the eldest girl. And then she +turned to me as pretty as might be. 'Is this Martha?' says she, holding +out her little hand. 'I _am_ pleased to see you. It's very good of you, +and oh, Mrs. Nutfold, I'm so glad you've come back. Baby is getting so +sleepy.' + +Poor little soul--so she was. They had set her up on Sarah's old +rocking-chair near the fire as well as they could, to keep her warm +because of her cold, and it was a chilly evening rather. But it was past +her bed-time, and she was fractious with all the upset. I just was +stooping down to look at her when she gave a little cry and held out her +arms to me. 'Baby so tired,' she said, 'want to go to bed.' + +'And so you shall, my love,' I said. 'I'll have off my bonnet in a +moment, and then Martha will put Miss Baby to bed all nice and snug.' + +'Marfa,' said a little voice beside me. It was the middle young lady. 'I +like that name, don't you, Francie?' + +That was the boy--they were all there, poor dears. Old Sarah had thought +they'd be cosier in the kitchen while she was out. I smiled back at +Miss Lally, as they called her. She was standing by Master Francis; both +looking up at me, with a kind of mixture of hope and fear, a sort of +asking, 'Will she be good to us?' in their faces, which touched me very +much. Master Francis was not a pretty child like the others. He was pale +and thin, and his eyes looked too dark for his face. He was small too, +no taller than Miss Bess, and with none of her upright hearty look. But +when he smiled his expression was very sweet. He smiled now, with a sort +of relief and pleasure, and I saw that he gave a little squeeze to Miss +Lally's hand, which he was holding. + +'Yes,' he said, 'it's a nice name. The other nurse was called "Sharp;" +it suited her too,' with a twinkle in his eyes I was pleased to see. +'Lally can't say her "th's" properly,' he went on, as if he was excusing +her a little, 'nor her "r's" sometimes, though Bess and I are trying to +teach her.' + +'It's so babyish at _her_ age, nearly six, not to speak properly,' said +Miss Bess, with her little toss of the head, at which Miss Lally's face +puckered up, and the corners of her mouth went down, and I saw what +Sarah Nutfold meant by saying she was rather a 'whiney' child. I didn't +give her time for more just then. I had got Miss Baby up in my arms, +where she was leaning her sleepy head on my shoulder in her pretty baby +way. I felt quite in my right place again. + +'Come along, Miss Lally, dear,' I said. 'It must be your bed-time too, +and if you'll come upstairs with Miss Baby and me, you'll be able to +show me all the things--the baths, and the sponges, and +everything--won't that be nice?' + +She brightened up in a moment--dear child, it's always been like that +with her. Give her a hint of anything she could do for others, and she'd +forget her own troubles--fancy or real ones--that minute. + +'The hot water's all ready,' said Mrs. Nutfold. 'I kep' the fire up, so +as you shouldn't have no trouble I could help, Martha, my dear.' + +And then the three of us went upstairs to the big room at the back, +where I was to sleep with Miss Baby in her cot, and which we called the +night nursery. Miss Lally was as bright as a child could be, and that +handy and helpful. But more than once I heard a sigh come from the very +depths of her little heart, it seemed. + +'Sharp never lettened me help wif Baby going to bed, this nice way,' she +said, and sighed again. + +'Never mind about Sharp, my dear,' I said. 'She had her ways, and Martha +has hers. What are you sighing about?' + +'I'm so fwightened her'll come back and you go, Marfa,' she said, +nestling up to me. Baby was safe in bed by now, prayers said and all. +'And--I'm sleepy, but I don't like going to bed till Queen comes.' + +'Who may she be, my dear?' I asked, and then I remembered their talking +that day in the street. 'Oh, it's Miss Bess, you mean.' + +'Yes--it's in the English hist_ory_,' said the child, making a great +effort over the 'r.' 'There was a queen they called "Good Queen Bess," +so I made that my name for Bess. But mamma laughed one day and said that +queen wasn't "good." I was so sorry. So I just call Bess "Queen" for +short. And I say "good" to myself, for my Bess _is_ good; only I wish +she wouldn't be vexed when I don't speak words right,' and again the +little creature sighed as if all the burdens of this weary world were on +her shoulders. + +'It's that Miss Bess wants you to speak as cleverly as she does, I +suppose. It'll come in time, no fear. When I was a little girl I +couldn't say the letter "l," try as I might. I used to leave it out +altogether--I remember one day telling mother I had seen such a sweet +"ittie 'amb"--I meant "little lamb."' + +'Oh, how funny,' said Miss Lally laughing. She was always ready to +laugh. 'It's a good thing I can say "l's," isn't it? My name wouldn't +be--nothing--would it?--without the "l's."' + +'But it's only a short, isn't it, Missy?' I said. + +'Yes, my _weal_ name is "Lalage." Do you fink it's a pretty name?' she +said. She was getting sleepy, and it was too much trouble to worry about +her speaking. + +'Yes, indeed, I think it's a sweet name. So soft and gentle like,' I +said, which pleased her, I could see. + +'Papa says so too--but mamma doesn't like it so much. It was Francie's +mamma's name, but she's dead. And poor Francie's papa's dead too. He was +papa's brother,' said Miss Lally, in her old-fashioned way. There was a +funny mixture of old-fashionedness and simple, almost baby ways about +all those children. I've never known any quite like them. No doubt it +came in part from their being brought up so much by themselves, and +having no other companions than each other. But from the first I always +felt they were dear children, and more than common interesting. + +A few days passed--very quiet and peaceful, and yet full of life too +they seemed to me. I felt more like myself again, as folks say, than +since my great trouble. It _was_ sweet to have real little ones to see +to again--if Miss Baby had only known it, that first evening's bathing +her and tucking her up in bed brought tears of pleasure to my eyes. + +'Come now,' I said, to myself, 'this'll never do. You mustn't let +yourself go for to get so fond of these young ladies and gentleman that +you're only with for a day or two at most,' but I knew all the same I +couldn't help it, and I settled in my own mind that as soon as I could I +would look out for a place again. I wasn't afraid of what some would +count a hardish place--indeed, I rather liked it. I've always been that +fond of children that whatever I have to do for them comes right--what +does try my temper is to see things half done, or left undone by silly +upsetting girls who haven't a grain of the real nurse's spirit in them. + +My lady wrote at once on hearing from Mrs. Nutfold. She was very angry +indeed about Sharp's behaviour, and at first was by way of coming down +immediately to see to things. But by the next day, when she had got a +second letter saying how old Sarah had fetched me, and that I was +willing to stay for the time, she wrote again, putting off for a few +days, and glad to do so, seeing how cleverly her good Mrs. Nutfold had +managed. That was how she put it--my lady always had a gracious way with +her, I will say--and I was to be thanked for my obligingness; she was +sure her little dears would be happy with any one so well thought of by +the dame. They were very busy indeed just then, she and Sir Hulbert, she +said, and very gay. But when I came to know her better I did her +justice, and saw she was not the butterfly I was inclined to think her. +She was just frantic to get her husband forward, so to speak, and far +more ambitious for him than caring about anything for herself. He had +had a trying and disappointing life of it in some ways, had Sir Hulbert, +and it had not soured him. He was a right-down high-minded gentleman, +though not so clever as my lady, perhaps. And she adored him. They +adored each other--seldom have I heard of a happier couple: only on one +point was there ever disunion between them, as I shall explain, all in +good time. + +A week therefore--fully a week--had gone by before my little ladies' +mother came to see them. And when she did come it was at short notice +enough--a letter by the post--and Mayne, the postman, never passed our +way much before ten in the morning. So the dame told as how she'd be +down by the first train, and get to Clover Cottage by eleven, or soon +after. We were just setting off on our morning walk when Sarah came +calling after us to tell. She was for us not going, and stopping in till +her ladyship arrived; but when I put it to her that the children would +get so excited, hanging about and nothing to do, she gave in. + +'I'll bring them back before eleven,' I said. 'They'll be looking fresh +and rosy, and with us out of the way you and the girl can get the rooms +all tidied up as you'd like for my lady to find them.' + +And Sarah allowed it was a good thought. + +'You've a head on your shoulders, my girl,' was how she put it. + +So off we set--our usual way, over the common to the firwoods. There's +many a pretty walk about Brayling, and a great variety; but none took +the young ladies' and Master Francie's fancy like the firwoods. They had +never seen anything of the kind before, their home being by the +seashore was maybe the reason--or one reason. For I feel much the same +myself about loving firwoods, though, so to say, I was born and bred +among them. There's a charm one can't quite explain about them--the +sameness and the stillness and the great tops so high up, and yet the +bareness and openness down below, though always in the shade. And the +scent, and the feel of the crisp crunching soil one treads on, soil made +of the millions of the fir needles, with here and there the cones as +they have fallen. + +'It's like fairy stories,' Miss Lally used to say, with her funny little +sigh. + +But we couldn't linger long in the woods that morning, though a +beautiful morning it was. Miss Bess and Miss Baby were in the greatest +delight about 'mamma' coming, and always asking me if I didn't think it +must be eleven o'clock. Miss Lally was pleased too, in her quiet way, +only I noticed that she was a good deal taken up with Master Francie, +who seemed to have something on his mind, and at last they both called +to Miss Bess, and said something to her which I didn't hear, evidently +asking her opinion. + +'Nonsense,' said Miss Bess, in her quick decided way; 'I have no +patience with you being so silly. As if mamma would be so unjust.' + +'But,' said Master Francis hesitatingly, 'you know, Bess--sometimes----' + +'Yes,' put in Miss Lally, 'she might think it had been partly Francie's +fault.' + +'Nonsense,' said Miss Bess again; 'mamma knows well enough that Sharp +was horrid. I am sure Francie has been as good as good for ever so long, +and old Mrs. Nutfold will tell mamma so, even if possibly she did not +understand.' + +Their faces grew a little lighter after this, and by the time we had got +home and I had tidied them all up, I really felt that my lady would be +difficult to please if she didn't think all four looking as bright and +well as she could wish. + +I kept myself out of the way when I heard the carriage driving up, +though the children would have dragged me forward. But I was a complete +stranger to Lady Penrose, and things having happened as they had, I felt +that she might like to be alone with the children, at first, and that no +doubt Sarah Nutfold would be eager to have a talk with her. I sat down +to my sewing quietly--there was plenty of mending on hand, Sharp's +service having been but eye-service in every way--and I won't deny but +that my heart was a little heavy thinking how soon, how very soon, most +likely, I should have to leave these children, whom already, in these +few days, I had grown to love so dearly. + +I was not left very long to my meditations, however; before an hour had +passed there came a clear voice up the old staircase, 'Martha, Martha, +come quick, mamma wants you,' and hastening out I met Miss Bess at the +door. She turned and ran down again, I following her more slowly. + +How well I remember the group I saw as I opened the parlour door! It was +like a picture. Lady Penrose herself was more than pretty--beautiful, I +have heard her called, and I think it was no exaggeration. She was +sitting in the dame's old-fashioned armchair, in the window of the +little room; the bright summer sunshine streaming in behind her and +lighting up her fair hair--hair for all the world like Miss Lally's, +though perhaps a thought darker. Miss Baby was on her knee and Miss Bess +on a stool at her feet, holding one of her hands. Miss Lally and Master +Francie were a little bit apart, close together as usual. + +'Come in,' said my lady. 'Come in, Martha,' as I hesitated a little in +the doorway. 'I am very pleased to see you and to thank you for all your +kindness to these little people.' + +She half rose from her chair as I drew near, and shook hands with me in +the pretty gracious way she had. + +'I am sure it has been a pleasure to me, my lady,' I said. 'I've been +used to children for so long that I was feeling quite lost at home doing +nothing.' + +'And you are very fond of children, truly fond of them,' my lady went +on, glancing up at me with a quick observant look, that somehow reminded +me of Miss Bess; 'so at least Mrs. Nutfold tells me, and I think I +should have known it for myself even if she had not said so. I have to +go back to town this afternoon--supposing you all run out into the +garden for a few minutes, children; I want to talk to Martha a little, +and it will soon be your dinner time.' + +She got up as she spoke, putting Miss Baby down gently; the child began +grumbling a little--but, 'No, no, Baby, you must do as I tell you,' +checked her in a moment. + +'Take her out with you, Bess,' she added. I could see that my lady was +not one to be trifled with. + +When they had all left the room she turned to me again. 'Sit down, +Martha, for a minute or two. One can always talk so much more +comfortably sitting,' she said pleasantly. 'And I have no doubt the +children have given you plenty of exercise lately, though you don't look +delicate,' she added, with again the little look of inquiry. + +'Thank you, my lady; no, I am not delicate; as a rule I am strong and +well, though this last year has brought me troubles and upsets, and I +haven't felt quite myself.' + +'Naturally,' she said. 'Mrs. Nutfold has told me about you. I was +talking to her just now when I first arrived.' Truly my lady was not one +to let the grass grow under the feet. 'She says you will be looking for +a situation again before long. Is there any chance of your being able to +take one at once, that is to say if mine seems likely to suit you.' + +She spoke so quick and it was so unexpected that I felt for a moment +half stupid and dazed-like. + +'Are you sure, my lady, that I should suit you?' I managed to say at +last. 'I have only been in one place in my life, and you might want more +experience.' + +'You were with Mrs. Wyngate, in ----shire, I believe? I know her sister +and can easily hear any particulars I want, but I feel sure you would +suit me.' + +She went on to give me a good many particulars, all in the same clear +decided way. 'The Wyngates are very rich,' she said, as she ended. 'You +must have seen a great deal of luxury there. Now we are not rich--not at +all rich--though we have a large country place that has belonged to the +family for many hundreds of years; but we are obliged to live plainly +and the place is rather lonely. I don't want you to decide all at once. +Think it all over, and consult your parents, and let me have your answer +when I come down again.' + +'That will be the difficulty,' I replied; 'my parents wanted me to stay +on some time with them. There is nothing about the work or the wages I +should object to, and though Mrs. Wyngate was very kind, I have never +cared for much luxury in the nursery--indeed, I should have liked +plainer ways; and I love the country, and as for the young ladies and +gentleman, my lady, if it isn't taking a liberty to say so, I love them +dearly already. But it is father and mother----' + +'Well, well,' said my lady, 'we must see. The children are very happy +with you, and I hope it may be arranged, but of course you must consult +your parents.' + +She went back to London that same afternoon, and that very evening, when +they were all in bed, I slipped on my bonnet and ran home to talk it +over with father and mother. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TRELUAN + + +There were fors and againsts, as there are with most things in this +world. Father was sorry for me to leave so soon and go so far, and he +scarce thought the wages what I might now look for. Mother felt with him +about the parting, but mother was a far-seeing woman. She thought the +change would be the best thing for me after my trouble, and she thought +a deal of my being with real gentry. Not but that Mrs. Wyngate's family +was all one could think highly of, but Mr. Wyngate's great fortune had +been made in trade, and there was a little more talk and thought of +riches and display among them than quite suited mother's ideas, and she +had sometimes feared it spoiling me. + +'The wages I wouldn't put first,' she said. 'A good home and simple ways +among real gentlefolk--that's what I'd choose for thee, my girl. And +the children are good children and not silly spoilt things, and +straightforward and well-bred, I take it?' + +'All that and more,' I answered. 'If anything, they've been a bit too +strict brought up, I'd say. If I go to them I shall try to make Miss +Lally brighten up--not that she's a dull child, but she has the look of +taking things to heart more than one likes to see at her age. And poor +Master Francis--I'm sure he'd be none the worse of a little petting--so +delicate as he is and his lameness.' + +'You'll find your work to do, if you go--no fear,' said mother. 'Maybe +it's a call.' + +I got to think so myself--and when my lady wrote that all she heard from +Mrs. Wyngate was most satisfactory, I made up my mind to accept her +offer, and told her so when she came down again for a few hours the end +of the week. + +We stayed but a fortnight longer at Brayling--and a busy fortnight it +was. I had my own things to see to a little, and would fain have +finished the set of shirts I had begun for father. The days seemed to +fly. I scarce could believe it was not a dream when I found myself with +all the family in a second-class railway carriage, starting from +Paddington on our long journey. + +It was a long journey, especially as, to save expense, we had come up +from Brayling that same morning. We were not to reach the little town +where we left the railway till nearly midnight, to sleep there, I was +glad for the poor children's sake to hear, and start again the next +morning on a nineteen miles' journey by coach. + +'And then,' said Miss Lally, with one of her deep sighs, 'we shall be at +home.' + +I thought there was some content in her sigh this time. + +'Shall you be glad, dearie, to be at home again?' I said. + +'I fink so,' she answered. 'And oh, I am glad you've comed wif us, +'stead of Sharp. And Francie's almost more gladder still, aren't you, +dear old Francie?' + +'I should just think I was,' said the boy. + +'Sharp,'--and the little girl lowered her voice and glanced round; we +were, so to speak, alone at one end of the carriage,--Miss Lally, her +cousin and I, for Miss Baby was already asleep in my arms and Miss Bess +talking, like a grown-up young lady, at the other end, with her papa +and mamma--'Sharp,' said Miss Lally, 'really _hated_ poor Francie, +because she thought he told mamma about her tempers. And she made mamma +think he was naughty when he wasn't. Francie and I were frightened when +Sharp went away that mamma would think it was his fault. But she didn't. +Queen spoke to her, and Mrs. Dame' (that was her name for old Sarah) +'did too. And you didn't get scolded, did you, Francie?' + +'No,' said Master Francie quietly, 'I didn't.' + +He looked as if he were going to say more, but just then Miss Bess, who +had had enough for the time, of being grown up--and indeed she was but a +complete child at heart--got up from her seat and came to our end of the +carriage. Sir Hulbert was reading his newspaper, and my lady was making +notes in a little memorandum book. + +'What are you talking about?' said the eldest little sister, sitting +down beside me. 'You all look very comfortable, Baby especially.' + +'We are talking about Sharp going away,' replied Miss Lally, 'and +Francie thinking he'd be scolded for it.' + +'Oh! do leave off about that and talk of something nicer. Franz is +really silly. If you'd only speak right out to mamma,' she went on, +'things would be ever so much better.' + +The boy shook his head rather sadly. + +'Now you know,' said Miss Bess, 'they would be. Mamma is never unjust.' + +She was speaking in her clear decided way, and feeling a little afraid +lest their voices should reach to the other end--I wouldn't have liked +my lady to think I encouraged the children in talking her over--I tried +to change the conversation. + +'Won't you tell me a little about your home?' I said. 'You know it'll +all be quite new to me; I've only seen the sea once or twice in my life, +and never lived by it.' + +'Treluan isn't quite close to the sea,' said Master Francis, evidently +taking up my feeling. 'We can see it from some of the top rooms, and +from one end of the west terrace at high tides, and we can hear it too +when it's stormy. But it's really two miles to the coast.' + +'There are such dear little bays, lots of them,' said Miss Bess. 'We can +play Robinson Crusoe and smugglers and all sorts of things, for the bays +are quite separated from each other by the rocks.' + +'There's caves in some,' said Miss Lally, 'rather f'ightening caves, +they're so dark;' but her eyes sparkled as if she were quite able to +enjoy some adventures. + +'We shall be at no loss for nice walks, I see; but how do you amuse +yourselves on wet days?' + +'Oh! we've always plenty to do,' said Miss Bess. 'Miss Kirstin comes +from the Vicarage every morning for our lessons, and twice a week papa +teaches Franz and me Latin in the afternoon, and the house is very big, +you know. When we can't go out, we may race about in the attics over the +nurseries. There's a stair goes up to the tower, just by the nursery +door, and you pass the attics on the way. They're called the tower +attics, because there are lots more over the other end of the house. +Francie's room is in the tower.' + +It was easy to see by this talk that Treluan was a large and important +place. + +'I suppose the house is very, very old?' I said. + +'Oh yes! thousands--I mean hundreds--of years old. Centuries mean +hundreds, don't they, Franz?' said she, turning to her cousin. + +'Yes, dear,' he answered gently, though I could see he was inclined to +smile a little. 'If you know English history,' he went on to me, 'I +could tell you exactly how old, Treluan is. The first bit of it was +built in the reign of King Henry the Third, though it's been changed +ever so often since then. About a hundred years ago the Penroses were +very rich, very rich indeed. But when one of them died--our great, great +grand-uncle, I think it was--and his nephew took possession, it was +found the old man had sold a lot of the land secretly--it wasn't to be +told till his death--and no one has ever been able to find out what he +did with the money. It was the best of the land too.' + +'And they were so surprised,' said Miss Bess, 'for he'd been a very +saving old man, and they thought there'd be lots of money over, any way. +Wasn't it too bad of him--horrid old thing?' + +'Queen,' said Miss Lally gravely. 'You know we fixed never to call him +that, 'cos he's dead. He was a--oh, what's that word?--something like +those things in the hall at home--helmet--was it that? No--do tell me, +Queen.' + +'You're muddling it up with crusaders, you silly little thing,' said +Miss Bess. 'How could he have been a crusader only a hundred years ago?' + +'No, no, it isn't that--I said it was _like_ it,' said Miss Lally, +ready to cry. 'What's the other word for helmet?' + +'I know,' said Master Francis, '_vizor_--and----' + +'Yes, yes--and the old man was a _miser_, that's it,' said the child. +'Papa said so, and he said it's like a' illness, once people get it they +can't leave off.' + +Miss Bess and Master Francis could not help laughing at the funny way +the child said it, nor could I myself, for that matter. And then they +went on to tell me more of the strange old story--how their great +grandfather and their grandfather after him had always gone on hoping +the missing money would sooner or later turn up, though it never did, +till--putting what the children told me together with my lady's own +words--it became clear that poor Sir Hulbert had come into a sadly +impoverished state of things. + +'Perhaps the late baronet and his father were not of the "saving" sort,' +I said to myself, and from what I came to hear afterwards, I fancy I was +about right. + +After a while my lady came to our end of the carriage. She was afraid, +she said, I'd find Miss Baby too heavy--wouldn't I lay her comfortably +on the seat, there was plenty of room?--my lady was always thoughtful +for others--and then when we had got the child settled, she sat down +and joined in our talk a little. + +'We've been telling Martha about Treluan and about the old uncle that +did something with the money,' said Miss Bess. + +My lady did not seem to mind. + +'It is a queer story, isn't it?' she said. 'Worse than queer, +indeed----' and she sighed. 'Though even with it, things would not be as +they are, if other people had not added their part to them.' + +She glanced round in a half impatient way, and somehow her glance fell +on Master Francis, and I almost started as I caught sight of the +expression that had come over her face--it was a look of real dislike. + +'Sit up, Francis--do, for goodness' sake,' she said sharply; 'you make +yourself into a regular humpback.' + +The boy's pale, almost sallow face reddened all over. He had been +listening with interest to the talking, and taking his part in it. Now +he straightened himself nervously, murmuring something that sounded +like, 'I beg your pardon, Aunt Helen,' and sat gazing out of the window +beside him as if lost in his own thoughts. I busied myself with pulling +the rugs better over Miss Baby, so that my lady should not see my face +just then. But I think she felt sorry for her sharp tone, for when she +spoke again it was even more pleasantly than usual. + +'Have you told nurse other things about Treluan, children?' she said. +'It is really a dear old place,' she went on to me; 'it might be made +_quite_ delightful if Sir Hulbert could spend a little more upon it. I +had set my heart on new furnishing your room this year, Bess darling, +but I'm afraid it will have to wait.' + +'Never mind, dear,' said Miss Bess comfortingly, in her old-fashioned +way, 'there's no hurry. If I could have fresh covers to the chairs, the +furniture itself--I mean the _wood_ part--is quite good.' + +'I did get some nice chintz in London,' said her mamma; 'there was some +selling off rather cheap. But it's the getting things made--everything +down with us is so difficult and expensive,' and my lady sighed. Her +mind seemed full of the one idea, and I began to think she should try to +take a cheerier view of things. + +'If you'll excuse me mentioning it,' I said, 'I have had some experience +in the cutting out of chair-covers and such things. It would be a great +pleasure to me to help to make the young ladies' rooms nice.' + +'That would be very nice indeed,' said my lady; 'I really should like to +do what we can to brighten up the old house. I expect it will look very +gloomy to you, nurse, till you get used to it. I do want Bess's room to +look better. Of course Lally is in the nursery still, and won't need a +room of her own for a long time yet.' + +Miss Lally was sitting beside me, and as her mamma spoke, I heard a very +tiny little sigh. + +'Never mind, Miss Lally dear,' I whispered. 'We'll brighten up the +nurseries too, nicely.' + +These little scraps of talk come back to my mind now, when I think of +that first journey down to Treluan so many years ago. I put them down +such as they are, as they may help better than words of my own to give +an idea of the dear children and all about them, as they then were. + +We reached Treluan the afternoon of the next day. It was a dull day +unfortunately, though the very middle of summer--rainy and gray. Of +course every one knows that there's much weather of that kind in the +west country, but no doubt it added to the impression of gloom with +which the first sight of the old house struck me, I must confess. +Gloom, perhaps, is hardly the word to use; it was more a feeling of +desertedness, almost of decayed grandeur, quite unlike anything I had +ever seen before. For in my former place everything had been bright and +new, fresh and perfect of its kind. Afterwards, when I came to see into +things better, I found there was no neglect or mismanagement; everything +that _could_ be done was done by Sir Hulbert outside, and my lady in her +own department--uphill and trying work though it must often have been +for them. + +But that first evening, when I looked round the great lofty hall into +which my lady had led the way, dusky and dim already with the rain +pattering against the high arched windows and a chilly feeling in the +air, the half dozen servants or so, who had come out to meet +us--evidently the whole establishment--standing round, I must own that +in spite of the children's eager excitement and delight at finding +themselves at home again, my heart went down. I did feel so +very far away from home and father and mother, and everything +I had ever known. The first thing to cheer me was when the old +housekeeper--cook-housekeeper she really was--Mrs. Brent, came forward +after speaking to my lady, and shook me kindly by the hand. + +'Welcome to Treluan, Nurse Heatherdale,' she said. And here I should +explain that as there was already a Martha in the house, my lady had +expressed her wish that I should be called 'nurse,' or 'Heatherdale,' +from which came my name of 'Heather,' that I have always been called by. +'Welcome to Treluan, and don't go for to think that it's always as dull +as you see it just now, as like as not to-morrow will be bright and +sunny.' + +She was a homely-looking body with a very kind face, not Cornish bred I +found afterwards, though she had lived there many years. Something about +her made me think of mother, and I felt the tears rise to my eyes, +though no one saw. + +'Shall I show nurse the way upstairs, my lady?' she said. For Mrs. Brent +was like her looks, simple and friendly like. She had never known +Treluan in its grand days of course, though she had known it when things +were a good deal easier than at present; and that evening, when the +children were asleep, she came up to sit with me a bit, and, though with +perfect respect to her master and mistress and no love of gossip in her +talk (for of that she was quite free), she explained to me a few things +which already had puzzled me a little. No praise was too high for Sir +Hulbert with her, and my lady was a really good, high-minded woman. 'But +she takes her troubles too heavy,' said Mrs. Brent; 'she's like to break +her heart at having no son of her own, and that and other things make +her not show her best self to poor little Master Francis, though, +considering he's been here since he was four, 'tis a wonder he doesn't +seem to her like a child of her own. And Sir Hulbert feels it; it's a +real grief to him, for he loved Master Francis's father dearly through +all the troubles he caused them, and anyway 'tis not fair to visit the +father's sin on the innocent child.' + +Then she told me how Master Francis's father had made things worse by +his extravagance, half-breaking his young wife's heart and leaving debts +behind him, when he was killed by an accident; and that Sir Hulbert, for +the honour of the family, had taken these debts upon himself. + +'His wife was a pretty young creature, half a foreigner. Sir Hulbert had +her brought here with the boy, and here she died, not long before Miss +Lalage was born, and so, failing a son, Master Francis is the heir, and +a sweet, good young gentleman he is, though nothing as to looks. 'Tis a +pity he's so shy and timid in his ways; it gives my lady the idea he's +not straightforward, though that I'm very sure he is, and most +affectionate at heart, though he hasn't the knack of showing it.' + +'Except to Miss Lally, I should say,' I put in; 'how those two do cling +together, to be sure.' + +'He loves them all dearly, my lady too, though he's frightened of her. +Miss Lally's the one he's most at home with, because she's so little, +and none of Miss Bess's masterful ways about her. Poor dear Miss Lally, +many's the trouble she's got into for Master Francis's sake.' + +All this was very interesting to me, and helped to clear my mind in some +ways from the first, which was, I take it, a good thing. Mrs. Brent said +little about Sharp, but I could see she had not approved of her; and she +was so kind as to add some words about myself, and feeling sure I would +make the children happy, especially the two whom it was easy to see were +her own favourites, Miss Lally and her cousin. This made me feel the +more earnest to do my very best in every way for the young creatures +under my care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A NURSERY TEA + + +Writing down that talk with good Mrs. Brent made me put aside the +account of our arrival at Treluan, clearly though I remember it. Even to +this day I never go up the great staircase--of course it is not often +that I pass that way--without recalling the feelings with which I +stepped up it for the first time--Mrs. Brent in front, carrying a small +hand-lamp, the passages being so dark, though it was still early in the +evening; the children running on before me, except Miss Baby, who was +rather sleepy and very cross, poor dear, so that half way up I had to +lift her in my arms. All up the dark wainscoted walls, dead and gone +Penroses looked down upon us, in every sort of ancient costume. They +used to give me a half eerie feeling till I got to know them better and +to take a certain pride in them, feeling myself, as I came to do, +almost like one of the family, though in a humble way. + +At the top of the great staircase we passed along the gallery, which +runs right across one side of the hall below; then through a door on the +right and down a long passage ending in a small landing, from which a +back staircase ran down again to the ground floor. The nurseries in +those days were the two large rooms beyond, now turned into a +billiard-room, my present lady thinking them scarcely warm enough for +the winter. It is handy too to have the billiard-room near the +tower, where the smoking-room now is, and the spare rooms for +gentlemen-visitors. A door close beside the nurseries opened on to the +tower stair; some little way up this stair another door leads into the +two or three big attics over the nurseries, which the children used as +playrooms in the wet weather. Master Francis's room was the lowest door +on the tower staircase, half way as it were, as to level, between the +nurseries and the attics. The ground-floor rooms of the tower were +entered from below, as the separate staircase only began from the +nursery floor. All these particulars, of course, I learnt by degrees, +having but a very general idea of things that first night; but plans of +houses and buildings have always had an interest for me, and as a girl +I think I had a quick eye for sizes and proportions. I do remember the +first time I saw the ground-floor room of the tower, under Master +Francis's, so to say, wondering to myself how it came to be so low in +the ceiling, seeing that the floor of his room was several feet higher +than that of the nurseries. No doubt others would have been struck by +this also, had the lowest room in the tower been one in regular use, but +as long as any one could remember it had only been a sort of +lumber-room. It was only by accident that I went into it one day, months +after I had come to Treluan. + +The nurseries were nice airy rooms; the schoolroom was underneath the +day nursery, down on the ground floor; and Miss Bess's room was off the +little landing I spoke of before you came to the nursery passage. But +all seemed dim and dusky in the half light, that first evening. It was +long before the days of gas, of course, except in towns, though that, I +am told, is now thought nothing of compared to this new electric light, +which Sir Bevil is thinking of establishing here, to be made on the +premises in some wonderful way. And even lamps at that time were very +different from what they are now, when every time my lady goes up to +town she brings back some beautiful new invention for turning night into +day. + +I was glad, I remember, June though it was, to see a bright fire in the +nursery grate--Mrs. Brent was always thoughtful--and the tea laid out +nice and tidy on the table. Miss Baby brightened up at sight of it, and +the others gathered round to see what good things the housekeeper had +provided for them by way of welcome home. + +'I hope there's some clotted cream,' said Miss Bess; 'yes, that's right! +Nurse has never seen it before, I'm sure. Fancy, Mrs. Brent, mamma says +the silly people in London call it Devonshire cream, and I'm sure it's +far more Cornish. And honey and some of your own little scones and +saffron cakes, that is nice! Mayn't we have tea immediately?' + +'I must wash my hands,' said Master Francis, 'they did get so black in +the carriage.' + +'And mine too,' said Miss Lally. 'Oh, nurse, mayn't Francis wash his for +once in the night nursery, to be quick?' + +'Why didn't you both keep your gloves on, you dirty children?' said Miss +Bess in her masterful way. 'My hands are as clean as clean, and of +course Francis mustn't begin muddling in the nursery. You'd never have +asked Sharp that, Lally. It's just the sort of thing mamma doesn't like. +I shall take my things off in my own room at once.' And she marched to +the door as she spoke, stopping for a moment on the way to say to +me--'Heatherdale, you'll come into my room, won't you, as soon as ever +you can, to talk about the new chair-covers?' + +'I won't forget about them, Miss Bess,' I said quietly; 'but for a few +days I am sure to be busy, unpacking and looking over the things that +were left here.' + +The child said nothing more, but I saw by the lift of her head that she +was not altogether pleased. + +'Now Master Francis,' I went on, 'perhaps you had better run off to your +own room to wash your hands. It's always best to keep to regular ways.' + +The boy obeyed at once. I had, to tell the truth, been on the point of +letting him do as Miss Lally had wanted, but Miss Bess's speech had +given me a hint, though I was not sorry for her not to have seen it. I +should be showing Master Francis no true kindness to begin by any look +of spoiling him, and I saw by a little smile on Mrs. Brent's face that +she thought me wise, even though it was not till later in the evening +that I had the long talk with her that I have already mentioned. + +Our tea was bright and cheery, Miss Baby's spirits returned, and she +kept us all laughing by her funny little speeches. My lady came in when +we had nearly finished, just to see how all the children were--perhaps +too, for she was full of kind thoughtfulness, to make me feel myself +more at home. She sat down in the chair by the fire, with a little sigh, +and I was sorry to see the anxious, harassed look on her beautiful face. + +'You all look very comfortable,' she said; 'please give me a cup of tea, +nurse. I found such a lot of things to do immediately, that I've not had +time to think of tea yet, and poor Sir Hulbert is off in the rain to see +about some broken fences. Oh dear! what a contrary world it seems,' she +added half laughingly. + +'How did the fences get broken, mamma?' said Miss Bess; 'and why didn't +Garth get them mended at once without waiting to tease papa the moment +he got home?' + +'Some cattle got wild and broke them, and if they are not put right at +once, more damage may be done. But all these repairs are expensive. It +only happened two days ago; poor Garth was obliged to tell papa before +doing it. Dear me,' she said again, 'it really does seem sometimes as if +money would put everything in life right.' + +'Oh! my lady,' I exclaimed hastily, and then I got red with shame at my +forwardness and stopped short. I felt very sorry for her; the one +thought seemed never out of her mind, and bid fair to poison her happy +home. I felt too that it was scarcely the sort of talk for the children +to hear, Miss Bess being already in some ways so old for her years, and +the two others scarce as light-hearted as they should have been. + +My lady smiled at me. + +'Say on, Heatherdale; I'd like to hear what you think about it.' + +I felt my face getting still redder, but I had brought it on myself. + +'It was only, my lady,' I began, 'that it seems to me that there are so +many troubles worse than want of money. There's my last lady's sister, +for instance, Mrs. Vernon,--everything in the world has she that money +can give, but she's lost all her babies, one after the other, and she's +just heart-broken. Then there's young Lady Mildred Parry, whose parents +own the finest place near my home, and she's their only child; but she +had a fall from her horse two years ago and her back is injured for +life; she often drives past our cottage, lying all stretched-out-like, +in a carriage made on purpose.' + +My lady was silent. Suddenly, to my surprise, Master Francis looked up +quickly. + +'I don't think I'd mind that so very much,' he said, 'not if my back +didn't hurt badly. I think it would be better than walking with your leg +always aching, and I daresay everybody loves that girl dreadfully.' + +He stopped as suddenly as he had begun, giving a quick frightened glance +round, and growing not red but still paler than usual, as was his way. + +'Poor little Francie,' said Miss Lally, stretching her little hand out +to him and looking half ready to cry. + +'Don't be silly, Lally; if Francis's leg hurts him he has only to say +so, and it will be attended to as it has always been. If everybody loves +that young Lady Mildred, no doubt it is because she is sweet and loving +_to_ everybody.' + +Then she grew silent again and seemed to be thinking. + +'You are right, nurse,' she said. 'I am very grateful when I see my +dear children all well and happy.' + +'And _good_,' added Miss Bess with her little toss of the head. + +'Well, yes, of course,' said her mother smiling. It was seldom, if ever, +Miss Bess was pulled up for anything she took it into her head to say, +whether called for or not. + +'But,' my lady went on in a lower voice, turning to me, as if she hardly +wished the children to hear, 'want of money isn't my only, nor indeed my +worst trouble.--I must go,' and she got up as she spoke; 'there are +twenty things waiting for me to attend to downstairs. Good-night, +children dear; I'll come up and peep at you in bed if I possibly can, +but I'm not sure if I shall be able. If not, nurse must do instead of me +for to-night,' and she turned towards the door, moving in the quick +graceful way she always did. + +'Franz!' said Miss Bess reprovingly; the poor boy was already getting +off his chair, but he was too late to open the door. I doubt if his aunt +noticed his moving at all. + +'You're always so slow and clumsy,' said his eldest cousin. The words +sounded unkind, but it was greatly that Miss Bess wanted him to please +her mamma, for the child had an excellent heart. + +There was plenty to do after that first evening for all of us. I got +sleepy Miss Baby to bed as soon as might be. The poor dear, she _was_ +sleepy! I remember how, when she knelt down in her little white +nightgown to say her prayers, she could only just get out, 'T'ank God +for b'inging us safe home;' as she had evidently been taught to say +after a journey. + +'Baby thinks that's enough, when she's been ter-a-velling,' explained +Miss Lally. + +Then I set to work to unpack, and it was quite surprising how handy the +two elder girls--and not they only, but Master Francis too--were in +helping me, and explaining where their things were kept and all the +nursery ways. Then I had to be shown Miss Bess's room, and nearly +offended her little ladyship by saying I hadn't time just then to settle +about the new covers. For I was determined to give some attention to +Master Francis also. + +His room was very plain, not to say bare; not that I hold with pampering +boys, but he being delicate, it did seem to me he might have had a couch +or easy-chair to rest his poor leg. He was very eager to make the best +of things, telling me I had no idea what a beautiful view there was +from his windows, of which there were three. + +'I love the tower,' he said. 'I wouldn't change my room here for any +other in the house.' + +And I must say I thought it was very nice of him to put things in that +way, considering too the sharp tone in which I had heard his aunt speak +to him that very evening. + +When I woke the next morning I found that Mrs. Brent's words had come +true, for the sun was pouring in at the window, and when I drew up the +blind and looked out I would scarce have known the place to be the same. +The outlook was bare, to be sure, compared with the well-wooded country +about my home; but the grounds just around the house were carefully +kept, though in a plain way, no bedding-out plants or rare foreign +shrubs, such as I had been used to see at Mr. Wyngate's country place. +But all about Treluan there was the charm which no money will buy--the +charm of age, very difficult to put into words, though I felt it +strongly. + +A little voice just then came across the room. + +'Nurse, dear.' It was Miss Lalage. 'It's a very fine day, isn't it? I +have been watching the sun getting up ever so long. When I first +wokened, it was nearly quite dark.' + +I looked at the child. She was sitting up in her cot; her face looked +tired, and her large gray eyes had dark lines beneath them, as if she +had not slept well. Miss Baby was still slumbering away in happy +content--she was a child to sleep, to be sure! A round of the clock was +nothing for her. + +'My dear Miss Lally,' I said, 'you have never been awake since dawn, +surely. Is your head aching, or is something the matter?' + +She gave a little sigh. + +'No, fank you, it's nothing but finking, I mean th-inking. Oh! I wish I +could speak quite right, Bess says it's so babyish.' + +'Thinking! and what have you been thinking about, dearie? You should +have none but happy thoughts. Isn't it nice to be at home again? and +this beautiful summer weather! We can go such nice walks. You've got to +show me all the pretty places about.' + +'Yes,' said Miss Lally. 'I'd like that, but we'll be having lessons next +week,--not all day long, we can go beautiful walks in the afternoons.' + +'Was it about lessons you were troubling your little head?' + +'No,' she said, though not very heartily. 'I don't like them much, at +least not those _very_ high up sums--up you know to the _very_ top of +the slate--that won't never come right. But I wasn't finking of them; it +was about poor mamma, having such ter-oubles. Francie and I do fink such +a lot about it. Bess does too, but she's so clever, she's sure she'll do +something when she's big to get a lot of money for papa and mamma. But +I'm not clever, and Francie has got his sore leg; we can't fink of +anything we could do, unless we could find some fairies; but Francie's +sure there aren't any, and he's past ten, so he must know.' + +'You can do a great deal, dear Miss Lally,' I said. 'Don't get it into +your head you can't. Rich or poor, there's nothing helps papas and +mammas so much as their children being good, and loving, and obedient; +and who knows but what Master Francis may be a very clever man some day, +whether his poor leg gets better or not.' + +The little girl seemed pleased. It needed but a kind word or two to +cheer her up at any time. + +'Oh! I am so glad Sharp has gone away and you comed,' she said. + +She was rather silent while I was dressing her, but when she had had +her bath, and I was putting on her shoes and stockings, she began again. + +'Nurse,' she asked, 'do stockings cost a lot of money to buy?' + +'Pretty well,' I said. 'At my home, mother always taught us to knit our +own. I could show you a pair I knitted before I was much bigger than +you.' + +How the child's face did light up! + +'I've seen a little girl knitting who's not much bigger than me. +Couldn't you show me how to make some stockings, and then mamma wouldn't +have to buy so many?' + +'Certainly I could; I have plenty of needles with me, and I daresay we +could get some wool,' I replied. 'I'll tell you what, Miss Lally; you +might knit some for Master Francis; that would be pleasing him as well +as your mamma. There's a village not far off, I suppose--you can +generally buy wool at a village shop.' + +'There's our village across the park, and there's two shops. I'll ask +Bess; she'll know if we could get wool. Oh! nurse, how pleased I am; I +wonder if we could go to-day. I've got some pennies and a shilling. I do +like to have nice things to think of. I wish Francie would be quick, I +do so want to tell him, or do you think I should keep it a surprise for +him?' + +And she danced about in her eager delight, which at last woke Miss Baby, +who opened her eyes and stared about her, with a sleepy smile of content +on her plump rosy face. She was a picture of a child, and so easy +minded. It is wonderful, to be sure, how children brought up like little +birds in one nest yet differ from each other. I began to feel very +satisfied that I should never regret having come to Treluan. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SHOP IN THE VILLAGE + + +Before many days had passed I felt quite settled down. The weather was +most lovely for some time just then, and this I think always helps to +make one feel more at home in a strange place. That first day, and for +two or three following, we could not go long walks, as I had really so +much to see to indoors. Miss Bess had to make up her mind to wait as +patiently as she could, till other things were attended to, for the +doing up of her room, and, what I was more sorry for, poor Miss Lally +had also to wait about beginning the knitting she had so set her heart +on. + +I think it was the fourth day after our arrival that I began at last to +feel pretty clear. All the nursery drawers and cupboards tidied up and +neatly arranged; the children's clothes looked over and planned about +for the rest of the summer. My lady went over them with me, and I could +see that it was a comfort to her to feel assured that I understood the +need for economy, and prided myself, thanks to my good old mother, on +neat patches and darns quite as much as on skill on making new things. +My poor lady--it went to my heart to see how often she would have liked +to get fresh and pretty frocks and hats for the young ladies, for she +had good taste and great love of order. But after all there is often a +good deal of pleasure in contriving and making the best of what one has. + +'You must take nurse a good walk to-day, children,' said my lady as she +left the room. 'I shall be busy with your papa, but you might get as far +as the sea, I think, if you took old Jacob and the little cart for Baby +if she gets tired, and for Francis if his leg hurts him. How has it +been, by the by, for the last day or two, Francis?' + +Her tone was rather cold, but still I could see a little flush of +pleasure come over the boy's face. + +'Oh! much better, thank you, auntie,' he said eagerly. 'It's only just +after the day in the railway that it seems to hurt more.' + +'Then try to be bright and cheerful,' she said. 'Remember you are not +the only one in the world that has troubles to bear.' + +The boy didn't answer, but I could see his thin little face grow pale +again, and I just wished that my lady had stopped at her first kindly +inquiry. A deal of mischief is done, it seems to me, by people not +knowing when it is best to stop. + +Jacob, the donkey, was old and no mistake. Larkins's 'Peter' was young +compared to him, and the cart was nothing but a cart such as light +luggage might be carried in. It had no seats, but we took a couple of +footstools with us, which served the purpose, and many a pleasant ramble +we had with the shabby little old cart and poor Jacob. + +'Which way shall we go?' said Miss Bess, as we started down the drive. +'You know, nurse, there's ever so many ways to the sea here. It's all +divided into separate little bays. You can't get from one to the other +except at low tide, and with a lot of scrambling over the rocks, so we +generally fix before we start which bay we'll go to.' + +'Oh! do let's go to Polwithan Bay!' said Miss Lally. + +'It's not nearly so pretty as Trewan,' said Miss Bess, 'and there are +the smugglers' caves at Trewan. We often call it the Smugglers' Bay +because of that. We've got names of our own for the bays as well as the +proper ones.' + +'There's one we call Picnic Bay,' said Master Francis, 'because there +are such beautiful big flat stones for picnic tables. But I think the +Smugglers' Bay is the most curious of all. I'm sure nurse would like to +see it. Why do you want to go to Polwithan, Lally? It is rather a stupid +little bay.' + +'Can we go to the Smugglers' Bay by the village?' asked Miss Lally, and +then I understood her, though I did not know that tightly clutched in +her hot little hand were the shilling and the three or four pennies she +had taken out of her money box on the chance of buying the wool for her +stockings. + +'It would be ever such a round,' said Miss Bess; but then she added +politely--she was very particular about politeness, when she wasn't put +out--'but of course if nurse wants to see the village that wouldn't +matter. We've plenty of time. Would you like to see it, nurse?' + +A glance at Miss Lally's anxious little face decided me. + +'Well, I won't say but what it would interest me to see the village,' I +replied. 'Of course it's just as well and might be handy for me to know +my way about, so as to be able to find the post-office or fetch any +little thing from the shop if it were wanted.' + +This was quite true, though I won't deny but that another reason was +strongest and Miss Lally knew it, for she crept up to me and slid her +little hand into mine gratefully. + +'Very well, then,' said Miss Bess, 'we'll go round by the village. But +remember if you're tired, Lally, you mustn't grumble, for it was you +that first spoke of going that way.' + +'There's the cart if Miss Lally's tired,' I said. 'Three could easily +get into it, and Jacob can't be knocked up if only Miss Baby goes in it +all the way there.' + +'Nurse,' said Miss Lally suddenly--I don't think she had heard what we +were saying--'there's two shops in the village.' + +'Are there, my dear,' I said; 'and is one the post-office? And what do +they sell?' + +'Yes, one is the post-office, but they sell other things 'aside stamps,' +Miss Lally replied. 'They are both _everything_ shops.' + +'But the _not_ the post-office one is much the nicest,' said Master +Francis. 'It's kept by old Prideaux--he's an old sailor and----' Here +the boy looked round, but there was no one in sight. Still he lowered +his voice. 'People do say that after he left off being a proper sailor +he was a smuggler. It runs in the family, Mrs. Brent says,' he went on +in the old-fashioned way I noticed in all the children. 'His father was +a regular smuggler. Brent says she's seen some queer transactions when +she was a girl in the kitchen behind the shop.' + +'I thought Mrs. Brent was a stranger in these parts by her birth and +upbringing,' I said. + +'So she is,' said Master Francis, 'but she came here on a visit when she +was a girl to her uncle at the High Meadows Farm, and that's how she +came first to Treluan. Grandfather was alive then, and papa and Uncle +Hulbert were boys. Even then Prideaux was an old man. Uncle Hulbert says +he knows lots of queer stories--he does tell them sometimes, but not as +if they had happened here, and you have to pretend to think he and his +father had nothing to do with them themselves.' + +'It was he that told us first about the smugglers' caves, wasn't it?' +said Miss Bess. 'Fancy, nurse, some treasures were found in one of the +caves, not so very long ago, hid away in a dark corner far in. There +was lace and some beautiful fine silk stockings and some bottles of +brandy----' + +'And a lot of cigars and tobacco, but they had gone all bad, and some of +the brandy hadn't any taste in it, though some was quite good. But +grandpapa was a dreadfully honest man; he would send all the things up +to London, just as they were found, for he said they belonged to the +Queen.' + +'I wonder if the Queen wored the silk stockings her own self?' said Miss +Lally. + +'If _we_ found some treasures,' said Miss Bess, 'do you think we'd have +to send them to the Queen too? It would be very greedy of her to keep +them, when she has such lots and lots of everything.' + +'That's just because she's queen; she can't help it. It's part of being +a queen, and I daresay she gives away lots too. Besides, you wouldn't +care for brandy or cigars, Bess?' said Master Francis. + +'We could sell them,' answered Miss Bess, 'if they were good.' + +'P'raps the Queen would send us a nice present back,' said Miss Lally. +'Fancy, if she sent us a whole pound, what beautiful things we could +buy.' + +'It would be great fun to find treasures, whatever they were,' said Miss +Bess. 'If we see old Prideaux to-day, I'll ask him if he thinks +possibly there's still some in the caves. Only it wouldn't do to go into +his shop on purpose to ask him--he'd think it funny.' + +'And you'll have to be very careful how you ask him,' said Master +Francis. 'Besides, I'm quite sure if there were any to be found, he'd +have found them before this.' + +'Does he sell wool in his shop, do you think, Miss Bess?' I inquired, +and I felt Miss Lally's hand squeeze mine. 'Wool, or worsted for +knitting stockings, I mean. I want to get some, and that would be a +reason for speaking to him.' + +'I daresay he does; at least his daughter's always knitting, and she +must get wool somewhere. Anyway we can ask,' answered Miss Bess, quite +pleased with the idea. + +'Now, nurse,' said Master Francis suddenly, 'keep your eyes open. When +we turn into the field at the end of this little lane--we've come by a +short-cut to the village, for the cart can go through the field quite +well--you'll have your first good view of the sea. We can see it from +some of the windows at Treluan and from the end of the terrace, but +nothing like as well.' + +I was glad he had prepared me, for we had been interested in our +talking, and I hadn't paid much attention to the way we were going. Now +I did keep my eyes open, and I was well rewarded. The field was a +sloping one--sloping upwards, I mean, as we entered it--and till we got +to the top of the rising ground we saw nothing but the clear sky above +the grass, but then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise. The +coast-line lay before us for a considerable distance at each side. Just +below us were the rocky bays or creeks the children had told me of, the +sand gleaming yellow and white in the sunshine, for the tide was half +way out, though near enough still for us to see the glisten of the foam +and the edge of the little waves, as they rippled in sleepily. And +farther out the deep purple-blue of the ocean, softening into a misty +gray, there, where the sky and the water met or melted into each other. +A little to the right rose the smoke of several houses--lazily, for it +was a very still day. These houses lay nestled in together, on the way +to the shore, and seemed scarcely enough to be called a village; but as +we left the field again to rejoin the road, I saw that these few houses +were only the centre of it, so to speak, as others straggled along +the road in both directions for some way, the church being one of the +buildings the nearest to Treluan house. + +[Illustration: Then there burst upon the view a wonderful surprise.] + +'It is a beautiful view,' said I, after a moment's silence, as we all +stood still at the top of the slope, the children glancing at me, as if +to see what I thought of it. 'I've never seen anything approaching to it +before, and yet it's a bare sort of country--many wouldn't believe it +could be so beautiful with so few trees, but I suppose the sea makes up +for a good deal.' + +'And it's such a lovely day,' said Master Francis. 'I should say the sun +makes up for a good deal. We've lots of days here when it's so gray and +dull that the sea and the sky seem all muddled up together. I'm not so +very fond of the sea myself. People say it's so beautiful in a storm, +and I suppose it is, but I don't care for that kind of beauty, there's +something so furious and wild about it. I don't think raging should be +counted beautiful. Shouldn't we only call good things beautiful?' + +He looked up with a puzzle in his eyes. Master Francis always had +thoughts beyond his age and far beyond me to answer. + +'I can't say, I'm sure,' I replied. 'It would take very clever people +indeed to explain things like that, though there's verses in the Bible +that do seem to bear upon it, especially in the Psalms.' + +'I know there are, but when it tells of Heaven, it says "there shall be +no more sea,"' said Master Francis very gravely. 'And I think I like +that best.' + +'Dear Francie,' said Miss Lally, taking his hand, as she always did when +she saw him looking extra grave, though of course she could not +understand what he had been saying. + +We were out of the field by this time, and Miss Bess caught hold of +Jacob's reins, for up till now the old fellow had been droning along at +his own pace. + +'Come along, Jacob, waken up,' she said, as she tugged at him, 'or we'll +not get to Polwithan Bay to-day, specially if we're going to gossip with +old Prideaux on the way.' + +We passed the church in a moment, and close beside it the Vicarage. + +'That's where Miss Kirstin lives,' said Miss Bess. 'Come along quick, I +don't want her to see us.' + +'Don't you like her, my dear?' I said, a little surprised. + +'Oh yes! we like her very well, but she makes us think of lessons, and +while it is holidays we may as well forget them,' and by the way in +which Master Francis and Miss Lally joined her in hurrying past Mr. +Kirstin's house, I could see they were of the same mind. + +Miss Kirstin, when I came to know her, I found to be a good well-meaning +young lady, but she hadn't the knack of making lessons very interesting. +It wasn't perhaps altogether her fault; in those days books for young +people, both for lessons and amusement, were very different from what +they are now. School-books were certainly very dry and dull, and there +was a sort of feeling that making lessons pleasant or taking to children +would have been weak indulgence. + +The church was a beautiful old building. I am not learned enough to +describe it, and perhaps after all it was more beautiful from age than +from anything remarkable in itself. I came to love it well; it was a +real grief to me and to others besides me when it had to be partly +pulled down a few years ago, and all the wonderful growth of ivy spoilt. +Though I won't say but what our new vicar--the third from Mr. Kirstin +our present one is--is well fitted for his work, both with rich and +poor, and one whom it is impossible not to respect as well as love, +though Mr. Kirstin was a worthy and kind old man in his way. + +A bit farther along the road we passed the post-office, which the +children pointed out to me. The mistress came to the door when she saw +us, and curtsied to the little ladies, with a smile and a word of +'Welcome home again, Miss Penrose!' She took a good look at me out of +the corner of her eye, I could see. For having lived so much in small +country places, I knew how even a fresh servant at the big house will +set all the village talking. + +Miss Lally glanced in at the shop window as we passed. There was indeed, +as she had said, a mixture of 'everything,' from tin pails and +mother-of-pearl buttons to red herrings and tallow-candles. + +'Nurse,' she whispered, '_in case_ we can't get the wool at Prideaux', +we might come back here, but I'm afraid Bess wouldn't like to turn back. +Oh! I do hope'--with one of her little sighs--'they'll have it at the +other shop.' + +And so they had, though when we got there a little difficulty arose. The +two elder children both wanted to come in, having got their heads full +of asking the old man about the smugglers' caves, and thinking it was +for myself I wanted the wool. Never a word said poor Miss Lally, when +her sister told her to stay outside with Miss Baby and the cart; but I +was getting to know the look of her little face too well by this time +not to understand the puckers about her eyes, and the droop at the +corners of her mouth. + +'We may as well all go in,' I said, lifting Miss Baby out of the cart. +'There's no one else in the shop, and I want Miss Lally's opinion about +the wool.' + +'_Lally's!_' said Miss Bess rather scornfully; 'she doesn't know +anything about wool, or knitting stockings, nurse.' + +'Ah! well, but perhaps she's going to know something about it,' I said. +'It's a little secret we've got, Miss Bess; you shall hear about it all +in good time.' + +'Oh, well, if it's a secret,' said Miss Bess good-naturedly--she was a +nice-minded child, as they all were--'Franz and I will keep out of the +way while you and Lally get your wool. We'll talk to old Prideaux.' + +He was in the shop, as well as his daughter, who was knitting away as +the children had described her, and the old wife came hurrying out of +the kitchen, when she heard it was the little gentry from Treluan that +were in the shop. They did make a fuss over the children, to be sure; it +wasn't easy for Miss Lally and me to get our bit of business done. But +Sally Prideaux found us just what we wanted--the same wool that she was +knitting stockings of herself, only she had not much of it in stock, and +might be some little time before she could get more. But I told Miss +Lally there'd be enough for a short pair of socks for her cousin--boys +didn't wear knickerbockers and long stockings in those days--adding that +it was best not to undertake too big a piece of work for the first. + +The wool cost one-and-sixpence. It was touching to see the little +creature counting over the money she had been holding tightly in her +hand all the way, and her look of distress when she found it only came +up to one and fourpence halfpenny. + +'Don't you trouble, my dear,' I said, 'I have some coppers in my +pocket.' + +She thanked me as if I had given her three pounds instead of three +halfpence, saying in a whisper--'I'll pay you back, nursie, when I get +my twopence next Saturday;' and then as happy as a little queen she +clambered down off the high stool, her precious parcel in her hand. + +'Won't Francie be pleased?' she said. 'They must be ready for his +birthday, nurse. And won't mamma be pleased when she finds I can knit +stockings, and that she won't have to buy any more?' + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SMUGGLERS' CAVES + + +The others seemed to have been very well entertained while Miss Lally +and I were busy. Mrs. Prideaux had set Miss Baby on the counter, where +she was admiring her to her heart's content--Miss Baby smiling and +chattering, apparently very well pleased. Miss Bess and Master Francis +were talking eagerly with old Prideaux; they turned to us as we came +near. + +[Illustration: Miss Bess and Master Francis were talking eagerly with +old Prideaux.] + +'Oh, nurse!' said Miss Bess, 'Mr. Prideaux says that he shouldn't wonder +if there were treasures hidden away in the smugglers' caves, though it +wouldn't be safe for us to look for them. He says they'd be so very far +in, where it's quite, quite dark.' + +'And one or two of the caves really go a tremendous way underground. +Didn't you say there's one they've never got to the end of?' asked +Master Francis. + +'So they say,' replied the old man, with his queer Cornish accent. It +did sound strange to me then, their talk--though I've got so used to it +now that I scarce notice it at all. 'But I wouldn't advise you to begin +searching for treasures, Master Francis. If there's any there, you'd +have to dig to get at them. I remember when I was a boy a deal of talk +about the caves, and some of us wasted our time seeking and digging. But +the only one that could have told for sure where to look was gone. He +met his death some distance from here, one terrible stormy winter, and +took his secret with him. I have heard tell as he "walks" in one of the +caves, when the weather's quite beyond the common stormy. But it's not +much use, for at such times folk are fain to stay at home, so there's +not much chance of any one ever meeting him.' + +'Then how has he ever been seen?' asked Miss Bess in her quick way; 'and +who was he, Mr. Prideaux? do tell us.' + +But the old man didn't seem inclined to say much more. Perhaps indeed +Miss Bess was too sharp for him, and he did not know how to answer her +first question. + +'Such things is best not said much about,' he replied mysteriously; 'and +talking of treasures, by all accounts you'd have a better chance of +finding some nearer home.' + +He smiled, as if he could have said more had he chosen to do so. The +children opened their eyes in bewilderment. + +'What do you mean?' exclaimed the two elder ones. Miss Lally's mind was +running too much on her stockings for her to pay much attention. +Prideaux did not seem at all embarrassed. + +'Well, sir, it's no secret hereabouts,' he said, addressing Master +Francis in particular, 'that the old, old Squire, Sir David, the last of +that name--there were several David Penroses before him, but never one +since--it's no secret, as I was saying, that a deal of money or property +of some kind disappeared in his last years, and it stands to reason +that, being as great a miser as was ever heard tell of, he couldn't have +spent it. Why, more than half of the lands changed hands in his time, +and what did he do with what he got for them?' + +'That was our great, great grand-uncle,' said Master Francis to me; 'you +remember I told you about him, but I never thought----' he stopped +short. 'It _is_ very queer,' he went on again, as if speaking to +himself. + +But just then, Miss Baby having had enough of Mrs. Prideaux' pettings, +set up a shout. + +'Nurse, nurse,' she said, 'Baby wants to go back to Jacob. Poor Jacob so +tired waiting. Dood-bye, Mrs. Pideaux,' and she began wriggling to get +off the counter, so that I had to hurry forward to lift her down. + +'We'd best be going on,' I said, 'or we'll be losing the finest part of +the afternoon.' + +I didn't feel quite sure that Prideaux' talk was quite what my lady +would approve of for the children. They had a way of taking things up +more seriously than is common with such young creatures, and certainly +they had got in the way--and I couldn't but feel but what my lady was to +blame for this--of thinking too much of the family troubles, especially +the want of wealth, which seemed to them a greater misfortune than it +need have done. Still, being quite a stranger, and them seeming at +liberty to talk to the people about as they did, I didn't feel that it +would have been my place to begin making new rules or putting a stop to +things, as likely as not quite harmless. I resolved, however, to find +out my lady's wishes in such matters at the first opportunity. + +Another half hour brought us close to the shore; the road was a good +one, being used for carting gravel and sea-weed in large quantities to +the village and round about from the little bay--Treluan Bay, that is to +say--it led directly to. But as we were bound for Polwithan Bay, where +the smugglers' caves were, and had made a round for the sake of coming +through the village, we had to cross several fields and follow a rough +track instead of going straight down to the sands. Jacob didn't seem to +mind, I must say, nor Miss Baby neither, though she must have been +pretty well jolted, but it was worth the trouble. + +'Isn't it lovely, nurse?' said Miss Bess, when at last we found +ourselves in the bay on the smooth firm sand, the sea in front of us, +and so encircled on three sides by the rocks that even the path by which +we had come was hidden. + +'This bay is so beautifully shut in,' said Master Francis. 'You could +really fancy that there was no one in the world but us ourselves. I +think it's such a nice feeling.' + +'It's nice when we're all together,' said Miss Lally; 'it would be +rather frightening if anybody was alone.' + +'Alone or not,' said Miss Bess, 'it wouldn't be at all nice when +tea-time came if we had nothing to eat. And fancy, what _should_ we do +at night--we couldn't sleep out on the sand?' + +'We'd have to go into the caves,' said Master Francis. 'It would be +rather fun, with a good fire and with lots of blankets.' + +'And where would you get blankets from, or wood for a fire, you silly +boy?' said Miss Bess. + +'Can we see the caves?' I asked, for having heard so much talk about +them, I felt curious to see them. + +'Of course,' said Master Francis. 'We always explore them every time we +come to this bay. Do you see those two or three dark holes over there +among the rocks, nurse? Those are the caves; come along and I'll show +them to you.' + +I was a little disappointed. I had never seen a cave in my life, but I +had a confused remembrance of pictures in an old book at home of some +caves--'The Mammoth Caves of Kentucky,' I afterwards found they +were--which looked very large and wonderful, and somehow I suppose I had +all the time been picturing to myself that these ones were something of +the same kind. I didn't say anything to the children though, as they +took great pride in showing me all the sights. And after all, when we +got to the caves, they turned out much more curious and interesting than +I expected from the outside. The largest one, though its entrance was so +small, was really as big as a fair-sized church, and narrowing again far +back into a dark mysterious-looking passage, from which Master Francis +told me two or three smaller chambers opened out. + +'And then,' he said, 'after that the passage goes on again--ever so far. +In the old days the smugglers blocked it up with pieces of rock, and it +isn't so very long ago that this was found out. It was somewhere down +along that passage that they found the things I told you of.' + +We went a few yards along the passage, but it soon grew almost quite +dark, and we turned back again. + +'I can quite see it wouldn't be safe to try exploring down there,' I +said. + +'Yes, I suppose so,' said Master Francis, with a sigh. 'I wish I could +find some treasure, all the same. I wonder----' he went on, then stopped +short. 'Nurse,' he began again, 'did you hear what old Prideaux said of +our great grand-uncle the miser? Could it really be true, do you think, +that he hid away money or treasures of some kind?' and he lowered his +voice mysteriously. + +'I shouldn't think it was likely,' I replied. For I had a feeling that +it would not be well for the children to get any such ideas into their +heads. It sounded to me like a sort of fairy tale. I had never come +across anything so romantic and strange in real life. Though for that +matter, Treluan itself, and the kind of old-world feeling about the +place, was quite unlike anything I had ever known before. + +We were outside the cave again by this time; the sunshine seemed +deliciously warm and bright after the chill and gloom inside. Miss Bess +had been listening eagerly to what Master Francis was saying. + +'I can't see but what old Sir David _might_ have hidden treasures away, +as he was a real miser,' she said. + +'And you know that misers are so suspicious, that even when they're +dying they won't trust anybody. I know I've read a story like that,' +said the boy. 'Oh! Bess, just fancy if we could find a lot of money or +diamonds! Wouldn't uncle and aunt be pleased?' + +His whole face lighted up at the very idea. + +'I daresay he hid it all away in a stocking,' put in Miss Lally, whose +head was still full of her knitting. 'I've heard a story of an old woman +miser that did that.' + +'And where would the stocking be hid?' said Miss Bess. 'Besides, if a +stocking was ever so full, it couldn't hold enough money to be a real +treasure.' + +'It might be stuffed with bank notes,' said Master Francis. 'There's +banknotes worth ever so much; aren't there, nurse?' + +'I remember once seeing one of a thousand pounds,' I said. 'That was at +my last place. Mr. Wyngate had to do with business in the city, and he +once brought one home to show the young ladies.' + +'Well, then, you see, Queen,' said Miss Lally, 'there might be a +stocking with enough money to make papa and mamma as rich as rich.' + +'I'm quite sure Sir David's money wasn't put in a stocking,' said Miss +Bess decidedly. 'You've got rather silly ideas, Lally, considering +you're getting on for six.' + +Miss Lally began to look rather doleful. She had been so bright and +cheerful all day that I didn't like to see her little face overcast. We +had left Jacob outside the cave, of course; there was one satisfaction +with him--he was not likely to run away. + +'Miss Baby, dear,' I said, 'aren't you getting hungry? Where's the +basket you were holding in the cart?' + +'Nice cakes in basket,' said the little girl. 'Baby looked, but Baby +didn't eaten them.' + +The basket was still in the cart, and I think they were all very pleased +when they saw what I had brought for them. Some of Mrs. Brent's nice +little saffron buns and a bottle of milk. I remember that I didn't like +the taste of the saffron buns at first, and now I might be Cornish born +and bred, I think it such an improvement to cakes! + +'Another time,' I said, 'we might bring our tea with us. I daresay my +lady wouldn't object.' + +'I'm sure she wouldn't mind,' said Miss Bess. 'We used to have picnic +teas sometimes, when our _quite_, quite old nurse was with us--the one +that's married over to St. Iwalds.' + +'Bess,' said Master Francis, 'you should say "over at," not "over to."' + +'Thank you,' said Miss Bess, 'I don't want you to teach me grammar. +_That_ isn't parson's business.' + +Master Francis grew very red. + +'Did you know, nurse,' said Miss Lally, 'Francie's going to be a +clergy-gentleman?' + +They couldn't help laughing at her, and the laugh brought back good +humour. + +'I want to be one,' said Master Francis, 'but I'm afraid it costs a +great lot to go to college.' + +Poor children, through all their talk and plans the one trouble seemed +always to keep coming up. + +'I fancy that's according a good deal to how young gentlemen take it. +There's some that spend a fortune at college, I've heard, but some that +are very careful; and I expect you'd be that kind, Master Francis.' + +'Yes,' he said, in his grave way. 'I wouldn't want to cost Uncle Hulbert +more than I can help. I wish one could be a clergyman without going to +college though.' + +'You've got to go to school first,' said Miss Bess. 'You needn't bother +about college for a long time yet.' + +Miss Lally sighed. + +'I don't like Francie having to go to school,' she said. 'And the boys +are so rough there; I hope they won't hurt your poor leg, Francie.' + +'It isn't _that_ I mind,' said Master Francie--the boy had a fine spirit +of his own though he was so delicate--'what I mind is the going alone +and being so far away from everybody.' + +'It's a pity,' I said without thinking, 'but what one of you young +ladies had been a young gentleman, to have been a companion for Master +Francis, and to have gone to school together, maybe.' + +'Oh!' said Miss Bess quickly, 'you must never say that to mamma, nurse. +You don't know what a trouble it is to her not to have a boy. She'd have +liked Lally to be a boy most of all. She wanted her to be a boy; she +always says so.' + +Here Master Francis gave a deep sigh in his turn. + +'Oh! how I wish,' he said, 'that I could turn myself into a girl and +Lally into a boy. I wouldn't _like_ to be a girl at all, and I daresay +Lally wouldn't like to be a boy. But to please Aunt Helen I'd do it.' + +'No,' said Miss Lally, 'I don't think I would--not even to please mamma. +I couldn't bear to be a boy.' + +I was rather sorry I had led to this talk. + +'Isn't it best,' I said, 'to take things as they are? Master Francis is +just like your brother--the same name and everything.' + +'I'd like it that way,' said Master Francis, with a pleased look in his +eyes. But I heard Miss Bess, who was walking close beside me, say in a +low voice, 'Mamma will never think of it that way!' + +This talk made some things clearer to me than before, and that evening, +after the children were in bed, I went down to the housekeeper's room +and eased my mind by telling her about it, I felt so afraid of having +said anything uncalled for. But Mrs. Brent comforted me. + +'It's best for you to know,' she said, 'that my lady does make a great +trouble, too great a trouble, to my thinking, of not having a son. And +no doubt it has to do with her coldness to Master Francis, though I +doubt if she really knows this herself, for she's a lady that means to +do right and justly to all about her; I will say that for her.' + +It was really something to be thankful for to have such a good and +sensible woman to ask advice from, for a stranger, as I still was. The +more I knew her, the more she reminded me of my good mother. Plain and +homely in her ways, with no love of gossip about her, yet not afraid to +speak out her mind when she saw it right to do so. Many things would +have been harder at Treluan, the poor dear children would have had less +pleasure in their lives, but for Mrs. Brent's kind thought for them. +That very evening I had had a reason, so to say, for paying a special +visit to the housekeeper's room; for when we had got in from our long +walk, rather tired and certainly very hungry, a nice surprise was +waiting for us in the nursery. The tea-table was already set out most +carefully. There was a pile of Mrs. Brent's hot scones and a beautiful +dish of strawberries. + +'Oh, nurse!' cried Miss Bess, who had run on first, 'quick, quick, look +what a nice tea. I'm sure it's Mrs. Brent! Isn't it good of her?' + +'It's like a birfday,' said Miss Lally. + +And Miss Baby, who had been grumbling a good deal and crying, 'I want my +tea,' nearly jumped out of my arms--I had had to carry her upstairs--at +the sight of it. + +For I'm afraid there's no denying that in those days breakfast, dinner, +and tea filled a large place in Miss Augusta's thoughts. I hope she'll +forgive me for saying so, if she ever sees this. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A RAINY DAY + + +That lovely weather lasted on for about a fortnight without a break, and +many a pleasant ramble we had, for though lessons began again, Miss +Kirstin always left immediately after luncheon, which was the children's +dinner, for the three elder ones always joined Sir Hulbert and my lady +in the dining-room. + +Two afternoons in the week, as I think I have said, Master Francis and +Miss Bess had Latin lessons from Sir Hulbert. Miss Bess, by all +accounts, did not take very kindly to the Latin grammar, and but for +Master Francis helping her--many a time indeed sitting up after his own +lessons were done to set hers right--she would often have got into +trouble with her papa. For indulgent as he was, Sir Hulbert could be +strict when strictness was called for. + +Miss Bess was a curious mixture; to see her and hear her talk you'd have +thought her twice as clever as Miss Lally, and so in some ways she was. +But when it came to book learning, it was a different story. Teaching +Miss Lally--and I had something to do with her in this way, for I used +to hear over the lessons she was getting ready for Miss Kirstin--was +really like running along a smooth road, the child was so eager and +attentive, never losing a word of what was said to her. Miss Bess used +to say that her sister had a splendid memory by nature. But in my long +life I've watched and thought about some things a great deal, and it +seems to me that a good memory has to do with our own trying, more than +some people would say,--above all, with the habit of really giving +attention to whatever you're doing. And this habit Miss Bess had not +been taught to train herself to; and being a lively impulsive child, no +doubt it came a little harder to her. + +A dear child she was, all the same. Looking back upon those days, I +would find it hard to say which of them all seemed nearest my heart. + +The days of the Latin lessons we generally had a short walk in the +morning, as well as one after tea, so as to suit Sir Hulbert's time in +the afternoon; and those afternoons were Miss Lally's great time for +her knitting, which she was determined to keep a secret till she had +made some progress in it and finished her first pair of socks. How she +did work at it, poor dear! Her little face all puckered up with +earnestness, her little hot hands grasping the needles, as if she would +never let them go. And she mastered it really wonderfully, considering +she was not yet six years old! + +She had more time for it after a bit, for the beautiful hot summer +weather changed, as it often does, about the middle of July, and we had +two or three weeks of almost constant rain. Thanks to her knitting, Miss +Lally took this quite cheerfully, and if poor Master Francis had been +left in peace, we should have had no grumbling from him either. A book +and a quiet corner was all he asked, and though he said nothing about +it, I think he was glad now and then of a rest from the long walks which +my lady thought the right thing, whenever the weather was at all fit for +going out. But dear, dear! how Miss Bess did tease and worry sometimes! +She was a strong child, and needed plenty of exercise to keep her +content. + +I remember one day, when things really came to a point with her, and, +strangely enough,--it is curious on looking back to see the thread, like +a road winding along a hill, sometimes lost to view and sometimes clear +again, unbroken through all, leading from little things to big, in a way +one could never have pictured,--strangely enough, as I was saying, the +trifling events of that very afternoon were the beginning of much that +changed the whole life at Treluan. + +It was raining that afternoon, not so very heavily, but in a steady +hopeless way, rather depressing to the spirits, I must allow. It was not +a Latin day--I think some of us wished it had been! + +'Now, Bess!' said Master Francis, when the three children came up from +their dinner, 'before we do anything else'--there had been a talk of a +game of 'hide-and-seek,' or 'I spy,' to cheer them up a bit--'before we +do anything else, let's get our Latin done, or part of it, any way, as +long as we remember what uncle corrected yesterday, and then we'll feel +comfortable for the afternoon.' + +'Very well,' said Miss Bess, though her voice was not very encouraging. + +She was standing by the window, staring out at the close-falling rain, +and as she spoke she moved slowly towards the table, where Master +Francis was already spreading out the books. + +'I don't think it's a good plan to begin lessons the very moment we've +finished our dinner,' she added. + +'It isn't the very minute after,' put in Miss Lally, not very wisely. +'You forget, Queen, we went into the 'servatory with mamma, while she +cut some flowers, for ever so long.' + +Being put in the wrong didn't sweeten Miss Bess's temper. + +''Servatory--you baby!' said she. 'Nurse, can't you teach Lally to spell +"Constantinople"?' + +Miss Lally's face puckered up, and she came close to me. + +'Nursie,' she whispered, 'may I go into the other room with my knitting; +I'm sure Queen is going to tease me.' + +I nodded my head. I used to give her leave sometimes to go into the +night nursery by herself, when she was likely to be disturbed at her +work, and that generally by Miss Bess. For though Master Francis +couldn't have but seen she had some secret from him, he was far too kind +and sensible to seem to notice it. Whereas Miss Bess, who had been +taken into her confidence, never got into a contrary humour without +teasing the poor child by hints about stockings, or wool, or something. +And the contrary humour was on her this afternoon, I saw well. + +'Now, Bess, begin, do!' said Master Francis. 'These are the words we +have to copy out and learn. I'll read them over, and then we can write +them out and hear each other.' + +He did as he said, but it was precious little attention he got from his +cousin, though it was some time before he found it out. Looking up, he +saw that she had dressed up one hand in her handkerchief, like an old +man in a nightcap, and at every word poor Master Francis said, made him +gravely bow. It was all I could do to keep from laughing, though I +pretended not to see. + +'O Bess!' said the boy reproachfully, 'I don't believe you've been +listening a bit.' + +'Well, never mind if I haven't. I'd forget it all by to-morrow morning +anyway. Show me the words, and I'll write them out.' + +She leant across him to get the book, and in so doing upset the ink. The +bottle was not very full, so not much damage would have been done if +Master Francis's exercise-book had not been lying open just in the way. + +'Oh! Bess,' he cried in great distress. 'Just look. It was such a long +exercise and I had copied it out so neatly, and you know uncle hates +blots and untidiness.' + +Miss Bess looked very sorry. + +'I'll tell papa it was my fault,' she said. But Master Francis shook his +head. + +'I must copy it out again,' I heard him say in a low voice, with a sigh, +as he pushed it away and gave his attention to his cousin and the words +she had to learn. + +She was quieter after that, for a while, and in half an hour or so +Master Francis let her go. He set to work at his unlucky exercise again, +and seeing this, should really have sobered Miss Bess. But she was in a +queer humour that afternoon, it only seemed to make her more fidgety. + +'You really needn't do it,' she said to Master Francis crossly. 'I told +you I'd explain it to papa.' But the boy shook his head. He'd have taken +any amount of trouble rather than risk vexing his uncle. + +'It was partly my own fault for leaving it about,' he said gently, +which only seemed to provoke Miss Bess more. + +'You do so like to make yourself a martyr. It's quite true what mamma +says,' she added in a lower voice, which I did think unkind. + +But in some humours children are best left alone for the time, so I took +no notice. + +Miss Bess returned to her former place in the window. Miss Baby was +contentedly setting out her doll's tea-things on the rug in front of the +fire,--at Treluan even in the summer one needs a little fire when there +comes a spell of rainy weather. Miss Bess glanced at her, but didn't +seem to think she'd find any amusement there. Miss Baby was too young to +be fair game for teasing. + +'What's Lally doing?' she said suddenly, turning to me. 'Has she hidden +herself as usual? I hate secrets. They make people so tiresome. I'll +just go and tell her she'd better come in here.' + +She turned, as she spoke, to the night nursery. + +'Now, Miss Bess, my dear,' I couldn't help saying, 'do not tease the +poor child. I'll tell you what you might do. Get one of your pretty +books and read aloud a nice story to Miss Lally in the other room, till +Master Francis is ready for a game.' + +'I've read all our books hundreds of times. I'll tell her a story +instead!' she replied. + +'That would be very nice,' I could not but say, though something in her +way of speaking made me feel a little doubtful, as Miss Bess opened the +night nursery door and closed it behind her carefully. + +For a few minutes we were at peace. No sound to be heard, except the +scratching of Master Francis's busy pen and Miss Augusta's pressing +invitations to the dollies to have--'thome more tea'--or--'a bit of this +bootiful cake,' and I began to hope that in her quiet way Miss Lally had +smoothed down her elder sister, when suddenly--dear, dear! my heart did +leap into my mouth--there came from the next room the most terrible +screams and roars that ever I have heard all the long years I have been +in the nursery! + +'Goodness gracious!' I cried, 'what can be the matter. There's no fire +in there!' and I rushed towards the door. + +To my surprise Master Francis and Miss Baby remained quite composed. + +'It's only Lally,' said the boy. 'She does scream like that sometimes, +though she hasn't done it for a good while now. I daresay it's only Bess +pulling her hair a little.' + +It was not even that. When I opened the door, Miss Bess, who was +standing by her sister--Miss Lally still roaring, though not quite so +loudly--looked up quietly. + +'I've been telling her stories, nurse,' she said. 'But she doesn't like +them at all.' + +Miss Lally ran to me sobbing. I couldn't but feel sorry for her, as she +clung to me, and yet I was provoked, thinking it really too bad to have +had such a fright for nothing at all. + +'Queen has been telling me such _howid_ things,' she said among her +tears, as she calmed down a little. 'She said it was going to be such a +pretty story and it was all about a little girl, who wasn't a little +girl, weally. They tied her sleeves with green ribbons, afore she was +christened, and so the naughty fairies stealed her away and left a howid +squealing pertence little girl instead. And it was just, _just_ like me, +and, Queen says, they _did_ tie me in green ribbons. She knows they did, +she can 'amember;' and here her cries began again. 'And Queen says +'praps I'll never come right again, and I can't bear to be a pertence +little girl. Queen told it me once before, but I'd forgot, and now it's +all come back.' + +She buried her face on my shoulder. I had sat down and taken her on my +knees, and I could feel her all shaking and quivering, though through it +all she still clutched her knitting and the four needles. + +'Miss Bess,' I said, in a voice I don't think I had yet used since I had +been with them, 'I _am_ surprised at you! Come away with me, my dear,' I +said to Miss Lally. 'Come into the other room. Miss Bess will stay here +till such time as she can promise to behave better, both to you and +Master Francis.' + +Miss Bess had turned away when I began to speak, and I think she had +felt ashamed. But my word about Master Francis had been a mistake. + +'You needn't scold me about spilling the ink on Francis's book!' she +said angrily. 'You know that was an accident.' + +'There's accidents and accidents,' I replied, which I know wasn't wise; +but the child had tried my temper too, I won't deny. + +I took Miss Lally into a corner of the day nursery and talked to her in +a low voice, not to disturb Master Francis, who was still busy writing. + +'My dear,' I said, 'so far as I can put a stop to it, I won't have Miss +Bess teasing you, but all the same I can't have you screaming in that +terrible way for really nothing at all. Your own sense might tell you +that there's no such things as fairies changing babies in that way. Miss +Bess only said it to tease.' + +She was still sobbing, but all the same she had not forgotten to wrap up +her precious knitting in her little apron, so that her cousin shouldn't +catch sight of it, and her heart was already softening to her sister. + +'Queen didn't mean to make me cry,' she said. 'But I can't bear that +story; nobody would love me if I was only a pertence little girl.' + +'But you're not that, my dear; you're a very real little girl,' I said. +'You're your papa's and mamma's dear little daughter and God's own +child. That's what your christening meant.' + +Miss Lally's sobs stopped. + +'I forgot about that,' she said very gravely, seeming to find great +comfort in the thought. 'If I had been a pertence little girl, I +couldn't have been took to church like Baby was. Could I? And I know I +was, for I have got godfather and godmother and a silver mug wif my name +on.' + +'And better things than that, thank God, as you'll soon begin to +understand, my dear Miss Lally,' I answered, as she held up her little +face to be kissed. + +'May I go back to Queen now?' she asked, but I don't think she was +altogether sorry when I shook my head. + +'Not just yet, my dear, I think,' I replied. + +'Only where am I to do my knitting?' she whispered. 'I can't do it here; +Francie would be sure to see,' and the corners of her mouth began to go +down again. 'Oh! I know,' she went on in another moment, brightening up. +'I could work so nicely in the attic, there's a little seat in the +corner, by the window, where Francie and I used to go sometimes when +Sharp told us to get out of the way.' + +'Wouldn't you be cold, my dear,' I said doubtfully. But I was anxious to +please her, so I fetched a little shawl for her and we went up together +to the attic. + +It did not feel chilly, and the corner by the window--the kind they call +a 'storm window,' with a sort of little separate roof of its own--was +very cosy. You have a peep of the sea from that window too. + +'Isn't it a good plan?' said Miss Lally joyfully. 'I can knit here _so_ +nicely, and I have been getting on so well this afternoon. There's no +stitches dropped, not one, nursie. Mightn't I come here every day?' + +'We'll see, my dear,' I said, thinking to myself that it might really be +good for her--being a nervous child, and excitable too, for all she +seemed so quiet--to be at peace and undisturbed now and then by herself. +'We'll see, only you must come downstairs at once if you feel cold or +chilly.' + +I looked round me as I was leaving the attic. There was a big cupboard, +or closet rather, at the end near the door. Miss Lally's window was at +this end too. The closet door stood half open, but it seemed empty. + +'That's where we wait when we're playing "I spy" up here,' said Miss +Lally. 'Mouses live in that cupboard. We've seen them running out of +their holes; but I like mouses, they've such dear bright eyes and long +tails.' + +I can't say that I agreed with Miss Lally's tastes. Mice are creatures +I've never been able to take to, still they'd do her no harm, that was +certain, so seeing her quite happy at her work I went down to the +nursery again. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE OLD LATIN GRAMMAR + + +Master Francis was still writing busily when I went back to the nursery. +He looked pale and tired, and once or twice I heard him sigh. I knew it +was not good for him to be stooping so long over his lessons, especially +as the children had not been out all that day. + +'Really,' I said, half to myself, but his ears were quick and he heard +me, 'Miss Bess has done nothing but mischief this afternoon. I feel +sometimes as if I couldn't manage her.' + +The boy looked up quickly. + +'O nurse!' he said, 'please don't speak like that. I mean I wouldn't for +anything have uncle or auntie think I had put her out, or that there had +been any trouble. It just comes over her sometimes like that, and she's +very sorry afterwards. I suppose Lally and I haven't spirits enough for +her, she is so clever and bright, and it must be dull for her, now and +then.' + +'I'm sure, Master Francis, my dear,' I said, 'no one could be kinder and +nicer with Miss Bess than you; and as for cleverness, she may be quick +and bright, but I'd like to know where she'd be for her lessons but for +you helping her many a time.' + +I was still feeling a bit provoked with Miss Bess, I must allow. + +'I'm nearly three years older, you know,' replied Master Francis, though +all the same I could see a pleased look on his face. It wasn't that he +cared for praise--boy or man, I have never in my life known any human +being so out and out humble as Mr. Francis; it's that that gives him his +wonderful power over others, I've often thought,--but he did love to +think he was of the least use to any of those he was so devoted to. + +'I'm so glad to help her,' he said softly. 'Nurse,' he added after a +little silence, 'I do feel so sad about things sometimes. If I had been +big and strong, I might have looked forward to doing all sorts of things +for them all, but now I often feel I can never be anything but a +trouble, and such an expense to uncle and aunt. You really don't know +what my leg costs,' he added in a way that made me inclined both to +laugh and cry at once. + +'Dear Master Francis,' I said, 'you shouldn't take it so.' I should have +liked to say more, but I felt I could scarcely do so without hinting at +blame where I had no right to do so. + +He didn't seem to notice me. + +'If it had to be,' he went on in the same voice, 'why couldn't I have +been a girl, or why couldn't one of them have been a boy? That would +have stopped it being quite so bad for poor auntie.' + +'Whys and wherefores are not for us to answer, my dear, though things +often clear themselves up when least expected,' I said. 'And now I must +see what Miss Bess is after, that's to say if you've got your writing +finished.' + +'It's just about done,' he said, 'and I'm sure Bess won't tease any +more. Do fetch her in, nurse. Why, baby! what is it, my pet?' he added, +for there was Miss Augusta standing beside him, having deserted her toys +on the hearthrug. For, though without understanding anything we had been +saying, she had noticed the melancholy tone of her cousin's voice. + +'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants to kiss thoo.' + +[Illustration: 'Poor F'ancie,' she said pitifully. 'So tired, Baby wants +to kiss thoo.'] + +The boy picked her up in his arms, and I saw the fair shaggy head and +fat dimpled cheeks clasped close and near to his thin white face, and if +there were tears in Master Francis's eyes I am sure it wasn't anything +to be ashamed of. Never was a braver spirit, and no one that knows him +now could think him less a hero could they look back over the whole of +his life. + +I found Miss Bess sitting quietly with the pincushion on her lap, by the +window, making patterns with the pins, apparently quite content. She had +not been crying, indeed it took a great deal to get a tear from that +child, she had such a spirit of her own. Still she was sorry for what +she had done, and she bore no malice, that I could see by the clear look +in her pretty eyes as she glanced up at me. + +'Nurse,' she said, though more with the air of a little queen granting a +favour than a tiresome child asking to be forgiven, 'I'm not going to +tease any more. It's gone now, and I'm going to be good. I'm very sorry +for making Lally cry, though she is a little silly--of course I wouldn't +care to do it if she wasn't,--and I'm _dreadfully_ sorry for poor old +Franz's exercise. Look what I have been doing to make me remember,' and +I saw that she had marked the words 'Bess sorry' with the pins. 'If you +leave it there for a few days, and just say "pincushion" if you see me +beginning again, it'll remind me.' + +It wasn't very easy for me to keep as grave as I wished, but I answered +quietly-- + +'Very well, Miss Bess, I hope you'll keep to what you say,' and we went +back, quite friendly again, to the other room. + +Master Francis and she began settling what games they would play, and I +took the opportunity of slipping upstairs to the attic to call Miss +Lally down. She came running out, as bright as could be, and gave me her +knitting to hide away for her. + +'Nursie,' she said, 'I really think there's good fairies in the attic. +I've got on so well. Four whole rows all round and none stitches +dropped.' + +So that rainy day ended more cheerfully than it had begun. + +Unluckily, however, the worst of the mischief caused by Miss Bess's +heedlessness didn't show for some little time to come. The next Latin +lesson passed off by all accounts very well, especially for Miss Bess. +For, thanks to her new resolutions, she was in a most biddable mood, +and quite ready to take her cousin's advice as to learning her list of +words again, giving up half an hour of her playtime on purpose. + +She came dancing upstairs in the highest spirits. + +'Nursie,' she said,--and when she called me so I knew I was in high +favour,--'I'm getting so good, I'm quite frightened at myself. Papa said +I had never known my lessons so well.' + +'I am very glad, I am sure, my love; and I hope,' I couldn't help +adding, 'that Master Francis got some of the praise of it.' + +For Master Francis was following her into the room, looking not quite so +joyful. Miss Bess seemed a little taken aback. + +'Do you know,' she said, 'I never thought of it. I was so pleased at +being praised.' And as the child was honesty itself, I was certain it +was just as she said. + +'I'll run down now,' she went on, 'and tell papa that it was Franz who +helped me.' + +'No, please don't,' said the boy, catching hold of her. 'I am as pleased +as I can be, Bess, that you got praised, and it's harder for you than +for me, or even for Lally, to try hard at lessons, for you've always +got such a lot of other things taking you up; and I wouldn't like,' he +added slowly, 'for uncle to think I wanted to be praised. You see I'm +older than you.' + +'I'm sure you don't get too much praise ever, poor Franz!' said Miss +Bess. 'Your exercise was as neat as neat, and yet papa wasn't pleased +with it.' + +Then I understood better why Master Francis looked a little sad. + +'It was the one I had to copy over,' he said. + +All the same he wouldn't let Miss Bess go down to her papa. Sir Hulbert +was busy, he knew; he had several letters to write, he had heard him +say, so Miss Bess had to give in. + +'I'll tell you what it is,' she said. 'People who are generally rather +naughty, like me,'--Miss Bess was in a humble mood!--'get made a great +fuss about when they're good. But people who are always good, like +Franz, never get any praise for it, and if ever they do the least bit +wrong, they are far worse scolded.' + +This made Master Francis laugh. It was something, as Miss Bess said, +among the children themselves. Miss Lally, who was always loving and +gentle to her cousin, he just counted upon in a quiet steady sort of +way. But a word of approval from flighty Miss Bess would set him up as +if she'd been the Queen herself. + +That was a Friday. The next Latin day was Tuesday. Of course I don't +know much about such things myself, but the lessons were taken in turns. +One day they'd words and writing exercises out of a book on purpose, and +another day they'd have regular Latin grammar, out of a thick old book, +which had been Sir Hulbert's own when he was a boy, and which he thought +a great deal of. Lesson-books were still expensive too, and even in +small things money was considered at Treluan. It was on that Tuesday +then that, to my distress, I saw that Master Francis had been crying +when he came back to the nursery. It was the first time I had seen his +eyes red, and he had been trying to make them right again, I'm sure, for +he hadn't come straight up from the library. Miss Bess was not with him; +it was a fine day and she had gone out driving with her mamma, having +been dressed all ready and her lesson shortened for once on purpose. + +I didn't seem to notice Master Francis, sorry though I felt, but Miss +Lally burst out at once. + +'Francie, darling,' she said, running up to him and throwing her arms +round him. 'What's the matter? It isn't your leg, is it?' + +'I wouldn't mind that, you know, Lally,' he said. + +'But sometimes, when the pain's been dreadful bad, it squeezes the tears +out, and you can't help it,' she said. + +'No,' he answered, 'it isn't my leg. I think I'd better not tell you, +Lally, for you might tell it to Bess, and I just won't have her know. +Everything's been so nice with her lately, and it just would seem as if +I'd got her into trouble.' + +'Was papa vexed with you for something?' the child went on. 'You'd +better tell me, Francie, I really won't tell Bess if you don't want me, +and I'm sure nursie won't. I'm becustomed to keeping secrets now. +Sometimes secrets are quite right, nursie says.' + +I could scarcely help smiling at her funny little air. + +'It wasn't anything _very_ much, after all,' said Master Francis. 'It +was only that uncle said----,' and here his voice quivered and he +stopped short. + +'Tell it from the beginning,' said Miss Lally in her motherly way, 'and +then when you get up to the bad part it won't seem so hard to tell.' + +It was a relief to him to have her sympathy, I could see, and I think he +cared a little for mine too. + +'Well,' he began, 'it's all about that Latin grammar--no, not the +lesson,' seeing that Miss Lally was going to interrupt him, 'but the +book. Uncle's fat old Latin grammar, you know, Lally. We didn't use it +last Friday, it wasn't the day, and we hadn't needed to look at it +ourselves since last Wednesday--that was the ink-spilling day. So it was +not found out till to-day; and--and uncle was--so--so vexed when he saw +how spoilt it was, and the worst of it was I began something about it +having been Bess, and that she hadn't told me, and that made uncle much +worse----.' Here Master Francis stopped, he seemed on the point of +crying again, and he was a boy to feel very ashamed of tears, as I have +said. + +'I don't think Miss Bess could have known the book had got inked,' I +said. 'And I scarce see how it happened, unless the ink got spilt on the +table, and it may have been lying open--I've seen Miss Bess fling her +books down open on their faces, so to speak, many a time,--and it may +have dried in and been shut up when all the books were cleared away, and +no one noticed.' + +'Yes,' said Master Francis eagerly, 'that's how it must have been. I +never meant that Bess had done it and hidden it. I said it in a hurry +because I was so sorry for uncle to think I hadn't taken care of his +book, and I was very sorry about the book too. But I made it far worse. +Uncle said it was mean of me to try to put my carelessness upon another, +a younger child, and a girl; O Lally! you never heard him speak like +that; it was _dreadful_.' + +'Was it worse than that time when big Jem put the blame on little Pat +about the dogs not being fed?' asked Miss Lally very solemnly. + +Master Francis flushed all over. + +'You needn't have said that, Lally,' he said turning away. 'I'm not so +bad as that, any way.' + +It was very seldom he spoke in that voice to Miss Lally, and she hadn't +meant to vex him, poor child, though her speech had been a mistake. + +'Come, come, Master Francis,' I said, 'you're taking the whole thing too +much to heart, I think. Perhaps Sir Hulbert was worried this morning.' + +'No, no,' said Master Francis, 'he spoke quite quietly. A sort of cold, +kind way, that's much worse than scolding. He said whatever Bess's +faults were, she was quite, quite open and honest, and of course I know +she is; but he said that this sort of thing made him a little afraid +that my being delicate and not--not like other boys, was spoiling me, +and that I must never try to make up for not being strong and manly by +getting into mean and cunning ways to defend myself.' + +Young as she was, Miss Lally quite understood; she quite forgot all +about his having been vexed with her a moment before. + +'O Francie!' she cried, running to him and flinging her arms round him, +in a way she sometimes did, as if he needed her protection; 'how could +papa say so to you? Nobody could think you mean or cunning. It's only +that you're too good. I'll tell Bess as soon as she comes in, and she'll +tell papa all about it, then he'll see.' + +'No, dear,' said Master Francis, 'that's just what you mustn't do. Don't +you remember you promised?' + +Miss Lally's face fell. + +'Don't you see,' Master Francis went on, 'that _would_ look mean? As if +I had made Bess tell on herself to put the blame off me. And I do want +everything to be happy with Bess and me ourselves as long as I am here. +It won't be for so very long,' he added. 'Uncle says it will be a very +good thing indeed for me to go to school.' + +This was too much for Miss Lally, she burst out crying, and hugged +Master Francis tighter than before. I had got to understand more of her +ways by now, and I knew that once she was started on a regular sobbing +fit, it soon got beyond her own power to stop. So I whispered to Master +Francis that he must help to cheer her up, and between us we managed to +calm her down. That was just one of the things so nice about the dear +boy, he was always ready to forget about himself if there was anything +to do for another. + +Miss Bess came back from her drive brimming over with spirits, and +though it would have been wrong to bear her any grudge, it vexed me +rather to see the other two so pale and extra quiet, though Master +Francis did his best, I will say, to seem as cheerful as usual. + +Miss Bess's quick eyes soon saw there had been something amiss. But I +passed it off by saying Miss Lally had been troubled about something, +but we weren't going to think about it any more. + +Think about it I did, however, so far as it concerned Master Francis, +especially. Till now I had been always pleased to see that his uncle was +really much attached to the boy, and ready to do him justice. But this +notion, which seemed to have begun in Sir Hulbert's mind, that just +because the poor child was delicate and in a sense infirm, he must be +mean spirited and unmanly in mind, seemed to me a very sad one, and +likely to bring much unhappiness. Nor could I feel sure that my lady was +not to blame for it. She was frank and generous herself, but inclined to +take up prejudices, and not always careful enough in her way of speaking +of those she had any feeling against. + +I did what I could, whenever I had any opportunity, to stand up for the +boy in a quiet way, and with all respect to those who were his natural +guardians. But, on the whole, much as I knew we should miss him in the +nursery, I was scarcely sorry to hear not many weeks after the little +events I have been telling about, that Master Francis's going to school +was decided upon. It was to be immediately after the Christmas holidays, +and we were now in the month of October. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +UPSET PLANS + + +But, as everybody knows, things in this world seldom turn out as they +are planned. + +There was a great deal of writing and considering about Master Francis's +school, and I could see that both Sir Hulbert and my lady had it much on +their minds. They would never have thought of sending him anywhere but +of the best, but in those days schools, even for little boys, cost, I +fancy, quite as much or more than now. And I can't say but what I think +that the worry and the difficulty about it rather added to his aunt's +prejudice against the boy. + +However, before long, all was settled, the school was chosen and the +very day fixed, and in our different ways we began to get accustomed to +the idea. Master Francis, I could see, had two quite opposite ways of +looking at it: he was bitterly sorry to go, to leave the home and those +in it whom he loved so dearly, more dearly, I think, than any one +understood. And he took much to heart also the fresh expenses for his +uncle. But, on the other hand, he was eager to get on with his learning; +he liked it for its own sake, and, as he used to say to me sometimes +when we were talking alone-- + +'It's only by my mind, you know, nurse, that I can hope to be good for +anything. If I had been strong and my leg all right, I'd have been a +soldier like papa, I suppose.' + +'There's soldiers and soldiers, you must remember, Master Francis,' I +would reply. 'There's victories to be won far greater than those on the +battlefield. And many a one who's done the best work in this world has +been but feeble and weakly in health.' + +His eyes used to brighten up when I spoke like that. Sometimes, too, I +would try to cheer him by reminding him there was no saying but what he +might turn out a fairly strong man yet. Many a delicate boy got improved +at school, I had heard. + +But alas!--or 'alas' at least it seemed at the time--everything was +changed by what happened that winter. + +It was cold, colder than is usual in this part of the world, and I +think Master Francis had got it in his head to try and harden himself by +way of preparing for school life. My lady used to say little things +sometimes, with a good motive, I daresay, about not minding the cold and +plucking up a spirit, and what her brothers used to do when they were +young, all of which Master Francis took to heart in a way she would not +then have believed if she had been told it. Dear me! it is strange to +think of it, when I remember how perfectly in later years those two came +to understand each other, and how nobody--after she lost her good +husband--was such a staff and support to her, such a counsellor and +comfort, as the nephew she had so little known--her 'more than son,' as +I had often heard her call him. + +But I am wandering away from my story. I was just getting to Master +Francis's illness. How it came about no one could really tell. It is not +often one can trace back illnesses to their cause. Most often I fancy +there are more than one. But just after Christmas Master Francis began +with rheumatic fever. We couldn't at first believe it was going to be +anything so bad. For my lady's sake, and indeed for everybody's, I tried +to cheer up and be hopeful, in spite of the doctor's gloomy looks. It +was a real disappointment to myself and took down my pride a bit, for I +had done my best by the child, hoping to start him for school as strong +and well as was possible for him. And any one less just and fair than my +lady might have had back thoughts, such as damp feet, or sheets not +aired enough, or chills of some kind, that a little care might have +avoided. + +It was my belief that he had been feeling worse than usual for some +time, but never a complaint had he made, perhaps he wouldn't own it to +himself. + +It wasn't till two nights after Christmas that, sitting by the nursery +fire, just after Miss Augusta had been put to bed, he said to me-- + +'Nurse, I can't help it, my leg is so dreadfully bad, and not my leg +only, the pain of it seems all over. I'm _all_ bad legs to-night,' and +he tried to smile. 'May I go to bed now, and perhaps it will be all +right in the morning?' + +I _was_ frightened! Sir Hulbert and my lady were dining out that +evening, which but seldom happened, and when I got over my start a +little I wasn't sorry for it, hoping that a good night might show it was +nothing serious. + +We got him to bed as fast as we could. There was no going down to +dessert that evening, so Miss Bess and Miss Lalage set to work to help +me, like the womanly little ladies they were; one of them running +downstairs to see about plenty of hot water for a good bath and hot +bottles, and the other fetching the under housemaid to see to a fire in +his room. I doubt if he had ever had one before. Bedroom fires were not +in my lady's rule, and I don't hold with them myself, except in illness +or extra cold weather. + +He cheered up a little, and even laughed at the fuss we made. And before +his uncle and aunt returned he was sound asleep, looking quiet and +comfortable, so that I didn't think it needful to say anything to them +that night. But long before morning, for I crept upstairs to his room +every hour or two, I saw that it was not going off as I had hoped. He +started and moaned in his sleep, and once or twice when I found him +awake, he seemed almost lightheaded, and as if he hardly knew me. Once I +heard him whisper: 'Oh! it hurts so,' as if he could scarcely bear it. + +About five o'clock I dressed myself and took up my watch beside him. My +lady was an early riser; by eight o'clock, in answer to a message from +me, she was with us herself in her dressing-gown. Master Francis was +awake. + +'O my lady!' I said, 'I'd no thought of bringing you up so early, and +you were late last night too.' For they had had a long drive. 'It was +only that I dursn't take upon me to send for the doctor without asking.' + +'No, no, of course not,' she said. And indeed that was a liberty my lady +would not have been pleased with any one's taking. 'Do you really think +it necessary?' + +The poor child was looking a little better just then, the pain was not +so bad. He seemed quiet and dreamy-like, though his face was flushed and +his eyes very bright. + +'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you look!' + +[Illustration: 'Auntie!' he said, smiling a very little; 'how pretty you +look!'] + +And so she did in her long white dressing-gown, with her lovely fair +hair hanging about, for all the world like Miss Lally's. + +I think myself the fever was on his brain a little already, else he +would scarce have dared speak so to his aunt. + +She took no notice, but drew me out of the room. + +'What in the world's the matter with him?' she said, anxious and yet +irritated at the same time. 'Has he been doing anything foolish that can +have made him ill?' + +I shook my head. + +'It's seldom one can tell how illness comes, but I feel sure the doctor +should see him,' I replied. + +So he was sent for, and before the day was many hours older, there was +little doubt left--though, as I said before, I tried for a bit to hope +it was only a bad cold--that Master Francis was in for something very +serious. + +Almost from the first the doctor spoke of rheumatic fever. There was a +sort of comfort in this, bad as it was--the comfort of knowing there was +no infection to fear. It was a great comfort to Master Francis himself, +whenever he felt the least bit easier, now and then to see his cousins +for a minute or two at a time, without any risk to them. For one of his +first questions to the doctor was whether his illness was anything the +others could catch. + +After that for a few days he was so bad that he could really think of +nothing but how to bear the pain patiently. Then when he grew a shade +better, he began thinking about going to school. + +'What was the day of the month? Would he be well, _quite_ well, by the +20th, or whatever day school began? Uncle would be _so_ disappointed if +it had to be put off'--and so on, over and over again, till at last I +had to speak, not only to the doctor, but to Sir Hulbert himself, about +the way the boy was worrying in his mind. + +The doctor tried to put him off by saying he was getting on famously, +and such-like speeches. A few quiet words from Sir Hulbert had far more +effect. + +'My dear boy,' he said gravely, 'what you have to do is to try to get +well and not fret yourself. If it is God's will that your going to +school should be put off, you must not take it to heart. You're not in +such a hurry to leave us as all that, are you?' + +The last few words were spoken very kindly and he smiled as he said +them. I was glad of it, for I had not thought his uncle quite as tender +of the boy as he had used to be. They pleased Master Francis, I could +see, and another thought came into his mind which helped to quiet him. + +'Anyway, nurse,' he said to me one day, 'there'll be a good deal of +expense saved if I don't go to school till Easter.' + +It never struck him that there are few things more expensive than +illness, and as I had no idea till my lady told me that the term had to +be paid for, whether he went to school or not, I was able to agree with +him. + +I was deeply sorry for my lady in those days. Some might be hard upon +her, for not forgetting all else in thankfulness that the child's life +was spared, and I know she tried to do so, but it was difficult. And +when she spoke out to me one day, and told me about the schooling having +to be paid all the same, I really did feel for her; knowing through Mrs. +Brent, as I have mentioned, all the past history of the troubles brought +about by poor Master Francis's father. + +'I hope he'll live to be a comfort to you yet, if I may say so, my lady, +and I've a strong feeling that he will,' I said (she reminded me of +those words long after), 'and in the meantime you may trust to Mrs. +Brent and me to keep all expense down as much as possible, while seeing +that Master Francis has all he needs. I'm sure we can manage without a +sick-nurse now.' + +For there had been some talk of having one sent for from London, though +in those days it was less done than seems the case now. + +And after a while things began to mend. It was not a _very_ bad attack, +less so than we had feared at first. In about ten days' time Mrs. Brent +and Susan the housemaid and I, who had taken it in turns to sit up all +night, were able to go to bed as usual, only seeing to it that the fire +was made up once in the night, so as to last on till morning, and the +day's work grew steadily lighter. + +Once they had finished their lessons, the little girls were always eager +to keep their cousin company. He was only allowed to have them one at a +time. Miss Bess used to take the first turn, but it was hard work for +her, poor child, to keep still, though it grew easier for her when it +got the length of his being able for reading aloud. But Miss Lally from +the first was a perfect model of a little sick-nurse. Mouse was no word +for her, so still and noiseless and yet so watchful was she, and if ever +she was left in charge of giving him his medicine at a certain time, I +could feel as sure as sure that it wouldn't be forgotten. When he was +inclined to talk a little, she knew just how to manage him--how to amuse +him without exciting him at all, and always to cheer him up. + +The weather was unusually bad just then, though we did our best to +prevent Master Francis feeling it, by keeping his room always at an +even heat, but there were many days on which the young ladies couldn't +get out. Altogether it was a trying time, and for no one more than for +my lady. + +I couldn't help thinking sometimes how different it would have been if +Master Francis had been her own child, when the joy of his recovering +would have made all other troubles seem nothing. I felt it both for her +and for him, though I don't think he noticed it himself; and after all, +now that I can look back on things having come so perfectly right, +perhaps it is foolish to recall those shadows. Only it makes the picture +of their lives more true. + +Through it all I could see my lady was trying her best to have none but +kind and nice feelings. + +'The doctor says that though Francis will really be almost as well as +usual in three or four weeks from now, there can be no question of his +going to school for ever so long--perhaps not at all this year.' + +'Dear, dear,' I said. 'But you won't have to go on paying for it all the +same, my lady?' + +She smiled at this. + +'No, no, not quite so bad as that, only this one term, which is paid +already. Sir Hulbert might have got off paying it if he had really +explained how difficult it was. But that's just the sort of thing it +would really be lowering for him to do,' and she sighed. 'The doctor +says too,' she went on again, 'that by rights the boy should have a +course of German baths, that might do him good for all his life; but how +we _could_ manage that I can't see, though Sir Hulbert is actually +thinking of it. I doubt if he would think of it as much if it were for +one of our own children,' she added rather bitterly. + +'He feels Master Francis a sort of charge, I suppose,' I said, meaning +to show my sympathy. + +'He is a charge indeed,' said his aunt. 'And to think that all this time +he might have been really improving at school.' + +I could say nothing more, but I did grieve that she couldn't take things +in a different spirit. + +'It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.' Miss Lally had a fine +time for her knitting just then, with Master Francis out of the way. Of +course if he had been at school there would have been no difficulty, and +she had planned to have his socks ready to send him on his birthday, the +end of March. Now she had got on so fast--one sock finished and the heel +of the other turned, though not without many sighs and even a few +tears--that she hoped to have them as a surprise the first day he came +down to the nursery. + +'I'll have to begin working in the attic again, after that,' she said to +me, 'for I'm going to make a pair for baby.' + +'That's to say if the weather gets warmer,' I said to her. 'You +certainly couldn't have sat up in the attic these last few weeks, Miss +Lally.' + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEW BABY + + +The weather did improve. The winter having been so unusually severe was +made up for, as I think often happens, by a bright and early spring. By +the beginning of April Master Francis was able to be out again, though +of course only for a little in the middle of the day, and we had to be +very careful lest he should catch the least cold. I was exceedingly +glad, really more glad than I can say, that his getting well went +through without any backcasts. For himself he was really better than the +doctor had dared to hope, but as he began to move about more freely I +was grieved to see that the stiffness of his leg seemed worse than +before his illness. I don't think it pained him much, at least he didn't +complain. + +In the meantime I thought it would be best to say nothing about it, +half hoping that he didn't notice it himself, but I heard no talk of his +going to school. + +I shall never forget one morning in April--it was towards the end of the +month, a most lovely sunny morning it was, as I went up the winding +staircase leading to Master Francis's room in the tower. The sunshine +came pouring in through the narrow windows as brilliant as if it had +been midsummer, and the songs of the birds outside seemed to tell how +they were enjoying it, yet it was only half-past six! The little ladies +below were all sleeping soundly, but Master Francis, I knew, always woke +very early, and somehow I had a feeling that he must be the first to +hear the good news. + +As I knocked at the door I heard him moving inside. He had got up to +open the window; the room seemed flooded with light as I went in. Master +Francis was sitting up in bed reading, or learning some of his lessons +more likely, for he was well enough now to have gone back to regular +ways. He looked up very brightly. + +'Isn't it a most beautiful morning, nurse?' he said. 'The sunshine woke +me even earlier than usual, so I'm looking over my Latin. Auntie +doesn't mind my reading in bed in the morning. It isn't like at night +with candles.' + +'No, of course not,' I said. 'But, Master Francis, I want you to leave +off thinking about your lessons for a minute. I rather fancy you'll have +a holiday to-day. I've got a piece of news for you! I wonder if you can +guess what has happened?' + +He opened his eyes wide in surprise. + +'It must be something good,' he said, 'or you wouldn't look so pleased. +What _can_ it be? It can't be that Uncle Hulbert's got a lot of money.' + +'There are some things better than money,' I said. 'What would you think +if a dear little baby boy had come in the night?' + +His whole face flushed pink with pleasure. + +'Nurse!' he said. 'Is it really true? Oh! how pleased I am. Just the +very thing auntie has wanted so--a little boy of her own. I may count +him like a brother, mayn't I? Won't Bess and Lally be pleased! Do they +know? Mayn't I get up at once, and when do you think I may see him?' + +'Some time to-day, I hope,' I answered. 'No, the young ladies don't know +yet. They're fast asleep. But I thought you'd like to know.' + +'How good of you!' he said. 'I'm just _so_ pleased that I don't know +what to do.' + +What a morning of excitement it was, to be sure! The children were all +half off their heads with delight. All, that is to say, except Miss +Baby, who burst out crying in the middle of her breakfast, sobbing that +she 'wouldn't have no--something----' We couldn't make out what for ever +so long, till we found it was her name she was crying about, as of +course we were all talking of the new little brother as 'the baby.' We +comforted her by saying that anyway he would not be 'Miss Baby'; and +perhaps from that it came about that her old name clung to her till she +was quite a big girl, and almost from the first Master Bevil got his +real name. + +He was a great darling--so strong and hearty too--and so handsome even +as an infant. Everything seemed to go right with him from the very +beginning. + +'Surely,' I often said to myself, 'he will bring a blessing with him. +And now that my lady's great wish has been granted, I do hope she will +feel more trustful and less anxious.' + +I hoped too that she would now have happier feelings to poor Master +Francis, especially when she saw his devotion to the baby boy. For of +all the children I must say he was the one who loved the little creature +the most. + +And for a while all seemed tending in the right way, but when the baby +was a few weeks old, I began to fear that something of the old trouble +was in the air again. Fresh money difficulties happened about that time, +though of course I didn't know exactly what they were. But it was easy +to see that my lady was fretted, she was not one to hide anything she +was feeling. + +One day, it was in June, as far as I remember, my lady was in the +nursery with Miss Lally and Miss Baby and the real baby. The two elder +children were downstairs at their lessons with Sir Hulbert. Master Bevil +was looking beautiful that afternoon. We had laid him down on a rug on +the floor, and he was kicking and crowing as if he had been six months +old, his little sisters chattering and laughing to him, while my lady +sat by in the rocking-chair, looking for once as if she had thrown all +her cares aside. + +'He really is getting on beautifully,' she said to me. 'Doesn't he look +a great big boy?' + +I was rather glad of the remark, for it gave me a chance to say +something that had been on my mind. + +'We'll have to be thinking of short-coating him, before we know where we +are, my lady,' I said with a smile. 'And there's another thing I've been +thinking of. He's such a heavy boy to carry already, and as time gets on +it would be a pity for our walks to be shortened in the fine weather. We +had a beautiful basket for the donkey at Mrs. Wyngate's, it was made so +that even a little baby could lie quite comfortably in it.' + +'That would be very nice,' my lady answered. 'I'll speak to Sir Hulbert +about it. Only----,' and again a rather worried look came into her face. +I could see that she had got back to the old thought, 'everything costs +money.' 'We must do something about it before long,' she added. + +Just then Miss Bess ran into the room, followed more slowly by her +cousin. + +'What are you talking about?' she said. + +'About how dear fat baby is to go walks with us when he gets still +fatter and heavier,' said Miss Lally. 'Poor nurse couldn't carry him so +very far, you know, and mamma says perhaps----' + +'Oh! nonsense,' interrupted Miss Bess; 'we'd carry him in turns, the +darling.' + +My lady looked up quickly at this. + +'Don't talk so foolishly, child,' she said sharply. For, fond as she was +of Miss Bess, she could put her down sometimes, and just now the little +girl scarcely deserved it, it seemed to me. 'I won't allow anything of +that kind,' she went on. 'You are far too young, all of you--Francis +especially, must never attempt to carry baby. Do you hear, children? +Nurse, you must be strict about this.' + +'Certainly, my lady,' I replied. 'Master Francis and the young ladies +have never done more than just hold Master Bevil in their arms for a +moment, me standing close by.' + +Then they went on to talk about getting a basket for the donkey, which +they were very much taken up about. I didn't notice at the time that +Master Francis had only looked in for an instant and gone off again; but +that evening at tea time, when Miss Bess and Miss Lally said something +about old Jacob, Master Francis asked what they meant, which I +remembered afterwards as showing that he had not heard his aunt's strict +orders. + +It was a week or two after that, that one lovely afternoon we all set +out on a walk together. We had planned to go rather farther than we had +yet been with the baby, resting here and there on the way, it was so +warm and sunny and he was not _yet_ so very heavy, of course. + +All went well, and we found ourselves close to home again in nice time. +For of course I knew that if we stayed out too long it would be only +natural for my lady to be anxious. + +'It's rather too soon to go in and it's such a beautiful afternoon,' +said Miss Bess as we were coming up the drive. 'Do let us go into the +little wood, for half an hour or so, nurse, and you might tell us a +story.' + +The little wood skirts the drive at one side. It is a sweet place, in +the early summer especially, so many wild flowers and ferns, and lots of +squirrels overhead among the branches, and little rabbits scudding about +down below. + +We found a cosy nook, where we settled ourselves. The little brother was +fast asleep, the three elder ones sat round me, while Miss Baby toddled +off a little way, busy about some of her own funny little plays by +herself, though well within sight. + +I was in the middle of a long story of having been lost in the firwoods +at home as a child, when a loud scream made us all start, and looking up +I saw to my alarm that Miss Baby was no longer to be seen. + +'Dear, dear,' I cried, jumping up in a fright. 'She must have hurt +herself. Here, Master Francis, hold the baby for a moment, don't get +up;' and I put his little cousin down safely in his arms. + +I meant him not to stir till I came back, but he didn't understand this. +Miss Bess was already off after her little sister, and after a minute or +two we found her, not hurt at all, but crying loudly at having fallen +down and dirtied her frock in running away from what _she_ called a +'bear,' coming out of the wood--most likely only a branch of a tree +swaying about. + +It took a little time to quiet her and to set her to rights again, and +when we got back to the other children I was surprised to see that the +baby was now in Miss Lally's arms, Master Francis kneeling beside them +wiping something with his handkerchief. + +'There's nothing wrong, I hope,' I said, rather startled again. + +'Oh no!' said Miss Lally. 'It's only that little brother cried and +Francie walked him up and down and somefing caught Francie's foot and he +felled, but baby didn't fall. Francie held him tight, only a twig +scratched baby's nose a tiny little bit. But he doesn't mind, he's +laughing.' + +So he was, though sure enough there was a thin red line right across his +plump little nose, and the least little mark of blood on the +handkerchief with which his cousin had been tenderly dabbing it. Master +Francis himself was so pale that I hadn't the heart to say more to him +than just a word. + +'I had meant you to sit still with him, my dear.' + +'But he cried so,' said the boy. + +However, there was no harm done, though I thought to myself I'd be more +careful than ever, but unluckily just as we were within a few steps of +the house whom should we see but my lady coming to meet us. I'm never +one for hiding things, but I did wish she had not happened to come just +then. + +She noticed the scratch in a moment, as she stooped to kiss the baby, +though really there was nothing to mind, seeing the dear child so rosy +and happy looking. + +'What's the matter with his nose?' she said quickly. 'You haven't any +pins about you, nurse, surely?' + +Pins were not in my way, certainly, but I could have found it in my +heart to wish I could own to one just then, for Master Francis started +forward. + +'Oh no! Aunt Helen,' he said, 'it was my fault. I was walking him about +for a minute or two, while nurse went after Baby, and my foot slipt, but +I only came down on my knees and _he_ didn't fall. It was only a twig +scratched his nose, a tiny bit.' + +My lady grew first red then white. + +'He might have been killed,' she said; and she caught the baby from me +and kissed him over and over again. Then she turned to Master Francis, +and I could see that she was doing her best to keep in her anger. + +'Francis, how dared you, after what I said the other day so very +strongly about your _never_ carrying the baby? Your own sense might have +told you you are not able to carry him, but besides that, what I said +makes it distinct disobedience. Nurse, did you _know_ of it?' + +'It was I myself gave Master Bevil to Master Francis to hold,' I said, +flurried like at my lady's displeasure. 'I hadn't meant him to walk +about with him.' + +'Of course not,' said my lady. 'There now, you see, Francis, double +disobedience! I must speak to your uncle. Take back baby, nurse, he must +have some _pomade divine_ on his nose when he gets in;' and before any +of us had time to speak again she had turned and hurried back to the +house. My lady had always a quick way with her, pleased or displeased. + +'She's gone to tell papa,' said the young ladies, looking very +distressed. + +Master Francis was quite white and shaking like. + +'Nurse,' he said at last, when he had got voice enough to speak, 'I +really don't know what auntie meant about something she said the other +day.' + +'O Franz! you can't have forgotten,' said Miss Bess, who often spoke +sharply when she was really very sorry. 'Mamma did say most plainly that +none of us were to carry baby about.' + +But the boy still looked quite puzzled, and when we talked it over, we +were all satisfied that he hadn't been in the room at the time. + +'I must try to put it right with my lady,' I said, feeling that if any +one had been to blame in the matter it was certainly me much more than +Master Francis, for not having kept my eye better on Miss Baby in the +wood. + +But we were a very silent and rather sad party as we made our way back +slowly to the house. + +I couldn't see my lady till late that evening, and then, though I did +my best, I didn't altogether succeed. She had already spoken to Sir +Hulbert, and nothing would convince her that Master Francis had not +heard at least some part of what she said. + +Sir Hulbert was always calm and just; he sent for the boy the next +morning, and had a long talk with him. Master Francis came back to the +nursery looking pale and grave, but more thoughtful than unhappy. + +'Uncle has been very good and kind,' was all he said. 'And I will try +never to vex him and auntie again.' + +Later that evening, when he happened to be alone with me, after the +young ladies had gone to bed, he said a little more. I was sitting by +the fire with Master Bevil on my knee. Master Francis knelt down beside +me and kissed the little creature tenderly. Then he stroked his tiny +nose--the mark of the scratch had almost gone already. + +'You darling!' he said. 'Oh! how glad I am you weren't really hurt. +Nurse,' he went on, 'I'd do anything for this baby, I do _love_ him so. +I only wish I could say it to auntie the way I can to you. If only I +were big and strong, or very clever, and could work for him, to get him +everything he should have, and then it would make up a little for all +the trouble I've been always to them.' + +He spoke quite simply. There wasn't a thought of himself--as if he had +anything to complain of, or put up with, I mean--in what he said. But +all the more it touched me very much, and I felt the tears come into my +eye, but I wouldn't have Master Francis see it, and I began laughing and +playing with the baby. + +'See his dear little feet,' I said. 'They're almost the prettiest part +of him. He kicks so, he wears out his little boots in no time. It would +be nice if Miss Lally could knit some for him.' + +Master Francis looked surprised. + +'Why,' he said, 'do you call those little white things boots? And are +they made the same way as my socks? I've got them on now; aren't they +splendid? I really think it was very clever of Lally.' + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN DISGRACE AGAIN + + +He held out one foot to be admired. + +'Yes,' I said, 'they are very nice indeed, and Miss Lally was so patient +about them. I'll have to think of some other knitting for her.' + +'O nurse!' said Master Francis quickly, then he stopped. 'I must ask +Lally first,' he went on; and I heard him say, as if speaking to +himself--'it would be nice to please auntie.' + +For a day or two after that I saw there was some mystery going on. +Master Francis and Miss Lally were whispering together and looking very +important, and one fine afternoon the secret was confided to me. + +Miss Bess was out with her mamma, and Master Francis had disappeared +when we came in from our walk, a rather short one that day. Suddenly, +just as we were sitting down to tea, and I was wondering what had +become of him, he hurried in, and threw a small soft white packet on to +Miss Lally's lap. + +'O Francie!' she said, 'have you really got it?' + +Then she undid the parcel and showed it to me; it was white wool. + +'Francie has bought it with his own money,' she said, 'for me to knit a +pair of boots for baby, and oh! nursie, will you show me how? They're to +be a present from Francie and me; me the knitting and Francie the wool, +and we want it to be quite a secret till they're ready. It's so warm now +I can knit up in the attic. Won't mamma be pleased?' + +'Certainly, my dear,' I said. 'I'll do my best to teach you. They'll be +rather difficult, for we'll have to put in some fancy stitches, but I +think you can manage it now.' + +Master Francis stood by, looking as interested and pleased as Miss Lally +herself. + +'That was all the wool Prideaux' daughter had,' he said. 'Do you think +there'll be enough, nurse? She'll have some more in a few days.' + +'I doubt if there'll be enough,' I said, 'but I can tell better when +we've got them begun.' + +Begun they were, that very evening. Miss Lally and Master Francis set to +work to wind the wool, having first spent some time at an extra washing +of their hands, for fear of soiling it in the very least. + +'It's so beautifully white,' said Miss Lally, 'like it says in the +Bible, isn't it, nursie? It would be a pity to dirty it.' + +Dear me! how happy those two were over their innocent secret, and how +little I thought what would come of Master Bevil's white wool bootikins! + +The knitting got on nicely, though there were some difficulties in the +way. The weather was getting warmer, and it is not easy for even little +ladies to keep their hands quite spotlessly clean. The ball of wool had +to be tied up in a little bag, as it would keep falling on the floor, +and besides this, Miss Lally spread out a clean towel in the corner +where she sat to work in the attic. + +I gave Miss Bess a hint that there was a new secret and got her to +promise not to tease the children, and she was really good about it, as +was her way if she felt she was trusted. Altogether, for some little +time things seemed to be going smoothly. Master Francis was most +particular to do nothing that could in the least annoy his uncle and +aunt, or could seem like disobedience to them. + +After the long spell of fine weather, July set in with heavy rain. I +had now been a whole year with the dear children. I remember saying so +to them one morning when we were all at breakfast. + +It was about a week since the baby's boots had been in hand. One was +already finished, in great part by Miss Lally herself, though I had had +to do a little to it in the evenings after they were all in bed, setting +it right for her to go on with the next day. + +With the wet weather there was less walking out, of course, and all the +more time for the knitting. On the day I am speaking of the children +came down from the attic in the afternoon with rather doleful faces. + +'Nursie,' said Miss Lally, 'I have been getting on so nicely,' and +indeed I had not required to do more than glance at her work for two or +three days. 'I thought I would have had it ready for you to begin the +lace part round the top, only, just fancy the wool's done!' + +'They'll have more at the shop by now,' said Master Francis. 'If only it +would clear up I could go to the village for it.' + +'It may be finer to-morrow,' I said, 'but there's no chance of you going +out to-day; even if it left off raining, the ground's far too wet for +you with your rheumatism. Now, Miss Lally, my dear, don't you begin +looking so doleful about it; you've got on far quicker than you could +have expected.' + +She did look rather doleful all the same, and the worst of it was that +though Master Francis would have given up anything for himself, he never +could bear Miss Lally to be disappointed. + +'I'm so much better now, nurse,' he said. 'I don't believe even going +out in the rain would hurt me.' + +'It's _possible_ it mightn't hurt you, but----' I was beginning, when I +heard Master Bevil crying out in the other room. Miss Lally had now a +little room of her own on the other side of the nursery, and we had +saved enough of Miss Bess's chintz to smarten it up. This had been done +some months ago. I hadn't too much time now, and the young girl who +helped me was no hand at sewing at all. Off I hurried to the baby +without finishing what I was saying to Master Francis, and indeed I +never gave another thought to what he'd said about fetching the wool +till tea-time came, and he didn't answer when we called him, thinking he +was in his own room. + +Just then, unluckily, my lady came up to the nursery to say good-bye to +the children, or good-night rather, for she and Sir Hulbert were going +to dine at Carris Court, which is a long drive from Treluan, and the +roads were just then very heavy with the rain. She came in looking quite +bright and cheery. I can see her now in her black lace dress--it was far +from new--it was seldom my lady spent anything on herself--but it suited +her beautifully, showing off her lovely hair and fair complexion. One +little diamond star was her only ornament. I forget if I mentioned that +as well as the strange disappearance of money at the death of old Sir +David, a great many valuable family jewels, worth thousands of pounds, +were also missing, so it was but little that Sir Hulbert had been able +to give his wife, and what money she had of her own she wouldn't have +spent in such ways, knowing from the first how things were with him. + +She came in, as I said, looking so beautiful and bright that I felt +grieved when almost in a moment her look changed. + +'Where is Francis?' she asked quickly. + +'He must be somewhere downstairs, my lady,' I said. 'He's not in his +room, but no doubt he'll be coming directly.' + +Esther, the nursery-maid, was just then coming in with some tea-cakes +Mrs. Brent had sent us up. + +'Go and look for Master Francis, and tell him to come at once,' said my +lady. 'Surely he can't have gone out anywhere,' she added to me; 'it's +pouring, besides he isn't allowed to go out without leave.' + +'He'd never think of such a thing,' I said quickly, 'after being so ill +too.' But even as I spoke the words, there came into my mind what the +boy had said that afternoon, and I began to feel a little anxious, +though of course I didn't let my lady see it, and I did my best to +smooth things when Esther came back to say that he was nowhere to be +found. It was little use, however, my lady began to be thoroughly put +out. + +She hurried off to Sir Hulbert, feeling both anxious and angry, and a +good half-hour was spent in looking for the boy before Sir Hulbert could +persuade her to start. He was vexed too, and no wonder, just when my +lady had been looking so happy. + +'Really,' I thought to myself, 'Master Francis is tiresome after all.' +And I was thankful when they at last drove off, there being no real +cause for anxiety. + +No sooner had the sound of the carriage-wheels died away than the +nursery door opened and Master Francis burst in, looking for once like +a regular pickle of a boy. His eyes bright and his cheeks rosy, though +he was covered with mud from head to foot, his boots really not to be +thought of as fit to come up a tidy staircase. + +'Hurrah!' he cried, shaking a little parcel over his head. 'I've got it, +Lally. And I'm not a bit wet after all, nurse!' + +'Oh no!' said Miss Bess, who did love to put in her word, 'not at all. +Quite nice and dry and tidy and fit to sit down to tea, after worrying +mamma out of her wits and nearly stopping papa and her going to Carris.' + +Master Francis's face fell at once. I was sorry for him and yet that +provoked I couldn't but join in with Miss Bess. + +'Go upstairs to your room at once, Master Francis, and undress and get +straight into your bed. I'll come up in a few minutes with some hot tea +for you. How you could do such a thing close upon getting better of +rheumatic fever, and the trouble and worry it gave, passes me! And +considering, too, what I said to you this very afternoon.' + +'You didn't actually say I wasn't to go,' he said quickly. 'You know +quite well why I went, and I'm not a _bit_ wet really. I'm all muffled +up in things to keep me dry. I'm nearly suffocating.' + +'All the worse,' I said. 'If you're overheated all the more certain +you'll get a chill. Don't stand talking, go at once.' + +He went off, and I was beginning to pour out the tea, which had been +kept back all this time, when, as I lifted the teapot in my hand I +almost dropped it, nearly scalding Miss Baby who was sitting close by +me, so startled was I by a sudden terrible scream from Miss Lally; and, +as I have said before, anything like Miss Lally's screams I never did +hear in any nursery. Besides which, once she was started, there was +never any saying when she'd leave off. + +'Now, whatever's the matter with you, my dear?' I said, but it was +little use talking quietly to her. She only sobbed something about 'poor +Francie and nursie scolding him,' and then went on with her screaming +till I was obliged to put her in the other room by herself to get quiet. + +Of all the party Miss Bess and Miss Baby were the only ones who did +justice to Mrs. Brent's tea-cakes that evening. They did take Miss +Lally's screaming fits quietly, I must say, which was a good thing, and +even Master Bevil had strong nerves, I suppose, for he slept on sweetly +through it all, poor dear. For myself, I was out and out upset for once, +provoked and yet sorry too. + +I went up to Master Francis and did the best I could for him to prevent +his taking cold. He was as sorry as could be by this time, and he had +really not meant to be disobedient, but though I was ready to believe +him, I felt much afraid that this new scrape wouldn't be passed over +very lightly by his uncle and aunt. After a while Miss Lally quieted +down, partly, I think, because I promised her she might go up to her +cousin if she would leave off crying, and the two passed the evening +together very soberly and sadly, winding the fresh skein of white wool +which had been the cause of all the trouble. + +After all Master Francis did not take cold. He came down to breakfast +the next morning looking pretty much as usual, though I could see he was +uneasy in his mind. Miss Lally too was feeling rather ashamed of her +screaming fit the night before, for she was growing a big girl now, old +enough to understand that she should have more self-command. Altogether +it was a rather silent nursery that morning, for Miss Bess was concerned +for her cousin too. + +I had quite meant to try to see my lady before anything was said to +Master Francis. But she was tired and later of getting up than usual, +and I didn't like to disturb her. Sir Hulbert, I found, had gone out +early and would not be in till luncheon-time, so I hoped I would still +have my chance. + +I hardly saw the elder children till their dinner time. It was an extra +long morning of lessons with Miss Kirstin, for it was still raining, and +on wet days she sometimes helped them with what they had to learn by +themselves. + +The three hurried up together to make themselves tidy before going down +to the dining-room, and I just saw them for a moment. Master Bevil was +rather fractious, and I was feeling a little worried about him, so that +what had happened the night before was not quite so fresh in my mind as +it had been; but I did ask Miss Lally, who came to me to have her hair +brushed, if she had seen her mamma, and if my lady was feeling rested. + +'She's getting up for luncheon,' was the child's answer, 'but I haven't +seen her. Mrs. Brent told us she was very tired last night. Mrs. Brent +waited up to tell mamma Francie had come in.' + +After luncheon the two young ladies came up together. I looked past +them anxiously for Master Francis. + +'No,' said Miss Lally, understanding my look, 'he's not coming. He's +gone to papa's room, and papa and mamma are both there.' + +My heart sank at the words. + +'Mamma's coming up to see baby in a little while,' said Miss Bess. 'She +was so tired, poor little mamma, she only woke in time to dress for +luncheon, and papa said he was very glad.' + +Miss Lally came round and whispered to me. + +'Nurse,' she said, 'may I go up to the attic? I want to knit a great lot +to-day, and if I stayed down here mamma would see.' + +'Very well, my dear,' I said. 'Only be sure to come downstairs if you +feel chilly.' + +There was really no reason, now that she had a room of her own, for her +ever to sit in the attic, but she had taken a fancy to it, I suppose, +and off she went. + +Miss Bess stood looking out of the window, in a rather idle way she had. + +'Oh dear!' she said impatiently; 'is it _never_ going to leave off +raining? I am so tired of not getting out.' + +'Get something to do, my dear,' I said. 'Then the time will pass more +quickly. It won't stop raining for you watching it, you know. Weren't +you saying something about the schoolroom books needing arranging, and +that you hadn't had time to do them?' + +Miss Bess was in a very giving-in mood. + +'Very well,' she said, moving off slowly. 'I suppose I may as well do +them. But I need somebody to help me; where's Lally?' + +'Don't disturb her yet awhile, poor dear,' I said. 'She does so want to +get on with the work I've told you about.' + +Miss Bess stood looking uncertain. Suddenly an idea struck her. + +'May I have Baby then?' she asked. 'She could hold up the books to me, +and that's about all the help I need, really.' + +I saw no objection, and Miss Baby trotted off very proud, Miss Bess +leading her by the hand. + +The nursery seemed very quiet the next half-hour or so, or maybe longer. +I was beginning to wonder when my lady would be coming, and feeling glad +that Master Bevil, who had just wakened up from a nice sleep, was +looking quite like himself again before she saw him, when suddenly the +door burst open and Master Francis looked in. He was not crying, but +his face had the strained white look I could not bear to see on it. + +'Is there no one here?' he said. + +Somehow I didn't like to question him, grieved though I felt at things +going wrong again. + +'No,' I replied. 'Miss Bess is in the schoolroom with----,' then it +suddenly struck me that my lady might be coming in at any moment, and +that it might be better for Master Francis not to be there. 'Miss +Lally,' I went on quickly, 'is at her knitting in the attic, if you like +to go to her there.' + +He turned and went. Afterwards he told me that he caught sight of my +lady coming along the passage as he left the room, and that he hurried +upstairs to avoid her. He didn't find Miss Lally in the attic as he +expected, but her knitting was there lying on the floor, thrown down +hurriedly, and though she had not forgotten to spread out the clean +towel as usual, in her haste she hadn't noticed that the newly-wound +ball of white wool had rolled some distance away from the half-finished +boot and the pins. + +Afterwards I will tell what happened to Master Francis, up there by +himself in the attic. + +To make all clear, I may here explain why he had not found Miss Lally in +her nook. The book-tidying in the schoolroom had gone on pretty well, +but after a bit, though Miss Baby did her best, Miss Bess found the want +of some one who could read the titles, and she ran upstairs to beg Miss +Lally to come for a few minutes. The few minutes turned into an hour or +more, for the young ladies, just like children as they were, came across +some old favourites in their tidying, and began reading out bits here +and there to each other. And then to please Miss Baby they made houses +and castles of the books on the floor, which she thought a beautiful new +game, so that Miss Lally forgot about her knitting, while feeling, so to +say, at the back of her mind quite easy about it, thinking she had left +it safely lying on the clean cloth. + +They were both so much taken up with what they were about, that it never +struck them to wonder what Master Francis was doing with himself all the +afternoon. + +My lady and I meanwhile were having a long talk in the nursery. It had +been as I feared, Sir Hulbert having spoken most severely to the boy, +and my lady having said some bitter things, which already she was +repenting, more especially when I was able to explain that Master +Francis had really not been so distinctly disobedient as had seemed the +case. + +'We must try and put it right again, I suppose,' she said rather sadly, +as she was leaving the room. 'I wish I didn't take up things so hotly at +the time, but I was really frightened as well as angry. Still Sir +Hulbert would not have spoken so strongly if it hadn't been for me.' + +This was a great deal for my lady to say, and I felt honoured by her +confidence. I began to be more hopeful again, and tried to set out the +tea rather nicer than usual to cheer them up a little. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LOST + + +The three young ladies came in together, Miss Baby looking very +important, but calling out for her tea. + +'It's quite ready, my dear,' I said. 'But where's Master Francis?' + +'_I_ don't know,' said Miss Bess. 'I haven't seen him all the +afternoon.' + +I turned to Miss Lally. + +'He went up to sit with you, my dear, in the attic,' I said. + +'I didn't see him,' said Miss Lally, and then she explained how Miss +Bess had fetched her down ever so long ago. 'I daresay Francie's in his +own room,' she went on. 'I'll run up and see, and I'll look in the attic +too, for I left my work lying about.' + +She ran off. + +'Nurse,' said Miss Bess, 'do you think Francis got a very bad scolding? +You saw him, didn't you? Did he seem very unhappy?' + +'I'm afraid so, my dear, but I think it will come all right again. I've +seen your mamma since, and she quite sees now that he didn't really mean +to be disobedient.' + +'I wish you had told mamma that before they spoke to Francis,' said Miss +Bess, who I must say was rather a Job's comforter sometimes. + +We waited anxiously till we heard Miss Lally's footsteps returning. She +ran in alone, looking rather troubled. + +'He's not there, not in his own room, or the attic, or nowhere, but he +must have been in the attic, for my work's gone.' + +A great fear came over me. Could the poor boy have run away in his +misery at having again angered his uncle and aunt? for the look on his +face had been strange, when he glanced in at the nursery door, asking +for Miss Lally. Was he meaning perhaps to bid her good-bye before +setting off in some wild way? And what she said of the knitting having +gone made me still more uneasy. Had he perhaps taken it with him as a +remembrance? for of all the queer mixtures of old-fashionedness and +childishness that ever I came across, Master Francis was the strangest, +though, as I have said, there was a good deal of this in all the +children. + +I got up at Miss Lally's words. Master Bevil was asleep, luckily. + +'You go on with your tea, my dears, there's good children,' I said. 'I +must see about Master Francis, he must be somewhere about the house. +He'd never have thought of going out again in such weather,' for it was +pouring in torrents. + +I went downstairs, asking everybody I met if they had seen him, but they +all shook their heads, and at last, after searching through the library +and the big drawing-rooms, and even more unlikely places, I got so +frightened that I made bold to knock at Sir Hulbert's study door, where +he was busy writing, my lady working beside him. + +They had been talking of Master Francis just before I went in, and they +were far more distressed than annoyed at my news, my lady growing quite +pale. + +'O Hulbert!' she exclaimed, 'if he has run away it is my fault.' + +'Nonsense, Helen,' he said, meaning to cheer her. 'The boy has got sense +and good feeling, he'd never risk making himself ill again. And where +would he run away to? He couldn't go to sea. But certainly the sooner +we find him the better.' + +He went off to speak to some of the men, while my lady and I, Mrs. Brent +and some of the others, started again to search through the house. We +did search, looking in really impossible corners, where he couldn't have +squeezed himself in. Then the baby awoke, and I had to go to him, and +Miss Bess and Miss Lally took their turn at this melancholy game of +hide-and-seek, but it was all no use. The dull gray afternoon darkened +into night, the rain still pouring down, and nothing was heard of the +missing boy. Sir Hulbert at last left off pretending not to be anxious. +He had his strongest horse put into the dog-cart, and drove away to the +town to give notice to the police, stopping on the way at every place +where it was the least likely the boy could have been seen. + +He didn't get back till eleven o'clock. My lady and Mrs. Brent and me +were waiting up for him, for Master Bevil was sleeping sweetly, and I +had put the nursery-maid to watch beside him. The young ladies, poor +dears, were in bed too, and, as is happily the way with children, had +fallen asleep in spite of their tears and sad distress. + +We knew the moment we saw Sir Hulbert that he had no good tidings to +give us. His sunburnt face looked almost white, as he came into the hall +soaking wet and shook his head. + +'I have done everything, Nelly,' he said, 'everything that can be done, +and now we must try to be patient till some news comes. It is +impossible, everybody says, that a boy like him, so well known in the +neighbourhood too, could disappear without some one seeing him, or that +he could remain in hiding for long. It is perfectly extraordinary that +we have not found him already, and somehow I can scarcely believe he is +doing it on purpose. He has such good feeling, and must know how anxious +we should be.' + +Sir Hulbert was standing by the fire, which my lady had had lighted in +the hall, as he spoke. He seemed almost thinking aloud. My lady crept up +to him with a look on her face I could not bear to see. + +'Hulbert,' she said in a low voice, 'I said things to him enough to make +him doubt our caring at all.' And then she broke down into bitter though +silent weeping. + +We got her to bed with difficulty. There was really no use whatever in +sitting up, and who knew what need for strength the next day might +bring? Then there were the other poor children to think of. So by +midnight the house was all quiet as usual. I was thankful that the wind +had fallen, for all through the evening there had been sounds of wailing +and sobbing, such as stormy weather always brings at Treluan, enough to +make you miserable if there was nothing the matter--the rain pattering +against the window like cold tiny hands, tapping and praying to be let +in. + +Sad as I was, and though I could scarcely have believed it of myself, I +had scarcely laid my head down before I too, like the children, fell +fast asleep. I was dreaming, a strange confused dream, which I never was +able to remember clearly; but it was something about searching in the +smugglers' caves for Master Francis, followed by an old man, who I +somehow fancied was the miser baronet, Sir David. His hair was snow +white, and there was a confusion in my mind of thinking it like Miss +Lally's wool. Anyhow, I had got the idea of whiteness in my head, so +that, when something woke me--afterwards I knew it was the sound of my +own name--and I opened my eyes to see by the glimmer of the night-light +what seemed at first a shining figure by my bed-side, I did not feel +surprised. And the first words I said were 'white as wool.' + +'No, no,' said Miss Lally, for it was she, in her little night-dress, +her fair hair all tumbling over her shoulders, 'it isn't about my wool, +nurse, please wake up quite. It's something so strange--such a queer +noise. Please get up and come to my room to see what it is.' + +Miss Lally's room was a tiny place at the side of the nursery nearest +the tower, though not opening on to the tower stair. + +I got up at once and crossed the day nursery with her, lighting a candle +on the way. But when we got into her room all was perfectly silent. + +'What was it you heard, my dear?' I asked. + +'A sort of knocking,' she said, 'and a queer kind of little cry, like a +rabbit caught in a trap when you hear it a long way off.' + +'It must have been the wind and rain again,' I was beginning to say, but +she stopped me. + +'Hush, listen!' she said, holding up her little hand, 'there it is +again.' + +It was just as she had said, and it seemed to come from the direction of +the tower. + +'Isn't it like as if it was from Francie's room?' said Miss Lally, +shivering a little; 'and yet we know he's not there, nursie.' + +But something was there, or close by, and something _living_, I seemed +to feel. + +'Put on your dressing-gown,' I said to the little girl, 'and your +slippers, and we'll go up and see. You're not frightened, dear?' + +'Oh no!' she said. 'If only it was Francie!' + +But she clung to my hand as we went up the stair, leaving the nursery +door wide open, so as to hear Master Bevil if he woke up. + +Master Francis's room was all dark, of course, and it struck very chill +as we went in, the candle flickering as we pushed the door open. It +seemed so strange to see the empty bed, and everything unused about the +room, just as if he was really quite away. We stood perfectly still. All +was silent. We were just about leaving the room to go to the attic when +the faintest breath of a sound seemed to come again, I couldn't tell +from where. It was more like a sigh in the air. + +'Stop,' said Miss Lally, squeezing my hand, and then again we heard the +muffled taps, much more clearly than downstairs. Miss Lally's ears were +very sharp. + +'I hear talking,' she whispered, and before I knew what she was about +she had laid herself down on the floor and put her ear to the ground, at +a part where there was no carpet. 'Nursie,' she went on, looking up with +a very white face and shining eyes, 'it is Francie. He must have felled +through the floor. I can hear him saying, "O Lally! O Bess! Oh, somebody +come."' + +I stooped down as she had done. It was silent again; but after a moment +began the knocking and a sort of sobbing cry; my ears weren't sharp +enough to make it into words, but I seized the first thing that came to +hand, I think it was the candlestick, and thumped it on the floor as +hard as ever I could, calling out, close down through the boarding, +'Master Francie, we hear you.' + +But there was nothing we could do by ourselves, and we were losing +precious time. + +'Miss Lally,' I said, 'you won't be frightened to stay here alone; I'll +leave you the candle. Go on knocking and calling to him, to keep up his +heart, in case he can hear, while I go for your papa.' + +In less time than it takes to tell it, I had roused Sir Hulbert and +brought him back with me, my lady following after. Nothing would have +kept her behind. We were met by eager words from Miss Lally. + +'Papa, nursie,' she cried, 'I've made him hear, and I can make out that +he says something about the window.' + +Without speaking Sir Hulbert strode across the room and flung it open. +Oh, how thankful we were that the wind had fallen and all was still. + +'Francis, my boy,' we heard Sir Hulbert shout--he was leaning out as far +as ever he could--'Francis, my boy, can you hear me?' + +Something answered, but we inside the room couldn't distinguish what it +said, but in another moment Sir Hulbert turned towards us. + +'He says something about the cupboard in the attic,' he said. 'What can +he mean? But come at once.' + +He caught up my lady's little hand-lamp and led the way, we three +following. When we reached the attic he went straight to the big +cupboard I have spoken of. The doors were standing wide open. Sir +Hulbert went in, but came out again, looking rather blank. + +'I can see nothing,' he said. 'I fancied he said the word "mouse," but +his voice had got so faint.' + +'If you knock on the floor,' I began, but Miss Lally stopped me by +darting into the closet. + +'Papa,' she said, 'hold the light here. I know where the mouse-hole is.' + +What they had thought a mouse-hole was really a hole with jagged edges +cut out in one of the boards, which you could thrust your hand into. Sir +Hulbert did so, beginning to see what it was meant for, and pulled. A +trap-door, cleverly made, for all that it looked so roughly done, gave +way, and by the light of the lamp we saw a kind of ladder leading +downwards into the dark. Sir Hulbert stooped down and leaned over the +edge. + +'Francis,' he called, and a very faint voice--we couldn't have heard it +till the door was opened--answered-- + +'Yes, I'm here. Take care, the ladder's broken.' + +Luckily there was another ladder in the attic. Sir Hulbert and I dragged +it out, and managed to slip it down the hole, in the same direction as +the other. We were so afraid it would be too short, but it wasn't. My +lady and I held it steady at the top, while Sir Hulbert went down with +the lamp, Miss Lally holding a candle beside us. + +Sir Hulbert went down very slowly, not knowing how or in what state +Master Francis might be lying at the foot. Our hearts were beating like +hammers, for all we were so quiet. + +First we heard an exclamation of surprise. I rather think it was 'by +Jove!' though Sir Hulbert was a most particular gentleman in his way of +speaking--then came a hearty shout-- + +'All right, he's here, no bones broken.' + +'Shall I come down?' cried my lady. + +'I think you may,' Sir Hulbert answered, 'if you're very careful. I'll +bring the light to the foot of the ladder again.' + +When my lady got down, Miss Lally and I strained our ears to hear. I +knew the child was quivering to go down herself, and it was like her to +be so patient. + +Strange were the words that first reached us. + +'Auntie, auntie!' we heard Master Francis say, in his poor weak voice. +'It's old Sir David's treasure! You won't be poor any more. Oh! I'm so +glad now I fell down the hole, but I thought I'd die before I could tell +any one.' + +Miss Lally and I stared at each other. Could it be true? or was Master +Francis off his head? We had not long to wait. + +They managed to get him up--after all it was not so very far to +climb,--my lady coming first with the lamp, and Sir Hulbert, holding +Master Francis with one arm and the side of the ladder with the other, +followed, for the boy had revived wonderfully, once he knew he was safe. + +[Illustration: Sir Hulbert, holding Master Francis with one arm and the +side of the ladder with the other, followed.] + +My lady was crying, I saw it the moment the light fell on her face, and +as soon as Master Francis was up beside us, she threw her arms round him +and kissed him as never before. + +'Oh! my poor dear boy,' she said, 'I am so thankful, but do tell us how +it all happened.' + +She must have heard, and indeed seen something of the strange discovery +that had been made, but for the moment I don't think there was a thought +in her heart except thankfulness that he was safe. + +Before Master Francis could answer, Sir Hulbert interrupted. + +'Better not ask him anything for a minute or two,' he said. 'Nurse, you +will find my brandy-flask downstairs in the study. He'd better have a +little mixed with water; and ring the bell as you pass to waken Crooks, +and some one must light the fire in Francis's room.' + +I was back in five minutes with what was wanted; and then I found Miss +Lally having her turn at petting her cousin. As soon as he had had a +little brandy and water we took him down to the nursery, where the fire +was still smouldering, Sir Hulbert carefully closing the trap-door as it +had been before, and then following us downstairs. + +Once in the nursery, anxious though we were to get him to bed, it was +impossible not to let him tell something of what had happened. It began +by a cry from Miss Lally. + +'Why, Francie, you've got my knitting sticking out of your pocket. But +two of the needles have dropped out,' she went on rather dolefully. + +'They'll be lying down in that room,' said Master Francis. 'I was +carrying it in my hand when I went down the ladder after the ball of +wool, and when I fell I dropped it, and I found it afterwards. It was +the ball of wool that did it all,' and then he went on to explain. + +He had not found Miss Lally in the attic, for Miss Bess had already +called her down, but seeing her knitting lying on the floor, he had sat +down to wait for her, thinking she'd be sure to come back. Then he +noticed that the ball of wool must have rolled away as she threw her +work down, and disappeared into the cupboard. The door was wide open, +and he traced it by the thread in his hand to the 'mouse-hole' in the +corner, down which it had dropped, and putting his hand through to see +if he could feel it, to his surprise the board yielded. Pulling a little +more, the trap-door opened, and he saw the steps leading downwards. + +It was not dark in the secret room in the day-time, for it had two +narrow slits of windows hardly to be noticed from the outside, so, with +a boy's natural curiosity, he determined to go down. He hadn't strength +to lift the trap-door fully back, but he managed to stick it open enough +to let him pass through; he had not got down many steps, however, before +he heard it bang to above him. The shock may have jarred the ladder, +which was a roughly-made rotten old thing. Anyway, the next moment +Master Francis felt it give way, and he fell several feet on to the +floor below. He was bruised, and a little stunned for a few minutes, but +he soon came quite to himself, and, still full of curiosity, began to +look about him. The place where he was was only a sort of entrance to a +larger room, which was really under his own bedroom, and lighted, as I +have said, by narrow deep windows, without glass. And though there was +no door between the two, the large room was on a much lower level, and +another ladder led down to it. This time he was very careful, and got to +the bottom without any accident. + +Looking about him, he saw standing along one side of the room a +collection of the queerest-shaped objects of all sizes that could be +imagined, all wrapped up in some kind of linen or canvas, grown gray +with age and dust. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +'OLD SIR DAVID'S' SECRET + + +At first he thought the queer-looking things he saw must be odd-shaped +pieces of stone, or petrifactions, such as you see in old-fashioned +rockeries in gardens sometimes. But when he went close up to them and +touched one, he found that the covering was soft, though whatever was +inside it was hard. He pulled the cloth off it, and saw to his surprise +that it was a heavy silver tea-urn, though so black and discoloured that +it looked more like copper or iron. He examined two or three other +things, standing by near it; they also proved to be large pieces of +plate--great heavy dinner-table centres, candelabra, and such +things,--and, child though he was, Master Francis could see they must be +of considerable value. But this was not what struck him the most. Like a +flash of lightning it darted into his mind that there must be still +more valuable things in this queer store-room. + +'I do believe,' he said to himself, 'that this is old Sir David's +treasure!' + +He was right. It would take too long to describe how he went on +examining into all these strange objects. Several, that looked like +well-stuffed sacks, were tied up so tightly that he couldn't undo the +cord. He made a little hole in one of them with his pocket-knife, and +out rolled, to his delight, ever so many gold pieces! + +'Then,' said Master Francis to us, 'I really felt as if I could have +jumped with joy; but I thought I'd better fetch Uncle Hulbert before I +poked about any more, and I went up the short ladder again, meaning to +go back the way I'd come. I had never thought till that minute that I +couldn't manage it, but the long ladder was broken away so high above my +head that I couldn't possibly reach up to it, and the bits of it that +had fallen on to the floor were quite rotten. And the trap-door seemed +so close shut, that I was afraid no one would hear me however I +shouted.' + +He did shout though, poor boy; it was the only thing he could do. The +short ladder was a fixture and he couldn't move it from its place, even +if it had been long enough to be of any use. After a while he got so +tired of calling out, that he seemed to have no voice left, and I think +he must have fallen into a sort of doze, for the next thing he +remembered was waking up to find that it was quite dark. Then he began +to feel terribly frightened, and to think that perhaps he would be left +there to die of hunger. + +'And the worst of it was,' he said in his simple way, 'that nobody would +ever have known of the treasure.' + +He called out again from time to time, and then a new idea struck him. +He felt about for a bit of wood on the floor and set to work, knocking +as hard as he could. Most likely he fell asleep by fits and starts, +waking up every now and then to knock and call out again, and when the +house was all shut up and silent for the night, of course the sound he +made seemed much louder, only unluckily we were all asleep and might +never have heard it except for dear little Miss Lally. + +It was not till after Master Francis caught the sound of our knocking +back in reply that it came into his head to make his way close up to the +windows--luckily it was not a very dark night--and call through them, +for there was no glass in them, as I have said. If he had done that +before it is just possible we might have heard him sooner, as in our +searching we had been in and out of his room, above where he was, +several times. + +There is not much more for me to tell. Master Francis was ill enough to +have to stay in bed for a day or two, and at first we were a little +afraid that the cold and the terror, and the strange excitement +altogether, might bring on another illness. But it was not so. I think +he was really too happy to fall ill again! + +In a day or two Sir Hulbert was able to tell him all about the +discovery. It was kept quite secret till the family lawyer could be sent +for, and then he and my lady and Sir Hulbert all went down through the +trap-door again with Mr. Crooks, the butler, to help them, and +everything was opened out and examined. It was a real miser's hoard. + +Besides the plate, which was really the least valuable, for it was so +clumsy and heavy that a good deal of it was only fit to be melted down, +there were five or six sacks filled with gold and some with silver coin. +Of course something was lost upon it with its being so old, but taking +it all in all, a very large sum was realised, for a great many of the +Penrose diamonds had been hidden away also, _some_ of which--the most +valuable, though not the most beautiful--were sold. + +Altogether, though it didn't make Sir Hulbert into a millionaire, it +made him a rich man, as rich, I think, as he cared to be. And, strangely +enough, as the old proverb has it, 'it never rains but it pours,' only +two or three years after, money came to my lady which she had never +expected. So that to any one visiting Treluan, as it now is, and seeing +all that has been done by the family, not only for themselves, but for +those about them,--the church, the schools, the cottages on the estate +being perfect models of their kind--it would be difficult to believe +there had ever been want of money to be wisely and generously spent. + +Dear, dear, how many years ago it all is now! There's not many living, +if any, to remember the ins and outs as I do, which is indeed my excuse +for having put it down in my own way. + +Miss Bess,--Miss Penrose, as I should say,--Miss Lalage, and even Miss +Augusta have been married this many a day; and Lady Helen, Miss Bess's +eldest daughter, is sixteen past, and it is she that has promised to +look over my writing and correct it. + +Master Bevil, Sir Bevil now, for Sir Hulbert did not live to be an old +man, has two fine boys of his own, whom I took care of from their +babyhood, as I did their father, and I'm feeling quite lost since Master +Ramsey has gone to school. + +And of dear Master Francis. What words can I say that would be enough? +He is the only one of the flock that has not married, and yet who could +be happier than he is? He never thinks of himself, his whole life has +been given to the noblest work. His writings, I am told, though they're +too learned for my old head, have made him a name far and wide. And all +this he has done in spite of delicate health and frequent suffering. He +seems older than his years, and Sir Bevil is in hopes that before long +he may persuade his cousin to give up his hard London parish and make +his regular home where he is so longed for, in Treluan itself, as our +vicar, and indeed I pray that it may be so while I am still here to see +it. + +Above all, for my dear lady's sake, I scarcely like to own to myself +that she is beginning to fail, for though I speak of myself as an old +woman and feel it is true, yet I can't bear to think that her years are +running near to the appointed threescore and ten, for she is nine years +older than I. She has certainly never been the same, and no wonder, +since Sir Hulbert's death, but she has had many comforts, and almost the +greatest of them has been, as I think I have said before, Master +Francis. + + * * * * * + +Mother and my aunts want me to add on a few words of my own to dear old +nurse's story. She gave it me to read and correct here and there, more +than a year ago, and I meant to have done so at once. But for some +months past I hardly felt as if I had the heart to undertake it, +especially as I didn't like bringing back the remembrance of their old +childish days to mother and my aunts, or to Uncle Bevil and Uncle +Francis, as we always call him, just in the first freshness of their +grief at dear grandmamma's death. And I needed to ask them a few things +to make the narrative quite clear for any who may ever care to read it. + +But now that the spring has come back again, making us all feel bright +and hopeful (we have all been at Treluan together for Uncle Bevil's +birthday), I have enjoyed doing it, and they all tell me that they have +enjoyed hearing about the story and answering my questions. + +Dear grandmamma loved the spring so! She was so gentle and sweet, +though she never lost her quick eager way either. And though she died +last year, just before the daffodils and primroses were coming out, +somehow this spring the sight of them again has not made us feel sad +about her, but _happy_ in the best way of all. + +Perhaps I should have said before that I am 'Nelly,' 'Miss Bess's' +eldest daughter. Aunt Lalage has only one daughter, who is named after +mother, and _I_ think very like what mother must have been at her age. + +There are five of _us_, and Aunt Augusta has two boys, like Uncle Bevil. + +What used to be 'the secret room,' where our miser ancestor kept the +hoard so strangely discovered, has been joined, by taking down the +ceiling, to what in the old days was Uncle Francis's room, and enters +from a door lower down the tower stair, and Uncle Bevil's boys have made +it into what they call their 'Museum.' We are all very fond of showing +it to visitors, and explaining how it used to be, and telling the whole +story. Uncle Francis always maintains that Aunt Lally saved his life, +and though she gets very red when he says so, I do think it is true. She +really was very brave for such a little girl. If I heard knockings in +the night, I am afraid I should hide my head under the clothes, and put +my fingers in my ears. + +Uncle Francis and Aunt Lally always do seem almost more brother and +sister to each other than any of the rest; and her husband, Uncle +Geoffrey, whom next to Uncle Francis I think I like best of all my +uncles, was one of _his_--I mean Uncle Francis's; what a confusion I'm +getting into--best friends at college. + +When I began this, after correcting nurse's manuscript, I thought +nothing would be easier than to write a story in the most beautiful +language, but I find it so much harder than I expected that I am not +sorry to think that there is really nothing more of importance to tell. +And I must say my admiration for the way in which nurse has performed +_her_ task has increased exceedingly! + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nurse Heatherdale's Story, by +Mary Louisa Molesworth + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NURSE HEATHERDALE'S STORY *** + +***** This file should be named 39047.txt or 39047.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/4/39047/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.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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