IN THE FIR-WOODS.
...'Gloomy shades, sequestered deep,
....whence one could only see
Stems thronging all around.'...
KEATS.
Supper was a formal and stately affair. The children were placed one on
each side of their cousin, and helped to such dishes as she considered
suitable, without asking them what they liked. But they were not greedy
children, and even at their own home they had been accustomed to much
more strictness than is _nowadays_ the case, my dear children, for those
were still the days when little people were expected to be 'seen but not
heard,' to 'speak when they were spoken to,' but not otherwise. So Rollo
and Maia were not unduly depressed, especially as there was plenty of
amusement for their bright eyes in watching the queer, pompous manners
of Lady Venelda's attendants, and making notes to discuss together
afterwards on the strange and quaint china and silver which covered the
table, and even in marvelling at the food itself, which, though all
good, was much of it perfectly new to them.
Now and then their hostess addressed a few words to them about their
journey, their father's health when they had left him, and such things,
to which Rollo and Maia replied with great propriety. Lady Venelda
seemed pleased.
'They have been well brought up, I see. My cousin has not neglected
them,' she said in a low voice, as if speaking to herself, which was a
habit of hers. Rollo and Maia exchanged signals with each other at this,
which they had of course overheard, and each understood as well as if
the other had said it aloud, that the meaning of the signals was, 'That
is right. If we go on like this we shall soon get leave to ramble about
by ourselves.'
After supper Lady Venelda told the children to follow her into what she
chose to call her retiring-room. This was a rather pretty room at the
extreme end of the long white gallery, but unlike that part of the
castle which the children had already seen. The walls were not white,
but hung with tapestry, which gave it a much warmer and more
comfortable look. One did not even here, however, get rid of the poor
deer, for the tapestry all round the room represented a hunting-scene,
and it nearly made Maia cry, when she afterwards examined it by
daylight, to see the poor chased creatures, with the cruel dogs upon
them and the riders behind lashing their horses, and evidently shouting
to the hounds to urge them on. It was a curious subject to have chosen
for a lady's boudoir, but Lady Venelda's tastes were guided by but one
rule--the most profound respect and veneration for her ancestors, and as
they had seen fit thus to decorate the prettiest room in the castle, it
would never have occurred to her to alter it.
She seated herself on an antlered couch below one of the windows, which
by day commanded a beautiful view of the wonderful woods, but was now
hidden by rather worn curtains of a faded blue, the only light in the
room coming from a curiously-shaped oil lamp suspended from the ceiling,
which illumined but here and there parts of the tapestry, and was far
too dim to have made it possible to read or work. But it was not much
time that the lady of the castle passed in her bower, and seldom that
she found leisure to read, for she was a very busy and practical
person, managing her large possessions entirely for herself, and caring
but little for the amusements or occupations most ladies take pleasure
in. She beckoned to the children to come near her.
'You are tired, I dare say,' she said graciously. 'At your age I
remember the noble Count, my father, took me once a journey lasting two
or three days, and when I arrived at my destination I slept twelve hours
without awaking.'
'Oh, but we shall not need to sleep as long as that,' said Rollo and
Maia together. 'We shall be quite rested by to-morrow morning;' at which
the Lady Venelda smiled, evidently pleased, even though they had spoken
so quickly as _almost_ to interrupt her.
'That is well,' she said. 'Then I shall inform you of how I propose to
arrange your time, at once, though I had intended giving orders that you
should not be awakened till eight o'clock. At what hour do you rise at
home?'
'At seven, lady cousin,' said Rollo.
'That is not very early,' she replied. 'However, as it is but for a time
that you are confided to my care, I cannot regulate everything exactly
as I could wish.'
'We would like to get up earlier,' said Maia hastily. 'Perhaps not
_to-morrow_,' she added.
'I will first tell you my wishes,' said Lady Venelda loftily. 'At eight
o'clock prayers are read to the household in the chapel. You will
already have had some light refreshment. At nine you will have
instruction from Mademoiselle Delphine for one hour. At ten the chaplain
will take her place for two hours. At twelve you may walk in the grounds
round the house for half an hour. At one we dine. At two you shall have
another hour from Mademoiselle Delphine. From three to five you may walk
with your attendants. Supper is at eight; and during the evening you may
prepare your tasks for the next day.'
Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was not so very bad; still it
sounded rather severe. Rollo took courage.
'If we get up earlier and do our tasks, may we stay out later
sometimes?' he inquired.
'Sometimes--if the weather is very fine and you have been very
industrious,' their cousin replied.
'And,' added Maia, emboldened by this success, 'may we sometimes ramble
alone all about the woods? We do so love the woods,' she continued,
clasping her hands.
Now, if Lady Venelda herself had a weakness, it was for these same
woods. They were to her a sort of shrine dedicated to the memory of her
race, for the pine forests of that country had been celebrated as far
back as there was any record of its existence. So, though she was rather
startled at Maia's proposal, she answered graciously still:
'They are indeed beautiful, my child. Beautiful and wonderful. There
have they stood in their solemn majesty for century after century,
seeing generation after generation of our race pass away while yet they
remain. They and I alone, my children. I, the last left of a long line!'
Her voice trembled, and one could almost have imagined that a tear
glittered in her blue eyes. Maia, and Rollo too, felt very sorry for
her.
'Dear cousin,' said the girl, timidly touching her hand, 'are we not a
little _little_, relations to you? Please don't say you are all alone.
It sounds so very sad. Do let Rollo and me be like your little boy and
girl.'
Lady Venelda smiled again, and this time her face really grew soft and
gentle.
'Poor children,' she said, in the peculiar low voice she always used
when speaking to herself, and apparently forgetting the presence of
others, 'poor children, they too have suffered. They have no mother!'
Then turning to Maia, who was still gently stroking her hand: 'I thank
you, my child, for your innocent sympathy,' she said, in her usual tone.
'I rejoice to have you here. You will cheer my solitude, and at the same
time learn no harm, I feel sure, from the associations of this ancient
house.'
Maia did not quite understand her, but as the tone sounded kind, she
ventured to repeat, as she kissed her cousin's hand for good-night, 'And
you will let us ramble about the woods if we are very good, won't you?
And _sometimes_ we may have a whole holiday, mayn't we?'
Lady Venelda smiled.
'All will depend on yourselves, my child,' she said.
But Rollo and Maia went upstairs to bed very well satisfied with the
look of things.
They _meant_ to wake very early, and tried to coax Nanni to promise to
go out with them in the morning before prayers, but Nanni was cautious,
and would make no rash engagements.
'_I_ am very tired, Miss Maia,' she said, 'and I am sure you must be if
you would let yourself think so. I hope you will have a good long
sleep.'
She was right. After all, the next morning Rollo and Maia had hardly
time to finish their coffee and rolls before the great bell in the
courtyard clanged for prayers, and they had to hurry to the chapel not
to be too late. Prayers over, they were taken in hand by Mademoiselle
Delphine, and then by the old chaplain, till, by twelve o'clock, when
they were sent out for a little fresh air before dinner, they felt more
sleepy and tired than the night before.
'I don't care to go to the woods now,' said Maia dolefully. 'I am so
tired--ever so much more tired than with lessons at home.'
'So am I,' said Rollo. 'I don't know what is the matter with me,' and he
seated himself disconsolately beside his sister on a bench overlooking
the stiff Dutch garden at one side of the castle.
'Come--how now, my children?' said a voice beside them; 'why are you not
running about, instead of sitting there like two old invalids?'
'We are so tired,' said both together, looking up at the new-comer, who
was none other than the short, stout old gentleman who had been
introduced to them as Lady Venelda's physician.
'Tired; ah, well, to be sure, you have had a long journey.'
'It is not only that. We weren't so tired this morning, but we've had
such a lot of lessons.' 'Mademoiselle Delphine's French is very hard,'
said Maia; 'and Mr.--I forget his name--the chaplain says the Latin
words quite differently from what I've learnt before,' added Rollo.
The old doctor looked at them both attentively.
'Come, come, my children, you must not lose heart. What would you say to
a long afternoon in the woods and no more lessons to-day, if I were to
ask the Lady Venelda to give you a holiday?'
The effect was instantaneous. Both children jumped up and clapped their
hands.
'Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr.--Doctor,' they said, for they had not
heard his name. 'Yes, that is just what we would like. It did not seem
any good to go to the woods for just an hour or two. And, oh, Mr.
Doctor, do ask our cousin to give us one holiday a week--we always have
that at home. It is so nice to wake up in the morning and know there are
_no_ lessons to do! And we should be so good all the other days.'
'Ah, well,' said the old doctor, 'we shall see.'
But he nodded his head, and smiled, and looked so like a good-natured
old owl, that Rollo and Maia felt very hopeful.
At dinner, where they took their places as usual at each side of their
cousin, nothing was said till the close. Then Lady Venelda turned
solemnly to the children:
'You have been attentive at your lessons, I am glad to hear,' she said;
'but you are doubtless still somewhat tired with your journey. My kind
physician thinks some hours of fresh air would do you good. I therefore
shall be pleased for you to spend all the afternoon in the woods--there
will be no more lessons to-day.'
'Oh, thank you, thank you,' repeated the children, and Maia glanced at
her cousin with some thought of throwing her arms round her and kissing
her, but Lady Venelda looked so very stiff and stately that she felt her
courage ebb.
'It is better only to kiss her when we are alone with her,' she said
afterwards to Rollo, in which he agreed.
But they forgot everything except high spirits and delight when, half an
hour later, they found themselves with Nanni on their way to the
longed-for woods.
'Which way shall we go?' said Maia; and indeed it was a question for
consideration. For it was not on one side only that there were woods,
but on every side, far as the eye could reach, stretched out the
wonderful forests. The white castle stood on raised ground, but in the
centre of a circular valley, so that to reach the outside world one had
first to descend and then rise again; so the entrance to the woods was
sloping, for the castle hill was bare of trees, which began only at its
base.
'Which way?' repeated Rollo; 'I don't see that it matters. We get into
the woods every way.'
'Except over there,' said Maia, pointing to the road by which they had
come, gleaming like a white ribbon among the trees, which had been
thinned a little in that direction.
'Well, we don't want to go there,' said Rollo, but before he had time to
say more Maia interrupted him.
'Oh, Rollo, let's go the way that we saw the little cottage. No, I don't
mean that we saw the cottage, but we saw the smoke rising, and we were
sure there was a cottage. It was--let me see----' and she tried to put
herself in the right direction; 'yes, it was on my left hand--it must be
on that side,' and she pointed where she meant.
Rollo did not seem to care particularly about the real or imaginary
cottage, but as to him all roads were the same in this case, seeing all
led to the woods, he made no objection, and a few minutes saw the little
party, already in the shade of the forest, slowly making their way
upwards. It was milder than the day before; indeed, for early spring it
was very mild. The soft afternoon sunshine came peeping through the
branches, the ground was beautifully dry, and their steps made a
pleasant crackling sound, as their feet broke the innumerable little
twigs which, interspersed with moss and the remains of last year's
leaves, made a nice carpet to walk on.
'Let us stand still a moment,' said Maia, 'and look about us. How
delicious it is! _What_ flowers there will be in a little while!
Primroses, I am sure, and violets, and later on periwinkle and cyclamen,
I dare say.'
A sigh from Nanni interrupted her.
'What is the matter?' said the children.
'I am so tired, Miss Maia,' said poor Nanni. 'I haven't got over the
journey, and I was so afraid of being late this morning that I got up I
don't know how early--they told me in the kitchen that their lady was so
angry if any one was late. I think if I were to sit down on this nice
mossy ground I should really go to sleep.'
'_Poor_ Nanni!' said Maia, laughing. 'Well, do sit down, only I think
you'd better not go to sleep; you might catch cold.'
'It's beautifully warm here among the trees, somehow,' said Nanni.
'Well, then, shall I just stay here and you and Master Rollo play about?
You won't go far?'
'You _would_ get a nice scolding if we were lost,' said Rollo
mischievously.
'Don't tease her, Rollo,' said Maia; adding in a lower tone, 'If you do,
she'll persist in coming with us, and it will be such fun to run about
by ourselves.' Then turning to Nanni, 'Don't be afraid of us, Nanni; we
shan't get lost. You may go to sleep for an hour or two if you like.'
The two children set off together in great glee. Here and there among
the trees there were paths, or what looked like paths, some going
upwards till quite lost to view, some downwards,--all in the most
tempting zigzag fashion.
'I should like to explore all the paths one after the other, wouldn't
you?' said Maia.
'I expect they all lead to nowhere in particular,' said Rollo,
philosophically.
'But we want to go somewhere in particular,' said Maia; 'I want to find
the cottage, you know. I am sure it must be _somewhere_ about here.'
'Upwards or downwards--which do you think?' said Rollo. 'I say, Maia,
suppose you go downwards and I upwards, and then we can meet again here
and say if we've found the cottage or had any adventures, like the
brothers in the fairy tales.'
'No,' said Maia, drawing nearer Rollo as she spoke; 'I don't want to go
about alone. You know, though the woods are so nice they're _rather_
lonely, and there are such queer stories about forests always. There
must be queer people living in them, though we don't see them. Gnomes
and brownies down below, very likely, and wood-spirits, perhaps. But I
think about the gnomes is the most frightening, don't you, Rollo?'
'I don't think any of it's frightening,' he replied. But he was a kind
boy, so he did not laugh at Maia, or say any more about separating.
'Which way shall we go, then?'
'Oh, we'd better go on upwards. There can't be much forest downwards,
for we've come nearly straight up. We'd get out of the wood directly.'
They went on climbing therefore for some way, but the ascent became
quickly slighter, and in a short time they found themselves almost on
level ground.
'We can't have got to the top,' said Rollo. 'This must be a sort of
ledge on the hillside. However, I begin to sympathise with Nanni--it's
nice to get a rest,' and he threw himself down at full length as he
spoke. Maia quickly followed his example.
'We shan't do much exploring at this rate,' she said.
'No,' Rollo agreed; 'but never mind. Isn't it nice here, Maia? Just like
what father told us, isn't it? The scent of the fir-trees is so
delicious too.'
It was charmingly sweet and peaceful, and the feeling of mystery caused
by the dark shade of the lofty trees, standing there in countless rows
as they had stood for centuries, the silence only broken by the
occasional dropping of a twig or the flutter of a leaf, impressed the
children in a way they could not have put in words. It was a sort of
relief when a slight rustle in the branches overhead caught their
attention, and looking up, their quick eyes saw the bright brown, bushy
tail of a squirrel whisking out of sight.
Up jumped Maia, clapping her hands.
'A squirrel, Rollo, did you see?'
'Of course I did, but you shouldn't make such a noise. We might have
seen him again if we'd been quite quiet. I wonder where his home is.'
'So do I. _How_ I should like to see a squirrel's nest and all the
little ones sitting in a row, each with a nut in its two front paws!
_How_ nice it would be to have the gift of understanding all the animals
say to each other, wouldn't it?'
'Yes,' said Rollo, but he stopped suddenly. 'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I
believe I smell burning wood!' and he stood still and sniffed the air a
little. 'I shouldn't wonder if we're near the cottage.'
'Oh, do come on, then,' said Maia eagerly. 'Yes--yes; I smell it too. I
hope the cottage isn't on fire, Rollo. Oh, no; see, it must be a
bonfire,' for, as she spoke, a smouldering heap of leaves and dry
branches came in sight some little way along the path, and in another
moment, a few yards farther on, a cottage actually appeared.
Such an original-looking cottage! The trees had been cleared for some
distance round where it stood, and a space enclosed by a rustic fence of
interlaced branches had been planted as a garden. A very pretty little
garden too. There were flower-beds in front, already gay with a few
early blossoms, and neat rows of vegetables and fruit-bushes at the
back. The cottage was built of wood, but looked warm and dry, with deep
roof and rather small high-up windows. A little path, bordered primly by
a thick growing mossy-like plant, led up to the door, which was closed.
No smoke came out of the chimney, not the slightest sound was to be
heard. The children looked at each other.
'What a darling little house!' said Maia in a whisper. 'But, Rollo, do
you think there's anybody there? Can it be _enchanted_, perhaps?'
Rollo went on a few steps and stood looking at the mysterious cottage.
There was not a sound to be heard, not the slightest sign of life about
the place; and yet it was all in such perfect order that it was
impossible to think it deserted.
'The people must have gone out, I suppose,' said Rollo.
'I wonder if the door is locked,' said Maia. 'I am _so_ thirsty, Rollo.'
'Let's see,' Rollo answered, and together the two children opened the
tiny gate and made their way up to the door. Rollo took hold of the
latch; it yielded to his touch.
'It's not locked,' he said, looking back at his sister, and he gently
pushed the door a little way open. 'Shall I go in?' he said.
Maia came forward, walking on her tiptoes.
'Oh, Rollo,' she whispered, '_suppose_ it's enchanted, and that we never
get out again.'
But all the same she crept nearer and nearer to the tempting half-open
door.