SNUBBED.
When the children met next it was at tea-time. There was a very nice and
tempting tea prepared in Maggie's schoolroom, and Miss Grey presided, and
took good care to attend to the wants of the hungry little traveler. Ralph
looked a very different boy sitting at the tea-table munching
bread-and-butter, and disposing of large plates of strawberries and cream,
from what he did when Maggie met him at Ashburnham station. He was no
longer in the least excited; he was neatly dressed, with his hair well
brushed, and his hands extremely clean and gentlemanly. He was polite and
attentive to Miss Grey, and thanked her in quite a sweet voice for the
little attentions which she lavished upon him. Maggie was far too excited
to feel hungry. She could scarcely take her round blue eyes off Ralph,
who, for his part, did not pay her the smallest attention. He was
conversing in quite a proper and grown-up tone with the governess.
"Do you really like flat countries best?" he said. "Ah! I suppose, then,
you must suffer from palpitation. Mother does very much--she finds sal
volatile does her good; did you ever try that? When I next write to mother,
I'll ask her to send me a little bottle, and when you feel an attack coming
on, I'll measure some drops for you. If you take ten drops in a little
water, and then lie down, you don't know how much better you'll get. Thank
you, yes, I'll have another cup of tea. I like a good deal of cream,
please, and four or five lumps of sugar; if the lumps are small, I don't
mind having six. Well, what were we talking about? Oh, scenery! I like
hilly scenery. I like to get on the top of a hill, and race down as fast as
ever I can to the bottom. Sometimes I shout as I go--it's awfully nice
shouting out loud as you're racing through the air. Did you ever try that?
Oh, I forgot; you couldn't if you suffer from palpitation."
"I like steep mountains, and flying over big precipices," here burst from
Maggie. "I hate flat countries, and I don't think much of running down
little hills. Give me the mountains and the precipices, and you'll see how
I'll scamper."
Ralph raised his eyebrows a tiny bit, smiled at Maggie with a gentle pity
in his face, and then, without vouchsafing any comment to her audacious
observations, resumed his placid conversation with the governess.
"Mother and I have been a good deal in Switzerland, you know," he
continued, "so of course we can really judge what scenery is like. I got
tired of those great mountains after a bit. I'm very fond indeed of
England, particularly since I have spent so much of my time with Jo. Do you
know my little friend Jo, Miss Grey?"
"No, Mr. Ralph, I cannot say I do. Is he a nice little boy? Is he about
your age?"
Ralph laughed, but in a very moderate "I beg your pardon," he exclaimed.
"I hope you were not hurt when I laughed. Mother says it's very rude to
laugh at a grown-up lady, but it seemed so funny to hear you speak of Jo as
a boy. She's a girl, quite the very nicest girl in the world; her real name
is Joanna, but I call her Jo."
Here Maggie, who, after Ralph's ignoring of her last audacious observation,
had been getting through her tea in a subdued manner, brightened up
considerably, shook back her shining curls, and said in a much more gentle
voice than she had hitherto used:
"I should like to see her."
"You!" said Ralph. "She's not the least in your style. Well, I've done my
tea. Have you done your tea, Miss Grey? And may I leave the table, please?
I should like to have a run around the place before it gets dark."
"And may I come with you?" asked Maggie.
"Oh, yes, Mag! Come along."
Ralph held out his hand, which Maggie took with a great deal of gratitude
in her heart, and the two children went out together into the sweet summer
air.
Ralph first of all inspected his pigeons, and then his rabbits. He grumbled
a good deal over the arrangements made for the reception of his pets, and
informed Maggie that the hutch for the rabbits was but small and close, and
that the dove-cote must be altered immediately, and that he would take care
to speak to his Uncle John about it in the morning.
Maggie agreed with every word Ralph said. She, too, pronounced the hutch
small and dirty, and said the dove-cote must be altered, and while she
echoed her cousin's sentiments, she felt herself quite big and important,
and turned away from the rather smiling eyes of Jim, the stable-boy, who
was in attendance on the pair.
The children then proceeded to the stable, where Maggie's pretty snow-white
pony was kept.
"Ah!" said Ralph, "I wish you could see my horse. My horse is black, and
rather bigger than this, and he has an eye of fire and such a beautiful
glossy, arched neck. I can tell you it is worth something to see Raven.
Yes, Maggie, Snowball is rather a nice little pony, and very well suited
for you, I should imagine."
"I don't like him much," said Maggie, who until this moment had adored her
pet. "I like flashy, frisky horses. I like them fresh, don't you, Ralph?"
"Don't talk nonsense!" said Ralph rather pertly. "Now where shall we go?"
"Oh, Ralph, I should like to show you my garden. I dare say father will
give you a little garden near mine if we ask him. I'm building a rockery. I
don't work in my garden very often, 'cause it's rather tiresome, but I like
building my rockery, and when we go to the seaside, I shall gather lots of
shells for it. Come, Ralph, this is the way."
"Never mind to-night," said Ralph. "Here is a nice seat on this little
mossy bank. If you like to sit by me, Maggie, we can talk."
Maggie was only too pleased. Ralph stretched himself on the soft velvety
grass, put his hands under his head, and gazed up at the sky; Maggie took
care to imitate his position in all particulars. She also put her hands
under her head, and gazed through her shady hat up at the tall trees where
the rooks were going to sleep.
That night the rather spoiled little princess of Tower Hill lay awake for
some time. It was very unusual for Maggie to remain for an instant out of
the land of dreams. The moment she laid her curly head on the pillow she
entered that pleasant country, and, as a rule, she stayed there and enjoyed
delightful times with other dream-children until the morning. On the
present occasion, however, sleep did not visit her so quickly; she was
disturbed by the events of the day. Ralph was a very new experience in her
little life; she thought of all he had said to her, of how he had looked,
of his extreme manliness, his fearlessness, and his great politeness to
Miss Grey. Maggie owned with a half-sigh that there was nothing at all
particularly gracious in Ralph's manners to her.
"But I like him all the better for that," she thought. "He treats me as an
equal; most likely half the time he forgets that I'm a girl, and believes
that I'm a boy like himself. I wish I were a boy! Wouldn't it be jolly to
climb trees, and fish, and go out shooting with father! I'd be a great
comfort to Ralph if I were a boy, but I'm not; that's the worst of it. How
I do wish my pony was black, and was called Raven! I think I'll ask father
to sell Snowball; he's rather a fat, stupid little horse. Ralph's horse has
an eye of fire. How splendid he must be! I wonder if Jo has got a horse
too, and if it is black, and if its eyes flash. Jo must be a splendid girl.
How Ralph did look when he spoke of her! I wish I knew her! Ralph talks of
her as if she were as good as a boy. I dare say she climbs trees, and
fishes, and shoots. I should like Ralph to talk of me as he talks of Jo."
At this stage of Maggie's meditations her bright eyes closed very gently,
and she remembered nothing more until the morning.
The sun shone brightly into her room when she awoke; she had been dreaming
about Jo. She sprang up instantly, and began to dress herself. This feat
she had never accomplished before in her life. Two servants, as a rule,
waited on the little princess when she made her toilet, but now, with a
vivid dream of the manly Jo in her mind, and with some vague ideas that she
would please Ralph if she were up very bright and early, she proceeded to
tumble into her cold bath, and then, after an untidy fashion, to scramble
into her clothes. At last her dressing was completed, she knelt down for a
moment by her bedside to utter a very hasty little childish prayer, and
then ran softly out of her bedroom. She certainly did not know how early it
was, but as there was no one stirring in the house, and as she did not wish
nurse to find her and to call her back, and perhaps pop her once more into
bed, she went on tiptoe along the passages until she reached her Cousin
Ralph's bedroom door. She opened the door and went in. The large window of
Ralph's bedroom exactly faced his little white bed; the blind of the window
was up to the top, and the full light of the morning sun shone directly on
the little sleeper's face. Oh, how delightful! thought Maggie. Ralph was
still sound, sound asleep; she was the good one now, for Ralph was
decidedly lazy. She went softly to the bedside and gazed at her cousin. His
arms were thrown up over his head; he was lying on his back, and breathing
softly and easily. Ralph had a handsome little face, and it looked gentle
and sweet in his slumbers. The dauntless expression of his dark eyes, and
the somewhat scornful and hard way in which he looked when he addressed
himself to Maggie, were no longer perceptible. Maggie had a loving little
heart, and it went out to her stranger cousin now.
"I hope some day he'll like me as well as he does Jo," she murmured, and
then she bent down and printed the lightest of light kisses on his
forehead.
"Bother those flies," muttered Ralph, raising his hand to brush the
offending kiss away. This remark caused Maggie to burst into a peal of
laughter, and of course her laugh aroused the young sleeper.
"Yes, I'm up," said Maggie, dancing softly up and down. "I'm up, and I'm
dressed, and I'm ready to go into the garden. Don't you think it's very
good of me to get up so early? Don't you think I'm about as good as that Jo
of yours?"
Ralph had recovered from his first surprise, and now he gazed tranquilly at
his little cousin.
"What's the hour?" he asked.
Maggie said, "I don't know."
"Well, you'd better find out," responded Ralph; "it feels very early. My
watch is on the dressing-table. Do you know the time by a watch yet? If you
can read it, you may, and tell me the hour. How untidily you have dressed
yourself!"
Maggie felt herself growing very red when Ralph asked her if she could tell
the hour by a watch. The fact was, she could not; she had always been too
lazy to learn. She went in a faltering way to the dressing-table, feeling
quite sure in her little heart that Jo knew all about watches, and that if
she revealed her ignorance to Ralph, he would despise her for the rest of
her life. Just at this moment, however, relief came, for the stable clock
was heard to strike very distinctly. It struck four times.
"It's four o'clock," said Maggie.
"Yes, and what a muff you are!" answered Ralph. "Four o'clock! Why, it's
the middle of the night. Good-night, Maggie. Please go away, and shut the
door after you."
"Then you're not getting up?" questioned the little cousin wistfully.
"Getting up? No, thank you, not for many an hour to come. Good-night,
Maggie. I don't want to be rude, but you really are a little worry coming
in and waking me in this fashion."