THE FIREWORKS.
A little before seven o'clock that evening the children stood at the
drawing-room window. All traces of the recent struggle in the garden
had been removed, and in the neat little girl in the dainty cream
lace and muslin frock, with its fluttering pink ribbons, few persons
would have recognized the small fury that Sophie had carried off
wriggling and crying to the nursery a few hours before.
But Miss Bunny had already forgotten that such a scene had ever
taken place, and was making very merry over a big blue-bottle fly
that she and Mervyn were doing their best to catch as it walked up
and down the window-pane.
Frank Collins sat at the piano playing some very lively tunes, and
from time to time Bunny would pause in her pursuit of the fly and
dance lightly over the floor in time to the music.
"Papa, papa," she cried, as Mr. Dashwood entered the room with his
wife upon his arm, "doesn't Frank make lovely tunes?"
"I don't know, dear," answered her father. "Frank does not seem
anxious to let me hear his music, for he has stopped short the
moment I appeared."
"I am afraid Mrs. Dashwood would not care for my music," answered
Frank modestly. "I only play from ear."
"Oh, Frank, how can you say such a thing!" cried Bunny indignantly.
"Why, mama, he plays just like Miss Kerr does. He plays away up in
the treble with two hands, and then he plays pum, pum, pum away down
in the bass; oh, it is most beautiful! Do play again, Frank."
"No, dear, not now," said Frank. "I'll play for you another time,
but don't ask me now;" and he hopped the little girl up on his knee.
"Well, then, ask--you know what," whispered Bunny mysteriously.
"You know you said you would--you promised."
"Oh, yes, of course; I very nearly forgot," said Frank, "and I
suppose Sophie will soon be carrying you off to bed, it's nearly
half-past seven."
"Yes, she will, unless you ask that, and papa and mama say, Yes."
"Mrs. Dashwood," said Frank, "it's a gala night, as they call it, on
the Spa, and there are to be fireworks, so will you let these little
people stay up for them? Please do."
"What! to go out in the night air and into the crowd?" asked Mrs.
Dashwood in a horrified voice. "My dear Frank, I could not think of
allowing such a thing. It is quite impossible!"
"Of course it is, Mrs. Dashwood," answered Frank. "But I did not
mean them to go out at all, I--"
"Oh, no, dear mama," cried Bunny eagerly, "Frank does not want us to
go out, but to sit up and see them from Miss Kerr's window, that is
all."
"Bunny, come here, dear, I want to have a talk with you," said her
mother gravely, and guessing that she was going to receive a
scolding for her naughty conduct in the garden, the child stole
slowly over the floor, and at last stood in rather a shamefaced
manner beside her mother's chair.
"Do you think, Bunny, that a little girl who screamed and kicked as
you did when Sophie took you in out of the garden, deserves to be
allowed to stay up to see the fireworks?"
"No, mama," answered Bunny in a low voice, and two large tears
trickled down her cheeks and fell on her mother's hand.
"Auntie, dear, don't scold poor Bunny, for she is very sorry she was
naughty, and she begged Sophie's pardon before we came down."
"Well, I am glad to hear that, Mervyn," said Mrs. Dashwood, "and I
hope Bunny is sorry; but I don't think she should be allowed to stay
up to see the fireworks, she cannot expect it."
"Why, mama, what is all this about?" said Mr. Dashwood, coming over
and putting his arm round his little daughter. "Why are you scolding
poor Bunny so much?"
"Because I was naughty, papa," said Bunny, creeping up very close to
him. "But I am very sorry, and I promise to be good."
"Oh, well, don't scold her any more, dear," said her papa, stroking
the little golden head, "she can't do more than promise to be a good
child."
"And do forgive her, and let her stay up to see the fireworks,"
whispered Mervyn, "it would be such fun!"
"What is that you are saying, Mervyn? What dreadful plot are you
hatching over there?" cried Mr. Dashwood, "why, the fireworks don't
go off until nine, and your bedtime is at half-past seven, isn't
it?"
"Yes, I know it is, uncle, but we're not a bit sleepy, and we never
saw any fireworks, and this is the last gala night before we leave
Scarborough, and--"
"My dear Mervyn, what a string of reasons!" cried his uncle
laughing; "after such a list, I think we must surely grant your
request. That is, if mama will forgive this poor culprit, and allow
her to stay up."
"Well, as she is sorry, and as Mervyn says it is the last night,
perhaps--"
"That's right! that's right!" said her husband, "and now let us go
in to dinner. This animated discussion has given me quite an
appetite."
And as Ashton at this moment threw open the door, and announced that
dinner was served, Mr. Dashwood offered his arm to his wife, and led
her away to the dining-room.
"What fun! what fun! to be allowed to stay up to see the fireworks,"
cried Bunny, and catching hold of Frank's arm she hurried him off
after her papa and mama.
"Now, you must sit quiet, children," said Mrs. Dashwood; "if you
make a noise I shall have to send you away to the nursery."
"We'll be as quiet as mice," said Bunny, and pulling Mervyn down on
a large woolly mat in the middle window, she began to whisper
joyfully about the treat that was in store for them before the
evening was over.
The first part of the dinner seemed rather long to the two little
ones in their corner, but when at last the dessert was placed on the
table, and Bunny was seated at her papa's elbow, and Mervyn between
his aunt and his dear friend Frank, they all became so merry
together, that the fireworks were for the time completely forgotten.
"Oh, papa, I heard such a funny noise just now," cried
Bunny suddenly, "what can it be? Listen, there it is
again--whizz--whizz--"
"It's the first rocket, I'm sure!" exclaimed Frank, dropping the
nut-crackers, "let us go off to a window somewhere, for I am sure
the fireworks are going to begin."
"How jolly!" cried Mervyn. "Aunt, may we run up to Miss Kerr's
room?"
"Can't we see them from here?" asked Mr. Dashwood, pulling up the
blind and looking out. "What a beautiful dark night it is! Better
stay here, chicks, I think. See, there goes another rocket!"
"Oh, that is lovely!" cried Bunny, clapping her hands. "But, papa,
dear, we can see them much better from Miss Kerr's room, she has
such a nice balcony, and she promised to let us go up to it if mama
would allow us."
"Very well, then, away you go," said her father; "but be quick, or
you will lose all the fun."
"Be sure and wrap yourselves up, dear children, if you go out into
the balcony," said Mrs. Dashwood. "The night air is very sharp."
"Oh, yes, mama, we will make ourselves as warm as toast," cried
Bunny gaily. "Come, Frank, do come up to the balcony with us."
"All right, little woman, jump upon my back and we'll run a race
with Mervyn."
Very much delighted at such an invitation, Bunny sprang from a chair
on to Frank's back, and away they went galloping madly after Mervyn,
up the stairs and along the passage to Miss Kerr's room. There they
found Sophie waiting for them, heavily laden with cloaks and shawls
in which she insisted on wrapping them up till they were nearly
smothered, and shrieked wildly for just one little space through
which they might manage to breathe.
"Very well, you will all catch your deaths of colds," cried Sophie.
"Miss Bunny, you will want the doctor to-morrow, I am quite sure;"
and she flounced out of the room and banged the door after her.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish!" cried Frank, laughing, as he
released poor Mervyn's face from the thick shawl in which the maid
had rolled him up. "She's an awful scold that Sophie."
"But she's jolly kind to us sometimes," said Mervyn stoutly; "and we
torment her dreadfully, don't we, Bunny?"
"Yes, we do indeed," answered the little girl; "and she doesn't
always scold, Master Frank."
"Goodness me! don't be so indignant," cried Frank. "I meant no
offence. I daresay Sophie is a regular angel."
"She's not quite that," said Miss Kerr as she opened the window and
let the young people out upon the balcony. "But I am glad to hear
the children stand up for her, for, as Mervyn says, they do torment
her, and still she is very good-natured and kind to them on the
whole."
"Yes, indeed she is," said Mervyn; "but oh! just look at that, isn't
it exquisite?"
"Lovely!" cried Frank. "It's a regular shower of golden hail! But I
think I like the Roman candles best. Look, Bunny, there's
one--see--those two stars--watch how they change colour--first
they're red--then blue--then--"
"Oh, yes, yes," cried Bunny dancing about. "There they go, right
away over the sea! What lovely things fireworks are!"
"It is a pity we could not have gone down on the Spa to see the set
pieces," said Frank. "I believe they are most beautiful. But then
the crowd is something dreadful."
"Do they send the fireworks up from the Spa?" asked Mervyn; "they
look just as if they were coming from the road up there in front of
the Crown Hotel."
"No, they are sent from a place just over the Spa, up among the
trees there, but a long way below the hotel."
"Oh dear! there goes a splendid rocket," cried Mervyn, "and doesn't
it make a lovely noise?"
"Oh! I can't bear the noise," said Bunny, putting her fingers in her
ears, "it makes me jump."
"Now that is really charming!" said Miss Kerr, as the whole bay with
its ships and boats was suddenly illuminated by a brilliant crimson
light. "How lovely everything looks in that soft, rich colour!"
"Oh! and I declare you can see Oliver's Mount and the dear little
cake shop," cried Bunny. "And, Mervyn, I wonder where our old
donkeys are to-night," and she peered away out in the direction of
the sands where the poor animals usually spent their days.
"At home in their beds, my dear," said Miss Kerr laughing, "and
that's where small people like you should be; it must be near ten
o'clock."
"Oh! not yet, not yet," cried the children; "we must stay and see
the last of the fireworks!"
"That is the last now, I'm sure," said Frank. "That thick yellow
light comes from the grand finale, which we cannot see--ha! there
goes another rocket. Hurrah! the whole thing is at an end."
"Very well, my dears, you must say good-night," said Miss Kerr;
"your poor little eyes are positively blinking with sleep, Bunny,
dear."
"No, they're not," said the little girl, "but they feel funny and
won't go quite straight."
"Are you getting a squint, then?" said Frank. "Come along, old lady,
a few hours' sleep will make them go straight enough;" and putting
one arm round Bunny and the other round Mervyn, he marched them off
to the nursery, where he deposited them one after the other on their
little beds.
The children were really quite tired out with excitement, and the
fatigue of sitting up to such an unusually late hour; so when Frank
left them for the night, they did not utter a word or make a
complaint. They said their prayers, were undressed at once, and,
laying their weary heads upon their pillows, were soon fast asleep.
[Illustration: Chapter decoration.]