Every time the door opened, all eyes were anxiously turned round, expecting a grand feast to be brought in; but quite the contrary--it was only Andrew showing up more hungry visitors; while Harry felt so unspeakably wretched, that, if some kind fairy could only have turned him into a Norwich bun at the moment, he would gladly have consented to be cut in pieces, that his ravenous guests might be satisfied.
Charles Forrester was a particularly good-natured boy, so Harry at last took courage and beckoned him into a remote corner of the room, where he confessed, in whispers, the real state of affairs about tea, and how sadly distressed he and Laura felt, because they had nothing whatever to give among so many visitors, seeing that Mrs. Crabtree kept her determination of affording them no provisions.
"What is to be done!" said Charles, very anxiously, as he felt extremely sorry for his little friends. "If Mama had been at home, she would gladly have sent whatever you liked for tea, but unluckily she is dining out! I saw a loaf of bread lying on a table at home this evening, which she would make you quite welcome to! Shall I run home, as fast as possible, to fetch it? That would, at any rate, be better than nothing!"
Poor Charles Forrester was very lame, therefore, while he talked of running he could hardly walk, but Lady Forrester"s house stood so near, that he soon reached home, when, s.n.a.t.c.hing up the loaf, he hurried back towards the street with his prize, quite delighted to see how large and substantial it looked. Scarcely had he reached the door, however, before the housekeeper ran hastily out, saying,
"Stop, Mr. Charles! stop! sure you are not running away with the loaf for my tea, and the parrot must have her supper too. What do you want with that there bread?"
"Never mind, Mrs. Comfit!" answered Charles, hastening on faster than ever, while he grasped the precious loaf more firmly in his hand, and limped along at a prodigious rate, "Polly is getting too fat, so she will be the better of fasting for this one day."
Mrs. Comfit, being enormously fat herself, became very angry at this remark, so she seemed quite desperate to recover the loaf, and hurried forward to overtake Charles, but the old housekeeper was so heavy and breathless, while the young gentleman was so lame, that it seemed an even chance which won the race. Harry stood at his own door, impatiently hoping to receive the prize, and eagerly stretched out his arms to encourage his friend, while it was impossible to say which of the runners might arrive first. Harry had sometimes heard of a race between two old women tied up in sacks, and he thought they could scarcely move with more difficulty; but at the very moment when Charles had reached the door, he stumbled over a stone, and fell on the ground. Mrs. Comfit then instantly rushed up, and seizing the loaf, she carried it off in triumph, leaving the two little friends ready to cry with vexation, and quite at a loss what plan to attempt next.
Mean time, a sad riot had arisen in the dining-room, where the boys called loudly for their tea; and the young ladies drew their chairs all round the table, to wait till it was ready. Still nothing appeared; so every body wondered more and more how long they were to wait for all the nice cakes and sweetmeats which must, of course, be coming; for the longer they were delayed, the more was expected.
The last at a feast, and the first at a fray, was generally Peter Grey, who now lost patience, and seized one of the two biscuits, which he was in the middle of greedily devouring, when Laura returned with Harry to the dining-room, and observed what he had done.
"Peter Grey!" said she, holding up her head, and trying to look very dignified, "you are an exceedingly naughty boy, to help yourself! As a punishment for being so rude, you shall have nothing more to eat all this evening."
"If I do not help myself, n.o.body else seems likely to give me any supper! I appear to be the only person who is to taste anything to-night," answered Peter, laughing, while the impudent boy took a cup of milk, and drank it off, saying, "Here"s to your very good health, Miss Laura, and an excellent appet.i.te to everybody!"
Upon hearing this absurd speech, all the other boys began laughing, and made signs, as if they were eating their fingers off with hunger. Then Peter called Lady Harriet"s house "Famine Castle," and pretended he would swallow the knives like an Indian juggler.
"We must learn to live upon air, and here are some spoons to eat it with," said John Fordyce. "Harry! shall I help you to a mouthful of moonshine?"
"Peter! would you like a roasted fly?" asked Frank Abercromby, catching one on the window. "I dare say it is excellent for hungry people,--or a slice of b.u.t.tered wall?"
"Or a stewed spider?" asked Peter. "Shall we all be cannibals, and eat one another?"
"What is the use of all those forks, when there is nothing to stick upon them?" asked George Maxwell, throwing them about on the floor. "No buns!--no fruit!--no cakes!--no nothing!"
"What are we to do with those tea-cups, when there is no tea?" cried Frank Abercromby, pulling the table-cloth till the whole affair fell prostrate on the floor. After this, these riotous boys tossed the plates up in the air, and caught them, becoming, at last, so outrageous, that poor old Andrew called them a "meal mob." Never was there so much broken china seen in a dining-room before! It all lay scattered on the floor, in countless fragments, looking as if there had been a bull in a china shop, when suddenly Mrs. Crabtree herself opened the door and walked in, with an aspect of rage enough to petrify a milestone. Now old Andrew had long been trying all in his power to render the boys quiet and contented. He had made them a speech,--he had chased the ring-leaders all round the room,--and he had thrown his stick at Peter, who seemed the most riotous,--but all in vain; they became worse and worse, laughing into fits, and calling Andrew "the police-officer," and "the bailiff." It was a very different story, however, when Mrs. Crabtree appeared, so flaming with fury, she might have blown up a powder-mill.
n.o.body could help being afraid of her. Even Peter himself stood stock-still, and seemed withering away to nothing, when she looked at him; and when she began to scold in her most furious manner, not a boy ventured to look off the ground. A large pair of tawse then became visible in her hand, so every heart sunk with fright, and the riotous visitors began to get behind each other, and to huddle out of sight as much as possible, whispering and pushing, and fighting, in a desperate scuffle to escape.
"What is all this!" cried she, at the full pitch of her voice, "has bedlam broke loose! who smashed these cups? I"ll break his head for him, let me tell you that! Master Peter! you should be hissed out of the world for your misconduct; but I shall certainly whip you round the room like a whipping-top."
At this moment, Peter observed that the dining-room window, which was only about six feet from the ground, had been left wide open, so instantly seizing the opportunity, he threw himself out with a single bound, and ran laughing away. All the other boys immediately followed his example, and disappeared by the same road; after which, Mrs.
Crabtree leaned far out of the window, and scolded loudly, as long as they remained in sight, till her face became red, and her voice perfectly hoa.r.s.e.
Meantime, the little misses sat soberly down before the empty table, and talked in whispers to each other, waiting till their maids came to take them home, after which they all hurried away as fast as possible, hardly waiting to say "good bye," and intending to ask for some supper at home.
During that night, long after Harry and Laura had been scolded, whipped, and put to bed, they were each heard in different rooms, sobbing and crying, as if their very hearts would break, while Mrs. Crabtree grumbled and scolded to herself, saying she must do her duty, and make them good children, though she were to flay them alive first.
When Lady Harriet returned home some days afterwards, she heard an account of Harry and Laura"s misconduct from Mrs. Crabtree, and the whole story was such a terrible case against them, that their poor grandmama became perfectly astonished and shocked, while even uncle David was preparing to be very angry; but before the culprits appeared, Frank most kindly stepped forward, and begged that they might be pardoned for this once, adding all in his power to excuse Harry and Laura, by describing how very penitent they had become, and how very severely they had already been punished.
Frank then mentioned all that Harry had told him about the starving party, which he related with so much humour and drollery, that Lady Harriet could not help laughing; so then he saw that a victory had been gained, and ran to the nursery for the two little prisoners.
Uncle David shook his walking-stick at them, and made a terrible face, when they entered; but Harry jumped upon his knee with joy at seeing him again, while Laura forgot all her distress, and rushed up to Lady Harriet, who folded her in her arms, and kissed her most affectionately.
Not a word was said that day about the tea-party, but next morning, Major Graham asked Harry, very gravely, "if he had read in the newspapers the melancholy accounts about several of his little companions, who were ill and confined to bed from having ate too much at a certain tea-party on Sat.u.r.day last. Poor Peter Grey has been given over, and Charles Forrester, it is feared, may not be able to eat another loaf of bread for a fortnight!"
"Oh! uncle David! it makes me ill whenever I think of that party!" said Harry, colouring perfectly scarlet; "that was the most miserable evening of my life!"
"I must say it was not quite fair in Mrs. Crabtree to starve all the strange little boys and girls, who came as visitors to my house, without knowing who had invited them," observed Lady Harriet. "Probably those unlucky children will never forget, as long as they live, that scanty supper in our dining-room."
And it turned out exactly as Lady Harriet had predicted; for though they were all asked to tea, in proper time, the very next Sat.u.r.day, when Major Graham showered torrents of sugar-plums on the table, while the children scrambled to pick them up, and the side-board almost broke down afterwards under the weight of buns, cakes, cheesecakes, biscuits, fruit, and preserves, which were heaped upon each other--yet, for years afterwards, Peter Grey, whenever he ate a particularly enormous dinner, always observed, that he must make up for having once been starved at Harry Graham"s; and whenever any one of those little boys or girls again happened to meet Harry or Laura, they were sure to laugh and say, "When are you going to give us another
"GRAND FEAST?"
CHAPTER III.
THE TERRIBLE FIRE.
Fire rages with fury wherever it comes, If only one spark should be dropped; Whole houses, or cities, sometimes it consumes, Where its violence cannot be stopped.
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 the Doctor arrived, n.o.body knew what to do, so she must give her advice and a.s.sistance.
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 n.o.body 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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-gla.s.s, she began snipping off the ends of her hair. Laura was much diverted to see it 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 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!"