Our Den is Fortified
"Stand back! Stand back!" shouted father, as the boys made straight
for our new carpet. "Who in the world are you?"
"Don't you know us, uncle?" said the eldest, shaking the water from
him like a Newfoundland dog. "The old fellow drove us from
Colchester station, and actually wanted us to wait the other side of
that stream till the tide went down. It wasn't likely we should do
that, was it? So we just walked through. Kathleen got her shoe
stuck in the mud, but she's coming along presently. Now, aren't you
glad to see us, uncle?"
There was something irresistible in the impudent, freckled face
turned up to father's; and although my first thought was that Rupert
was decidedly ugly, I soon came to see that there was the beauty of
goodness in eyes and mouth and general expression.
Mother was the first to regain her self-possession.
"You naughty children," she said, stepping out on the lawn, "you will
catch your death of cold, and I suppose you haven't even got any
other clothes to put on. Edric's won't fit any of you but Harold."
"Don't you fret, auntie," said Jack, who had been capering about, and
leaving little rivulets of water wherever he went. "We don't think
anything of wet clothes, we just run about till they are dry."
"But where's your box?" said father.
"It's the other side of the water," said Rupert, laughing; "I know
now what King John felt like when he lost all his luggage in the
Wash. We lost half our things in the wash at school, and now we've
lost the other half in your Wash. My word, hasn't the tide gone down
quick! The old fellow was right after all. Why, it's only up to
Kathleen's ankles now. Here she comes, shoes and all. Ugh! go away,
you horrid, wet girl."
A well-aimed shoeful of water went over Jack's head, and then with a
queer, uneven step, due to having one shoe off and one on, my Cousin
Kathleen advanced to greet my father and mother.
"What do you think of that, Uncle John?" she said, putting her dry
arm round his neck. "Those naughty boys left me to get on as well as
I could with one foot stuck in the mud; but I'll pay them out. Ah,
there's Cousin Edric," and there was such a change in the merry face,
that a glow of pleasure spread over mine.
"We know each other already, don't we, dear? Isn't it lovely to
think that we are going to be here six whole weeks? Can't you really
walk, Edric?"
There was something so very funny in the whole scene, the dripping
boys outside, the girl with hat thrown back and tumbled, curly hair,
with skirts wet to the waist, and one shoe in her hand, that I burst
out laughing. Of course, everyone joined, and it was thus that we
received the savages into our home circle. But mother now
interposed, and marched them all off to their bedrooms, while father
sent a man in one of the carts to fetch the boxes, which the
Colchester fly-driver had so unceremoniously deposited on the other
side of the stream.
We found out in the course of time, that the boys' school had been
suddenly closed, owing to the death of the master's wife. My cousins
had heard from their father that they would probably spend the summer
holidays with us, and the master had thought it best to send them
straight to us, taking their sister with them. The telegram which
should have prepared us for their arrival, came about half an hour
after we were all sitting down to tea.
What a tea that was! Father was, of course, away, having merely
looked in to say good-bye to me and whisper, "Don't let the young
rogues tire you, laddie; they can go upstairs to their own room. I
shall be back in time to carry you to bed if you stop up a little
later than usual."
Kathleen took me under her wing at once. Her chair must be next to
my sofa, and she must hand me everything I wanted. We were all
ready; I had taken one or two bites of bread and butter, and saw to
my surprise that none of my cousins had begun eating.
"Why are you waiting?" asked mother.
"For grace," said Jack, the second boy.
We had always been accustomed to say grace before and after dinner,
but it never seemed to have entered our heads to say it at any other
meals. I glanced at mother.
"Say it then, dear," she said, kindly, and Rupert said it; then they
fell to and made a hearty tea. From that day forward we never forgot
to give thanks for every meal which was put before us.
I don't think I ate much, for I was laughing so heartily. It was
quite a new phase of life to me, and my cousins seemed so possessed
with the spirit of fun that it was quite infectious.
"Now, auntie, where's our den?" said Rupert, when tea was over.
"Father had a den in Sydney. He called it his den, but it was the
jolliest place in the house, except----"
"Except when Rupert went into a rage and hit Harold, then father told
him to meet him in his study, and you should have seen Rupert's
face," interposed Jack.
"Rupert ran away and hid under the tank," continued Kathleen, with a
broad smile on her face. "The clergyman was staying with us, and he
went to fish him out. Rupert saw him coming, and cried out, 'I say,
Mr. Wilson, is father after you, too?' You should have heard them
laugh. Of course Rupert didn't get his caning, so father's den is
still the jolliest place in the house."
"And so will ours be," was the general shout as they filed upstairs
behind mother.
The sunshine seemed gone out of the room when they left it. I tried
to go on with my reading, but I found myself listening for any sound
from the tower room. It was too far away, however, for me to hear
anything but the loud bang of the door at the bottom of the little
staircase, so I was obliged to go back to my book with a sigh. It
was not likely strong, healthy, rackety children would want poor
sickly little me.
"Bo! Twopence for your thoughts, Edric. Oh, did I hurt you? I
didn't know you would be really frightened. What's the matter?"
"It's nothing," I said, hastily, trying to breathe quietly again, and
smiling at Rupert. "You see I am so used to being alone that a
sudden noise makes me jump."
"I'm sorry," said Rupert, sitting on the edge of my sofa, and
swinging his legs so violently that he almost made my teeth chatter.
"What pretty hair you've got, Edric. It is all wavy like mother's,
and just the same colour. You'd have made a splendid girl. There,
now, I've hurt you again, and I didn't mean to either. You'll be a
big man and a clever one some day, I expect; anyway, no one can call
you carrots as they do me. Halloa, Kathleen, what do you want?"
"Let's carry Edric upstairs," said Kathleen; "he can tell us where to
find things;" and, before I could say yes or no, they had taken me in
their arms, so carefully, so tenderly, that after the first moment I
was quite happy.
"There, captain," said Jack, as they pulled the long chair into the
middle of the room. "Now we want your orders. This is our castle,
but what is a castle without fortifications? You might as well have
a plum pudding without any plums! We've got to barricade this place,
so that the enemy can't get in unless we wish it."
"But if they can't get in, we can't get out," I said, hastily.
"Of course we can, you owl! What's the good of lovely windows like
those, with old ivy climbing outside? I've been down to the garden
already that way," said Harold.
"But Edric can't go in and out of the window," said Kathleen; "and I
don't think I should care to very often; it is rather awkward with
petticoats. Let us fortify the castle, but we must do it so that we
can go in and out if we wish. Now, captain, tell us where to find
wood."
There was plenty to be had in the outhouses, and they worked so hard
that they had made several rough defences for door and window before
it was dark, and mother came up anxiously to look for me.
"How ever did you get up here, darling?" she asked.
"By the same way that he's going back, auntie," and as Rupert spoke
my two cousins raised me in their arms and carried me as carefully as
if I were made of egg-shell china.
[Illustration: Chapter III tailpiece]
[Illustration: Chapter IV headpiece]