I didn't know what to say, so I was silent, and then I blurted out:
"I do want to like you, Pat, but I want the boys and all of us to 'hold fast,' and you mustn't keep us from doing it."
"May the de—"
I put my hand across his mouth.
"I hate you when you speak like that!"
"Ah, sure, what words can I use to make you feel I'm in raving stark earnest that I'll take a grip with you all, and hold fast through all the ages to come?"
He wouldn't be serious, but we parted friends. And when he had gone, the house felt quite dull and empty.
This afternoon Lynette and I got ready for our governess. The schoolroom gets disgracefully untidy, the boys are simply wonderful for bringing things into it, but they never take them away. They took Puff down to the beach with them directly dinner was over, and we were longing to be with them, but Peggy besought us to tidy up. She said she couldn't do it, and she would be sorry for the poor governess to arrive into such "chay-oss." I've spelt it as she pronounced it. Peggy tries to use very grand words sometimes.
Aylwin had brought an old crow's-nest in, and left it on the couch. Denys had littered half the room with chips and shavings trying to make a boat for Puff. Puff had upset his paint-box, and never picked it up.
In one corner of the room, the housemaid had collected all our things from the day before, and we had to sort out the heap. There was the long ribbon seaweed that is such a good barometer when hung up, and some stockings that Lynette had got tired of mending, and some shells, and a tangly ball of string, and Denys's fishing-tackle, and two dirty jerseys of the boys', and a pair of sand-shoes, and some pictures we had cut out of a magazine for a scrap-book, and a dead mouse that we had caught in a trap and forgotten to bury, and some fir-cones, and ever so many more things that had to be sorted and put by. When we had finished at last, we were hot and sticky and dirty, and rather cross.
Lynette threw herself on the couch.
"Good-bye to all fun now! Grisel, I know I shall hate this governess of ours. I'm bound to do it, for she is bound to see that we behave ourselves. She will expect us to be always clean and tidy, and polite to each other, and it will be:
"'Take your elbows off the table. Hold your head up. Don't giggle. Say "Thank you" when I tell you of your faults. Look grateful when I scold you for your good. Don't frown, don't fidget!'
"Oh, can't you hear her? It's a beastly shame to have somebody with us every minute of the day, and never be free from her."
"Perhaps she'll have a day off sometimes," I suggested. "I should want to get away from my pupils sometimes if I were a governess."
"She won't. No such luck for us. How I wish I was a boy. They always have a much jollier time than girls. They'll be away at school in a couple of days, playing football and hockey, and having paper-chases, and sports and concerts and all kinds of lovely things. If we went to school, we would have the same. But a governess spoils everything."
I wandered round the room, just putting a few tidy touches here and there. I felt very downhearted.
"We must do our best to like her. Father would like us to get on, and we are growing up, Lynette. Think of the time when lessons are over, and we shall have a dear little house all to ourselves, and you and I will do just as much cooking as we like, and the boys will come home and say how jolly well we do them."
"They'll be away at a war, perhaps, if they're soldiers," said Lynette, getting up from the sofa as she spoke. "The worst part of this governess is that we shall have her listening to everything we say. We'll never be alone again. Come on, Grisel, let us wash our hands."
"Wait a little. Here's all this paste left from our scrap-book. Can't we use it up on anything?"
As I looked round, I saw that in climbing to get out of the window, Puff had torn a piece of the wall-paper off. It was over a damp spot on the wall, and there was a long strip hanging down.
So we got a chair, and I got up, and Lynette was handing me the basin of paste, when somehow the chair slipped from under me, and down I fell, and caught hold of Lynette, and she tumbled with me, and that nasty basin of paste spilled itself all over the top of us. We were laughing at the most awful mess we were in, when the door opened suddenly, and there was Aunt Isobel, and behind her was our governess!
Now wasn't that a horrible hick for fate to play us? We had meant to have our hair brushed, and be so awfully spick and span that Aunt Isobel would be quite pleased to show how tidy and clean we kept ourselves. And our heads were now half covered with paste, and our faces too. We were simply a disgrace to be seen! And I wished, as story-books say, that the floor could have opened and swallowed us down out of sight.
CHAPTER VIII
OUR GOVERNESS
"HERE are your pupils, Miss Garton. I am ashamed of their appearance, but you will see how they need somebody to take them in charge."
I looked up in confusion, and put my sticky hands behind my back.
"If you had come ten minutes later, Aunt Isobel," I said, "you would have found us in beautiful order. We've been working hard all the afternoon to get tidy, but we're just in the middle of an accident."
"Yes," Lynette chimed in, "and it's all spoilt now. I wish we'd gone off with the boys and left the horrid old room to tidy itself."
Miss Garton was a surprise to us. She was very tall, and—yes, I can use no other word—very beautiful. She had large dark eyes, and fair hair, and a sweet smile. She looked round the room and not at us, and that was nice of her, for it gave us time to dab our faces with our handkerchiefs and get some of the paste off, and then she said very pleasantly:
"I think our schoolroom is delightfully tidy, and what a dear old room it is!"
"It was our nursery when we were small," Aunt Isobel said, and the sad soft look came into her eyes that I love to see, for it reminds me of mother.
Miss Garton walked to the window to look-out.
I picked up the chair and paste-bowl, and got a cloth to wipe up the mess on the carpet.
Aunt Isobel left the room, and Lynette dashed away to tidy herself.
Then Miss Garton turned round and smiled upon me.
"Are you the eldest of my pupils?" she asked.
And then she took my hand in hers, and gave it a little pat.
"Are we going to be friends, Grisel?"
I don't know why, but a lump came in my throat, and the tears to my eyes. It suddenly seemed to me that I had been struggling alone for ages to do what was right, and now somebody kind and loving and strong was going to help me and take me by the hand.
I looked up at her.
"Oh, Miss Garton," I said, "don't believe we're as bad as we look. We all want to be good, and to hold fast to what father taught us, but accidents, and misfortunes, and all kinds of horrid things happen to put us, and keep us, in disgrace. And Lynette is 'such' a dear when you know her. And Puff is his darling funny self, and the boys—they really are the nicest boys I've ever seen. We didn't come here with bad characters. Our village was quite fond of us; I don't know how we're so bad here. It is such a stiff cold house! I think—I think it is because we feel that nobody cares for us now. It makes us feel nothing matters!"
I couldn't help telling her all that, for I hoped she would understand.
And she did. She laughed a happy little laugh.
"Why, Grisel," she said, "it isn't very long ago that I was your age, and I had six brothers. Do you think I don't know what boys are like, and girls too? I think it's splendid of you staying in on this fine afternoon to tidy up this dear old schoolroom. I don't think I should have done it! Now do you think you could show me my room?"
I went along the passage at once. I was awfully happy, and when I had shown her her room, I dashed into our bedroom and cried out to Lynette:
"She's splendid, lovely, stunning! Oh, I love her with all my heart!"
Lynette was tying her hair up with her best Sunday ribbon. She looked at me with merry eyes.
"She's caught you very cleverly, Grisel!"
"She hasn't caught me at all. You must have liked her, Lynette. You couldn't help it!"
"I'll wait and see," said Lynette, nodding with her provoking smile. "A governess is bound to be beastly, as I told you. She may be smiling outside, but inside she's chock full of rules and proper ways!"
We did not see Miss Garton till tea-time, and then the boys were back. We hastily told them what she was like. They pretended it had nothing to do with them, but I noticed that both Denys and Aylwin sneaked away and washed their hands and gave themselves a brush up before they came to tea, and they don't always do that—not when we're alone. I always clean up Puff for every meal. I simply have to, for his hands get quite smelly.
Miss Garton came to tea, and Denys shook hands with her with his best manners.
"Hope you don't mind us grubbing with you, but we're off to school very soon, and then the girls will have the schoolroom to themselves."
"But there's me left," piped Puff in his shrill tone; "I'm not a girl."
"You're less than nothing," said Lynette scoffingly—"hardly a cipher; a shortsighted person wouldn't see you."
Puff began to snort and stammer.
"I shall have my tea with grandfather. He doesn't think I'm not nothing. He tells me to come and see him whenever I like. I shall tell him it's nothing but girls up here, and he and me will live in his room togever."
"Shut up, young snorter!" said Aylwin. And he gave him a kick under the table, which Puff dodged, and poor Miss Garton got it instead.
"We seem rather cramped for room under our table," she remarked.
Aylwin got scarlet.
"Sorry, but Puff is such a little beast when he gets on his high horse!"
After this we got on better. She talked quite naturally, and asked us lots of questions about the walks, and the sea, and before we came to bed, the boys acknowledged that she wasn't half bad, and I liked her better and better every moment. And now these last few days before the boys go to school, she seems to think of and do everything for us all. She took Peggy's work-basket from her, and darned the boys' stockings like lightning. I came into the room this afternoon and found her still at it.
We had been in the boys' room helping them pack. Denys pretends he is an awfully good packer, but he isn't, for he doesn't fill up the corners as he goes, and then crams all kinds of things down in them at the end. I came away at last, for they were all making the most awful noise, so that I got quite a headache. And the schoolroom looked so quiet and peaceful that I was quite glad I had left them.
I got hold of my work-box and asked Miss Garton to let me help her. I told her I used to do all the stockings at home, but Peggy had taken them away from me here.
"And that's what is the matter," I said. "We're all treated as if we are troublesome, naughty children, and must be kept out of sight. Aunt Isobel hardly comes near us, and we only see grandfather about once or twice a week. And I have always felt—well, responsible—and useful, and able to understand the reason of things, when father or the aunts talked to me. Here, we lose heart, at least I do. There's nothing to do for others. We have it all done for us. Lynette used to mend her own clothes, and we used to sit together and do our mending and tell stories. Here she never sits still at all. She gets wilder than ever, and throws her torn clothes down on the floor for Peggy to pick up and take away. I'm getting nearly as bad myself."
Miss Garton handed me a pair of Puff's stockings to mend, and she nodded as if she understood me.
"Yes, I know how you must feel, Grisel, but you must pull yourself together. Why should you leave off being helpful and useful? You tell me you want to hold fast to all that your father taught you—"
"Yes," I broke in, "but it's too difficult; I can't do it. And we quarrel so, Miss Garton. We never used to."
Tears crowded in my eyes. I really had come away from the boys because they told me I was a "double-distilled prig and fusser."
"Well, I know what will put matters right," said Miss Garton cheerfully.
"Do tell me."
"Yes, I will. We will have a talk together on Sunday when the boys are gone."
I think Miss Garton said this because Lynette dashed into the room. That's the worst of it. There are such a lot of us, and only one room to live in; we get in each other's way, and we can't get alone. Though this is quite a castle compared with our old home, yet it seems cramped and small, because we have only one corner of it. We're all right out of doors, but we have had a lot of wet weather and storms, and it's indoors where we quarrel.
"Puff has gone off down the front stairs to grandfather's study," said Lynette. "I told him he wasn't to. Denys boxed his ears because he checked him, and first he roared and cried, and then he said he'd go and tell grandfather. He simply took no notice of me. Puff is getting awful."
"We all are!" I said gloomily. "Let him go to grandfather; he won't mind. He spoils Puff!"
"I think perhaps poor Puff has too many managing him," said Miss Garton quietly. "I haven't begun to try my hand yet. You don't give me a chance. I have been watching you all. You mean well, but the sweetest temper would be spoiled by so much snubbing and managing!"
Lynette stared at Miss Garton. She stood by the window pulling the blind up and down, for she never can keep still.
"Do you think we're unkind to Puff?" she asked.
"I think you're rather hard upon him."
This was a new idea to both of us. I looked at Lynette, and she looked at me. Then she flew out of the room. I knew she had gone to tell the boys what Miss Garton had said. In a minute or two, we had Puff stamping along the passage, and then in they all came. Puff's eyes were sparkling. He was triumphant.
"I told of you, and grandfather says I shan't see you again till the summer holidays, and I'm glad of it!"
"You little sneak!" said Aylwin. "You ought to go to school. You'd get it hot for blabbing!"
I was just going to scold Puff for telling tales, but I stopped. I felt that we were always scolding him, and that Miss Garton was right.
"We're packed," announced Denys. "Peggy is pretending to finish, but we've left her nothing to do, and now we're just going to have a run along the beach."
"Let the girls go with you," said Miss Garton cheerfully, "and Puff can stay with me."
Puff looked at her doubtfully, but she smiled at him. And we left him settling down happily at the schoolroom table with his box of soldiers.
As Lynette and I were putting on our coats and hats I said:
"Miss Garton always lets us be free when she can. That's why I love her."
"Yes, she isn't like most governesses," said Lynette. "I wish she would make Puff not quite such a little beast."
Then we joined the boys and we had a jolly time. Just before we came home to tea, I was alone with Denys, and I was glad of it.
"Shall you be in the same form as Pat?" I asked.
"How can I tell! I rather hope so. He'll keep us lively."
"But, Denys, you won't let him—I mean, you will remember—" I stopped. Somehow it was getting very difficult to speak to the boys.
Denys looked at me and laughed.
"Go ahead, Grizzy! Rub it in."
"Oh, Denys!" I cried miserably. "You used to help me. You know what father said; we used to try to serve God together, and now we all seem to be living—just anyhow. I know I don't 'hold fast' any better than you do. I get angry, and do everything I oughtn't to do. But I thought at school you might help Aylwin by reminding him, and don't do what Pat wants you to do, if it isn't right. I do feel that father sent his message by me—that's why I 'rub it in,' as you call it. And I don't want to be a prig."
Tears were crowding to my eyes. I turned my head quickly away so that Denys shouldn't see them.
"All serene!" Denys said cheerfully. "You've given us the charge, Grizzy, and it's our look-out if we keep it. We don't want to be nagged at, you know. I shall remember 'H.F.' It's a pity—"
He stopped short, then waved his cap with a flourish.
"I'm inspired, Grizzy. Halloo, Aylwin, you're wanted! Now, you girls, go on off home. We've private business on."
He pulled hold of Alywin, and they both tore off along the beach in the direction of some fishermen's cottages. We were most indignant.
"It's too bad of them," said Lynette; "let's go after them."
"No," I said; "they don't want us. They'll only be furious if we follow them."
"Well, we'll just have a paddle," suggested Lynette; "it will be lovely; come on."
"It will be too cold," I said, "and Miss Garton expects us back to tea at five, and it's nearly half-past four now."
I showed her my watch—mother's watch, which I always wore.
She made a grimace, but I got her to go back to the house with me.
I thought that Denys had run off from me to stop me preaching at him, and I felt rather down about it.
When we got up to the schoolroom, Puff met us with a radiant face.
"I've been hearing jolly stunning stories, much better than yours, Grizzy. Me and Miss Garton are fren's."
"I'm glad to hear it," I said.
Miss Garton was out of the room.
"And she says I can spell wonderful. We've had a game with letters. She's got a funny little box of them, and we jumble the letters up and make words."
I sat down by the fire. The schoolroom always looks comfortable at tea-time, and I felt very tired. Puff, seeing I was rather silent, put his head on one side and looked at me, just like some saucy sparrow.
"Are you feeling good or evil, Grizzy?"
I couldn't help laughing.
"You're a little imp, Puff! I'm feeling sorry that the boys are going away."
"I'm not. I'm glad, orf'lly glad. I'll have a room to myself, and they shan't kick me out of bed in the morning any more. And grandfather is going to give me a pony. I told him to, and he said 'yes.' And he says I may call him Gruffy!"
"Oh, Puff, I don't believe it!"
"He did; he said he liked it. And when I get tired of living with girls and womans, he told me to come downstairs to him. And Gruffy and me like to be together. It's ripping!"
Puff's confidences stopped here, for Peggy came in with the tea.
The boys were a quarter of an hour late for it, but they came to the table looking full of mystery, and we couldn't get out of them where they had been.
"We've been having some rites performed," Aylwin said importantly.
"You've been ducked in the sea by somebody!" guessed Lynette.
They shook their heads. After tea, they went down to grandfather's study. He wanted to see them, for they would be going to school early the next morning before he was up, and it was a good-bye visit.
They came upstairs delighted.
"We took our pills, and then had the jam," said Denys, opening his hand and showing us a golden sovereign.
Aylwin had the same. I think it was noble of grandfather to give it to them. I expect he lectured them. Aylwin said he did, but they didn't tell us what he said.
It was just before they went to bed that they showed Lynette and me what they had been doing.
Denys rolled up his shirt-sleeve, and there, above his left wrist, was tattooed in blue—"H.F."
Aylwin had the same. I was simply delighted. Lynette didn't know at first what it was. They had got an old sailor to do it for them. We knew him well, for he had shown us his arms, which were just like scrap-books. They were simply covered with letters and pictures!
"Oh, I think it is splendid!" I said.
"Branded for life!" said Aylwin. "I don't know that I quite like it, only nobody will know what it means—that's a comfort, and if they ask I shall say 'Happy Fellow.'"
"Or 'Happy Fool,'" Lynette suggested.
I couldn't laugh. I thought of them going about, not only at school, but afterwards when they're grown-up, and in the army and in battle, and when they're older still, and perhaps fathers of families and getting old men, always able to look at their arm and read "Hold Fast." How it will remind them!
"Why, Grizzy, what big eyes!" said Denys. "Now there'll be no need of jawing at us ever again. You'll have lost your vocation."
"Oh!" I said, drawing a long breath. "I think it is lovely."
And then I made up my mind at once that I would be tattooed too. Lynette seemed to guess my thoughts.
"We must all be done!" she said. "Of course we must. Hurrah for 'H.F.'! 'H.F.' for ever!"
And then she danced round the room, and the boys began to romp after her, and dragged me into it. And when Miss Garton came in, she said she could hardly see us for the dust we were making.
The schoolroom carpet is old, and hasn't been very well swept, we say. But Peggy says we would raise the dust out of polished floors-which of course is nonsense!
When Miss Garton heard about the boys' arms, she told us that we must not copy them.
"Why?" Lynette asked. "It is to make us good, and keep us good, without any jawing from anybody!"
"You are girls," said Miss Garton. "When you are grown-up, you will have bare arms in evening dress, and the letters would look ugly."
"But we shouldn't mind," I urged; "it would be cowardly of us if we minded telling people what it was."
"Let the letters sink into your hearts and stay there," she said; "that is the best place for them."
I was awfully disappointed. Lynette pursed up her mouth and said nothing. I felt she wouldn't give up the idea, but we began talking about other things, and nothing more was said about it.
Now the boys have gone. It is dreadful without them. But we're starting lessons, and I see that Miss Garton means to keep us hard at work. She says we're dreadfully backward for our ages, and I know we are. She makes all our lessons very interesting. Even Lynette likes learning with her. And Puff is as good as a little cherub. The only troublesome thing about him is that he is always running off to grandfather. Grandfather encourages him to do it. Sometimes they walk up and down the terrace together, and Puff is the talker and grandfather the listener. He always calls him Gruffy now, and grandfather calls him the Bantam.
Miss Garton had to go downstairs and fetch him once. He ran away in lesson time, and she is very punctual and particular about the hours we work and the hours we play. The day after the boys went, Lynette and I went out into the garden by ourselves. I went to my favourite seat in the old rose garden. Lynette came with me, but she soon rushed off, and then I saw nothing of her for more than an hour. When she came into the schoolroom, she was limping.
"The boys never told us it hurt!" she said.
"Oh, Lynette, you've been tattooed on your leg!" I cried.
She nodded, then pulled down her stocking, and on the front of her foot she showed me a large "H.F."
I did not know whether I envied her or not.
"You can't show it to people," I said.
"Well, why should I? We don't go about and brag about it, do we? We don't shout out, 'Hold Fast' all day long."
"No. But you won't be reminded of it like the boys are. You will only see it when you go to bed and when you get up."
"That's just the time I want to see it, when I say my prayers. It belongs to them. It's religious."
Lynette always puts things so funnily.
"I want to be reminded of it in the middle of the day," I said.
"So shall I be when I paddle in the sea," said Lynette. "And anyhow, I'm branded with it for ever and ever."
Then I began to want it too—but I didn't like the idea of having it on my foot. Miss Garton was not pleased when she heard of what Lynette had done.
"I thought I had reasonable girls to deal with," she said. "You are too independent for your age, Lynette. Must I positively forbid you, Grisel, to have your foot done?"
"No," I said, "if you say I'd better not, I won't. But I can't help liking the idea of it very much."
Miss Garton smiled at me.
"There's a romantic touch, isn't there, Grisel? But I'm perfectly certain that if anybody is branded with those words upon her heart and brain it is you! So there is no need to stoop to such a common device as this to keep it ever in your mind."
Lynette didn't like the idea of a "common device" at all. "It isn't at all a common thing to be tattooed," she said; "it's quite uncommon. There's only one man in this place who could do it for us. And you might go to hundred of towns in England, and search all over London, and even then perhaps not find a man to do it for you. I was simply longing to have a rose marked on me. He said roses were the flowers for English girls, and the thistle for Scotch ones. But it hurt rather, and I told him the letters were quite enough for this time."
I tried to comfort myself with Miss Garton's words, but I didn't feel quite happy till Sunday came. We went to church in the morning. It was a lovely day, almost like summer, so bright and warm, and in the afternoon Miss Garton took us for a walk. Lynette and Puff got two of the dogs which are kept in the stable, and when they were racing on over the common with them, Miss Garton began to talk to me. She does speak so beautifully, and understands before you can begin to tell her what your difficulties are.
"I know, Grisel. I think it is almost the hardest time in our lives when we are very young, and we try to be good. There are so many rules and regulations which get broken through sheer forgetfulness. And we get misunderstood, and are sometimes accused unjustly, and then we lose heart, and feel it is no good to go on trying."
"Yes," I said eagerly, "that's just it. We all want to 'hold fast,' Miss Garton. If you talked to us when we were quiet and sitting down, we would all say we meant to do it every day, but things always happen to make us excited, and then we forget. And here it does seem more difficult. There were always father's sermons at home on Sunday, but here—well, you can't say the sermon this morning could help us. I tried and tried to listen, but I simply didn't understand a word of it.
"Father preached just like he talked. Everything was easy at home, we used to go and see the old villagers and read to them when they were ill, and I had a Sunday class of tinies, and teaching them to be good, helped me to be, myself. And then we could always go and tell father anything that worried us.
"Father is expecting us to hold fast to all he taught us, and God expects it too, and I don't believe any of us will do it, not really properly! I suppose when we are grown-up, it will be easy, but perhaps we shall have forgotten all about it by that time."
Miss Garton gave her little low laugh, which I always love to hear.
"Poor little Grisel! And, in addition to your own efforts after goodness, you feel you are responsible for all the rest. I wonder if you have caught your father's true meaning? Shall I tell you what I think would make your upward path very easy?"
"Oh, do! I feel nothing will make it easy now."
"Do you remember this little verse in the Bible:
"'I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee'?"
"I think I've heard it," I said.
"Now don't you think, if you know that the Lord has taken hold of your hand, that you will let Him help you through your difficulties? 'Hold fast' to His Hand—that is what you have got to do. It is hard to 'hold fast' to righteousness, but if you hold fast to a strong and loving Hand, you will be like a little child led by its father. You won't be allowed to tumble."
I could not speak. It seemed to come upon me in a flash that I had forgotten all about God's help, and that I had been trying to be good without Him.
"Oh, Miss Garton," I gasped, "that is lovely!"
I couldn't say more. A lump came in my throat. I thought that Jesus Christ had been holding out His Hand all this time for us to hold fast to, and we had been pushing it away, and trying to be good by ourselves.
Lynette and Puff came racing back, and we had no more talk, but it was quite enough. And when we got home, I went off to my favourite place by mother's doll's grave, and then I sat down on the seat and I looked up into the blue sky, and I asked God to take my hand into His and keep it. I felt that I put it into His, and that He took it. And I never had such a happy Sunday as I had after that. I longed to tell Lynette about it, but I had to wait till we came to bed.
When I told her, she didn't seem much impressed.
"You mean, Grisel, that father meant that we should hold fast to Jesus Christ's Hand. How do you know he meant that?"
"It's all so easy if we do, Lynette; we shall 'hold fast' to all the rest if we have our hand in His. We shan't feel as if it is too difficult to be good, and He will remind us if we forget."
"I have my foot," said Lynette, turning down her stocking at once, and looking thoughtfully at the "H.F." upon it.
"That won't help you," I said; "oh, Lynette, do think seriously!"
"I am," she returned, "but I wasn't born so good as you, Grisel. God put a special little bit of goodness in you, when He made you. And He either forgot, or didn't think me worth the trouble? I never, never, 'never', if I live to be a hundred years old, shall be as good as you, and—and I'm not sure that I want to be."
"I'm not good," I said quickly, "but I want to be."
"Yes, that's just the difference. You always want to be; I only want to be sometimes. But now Pat and the boys are away, there is nobody to lark round with, and we shall be 'very' dull and 'very' good till they come back."
I said no more, but I knew that Lynette could never be dull, and I doubted if she would be "very" good till the summer holidays. I knew I should not.
And the very next day she got into an awful scrape.
CHAPTER IX
MY GODMOTHER
WE have dinner at one o'clock in the schoolroom with Miss Garton. She gives us till three o'clock to play about in the garden or do what we like, and then we begin lessons again. Puff always goes to grandfather in the study for part of the time. Grandfather goes to his study after he has had his lunch, and nobody but Puff goes near him till four o'clock, as he is always supposed to be resting then.
On this day I went down to the Lodge, for Mrs. Craig who lives there has a darling baby, and I love to nurse it.
I stayed there till ten minutes to three, and then I went back to the schoolroom.
There was no sign of Lynette, and Miss Garton asked me where she was.
"I don't know," I said; "I asked her to come down to the Lodge, but she seemed in a hurry to get away by herself somewhere."
Miss Garton did not wait. She never fusses. But when half-past three came, and then four, and no Lynette, she left me to do a French exercise, and went out of the room to look for her. Puff did not do lessons in the afternoon. But he had come back to the schoolroom and was playing contentedly with his railway engine in the corner.
He had not seen Lynette since dinner. I began to wonder whether she had gone to the beach and got drowned. And I'm afraid I made a lot of mistakes in my French exercise, for I was so busy thinking about her.
And then I heard an awful row in the hall, grandfather's voice loud and angry, and Aunt Isobel's, and Miss Garton's. I could not resist running out and opening the baize door at the end of our passage.
Miss Garton was coming up the stairs with Lynette, who was very red in the face, and looked in an untidy mess. Her hair was sticking out in all directions, and she had some dirty sticky streaks all down her face and dress.
Miss Garton did not bring her into the schoolroom, but told her to go to her bedroom and make herself tidy and stay there for the present. Then she came into the schoolroom, with a grave set face.
"What has happened?" I asked.
"Finish your lessons," Miss Garton said quietly. "You have only half an hour more."
I felt cross. I was being treated like a small child.
"Isn't Lynette coming to do hers?" I asked.
Miss Garton made no answer. It was the first time she had behaved like a governess, and I didn't like it. I was simply dying of curiosity to know what Lynette had been doing, and I began writing my exercise anyhow from sheer temper, and then suddenly I remembered the Hand that was holding me, and felt ashamed of myself. When half-past four came, my exercise was done.
Miss Garton seems like a wizard sometimes. She put her hand on my shoulder.
"You had a bad five minutes, Grisel, didn't you? I am so glad you got the better of it. Lesson time is lesson time, but now it is over, I am quite as anxious as you to know what possessed Lynette to act so foolishly. I have judged it wiser to leave her to calm down. She will have to do her lessons after tea. She was hiding in a cupboard in your grandfather's room. I am going to her now. I dare say she will tell you more fully about it than she will me, but I must speak to her alone first."
Then she left the room.
"Puff," I said, "were you with grandfather this afternoon? Was Lynette there too?"
"O' course she wasn't. Gruffy was there by hisself, and me and him talked, and he showed me a set of funny little men with faces, for chess."
I couldn't understand it. And when Lynette came to tea with rather a shamed face, I couldn't ask her about it before Miss Garton and Puff, and she was kept at her lessons till she went to bed, and it was only when we were in our room together that I heard the whole story.
"I really only did it for fun, Grisel. It wasn't wickedness, but I am always so unlucky, and everything happens wrong on purpose with me. You know how often we have said we should like to hear what Puff says when he's with grandfather. Well, just as I was eating my pudding at dinner, the idea came to me, and I went straight away and did it as soon as ever I could. It was to hide in the study and hear them talking."
"But that isn't quite nice—it's eavesdropping!" I said.
"Bosh! As if Puff would ever say anything we ought not to listen to! Well, I had to be quick to get in there before Puff and grandfather, and I was rather flurried because there seemed nowhere to hide. I thought I could get under the sofa, but it was too near the ground, and I stuck, so I gave it up, and then I saw a cupboard door, and I opened it, and there were a few of grandfather's garden coats hanging there, and his hat, and a shelf with some old medicine bottles. I crept in and pulled the door after me, and it shut, and then I waited till they came in—and oh, Grisel, it was too funny for words. Puff talked like an old man, and he said such funny things. He began about what he was going to do when he grew up.
"'Denys is going to be a soldier, and Aylwin, too, if he can, but I'll be a gempleum like you, Gruffy, and I'll hang my room all round with pipes, and guns, and fish-rods, and have foxes' heads and tails instead of pictures. Gempleums do egsackly as they like always.'
"'Do they, young Bantam?' chuckled grandfather. 'You'll have to work hard if you live a life like mine. Do you think before this confounded gout took me I spent my days in arm-chairs? No, I worked harder than any labourer, and you'll have to work too.'
"'What shall I work at?'
"'I think you'll make a good sailor. All our boys have been in the services.'
"And then Puff was silent for a minute, and then he burst out:
"'When you go to heaven, will you have gout?'
"'I hope I'll leave it in my grave,' chuckled grandfather.
"'There's such a lot of sitting still in heaven,' said Puff with a sigh.
"'Is there? I didn't know it.'
"'Oh, yes, and there's a lot of singing to be done too. I've quite made up my mind what I'll do when I get there.'
"'I should like to hear.'
"Puff lowered his voice. I could only just hear him.
"'I'll go up to Jesus Christ and say, "Please, Lord, let's come away from these crowds, and will You take me to see inside the moon?" And then Him and me will do it. He'll be able to do everything, you know, as easy as winking!'"
"Oh, Lynette!" I said. "Puff ought not to talk like that; it isn't reverent."
"Well, I couldn't help him doing it. Of course grandfather laughed, and then Puff took courage and went on talking a lot of rot like that, inventing as he went along."
"Get on to your part," I said. "I don't want to hear Puff's talk!"
"But that was what I went into the cupboard to hear. And I must tell you one thing that grandfather said. He told Puff that Denys would have to carry on in this house when he went, and not Puff. Fancy, Grisel! Will Denys be as rich as grandfather?"
"I don't know. You ought not to have listened, Lynette."
"Now I'll tell you about myself. At last Puff went away, and I began to wonder how I could get out without grandfather's seeing me. You see, I never think of the end when I begin a thing, and what do you think he did when he was alone? I looked through the keyhole and saw him. He took out his teeth! You never saw what a sight he was. He looked two hundred years old! And then he covered his head with a silk handkerchief, and prepared to go to sleep. Now was my chance of getting away. I waited till he snored, and then very softly tried to open the door. And what do you think I found?"
"That you couldn't do it, of course!"
"Yes, that pig of a cupboard couldn't be opened from the inside. There was no handle."
"Well, there isn't generally. People don't get into cupboards. It served you right!"
"But wasn't it 'awful'? I began to think of the lady who shut herself up in the oak chest when she was playing hide and seek, and wasn't found till she was a skeleton. And I got quite frightened. I simply daren't knock, for I knew I should get it hot from grandfather if he found me there. And so I waited and waited, and it seemed like a thousand years. And then he woke up, and Aunt Isobel came in, but she didn't stay, only took the letters for the post.
"I got quite desperate. I ached all over with standing, and then I tried to move my position, and a beastly bottle fell off the shelf on the top of me, and spilt itself all over me! That was the last straw. I felt I didn't care if I was going to be hung, so I hammered at the door, and grandfather opened it in great agitation, and then was furious when he saw me. He made a dash for his teeth; it was so funny! I tried to run out of the room, but he caught hold of me and shook me! Yes, he did! And I hated him! He's a wicked old man! And then I screamed, and Aunt Isobel came in, and then Miss Garton, and they wouldn't let me explain, and I was hustled upstairs, It was most unjust!"
"GRANDFATHER WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE SAW ME."
"How could you explain, Lynette? You got in there to spy and listen. I should think it was much better not explained."
"I was very rude to grandfather," Lynette said thoughtfully. "When he shook me, I felt I did not care what I said to him, I said I was sorry he was mother's father, and that he wouldn't have dared to shake me if mother had been alive!"
"Oh, Lynette, how awful! How could you!"
"He grew white with rage, but his teeth were rattling about in his mouth—he hadn't had time to put them in properly—and then I felt sorry for him, for he is so old, and I was just going to tell him so when Aunt Isobel came in, and then I didn't say any more; they all scolded so."
I felt quite aghast.
"I don't expect grandfather will keep us here any more," I said forlornly. For I knew that Lynette had been outrageously rude.
"So it's no good my trying to be good or H.F. any more," Lynette said, "and I don't think I shall say my prayers to-night. I don't feel that God cares about me a bit."
She began to sniff. And Lynette cries so seldom that I knew she must feel very miserable.
I put my arms round her and kissed her.
"Of course God cares, Lynette, and you must say your prayers to ask to be forgiven. If you're sorry, you can start fresh to-morrow."
"But to-morrow I'm to beg grandfather's pardon, Miss Garton says, and I had made up my mind that I wouldn't do it."
"Then you must unmake your mind, and do it," I said. "Of course you must, Lynette. Father would have told you to do it."
"Father loved me," said Lynette, and then she burst into tears and sobbed as if her heart would break.
"Father still loves you," I whispered, putting my arms round her, "and God loves you, Lynette, and I'm sure, quite sure, that father talks to God about all of us. If you really didn't mean to do wrong, it will be all the easier to tell grandfather you're sorry, and oh, Lynette dear, do hold fast."
Lynette stopped crying. She's very sudden in the way she does things. She pulled down her stocking and looked at the blue H.F. on her foot with big grave eyes. "I remember," she said, looking up at me, "that father used to say to the boys,—
"'Confession to God and frank apology to man blots out a sin.'
"I must hold fast to it, so I'll say I'm sorry to-morrow!"
I gave a sigh of relief, and she did it, and grandfather forgave her.
After this, we went on quietly for a long time. Lynette and I are getting very fond of Miss Garton. She seems as if she was sent to us to help us to be good. And she isn't solemn and severe, but she laughs and plays games, and quite enjoys romping with Puff. It's only at lessons she's governessy, and of course she must be that. Now to-day something nice has happened, and I must write it down.
Aunt Isobel came to the schoolroom after lunch.
"Can you spare Grisel this afternoon, Miss Garton? I am going to pay a visit to an aunt who lives a long way off, and she wants to see the child, as she is her godmother."
I jumped up from my chair in great excitement.
"The godmother I was named after? Oh, I shall like to see her. Father told me once she lived in Scotland, but she has never once written to me or asked about me, and I thought she was dead. Did she know mother, Aunt Isobel? Oh, do tell me about her!"
"Hush, Grisel," said Miss Garton, "not so fast. Your aunt will be deafened!"
I was screaming a little, I was so excited, so I tried to calm down. I was excused my afternoon lessons, and at half-past two we drove off, Aunt Isobel and I, in the big carriage and pair. It was ten miles off. Lynette was rather envious of me at first, but Miss Garton told her she would take a walk along the beach with her and that comforted her a little. The one thing we do find dreary is walking out along flat roads for walking's sake; it always seems such awful waste of time.
At first Aunt Isobel was very silent, but as we drove along she began telling me about my godmother. She was a Mrs. Bannock, and was grandfather's sister. She had always been very fond of mother, though she had never seen her since she had married father.
"Why hasn't she remembered me?" I asked.
"People cannot always be in correspondence with their godchildren all over the world," said Aunt Isobel. "I have godchildren of my own whom I have quite lost sight of."
I didn't say anything, but I thought of my other godmother, who was Aunt Caroline, and she used to say that she felt quite responsible for me till I was confirmed. I wondered what Great-aunt Grisel would be like. I had always borne a grudge against her for giving me her ugly name. But I did not like to say this to Aunt Isobel.
And the drive so interested me that I did not want to talk. We soon left the sea and drove between great woods, with old beech-trees and mossy banks. A few primroses peeped out in sheltered corners. I longed to get out and pick them. Then we passed through villages, but I don't think Scotch villages are as pretty as English ones.
At last we came to some iron gates, and drove through an avenue of pines and larches for two miles, and then we came out upon a beautiful old house with windows like church windows and turrets and towers. I was quite excited, but Aunt Isobel told me not to fidget, so I tried to sit still and keep my eyes straight in front of me.
We went up a flight of broad steps, and then a dear old butler, with a smiling face, took us through a stone hall to a very long drawing-room. I think there were about ten windows in it. It seemed full of beautiful things, and the wall was so covered with pictures that you couldn't see any of the wall itself. There were two fires, one at each end, and at the farther end a lady was seated knitting. But she had a book on a reading-stand by her, and I think she was reading as well. She stood up when we came towards her, and she was very tall, with silver grey hair, and a sweet face. She wasn't only sweet, there was a kind of merry look about her, which I loved. And I lost my heart to her then and there for ever. I felt I could almost adore and worship her!
"Well, Isobel, you have brought her. What a tall girl!"
She put both her hands on my shoulders and held me away from her for a minute or two, and I felt her dark eyes were looking through to my soul. I was so glad I hadn't anything weighing on my conscience, for if I had, I felt sure she would have found it out.
"She's her mother over again!" Aunt Grisel said. "Why didn't you tell me so, Isobel? I would have had her over before had I known it."
"Oh," I said earnestly, "do you really think I am like mother? May I tell the boys you said so? Mother was beautiful, though, and I am very plain. How am I like her?"
Aunt Grisel put her hand under my chin, and bent and kissed me.
"You have her eyes and mouth, and a bit of her soul, I am sure."
I felt my cheeks getting quite red. A bit of mother's soul! Oh, if I only had!
And then Aunt Grisel told me to sit down, and she began to talk to Aunt Isobel about different things and about people. But she didn't talk properly, like Aunt Isobel always does; she made little jokes, and was very racy.
I couldn't take my eyes off her. Then she asked Aunt Isobel if she would go upstairs and see an invalid cousin who was staying with her. And when Aunt Isobel had left the room, she turned to me and gave me a slow wink, and then her eyes twinkled with laughter, though her lips were grave.
"Your Aunt Isobel is a very heavy conversationalist. We shall get on better alone, I am sure. Well, I see you have been taking stock of the old lady with those big eyes of yours! What do you think of her?"
"Oh!" I gasped. "I do like you most awfully. I've never seen anybody like you. And when you say I'm like mother, it makes me want to hug you!"
"Please don't. Now just sit down here and talk. I want to hear your side of the question. I hoped you would manage between you to shake up Isobel into a natural woman. But she tells me the boys have been sent away, and a governess keeps the rest of you from disturbing her peace. Don't you see anything of your grandfather? He wants young life about him. He and your Aunt Isobel have fossilised themselves. I stayed with them for a week once. I was asked for a month, but I ran away at the end of a week. I felt I was becoming petrified!"
"Oh, you'll understand," I said, "but it's very good of grandfather to have us all, and I don't wonder he doesn't like us much, for we are so noisy."
I began to tell her all about the boys, and then I told her about our Lincolnshire home, and about our Empire League there, and I poured it all out as fast as I could, for she sat and laughed and knitted away like lightning, and encouraged me to tell her more and more. And at last I stopped from sheer want of breath.
"Well, Grisel, I'm glad to know you, child! I was a wild bit of a thing myself when I was young, and age hasn't made me forget how quickly the blood runs in young veins. If you'd come to me with folded hands and placid eyes, I'd have wished for no more of you, but you've got the bit of your mother's soul that I loved."
"Do tell me what that bit is," I entreated her.
Aunt Grisel laughed.
"I had her to stay with me once when she was a wee bairn of five years old. I had to punish her, and I sat her in the corner for half an hour. She was as quiet as a little mouse, but when I let her out, her eyes were shining like stars.
"'I've enjoyed me so much!' she said, looking up into my face with mischief lurking about her lips.
"'What have you been doing?' I said.
"'Making up,' she answered. 'First I was a little imp playing outside the gate of heaven, and purtending I didn't want to go in, and then I was a sweet little angel playing inside, and shaking my head through the bars at the imp.'
"'And which are you now?' I demanded sternly. 'Angel or imp?'
"And then her eyes shone brighter than ever. 'Aunt Grisel's and God's little angel,' she said.
"And, bless her heart, she was my angel till she died, and then I suppose she became God's."
Tears filled my eyes.
"Oh, that's lovely, Aunt Grisel! Thank you so much for telling it to me. What a darling little story!" Then I added, "But I don't see how that explains about me."
"You see visions and dreams and are full of romance."
I coloured up. What sharp eyes Aunt Grisel had!
"Miss Garton tries to get me to leave off dreaming."
"Ah! Don't you do it! Dream away, child. It is your heritage. Dreams such as yours only come in youth!"
We had no time for much more talk, for Aunt Isobel came back, and then we had tea. How the boys would have enjoyed it! Scotch people have always such good cakes and biscuits! And Aunt Grisel's china was so rich-looking and old, and there was a beautiful old silver cake-basket, with two little cupids holding a garland of roses, which formed the handle, and a big silver jug of thick yellow cream!
I handed round the cups and cakes, and I felt Aunt Grisel's eyes following me about, until I began to get a little nervous.
"I should like to see my godchild again, Isobel. When can she come?"
"She is at lessons, my dear aunt, and it's a long way."
"Hoots! Didn't you know I had started a car? Sold my pair of horses a month ago. I'll send it over for her."
"I think we must wait till the holidays," said Aunt Isobel gravely.
"We do have almost a holiday every Saturday," I said pleadingly.
"Of course they do. Let her come and bring her sister with her. Young things like to go about together. Not next Saturday, but the week after, and I'll send the car in time to have you out here for lunch."
She nodded to me, and Aunt Isobel gave way.
And then, when I wished her good-bye, she kissed me.
"Ah," she said, "I hope there's more of Grace about you than of Grisel. For the Grisels in our family have been a wild lot."
When we were driving home, I asked Aunt Isobel why the Grisels were wild.
"It is only Aunt Grisel's way of talking," she said, but I saw she didn't want to explain it to me.
I had a lot to tell Lynette when we got home, and she was awfully glad to be invited with me next time. I do hope Aunt Grisel won't get tired of us, but ask us over again and again. I love her!
CHAPTER X
THE BEGINNING OF WAR
PEGGY knows all about our Great-aunt Grisel. She always comes into our rooms and brushes out our hair for us in the evening. Aunt Isobel told her to do it after Miss Garton came. At first we didn't like it, for we've always done everything for ourselves, and we like to talk over the day together, and we don't always like her hearing what we say, but we're getting accustomed to her, and she does not stay very long.
"Was Aunt Grisel wild when she was young?" Lynette asked, for I had told her all that had been said.
"Aye, she were wild, indeed!" said Peggy, shaking her head. "She and Mr. Dick were always galloping about the country on half-broken horses. No, no, Mr. Dick is not your grandfather. He died of fever in India when he were quite a young man. Your grandfather were the eldest of all, and much more circumspect. Nobody could keep Miss Grisel in order. Her father spoiled her, and her mother were too delicate to struggle with her high sperrits. There wasn't a prank played but Miss Grisel was in it, and even to her wedding-day, she were like a heedless child."
"Tell us more, Peggy," I said. "Did you live with them all then?"
"No, but I was a bit of a lassie in the village when your grandfeyther brought his bride home to this house. And Miss Grisel was not married then. I come to live here afore your sweet mother were born, and Miss Grisel married the year after. I can see her dancing across the lawn with her hair down her back the very day before she was wed, and young Mr. Bannock, he stood and called to her.
"'My last day of liberty,' she cried, 'and 'tis your place to come to "me."'
"With that she ran clean away into the woods, and he never saw her till the next morning when she sailed up the church as haughty as a queen!"
"What a pity girls like that get old!" I said. "It must be so trying for them to have to sober down."
"Marriage sobers most," said Peggy.
"Yes," said Lynette quickly, "I shall take good care not to marry till I'm quite old."
"Then you won't be wanted," I said, laughing.
I longed to see Aunt Grisel again, but to-day came at last, and Lynette and I have spent a lovely day with her. And she told us a lot of funny stories, and wasn't a bit like Aunt Isobel, though she is much older. We just told her everything, and she was never shocked. Lynette asked her why she wasn't, and she said:
"I just remember what I was myself. And nobody ought to be shocked at young people's spirits and heedlessness. It is only lies and deceit that shock me. I can't do with 'them'."
She took us into a very big aviary she had; there were all kinds of birds in it, such dear little love-birds, and canaries and finches, and beautiful coloured paraquets. They all seemed to know her, and she knew every one of them, and had a name for each. The aviary had beautiful sand at the bottom, and a little fountain and round stone trough, and there were trees and ferns growing in it. Lynette said she would like to live in a cage like that. But I said the bars all round would be awful.
We told her about the boys and Pat, and she knows Pat and likes him.
Just before we left her, she called me into her private room, a little sitting-room next her bedroom.
"I want to give you this, Grisel," she said. "I have never sent you a present, have I? And I know you will love this. I had it taken for myself. And your mother was only a year older than you when she had it painted. Don't you see the likeness to yourself?"
She put into my hands a beautiful little miniature of darling mother, made up into a pendant. I felt the tears crowding into my eyes as I looked at it. I could not see that it was a bit like me. Mother had a band of blue velvet through her hair, and it was clustering in curls round her face. A string of pearls was round her neck, and her eyes looked straight at me, in a sweet, steadfast way. She seemed to be looking into my soul, but was pleased at what she saw there, for she was smiling so contentedly and happily! At least that was what she looked like to me.
"Oh, Aunt Grisel," I said, "I can't thank you! I can't tell you what I feel! To have this for my very own! Do you really mean it?"
"I really do."
Aunt Grisel was smiling, and then she bent down and gave me one of her quick, sudden kisses.
"I am sure you are good, are you not?" she said. "I shan't have to talk in a godmother's style to you, shall I? You don't need that."
"Oh, I'm not a bit good," I cried, "but I want to be!"
"That's all right, then," said Aunt Grisel, with a funny little laugh. "If the want is there, the rest will follow!"
Then she turned to her dressing-case, and took out a slender gold chain.
"Take this with it, child," she said, "then you can wear it always round your neck under your frocks and it will be safe!"
So then I thanked her again, and she fastened it round my neck herself, and I came away feeling as happy as if I were in heaven with father and mother.
To-night we have been talking about it—Lynette and I.
"Doesn't she look as if she were speaking to us, Lynette?" I said. "What is it she is saying?"
"Yes, she's saying something good to us," said Lynette, staring at the miniature, which I had put down on our dressing-table.
And then I seemed to understand all at once. It was an inspiration.
"She is saying 'Hold fast!' Look, Lynette, isn't she?"
Lynette stared in silence for a minute, then she nodded gravely.
"Yes, mother," she said in a half whisper; "I'm doing it. It's on my foot, you know. I can't forget!"
Mother's eyes looked right into mine. She was so sweet, so earnest! I felt positively certain she knew all about us; she seemed to say, "It is your charge, Grisel. Hold fast! Hold fast! Darling, I see it in your heart, but act it out every day!"
And I bent and kissed her smiling mouth.
"Oh, mother, I will!" I said, and I prayed then and there that God would help me to do it.
Now I'm writing this and I'm just going to bed, and I mean to sleep with mother's sweet face under my pillow. But Lynette is sitting upon the outside of her bed in her nightdress, and her hands are clasped round her knees.
"Grisel, it's all nonsense. We weren't born when mother was painted and looked like that; it's only our make-up!"
"Oh, bother!" I said. "You're always so matter-of-fact—as bad as Aylwin."
"You're so silly and romantic," scoffed Lynette.
"I mean to be," I said firmly, "and can't mother's spirit come into her picture for a moment, and bring us a message from God?"
Lynette stared at me with her big blue eyes. Then she scrambled into bed, and I am going to follow her. I do sometimes have the last word!
*****
Such a long time has gone by since I wrote in this book. We have been busy with our lessons, and everything has gone on as usual, but now the whole world seems topsy-turvy, and I'm wondering if it is not some awful dream. The summer holidays have come, and Miss Garton has left us, and we are all a merry party again alone in our schoolroom. The boys seem to be grown, and Denys looks very tall, and talks as if he is almost a man. He is over sixteen, so I suppose he is growing up. Pat has been over to us just as wild as ever. He will never grow up, I am sure, and yet—and yet, after what has happened, I am not so sure, but I must make haste to write it down.
Two days ago Pat came over, and he could talk of nothing but Ulster and the Home Rule Bill. He declared he would go over and take part in the fighting when it once began.
"Do you think this cold old cautious porridge country will keep me, when Ould Oireland is callin' to her boys to come and save her?"
"But you're at school!" I said.
"School be blown to the four winds!" ejaculated Pat. "Do you think anything short of bolts and bars would hold me when there's fightin' about?"
"Oh," I said, little dreaming of what was coming upon us, "I hope there'll be no fighting, Pat. Even now something may stop it. I don't see how civil war could ever come again. We're too civilised for it. How could you shoot a man passing along the street in cold blood, Pat?"
"Sure my blood would be boiling hot," said Pat.
And then to-day, like a thunder-bolt, came the news. We don't read the newspapers; sometimes Miss Garton reads bits out to us, but we've been much too busy down by the sea to think of papers since the holidays began. We have bathed and paddled and boated and shrimped, and had a splendid time.
This afternoon we were dragging ourselves home to tea, tired and dirty and very untidy, when to our astonishment grandfather, standing at the front door, waved his newspaper at us.
"England has declared war against Germany!" he said.
We rushed up the steps. He often sits outside waiting for the papers in the afternoon. We get our papers very late here. Aunt Isobel was standing by him, and she was looking quite white and frightened. And then Denys and Aylwin threw their caps up in the air and shouted:
"God save the King! Hurrah for Old England!"
Grandfather didn't scold them for the noise they made. He was awfully excited. He told us what had been happening, how the last week things had been moving awfully fast, and how Germany had rushed into Belgium, and was fighting horribly there now.
"And, oh," he said with a groan, "to think that I shall have to sit like an old hulk here, and be too old to do anything!"
Then Denys threw up his head.
"But our chance has come, grandfather. We shall want all our men. And in war time, they take boys. You'll let me go, won't you? I shall have the time of my life!"
I gasped, and so did Lynette.
Grandfather put his hand on Denys's shoulder.
"You're at least a year too young," he said, "but that's the spirit, my boy. You wouldn't be a grandson of mine if you weren't keen to serve your King!"
We all talked hard then, and we actually found ourselves telling grandfather about our Empire League which we had founded in Lincolnshire, and how we had all made up our minds to fight for king and country when the opportunity came.
Then our tea-bell rang out, and we had to go, but I could hardly get the boys to wash their hands for tea—they were so excited. It seemed as if it could not be true. We had talked of the Germans fighting us so often, and we had heard all that Captain Rogers said about our country being so unprepared, and had somehow felt that war would never really come, and now it had, and I was almost stunned by it.
We were all talking when Puff broke in with a solemn face:
"And will the Germans get here to-morrow, do you think? And how will we begin? And where will be the battlefield?"
"You little stupid!" said Lynette. "They won't get here at all. We're going to fight them in Belgium."
"Then we shan't see nothing at all!" said Puff in a disappointed tone.
"Oh, if only we had been born a couple of years earlier," groaned Aylwin. "It does seem too awful to be out of it as we are!"
"We won't be out of it," I said, jumping up from the tea-table and walking up and down the room in my excitement. "There'll be a lot to do for us girls, I know! We're bound to help the war. Our day has come!"
"Hurrah!" cried Aylwin.
And Lynette joined him. "Our day has come."
And then they marched round the room, singing at the top of their voices:
Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee
Our love and toil in the years to be!
When we are grown and take our place
As men and women with our race.
*****
Land of our Birth, our Faith, our Pride,
For whose dear sake our fathers died;
Oh, Motherland! we pledge to thee
Head, heart, and hand through the years to be.
The last two lines were our battle-cry in the Empire League.
Denys and I echoed them with a shout! And Puff joined us:
Oh, Motherland! we pledge to thee
Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!
"Why, old Grizzy is weeping!" cried Aylwin.
"I can't help it!" I said, wiping my eyes. "It takes me back to when we were so happy with the aunts and with father! And I'm thinking of the war beginning. It has come. It is really here! The thing we dreamt about, and talked about, and sang about!"