"Just to keep you from catching cold, miss; and Master Bobby must have one too, bless his heart! He"s as white as my ap.r.o.n, and small wonder, after seeing his sister half drowned!"
CHAPTER III
THE BLACK PUPPY
"His eyes so brown, his winning ways, His faithful heart, command our praise."
After the adventure at the mill-wheel, Aunt Helen, judging wisely that "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do," sent the children into the fields with Lilian to gather cowslips to make cowslip beer. It was pleasant work wandering among the green meadows picking the sweet-smelling flowers, while the larks sang their loudest overhead, and the little brook babbled by on its path to the river--more especially pleasant when they remembered that by this time next week school would have begun again, with its attendant woes of Latin grammar and French composition.
"I"m sure we must have enough now," said Lilian, turning out her sixteenth basket of blossoms into the ever-increasing pile in the bakehouse. "I"m almost tired of gathering them; I shall see nothing but cowslips when I shut my eyes in bed to-night."
"It will take a fearfully long time to pick them all," remarked Peggy, starting bravely to work on her task of pulling the yellow pips away from the green calyces. "It seems almost a shame to put them into a barrel, they look so pretty."
"You won"t say so when you come to taste it," said unromantic Bobby, who was fond of cool, fizzy drinks in summer.
"Be that you, miss?" said a voice from the region of the door; and the good-natured, freckled face and sandy hair of Joe, the farm-boy, made its appearance, followed by the rest of his lanky person, as he entered slowly, bearing something mysteriously concealed under his coat.
"Whatever have you got there, Joe?" cried three voices at once.
"Well," replied Joe, with an important air, "it do be a present for Miss Peggy, it be. She were that disappointed about the guinea-pig as Mrs.
Davenport promised to give her, and forgot all about, that I says to myself, "I must make it up to her some ways, if I gets the chance." So I walks over to my granny"s at Marlow last night, and I begs a black pup off her, and here it is."
Joe drew aside his jacket, and disclosed to the children"s delighted eyes the sweetest little round fuzzy ball of black fluff, just like a tiny woolly bear, with tan chest and paws, and a wagging morsel of a tail like a black ta.s.sel. It had the brightest of brown eyes, the pinkest of tongues, and the shrillest of barks, and it was altogether such a dear, enchanting, soft, curly morsel of puppyhood that Peggy took it to her arms and her heart at the same moment.
"Oh, thank you, Joe!" she exclaimed, almost too pleased to speak.
"Granny has five of "em, miss," said Joe; "but I picked out the best.
It"ll make a grand dog, it will, when it"s growed, and master was sayin"
only the other day as he could do with another collie to train in old Rover"s place."
"Let me have him a moment!" begged Bobby, hugging the wriggling burden, which Peggy unwillingly relinquished.
"What shall you call the darling?" inquired Lilian, kissing the funny black nose that was smelling at her b.u.t.tons.
"I think Rollo would be a jolly name, and of course we can all have a piece of him all the same, though he"s mine," announced Peggy magnanimously, for the Vaughans always shared their good things with one another.
They had a perfect menagerie of pets at the Abbey. First there were the rabbits, five white ones and two black, which lived in a little hutch behind the stackyard. They did not do very much except nibble at bran and lettuce-leaves, it is true, but they were pretty, soft creatures, with long, silky ears, and it was fun sometimes to let them out for a scamper on the granary floor. Then there was p.r.i.c.kles, a bright little hedgehog, which Peggy had rescued from some village boys who were using the poor little fellow as a football. She had brought him home, and fed him on bread and milk, and he soon got to know her, and would come when she called him, and allow her to scratch the end of his funny pink nose.
p.r.i.c.kles generally slept most of the day in a snug box lined with hay, but in the evenings he woke up, and Peggy would carry him into the kitchen, where he devoured black-beetles, much to his own delight and Nancy"s satisfaction.
Jack, the magpie, had fallen from his nest in the fir-tree when still an ugly little half-fledged creature with a wide, gaping mouth. The children had made a nest of gra.s.s for him inside a basket, and fed him on worms and sc.r.a.ps of raw meat until he was old enough to fly, when he would follow them everywhere about the farmyard and outbuildings, calling "Jack, Jack!" which, with the mewing of a cat, the gobble of the old turkey-c.o.c.k, and a close imitation of David"s winter cough, made up the extent of his accomplishments.
Nancy kept him sternly out of the kitchen, for he was terribly mischievous, and seemed to take a positive delight in playing practical jokes. He had purloined David"s scarf from the saddle-room, and dropped it into the horse-trough, had filled Bobby"s hat with pebbles, and devoured the queen-cakes which Lilian had placed on the kitchen window-sill to cool; he had s.n.a.t.c.hed Joe"s breast-pin--a glittering imitation diamond--from his Sunday tie, under the very nose of that injured youth, and had stolen so many small articles that if anything were missing the children would have a grand search for Master Jack"s hiding-place, and would generally turn out the lost treasure from among an odd collection of trifles--sc.r.a.ps of bright-coloured rags, bits of broken gla.s.s, hairpins, pen-nibs, pencil-ends, together with pieces of bread and half-picked bones which the thief had concealed in some cunning corner inside a manger or under the roof of the loft.
Then there was Pixie, the pony, who would come whinnying up from the further side of a field to poke her soft nose into the children"s pockets for pieces of bread or lumps of sugar; there were numerous cats who lived in the barns and stables, and Tabbyskins, the stately gray Persian, who usually sat sunning herself on the pigsty wall, keeping a strict eye on naughty Jack, who was wont to harry her if he got the chance.
Bobby had a pretty set of bantams, whose small eggs afforded him much delight and some slight profit, for Aunt Helen bought them from him at threepence a dozen--a transaction which he always recorded in chalk upon the hen-house door, the pennies being carefully put by towards the purchase of a pair of fantail pigeons, which was at present the summit of his ambition.
This spring, too, there was a pet lamb called Daisy. David had found it bleating beside its dead mother one bitter morning early in March, and had carried the poor orphan into the kitchen, where Nancy had reared it on a feeding-bottle like a baby. It returned her care by an affection which was quite embarra.s.sing to the worthy girl, for however attractive a pet lamb may be, it becomes distinctly in the way when it insists upon following you into the dining-room with the dinner, or presses its attentions on you when you are engaged in cleaning the grate or scrubbing the floors.
It was not only outside that the children had treasures. Aunt Helen was very long-suffering with respect to hobbies, for she rightly thought that the more a child"s life is filled with interests, the more chance it has of growing up an intelligent and broad-minded individual, and of escaping from that lethargy of boredom which swallows up the lives of many young people who ought to know better how to amuse themselves in G.o.d"s beautiful world. "I don"t know what to do," was an unknown expression among the young Vaughans, who had always so many projects on hand that the difficulty lay in finding time to carry them all out.
The Rose Parlour, as it was called, from the tangle of pink roses which framed the windows in summer-time, was especially given up to the children"s use. It was a bright, cheerful room, with a view over the river to the sunset and the Welsh mountains, and had a French window which opened into the garden. Here was the old piano on which they practised, here the ink-pots and rulers for their home-lessons, with their paint-boxes, crayons, and drawing-books.
A cupboard in the corner was devoted to a kind of museum, where they kept their collection of birds" eggs, a few b.u.t.terflies, moths, and beetles, Lilian"s pressed wild-flowers, a box full of sh.e.l.ls and fossils which they had brought home from their one never-to-be-forgotten visit to the seaside, a curious plaited basket filled with bone rings, sh.e.l.l bracelets, and other curiosities, sent by a sailor cousin from the South Sea Islands, and an odd a.s.sortment of stones, old coins, foreign stamps, crests and postmarks, which represented landmarks in the history of past fads.
Lilian"s canary hung in the sunniest window, Peggy"s silkworms lay in a box on the sideboard, and Bobby"s white mice reposed in much comfort in a cage on the chimneypiece.
The walls were adorned with school drawings and prize maps, fastened up with tacks; a bookcase of much-read volumes filled the s.p.a.ce between the fireplace and the window; and in the corner might be found a miscellaneous collection of cricket-bats, fishing-rods, tennis-racquets, bows and arrows, croquet-mallets, sticks, b.a.l.l.s and ninepins, and other articles very dear to the children"s hearts, but which Nancy generally cla.s.sed impartially under the head of "lumber."
The black puppy proved a delightful addition to the already long list of pets. Lilian hunted up a piece of blue ribbon to tie round his fluffy neck; but he objected to decorations, and soon clawed it off, and chewed it into a soft, slimy pulp. He ran after the children with little short, sharp barks, worrying at their heels till Aunt Helen declared there would soon not be a whole stocking left in the establishment; he had a fray at once with Jack, but was much worsted by that worthy, returning to Peggy for protection with his sc.r.a.p of a tail between his legs; he tore Bobby"s cricket-ball to pieces, licked the polish off Father"s boots, devoured Aunt Helen"s goloshes, and nestled cosily down to sleep on the top of Nancy"s best Sunday hat, which that luckless damsel had imprudently left in an open band-box on the kitchen settle.
On the first night of his arrival he howled so piteously on being left alone that Peggy insisted on taking him to bed with her.
"He"ll be no trouble, the darling!" she said. "He"ll just cuddle down on the rug at the foot of my bed, and go to sleep like an angel; I know he will!"
She and Lilian made him a very snug little nest with the help of an old pillow, and he settled himself with a sigh of much content.
"He"s _far_ better than a baby," declared Peggy, "for he doesn"t want hushing and rocking, and he won"t cry in the night."
But his fond mistress had given her favourite his good character a little too soon. About midnight the bright moonlight streaming in through the window woke Master Rollo, who, having had a refreshing nap, was now very wide awake, and ready for anything. He heaved himself out of his wrappings, and with a delighted yelp fell upon Peggy"s curls, worrying them with little gasps of joy, till she had to dive beneath the bedclothes to escape her too sportive pet.
After that there was no more rest for Peggy or Lilian; Rollo was on the war-path, and determined to make the most of his opportunities. It was in vain that Lilian held him in her arms, and tried to soothe him to sleep; he grunted and whined, and wriggled down on to the floor, where, with a shrill bark, he unearthed a cardboard box full of old gloves, which had been stored away under the bed. The chewing and tearing up of these afforded him much sport, as did also the bare feet of his mistress, when she attempted to interfere. Peggy was at her wits" end, but she finally seized the tempestuous ball of fluff, and dropped him to the bottom of the empty clothes-basket.
"He can"t do any harm in there, at any rate," she said hopefully.
He could make such a noise, however, that he effectually banished slumber; he twisted and turned, he bit at the wickerwork, and scratched with his claws, and after ten minutes of much commotion managed to tip over the basket and crawl out in triumph, to renew his attacks upon the shoes and other property of the despairing girls.
"It"s no use," groaned Lilian at last, getting out of bed and catching the small sinner; "we shall just have to take it in turns to nurse him till morning; he"s as lively as a cricket, and if we leave him raging about on the floor like that we shan"t have a thing in the room left unchewed!"
Never had a night seemed so long; the only one who thoroughly enjoyed himself was the puppy, who, delighted to receive so much attention, pursued his diversions until the sun was well in at the window, when at length he snuggled into Peggy"s pillow, and composed himself to sleep, leaving his weary guardians only time for a brief rest before Nancy"s unwelcome tap was heard at the door.
After this experience Peggy was not so enthusiastic about having Rollo for a bedfellow, and he slept in the stables, with the cats to bear him company.
He was an amusing little fellow, and soon learned to sit up and beg for biscuits, and Peggy promised herself to teach him many more accomplishments in course of time. As he grew older his pranks a.s.sumed rather a more serious form.
"Just look what that precious dog of yours has done, Peggy!" cried Mr.
Vaughan one day, bursting indignantly into the Rose Parlour with a dead kitten in his hand.
There was a howl of consternation and woe from the children, for the poor gray kit had been rather a favourite, and an instant search was made for the murderer. But Rollo had fled from the stern hand of justice, and though they sought him far and near, it was of no avail, and by bedtime he was still missing.
"No doubt he"s hiding somewhere about in the barns," said Lilian. "He must be fearfully hungry; but it serves him right, the wretch!"
The children had long ago gone to bed, and Mr. Vaughan was on the point of following their example when he noticed a curious and most unusual lump underneath his counterpane.
"What on earth has that stupid Nancy given me a hot bottle for on such a warm evening?" he exclaimed; and flinging down the clothes he disclosed to view, not the expected earthenware bottle, but the shrinking and apologetic form of Master Rollo, who, if ever a dog could be said to own a conscience, surely showed he knew he had offended, and repented heartily of his sins.