DIANA'S REVENGE.
Diana had quite a nice time for the rest of the morning. Uncle William
had not the least idea of sending her back to the schoolroom.
"It's very hot," he said, "and I feel sleepy. I dare say you do also."
"I do awfu'," answered Diana. "You isn't a bad old man, not at all,"
she continued. Here she raised her fat hand and stroked his flabby
cheek. "You hates writing sermons, don't you?"
"Diana," he answered, "I would rather you did not speak about it."
"Oh, I can keep secrets," replied Diana.
"Well, in that case, to be quite frank with you, I do not care for
writing sermons."
"And I don't care for learning lessons. You didn't mean to sting me so
bad with that howid wod, did you, Uncle William?"
Mr. Dolman made no reply with his lips, for he did not like to defy
his wife's authority, but Diana read his thoughts in his rather dull
blue eyes.
"You is a kind old man," she said; "that is, when you isn't tempted by
that naughty, howid woman. You is a kind old man by yourself, and you
shan't be shotted."
"What do you mean by being shotted, Diana?"
But here Diana pursed up her rosy lips and looked rather solemn.
"That's a secret," she answered. "Uncle William, may I have a whole
holiday to-day?"
"I think so, my dear little girl. I really think that can be managed.
It is too hot to work--at least, I find it so."
"Then course I does also," answered Diana, clapping her hands. "Shall
we go out into the garding--what you say?"
"Would you like to?" he asked.
"Yes, more particular in fruit garding. We can eat cherries and
strawberries, and pelt each other. What you say?"
Mr. Dolman looked out of the open window. He was pretty certain that
his wife by this time was absent in the village. The clock on the
mantelpiece pointed to half-past eleven; the early dinner would not be
ready until one o'clock. It would be cool and pleasant in the fruit
garden, and it would please poor little Diana, who, in his opinion,
had been very harshly treated.
"All right," he answered, "but, you know, your aunt is not to be
told."
He rose from his chair as he spoke, and, stretching out his long hand,
allowed Diana to curl her fingers round one of his.
"I should wather think Aunt Jane isn't to know," replied Diana,
beginning to skip in her rapture. "I don't like aunts; I always said
so. I like uncles; they isn't half bad. You isn't bad, for an old man.
You is awfu' old, isn't you?"
"Not so very old, Diana. I'm not forty yet."
"Forty! What a ter'ble age!" said Diana. "You must 'member all the
kings and queens of England; don't you, Uncle William?"
"Not quite all, Diana. Now, I'll just take you through the garden, for
I think a little fresh air will do you good."
"And if I pop cherries into your mouf it 'll do you good," answered
Diana. "Oh, we'll have a lovely time!"
So they did, and Mr. Dolman devoutly hoped that there was no one there
to see. For Diana rapidly recovered her spirits, and picked cherries
in quantities and pelted her uncle; and then she ran races and incited
him to follow her, and she picked strawberries, heaps and heaps, and
got him to sit down on a little bench near the strawberry beds, and
popped the delicious ripe berries into his mouth; and although he had
never played before in such a fashion with any little girl, he quite
enjoyed it, and presently entered the house with his lips suspiciously
red, and a confession deep down in his heart that he had spent quite a
pleasant morning.
At dinner-time Diana and her uncle walked into the room, side by side.
"Well, William," said Mrs. Dolman, "I hope you have finished your
sermon."
"Not quite, my dear," he answered.
"Not kite, my dear," echoed Diana.
Mr. Dolman gave her a half-terrified glance, but she was stanch
enough, and had not the least idea of betraying the happy morning they
had spent together.
Towards the end of the meal, her clear little voice might have been
heard calling to her uncle.
"Uncle William, you wishes me to have a whole holiday; doesn't you?
You pwomised I is to have a whole holiday to-day."
Now, Mrs. Dolman had felt very uncomfortable about Diana during her
hot walk to the village that morning. She had not at all minded
punishing her, but when she saw her lying white and unconscious in her
arms, she had certainly gone through a terrible moment, and had,
perhaps, in the whole course of her life, never felt so thankful as
when the black eyes opened wide, and the little voice sounded once
again. The look, too, that Diana had given her on this occasion she
could not quite efface from her recollection. On the whole, therefore,
she felt inclined to be gentle to the little girl, and when she
pleaded for a holiday Mrs. Dolman did not say a word to interfere.
"It is a very hot day, and Diana was not quite well this morning,"
said Mr. Dolman, glancing first at his wife and then at Miss Ramsay,
"so, all things considered, perhaps--"
"Thank you, uncle," interrupted Diana, "it's kite settled, and you
isn't half a bad sort of old man. And now, p'ease, I want Orion to
have a holiday too."
"Oh, that's another matter!" interrupted Miss Ramsay. "Orion is in
perfect health to-day, and as he is extremely backward for his age--"
"But the heat of the day, and the child being so young," put in Mr.
Dolman.
"I'd be much happier if I had Orion with me," continued Diana, "and
it's 'portant my being happy; isn't it, Uncle William? P'ease, Uncle
William, say that Orion may have a holiday."
"I will give leave if your aunt and Miss Ramsay will," he replied.
"Oh, don't ask me!" said Mrs. Dolman, rising hastily as she spoke. "I
wash my hands of the pair."
"She washes her hands of the pair, so she don't count," said Diana.
"Is we to have a holiday, Uncle William? I is, but is Orion, too?
That's the 'portant part," she added.
"I have no objection," said Miss Ramsay, who thought it best to close
this scene as quickly as possible.
Orion uttered a shout of rapture, Diana rushed up to him, clutched him
round the neck, and pulled him from the room.
Nearly wild with glee, they both ran helter-skelter out of the house,
into the cool shrubbery beyond.
"Now, Orion," said Diana, the moment they found themselves alone, "you
must cool down and not 'cite yourself too much. We has a ter'ble lot
of work to do. I has got my holiday through awfu' suff'in'. I was
beated and killed, and I has come fresh to life again. Course I's in a
wage, and I's got a holiday for you and for me 'cos we must do our
work. Wun upstairs, Orion, and bwing down your big straw hat and mine,
and we'll go and find _them_."
Orion knew perfectly well what "them" meant. He looked hard at Diana,
saw something in her eyes which she could not suppress, and, with a
sigh of mingled pleasure and alarm ran off to do her bidding. He
returned in less than a minute with his large sailor hat stuck on the
back of his head, and a white sun-bonnet for Diana. Diana's sun-bonnet
had a black bow at the back and black strings.
"Howid, hot old thing," she said, "I won't wear it. Here, let's hide
it; I don't mind going with nothing."
"But you must not do that," said Orion, "'cos, if they see you,
they'll catch you and bring you home. You had best sling it on your
arm, Di; and then, if they are seen coming, why, you can pop it on
your head."
"Well, p'w'aps so," answered Diana. "We has an awfu' lot to do this
afternoon, Orion, 'cos Aunt Jane has got to be shotted, and I's
thinking of having Miss Wamsay shotted too."
"But do you mean," said Orion, "that you'll really shoot 'em both?"
"Yes," replied Diana. "It has to be done; it's ter'ble, but it must be
done. What would be the good if they wasn't shotted dead? Yes, they'll
be shotted, and they'll have a public funeral, and after that we'll
have a lovely time. Uncle William isn't half bad, and 'stead of doing
howid lessons every morning we'll just go into the garding and eat
stwawberries and cherries, and he'll play with us. He'll love to, for
he don't like writing sermins a bit, and we'll blindfold him and he'll
wun after us. He's k'ite a nice old man, and if Aunt Jane and Miss
Wamsay is shotted--why, we'll have a jolly time. Now, let's wun and
fetch the big bow and arrows."
Orion had always a great respect for his younger sister Diana. "Well,"
he said, "if you're a grand lady, don't forget that I'm a big giant,
and that I've got a belt and a sword. There's Simpson, you know; she's
rather a bother, and I can run my sword into her, if you really wish
it, Diana."
"I'll think about it," answered Diana. "I don't want to have three
persons deaded wight off; it might be sort of troublesome. I'll think
what's best to be done with Simpson. Now, let's start at once."
Mrs. Dolman was under the supposition that the children had gone to
play in the back garden. The greater part of that somewhat neglected
domain was laid out in shrubbery, and there were shady trees and
swings and see-saws, and other sources of amusement for the little
Dolmans during their brief hours of play. Miss Ramsay also thought
that Diana and Orion would go to the shrubbery. She went up,
therefore, to the schoolroom quite contented. Mr. Dolman retired to
his study, where he went to sleep, and Mrs. Dolman ordered the pony
chaise, and went off to see a distant parishioner, who was very ill.
The house was wonderfully quiet, and nothing occurred to disturb Mr.
Dolman in his deep slumber. The manuscript pages which were to be
covered by his neatly written sermon lay in virgin purity before him.
In his sleep he dreamt of little Diana, and awoke presently with a
queer sense of uneasiness with regard to her. But he was by nature a
very lazy man, and it did not occur to him to inquire as to her
present whereabouts. "She's a fine little soul," he said to himself.
"I do wish Jane had not taken such a dislike to her. It is useless to
drive that sort of child; she must be led, and led gently. 'Pon my
word, I did have an entertaining morning with the little mite, and
what a lot of strawberries she made me eat! I wonder Jane did not
remark at dinner how poor my appetite was--I was dreadfully afraid she
would do so. Certainly Jane is an active woman, an excellent woman,
but just a little bit stern."
Meanwhile Diana, holding Orion by the hand, had started running up the
long avenue. The little pair soon reached the lodge gates. Diana and
her brother went out through the postern door which was at the side,
and the next moment found themselves on the highroad. This road led in
the direction of the shady woods where Apollo had hidden the bow and
arrows a few weeks ago. It was a pretty road, a couple of miles in
length, and well shaded by trees, a kind of outgrowth of the forest
itself. As she was not likely to meet any of the Dolman family on the
road, Diana did not wear her sun-bonnet, but kept it hanging on her
arm. "It is nice to be out," she said, as she tripped along. "I love
hot sun; I love twees; I love blue sky; I love dust."
"I don't," replied Orion; "this road is horrid dusty, and it gets into
my shoes. I have only my house shoes on, you know, Diana."
"Oh, never mind!" answered Diana. "If you is a giant, you isn't going
to g'umble. What is the use of g'umbling? You be all wight soon. We'll
be in the wood soon, and we'll have got the bow and arrows, and then
we'll have to pwactice shooting. Oh, I say, there's a turnstile and a
path, and I believe the path leads stwaight to the wood. Let's leave
the woad and go to the wood that way."
"All right," replied Orion. He always did say "all right" to every
single thing Diana asked him to do.
The children now found themselves in a shady lane, between high
hedgerows. It was a pretty lane, only very sultry at this time of day;
but Diana, seeing butterflies flying about, began to give chase to
them. She also stopped many times to pick flowers. Orion shouted as he
ran, and neither of the little pair minded, for a time at least, the
fact that the sun was pouring on their heads, and that their small
faces were getting redder and redder.
"I's stweaming down with hotness," said Diana, at last. "I must stop
a bit or I'll melt away. I don't want to melt till I has shotted my
enemies. Is you stweaming with hotness, Orion?"
"Yes," said Orion.
They stood still, took out their handkerchiefs, mopped their faces
vigorously, and then continued their walk. The time seemed to drag all
of a sudden; they were both very tired. How glad they were when they
finally reached the friendly shelter of the Super-Ashton woods. Here
it was deliciously cool, and here Diana, thoroughly exhausted, threw
herself on her face and hands, and, before Orion could say a word, had
dropped off into sound sleep. He thought she looked very comfortable,
and it occurred to him that he could not do better than follow her
example. Accordingly, he also stretched himself on the ground, and,
with his head resting on one of Diana's fat little legs, also visited
the land of dreams. For two hours the children slept. When they awoke
at last they found that the sun was no longer high in the heavens; it
was veering rapidly towards the west, and was sending slanting and
very beautiful rays of light through the wood. Diana rubbed her eyes
and looked around her.
"I's awfu' hung'y," she said. "How does you feel, Orion?"
"My tumtum's empty," answered Orion.
"We'll pick berries in the wood," said Diana; "that'll sat'sfy us.
Berries is wight for wunaway sildrens. Do you 'member what we has come
here for, Orion?"
"To amuse ourselves, I suppose," replied Orion.
Diana gave him an angry flash from her black eyes.
"What a silly little boy you is!" she said. "We has come for most
solemn, 'portant business. I is Diana--the gweat Diana what lived
years and years ago--and you is Orion. I is the gweatest huntwess in
all the world, and I's going to shoot Aunt Jane and Miss Wamsay. Now,
come 'long, Orion, and let's look for the bow and arrow."
The children searched and searched, and after a long time did actually
discover the crooked and badly made bow and the blunt arrow.
"Here they is, the darlin's!" cried Diana. "My own bow, my own
arrow--how I loves 'em! Now, Orion, I is going to shoot you--for
pwactice, you know, and then you shall shoot me for pwactice too. You
stand up there against the twee, and I'll make good shots. You don't
mind if I does hurt you a bit, does you?"
"But I don't want to be shotted down dead," replied Orion.
"No, I won't go as far as that. It's only Aunt Jane and Miss Wamsay
who is to be shotted dead; but you'll have to be shotted, 'cos I must
pwactice how to do it."
"But couldn't you practice against the tree without me standing
there?" said Orion, who had no fancy to have even this very blunt
arrow directed at his face.