Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
_[The Arundel Family series]_
The Gabled Farm;
OR
YOUNG WORKERS FOR THE KING.
BY
CATHARINE SHAW
AUTHOR OF
"ONLY A COUSIN," "HILDA," "IN THE SUNLIGHT," "DICKIE'S ATTIC,"
"SOMETHING FOR SUNDAY," ETC.
"I ask Thee for the daily strength,
To none that ask denied,
And a mind to blend with outward life
While walking by Thy side;
Content to fill a little space,
If Thou be glorified."
New Edition.
LONDON:
JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.
48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
STORIES BY CATHARINE SHAW
Author of "CAUGHT BY THE TIDE."
[Illustration]
Price Three Shillings and Sixpence each, with Illustrations.
THE STRANGE HOUSE; OR, A MOMENT'S MISTAKE.
LILIAN'S HOPE.
DICKIE'S SECRET.
DICKIE'S ATTIC.
ON THE CLIFF; OR, ALICK'S NEIGHBOURS.
FATHOMS DEEP; OR, COURTENAY'S CHOICE.
HILDA; OR, SEEKETH NOT HER OWN.
[Illustration]
Price Half-a-Crown each, Large Crown 8vo, with Illustrations.
IN THE SUNLIGHT AND OUT OF IT.
NELLIE ARUNDEL: A TALE OF HOME LIFE.
ONLY A COUSIN.
ALICK'S HERO.
[Illustration]
LONDON:
JOHN F. SHAW & CO., 48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
DEDICATED
TO
My Mother
AND
Her Grandchildren.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER
I. A HOT DAY AT NO. 8
II. GETTING READY
III. SOUTH BAY
IV. THE GABLED FARM
V. THREE-AND-SIXPENCE
VI. AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL
VII. WALTER'S TREAT
VIII. SETTING TO WORK
IX. CHRISTINA
X. BEREFT OF ALL
XI. THE LIFE-BOAT
XII. THE GOOD-NIGHT KISS
XIII. SCRAPS AND RIBBONS
XIV. HAPPY DAYS
XV. WALTER'S SECRET
XVI. DISAPPOINTMENT
XVII. PLANS
XVIII. SORE HEARTS
XIX. "SHE WAS SENT ME BY GOD"
XX. THE HAY-LOFT
XXI. THE LAST WALK
XXII. HOME AGAIN AT NO. 8
XXIII. "MOTHER'S EYES ARE VERY TIRED"
XXIV. A BASKET OF FLOWERS
XXV. FATHERLESS BAIRNS
XXVI. SAVED FROM THE RIVER
XXVII. THE ANSWER
XXVIII. "GOOD-BYE"
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BE brave, my brother!
He whom thou servest slights
Not even His weakest one;
No deed, tho' poor, shall be forgot,
However feebly done.
The prayer, the wish, the thought,
The faintly-spoken word,
The plan that seemed to come to nought,
Each has its own reward.
Be brave, my brother!
Enlarge thy heart and soul,
Spread out thy free, glad love;
Encompass earth, embrace the sea,
As does that sky above.
Let no man see thee stand
In slothful idleness,
As if there were no work for thee
In such a wilderness.
Be brave, my brother!
Stint not the liberal hand,
Give in the joy of love;
So shall thy crown be bright, and great
Thy recompense above;
Reward, not like the deed—
That poor weak deed of thine;
But like the God Himself who gives,
Eternal and divine.
H. BONAR.
[Illustration]
THE GABLED FARM;
OR,
Young Workers for the King.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
A HOT DAY AT NO. 8.
A JULY sun was blazing down on a square in Bloomsbury, and seemed
particularly to blaze on No. 8, with its wide windows and warm west
aspect. At any rate the children thought so, who were listlessly
playing in the drawing room. Since early morning the blinds had been
down; since middle-day the sun-blinds had been unrolled; but nothing
would keep out the burning rays, and the house seemed baked through and
through.
"It is perfectly intolerable!" said a boy of fourteen, laying himself
flat on the hearthrug, and stretching out both arms as far as they
would go, with a long, low whistle, indicating extreme heat.
"If we only had something to look forward to!" said Ada, a girl of
thirteen, who was pretending to read, but felt too hot to do anything
in earnest.
"Yes," assented Arthur; "but the bother is we don't know that papa can
get away; and it makes it ten times hotter to think we shall have to
bear this for another six weeks."
"Perhaps the weather will change," suggested a quiet, pretty girl, who
sat working in the darkest corner of the room.
"It won't, Nellie; you see if it does!" said Arthur scornfully. "Not if
we're to stay in town!"
Nellie looked down for a moment at the face of her half-brother, as if
she were going to speak; but she did not, and went on with her work.
"I cannot think how you can work, Nellie, when we are all dying of
heat," said Ada, grumbling.
While Arthur raised his eyes to the gentle face, and said lazily, "Yes;
why do you work, Nell?"
"I have tried both ways," said Nellie, "and I find I am less weary and
miserable when I have something to do. And besides—"
"Well?" said Arthur lazily.
"I was thinking just now of what papa told us this morning, and that
helped me to—"
"Bear the heat patiently? It didn't me, I can tell you, Nell. To be
shut up in a top attic, with the sun next door to you, and not a breath
of air; and to be ill of fever, and no fruit, and no cool water; and no
chance of country when you were better; and no friends to care whether
you lived or died; and no work and no comfort; and no end to it all?
No; I don't see that thinking of that, helps one to feel less hot and
cross!"
Arthur turned his flushed face, which was more sympathizing than he
knew, towards his sister, and kicked his foot impatiently on the rug.
"But there is an end to it, after all, Arthur, in this case; because
papa says that this poor creature has a home preparing which will be—"
Arthur looked enquiringly.
"Joy for evermore," said Nellie reverently.
Arthur moved uneasily. "I don't see the good of it," he said. "Do you
suppose this woman is willing to wait to have all her good things
there?"
"Papa said she was. She told him that if she had had everything
comfortable, as she used in the old days, she should never have been
driven by despair, as she has been, to find that the love of Christ is
worth more than everything else in the world!"
Arthur turned his head restlessly again, and after a moment's pause
said, hesitating, "Walter thinks like that, doesn't he?"
"Indeed he does," answered Nellie; "and oh, it is such a comfort when
one does."
Softly as the conversation had been carried on, it had disturbed Ada's
reading. She pushed her book away, almost peevishly.
"Ada, lie down on the sofa, and I will read you both to sleep," said
Nellie, looking at her kindly.
"Oh, no!" said Ada. "I'm not sleepy, and I can't do anything to-day;
I feel I don't know how. I shall go and see how they are getting on
upstairs."
"Worse still," groaned Arthur. But he did not do more to dissuade her;
and they heard her ascend the many stairs till she reached the nursery,
where her footsteps paused, and then there was a shout of, "Oh, Ada,
Ada! Have you come to play with us?"
Five little ones, of various ages, were scattered about the large
nursery. There were three wide, low windows, looking out on an expanse
of sky, circumscribed by endless roofs and chimneys, giving the
children also a good view of the pretty garden in the square.
Near one of these windows sat the nurse, a pleasant-looking young
woman, and on her lap, untroubled by the intense heat, sat a chubby
baby of about a year old. Close by, and just under the low windowsill,
a little couch was arranged, and on it a boy of eight years lay, lying
so that his weary little face could just peep through the bottom pane
of glass.
Hearing Ada's step, he turned abruptly round and looked eagerly at her.
"Is mamma come home yet?" he asked.
"No," said Ada. "Oh, Mary, isn't it awfully hot? I could not settle
to anything down in the drawing room, and so I came to see how nearly
roasted you all are."
"Oh, we are not roasted at all, Ada," said a grave little girl looking
towards the empty grate, "'cause there's no fire!"
The others laughed, and Ada declared it made her hotter to think of it.
"Ada, do tell us a story, or read to us," said a little girl of about
five years, who was playing in a corner with her constant companion,
Netta, and their two dolls.
"Yes, do," added Netta, running to a little shelf, and taking down a
book and eagerly turning over the leaves.
"Well—if I am not too hot," said Ada, looking persuadable, and taking
the rocking-chair which the children invitingly pushed forward.
"Near to me, please," said poor little Tom.
And they accordingly moved nearer his window; while the nurse put the
baby on the ground and began to prepare for tea.
"Once upon a time," began Ada, closing the book and looking straight
before her.
"Oh, yes, that's it!" said Isabel, settling herself to listen with
perfect contentment, her arm round Netta's shoulder, and their
respective dolls on their laps.
"Once upon a time there was a cat, a very respectable, fat, well-fed
cat. Not one of the cats that walk up and down our back garden wall;
not one of the cats that live on the roofs of the houses near us; oh,
no! A real comfortable country cat, who had a real barn to mouse in,
and a real hay-loft to sleep in, and real grass to eat if she felt
sick."
"Do cats eat grass?" said Dolly, the grave child.
"Hush!" said the others.
"One day when the gardener went into a nice warm shed, he thought he
heard a rustle, and searching about for the cause, he found pussy in an
old box with three of the sweetest kittens you ever saw beside her.
"'Now that's a fine thing,' said the gardener roughly; 'however did you
get in here! But one thing is, it ain't much trouble to turn you out
again.'
"He was just going to do it when a bright thought struck him, 'If I let
you stay,' he said crossly, 'you must catch all the mice that eat my
seeds!'
"Whether puss would have promised I do not know; but the gardener
probably knew she would be willing to try, and so, with another sour
look, he gave the box a push, and went out and slammed the door.
"Pussy felt very relieved, though a little shaken in her spirits. 'My
dear kitties,' she said, 'you have had a narrow escape. Who would
have thought he would have come in! He has not been in here, to my
knowledge, for at least a month; but then certainly I am not always at
his heels. However, here we are, and now to make the best of it. He has
shut the door, too, so we must catch mice or starve.' Pussy raised her
eyes to the roof, and to her relief perceived that there were apertures
under the rafters where she could creep out if her prison got too
strait for her.
"Some little time passed on. Pussy found plenty of mice, but she had
not been accustomed to such close confinement. And one evening as it
was getting dusk, she whispered to her kitties, 'Now, my dears, if
you'll be very still and not quarrel, I'll take a turn up the garden, I
think.'
"'Oh, mother,' said No. 1, who was affectionate, 'shall you be sure to
come back!'
"'Oh, mother,' said No. 2, who was greedy, 'shall you be able to bring
us something nice!'
"'Oh, mother,' said No. 3, who was daring, 'how I wish I could go with
you!'
"'Yes, yes, my dears,' said pussy hurriedly; 'but if you ask so many
questions, I shall never get away.'
"With these words she proceeded to jump on a sack of potatoes that
stood near, and from thence to a shelf under the ceiling, where she
came to a pause. Her kittens watched her anxiously with beating hearts.
Where would she get next? She went peeping about at the different holes
under the rafters, but did not seem to make up her mind to go through
any of them.
"Now you must know—what I am not sure that the kittens yet knew—that
cats have long whiskers, which in a wonderful way are made to grow out
just as far as the widest part of their bodies, and pussy could feel if
these were touched, and if they were, she did not venture to push her
body into the hole.
"She found one to suit her at last, and before her kittens could wink,
she had safely jumped to the ground outside, and was scampering along
the wide garden path.
"Left to themselves for the first time, the kittens felt quite proud
for a minute or two, and then they began to think of mischief.
"'Do you think we could get out of this box?' said No.3, the bold one.
"'We might get something nice to eat,' said No. 2, the greedy one.
"'I am afraid mother would not like it,' said No. 1, the affectionate
one.
"'Nonsense,' said No. 3; 'I mean to try.' After several efforts, and
tumbling back into the box, No. 3 did balance himself on the edge, and
did jump to the ground.
"'Now, No. 2, where are you?' he mewed in rather a doleful tone; for
though a brave kitten, he felt he would like a companion if this led
him into a scrape.
"'I am getting up as fast as I can,' said No. 2; 'but did it hurt you
to jump?'
"'Always take care of yourself,' sneered No. 3; 'but come along, or
mother will be back.'
"No. 2 managed to scramble up, and jump down, and they both set off
in search of pleasure, leaving No. 1 alone; for they knew from her
character that it was useless to try to persuade her.
"'I shall clamber up this sack of potatoes as mother did,' said No. 3.
"'I do not care about that at all,' said No. 2. 'I fancy there is
something good on that table.'
"With these words, he cautiously climbed up an old hamper, and then up
a slanting board, and so with great care on to the table, over which he
went with increasing disappointment; for there was nothing there fit
for a kitten to eat, though a mouse might have had a feast. At last,
either from vexation or because he was getting nervous, he missed his
footing, and being but young yet, he stumbled, and fell to the ground
with a blow which nearly stupified him. He lay quite still, and as it
was so dark, No. 3 did not perceive the disaster, and went on with his
explorations till a sudden fear came over him, and he hastened back to
the box.
"Do what he would, however, the sides were too steep for him to climb;
and in despair, after many fruitless efforts, he lay down at last,
cold, and tired, and sleepy, and began to cry.
"He would have given anything to be inside instead of outside the box,
when he heard his mother climbing up the ivy which covered the shed.
But wishing was of no use; and with melancholy interest, he heard her
lightly spring to the table, and then to the ground very near him,
and then softly make her way, as so many times before, into their
comfortable home.
"When there, she made a great stir. Now pussy had come home in no mood
'to put up with nonsense,' as she said, and she proceeded to give the
spoils of her expedition to No. 1, without a moment's hesitation. And
while the little kitten tasted her first mouthful of a delicious piece
of mutton-chop, her mother made many remarks as to the effects of
obedience and disobedience, little dreaming that one at least of her
darlings lay so near her in the sorest need of comfort. When the chop
was finished between them—"
The children had been so absorbed in Ada's story that they had not
heard the slight bustle of an arrival, and were extremely surprised at
this moment to hear their mamma's step at the very door.
Amid exclamations and welcomes she came forward, and after a
comprehensive glance at them all, from the baby upwards, she went
straight to the little couch, and bent lovingly over her little invalid.
His arms clasped tightly round her neck, and he said ruefully, "You've
been so long away, mamma!"
"So very long, darling? Only a few hours. And how is my little Tom,
Mary? And baby?"
"Baby's all right ma'am," said Mary, holding him up for inspection with
great pride; "but Master Tom has felt the heat a good deal, and your
being away too."
The mother gave a little sigh, and then turned to the others, still,
however, holding Tom's little frail fingers. "So you are all, I
suppose, as hot as you can be, and much too hot for a piece of good
news?"
"Oh, no, mamma! Is it—is it that we are really to go to South Bay?"
Their mother nodded, smiling; whereupon there were shouts and a great
hubbub, and then the little ones found that Nellie and Arthur had come
up to share in the rejoicings, and were looking as radiant as could be.
"Oh, it is too delightful!" said Ada, rapturously kissing her mamma
over and over, till Nellie came behind and said gently,—
"Do you not think we had better all go down and leave the little ones
to their tea?"
"Yes," said their mother. "They will all be glad to get to bed."
And so, with one kiss for her fat baby, she left the room, followed by
Arthur, and Nellie, and Ada.
"Our tea is just ready, mamma," said Nellie, "and I will go and make
it. I am sure you must be tired."
"I am, dear," answered Mrs. Arundel, "and I will soon be down."
Tea was spread this evening in the schoolroom at the back, which was as
fresh and cool as the dining room was close and hot.
"What a good thought," said Mrs. Arundel with a sigh of relief as she
took her seat at the tea-tray.
"Yes; that was Arthur," said Nellie. "He was saying, when we came down
just now to put something away, how cool it would be, and so I told
Simmons to bring it here. I thought you would not mind, mamma, even if
you did not think it necessary."
"No, indeed, dear; and it is very pleasant."
The young people were too considerate to ask their tired mother any
questions, though they were burning with curiosity as to the proposed
trip, and as to how the change in their parents' plans had been brought
about.
They had not, however, very long to wait; for after the first cup of
tea had been swallowed, Mrs. Arundel began of her own accord.
"I have not told you, dears, a piece of the news which is quite a trial
to me. We are to go; but your papa is afraid he will not be able to
come at all this summer, or only for a few days at most."
"Oh, mamma!" they all exclaimed dolefully; and Mrs. Arundel did not
speak for a minute. "Well," she said, trying to brighten up, "it is
quite a trial, but we must all do the best we can. Perhaps, after all,
papa may find he can get away, and it will be a great pleasure for you
all to have such a nice change; and for dear little Tom."
"I am sorry," said Arthur; "for papa has been looking forward to it;
and we were to have had some jolly boating too."
"It will be a disappointment to us all, my dear; but it does not seem
as if it were possible just now; and papa will not have us wait,
because of the heat."
"But he will have that to bear all alone," said Ada; "it's a wretched
nuisance."
Mrs. Arundel looked up quickly. "Dear Ada, I do not quite like you to
say 'nuisance;' when our Father points out a path for us, we must not
call it that."
"Oh, mamma, I did not mean anything wrong, only it does seem so hard!"
"'We know that all things work together for good to them that love
God,'" said her mother softly, as if speaking more to herself than
them. And then she went up the long flights of stairs till she came
into her own room over the drawing room, where were two little cots.
One of these was empty, for baby was not in bed yet; but at the other
one she knelt down, and laid her head op the pillow beside little Tom.
[Illustration]
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