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[Illustration: Book Cover]
THE MAGIC NUTS
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE UNSELFISH MERMAID. _Frontispiece._]
THE MAGIC NUTS
BY
MRS. MOLESWORTH
AUTHOR OF 'CARROTS,' 'CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'TELL ME A STORY,' ETC.
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATED BY ROSIE M. M. PITMAN
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1898
In childhood, when with eager eyes
The season-measured years I viewed,
All garbed in fairy guise.
CARDINAL NEWMAN.
I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE STORY
TO MY GRAND-DAUGHTER
VIOLET SARA MOLESWORTH
19 SUMNER PLACE, S.W.,
_February_ 1898.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I NIGHT AND MORNING 1
CHAPTER II APPLES AND NUTS 17
CHAPTER III IT IS HILDEGARDE 33
CHAPTER IV ON THE WAY 49
CHAPTER V 'WHAT'S O'CLOCK?' 65
CHAPTER VI GNOMELAND 81
CHAPTER VII A COLLATION UNDER DIFFICULTIES 99
CHAPTER VIII TREE-TOP LAND 115
CHAPTER IX A CONCERT 132
CHAPTER X THE BLUE-SILK ROOM 148
CHAPTER XI 'THE UNSELFISH MERMAID' 162
CHAPTER XII 'THE UNSELFISH MERMAID' (_continued_) 179
ILLUSTRATIONS
VIGNETTE _On Title page_
THE UNSELFISH MERMAID _Frontispiece_
"TAKE THESE," SHE SAID, "FOR GOOD LUCK" _To face page_ 20
PORTRAIT OF HILDEGARDE 33
"I MUST GIVE YOU ONE OR TWO WARNINGS" 76
MANUFACTURING LUCKY PENNIES 86
"WHO SENT YOU TO KISS US, YOU BREEZES OF MAY" 115
THE UNSELFISH MERMAID 162
CHAPTER I
NIGHT AND MORNING
The way was long.
_Lay of the Last Minstrel._
Little Leonore pressed her face against the window of the railway
carriage and tried hard to see out. But it was no use. It all looked so
dark and black, all the darker and blacker for the glimmer of the
rain-drops trickling down thickly outside, and reflecting the feeble
light of the lamp in the roof of the compartment.
Leonore sighed deeply. She was very tired, more tired than she knew, for
she did not feel sleepy, or as if she would give anything to be
undressed and go to bed. On the contrary, she wished with all her heart
that it was daylight, and that it would leave off raining, and that she
could get out of the stuffy old railway train, and go for a good run.
It had been raining for _so_ long, and they had been such a lot of hours
shut in and bum-bumming along in this dreary way--it even seemed to her
now and then as if she had _always_ been sitting in her corner like
this, and that it had _always_ been night and _always_ raining outside.
'I don't believe I'm going to be happy at all at Alten,' she said to
herself. 'I'm sure it's going to be horrid. It's always the way if
people tell you anything's going to be lovely and nice, it's sure to be
dull, and--just horrid.'
She glanced at the other end of the railway carriage where a lady,
comfortably muffled up in the corner, was sleeping peacefully. She was
not an old lady, but she was not young. To Leonore she seemed past
counting her age, for she never appeared to get older, and during the
six or seven years she had been the little girl's governess she had not
changed at all.
'I wish I could go to sleep like Fraulein,' was the next thought that
came into her busy brain. 'When she wakes she'll think I have been
asleep, for she did tuck me up nicely. And I'm feeling as cross as
cross.'
Then her eyes fell on the little cushion and the railway rug that she
had thrown on to the floor--should she try to settle herself again and
_perhaps_ manage to go to sleep? It would be so nice to wake up and find
they had got there, and _surely_ it could not be very much farther.
Fraulein had said ten o'clock, had she not? Leonore remembered sitting
up one night till ten o'clock--more than a year ago--when her father was
expected to arrive, and Fraulein was sure he would like to find her
awake to welcome him. It hadn't seemed half so late that night as it did
now--would ten o'clock _never_ come?
She stooped down and pulled up the rug, and tried to prop the cushion
against the back of the seat for her head. It was not very easy to
manage, but Leonore was not a selfish child; it never occurred to her to
disturb her governess for the sake of her own comfort, though Fraulein
would not have been the least vexed with her had she done so.
Just as she had made up her mind that she would try to go to sleep, she
felt a slight change in the motion of the train--the bum and rattle,
rattle and bum, grew fainter--was it only her fancy, or could it, oh!
could it be that they were slackening speed? If so, it could only mean
arriving at Alten, for her governess had distinctly told her they would
not stop again till they had reached their journey's end.
'Sleep, my dear,' she had said, 'sleep well till I wake you, and then we
shall be _there_. There will be no other stopping anywhere to disturb
you.'
Leonore held her breath in anxiety--yes, it was no fancy--they _were_
moving more and more slowly, and through the darkness lights, which were
not the glimmer of the rain-drops, began to appear. Then at last there
was a pull-up.
'Fraulein, Fraulein,' cried Leonore, in great excitement, 'wake up,
quick. We're _there_--do you hear? The train has stopped.'
Poor Fraulein had started up at the first words, but Leonore was too
eager to leave off talking all at once, and in another moment the
governess's head was out of the window, calling to a porter, for there
was not too much time to spare, as the train had to start off again, not
having finished _its_ journey, though some of its passengers had done
so. And almost before our little girl had quite taken in that the dreary
rattle and bum in the darkness were over, she found herself on the
platform, her own little travelling-bag and warm cloak in her grasp,
while Fraulein, who insisted on loading herself as much as the porter,
was chattering away to him in the cheeriest and liveliest of voices, far
too fast for Leonore to understand much of what she said, as if she had
never been asleep in her life.
'I suppose she's very pleased to be in her own country,' thought
Leonore. 'I wish it wasn't night, so that I could see what it all looks
like,' and she gazed about her eagerly, as she followed Fraulein and the
porter out of the station.
Something, after all, _was_ to be seen. The rain was clearing off;
overhead it was almost dry, though very wet and puddly underfoot. In
front of the station was a wide open space, with trees surrounding it,
except where a broad road, at the end of which lamps showed some
carriages waiting, led away to somewhere, though no streets or even
houses were to be seen. The air felt fresh and pleasant, and Leonore's
spirits began to rise.
'It feels like the country,' she said to herself; 'I wonder where the
town is.'
But Fraulein was still too busy talking to the porter and to two or
three other men who had somehow sprung up, to be asked any questions
just yet. One of the men had a band round his cap with some words
stamped on it in gilt letters. Leonore could only make out one word,
'Hotel ----,' and then he turned away, and she could not see the others.
By this time her governess was picking up her skirts in preparation for
crossing the wet space before them.
'He says we had better step over to where the carriages are standing,'
she explained to the little girl; 'it will be quicker'; and when, a
moment later, the two found themselves alone, with plenty of room, in
the comfortable omnibus, she lent back with a sigh of satisfaction.
'It is so pleasant to be in a land where things are well managed,' she
said. 'We do not need to wait for our big luggage. I give the paper to
the hotel porter, he sees to it all for us.'
'Yes,' said Leonore, though without paying much attention; the care of
the luggage did not trouble her; 'but do tell me, Fraulein, dear, where
is the hotel? Where are the streets and--and--everything? It seems like
the country, and oh, aren't you glad to be out of the train? I thought
we should never get here, and it was so dark and raining so hard, and I
_couldn't_ go to sleep.'
'Poor dear,' said tender-hearted Fraulein, 'and I who slept comfortably
for so long. Had I known you were awake I would have kept awake also.'
'Never mind now,' said Leonore amiably; 'but tell me where we are
going.'
'The station is half a mile or so out of the town,' explained the
governess. 'See now, the houses are appearing. We cross the bridge--by
daylight it is beautiful, such a view down the river.'
But Leonore did not care very much about beautiful views--not just now
especially.
'I wish it wasn't so far to the town,' she said wearily, though almost
as she said the words her tone changed. 'Oh now,' she exclaimed
brightly, 'we are really getting into the streets. How queer everything
looks--do you think the people are all in bed, Fraulein?'
It was a natural question, for as they drove through the wide dark
streets, faintly lighted by an occasional lamp, there was nothing to be
seen but closed shutters and barred doors. The houses, for the most
part, looked large, particularly as regarded the entrance, for many of
these led into courtyards, with great double gates.
Fraulein nodded her head.
'They are all in their houses,' she said, 'though perhaps not all in
bed yet, for it is not really so very late. In Alten we keep to the good
old ways, you see, my dear--"early to bed and early to rise," as your
rhyme says.'
'It's very dull-looking,' said Leonore discontentedly. 'It seems like a
lot of prisons, and--oh----'
She broke off suddenly, for they were stopping at last, or at least
preparing to stop, as they turned in through a large doorway standing
open to admit them into a courtyard, paved with cobble stones, and dimly
lighted like the streets by an old-fashioned lamp or lantern at one
side.
There was more light at the other side, however, where a short flight of
steps led into the hotel, and here they pulled up, to be received by a
funny little man in black, with a large expanse of shirt-front, and by
what looked to Leonore's half-dazzled eyes like a whole troop of
waiters, also in black, fluttering about him, though in reality there
were only three--all the party bowing in the most polite way, and almost
tumbling over each other in their eagerness to help the ladies to
alight.
This sort of thing was quite to Leonore's taste, and for the moment all
feeling of dullness or tiredness left her. She bent her head graciously
to the little fat man, who was really the landlord, and allowed one of
the others to take her cloak and bag. Fraulein seemed more than ever in
her element. Yes; rooms were ready for the ladies--two bedrooms opening
into each other--would they have supper upstairs, or (and as he spoke
the polite little man threw open a door they were passing) in here?
'Here' being the large dining-room. They would be quite undisturbed.
'Oh, in here, Fraulein, do say in here,' said Leonore, 'I don't like
eating in bedrooms; it makes me feel as if I had the measles or
something. And, I'm not sure, but I think I'm rather hungry, so mayn't
we have supper at once?'
Fraulein was quite willing, and supper, in the shape of chocolate and an
omelette, would be ready immediately. So the two settled themselves at
one end of the long narrow table, and Leonore's eyes set to work to see
what they could see by the light of the two not very bright lamps.
'What a funny old man,' she exclaimed. 'Look, Fraulein, the walls are
all dark wood like a church, and the ceiling has white carvings on it,
and the floor is red and black squares like the kitchen at Aunt
Isabella's. And it isn't like a hotel, is it? Not like the one at Paris,
where there was such a bustle. I don't believe there's anybody staying
here except you and me.'
'Oh yes, there are probably other people,' said Fraulein, 'but it is
long past proper supper-time, you see, my dear. It is very polite of the
landlord to have received us himself, and to have all the waiters in
attendance.'
And by the way Fraulein leant back in her chair Leonore saw that she was
in a state of great satisfaction with everything, and exceedingly
delighted to find herself again in her own country.
Upstairs, where they soon made their way, guided by two, if not three,
of the attentive waiters, the house seemed even queerer and older than
down below. Leonore was now getting too sleepy to notice anything very
clearly, but the dark wainscotted walls, the long passages and funny
little staircases, struck her as very mysterious and interesting, and
she said to herself that she would have a good exploring the next day.
The bedrooms prepared for them looked large and imposing, partly perhaps
because the candles left the corners in darkness. The beds were small
and cosy, with their white eider-down quilts, and very comfortable too,
as the tired little girl stretched herself out with a sigh of relief and
content, to fall asleep long before Fraulein had completed her
unpackings and arrangements.
If Leonore had any dreams that night she did not know it, for the sun
had been up some hours before she awoke, though it was already late
autumn. She did not feel at all ashamed of her laziness however, and
considering everything I do not see that she had any reason to feel so.
And she gave a cry of welcome and pleasure as she caught sight of the
merry little rays of sunshine creeping over the white bed as if to wish
her a kindly good morning.
'Oh I _am_ glad it is a fine day,' she thought to herself, 'and I am so
glad we are not going in that horrid old train again.'
She lay still and looked about her. Yes, it was a curiously
old-fashioned room; even a child could see at once that the house must
be very, very old.
'I wonder if many little girls have slept here and waked up in the
morning, and looked at the funny walls and queer-shaped ceiling just
like I'm doing,' she thought to herself. 'Some of them must be quite old
women by now, and perhaps even, lots who have been dead for hundreds of
years have lived here. How queer it is to think of! I wonder if Fraulein
is awake, and I do hope we shall have breakfast soon. I'm so hungry.'
The sound of a tap seemed to come as an answer to these questions and
hopes, and as Fraulein put her head in at one door, a maid carrying a
bath and a large can of hot water appeared at the other. She was a
pleasant-faced girl with rosy cheeks, and as she passed the bed she
wished the young lady good morning with a smile.
'You are awake, my child?' said the governess. 'That is right. You have
slept well? Call me as soon as you want me to help you to do your hair,
and then we shall have our breakfast. You would rather have it
downstairs, I suppose?'
'Oh yes,' said Leonore decidedly. 'I am quite rested, Fraulein, and I
want dreadfully to go downstairs and see this funny old place by
daylight, and I want to look out of the window to see if the streets
look nice, and--and----'
'Well, get dressed first, my dear,' said her governess, pleased to find
the little girl in such a cheerful frame of mind. 'It is just a trifle
cold, though it will probably be warmer as the day goes on, thanks to
this bright sunshine. You have had rainy weather lately, I suppose?' she
went on, turning to the maid-servant.
The girl held up her hands.
'Rain,' she repeated, 'yes, indeed, I should rather think so--rain,
rain, rain, for ever so many days. The ladies have brought us the
sunshine.'
So it seemed, for when they made their way downstairs, Leonore scarcely
knew the dining-room again, it looked so bright and cheerful in
comparison with the night before. Their coffee and rolls had not yet
made their appearance, so the little girl flew to the window to see what
she could through the muslin blinds. For the window opened straight out
on to the pavement, so that any inquisitive passer-by could peep in,
which made the blinds quite necessary, as, though it is very pleasant to
look out, it is not equally so to feel that strangers can look in when
one is sitting at table.
Leonore pulled a tiny corner of the blind aside.
'Oh, Fraulein,' she exclaimed, 'it is such a nice street. And there are
lots of people passing, and shops a little way off, and I see the top of
a big old church quite near, and--and--a sort of open square place up
that short street--do you see?' Fraulein having joined her by this time.
'That is the market-place,' said her governess, 'and I rather
think--yes, I am sure it is market-day to-day.'
Leonore danced about in excitement.
'Oh, _please_ take me to see it,' she said. 'I have never seen a proper
market, and perhaps the people would have funny dresses--costumes like
what you were telling me about. Do you think we should see any of them?'
'I hope so,' said Fraulein, 'we must go out as soon as we have had
breakfast and see. I have to ask about a carriage to take us to Dorf. I
almost wish----'
'What?' asked Leonore.
'That we could stay till to-morrow, if Alten amuses you so--indeed, I do
not see why we need hurry. My aunt is not quite certain what day we are
coming, and she is _quite_ certain to be ready for us whenever we
arrive. Indeed, I have no doubt she has had our rooms prepared for weeks
past, so good and careful a housewife is she. Our beds will have been
aired every day, I daresay.'
But Leonore was scarcely old enough to care whether the beds were aired
or not. For the moment her whole thoughts were running on having a good
exploring of the quaint town which had so taken her fancy, and while she
drank her coffee and munched the nice crisp rolls, which tasted better
than any bread she had ever eaten before, she kept urging her governess
to stay another day where they were.
'You see,' she said, 'I'm so used to the country, and we shall be there
all the winter, and I daresay it _will_ be rather dull.'
'I hope not,' said Fraulein, somewhat anxiously. 'I shall do my best,
you know, my child, to make you happy, and so will my good aunt, I am
sure.'
'Oh yes, I know you are always very kind,' said Leonore, with a funny
little tone of condescension which she sometimes used to her governess.
'But, you see, it _must_ be dull when anybody has no brothers and
sisters, and no mamma--and papa so far away.'
She gave a little sigh. She rather liked to pity herself now and then,
and it made Fraulein all the kinder, but in reality she was not in some
ways so much to be pitied as might have seemed. For she could not
remember her mother, and she had been accustomed all her life to her
father's being as a rule away from her, though when he _was_ in England
he spent most of his time in planning pleasures for his little daughter.
Then she had had plenty of kind aunts and uncles, and, above all, the
constant care of her devoted Fraulein.
But Fraulein's heart was _very_ tender. She kissed Leonore fondly, and
as soon as breakfast was over, out they sallied, after settling that
they should stay at Alten another night, to please the little lady.