The children were thinking of something very important. Anybody could
see that. Papa and mamma wondered why they were so serious and silent at
the breakfast table, and mamma was astonished when Carrie, and even
little Hope, begged to walk part of the way to school with Louis,
because they had never thought of doing such a thing before. Louis was a
bright-faced, rosy-cheeked boy of ten years, Carrie was eight, and
little Hope was only six. Mamma was always very kind to her little
folks, and as the morning was sunny, she said they might go if they
would put on their heavy shoes and their cloaks and hoods, for there was
a white crisp frost all over the grass. Mamma watched them with pride as
they scampered down the garden path leading from the front piazza to the
street, but had she heard their conversation she might have staid at
home from the party she was going to that evening, and put a veto on
their grand plan.
"Now, Louis," said Carrie, as soon as they were away from the house,
"you know you promised to sit up with Hope and me to-night and listen,
because nurse says at midnight all birds and beasts talk so children can
understand every word; and papa and mamma are going to a party, and they
won't come home until ever so late."
"Nonsense!" said Louis, who felt very much wiser than Carrie, she being
to his mind "only a girl;" "I don't believe nurse's story. I can always
understand what Fritz says, and I say he can not bow-wow any plainer
than he did this morning when he bid me good-by."
"Yes, he can," persisted Carrie. "Nurse says so, and she knows, for her
grandfather told her all about it when she was a little bit of a girl,
and he was a real old, old man. If people believed it so many years ago,
it must be true."
Louis's confidence in his own wisdom was somewhat weakened by the
thought of nurse's grandfather, but, boy-like, he only began to sing
tauntingly:
"Into woods where beasts can talk,
I went out to take a walk."
"I'm going to stay awake anyway, and talk to my kitty," said little
Hope, "because I know what nurse said is true. I saw my kitty laugh when
she heard nurse say it." Carrie was silent. She walked at Louis's side,
kicking the pebbles of the gravelled path with her feet.
"Oh, if you girls are going to make such a fuss about it, I'll sit up
with you," said Louis; "and if nurse's grandfather said so," he added,
hesitatingly, "perhaps it is true, after all. He was a very old man, and
he must have known."
"Of course he knew," said Carrie, "for nurse said he had a cow, a red
and white one, that told him lots of things every year on this very
night."
After the mention of the red and white cow, Louis made no more
opposition, and the children soon separated, Louis to spend the day in
school while Carrie and Hope scampered home, said their lessons to
mamma, and then went to play with Fritz, the big dog, Bess, the white
kitty, Lorito, a large gray parrot, and the new canary which papa had
bought only the day before.
When evening came papa and mamma went to the party, and nurse, who had
forgotten all about her grandfather and the red and white cow, wondered
why the children went to bed so willingly, for they were sometimes very
willful, and made nurse a great deal of trouble when she undressed them.
She was very glad they were good to-night, because, as "missis" was
away, she had made up her mind to go to a party herself, the house-maid
having promised to run up to the nursery if she heard the children
calling. There was little danger, however, that they would call for a
drink of water or anything else that night, for as they were not in the
least sure of nurse's sympathy in their midnight vigil, they had agreed
to go to bed as quiet as mice and watch their chance of slipping
unobserved to the library, where their pets spent the night. Long after
nurse had gone down stairs, and when the house was very, very still,
Carrie sat up in bed and gently called her brother, who slept in a
little room of his own adjoining the nursery.
"Louis! Louis!" she said.
"Oh, don't bother," answered Louis. "It won't be midnight for ever so
long."
"But if we stay in bed we shall go to sleep. Hope is half asleep now."
"No, I'm not sleepy," said little Hope, "and I'm going to get my kitty
and go right down to the library this very minute." She rolled out of
bed, and went to the basket in the corner where kitty was fast asleep,
and bundled her up in her little fat arms.
The children all started to creep down stairs, but they shrank back a
little from the dimly lighted hall below, which somehow did not look a
bit as it did in the daytime. "Come on," said Louis, who felt very grand
as the protector of his sisters; "I've brought my new bow and arrow, and
if there is a villain there, you'll see how quick I'll lay him out. I'm
not afraid, anyway, where Fritz is," he added, half to himself. They
marched along very softly, their little bare feet sinking into the soft
velvet carpet. Louis went boldly ahead with his bow and arrow. Carrie
followed, her jet-black hair streaming down over her white night dress,
and little Hope came close behind, hugging her white kitty, who winked
in astonishment at this strange proceeding. When they reached the
library, Fritz, who was stretched on the Turkish rug before the grate,
in which a piece of English coal was burning slowly, rose to his feet,
amazed at the unusual sight; but he was too lazy for a frolic at that
hour, and after a soft "wuf-wuf" he lay down and went to sleep again.
The library was dimly lighted, and wore an air of wonder and mystery to
the now excited children. Rique, the canary, was curled into a little
round yellow ball, and paid no attention to his visitors. Lorito, who
was perched in a big gilded cage in the corner, had his beak buried in
his feathers and his eyes shut fast. He opened his eyes, however, when
the children came near, and put down his head to be rubbed, but after a
few sleepy grunts he said, "Poor Lorito, poor Lorito," and shut his eyes
again. Evidently the children's pets had no inclination to be sociable
just at present. Just then the ormolu clock on the mantel-piece struck
ten.
"We shall have to wait ever so long," said Louis, "because they won't
talk till midnight. Let's lie down on the rug with Fritz."
So the three children cuddled close to the big dog and waited. Louis
pulled mamma's blue and red afghan from the lounge, and after tucking it
carefully over his little sisters, crawled under it himself, and--
"Bow-wow," said Fritz. "Who's got a story to tell, I wonder? I'm not
going to tell one, that's very certain, for I scratched my throat this
morning with a chicken bone."
"Mew-mew," said the white kitty. "I've done lots of work to-day. I
unwound a big ball of green worsted for my little mistress, and I'm
tired. Let somebody else do the talking."
"Peep," said the canary. "I'm a stranger; I only arrived yesterday, and
I ought to be entertained. Some other time I will tell you all my
adventures, but to-night I prefer to listen. I would like to hear from
that gray-coated gentleman over there in the corner, for as he is a very
distant relation of mine, both of us belonging to the great bird family,
I would, I am sure, take great interest in his history."
"Lorito, you will have to do all the talking to-night," said Fritz and
the white kitty both at once. "Tell our new friend Rique all the
wonderful things you have seen, and all the strange adventures you have
been through."
Thus entreated, the gray parrot, after flapping his wings several times,
in a lazy manner, began to tell his history.
[Illustration: "PAPA BROUGHT THE MATERIALS."]
[Illustration: PAPA FEEDING MAMMA.]
"I will begin my story," said the gray parrot, "with the good old times
when my grandfather and grandmother lived in the hollow of a giant tree
which grew in the valley of the Congo, whose broad waters flow downward
through the wildernesses of Southern Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. My
grandfather belonged to a very large family, which was increasing
rapidly; indeed, the gray parrots of Africa, with their magnificent
crimson tails, are the chief glory of the country. The children of my
grandfather were very numerous, and no father was kinder or more
skillful than he in providing them with an independent establishment,
for he believed that young people should always set up housekeeping for
themselves as soon as possible. As soon, therefore, as my father was old
enough to be married, and grandpa saw that he had already selected a
pretty wife, he immediately found him a convenient hollow tree on the
very shore of our beautiful river, which he showed to papa and mamma,
saying, 'My children, here is a fine place for your housekeeping; make
your nest at once.' Papa and mamma were a very affectionate couple, and
they aided each other in the work of nest-building. Papa brought the
materials--moss, twigs, and soft grasses--and mamma arranged them
artistically in the interior of the hollow tree, making a pretty and
comfortable apartment. The nest was soon complete, and housekeeping
began. Papa and mamma were not a moment too soon in their preparations,
for no sooner was the nest constructed than it contained three eggs.
Beautiful little eggs they were, papa has often told me, and mamma never
contradicted him. I was in one of those three eggs. My brother and my
sister were in the other two. Mamma kept us warm with the greatest care,
while papa brought her food like a good husband, always choosing the
particular fruits and other delicacies she preferred. As this attention
allowed her to brood us constantly under her warm wings, we soon became
ambitious to escape from our shells. One beautiful morning, to the great
delight of my parents, I burst the delicate prison walls which confined
me. My brother and sister made their appearance in the world a day
later."
[TO BE CONTINUED.]