One night, about eight o’clock, Harry and Laura were playing in the nursery, building houses with bricks, and trying who could raise the highest tower without letting it fall, when suddenly they were startled to hear every bell in the house ringing violently, while the servants seemed running up and down stairs, as if they were distracted.

“What can be the matter!” cried Laura, turning round and listening, while Harry quietly took this opportunity to shake the walls of her castle till it fell.

“The very house is coming down about your ears, Laura!” said Harry, enjoying his little bit of mischief. “I should like to be Andrew, now, for five minutes, that I might answer those fifty bells, and see what has happened. Uncle David must be wanting coals, candles, tea, toast, and soda water, all at once! What a bustle everybody is in! There! the bells are ringing again, worse than ever! Something wonderful is going on! what can it be!”

Presently Betty ran breathlessly into the room, saying that Mrs. Crabtree ought to come down stairs immediately, as Lady Harriet had been suddenly taken very ill, and, till [35] the Doctor arrived, nobody knew what to do, so she must give her advice and assistance.

Harry and Laura felt excessively shocked to hear this alarming news, and listened with grave attention, while Mrs. Crabtree told them how amazingly well they ought to behave in her absence, when they were trusted alone in the nursery, with nobody to keep them in order, or to see what they were doing, especially now, as their grandmama had been taken ill, and would require to be kept quiet.

Harry sat in his chair, and might have been painted as the very picture of a good boy during nearly twenty minutes after Mrs. Crabtree departed; and Laura placed herself opposite to him, trying to follow so excellent an example, while they scarcely spoke above a whisper, wondering what could be the matter with their grandmama, and wishing for once, to see Mrs. Crabtree again, that they might hear how she was. Any one who had observed Harry and Laura at that time, would have wondered to see two such quiet, excellent, respectable children, and wished that all little boys and girls were made upon the same pattern; but presently they began to think that probably Lady Harriet was not so very ill, as no more bells had rung during several minutes, and Harry ventured to look about for some better amusement than sitting still.

At this moment Laura unluckily perceived on the table near where they sat, a pair of Mrs. Crabtree’s best scissors, which she had been positively forbid to touch. The long troublesome ringlets were as usual hanging over her eyes in a most teazing manner, so she thought what a good opportunity this might be to shorten them a very little, not above an inch or two; and without considering a moment longer, she slipped upon tiptoe, with a frightened look, round the table, and picked up the scissors in her hand, then hastening towards a looking-glass, she began snipping off the ends of her hair. Laura was much diverted to see it [36] showering down upon the floor, so she cut and cut on, while the curls fell thicker and faster, till at last the whole floor was covered with them, and scarcely a hair left upon her head. Harry went into fits of laughing when he perceived what a ridiculous figure Laura had made of herself, and he turned her round and round to see the havoc she had made, saying,

“You should give all this hair to Mr. Mills the upholsterer, to stuff grandmama’s arm-chair with! At any rate, Laura, if Mrs. Crabtree is ever so angry, she can hardly pull you by the hair of the head again! What a sound sleep you will have to-night, with no hard curl-papers to torment you!”

Harry had been told five hundred times, never to touch the candles, and threatened with twenty different punishments, if he ever ventured to do so; but now, he amused himself with trying to snuff one till he snuffed it out. Then he lighted it again, and tried the experiment once more, but again the teazing candle went out, as if on purpose to plague him, so he felt quite provoked. Having lighted it once more, Harry prepared to carry the candlestick with him towards the inner nursery, though afraid to make the smallest noise, in case it might be taken from him. Before he had gone five steps, down dropped the extinguisher, then followed the snuffers with a great crash, but Laura seemed too busy cropping her ringlets, to notice what was going on. All the way along upon the floor, Harry let fall a perfect shower of hot wax, which spotted the nursery carpet from the table where he had found the candle into the next room, where he disappeared, and shut the door, that no one might interfere with what he liked to do.

After he had been absent some time, the door was hastily opened again, and Laura felt surprised to see Harry come back with his face as red as a stick of sealing-wax, and his [37] large eyes staring wider than they had ever stared before, with a look of rueful consternation.

“What is the matter!” exclaimed Laura in a terrified voice. “Has anything dreadful happened? Why do you look so frightened and so surprised?”

“Oh dear! oh dear! what shall I do?” cried Harry, who seemed scarcely to know how he spoke, or where he was. “I don’t know what to do, Laura!”

“What can be the matter! do tell me at once, Harry,” said Laura, shaking with apprehension. “Speak as fast as you can!”

“Will you not tell Mrs. Crabtree, nor grandmama, nor anybody else?” cried Harry, bursting into tears. “I am so very, very sorry, and so frightened! Laura! do you know, I took a candle into the next room, merely to play with it.”

“Well! go on, Harry! go on! what did you do with the candle?”

“I only put it on the bed for a single minute, to see how the flame would look there,—well! do you know it blazed away famously, and then all the bed clothes began burning too! Oh! there is such a terrible fire in the next room! you never saw anything like it! what shall we do? If old Andrew were to come up, do you think he could put it out? I have shut the door that Mrs. Crabtree may not see the flames. Be sure, Laura, to tell nobody but Andrew.”

Laura became terrified at the way she saw poor Harry in, but when she opened the door to find out the real state of affairs, oh! what a dreadful sight was there! all the beds were on fire, while bright red flames were blazing up to the roof of the room, with a fierce roaring noise, which it was perfectly frightful to hear. She screamed aloud with terror at this alarming scene, while Harry did all he could to quiet her, and even put his hand over her mouth, that her cries might not be heard. Laura now struggled to get loose, and [38] called louder and louder, till at last every maid in the house came racing up stairs, three steps at a time, to know what was the matter. Immediately upon seeing the flames, they all began screaming too, in such a loud discordant way, that it sounded as if a whole flight of crows had come into the passages. Never was there such an uproar heard in the house before, for the walls echoed with a general cry of “Fire! fire! fire!”

Up flew Mrs. Crabtree towards the nursery like a sky-rocket, scolding furiously, talking louder than all the others put together, and asking who had set the house on fire, while Harry and Laura scarcely knew whether to be most frightened for the raging flames, or the raging Mrs. Crabtree; but, in the meantime, they both shrunk into the smallest possible size, and hid themselves behind a door.

During all this confusion, Old Andrew luckily remembered, that, in the morning, there had been a great washing in the laundry, where large tubs full of water were standing, so he called to the few maids who had any of their senses remaining, desiring them to assist in carrying up some buckets, that they might be emptied on the burning beds, to extinguish the flames if possible. Every body was now in a hurry, and all elbowing each other out of the way, while it was most extraordinary to see how old Andrew exerted himself, as if he had been a fireman all his life, while Mrs. Marmalade, the fat cook, who could hardly carry herself up stairs in general, actively assisted to bring up the great heavy tubs, and to pour them out like a cascade upon the burning curtains, till the nursery-floor looked like a duck pond.

Meantime Harry and Laura added to the confusion as much as they could, and were busier than anybody, stealing down the back-stairs whenever Mrs. Crabtree was not in sight, and filling their little jugs with water, which they brought up, as fast as possible, and dashed upon the flames, [39] till at last, it is to be feared, they began to feel quite amused with the bustle, and to be almost sorry when the conflagration diminished. At one time, Laura very nearly set her own frock on fire, as she ventured too near, but Harry pulled her back, and then courageously advanced to discharge a shower from his own little jug, remaining stationary to watch the effect, till his face was almost scorched.

At last the fire became less and less, till it went totally out, but not before the nursery furniture had been reduced to perfect ruins, besides which, Betty had her arm sadly burned in the confusion. Mrs. Marmalade’s cap was completely destroyed, and Mrs. Crabtree’s best gown had so large a hole burned in the skirt, that she never could wear it again!

After all was quiet, and the fire completely extinguished, Major Graham took Laura down stairs to Lady Harriet’s dressing-room, that she might tell the whole particulars of how this alarming accident happened in the nursery, for nobody could guess what had caused so sudden and dreadful a fire, which seemed to have been as unexpected as a flash of lightning.

Lady Harriet had felt so terrified by the noise and confusion, that she was out of bed, sitting up in an arm-chair, supported by pillows, when Laura entered, at the sight of whom, with her well-cropped head, she made an exclamation of perfect amazement.

“Why! who on earth is that! Laura! my dear child! what has become of all your hair? Were your curls burned off in the fire? or did the fright make you grow bald? What is the meaning of all this?”

Laura turned perfectly crimson with shame and distress, for she now felt convinced of her own great misconduct about the scissors and curls, but she had been taught on all occasions to speak the truth, and would rather have died than told a lie, or even allowed any person to believe what was not true, therefore she answered in a low, frightened [40] voice, while the tears came into her eyes, “My hair has not been burned off, grandmama! but—but—”

“Well, child! speak out!” said Lady Harriet, impatiently, “did some hair-dresser come to the house and rob you?”

“Or are you like the ladies of Carthage who gave their long hair for bows and arrows?” asked Major Graham. “I never saw such a little fright in my life as you look now; but tell us all about it?”

“I have been quite as naughty as Harry!” answered Laura, bursting into tears and sobbing with grief; “I was cutting off my hair with Mrs. Crabtree’s scissors all the time that he was setting the nursery on fire!”

“Did any mortal ever hear of two such little torments!” exclaimed Major Graham, hardly able to help laughing. “I wonder if anybody else in the world has such mischievous children!”

“It is certainly very strange, that you and Harry never can contrive to be three hours out of a scrape!” said Lady Harriet gravely; “now Frank, on the contrary, never forgets what I bid him do. You might suppose he carried Mrs. Crabtree in his pocket, to remind him constantly of his duty; but there are not two such boys in the world as Frank!”

“No,” added Major Graham; “Harry set the house on fire, and Frank will set the Thames on fire!”

When Laura saw uncle David put on one of his funny looks, while he spoke in this way to Lady Harriet, she almost forgot her former fright, and became surprised to observe her grandmama busy preparing what she called a coach-wheel, which had been often given as a treat to Harry and herself when they were particularly good. This delightful wheel was manufactured by taking a whole round slice of the loaf, in the centre of which was placed a large tea-spoonful of jelly, after which long spokes of marmalade, jam, and honey, were made to diverge most tastefully in [41] every direction towards the crust, and Laura watched the progress of this business with great interest and anxiety, wondering if it could be hoped that her grandmama really meant to forgive all her misconduct during the day.

“That coach-wheel is, of course, meant for me!” said Major Graham, pretending to be very hungry, and looking slyly at Laura; “It cannot possibly be intended for our little hair-dresser here!”

“Yes, it is!” answered Lady Harriet, smiling. “I have some thoughts of excusing Laura this time, because she always tells me the truth, without attempting to conceal any foolish thing she does. It will be very long before she has any hair to cut off again, so I hope she may be older and wiser by that time, especially considering that every looking-glass she sees for six months will make her feel ashamed of herself. She certainly deserves some reward for having prevented the house to-night from being burned to the ground.”

“I am glad you think so, because here is a shilling that has been burning in my pocket for the last few minutes, as I wished to bestow it on Laura for having saved all our lives, and if she had behaved still better, I might perhaps have given her a gold watch!”

Laura was busily employed in eating her coach-wheel, and trying to fancy what the gold watch would have looked like which she might probably have got from uncle David, when suddenly the door burst open, and Mrs. Crabtree hurried into the room, with a look of surprise and alarm, her face as red as a poppy, and her eye fixed on the hole in her best gown, while she spoke so loud and angrily, that Laura almost trembled.

“If you please, my lady! where can Master Harry be? I cannot find him in any corner!—we have been searching all over the house, up stairs and down stairs, in vain. Not [42] a garret or a closet but has been ransacked, and nobody can guess what has become of him!”

“Did you look up the chimney, Mrs. Crabtree?” asked Major Graham, laughing to see how excited she looked.

“Indeed, Sir! it is no joke,” answered Mrs. Crabtree, sulkily; “I am almost afraid Master Harry has been burned in the fire! The last time Betty saw him, he was throwing a jug of water into the flames, and no one has ever seen or heard of him since! There is a great many ashes and cinders lying about the room, and——”

“Do you think, in sober seriousness, Mrs. Crabtree, that Harry would melt away like a wax doll, without asking any body to extinguish him?” said Major Graham, smiling. “No! no! little boys are not quite so easily disposed of. I shall find Harry in less than five minutes, if he is above ground.”

But uncle David was quite mistaken in expecting to discover Harry so easily, for he searched and searched in vain. He looked into every possible or impossible place—the library, the kitchen, the garrets, the laundry, the drawing-room, all without success,—he peeped under the tables, behind the curtains, over the beds, beneath the pillows, and into Mrs. Crabtree’s bonnet-box,—he even opened the tea-chest, and looked out at the window, in case Harry had tumbled over, but nowhere could he be found.

“Not a mouse is stirring!” exclaimed Major Graham, beginning now to look exceedingly grave and anxious. “This is very strange! The house-door is locked, therefore, unless Harry made his escape through the key-hole, he must be here! It is most unaccountable what the little pickle can have done with himself!”

When Major Graham chose to exert his voice, it was as loud as a trumpet, and could be heard half a mile off; so he now called out, like thunder, from the top of the stairs to the [43] bottom, saying, “Hollo, Harry! hollo! Come here, my boy! Nobody shall hurt you! Harry! where are you!”

Uncle David waited to listen, but all was still,—no answer could be heard, and there was not a sound in the house, except poor Laura at the bottom of the stairs, sobbing with grief and terror about Harry having been lost, and Mrs. Crabtree grumbling angrily to herself, on account of the large hole in her best gown.

By this time Lady Harriet nearly fainted with fatigue, for she was so very old, and had been ill all day; so she grew worse and worse, till everybody said she must go to bed, and try if it would be possible to fall asleep, assuring her that Harry must soon be found, as nothing particular could have happened to him, or some person would have seen it.

“Indeed, my lady! Master Harry is just like a bad shilling that is sure to come back,” said Mrs. Crabtree, helping her to undress, while she continued to talk the whole time about the fire, showing her own unfortunate gown, describing the trouble she had taken to save the house from being burned, and always ending every sentence with a wish that she could lay her hands on Harry to punish him as he deserved.

“The truth is, I just spoil and indulge the children too much, my lady!” added Mrs. Crabtree, in a self-satisfied tone of voice. “I really blame myself often for being over easy and kind.”

“You have nothing to accuse yourself of in that respect,” answered Lady Harriet, unable to help smiling.

“Your ladyship is very good to say so. Major Graham is so fond of our young people, that it is lucky they have some one to keep them in order. I shall make a duty, my lady, of being more strict than ever. Master Harry must be made an example of this time!” added Mrs. Crabtree, angrily glancing at the hole in her gown. “I shall teach [44] him to remember this day the longest hour he has to live!”

“Harry will not forget it any how,” answered Lady Harriet languidly. “Perhaps, Mrs. Crabtree, we might as well not be severe with the poor boy on this occasion. As the old proverb says, ‘there is no use in pouring water on a drowned mouse.’ Harry has got a sad fright for his pains, and at all events you must find him first, before he can be punished. Where can the poor child be hid?”

“I would give sixpence to find out that, my lady!” answered Mrs. Crabtree, helping Lady Harriet into bed, after which she closed the shutters, put out the candles, and left the room, angrily muttering, “Master Harry cares no more for me than the poker cares for the tongs, but I shall teach him another story soon.”

Lady Harriet now feebly closed her eyes, being quite exhausted, and was beginning to feel the pleasant, confused sensation that people have before going to sleep, when some noise made her suddenly start quite awake. She sat up in bed to listen, but could not be sure whether it had been a great noise at a distance, or a little noise in the room; so after waiting two or three minutes, she sunk back upon the pillows, and tried to forget it. Again, however, she distinctly heard something rustling in the bed curtains, and opened her eyes to see what could be the matter, but all was dark. Something seemed to be breathing very near her, however, and the curtains shook worse than before, till Lady Harriet became really alarmed.

“It must surely be a cat in the room!” thought she, hastily pulling the bell rope, till it nearly came down. “That tiresome little animal will make such a noise, I shall not be able to sleep all night!”

The next minute Lady Harriet was startled to hear a loud sob close beside her; and when everybody rushed up stairs to ask what was the matter, they brought candles to [45] search the room, and there was Harry! He lay doubled up in a corner, and crying as if his heart would break, yet still endeavouring not to be seen; for Harry always thought it a terrible disgrace to cry, and would have concealed himself anywhere, rather than be observed weeping. Laura burst into tears also, when she saw what red eyes and pale cheeks Harry had; but Mrs. Crabtree lost no time in pulling him out of his place, being quite impatient to begin her scold, and to produce her tawse, though she received a sad disappointment on this occasion, as uncle David unexpectedly interfered to get him off.

“Come now, Mrs. Crabtree,” said he good-naturedly; “put up the tawse for this time; you are rather too fond of the leather. Harry seems really sorry and frightened, so we must be merciful. That cataract of tears he is shedding now, would have extinguished the fire if it had come in time! Harry is like a culprit with the rope about his neck; but he shall not be executed. Let me be judge and jury in this case; and my sentence is a very dreadful one. Harry must sleep all to-night in the burned nursery, having no other covering than the burned blankets, with large holes in them, that he may never forget

“THE TERRIBLE FIRE!”

[46]
CHAPTER IV.
 
 
THE PRODIGIOUS CAKE.

Next day after the fire, Laura could think of nothing but what she was to do with the shilling that uncle David had given her; and a thousand plans came into her head, while many wants entered her thoughts, which never occurred before; so that, if twenty shillings had been in her hand instead of one, they would all have gone twenty different ways.

Lady Harriet advised that it should be laid bye till Laura had fully considered what she would like best; reminding her very truly, that money is lame in coming, but flies in going away. “Many people can get a shilling, Laura,” said her grandmama; “but the difficulty is to keep it; for you know the old proverb tells that ‘a fool and his money are soon parted.’”

“Yes, Miss! so give it to me, and I shall take care of your shilling!” added Mrs. Crabtree, holding out her hand to Laura, who fell that if her money once disappeared into that capacious pocket, she would never see it again. “Children have no use for money! that shilling will only burn a hole in your purse, till it is spent on some foolish thing or [47] other. You will be losing your thimble soon, or mislaying your gloves; for all these things seem to fly in every direction, as if they got legs and wings as soon as they belong to you; so then that shilling may replace what is lost.”

Mrs. Crabtree looked as if she would eat it up; but Laura grasped her treasure still tighter in her hand, exclaiming,

“No! no! this is mine! Uncle David never thought of my shilling being taken care of! He meant me to do whatever I liked with it! Uncle David says he cannot endure saving children, and that he wishes all money were turned into slates, when little girls keep it longer than a week.”

“I like that!” said Harry, eagerly; “it is so pleasant to spend money, when the shopkeeper bows to me over the counter so politely, and asks what I please to want.”

“Older people than you like spending money, Master Harry, and spend whether they have it or no; but the greatest pleasure is to keep it. For instance, Miss Laura, whatever she sees worth a shilling in any shop, might be hers if she pleases; so then it is quite as good as her own. We shall look in at the bazaar every morning, to fix upon something that she would like to have, and then consider of it for two or three days.”

Laura thought this plan so very unsatisfactory, that she lost no time in getting her shilling changed into two sixpences, one of which she immediately presented to Harry, who positively refused for a long time to accept of it, insisting that Laura should rather buy some pretty plaything for herself; but she answered that it was much pleasanter to divide her fortune with Harry, than to be selfish, and spend it all alone. “I am sure, Harry,” added she, “if this money had been yours, you would have said the same thing, and given the half of what you got to me; so now let us say no more about that, but tell me what would be the best use to make of my sixpence?”

[48]
“You might buy that fine red morocco purse we saw in the shop window yesterday,” observed Harry, looking very serious and anxious, on being consulted. “Do you remember how much we both wished to have it?”

“But what is the use of a purse, with no money to keep in it!” answered Laura, looking earnestly at Harry for more advice. “Think again of something else.”

“Would you like a new doll?”

“Yes; but I have nothing to dress her with!”

“Suppose you buy that pretty geranium in a red flower-pot at the gardener’s!”

“If it would only live for a week, I might be tempted to try; but flowers will always die with me. They seem to wither when I so much as look at them. Do you remember that pretty fuchsia that I almost drowned the first day grandmama gave it me; and we forgot for a week afterwards to water it at all. I am not a good flower doctor.”

“Then buy a gold watch at once,” said Harry, laughing; “or a fine pony, with a saddle, to ride on.”

“Now, Harry, pray be quite in earnest. You know I might as well attempt to buy the moon as a gold watch; so think of something else.”

“It is very difficult to make a good use of money,” said Harry, pretending to look exceedingly wise. “Do you know, Laura, I once found out that you could have twelve of those large ship biscuits we saw at the baker’s shop for sixpence. Only think! you could feed the whole town, and make a present to everybody in the house besides! I dare say Mrs. Crabtree might like one with her tea. All the maids would think them a treat. You could present one to Frank, another to old Andrew, and there would still be some left for these poor children at the cottage.”

“Oh! that is the very thing!” cried Laura, running out of the room to send Andrew off with a basket, and looking as happy as possible. Not long afterwards, Frank, who [49] had returned from school, was standing at the nursery window, when he suddenly called out in a voice of surprise and amazement,

“Come here, Harry! look at old Andrew! he is carrying something tied up in a towel, as large as his own head! what can it be?”

“That is all for me! these are my biscuits!” said Laura, running off to receive the parcel, and though she heard Frank laughing, while Harry told all about them, she did not care, but brought her whole collection triumphantly into the nursery.

“Oh fancy! how perfect!” cried Harry, opening the bundle; “this is very good fun!”

“Here are provisions for a siege!” added Frank. “You have at least got enough for your money, Laura!”

“Take one yourself, Frank!” said she, reaching him the largest, and then, with the rest all tied in her apron, Laura proceeded up and down stairs, making presents to every person she met, till her whole store was finished; and she felt quite satisfied and happy because everybody seemed pleased and returned many thanks, except Mrs. Crabtree, who said she had no teeth to eat such hard things, which were only fit for sailors going to America or the West Indies.

“You should have bought me a pound of sugar, Miss Laura, and that might have been a present worth giving.”

“You are too sweet already, Mrs. Crabtree!” said Frank, laughing. “I shall send you a sugar-cane from the West Indies, to beat Harry and Laura with, and a whole barrel of sugar for yourself, from my own estate.”

“None of your nonsense, Master Frank! Get out of the nursery this moment! You with an estate indeed! You will not have a place to put your foot upon soon except the topmast in a man-of-war, where all the bad boys in a ship are sent.”

[50]
“Perhaps, as you are not to be the captain, I may escape, and be dining with the officers sometimes! I mean to send you home a fine new India shawl, Mrs. Crabtree, the very moment I arrive at Madras, and some china tea-cups from Canton.”

“Fiddlesticks and nonsense!” said Mrs. Crabtree, who sometimes enjoyed a little jesting with Frank. “Keep all them rattle-traps till you are a rich nabob, and come home to look for Mrs. Frank,—a fine wife she will be! Ladies that get fortunes from India are covered all over with gold chains, and gold muslins, and scarlet shawls. She will eat nothing but curry and rice, and never put her foot to the ground except to step into her carriage.”

“I hope you are not a gipsey, to tell fortunes!” cried Harry, laughing; “Frank would die rather than take such a wife.”

“Or, at least, I would rather have a tooth drawn than do it,” added Frank, smiling. “Perhaps I may prefer to marry one of those old wives on the chimney-tops; but it is too serious to say I would rather die, because nobody knows how awful it is to die, till the appointed day comes.”

“Very true and proper, Master Frank,” replied Mrs. Crabtree; “you speak like a printed book sometimes, and you deserve a good wife.”

“Then I shall return home some day with chests of gold, and let you choose one for me, as quiet and good-natured as yourself, Mrs. Crabtree,” said Frank, taking up his books and hastening off to school, running all the way, as he was rather late, and Mr. Lexicon, the master, had promised a grand prize for the boy who came most punctually to his lessons, which everybody declared that Frank was sure to gain, as he had never once been absent at the right moment.

Major Graham often tried to teaze Frank, by calling him “the Professor,”—asking him questions which it was [51] impossible to answer, and then pretending to be quite shocked at his ignorance; but no one ever saw the young scholar put out of temper by those tricks and trials, for he always laughed more heartily than any one else, at the joke.

“Now show me, Frank,” said uncle David, one morning, “how do you advance three steps backwards?”

“That is quite impossible, unless you turn me into a crab.”

“Tell me, then, which is the principal town in Caffraria?”

“Is there any town there? I do not recollect it.”

“Then so much the worse!—how are you ever to get through life without knowing the chief town in Caffraria! I am quite ashamed of your ignorance. Now let us try a little arithmetic! Open the door of your understanding and tell me, when wheat is six shillings a bushel, what is the price of a penny loaf. Take your slate and calculate that.”

“Yes, uncle David, if you will find out, when gooseberries are two shillings the pint, what is the price of a threepenny tart. You remind me of my old nursery song—

Some days after Laura had distributed the biscuits, she became very sorry for having squandered her shilling, without attending to Lady Harriet’s good advice, about keeping it carefully in her pocket for at least a week, to see what would happen. A very pleasant way of using money now fell in her way, but she had been a foolish spendthrift, so her pockets were empty, when she most wished them to be full. Harry came that morning after breakfast into the nursery, looking in a great bustle, and whispering to Laura, “What a pity your sixpence is gone! but as Mrs. Crabtree says, ‘we cannot both eat our cake and have it!’”

[52]
“No!” answered Laura, as seriously as if she had never thought of this before, “but why do you so particularly wish my money back to-day?”

“Because such a very nice, funny thing is to be done this morning. You and I are asked to join the party, but I am afraid we cannot afford it! All our little cousins and companions intend going with Mr. Harwood, the tutor, at twelve o’clock, to climb up to the very top of Arthur’s Seat, where they are to dine and have a dance. There will be about twenty boys and girls of the party, but every body is to carry a basket filled with provisions for dinner, either cakes, or fruit, or biscuits, which are to be eat on the great rock at the top of the hill. Now grandmama says we ought to have had money enough to supply what is necessary, and then we might have gone, but no one can be admitted who has not at least sixpence to buy something.”

“Oh! how provoking!” said Laura, sadly, “I wonder when we shall learn always to follow grandmama’s advice, for that is sure to turn out best in the end. I never take my own way without being sorry for it afterwards, so I deserve now to be disappointed and remain at home; but, Harry, your sixpence is still safe, so pray join this delightful party, and tell me all about it afterwards.”

“If it could take us both, I should be very happy, but I will not go without you, Laura, after you were so good to me, and gave me this in a present. No, no! I only wish we could do like the poor madman grandmama mentioned, who planted sixpences in the ground that they might grow into shillings.”

“Pray! what are you two looking so solemn about?” asked Frank, hurrying into the room, at that moment, on his way to school. “Are you talking of some mischief that has been done already, or only about some mischief you are intending to do soon?”

“Neither the one nor the other,” answered Laura. [53] “But, oh! Frank, I am sure you will be sorry for us, when we tell you of our sad disappointment!”

She then related the whole story of the party to Arthur’s Seat, mentioning that Mr. Harwood had kindly offered to take charge of Harry and herself, but as her little fortune had been so foolishly squandered, she could not go, and Harry said it would be impossible to enjoy the fun without her, though Lady Harriet had given them both leave to be of the party.

All the time that Laura spoke, Frank stood, with his hands in his pockets, where he seemed evidently searching for something, and when the whole history was told, he said to Harry, “Let me see this poor little sixpence of yours! I am a very clever conjuror, and could perhaps turn it into a shilling!”

“Nonsense, Frank!” said Laura, laughing; “you might as well turn Harry into uncle David!”

“Well! we shall see!” answered Frank, taking up the sixpence. “I have put the money into this box!—rattle it well!—once! twice! thrice!—there, peep in!—now it is a shilling! I told you so!”

Frank ran joyously out of the room, being much amused with the joke, for he had put one of his own shillings into the box for Harry and Laura, who were excessively surprised at first, and felt really ashamed to take this very kind present from Frank, when he so seldom had money of his own; but they knew how generous he was, for he often repeated that excellent maxim, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

After a few minutes, they remembered that nothing could prevent them now from going with Mr. Harwood to Arthur’s Seat, which put Laura into such a state of ecstacy, that she danced round the room for joy, while Harry jumped upon the tables and chairs, tumbled head over heels, and called Betty to come immediately that they might get ready.

[54]
When Mrs. Crabtree heard such an uproar, she hastened also into the room, asking what had happened to cause this riot, and she became very angry indeed, to hear that Harry and Laura had both got leave to join in this grand expedition.

“You will be spoiling all your clothes, and getting yourselves into a heat! I wonder her ladyship allows this! How much better you would be taking a quiet walk with me in the gardens! I shall really speak to Lady Harriet about it! The air must be very cold on the top of them great mountains! I am sure you will both have colds for a month after this Tom-foolery.”

“Oh no, Mrs. Crabtree! I promise not to catch cold!” cried Harry, eagerly; “and, besides, you can scarcely prevent our going now, for grandmama has set out on her long airing in the carriage, so there is nobody for you to ask about keeping us at home, except uncle David!”

Mrs. Crabtree knew from experience, that Major Graham was a hopeless case, as he always took part with the children, and liked nothing so much for old and young as “a ploy;” so she grumbled on to herself, while her eyes looked as sharp as a pair of scissors with rage. “You will come back, turned into scare-crows, with all your nice clean clothes in tatters,” said she, angrily; “but if there is so much as a speck upon this best new jacket and trowsers, I shall know the reason why.”

“What a comfort it would be, if there were no such things in the world as ‘new clothes,’ for I am always so much happier in the old ones,” said Harry. “People at the shops should sell clothes that will never either dirty or tear!”

“You ought to be dressed in fur, like Robinson Crusoe, or sent out naked, like the little savages,” said Mrs. Crabtree, “or painted black and blue like them wild old Britons that lived here long ago!”

[55]
“I am black and blue sometimes, without being painted,” said Harry, escaping to the door. “Good-bye, Mrs. Crabtree! I hope you will not die of weariness without us! On our return we shall tell you all our delightful adventures.”

About half an hour afterwards, Harry and Laura were seen hurrying out of the pastry-cook, Mrs. Weddell’s shop, bearing little covered baskets in their hands, but nobody could guess what was in them. They whispered and laughed together with very merry faces, looking the very pictures of happiness, and running along as fast as they could to join the noisy party of their cousins and companions, almost fearing that Mr. Harwood might have set off without them. Frank often called him “Mr. Punctuality,” as he was so very particular about his scholars being in good time on all occasions; and certainly Mr. Harwood carried his watch more in his hand than in his pocket, being in the habit of constantly looking to see that nobody arrived too late. Mail-coaches or steamboats could hardly keep the time better, when an hour had once been named, and the last words that Harry heard when he was invited were, “Remember! sharp twelve.”

The great clock of St. Andrew’s Church was busy striking that hour, and every little clock in the town was saying the same thing, when Mr. Harwood himself, with his watch in his hand, opened the door, and walked out, followed by a dozen of merry-faced boys and girls, all speaking at once, and vociferating louder than the clocks, as if they thought everybody had grown deaf.

“I shall reach the top of Arthur’s Seat first,” said Peter Grey. “All of you follow me, for I know the shortest way. It is only a hop, step, and a jump!”

“Rather a long step!” cried Robert Fordyce. “But I could lead you a much better way, though I shall show it to nobody but myself.”

[56]
“We must certainly drink water at St. Anthony’s Well,” observed Laura; “because whatever any one wishes for when he tastes it, is sure to happen immediately.”

“Then I shall wish that some person may give me a new doll,” said Mary Forrester. “My old one is only fit for being lady’s maid to a fine new doll.”

“I am in ninety-nine minds what to wish for,” exclaimed Harry; “we must take care not to be like the foolish old woman in the fairy tale, who got only a yard of black pudding.”

“I shall ask for a piebald pony, with a whip, a saddle, and a bridle!” cried Peter Grey; “and for a week’s holidays,—and a new watch,—and a spade,—and a box of French plums,—and to be first at the top of Arthur’s Seat,—and—and—”

“Stop, Peter!—stop! you can only have one wish at St. Anthony’s Well,” interrupted Mr. Harwood. “If you ask more, you lose all.”

“That is very hard, for I want everything,” replied Peter. “What are you wishing for, Sir?”

“What shall I ask for?” said Mr. Harwood, reflecting to himself. “I have not a want in the world?”

“O yes, Sir! you must wish for something!” cried the whole party, eagerly. “Do invent something to ask, Mr. Harwood!”

“Then I wish you may all behave well till we reach the top of Arthur’s Seat, and all come safely down again.”

“You may be sure of that already!” said Peter, laughing. “I set such a very good example to all my companions, that they never behave ill when I am present,—no! not even by accident! When Dr. Algebra examined our class to-day, he asked Mr. Lexicon, ‘What has become of the best boy in your school this morning?’ and the answer was, ‘Of course your mean Peter Grey! He is gone to the top of Arthur’s Seat with that excellent man, Mr. Harwood!’”

[57]
“Indeed!—and pray, Master Peter, what bird whispered this story into your ear, seeing it has all happened since we left home!—but people who are praised by nobody else, often take to praising themselves!”

“Who knows better!—and here is Harry Graham, the very ditto of myself,—so steady he might be fit to drill a whole regiment. We shall lead the party quite safely up the hill, and down again, without any ladders.”

“And without wings,” added Harry, laughing; “but what are we to draw water out of the well with?—here are neither buckets, nor tumblers, nor glasses!”

“I could lend you my thimble!” said Laura, searching her pocket. “That will hold enough of water for one wish, and every person may have the loan of it in turn.”

“This is the very first time your thimble has been of use to anybody!” said Harry, slyly; “but I dare say it is not worn into holes with too much sewing, therefore it will make a famous little magical cup for St. Anthony’s Well. You know the fairies who dance here by moonlight, lay their table-cloth upon a mushroom, and sit round it, to be merry, but I never heard what they use for a drinking cup.”

Harry now proceeded briskly along to the well, singing as he went, a song which had been taught him by uncle David, beginning,