THE NEW BABY
The weather did improve. The winter having been so unusually severe was
made up for, as I think often happens, by a bright and early spring. By
the beginning of April Master Francis was able to be out again, though
of course only for a little in the middle of the day, and we had to be
very careful lest he should catch the least cold. I was exceedingly
glad, really more glad than I can say, that his getting well went
through without any backcasts. For himself he was really better than the
doctor had dared to hope, but as he began to move about more freely I
was grieved to see that the stiffness of his leg seemed worse than
before his illness. I don't think it pained him much, at least he didn't
complain.
In the meantime I thought it would be best to say nothing about it,
half hoping that he didn't notice it himself, but I heard no talk of his
going to school.
I shall never forget one morning in April--it was towards the end of the
month, a most lovely sunny morning it was, as I went up the winding
staircase leading to Master Francis's room in the tower. The sunshine
came pouring in through the narrow windows as brilliant as if it had
been midsummer, and the songs of the birds outside seemed to tell how
they were enjoying it, yet it was only half-past six! The little ladies
below were all sleeping soundly, but Master Francis, I knew, always woke
very early, and somehow I had a feeling that he must be the first to
hear the good news.
As I knocked at the door I heard him moving inside. He had got up to
open the window; the room seemed flooded with light as I went in. Master
Francis was sitting up in bed reading, or learning some of his lessons
more likely, for he was well enough now to have gone back to regular
ways. He looked up very brightly.
'Isn't it a most beautiful morning, nurse?' he said. 'The sunshine woke
me even earlier than usual, so I'm looking over my Latin. Auntie
doesn't mind my reading in bed in the morning. It isn't like at night
with candles.'
'No, of course not,' I said. 'But, Master Francis, I want you to leave
off thinking about your lessons for a minute. I rather fancy you'll have
a holiday to-day. I've got a piece of news for you! I wonder if you can
guess what has happened?'
He opened his eyes wide in surprise.
'It must be something good,' he said, 'or you wouldn't look so pleased.
What _can_ it be? It can't be that Uncle Hulbert's got a lot of money.'
'There are some things better than money,' I said. 'What would you think
if a dear little baby boy had come in the night?'
His whole face flushed pink with pleasure.
'Nurse!' he said. 'Is it really true? Oh! how pleased I am. Just the
very thing auntie has wanted so--a little boy of her own. I may count
him like a brother, mayn't I? Won't Bess and Lally be pleased! Do they
know? Mayn't I get up at once, and when do you think I may see him?'
'Some time to-day, I hope,' I answered. 'No, the young ladies don't know
yet. They're fast asleep. But I thought you'd like to know.'
'How good of you!' he said. 'I'm just _so_ pleased that I don't know
what to do.'
What a morning of excitement it was, to be sure! The children were all
half off their heads with delight. All, that is to say, except Miss
Baby, who burst out crying in the middle of her breakfast, sobbing that
she 'wouldn't have no--something----' We couldn't make out what for ever
so long, till we found it was her name she was crying about, as of
course we were all talking of the new little brother as 'the baby.' We
comforted her by saying that anyway he would not be 'Miss Baby'; and
perhaps from that it came about that her old name clung to her till she
was quite a big girl, and almost from the first Master Bevil got his
real name.
He was a great darling--so strong and hearty too--and so handsome even
as an infant. Everything seemed to go right with him from the very
beginning.
'Surely,' I often said to myself, 'he will bring a blessing with him.
And now that my lady's great wish has been granted, I do hope she will
feel more trustful and less anxious.'
I hoped too that she would now have happier feelings to poor Master
Francis, especially when she saw his devotion to the baby boy. For of
all the children I must say he was the one who loved the little creature
the most.
And for a while all seemed tending in the right way, but when the baby
was a few weeks old, I began to fear that something of the old trouble
was in the air again. Fresh money difficulties happened about that time,
though of course I didn't know exactly what they were. But it was easy
to see that my lady was fretted, she was not one to hide anything she
was feeling.
One day, it was in June, as far as I remember, my lady was in the
nursery with Miss Lally and Miss Baby and the real baby. The two elder
children were downstairs at their lessons with Sir Hulbert. Master Bevil
was looking beautiful that afternoon. We had laid him down on a rug on
the floor, and he was kicking and crowing as if he had been six months
old, his little sisters chattering and laughing to him, while my lady
sat by in the rocking-chair, looking for once as if she had thrown all
her cares aside.
'He really is getting on beautifully,' she said to me. 'Doesn't he look
a great big boy?'
I was rather glad of the remark, for it gave me a chance to say
something that had been on my mind.
'We'll have to be thinking of short-coating him, before we know where we
are, my lady,' I said with a smile. 'And there's another thing I've been
thinking of. He's such a heavy boy to carry already, and as time gets on
it would be a pity for our walks to be shortened in the fine weather. We
had a beautiful basket for the donkey at Mrs. Wyngate's, it was made so
that even a little baby could lie quite comfortably in it.'
'That would be very nice,' my lady answered. 'I'll speak to Sir Hulbert
about it. Only----,' and again a rather worried look came into her face.
I could see that she had got back to the old thought, 'everything costs
money.' 'We must do something about it before long,' she added.
Just then Miss Bess ran into the room, followed more slowly by her
cousin.
'What are you talking about?' she said.
'About how dear fat baby is to go walks with us when he gets still
fatter and heavier,' said Miss Lally. 'Poor nurse couldn't carry him so
very far, you know, and mamma says perhaps----'
'Oh! nonsense,' interrupted Miss Bess; 'we'd carry him in turns, the
darling.'
My lady looked up quickly at this.
'Don't talk so foolishly, child,' she said sharply. For, fond as she was
of Miss Bess, she could put her down sometimes, and just now the little
girl scarcely deserved it, it seemed to me. 'I won't allow anything of
that kind,' she went on. 'You are far too young, all of you--Francis
especially, must never attempt to carry baby. Do you hear, children?
Nurse, you must be strict about this.'
'Certainly, my lady,' I replied. 'Master Francis and the young ladies
have never done more than just hold Master Bevil in their arms for a
moment, me standing close by.'
Then they went on to talk about getting a basket for the donkey, which
they were very much taken up about. I didn't notice at the time that
Master Francis had only looked in for an instant and gone off again; but
that evening at tea time, when Miss Bess and Miss Lally said something
about old Jacob, Master Francis asked what they meant, which I
remembered afterwards as showing that he had not heard his aunt's strict
orders.
It was a week or two after that, that one lovely afternoon we all set
out on a walk together. We had planned to go rather farther than we had
yet been with the baby, resting here and there on the way, it was so
warm and sunny and he was not _yet_ so very heavy, of course.
All went well, and we found ourselves close to home again in nice time.
For of course I knew that if we stayed out too long it would be only
natural for my lady to be anxious.
'It's rather too soon to go in and it's such a beautiful afternoon,'
said Miss Bess as we were coming up the drive. 'Do let us go into the
little wood, for half an hour or so, nurse, and you might tell us a
story.'
The little wood skirts the drive at one side. It is a sweet place, in
the early summer especially, so many wild flowers and ferns, and lots of
squirrels overhead among the branches, and little rabbits scudding about
down below.
We found a cosy nook, where we settled ourselves. The little brother was
fast asleep, the three elder ones sat round me, while Miss Baby toddled
off a little way, busy about some of her own funny little plays by
herself, though well within sight.
I was in the middle of a long story of having been lost in the firwoods
at home as a child, when a loud scream made us all start, and looking up
I saw to my alarm that Miss Baby was no longer to be seen.
'Dear, dear,' I cried, jumping up in a fright. 'She must have hurt
herself. Here, Master Francis, hold the baby for a moment, don't get
up;' and I put his little cousin down safely in his arms.
I meant him not to stir till I came back, but he didn't understand this.
Miss Bess was already off after her little sister, and after a minute or
two we found her, not hurt at all, but crying loudly at having fallen
down and dirtied her frock in running away from what _she_ called a
'bear,' coming out of the wood--most likely only a branch of a tree
swaying about.
It took a little time to quiet her and to set her to rights again, and
when we got back to the other children I was surprised to see that the
baby was now in Miss Lally's arms, Master Francis kneeling beside them
wiping something with his handkerchief.
'There's nothing wrong, I hope,' I said, rather startled again.
'Oh no!' said Miss Lally. 'It's only that little brother cried and
Francie walked him up and down and somefing caught Francie's foot and he
felled, but baby didn't fall. Francie held him tight, only a twig
scratched baby's nose a tiny little bit. But he doesn't mind, he's
laughing.'
So he was, though sure enough there was a thin red line right across his
plump little nose, and the least little mark of blood on the
handkerchief with which his cousin had been tenderly dabbing it. Master
Francis himself was so pale that I hadn't the heart to say more to him
than just a word.
'I had meant you to sit still with him, my dear.'
'But he cried so,' said the boy.
However, there was no harm done, though I thought to myself I'd be more
careful than ever, but unluckily just as we were within a few steps of
the house whom should we see but my lady coming to meet us. I'm never
one for hiding things, but I did wish she had not happened to come just
then.
She noticed the scratch in a moment, as she stooped to kiss the baby,
though really there was nothing to mind, seeing the dear child so rosy
and happy looking.
'What's the matter with his nose?' she said quickly. 'You haven't any
pins about you, nurse, surely?'
Pins were not in my way, certainly, but I could have found it in my
heart to wish I could own to one just then, for Master Francis started
forward.
'Oh no! Aunt Helen,' he said, 'it was my fault. I was walking him about
for a minute or two, while nurse went after Baby, and my foot slipt, but
I only came down on my knees and _he_ didn't fall. It was only a twig
scratched his nose, a tiny bit.'
My lady grew first red then white.
'He might have been killed,' she said; and she caught the baby from me
and kissed him over and over again. Then she turned to Master Francis,
and I could see that she was doing her best to keep in her anger.
'Francis, how dared you, after what I said the other day so very
strongly about your _never_ carrying the baby? Your own sense might have
told you you are not able to carry him, but besides that, what I said
makes it distinct disobedience. Nurse, did you _know_ of it?'
'It was I myself gave Master Bevil to Master Francis to hold,' I said,
flurried like at my lady's displeasure. 'I hadn't meant him to walk
about with him.'
'Of course not,' said my lady. 'There now, you see, Francis, double
disobedience! I must speak to your uncle. Take back baby, nurse, he must
have some _pomade divine_ on his nose when he gets in;' and before any
of us had time to speak again she had turned and hurried back to the
house. My lady had always a quick way with her, pleased or displeased.
'She's gone to tell papa,' said the young ladies, looking very
distressed.
Master Francis was quite white and shaking like.
'Nurse,' he said at last, when he had got voice enough to speak, 'I
really don't know what auntie meant about something she said the other
day.'
'O Franz! you can't have forgotten,' said Miss Bess, who often spoke
sharply when she was really very sorry. 'Mamma did say most plainly that
none of us were to carry baby about.'
But the boy still looked quite puzzled, and when we talked it over, we
were all satisfied that he hadn't been in the room at the time.
'I must try to put it right with my lady,' I said, feeling that if any
one had been to blame in the matter it was certainly me much more than
Master Francis, for not having kept my eye better on Miss Baby in the
wood.
But we were a very silent and rather sad party as we made our way back
slowly to the house.
I couldn't see my lady till late that evening, and then, though I did
my best, I didn't altogether succeed. She had already spoken to Sir
Hulbert, and nothing would convince her that Master Francis had not
heard at least some part of what she said.
Sir Hulbert was always calm and just; he sent for the boy the next
morning, and had a long talk with him. Master Francis came back to the
nursery looking pale and grave, but more thoughtful than unhappy.
'Uncle has been very good and kind,' was all he said. 'And I will try
never to vex him and auntie again.'
Later that evening, when he happened to be alone with me, after the
young ladies had gone to bed, he said a little more. I was sitting by
the fire with Master Bevil on my knee. Master Francis knelt down beside
me and kissed the little creature tenderly. Then he stroked his tiny
nose--the mark of the scratch had almost gone already.
'You darling!' he said. 'Oh! how glad I am you weren't really hurt.
Nurse,' he went on, 'I'd do anything for this baby, I do _love_ him so.
I only wish I could say it to auntie the way I can to you. If only I
were big and strong, or very clever, and could work for him, to get him
everything he should have, and then it would make up a little for all
the trouble I've been always to them.'
He spoke quite simply. There wasn't a thought of himself--as if he had
anything to complain of, or put up with, I mean--in what he said. But
all the more it touched me very much, and I felt the tears come into my
eye, but I wouldn't have Master Francis see it, and I began laughing and
playing with the baby.
'See his dear little feet,' I said. 'They're almost the prettiest part
of him. He kicks so, he wears out his little boots in no time. It would
be nice if Miss Lally could knit some for him.'
Master Francis looked surprised.
'Why,' he said, 'do you call those little white things boots? And are
they made the same way as my socks? I've got them on now; aren't they
splendid? I really think it was very clever of Lally.'