"I"m not going to plague myself with that stupid Plain-work," cried Matty, shrugging her shoulders; "but it may do for _you_!" She said this in so scornful a tone that it brought the colour to Nelly"s pale cheek.
"Why should I mind?" thought the lame little girl; "I know that mother likes Plain-work best; she values things that are useful rather than those that are pretty; and oh, I"m so glad that she does so, or what would become of me!"
So Matty purchased the pretty ornamented creeper, with its cl.u.s.ters of bright-coloured beads, and Nelly took a fine thriving plant of Plain-work, to train up her garden wall.
Then both took leave of Mrs. Sewing, who, smiling and courtesying to the girls, bade them farewell in these words,--
"Pleasure and profit both attend ye, Sewing ever shall befriend ye!"
Matty"s plant was in a small light pot, and she easily carried it across the brook; then turning, she looked back at her sister, who could hardly see the stepping-stones through the thick leaves of the plant which she bore. Nelly"s pot was also very heavy, and before she could reach the sh.o.r.e, her lame foot slipped on a stone, and she fell splash into the waters of Bother.
The stream was very shallow, so there was no danger of her being drowned, but the shock, the tumble, and the wetting were anything but agreeable. It was very unkind in Matty to stand, as she did, laughing at her poor lame sister, as she floundered in the brook of Bother, still grasping her pot of Plain-work.
"Oh, dear, dear! how the thorn-needles are p.r.i.c.king my fingers!" gasped Nelly.
"Then let go--throw the stupid Plain-work away," cried Matty.
But Nelly had too brave a spirit for that. She knew that what was worth acquiring was worth bearing, and she would not be discouraged by a trifle. I wish that some of my little readers who sit pouting and fretting over a seam, crying over a broken needle, or a p.r.i.c.k on a tiny finger, could have seen Nelly when, with repeated efforts, she scrambled out of the brook, with Plain-work safe in her grasp.
The two girls now made their way up the hill of Puzzle, on their return to the cottages of Head. Matty, eager to plant her pretty creeper, greatly outstripped her sister, as she had done when they at first had set out. But with patient, uncomplaining labour, Nelly Desley plodded on her course, and before long both Plain-work and Fancy-work were safely transplanted into the ground by the wall at the back of the gardens.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Nelly could hardly see the stepping-stones through the thick leaves of the plant which she bore. _Page 27._]
CHAPTER V.
MR. ALPHABET.
"Now we"re all ready to set off to Messrs. Reading and Writing," cried d.i.c.k, as the four children stood together on the slope of the hill; "I vote we have a race--one, two, three, off and away!" and dashing forward like a young stag, he rushed down the hill, distancing even Matty, and with the force of his own rapid descent cleared brook Bother at a bound.
Nelly could not help clapping her hands.
"I should have thought," observed fat Lubin, who had kept at her side, "that you, of all people in the world, would have hated this silly racing, and disliked to see any one go at so desperate a pace."
"Why should I dislike it?" asked the lame child; "I would go at a great pace too, if I only were able."
"But when you are lame, does it not vex you to be so distanced by others?"
Nelly hesitated a little before she replied, "Sometimes, I own, it does vex me a little; but then I am comforted when I think that as long as I do my best I should be only glad that others can do better."
Lubin and Nelly came up with their brother and sister at the cottage of Mrs. Sewing; for d.i.c.k, who was in a merry mood, had stopped there to help the old dame to transplant a fine slip of Fancy-work, and Matty was standing laughing beside him.
"See how well he does it!" she cried.
"I wonder that he is not ashamed to use his fingers like a girl!"
exclaimed Lubin, who was himself remarkably clumsy.
Mrs. Sewing turned round with a smile and a courtesy.
"Better the fingers thus employing Than in fighting, fidgeting, or destroying,"
observed she.
d.i.c.k looked up and laughed. "I"ll soon prove to you, my lad," he cried, "that hands that can ground a pretty slip of German work, are ready and fit for something harder," and he squared up towards Lubin with clenched fists, and such a merry look of defiance, that his brother was more than convinced by the sight, and trotted off along the lane of Trouble, at a much brisker pace than usual.
"We"ll go after the plump one," cried d.i.c.k, "or he"ll arrive at Mr.
Reading"s before us."
Along the lane they all went. The weather had been dry of late, and the road was not so muddy as usual. Indeed the walk was so agreeable that d.i.c.k remarked that "trouble is a pleasure." It was not long before the four young householders found themselves at the door of Messrs. Reading and Writing.
Their shop was a very large and handsome one; indeed a finer and better was not to be seen in the whole town of Education, on the outskirts of which it stood. It was separated into two divisions, over the first and princ.i.p.al of which Mr. Reading himself presided. A great variety of papers for walls were displayed in the large gla.s.s windows, and when the children peeped in they saw a vast number more in the shop.
"Well, here"s a fine choice!" exclaimed Matty, in pleased surprise; "I think that one might spend half one"s life in the shop of Mr. Reading, and always find out something pretty and new."
"But where is Mr. Reading himself?" cried Lubin; "and how are we to get through this iron grating which shuts us out from the shop?"
His last question was answered by the funniest little dwarf that ever was seen, who popped out from behind the counter, and with a large iron key in his hand came toddling up to the grating. He was just twenty-six inches high, and had a head almost as big as the rest of his body.
"I say, little chap, will you let us in?" said d.i.c.k, rapping on the iron bars.
"I"m not accustomed to be spoken to after that fashion," cried the dwarf angrily; "my name is not "little chap," but "Mr. Alphabet," though some dare to call me A B C. I ought to be treated with respect, for I am several thousand years old."
"You"ve been wondrously slow then in your growth," laughed Lubin; "I think I could jump over your head."
"It"s easier said than done," grumbled Alphabet, casting up a glance of scorn at the boy, whose fat figure was not formed for jumping; "and I should advise you to have a care how you provoke me by any boasting or insolent language. I am both strong and bold, and I come of an ancient race. My father was an Egyptian, or a Phoenician, or--"
"Never mind your father just now, my good fellow," cried d.i.c.k; "just turn your key in the lock, and let us into the shop of Mr. Reading."
"You don"t suppose that I"m going to let you pa.s.s without paying toll,"
growled Alphabet; "I always expect a fee of some of the money of Time."
"Let us in," cried Lubin, kicking the grating.
"You may kick till you"re tired," said the gruffy little dwarf; "no one gets to Mr. Reading without paying toll to Mr. Alphabet, his highly respectable porter."
"Let"s give him his fee and be done with it," cried Matty, hastily pulling out her purse.
Seeing that there was no use in refusing, as Alphabet had the key of the gate, each of the children now produced some money, d.i.c.k giving less than the others. Alphabet took the bright hours with a merry grin, as he swung back the iron grating; but when Lubin was about to pa.s.s in, the dwarf planted himself in the way.
"You said that you could jump over my head; just try."
"I don"t just think that I could," said Lubin, who was daunted by the manner of the dwarf.
"Now, for your stupid boast," growled Alphabet, "I will not allow you to pa.s.s till you"ve paid twice as much as the others have done;" and as he spoke he half closed the grating in Lubin"s face.