"Well, children, I'll let you go and have this picnic by yourselves if
you'll give me your word that you'll behave just as you would do if I
were with you. Will you promise?"
"Yes, Nurse, we do promise; and we'll keep our word," said Algy Parker,
"won't we?" and he turned round to Charlie, Basil, and little Ivy, as if
to ask them to confirm his words.
"Yes, we promise," they repeated eagerly, full of delight to think that
they might actually picnic by themselves for a whole day.
"Don't leave the Home Fields, mind," said Nurse. "You can't come to much
harm there, I should think; and I should be glad of a free day, so as to
get the nurseries cleaned out before your mother comes to-morrow; so
mind your promise, and take good care of little Miss Ivy."
In a very short time all was ready. Cook had packed a most tempting
lunch of ham sandwiches, plum-cake, and gooseberry turnovers, and this
was placed in a basket on Algy's mail-cart; and then off he started, and
Charlie and Basil, with little Ivy between them, ran after him down the
long avenue, laughing and singing as joyfully as young birds.
The Home Fields lay at the bottom of the avenue, and the children were
no sooner in them than Ivy gave a scream of delight. "The roses, Algy!
The wild roses are out; oh, do pick me some!"
Ivy always got her own way with her brothers; and Algy obediently
stopped, threw off his hat, pulled out his clasp-knife, and gathered a
good bunch of the delicate blossoms for the little queen.
Charlie did not care for roses; he was better amused with the duck-pond,
and began building a little pier for himself with some stones that lay
near, much to the disgust of a pair of respectable old ducks, who
considered the pond their private property, and very much resented
Charlie's operations.
"Just listen to old Mrs. Quack preaching to me," cried Charlie, smiling
to himself as he stood some little way in the pond. As he spoke,
however, one of the stones of the pier slipped, and Charlie stumbled
right into the water!
What of that?--it is a fine sunny day, and his boots will soon dry
again, and he will not be a jot the worse.
Yes, quite true; but Nurse strictly forbade wet boots, and Charlie well
knew that had she been there he would at once be sent back to the house
to change them, and might think himself lucky if he escaped being put to
bed as a punishment. Such things had happened before now in the Parker
nursery; and Charlie recollected also there was no mother at home to-day
to beg him off, as she often had done. But for all that Charlie's mind
was made up; he had given his word to behave as if Nurse were by, and so
he must go home.
"Perhaps she'll put you to bed," sobbed little Ivy.
"I can't help it," said Charlie sorrowfully. "I must keep my word."
So the poor boy trudged manfully back to the house to find his worst
fears realized. Nurse was very busy and consequently cross; and on
hearing Charlie's tale and seeing his boots, she sent him off to bed.
"He'd be dry enough there," she averred.
Charlie knew there was no help for it, Nurse would be obeyed; so slowly
and sorrowfully he began undressing, the large tears rolling down his
cheeks, when the door opened and Mother stood there! She had come back
sooner than was expected; and before Charlie quite realized all that was
happening, Nurse had buttoned on his dry boots, and Mother and he were
walking quickly towards the Home Fields. How the children did scream
with delight when they found that Mother herself was going to picnic
with them.
"You must thank Charlie that I am here," said Mother. "If he had not
kept his promise to Nurse I should not have known where to find you;"
and Mother looked fondly at her honest little boy.
"You see, I was obliged to," said Charlie simply: "I had given my word."
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