Ah! well, we must go, said Carey, as they gathered up their armloads of flowers. You naughty children to make me forget everything.
You are not sorry you came though, mother. It has done you good, said Allen solicitously. He was the most affectionate of them all.
Sorry! I feel as if I cared for nothing while I have a place like that to drink up delight in.
With which they tried to make their way back to the path again, but it was not immediately to be found; and their progress was further impeded by a wood-pigeon dwelling impressively on the notes Take two cows, Taffy; Taffy take TWO! and then dashing out, flapping and grey, in their faces, rather to Barbaras alarm, and then by Armines stumbling on his first birds nest, a wrens in the moss of an old stump, where the tiny bird unadvisedly flew out of her leafy hole full before their eyes. That was a marvel of marvels, a delight equal to that felt by any explorer the world has seen. Armine and Barbara, who lived in one perpetual fairy tale, were saying to one another that
One neednt make believe here, it was every bit real.
And more; added the other little happy voice. Barbara did however begin to think of the numerous children in the wood, and to take comfort that it was unprecedented that their mother and big brother should be with them, but they found the park palings at last, and then a little wicket gate, where they were very near home.
Mother, where have you been? exclaimed Janet, somewhat suddenly emerging from the door.
In Tom Tiddlers ground, picking up gold and silver, said Carey, pointing to the armsful of king-cups, cuckoo-flowers, and anemones, besides blue-bells, orchises, primroses, &c. My poor child, it was a great shame to leave you, but they got me into the enchanted land and I forgot all about everything.
I think so, said a gravely kind voice, and Caroline was aware of Ellens eye looking at her as the Court Queen might have looked at Ophelia if she had developed her taste for long purples as Hamlets widow. At least so it struck Mother Carey, who immediately became conscious that her bonnet was awry, having been half pulled off by a bramble, that her ankles were marked by the bog, and that bits of green were sticking all over her.
Have you been helping Janet? Oh, how kind! she said, refreshed by her delightsome morning into putting a bright face on it.
We have done all we could in your absence, said her sister-in-law, in a reproachful voice.
Thank you; Im sure it is very good of you. JanetJanet, wheres the great Dutch bowland the little Salviati? Nothing else is worthy of this dear little fairy thing.
What is it? Just common wood-sorrel, said the other lady, in utter amaze.
Ah, Ellen, you think me demented. You little know what it is to see spring for the first time. Ah! thats right, Janet. Now, Babie, well make a little bit of fairy-land
Dont put all those littering flowers on that nice clean chintz, children, exclaimed the aunt, as though all her work were about to be undone.
And then a trampling of boys boots being heard and shouts of Mother, Carey darted out into the hall to hear fragments of school intelligence as to work and play, tumbling over one another, from Bobus and Jock both at once, in the midst of which Mrs. Robert Brownlow came out with her hat on, and stood, with her air of patient serenity, waiting for an interval.
Caroline looked up, and said, I beg your pardon, Ellenwhat is it?
If you can attend a moment, said she, gravely; I must be going to my boys dinner. But Robert wishes to know whether he shall order this paper for the drawing-room. It cannot be put up yet, of course; but Smith has only a certain quantity of it, and it is so stylish that he said the Colonel had better secure it at once.
She spread the roll of paper on the hall table. It was a white paper, slightly tinted, and seemed intended to represent coral branches, with starry-looking things at the ends.
The aquarium at the Zoo, muttered Bobus; and Caroline herself, meeting Allens eye, could not refrain from adding,
The worms they crawled in,
And the worms they crawled out.
Mother! cried Jock, I thought you were going to paint it all over with jolly things.
Frescoes, said Allen; shant you, mother?
If your uncle does not object, said his mother, choking down a giggle. Those plaster panels are so tempting for frescoes, Ellen.
Frescoes! Why, those are those horrid improper-looking gods and goddesses in clouds and chariots on the ceilings at Belforest, observed that lady, in a half-puzzled, half-offended tone of voice, that most perilously tickled the fancy of Mother Carey and her brood! and she could hardly command her voice to make answer, Never fear, Ellen; we are not going to attempt allegorical monstrosities, only to make a bower of green leaves and flowers such as we see round us; though after what we have seen to-day that seems presumptuous enough. Fancy, Janet! golden green trees and porcelain blue ground, all in one bath of sunshine. Such things must be seen to be believed in.
Poor Mrs. Robert Brownlow! She went home and sighed, as she said to her husband, Well, what is to become of those poor things I do not know. One would sometimes think poor Caroline was just a little touched in the head.
I hope not, said the Colonel, rather alarmed.
It may be only affectation, said his lady, in a consolatory tone. I am afraid poor Joe did live with a very odd set of peopleartists, and all that kind of thing. I am sure I dont blame her, poor thing! But she is worse to manage than any child, because you cant bid her mind what she is about, and not talk nonsense. When she leaves her house in such a state, and no one but that poor girl to see to anything, and comes home all over mud, raving about fairyland, and gold trees and blue ground; when she has just got into a bog in Belforest coppicelittering the whole place, too, with common wild flowers. If it had been Essie and Ellie, I should just have put them in the corner for making such a mess!
The Colonel laughed a little to himself, and said, consolingly, Well, well, you know all these country things are new to her. You must be patient with her.
Patient! That had to be the burthen of the song on both sides. Carey was pushing back her hair with a fierce, wild sense of impatience with that calm assumption that fretted her beyond all bearing, and made her feel desolate beyond all else. She would have, she thought, done well enough alone with her children, and scrambled into her new home; but the directions, however needful, seemed to be continually insulting her understanding. When she was advised as to the best butcher and baker, there was a ring in her ears as if Ellen meant that these were safe men for a senseless creature like her, and she could not encounter them with her orders without wondering whether they had been told to treat her well.
Indeed, one of the chief drawbacks to Careys comfort was her difficulty in attending to what her brother and sister-in-law said to her. Something in the measured tones of the Colonel always made her thoughts wander as from a dull sermon; and this was more unlucky in his case than in his wifesfor Ellen used such reiterations that there was a fair chance of catching her drift the second or third time, if not the first, whereas all he said was well weighed and arranged, and was only too heavy and sententious.
Kencroft, the home of the Colonel and his family, Mrs. Robert Brownlows inheritance, was certainly a picture of a place. It had probably been an appendage of the old minster, though the house was only of the seventeenth century; but that was substantial and venerable of its kind, and exceedingly comfortable and roomy, with everything kept in perfect order. Caroline could not quite think the furniture worthy of it, but that was not for want of the desire to do everything handsomely and fashionably. Moreover, in spite of the schoolroom and nurseryful of children, marvels of needlework and knitting adorned every table, chair, and sofa, while even in the midst of the town Kencroft had its own charming garden; a lawn, once devoted to bowls and now to croquet, an old-fashioned walled kitchen garden, sloping up the hill, and a paddock sufficient to make cows and pigs part of the establishment.
Kencroft, the home of the Colonel and his family, Mrs. Robert Brownlows inheritance, was certainly a picture of a place. It had probably been an appendage of the old minster, though the house was only of the seventeenth century; but that was substantial and venerable of its kind, and exceedingly comfortable and roomy, with everything kept in perfect order. Caroline could not quite think the furniture worthy of it, but that was not for want of the desire to do everything handsomely and fashionably. Moreover, in spite of the schoolroom and nurseryful of children, marvels of needlework and knitting adorned every table, chair, and sofa, while even in the midst of the town Kencroft had its own charming garden; a lawn, once devoted to bowls and now to croquet, an old-fashioned walled kitchen garden, sloping up the hill, and a paddock sufficient to make cows and pigs part of the establishment.
The Colonel had devoted himself to gardening and poultry with the mingled ardour and precision of a man who needed something to supply the place of his soldierly duties; and though his fervour had relaxed under the influence of ease, gout, and substantial flesh, enough remained to keep up apple-pie order without-doors, and render Kencroft almost a show place. The meadow lay behind the house, and a gravel walk leading along its shaded border opened into the lane about ten yards from the gate of the Pagoda, as Colonel and Mrs. Brownlow and the post office laboured to call it; the Folly, as came so much more naturally to everyones lips. It had been the work of the one eccentric man in Mrs. Robert Brownlows family, and was thus her property. It had hung long on hand, being difficult to let, and after making sufficient additions, it had been decided that, at a nominal rent, it would house the family thrown upon the hands of the good Colonel.
CHAPTER VII. THE COLONELS CHICKENS
They censured the bantam for strutting and crowing,
In those vile pantaloons that he fancied looked knowing;
And a want of decorum caused many demurs
Against the game chicken for coming in spurs.
Left to themselves, Mother Carey, with Janet and old nurse, completed their arrangements so well that when Jessie looked in at five oclock, with a few choice flowers covering a fine cucumber in her basket, she exclaimed in surprise, How nice you have made it all look, I shall be so glad to tell mamma.
Tell her what? asked Janet.
That you have really made the room look nice, said Jessie.
Thank you, said her cousin, ironically. You see we have as many hands as other people. Didnt Aunt Ellen think we had?
Of course she did, said Jessie, a pretty, kindly creature, but slow of apprehension; only she said she was very sorry for you.
And why? cried Janet, leaping up in indignation.
Why? interposed Allen, because we are raw cockneys, who go into raptures over primroses and wild hyacinths, eh, Jessie?
Well, you have set them up very nicely, said Jessie; but fancy taking so much trouble about common flowers.
What would you think worth setting up? asked Janet. A big dahlia, I suppose, or a great red cactus?
We have a beautiful garden, said Jessie: papa is very particular about it, and we always get the prize for our flowers. We had the first prizes for hyacinths and forced roses last week, and we should have had the first for forced cucumbers if the gardener at Belforest had not had a spite against Spencer, because he left him for us. Everybody said there was no comparison between the cucumbers, and Mr. Ellis said
Janet had found the day before how Jessie could prattle on in an endless quiet stream without heeding whether any one entered into it or replied to it; but she was surprised at Allens toleration of it, though he changed the current by saying, Belforest seems a jolly, place.
But youve only seen the wood, not the gardens, said Jessie.
I went down to the lake with Mr. Ogilvie, said Allen, and saw something splendiferous looking on the other side.
Oh! they are beautiful! cried Janet, all laid out in ribbon gardens and with the most beautiful terrace, and a fountainonly that doesnt play except when you give the gardener half-a-crown, and mamma says, that is exorbitantand statues standing all roundreal marble statues.
Like the groves of Blarney, muttered Janet:
Heathen goddesses most rare,
Homer, Venus, and Nebuchadnezzar,
All standing naked in the open air.
Allen, seeing Jessie scandalised, diverted her attention by asking, Whom does it belong to?
Mr. Barnes, said Jessie; but he is hardly ever there. He is an old miser, you knowwhat they call a millionaire, or mill-owner; which is it?
One is generally the French for the other, put in Janet.
Never mind her, Jessie, said Allen, with a look of infinite displeasure at his sister. What does he do which keeps him away?
I believe he is a great merchant, and is always in Liverpool, said Jessie. Any way, he is a very cross old man, and wont let anybody go into his park and gardens when he comes down here; and he is very cruel too, for he disinherited his own nephew and niece for marrying. Only think Mrs. Watson at the grocers told our Susan that theres a little girl, who is his own great-niece, living down at River Hollow Farm with Mr. and Mrs. Gould, just brought up by common farmers, you know, and he wont take any notice of her, nor give one farthing for bringing her up. Isnt it shocking? And even when he is at home, he only has two chops or two steaks, or just a bit of kidney, and that when he is literally rolling in gold.
Jessie opened her large brown eyes to mark her horror, and Allen, made a gesture of exaggerated sympathy, which his sister took for more earnest than it was, and she said, scornfully, I should like to see him literally rolling in gold. It must be like Midas. Do you mean that he sleeps on it, Jessie? How hard and cold!
Nonsense, said Jessie; you know what I mean.
I know what literally rolling in gold means, but I dont know what you mean.
Dont bully her, Janet, said Allen; we are not so stupid, are we, Jessie? Come and show me the walnut-tree you were telling me about.
Whats the matter, Janet? said her mother, coming in a moment or two after, and finding her staring blankly out of the window, where the two had made their exit.
O mother, Jessie has been talking such gossip, and Allen likes it, and wont have it stopped! I cant think what makes Allen and Bobus both so foolish whenever she is here.
She is a very pretty creature, said Carey, smiling a little.
Pretty! repeated Janet. What has that to do with it?
A great deal, as you will have to find out in the course of your life, my dear.
I thought only foolish people cared about beauty.
It is very convenient for us to think so, said Carey, smiling.
But mothersurely everybody cares for you just as much or more than if you were a great handsome, stupid creature! How I hate that word handsome!
Except for a cab, said Carey.
Ah! when shall I see a Hansom again? said Janet in a slightly sentimental tone. But she returned to the charge, Dont go, mother, I want you to answer.