""All right," was Uncle Gee"s reply, and to work he went and painted away vigorously to the young ones" great delight, while they all looked on and made remarks as he sketched in the outline. But they begun to press round him so, and make such queer suggestions, that he declared he would not do another stroke till they left him alone. So off they went to the other end of the table, and got the tail in order. It was a tail indeed! made of stripes of all coloured paper tied up, and ending with a ta.s.sel of various colours, whose fringes were feathery and full enough for a mandarin"s pigtail.
"By the time that the tail was finished to the satisfaction of all, Uncle Gee had completed the Kite, and turning it round to the children, exhibited a bird of such a kind as had never been seen before! It had the head of an owl, with its great staring eyes, the broad wings of an eagle, the neck of the ringdove, the ruddy breast of the robin, the many-eyed tail of the peac.o.c.k, and the yellow webbed feet of the swan!
"The children gazed at it for a moment in utter surprise, and then burst into shouts of approval.
""There," said Uncle Gee, "I hope I have satisfied you all, and every one in particular. I am sure such a bird as this would make his fortune at the Zoological Gardens!"
""Oh! what a jolly fellow!" shouted Bob and Tom, clapping their hands, while the girls danced round quite delighted.
""Now," said Uncle Gee, "I think to-morrow will be a fine day after the rain, and we shall be able to make this fine fellow fly."
"So they tied on my tail, and made me thoroughly ready for the next morning"s cruise, and then all went to bed the happiest set of little ones within fifty miles round.
"Many a flight I had with them over field and fallow, meadow and moor; many a dance I led them, and many a tree have I got entangled with, so that at last Bob became quite expert at climbing trees, and all owing to the practice he had in getting me out of sc.r.a.pes. But time pa.s.sed on, and when Bob and Tom went to school, Uncle Gee thought it was not safe to trust me to Dora and the girls, so he promised to make them another some day, and he gave me to the Spensers! So here you have an end of my history, which contains, as you see now, no flying adventures at all. If I had time, I could tell you of many curious things I saw in my airy flights, and some about the clouds I went so near. But I must defer that until another day, and meanwhile, in my turn, I ask our charming friend the Doll to oblige us with the account of her experiences in life."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER VI.
THE DOLL AND ALL HER MISTRESSES.
"Oh," said the Doll, "can you not excuse me? My poor little story is so very dull and flat after all we have heard, and, indeed, I am afraid I have not strength or vivacity enough to carry it through to the end!"
"No, indeed," replied the Ball, "we are not going to let you off. We are all of us taking our turns, and you must bear your share like the rest."
"I am sure," said the Kite, in a pacifying manner, "our fair friend will be only too happy to do her part in this pleasant task; she merely feels an amiable modesty, and undervalues her own charming powers."
"You flatter me too much," replied the Doll, "in all respects but one.
But you are right in believing I am anxious to oblige every one, for that is the case really. And so now I will do my best, only prefacing my humble story by saying that I really know nothing of my origin, or where I was made. My first conscious remembrance was that of lying on a beautiful carved table in the midst of a quant.i.ty of silk and lace. Two or three gay girls were sitting round the table and gossiping merrily, while their busy fingers flew at their pretty work. They were dressing myself and one or two of my sisters for their Christmas tree.
""That is a piece of the first silk dress I ever had," said bright-haired Madeline, the eldest of them; "I remember how proud I was of it, and how I enjoyed its rustle. It was short, you know, Laura, for I was a little girl then."
""You don"t care so much about silk dresses now, Maddy," replied Laura; "I think a new riding habit is your present ambition, isn"t it?"
""This piece will make the doll a very grand bodice," said Edith; "the pale blue suits her complexion, don"t you think so, Maddy? That is a piece of my last year"s sash."
"And so they chatted and worked, till I was attired in a very tasteful and fashionable manner. For though, alas! there are now no remains of my former charms, I was reckoned a great beauty in my day, and was indeed quite one of the belles of the season. I had real hair, very soft and flaxen, and what is more, real eyelashes and eyebrows! You can see no trace of them now, for reasons I will relate presently. But without vanity, I may say I was charmingly pretty in those days, for I was the real model of a sweet fat baby child of about two years old. My face, neck, arms and feet had all the pretty wrinkles and dimples that adorn that age; and the soft pink wax, delicately coloured, gave a very fair notion of the tender pinky skin. So with very good taste my lady milliners dressed me in a short full white India muslin frock over a pale blue silk slip, trimmed the bodice and sleeves lavishly with sashes, bows, and loops of the same, and tied a pretty blue ribbon carelessly through my very natural curls. My attire was completed by white open work socks, and blue kid shoes; but Maddy crowned all her work by her last addition. Running hastily upstairs, she brought down a little box of small pearl beads, and after being seated at a remote table by herself for half an hour, while her friends were busily employed in giving the finishing touches to another of our company, who was attired as Red Riding Hood, she came suddenly forward, saying gaily,--
""I think I have added a last grace to _my_ doll that ought to be irresistible, and make her the admired of all beholders."
"And she showed on the tip of her finger a dainty little straw hat, coquettishly trimmed with a band of blue velvet, with a drooping fringe of blonde round the rim, having pearl drops to each point of the lace.
"I was duly admired, and on the eventful evening was considered the prettiest doll on the tree, and many a little childish face cast longing eyes upon me, vainly hoping I might fall to her lot. But mine was a different destiny--a far higher one, as I imagined then! A dainty, lace-bordered ticket on my skirt showed that I was intended for Lady Alicia Wentworth, the little G.o.d-daughter of the lady of the house.
After the festive evening was over, with all its glare of bright lights, and sounds of young voices and gay music, I was taken down from my proud position, which had not been free from peril, owing to the dangerous neighbourhood of the lighted tapers to my flimsy skirts. Little Lady Alicia lived too far off, and was too fully engrossed with the gaieties of her own immediate surroundings, to come to the party; and therefore I was most carefully packed in silver paper and wool, and sent to her.
"My first little mistress was not by any means a very engaging child.
She was very sickly, which perhaps rendered her more fretful than she would otherwise have been; but she would not have been so peevish, except for the fact that, as an only child, she had been spoiled and indulged to such an extent, that she could neither be happy nor contented herself, nor allow any one near her to be so either. When the lid of the box was opened, she, with a little momentary eagerness for the new toy, pulled off the silver paper and wool, and brought me out of my travelling box.
""It"s a horrid Baby Doll," she exclaimed, in a loud tone of angry disappointment, "a stupid, old-fashioned, ugly Baby Doll! and I hate them, horrid, stupid things; what did they send me that for?" and she burst into a roar of pa.s.sionate ill-temper. In vain did governess and maid try to pacify her; she screamed and pouted till her foolish, doting mother was obliged to sacrifice some visits she was going to make in order to drive in with her spoiled child to the nearest toy-shop, to purchase an expensive and more gaily-attired doll.
""I can"t think what Mrs. Levesque could have been thinking of," she murmured, pettishly, as she got into the carriage again, "to send Alicia such a foolish thing, after making such a fuss about it too! It has vexed the poor little thing so, and upset her too much, which Dr. Blueby says is _so_ bad for her!"
"So when they returned home, Alicia went off with her new purchase, for a few hours of good humour and peace, while her ladyship desired the governess to pack me up in the box, and send me down with her compliments to the Rectory, to Dr. Stewart"s little daughter, Flora. I found my new home much more to my taste; for, although also an only child, this little maiden was of a very different mind to the other. She was more delicate in health than the young lady at the Castle, for from a serious weakness of the spine she was obliged to lie down for many hours in the day, and was not able to run about and enjoy herself in the garden, as she often wished to do. But she was a naturally even-tempered child, and although she had long been motherless, her wise father had been a tender and judicious guardian, and her old nurse, who had watched over her from babyhood, loved her as a child of her own.
"I was amply repaid for the slights and affronts I had experienced from Lady Alicia, when I was carried in my box to the reclining board where Flora was then lying, for her father, delighted enough to bring his patient little girl a new pleasure, carried me in himself, saying,--
""Flora, here is a New Year"s gift for you from the Castle. It is very kind of Lady Ennismore to remember my little girl. I am almost inclined to think it is a doll, my dear," he added, as Flora sat up and took the box, her thin hands trembling with eager joy, and her sallow face flushing at the sight. When I was revealed to her, she gave one rapturous exclamation, and hugged me affectionately to her.
""O Papa, a doll, a real Baby Doll, and dressed in such lovely clothes!
Did you ever see anything so beautiful! Oh, how kind of Lady Ennismore.
I suppose she had some down for Lady Alicia to choose from."
""It was very thoughtful and kind of her to remember you, Flora, and I must go and thank her for the great pleasure she has given you."
"Then nurse was summoned, and expected to go over all the beauties of the new doll half a dozen times at least; my hair, my eyelashes, and my dimpled neck and arms received their full share of admiration. Nothing could have more enraptured Flora, for she was the greatest baby worshipper in the parish, and many a poor little nursling owed most of its occasional treats to the pet.i.tions of Flora. And so now my happy life began. I was carefully nestled up every night on a soft pillow, covered with a fine pocket-handkerchief, and only handled and nursed in the most careful way in the world. I lived with little Flora Stewart for six years, and was in nearly as good condition at the end of the time as at first. It is true, my complexion was somewhat tarnished by the air and dust, and my hair had become a little thinner, but no careless scratch defaced my countenance, or awkward fracture had injured my frail limbs. My fine muslin frock, indeed, had been frequently washed, and my hat cleaned and re-trimmed, while a pretty silk mantle added to my wardrobe, hid a good deal of the faded hue of my azure decorations. But for the last two years I had been laid away carefully in a drawer, for Flora had long ceased playing with me, and valued me more as a treasure of her childish days than anything else. She was now a tall, slender girl of nearly eighteen, having by the aid of all the watchful care spent on her earlier years quite outgrown the tendency to disease that had so threatened her childhood. She had grown up with the same sweet, unselfish nature though, and old affection for little children that had been so remarkable even in her early years; only that now she was able to be out among them all, and she might frequently be seen, the centre of a group of eager school children, all striving for her notice, while the babes in the cottages, who could not speak yet, would greet her with a crow and a spring as they were taken in her gentle arms. I have never seen my dear second mistress since our parting; but I have heard that she has little ones of her own now to love and care for, although they do not engross all her thoughts, for the little dark-skinned Hindoos will run to meet her as eagerly as her old school-cla.s.s used to do; for she married a clergyman, who went out to India, and she has never returned home since. Dr. Stewart died long before her departure, and the old Rectory home was broken up; and when that happened, Flora gave me to a little child friend of hers, called Christie Johnson.
"My third mistress was the greatest trial I had; for though she loved me dearly in a hasty sort of way, she was such a Tomboy, and so thoughtless, that under her charge I fell into numberless sad sc.r.a.pes and accidents. Once I was dropped in the bath by Harold, her little brother, thereby losing what colour remained to me; and another time I was run over by a waggon, having been dropped out of the baby"s perambulator, where I had been hastily placed, while Christie ran off to look for a bird"s nest in a thorn bush. Under the awful crushing progress of that broad wheeled waggon both my wax arms and one of my legs were hopelessly smashed flat in the dusty road, my head and chest escaping by a miracle. Christie was terribly vexed at the catastrophe, but that did not mend my legs and arms, and I have therefore ever since led a miserable maimed existence. And the worst of it was that Alan and Willie had lost all respect for me, and never thought it necessary to be even commonly civil to me, now that my wax arms and legs were gone. I say _legs_ purposely, for my sole remaining limb came to pieces by a fall down stairs. From that time my degradation commenced, and my daily existence was a miserable series of petty tortures, such as the ingenuity of a boy could alone devise. I was now the helpless and defenceless prey of those foes of our race; for Christie, although she occasionally rescued me from utter destruction, was too much of a romp herself, and too careless to look after my welfare thoroughly!
"And so I found myself now continually reduced to becoming a frequent and convenient missile to the boys during their incessant wars and struggles. The stumps of my legs and arms were so very convenient to lay hold of, as they swung me round their heads, before sending me whirling through the air, or as they more forcibly than eloquently expressed it,--
""Christie"s torso of a doll is such a jolly thing to chuck at a fellow, when you can"t hit him!"
"Even little Harold, the two-year-old baby, who could not achieve such feats as these, could drag me about, as he did, by my poor stumps of legs, and cry, "Who buy ducks? I dot ducks a sell!"
"The life I led in that riotous nursery was indeed an ordeal, and during its course not only my few remaining charms were obliterated, like my eyes, which were perseveringly rattled into the back of my head by Ethel, but my wardrobe also vanished piecemeal. First my shoes went one by one, and the socks followed, no one knew how or where, but they were most probably dropped out of doors somewhere, like my hat, which took flight in a rough wind at the seaside! For Christie"s mode of carrying me when she took me out for a walk was original certainly, but not a model to be recommended to mothers of live dolls. She would tuck me roughly under one arm, without taking any trouble to see whether my head or my feet were uppermost, and would then set off at the round trot for which she was famous, and that had earned from her brothers her nickname, "the postman."
"The fict.i.tious illnesses I have gone through would have furnished patients for the largest hospital in the world, but my last indisposition was of a character that made a more permanent alteration even in me. Now measles of a very malignant kind were at that time raging in the neighbourhood, and Christie"s mother was very particular in keeping her children as much as possible out of the infection. Ethel, Christie"s youngest sister, a child of about six years of age, had heard this talked over in parlour and nursery, and had imbibed a secret terror of this mysterious sickness which seemed so much dreaded by mother and nurse. And if mothers and nurses only suspected how _very_ long the ears of little pitchers really are, and how much more they are inclined to take in all that _should_ not concern them, I think they would be as careful as the House of Commons in sending out all intruders when serious questions were debated in committee. I am only a doll, and have therefore no vote in the matter, or else if I _had_ a voice in the counsels of Home Government, I would suggest that the little ears which take in lessons and let them out again on the other side, and which have yet the power of catching and retaining all matters _not_ necessary to their instruction, should be excluded from all graver deliberations.
"But this is a digression, and as it is one that belongs to a world beyond our little kingdom, it is perhaps not quite my business to enter on it at all. Where was I in my story? I am quite ashamed of trespa.s.sing so on your patience; but time and hard usage have so enfeebled my poor broken memory, that I almost forget all I am doing or saying!"
"You were mentioning a serious illness that occurred to you," suggested the Humming Top, very gravely; "pray relieve our minds as to its symptoms and duration!"
"Oh yes," resumed the Doll, languidly; "I was telling you how I really had the measles when they were so prevalent in our neighbourhood. Ethel, as I said before, was terribly alarmed at the vague disease; and not at all pleased with Baby Harold, who trotted soberly about the nursery, singing in his fashion,
""I dowing a have a measoos a morrer!" till Ethel got hold of him, and drew such an awful picture of what she imagined they must be, including a plentiful allowance of powders, currant jam, and castor oil, that he roared in terror.
""What"s the row here?" asked Alan, lounging in at the time, and throwing himself full length on the hearth rug.
""I dowing a have a measoos, and Efel says I sail be sick--so bad--and Smif dive me powders!" sobbed Harold, dolefully.
""What rubbish!" growled Alan; "you"re _not_ going to have them, Harold; you can"t till Ethel has had them first herself; you daren"t, you know; don"t you recollect what Nurse says when you want to be helped to pudding before her,--"Age before honesty, Master Harold;" and so Ethel shall have the measles first too!"
""I won"t, Alan," whined Ethel; "if you say such horrid things, I"ll tell Mamma. I shan"t have the measles, shall I Nurse?"
""I hope not, from my heart," answered Nurse, very fervently; "I"ve handful enough with you as it is, but goodness forbid you should be all laid up just now."