It was the spinner of yarns himself who broke the
silence which fell on the party at the close of the
first tale told out of the treasure-house of _The
Antiquary_.
"If I catch you," were the words of warning which
fell from his lips, "you, Hugh John, or you, Toady
Lion, trying to hoist one another up a cliff with a
rope and a chair--well, the rope will most
certainly be used for quite another purpose, and
both of you will just hate to look at a chair for a
fortnight after! Do you understand?"
They understood perfectly.
"It was me they were going to hoist," confided Maid
Margaret, coming a little closer. "I saw them
looking at me all the time you were telling the
story!"
"Well," I said, "just let me catch them at it,
that's all!"
This caution being necessary for the avoidance of
future trouble, I went on to read aloud the whole
of the Storm chapters, to the children's
unspeakable delight. Hugh John even begged for the
book to take to bed with him, which privilege he
was allowed, on the solemn promise that he would
not "peep on ahead." Since Sweetheart's prophecies
as to Die Vernon, such conduct has been voted
scoundrelly and unworthy of any good citizen of the
nursery.
On the whole, however, I could not make out
whether _The Antiquary_ promised to be a favourite
or not. The storm scene was declared "famous," but
the accompanying prohibition to break their own or
their family's necks, by pulling chairs up and down
rocks, somewhat damped the ardour of the usual
enthusiasts.
As, however, the day was hopeless outside, the snow
beating more and more fiercely on the windows, and
hanging in heavy fleecy masses on the smallest
twigs of the tree-branches and leafless rose stems,
it was decided that nothing better could be
imagined, than just to proceed with our second tale
from _The Antiquary_. But before beginning I
received two requests, somewhat difficult to
harmonize the one with the other.
"Tell us all about Miss Wardour and Lovel. He's
nice!" said Sweetheart.
"Skip ALL the love-making!" cried Hugh John and Sir
Toady in a breath.
* * * * *