"Of course we must, sooner or later, and the sooner the better. It is no more ours."
"Yes, it is ours. I have my rabbits here."
"Now that papa is dead it is no longer ours."
"It"s a wicked shame."
"Not at all, Jamie. This house was given to papa for his life only; now it will go to a new rector, and Aunt Dunes[B] is going to fetch us away to another house."
[B] Dunes is the short for Dionysia.
"When?"
"To-day."
"I won"t go," said the boy. "I swear I won"t."
"Hush, hush, Jamie! Don"t use such expressions. I do not know where you have picked them up. We must go."
"And my rabbits, are they to go too?"
"The rabbits? We"ll see about them. Aunt----"
"I hate Aunt Dunes!"
"You really must not call her that; if she hears you she will be very angry. And consider, she has been taking a great deal of trouble about us."
"I don"t care."
"My dear, she is dear papa"s sister."
"Why didn"t papa get a nicer sister--like you?"
"Because he had to take what G.o.d gave him."
The boy pouted, and began to kick his heels against the chair-legs once more.
"Jamie, we must leave this house to-day. Aunt is coming to take us both away."
"I won"t go."
"But, Jamie, I am going, and the cook is going, and so is Jane."
"Are cook and Jane coming with us?"
"No, dear."
"Why not?"
"We shall not want them. We cannot afford to keep them any more, to pay their wages; and then we shall not go into a house of our own. You must come with me, and be a joy and rest to me, dear Jamie."
She turned her head over, and leaned it on his head. The sun glowed in their mingled hair--all of one tinge and l.u.s.tre. It sparkled in the tears on her cheek.
"Ju, may I have these b.u.t.tons?"
"What b.u.t.tons?"
"Look!"
He shook himself free from his sister, slid his feet to the ground, went to a bureau, and brought to his sister a large open basket that had been standing on the top of the bureau. It had been turned out of a closet by Aunt Dionysia, and contained an acc.u.mulation of those most profitless of collected remnants--odd b.u.t.tons, coat b.u.t.tons, bra.s.s, smoked mother-of-pearl, shirt b.u.t.tons, steel clasps--b.u.t.tons of all kinds, the gathering together made during twenty-five years. Why the basket, after having been turned out of a lumber closet, had been left in the room of death, or why, if turned out elsewhere, it had been brought there, is more than even the novelist can tell. Suffice it that there it was, and by whom put there could not be said.
"Oh! what a store of pretty b.u.t.tons!" exclaimed the boy. "Do look, Ju, these great big ones are just like those on Cheap Jack"s red waistcoat. Here is a bra.s.s one with a horse on it. Do see! Oh, Ju, please get your needle and thread and sew this one on to my black dress."
Judith sighed. It was in vain for her to impress the realities of the situation on his wandering mind.
"Hark!" she exclaimed. "There is Aunt Dunes. I hear her voice--how loud she speaks! She has come to fetch us away."
"Where is she going to take us to?"
"I do not know, Jamie."
"She will take us into the forest and lose us, like as did Hop-o"-my-Thumb"s father."
"There are no forests here--hardly any trees."
"She will leave us in the forest and run away."
"Nonsense, Jamie!"
"I am sure she will. She doesn"t like us. She wants to get rid of us.
I don"t care. May I have the basket of b.u.t.tons?"
"Yes, Jamie."
"Then I"ll be Hop-o"-my-Thumb."
CHAPTER V.
THE b.u.t.tONS.
It was as Judith surmised. Mrs. Dionysia Trevisa had come to remove her nephew and niece from the rectory. She was a woman decided in character, especially in all that concerned her interests. She had made up her mind that the children could not be left unprotected in the parsonage, and she could not be with them. Therefore they must go.
The servants must leave; they would be paid their month"s wage, but by dismissing them their keep would be economized. There was a factotum living in a cottage near, who did the gardening, the cinder-sifting, and boot-cleaning for the rectory inmates, he would look after the empty house, and wait on in hopes of being engaged to garden, sift cinders, and clean boots for the new rector.
As it was settled that the children must leave the house, the next thing to consider was where they were to be placed. The aunt could not take them to Pentyre Glaze; that was not to be thought of. They must be disposed of in some other way.