Four o"clock on the next afternoon found Belle tapping at the door of the little back sitting-room in No. 4 with a very important face.
"Why, what"s the matter?" she exclaimed, as she entered in response to Mrs. Stewart"s "Come in," for Isobel was sitting in the big armchair propped up with cushions, looking as limp as a rag and as white as a small ghost.
"It"s only one of her bad headaches," replied Mrs. Stewart; "I think it must be the heat. She ought not to have played cricket this morning in the blazing sun.--No, Isobel, you mustn"t try to get up. Belle may sit here and talk to you for a few minutes, but I"m afraid I can"t ask her to stay long."
"I"m _so_ sorry!" said Belle, sitting down on the arm of the big chair and squeezing her friend"s hand. "I"ve brought an invitation. It"s mother"s birthday on Sat.u.r.day, and she"s going to give a picnic at Silversands Tower, and ask all the Sea Urchins. Won"t it be splendid fun? You simply _must_ be better by then. It will be quite a large party: Mr. Chester and a good many other grown-up people are coming.--Mother wonders if your foot will be well enough, Mrs. Stewart?
She would be so pleased to see you, if you don"t mind so many children."
"Thank you, dear; but I can scarcely manage to hobble on to the beach at present," replied Mrs. Stewart, "so I fear it is out of the question for me, much as I should have enjoyed it. Isobel, of course, will be only too delighted to accept. I believe the very thought of it is chasing away her headache."
"We"re to drive there on two coaches," said Belle, "and have tea in the ruins, and afterwards we can play games or ramble about in the woods.
There"ll be twelve grown-up people and twenty children. We didn"t invite the Wrights" baby, because mother said it was too young, and she really couldn"t stand it. She"s asked all the Rokebys, even Cecil, though he _is_ rather a handful sometimes; but Mr. Rokeby"s coming, I expect, and he"ll keep him in order. The Wrights are bringing an aunt who"s just arrived back from a visit to Paris. I"m afraid we shall scarcely get them to talk English. And Mrs. Barrington hasn"t decided yet whether she"ll let Ruth and Edna go--she says it depends upon how they do their health exercises; but they"re going to try and get their father to persuade her. Well, I mustn"t stay now if your head aches, but I"m very glad you can come; I think we shall have a glorious time, and I _do_ hope Sat.u.r.day will be fine."
Not one of the numerous members of the Sea Urchins" Club could have been more anxious for a brilliant day than Isobel. She tapped the gla.s.s in the hall with much solicitude, and even paid a visit to her friend the coastguard to inquire his opinion as to the state of the weather; and having carefully examined a threatening bank of clouds through his telescope, and ascertained that the objectionable little sailor was peeping from his barometer, she came home in rather low spirits, in spite of his a.s.surances that "if it did splash a bit, it wouldn"t be nowt." Luckily her fears proved groundless. Sat.u.r.day turned out everything that could be desired in the way of sun and breeze, and two o"clock found a very excited group of children gathered outside Marine Terrace, where two yellow coaches, hired specially from Ferndale for the occasion, were in waiting to drive the party to the Tower.
Barton, Mrs. Stuart"s maid, was busy packing the insides with baskets of tea-cups and hampers of provisions, and some of the smaller boys had already climbed to the top with a view of securing the box-seats, whence they were speedily evicted by the younger guard, who had his own notions about reserving the best places, and who, having already had a scuffle with Arnold Rokeby on the subject of the unauthorized blowing of his horn, was disposed to resent undue interference with his privileges.
There were quite enough older people to keep the children in order, which seemed a fortunate thing, to judge from the effervescing nature of their spirits. Mrs. Stuart had invited several of her friends, among the number an athletic young curate named Mr. Browne, who tucked both Arnold and Bertie Rokeby easily under one arm, and held them there as in a vice, while he dangled Charlie Chester in mid-air with the other hand--a feat of prowess which so excited their admiration that they clung to him like burrs for the rest of the afternoon. The Wrights had turned up in full force, with the aunt and mademoiselle, and were commenting upon the horses and the general arrangements in their best English-French; while even the little Barringtons had been allowed, after all, to join the fun, though at the last moment, much to Ruth"s disgust, their mother had decided to accompany them, to see that they did not race about in the sun or eat indigestible delicacies.
It took a long time to settle all the guests in their seats, and to stow away the lively members of the party where they could not get into mischief, yet would not interfere with the comfort of their more sober-minded elders, was as difficult a problem as the well-known puzzle of the fox, the goose, and the bag of corn; but eventually things were arranged to everybody"s satisfaction. Bertie Rokeby, who had announced his intention of taking the journey hanging on to the leather strap at the back beside the guard, was safely wedged between his long-suffering mother and the jovial curate; while Charlie Chester had been allowed to screw into a spare six inches of box-seat next to the driver, who held out a half-promise that he might hold the reins going uphill. The whole company seemed in the gayest of spirits and the most sociable of moods.
Mr. Chester, who was something of a wag, kept both coaches in a roar with his jokes, and a fashionably-dressed young lady in pince-nez, who had looked rather unapproachable at first, proved to have her pockets overflowing with chocolates, which she distributed with a liberal hand, and was voted by the boys in consequence a "regular out-and-outer."
The last comers being at length seated, and the last forgotten basket put inside, the guards blew their horns, the drivers whipped up, and the two coaches set off with a dash, to the admiration of all the visitors in Marine Terrace, and the rejoicing of a small crowd of barefooted boys from the town, who had a.s.sembled to watch the start, and who ran diligently for nearly half a mile behind them shouting, "A "alfpenny!
Give us a "alfpenny!" with irritating monotony, and eluding the skilful lashes of the coachmen"s long whips with considerable agility. It was not a very great distance to the Tower, and the children thought the drive far too short, and were quite loath, indeed, to come down when the horses stopped before the gray old gateway, and the guards, who had been rivalling one another in solos on the horn, joined in a farewell duet to the appropriate air of "Meet me again in the evening."
The ruined castle made a charming spot for an out-door party. Situated at the foot of a tall wooded hill called the Scar, its battered walls faced the long valley to the north, up which in the olden days a strict watch must have been kept for Border raiders. The ancient turreted keep, with its tiny loophole windows, was still standing, half covered with ivy, the hairy stems of which were as thick as small trees, and a narrow winding staircase led on to the battlements, from whence you might see, on the one hand, the green slopes of the woods, and on the other the yellow cliffs which bounded the blue waters of the bay. Inside the keep was a large square courtyard, where in times gone by the neighbouring farmers would often drive their cattle for safety when the gleam of the Scottish pikes and the smoke of burning roofs were seen to northward.
The heavy portcullis hung yet in the gateway, and though the drawbridge was long ago gone, and the moat was dry, the fragments of an outer wall and a portion of a barbican remained to show how powerful a protection was needed in the days when might was right, and each man must guard his goods by the strength of his own hand. The courtyard now was covered with short green gra.s.s spangled with daisies, where a pair of tame ravens were solemnly hopping about, while the ivy was the home of innumerable jackdaws that flapped away at the approach of strangers, uttering their funny spoilt "caw," as if indignant at having their haunts disturbed.
Visitors were admitted to the castle by an old woman, who looked almost as ancient as the ruin itself, and who insisted upon giving a full account of the dimensions, situation, and history of the place, which she had learnt from the guide-book, and which she repeated in a high, sing-song voice, without any pauses or stops, as if she were saying a lesson. She followed the various members of the party for some time, trying to make them keep together and listen to her explanations; but as they much preferred to explore on their own account, she was obliged to subside at last to her little kitchen under the archway, and employ herself in the more practical business of boiling the water for tea. All the guests were very soon distributed about the ruins, some admiring the view from the battlements, some peering into the darkness of the dungeons, and others trying to re-people the guardroom and the banqueting-hall with knights and dames of old, and to imagine the clink of armour and the clash of swords in the courtyard below. The Rokeby boys were imperilling their limbs by a climb after jackdaws" nests, oblivious of the fact that it was long past the season for eggs, and the young birds, already in glossy black plumage, were flying round as if in mockery at their efforts. Austin Wright, after a vain attempt to establish an acquaintance with the ravens, had been seen racing as if for his life with the pair in hot pursuit of his small bare legs; while Charlie Chester, in an essay to investigate the interior of the well, very nearly fell to the bottom, being only saved by the tail of his jacket, which luckily caught on a p.r.i.c.kly bramble bush, and held him suspended over the dark gulf till he was rescued by his indignant father.
In the meantime tea had been spread in the courtyard. Two great hissing urns were carried from the kitchen and placed upon the gra.s.s, and both grown-ups and children, abandoning the study of mediaeval history or the pursuit of jackdaws, collected together to discuss sandwiches, cakes, and jam puffs, in spite of Mr. Chester"s laughing protestations that such modern luxuries were out of place, and an ox roasted whole or a red deer pasty would have been a more appropriate feast for the occasion.
Even the ravens came hopping round at the sight of the cups and plates, and waxed quite friendly on the strength of sundry pieces of bun and bread and b.u.t.ter, which they snapped up with voracious bills, growing too forward, indeed, as the meal progressed, for they stole the curate"s tartlet, which he had laid down in an unguarded moment on the gra.s.s, and shamelessly s.n.a.t.c.hed Bertie Rokeby"s sponge-cake out of his very hand.
"I"m sure the Wrights enjoyed themselves," Isobel told her mother afterwards. "Harold had seven rice buns and ten victoria biscuits, and Charlotte and Aggie ate a whole plateful of cheese-cakes between them.
Belle says they always have the most enormous appet.i.tes, and at her last party Eric took four helpings of turkey; he just gulped it down, and kept handing up his plate while the others were eating their first serving, and after that he tasted every different dish on the table.
It"s a great trial for the Wrights to go to parties at the Barringtons; they never get half enough supper, though they have the most delightful magic lanterns and conjurers. Ruth and Edna were scarcely allowed to eat anything at tea. Mrs. Barrington picked all the raisins out of Edna"s bun, and made Ruth put back the jam tart she"d just taken. She said if they were really hungry they might eat some plasmon biscuits she had brought with her, but they mustn"t touch pastry; and Ruth was so savage, she filled her pocket with queen-cakes when her mother wasn"t looking--she said she didn"t mean to come away without having tasted anything nice after all."
If the Barringtons were obliged to rise with unsatisfied appet.i.tes, the same certainly could not be said of the other guests; the piles of good things disappeared with much rapidity, and at last even the insatiable Eric Wright declined another bun. It was at this point that Mrs. Stuart produced a special basket, which she had reserved for a final surprise, and raising the lid, disclosed a row of marvellous little cakes, each made in the exact form of a sea urchin, with spines of white sugar, and the inside filled with vanilla cream.
"It"s a delicate compliment to the Sea Urchins" Club," she said. "It was my own idea. I sent to my confectioner at home, and asked him what he could manage in the matter. I think he has carried it out very well. The cakes look so natural, you could almost imagine they had been fished out of the water."
Quite a howl of delight went up from the young guests, who had never seen such appropriate confectionery before, and the basket was handed round by Belle amid a chorus of thanks, the United Sea Urchins consuming their own effigies with much appreciation, even Ruth and Edna, at the special request of Mrs. Stuart, being allowed for once to share the treat, though only on the distinct understanding that they submitted peaceably to a dose of Gregory"s powder if the unwonted dainties disagreed with them.
Tea being over, the party broke up to amuse itself in various ways, most of the children playing at hide-and-seek among the crumbling walls, or chasing each other up the winding staircase, while a few more adventurous spirits took the opportunity of exploring the dungeons with a candle. It was deliciously creepy down there; you could still see the iron stanchions by which the wretched prisoners had been chained to the wall, and the little hole through which their daily portions of food had been handed in to them, and could imagine, if you were fond of recalling the past, how from their beds of straw they would watch the light fading from the tiny barred window, and shiver as they heard the rats gnawing at the stout oak door, or felt a toad crawl over their feet in the murky darkness. Some of the grown-ups had been busy marking out bounds in the courtyard, and soon enlisted every one in an exciting game of prisoner"s base. Mr. Chester and the curate made the most successful captains, directing the proceedings with great spirit, and sometimes by a bold dash rescuing the more important of their prisoners, and Bertie Rokeby covered himself with glory by quietly walking to the "prison" while the opposite side was occupied in a hardly-contested struggle, and unsuspectedly freeing all the captives one by one. It was warm work, however, on a hot August day, and after a time the Wrights, never good runners, subsided, panting, on to a piece of ruined wall, and even the enthusiastic curate, who had pulled off his coat, and was prosecuting the game in his shirt sleeves, began to show signs of flagging zeal.
"I"m done up!" cried Mr. Chester at last, flinging himself under the shade of a small elder tree near the banqueting-hall. "I haven"t a leg left to stand on, and I"m hoa.r.s.e with shouting orders. You"d better give in, and do something quiet. I don"t want to see another boy or girl for the s.p.a.ce of the next half-hour, so scoot, all of you, anywhere, and leave Mr. Browne and myself to enjoy a smoke in peace."
CHAPTER X.
WILD MAIDENHAIR.
"On our other side is the straight-up rock, And a path is kept "twixt the gorge and it By boulder stones, where lichens mock The marks on a moth, and small ferns fit Their teeth to the polished block."
Somewhat hot and tired with their exertions, the children dispersed in small groups to lounge about or amuse themselves in any way they happened to feel inclined. As there was still plenty of time before the coaches returned at seven o"clock, Belle and Isobel, together with four of the Rokebys, decided to stroll up the Scar, from the top of which they expected to obtain a very good view of the distant moorland, together with a wide stretch of sea. A narrow path led steeply by a series of steps through the wood, a delightful, cool, shady place, with soft moss spreading like a green carpet underfoot, and closely-interlacing boughs shutting out the sunlight overhead.
Trails of late honeysuckle still hung in sweet-scented festoons from the undergrowth, and an occasional squirrel might be seen whisking his bushy tail round the bole of an oak tree in a quest for early acorns.
There was an interesting little pool, too, where a number of young frogs were practising swimming; and the children thought they saw an otter, but they could not be quite sure, for it scurried off so quickly up the bank that they had not the chance to get more than a glimpse of it. The hazel bushes were covered with nuts, a few of which already contained kernels, and clumps of ferns grew luxuriantly under the shadow of the trees.
Pleasant as it was in the wood, it was even more enjoyable when they reached the top of the hill, and seating themselves upon a thick patch of heather, looked down the other side of the Scar over the rich undulating silvan slope, where among great round boulders they caught the glint of a stream, and heard in the distance the rushing noise of a waterfall. At the foot of the incline, in a narrow valley between the Scar and the cliffs which bounded the sea, rose the gray-brown stone roof of a quaint old Elizabethan house. The richly-carved timbers, the wide mullioned windows, and the ornamental gables were singularly fine, and told of the time when those who built put an artistic pride into their work, and thought no detail too unimportant to be well carried out. The south side was covered with a glorious purple clematis, which hung in rich ma.s.ses round the pillars of a veranda below, and even from the distance the flaming scarlet of the Scotch nasturtium clothing the porch arrested the eyes by its brilliant contrast with the delicate tea-roses that framed the windows.
"What a splendid place!" cried Belle, glancing beyond the twisted chimneys to where the smooth green lawns and gay beds of a garden peeped from between the trees of the shrubbery. "Just look at the beautiful conservatories and greenhouses, and such stables! There"s a tennis lawn on the other side of the flagstaff, and a carriage drive leading down towards the road. It"s the nicest house I"ve seen anywhere about Silversands. I wonder to whom it belongs, and what it"s called."
"It"s the Chase, and belongs to Colonel Smith, I believe," said Cecil.
"There"s a huge "S" on the gates, at any rate, and one day when we were pa.s.sing I saw an old buffer going in with a gun, and Arthur Wright said he was sure it was Colonel Smith, who has all the shooting on the common. Lucky chap! If it were mine, wouldn"t I have a glorious time!
I"d keep ever so many ferrets and dogs in those stables, and go rabbiting every day in the year."
"I"d have a very fast pony that could fly like the wind," said Winnie, "and I"d gallop all over the moors and the sh.o.r.e with my hair streaming out behind in ringlets like the picture of Diana Vernon on the landing at home."
"You"d very soon fall off," remarked Bertie unsympathetically, "seeing you can"t even stick on to a donkey on the sands. The little brown one threw you twice this morning."
"That was because the saddle kept slipping," said Winnie indignantly.
"And that particular donkey has a trick of lying down suddenly, too, when it"s tired. It wants to get rid of you--I know it does--because it rolls if you don"t tumble off. It did the same with Charlie Chester the other day, and shot him straight over its head; then it got up and flew back to the Parade before he could catch it. The pony would be quite a different thing, I can tell you, and I"d soon learn to ride it. What would you do, Belle, if you owned the Chase?"
"I"d give the most wonderful parties," said Belle, "and invite all kinds of distinguished people--dukes and d.u.c.h.esses, you know, and members of Parliament, and admirals, and generals, and perhaps even the Prince and Princess of Wales; and I"d send to Paris for my hats, and have my clothes made by the Court dressmaker."
"I"d give a cricket match on that lawn," said Isobel, "and ask all the Sea Urchins to tea. We"d have loads of lovely fruit from those gardens and greenhouses, and when we were tired of cricket we could get up sports, and let off fireworks in the evening just when it was growing dark. That"s what I"d like to do if I lived there."
"Pity you don"t," exclaimed Bertie; "we"d all come. But what"s the use of talking when you know you"ll never have the chance. I say, suppose we go down the wood on this side and try to find the waterfall? It must be rather a decent-sized one to make such a thundering noise."
The others jumped up very readily at the suggestion, and leaving the path, they slid through the steep wood, and climbing a high wall, found themselves at the rocky bed of a stream, which rushed swiftly along under the overhanging trees, forming little foaming cascades as it went.
At one point the water, dashing between two steep crags, descended in a sheer fall of about thirty feet, emptying itself at the bottom into a wide and deep pool overhung by several fine mountain ashes, the scarlet berries of which made a bright spot of colour against the silvery green of the foliage behind. The Rokebys instantly rushed at these, and began tearing off quite large branches, breaking the boughs in a ruthless fashion that went to Isobel"s heart, for she always had been taught to pick things carefully and judiciously, so as not to spoil the beauty of tree or plant.
"It"s grand stuff," said Cecil, descending to the ground with a crash, and switching at the ferns by the water"s edge with his stick as he spoke. "I"ve got a perfect armful. Hullo! what"s that all down the side of this overhanging rock? It"s actually maidenhair fern growing wild in the open air! I"m going to have some. We"ll plant it in pots, and take it home."
It was indeed the true maidenhair, flourishing on the damp crag under the spray of the waterfall as luxuriantly as though it had been in a conservatory, its delicate fronds showing in large clumps wherever it could obtain a hold on the rocky surface. I grieve to say that the Rokebys simply threw themselves upon it, pulling it up by the roots, and destroying as much as they gathered by trampling it in their frantic haste.
"O Cecil!" cried Isobel, in an agony, "you"re spoiling the ferns. They looked so lovely growing there by the waterfall. Please don"t take them all. Haven"t you got enough now?"
"But he hasn"t given _me_ any yet," protested Belle. "And I must have some."
"One doesn"t often get the chance to find maidenhair," declared Cecil, "so I shall make the most of it, you bet.--Here, Belle, you may have this piece. Catch! If I climb a little higher I can reach that splendid clump under the tree. I"ll take that to the mater."
"I think, on the whole, you will not, my boy," said a dry voice from the bank behind; and looking round, the children, to their horror and astonishment, saw the tall figure of an elderly gentleman who had stolen upon the scene unawares. He spoke quite calmly, but there was a twitch about his mouth and a gleam in his gray eye which suggested the quiet before a thunderstorm, and he stood watching the group in much the same way as a detective might have done who had made a sudden successful capture of youthful burglars red-handed in the act of committing a felony.
"May I ask," he observed, with withering politeness, "by whose invitation you have entered my grounds, and by whose permission you have been destroying my trees and uprooting my ferns? I was under the impression that this was my private property, but you evidently consider you are ent.i.tled not only to annex my possessions, but to exercise a cheap generosity by presenting them to others. I shall be obliged if you will kindly offer me some explanation."