A SLIGHT ACCIDENT
ALTHOUGH Dick had decided that it would not benefit either him or any
one else if he found the secret passage, yet he could not put the
matter out of his mind. It fascinated him; and he thought of it the
first moment he opened his eyes in the morning, and the last thing
at night; it haunted him in his sleep, and more than once he awoke
screaming and shaking with excitement after a vivid dream that he was
being chased by smugglers armed with pistols and knives. On one of
these occasions he shrieked so loudly that he awoke Miss Warren,
who rushed to his room to see what was amiss. "Good patience, child!"
she cried, as she bent over him. "What is wrong? Don't scream like
that! Don't you know me? It's only Aunt Mary Ann!"
"Oh, oh!" gasped the little boy. "They're after me!"
"Nonsense! You're only half awake yet! Who's after you, pray? There's
no one here but me! You've no real cause to be frightened!"
"I am very sorry," Dick said apologetically "I think I've had a bad
dream!" and he shuddered at the remembrance of it.
"A bad dream," Miss Warren echoed. "Nightmare, most likely! Bless the
child, you're shaking like an aspen leaf!"
"I'm very sorry," murmured Dick again. "I know I've been very silly.
I'm not frightened now."
"There is nothing to be frightened at," Miss Warren told him
reassuringly. "Who did you think was after you, my dear?"
"The smugglers. I was dreaming of the secret passage, and—"
"There, now!" Miss Warren interposed vexedly. "I guessed as much!
You have had your head filled with tales of smugglers, and secret
passages, and nonsense of that kind till you've let your imagination
run away with you! I'll sit by your side till you go to sleep, and
then you'll feel perfectly safe, will you not?"
Dick assented gratefully. He was very ashamed of himself for having
disturbed his aunt's rest; but it was a comforting thought that she
was near. She was as good as her word, and remained patiently
watching him till he fell asleep.
The next morning, at the breakfast-table, she told her brother of the
scene which had been enacted during the night, and gave him a
description of Dick's terror at his dream.
"A fine fright he gave me too!" she said in conclusion; "I thought
something dreadful had happened, and was quite relieved to find
he had only been dreaming!"
"He could not help it," the doctor replied with a glance of sympathy
at his little nephew's pale face. "I remember when I was a boy,
I used to have nightmare myself, and imagine I was falling out of a
window, or down a precipice, or being chased by a wild animal,
or something equally ridiculous. You shall have your supper a little
earlier for the future, Dick. So your nightmare took the shape
of smugglers, eh?"
"Yes," Dick said; "and awful-looking men they were, with dreadful,
wicked faces. I thought I was in the secret passage, and they were
running after me; then I suppose I screamed, and Aunt Mary Ann heard
me, for when I woke up, there she was standing by the bed. Oh, wasn't
I glad to see her."
"I believe I was almost as much frightened as Dick," Miss Warren
acknowledged.
"Well, you have both recovered from your fright now," the doctor
remarked; "and I daresay last night's scene will never be enacted
again. I am not going to take you with me this morning, Dick, because
I am going to visit a patient who lives five miles distant, and may
have to remain there some time."
"Perhaps Dick and I may spend our morning on the beach," Miss Warren
suggested. "I could take my needlework with me, and Dick would find
his own amusements."
"Oh, yes!" Dick agreed delightedly. "The tide will be out, and it's
always nicer then!"
"Mind you do not fall on the rocks," Dr. Warren said warningly; "some
of them are as slippery as glass, covered as they are with sea-weeds.
Be careful—there's a good boy."
An hour later found Miss Warren and Dick wending their way to the
sea-shore. The latter carried a camp-stool which, upon their arrival
on the beach, he set up in the shade of a rock for his aunt to sit
upon.
"Now, my dear," said Miss Warren, as she took her seat and proceeded
to unfold a parcel of plain needlework which she had brought with
her, "you need not stay with me, you know; only keep within sight and
I shall be easy in my mind about you."
"All right, Aunt Mary Ann; I will," Dick answered, truly meaning what
he said.
He ran off towards the edge of the water, Miss Warren glancing after
him with a bright smile. She had grown to love her little nephew very
dearly; he added to the happiness of her life, and she was quite
grateful to his grandfather for having declined to take charge
of him.
"How we should miss him if he left us!" she reflected. "I do not
believe his parents would allow Sir Richard to have him now!
Theophilus says he believes the old man is growing really to like
the boy. Oh, I hope he will never want to take him away from us!
Good gracious!"
The last exclamation broke from her lips as a large black dog bounded
past her, and made for the little figure at the water's edge. It was
Nero. Miss Warren recognised him immediately, and glanced around
nervously, expecting to see his master near; but the dog was
apparently quite alone. She drew a sigh of relief, and watched Nero
with some amusement as he sprang around Dick, barking with delight
at having discovered his new friend.
"Dear Nero! Good dog!" Dick cried, his face aglow with pleasure.
Nero allowed himself to be patted and caressed with exemplary
patience for a few minutes; then he bounded into the sea, and back
to Dick's side again, evidently inviting him to throw something into
the water for him to fetch. The little boy at once complied with the
dog's request, and soon he and Nero were having a most enjoyable time
together. Dick tired of throwing stones long before Nero tired of
fetching them. The sagacious creature never made the mistake
of bringing another stone instead of the one thrown.
Miss Warren watched the boy and the dog for some while, her face
wreathed in smiles, then she turned her attention to her needlework.
Meanwhile, Dick having wearied of throwing stones, wandered away
between the rocks. He took off his shoes and stockings, and placed
them in a spot where he thought he would have no difficulty in
finding them again; and then, rolling up his knickerbocker above his
knees, paddled in and out of the little pools between the rocks.
He forgot all about his aunt's desire that he would not go out of
sight, and his promise, and presently found himself walking beneath
the shade of the high cliffs which surrounded the coast at that
point. How he wished he could find the entrance to the secret
passage! Fired with the ambition to do so, he peered hither and
thither into every nook and cranny he came across, totally regardless
of how the time was passing. Nero kept by his side, every now and
again picking up lumps of sea-weed and offering them to Dick as
though he realised the boy was looking for something, and desired
to assist him if he could. At length Dick, for the first time,
glanced behind him, and saw that he had wandered much further than he
had intended. Holton beach, with Miss Warren seated on her
camp-stool, the fishing-boats drawn up out of reach of the incoming
tide, and the nets spread to dry in the sun, were out of sight; only
a strip of rock-strewn sand beneath overhanging cliffs was to be
seen. Suddenly remembering that he had disobeyed his aunt, and not
kept his word, Dick hastily retraced his footsteps. When he reached
the spot where he considered he had left his shoes and stockings,
they were nowhere to be seen; he glanced hastily around, and lo!
there they were apparently floating out to sea. For one moment Dick
was in despair of ever getting them again; but then he remembered
Nero, and, pointing them out to him, the intelligent animal grasped
the situation at once and fetched them immediately.
"Nero, you are the dearest, cleverest dog I know!" cried Dick, with
mingled enthusiasm and gratitude in his voice.
One trouble over, Dick hastened on, and had nearly turned the corner
of the cliff which would bring him within sight of Holton beach, when
he slipped on a piece of sea-weed and fell into a pool of water on
his face and hands. He emerged sputtering and dripping, whilst Nero
barked as though he thought it the best joke in the world.
Dick was in despair. What would Aunt Mary Ann say when she saw his
deplorable condition? She would have every right to be very angry.
Whilst he was thinking thus Miss Warren herself came upon the scene,
having missed him, and become uneasy as to his safety.
"Dick!" was all she could find voice to say, as her astonished eyes
fell upon the little, dripping figure; "Dick!" she repeated, and
positively gasped with dismay.
"I'm rather wet, Aunt Mary Ann," Dick acknowledged with a slight
shiver. "I fell into a pool. I don't quite know how it happened. Oh,
it wasn't Nero's fault!" he added quickly, as he saw her eyes turn
to the dog. "Nero has been so good! The tide came in and carried my
shoes and stockings out to sea, and he fetched them back. Wasn't that
clever of him?"
"You had better put them on at once," Miss Warren said, the vexation
she felt sounding in her voice.
Dick obeyed; but it was a difficult task, for his shoes and stockings
were perfectly sodden with seawater; at last, however, it was
accomplished.
"Now, come home!" said Miss Warren. "I don't know what the villagers
will think of you, I'm sure! Fortunately salt water does not, as a
rule, induce cold; still, we had better hurry home."
"Shall I carry your camp-stool, Aunt Mary Ann?" Dick asked, in a meek
voice.
"No, thank you; I prefer to carry it myself!"
Miss Warren marched on in front looking extremely dignified, and Dick
followed with Nero at his heels. It would have been difficult to say
if the boy or the dog was the wetter.
Dick walked with great discomfort, for his garments were sticking to
his skin; and he was fully conscious of the looks—half-astonished,
half-amused—on the faces of those he met. He knew his aunt was
angry, and not without cause. He was feeling extremely miserable and
dejected; so that when he saw his grandfather's figure emerge from a
shop doorway, his first impulse was to take to his heels and run
away. Instead of acting thus foolishly, however, he continued
to advance, though he could not help growing uncomfortably red.
"Good-morning, Miss Warren!" Sir Richard said; and she was obliged
to stop and shake hands with him. He seemed in a particularly genial
humour, and viewed his grandson with a twinkle of amusement in his
keen dark eyes.
"Have you met with an accident, Dick?" he inquired. "You look—well,
to put it mildly—a trifle moist!"
"Moist!" echoed Miss Warren. "He is dripping, simply dripping!"
"Has he been bathing with his clothes on?" Sir Richard asked. "Why,
here's Nero!" he continued, without waiting for a reply to his
question. "He deserted me an hour ago! Where have you been, you bad
dog?"
"He has been with Dick for the last hour," Miss Warren explained.
"Did he lead you into mischief, Dick?" Sir Richard questioned.
"He loves the water, I know."
"It was not Nero's fault," the little boy declared. "I fell into a
pool; that's how it is I happen to be so wet. It was very careless
of me; but really I couldn't help it!"
"I shall not mind if he does not take cold," Miss Warren said,
looking relentingly at the offender's abashed countenance. "You will
excuse us, Sir Richard—Dick must get home as quickly as possible."
"Certainly, certainly. Good-morning, Miss Warren! Good-morning, Dick!
Come with me, Nero!"
The dog followed his master obediently, now and again pausing
a moment to look wistfully after Dick's retreating figure.
As soon as Miss Warren and her little nephew reached home,
she insisted on putting him to bed—not for punishment, as she
explained, for she had regained her good-humour, and had accepted
Dick's apologies—but because she considered such treatment would
prevent his feeling any ill effects from his accident.
So Dick lay patiently in bed with the blinds of his room drawn
to exclude the brilliant sunshine, and with his aunt by his side
refusing to talk, for fear, as she said, of unduly exciting him after
the shock she persisted he must be suffering from on account of his
unexpected ducking. In vain did Dick protest he felt quite well;
he had to remain in bed till the doctor returned, when he was
permitted to get up and come downstairs for tea. Seeing Aunt Mary Ann
was vexed no longer, he was perfectly willing to give an account
of his morning's adventure, and owned that he had been so intent
in searching for the entrance to the secret passage that he had
forgotten the flight of time.
"I quite forgot I had promised not to go out of sight," he said
in conclusion with a deprecating glance at Miss Warren.
"Ah, but you should never forget a promise, my boy," the doctor told
him gravely, "even if it seems only a trifling matter. I do not know
that you could have come to any great harm among the rocks; but you
must be more cautious for the future, or I know your aunt will be
always fussing when you are out of her sight, and it ought to be
unnecessary to keep a watch on a boy of your age. You are old enough
to take care of yourself."
"I'm afraid I'm always rather inclined to anticipate misfortune,"
Miss Warren acknowledged with a sigh. "I well remember how anxious
I used to be about your dear mother, Dick, when she was a little
girl. Dear me, how vexed I was this morning to meet Sir Richard!"
"Ah, I saw him later on," Dr. Warren said. "He told me of Dick's sad
plight, which seems to have caused him some amusement, by the way.
I learnt from him that Mrs. Compton and her children are expected
to-morrow evening; he is desirous that Dick should see as much of his
cousins as possible. I said I was sure Dick would be glad of the
company of children of his own age."
"Oh, yes," cried Dick eagerly; "that is, if I like them! I wonder
if I shall," he added reflectively.
"I do not doubt you will; but you will soon find that out. I daresay
your cousins are as anxious and curious to meet you as you are
to meet them. Sir Richard said he should expect to see you at the
Manor House the day after to-morrow, and I promised to drop you
at the lodge as I did the last time you were there."
"I wish you would tell me more about my aunt and cousins, Uncle
Theophilus," Dick requested; "I want to know what they are really
like, and—"
"You will be able to form your own opinion of them shortly,"
the doctor interposed; "I am not good at descriptions of people."
With that answer the little boy had to be satisfied; for Miss Warren
knew even less of the Comptons than did her brother. She had seen
them in church on Sundays during previous summers, but had never
spoken to either mother or children. Dick was more and more surprised
to find how little intercourse there had been between the Manor House
and No. 8 Fore Street. It puzzled him greatly, and worried him too;
but Aunt Mary Ann looked so unhappy when he spoke to her about it
that he let the subject drop, and determined never to mention it to
her again. He had grown much attached to dear, fussy Aunt Mary Ann,
and would not willingly have troubled her for the world.