But he nodded his head, and smiled, and looked so like a good-natured old owl, that Rollo and Maia felt very hopeful.
At dinner, where they took their places as usual at each side of their cousin, nothing was said till the close. Then Lady Venelda turned solemnly to the children:
"You have been attentive at your lessons, I am glad to hear," she said; "but you are doubtless still somewhat tired with your journey. My kind physician thinks some hours of fresh air would do you good. I therefore shall be pleased for you to spend all the afternoon in the woods--there will be no more lessons to-day."
"Oh, thank you, thank you," repeated the children, and Maia glanced at her cousin with some thought of throwing her arms round her and kissing her, but Lady Venelda looked so very stiff and stately that she felt her courage ebb.
"It is better only to kiss her when we are alone with her," she said afterwards to Rollo, in which he agreed.
But they forgot everything except high spirits and delight when, half an hour later, they found themselves with Nanni on their way to the longed-for woods.
"Which way shall we go?" said Maia; and indeed it was a question for consideration. For it was not on one side only that there were woods, but on every side, far as the eye could reach, stretched out the wonderful forests. The white castle stood on raised ground, but in the centre of a circular valley, so that to reach the outside world one had first to descend and then rise again; so the entrance to the woods was sloping, for the castle hill was bare of trees, which began only at its base.
"Which way?" repeated Rollo; "I don"t see that it matters. We get into the woods every way."
"Except over there," said Maia, pointing to the road by which they had come, gleaming like a white ribbon among the trees, which had been thinned a little in that direction.
"Well, we don"t want to go there," said Rollo, but before he had time to say more Maia interrupted him.
"Oh, Rollo, let"s go the way that we saw the little cottage. No, I don"t mean that we saw the cottage, but we saw the smoke rising, and we were sure there was a cottage. It was--let me see----" and she tried to put herself in the right direction; "yes, it was on my left hand--it must be on that side," and she pointed where she meant.
Rollo did not seem to care particularly about the real or imaginary cottage, but as to him all roads were the same in this case, seeing all led to the woods, he made no objection, and a few minutes saw the little party, already in the shade of the forest, slowly making their way upwards. It was milder than the day before; indeed, for early spring it was very mild. The soft afternoon sunshine came peeping through the branches, the ground was beautifully dry, and their steps made a pleasant crackling sound, as their feet broke the innumerable little twigs which, interspersed with moss and the remains of last year"s leaves, made a nice carpet to walk on.
"Let us stand still a moment," said Maia, "and look about us. How delicious it is! _What_ flowers there will be in a little while!
Primroses, I am sure, and violets, and later on periwinkle and cyclamen, I dare say."
A sigh from Nanni interrupted her.
"What is the matter?" said the children.
"I am so tired, Miss Maia," said poor Nanni. "I haven"t got over the journey, and I was so afraid of being late this morning that I got up I don"t know how early--they told me in the kitchen that their lady was so angry if any one was late. I think if I were to sit down on this nice mossy ground I should really go to sleep."
"_Poor_ Nanni!" said Maia, laughing. "Well, do sit down, only I think you"d better not go to sleep; you might catch cold."
"It"s beautifully warm here among the trees, somehow," said Nanni.
"Well, then, shall I just stay here and you and Master Rollo play about?
You won"t go far?"
"You _would_ get a nice scolding if we were lost," said Rollo mischievously.
"Don"t tease her, Rollo," said Maia; adding in a lower tone, "If you do, she"ll persist in coming with us, and it will be such fun to run about by ourselves." Then turning to Nanni, "Don"t be afraid of us, Nanni; we shan"t get lost. You may go to sleep for an hour or two if you like."
The two children set off together in great glee. Here and there among the trees there were paths, or what looked like paths, some going upwards till quite lost to view, some downwards,--all in the most tempting zigzag fashion.
"I should like to explore all the paths one after the other, wouldn"t you?" said Maia.
"I expect they all lead to nowhere in particular," said Rollo, philosophically.
"But we want to go somewhere in particular," said Maia; "I want to find the cottage, you know. I am sure it must be _somewhere_ about here."
"Upwards or downwards--which do you think?" said Rollo. "I say, Maia, suppose you go downwards and I upwards, and then we can meet again here and say if we"ve found the cottage or had any adventures, like the brothers in the fairy tales."
"No," said Maia, drawing nearer Rollo as she spoke; "I don"t want to go about alone. You know, though the woods are so nice they"re _rather_ lonely, and there are such queer stories about forests always. There must be queer people living in them, though we don"t see them. Gnomes and brownies down below, very likely, and wood-spirits, perhaps. But I think about the gnomes is the most frightening, don"t you, Rollo?"
"I don"t think any of it"s frightening," he replied. But he was a kind boy, so he did not laugh at Maia, or say any more about separating.
"Which way shall we go, then?"
"Oh, we"d better go on upwards. There can"t be much forest downwards, for we"ve come nearly straight up. We"d get out of the wood directly."
They went on climbing therefore for some way, but the ascent became quickly slighter, and in a short time they found themselves almost on level ground.
"We can"t have got to the top," said Rollo. "This must be a sort of ledge on the hillside. However, I begin to sympathise with Nanni--it"s nice to get a rest," and he threw himself down at full length as he spoke. Maia quickly followed his example.
"We shan"t do much exploring at this rate," she said.
"No," Rollo agreed; "but never mind. Isn"t it nice here, Maia? Just like what father told us, isn"t it? The scent of the fir-trees is so delicious too."
It was charmingly sweet and peaceful, and the feeling of mystery caused by the dark shade of the lofty trees, standing there in countless rows as they had stood for centuries, the silence only broken by the occasional dropping of a twig or the flutter of a leaf, impressed the children in a way they could not have put in words. It was a sort of relief when a slight rustle in the branches overhead caught their attention, and looking up, their quick eyes saw the bright brown, bushy tail of a squirrel whisking out of sight.
Up jumped Maia, clapping her hands.
"A squirrel, Rollo, did you see?"
"Of course I did, but you shouldn"t make such a noise. We might have seen him again if we"d been quite quiet. I wonder where his home is."
"So do I. _How_ I should like to see a squirrel"s nest and all the little ones sitting in a row, each with a nut in its two front paws!
_How_ nice it would be to have the gift of understanding all the animals say to each other, wouldn"t it?"
"Yes," said Rollo, but he stopped suddenly. "Maia," he exclaimed, "I believe I smell burning wood!" and he stood still and sniffed the air a little. "I shouldn"t wonder if we"re near the cottage."
"Oh, do come on, then," said Maia eagerly. "Yes--yes; I smell it too. I hope the cottage isn"t on fire, Rollo. Oh, no; see, it must be a bonfire," for, as she spoke, a smouldering heap of leaves and dry branches came in sight some little way along the path, and in another moment, a few yards farther on, a cottage actually appeared.
Such an original-looking cottage! The trees had been cleared for some distance round where it stood, and a s.p.a.ce enclosed by a rustic fence of interlaced branches had been planted as a garden. A very pretty little garden too. There were flower-beds in front, already gay with a few early blossoms, and neat rows of vegetables and fruit-bushes at the back. The cottage was built of wood, but looked warm and dry, with deep roof and rather small high-up windows. A little path, bordered primly by a thick growing mossy-like plant, led up to the door, which was closed.
No smoke came out of the chimney, not the slightest sound was to be heard. The children looked at each other.
"What a darling little house!" said Maia in a whisper. "But, Rollo, do you think there"s anybody there? Can it be _enchanted_, perhaps?"
Rollo went on a few steps and stood looking at the mysterious cottage.
There was not a sound to be heard, not the slightest sign of life about the place; and yet it was all in such perfect order that it was impossible to think it deserted.
"The people must have gone out, I suppose," said Rollo.
"I wonder if the door is locked," said Maia. "I am _so_ thirsty, Rollo."
"Let"s see," Rollo answered, and together the two children opened the tiny gate and made their way up to the door. Rollo took hold of the latch; it yielded to his touch.
"It"s not locked," he said, looking back at his sister, and he gently pushed the door a little way open. "Shall I go in?" he said.
Maia came forward, walking on her tiptoes.