Amy Le Feuvre

“ Garland and Harebell should talk together.
"I feel quite sick for India," she said, putting one small hand on her chest. "It's a frozen house here. Do you think Aunt Diana will ever melt? She's the snow queen, and isn't she beautiful?"
A light kindled in her eyes. She went on in an earnest whisper:
"Some day she will melt, when she can get anybody to cry over her."
"Ah!" said Mrs. Garland, catching her breath, "you are a little witch, I believe! How much do you know, I wonder! More of people than of books, I expect. I wish I was going to teach you. Well, Diana, I must be going." ”

“ Nan came downstairs; Miss Forster called to them from outside; and Harebell reluctantly had to go away. Seeing her downcast face, Fanny good-naturedly said:
"Never mind, little miss! If Tom Triggs knocks off the drink and gets in good work, he'll find a wife if he wants one. He's a good workman, Tom is, he's done our gate fine! 'Tis a thousand pities he's let himself down so! You keep on at him to make himself respectful again! He has a good home, and a good mother and sister, and ought to be fair ashamed of himself to live the life he's doing!" ”

“ Garland, can people ever run out of the Kingdom again and be lost? I want to know when I'm naughty. Can I be naughty in the Kingdom, or have I to run outside the Door and be it?"
"Lambs are sometimes naughty in the sheepfold," said Mr. Garland slowly. "If Jesus is your Shepherd, Harebell dear, we have His Word that He will keep you. But if you do run away from Him of your own accord, turn back at once when you remember what you're doing, and He will forgive you and receive you again." ”

“ Nan asked her at once what was the matter, and Harebell looked Peter straight in the face as she said:
"I'm in disgrace. Aunt Diana says I've told a lie, when I haven't. I'm going to be sent away to school, and I shall never come back again!"
"Oh yes, you will," said Peter fast and eagerly, whilst his cheeks got hot and red. "School is awfully jolly; and you always come home in the holidays. I wish I could get sent to school. No such luck for me."
"School is enchanting," said Nan. "A girl in the next village goes to a boarding-school, and she loves it. ”

“ She began to pity herself.
"Aunt Diana was very provoking, she made me angry; she's unkind; she likes to tell me not to do what I want to do; and me and Tom were going to try to be good, together. She doesn't want Tom to be good, she wants him to be wicked, and she makes me wicked too!"
"She is your aunt and is grown-up; and you're only a little girl, and must do what she tells you," said conscience.
"I won't!" said Harebell, and she said it out loud. ”

“ If Colonel Keith was surprised at such a welcome, he did not show it. He looked at his wife, and his eyes grew soft and tender. Then he spoke to Harebell.
"Life deals hardly with those who quarrel with her. Don't you let your passions ever get mastery of your love, little woman."
"I don't understand a bit what you mean."
"And there is no need that you should," said her aunt a little sharply.
Colonel Keith put his hand on his wife's arm, as she stood by his couch. Her voice softened at once.
"Come and sit down and talk to your Uncle Herbert; I must go away for a little. ”

“ Her aunt wisely took no notice of it. In a few minutes the cloud of passion passed away from Harebell's face.
She crept away from the table very silently when breakfast was over. She passed Andy in the hall.
"It's no use," she said tragically; "I shan't be able to live here. I shall die of a broken heart!"
"Oh!" said Andy with his merry twinkle. "You won't die of it with me at hand. I know how to mend hearts when they're broken. I can mend most things, and people's hearts are stronger than they think. Mostly cracks, not breakages." ”

“ But the lady, who was the children's governess, passed on.
"Hush!" she said. "Don't be so rude, Peter; and how often am I to tell you that you are to take no notice of strange children."
"But she isn't a common child. Who is she?"
This much Harebell heard, but no more. They passed her by as if she had been a stone upon the road. She looked wistfully after them.
"In India, I would have asked them to spend the day with me, and they would have been glad. They're very rude and horrid!"
Tears came to her eyes.
"I shan't be able to live, unless I find somebody to play with. Oh, I wish I had a puppy! ”

“ Miss Forster laughingly tried to win her confidence; but Harebell shook her head, and refused to say any more. The next day she asked if she might go and see Miss Triggs. Mrs. Garland hesitated at first; then gave permission. Peter and Nan grumbled.
"You're no good at all," said Peter. "We thought you'd be splendid for games—you don't care for cricket and hockey. You're always full of your own plans, and visiting stupid people in the village. You think of rotten things to do, and like going off and doing them alone." ”

“ Goody was, as usual, shocked by Harebell's speeches. The little girl was so much in earnest that she could not see why she was wrong in speaking so, and then Goody went on to talk about Miss Triggs.
"She is a good little woman if ever there was one. She keeps an old mother and a worthless scamp of a drunken brother on what she earns, and the house is like a new pin, never a speck of dust to be seen. She do suffer cruelly, sometimes from her back—and that was done as a child by her drunken father. She's always suffered for the sins of others, I say, and always smiling and happy. ”

“ He nodded to her, then rode on; and Harebell danced along the road for joy.
"He'll get that cottage, and then Fanny must marry him!"
She told her aunt all about it when she got home. Mrs. Keith told her she must not speak to gentlemen whom she hardly knew when they were riding.
"It makes them think you're a most forward little girl," she said.
"I was so full of Tom, I didn't stop to think," said Harebell; "and he's made me the most beautiful rocking-chair, Aunt Diana, and he's going to bring it round to-night. ”

“ Harebell giggled. Then she stood up. "Look! Your house is on fire and your wife and children are screaming at the windows!"
Peter looked wildly round, then tore into the house. The little girls raced across the field and got out in the road, then they faced each other breathless.
"Where shall we go?" asked Nan.
"Oh, come on to Aunt Diana's! Andy will hide us. He will never come there. No, I tell you a better plan still. You can ride, can't you? Can you stick on behind me if we ride Chris? It will be such fun! He will never track us if we ride away on horseback." ”

“ You're to go to bed at once," said Goody, looking quite worried, as she drew Harebell towards her and begun brushing out her hair.
"Oh, Aunt Diana is so cruel! She's just breaking my heart, and Tom will never be made good—never, never! Me and him were going to plan it all out, and she says I'm never to speak to him again. I shall! I shall!"
"If it's Tom Triggs you're speaking of, your aunt is quite right. He's not fit to be with a little girl like you!" ”

“ I shall always and for ever be good now. A pony of my own will be simply glorious! You see, Aunt Diana, horses really understand you if you talk to them; they're like dogs, and I do want somebody to talk to."
"You will have the Rectory children as companions," said her aunt coldly. "I want you to understand that this pony must not distract you from your lessons. You are a very ignorant little girl, and have a great deal of lost time to make up."
Harebell could not be quenched. She fled out to Andy and informed him that she was simply "riotously happy." ”

“ She felt that she could even tell Tom about Peter's deceit, after making him promise that he would not tell any one. And Tom listened and rubbed his head, and then delivered his verdict.
"You must go back, missy; there's no help for it. You must get you back!"
Harebell began to cry. She was tired and hungry. She began to wonder how she had dared to run away in such a fashion.
"Aunt Diana will be so very, very angry."
"But she'll be in a terrible state about you now. You can't bide alone in the world, trampin' the roads without food and money. ”

“ But I knows, he be alive, for he always giv' me a pocket gardener's di'ry every Christmas. Me and him were very good friends; and if you believe me, that pocket di'ry have never missed coming to me every Christmas since he went."
Harebell's face was a study; surprise, excitement, and keen interest flitted across it.
"Oh," she said, "poor Aunt Diana! How she must want to see him!"
"She's turned hard and cold, but her heart inside be right," said Andy. "I seed her take up my di'ry one day when I laid it on my pantry table, and when she put it down, her lips were all of a quiver." ”

“ Andy turned away his head.
"'Tis something scandalous the way she talks of the Almighty," he informed Goody later on; "and yet 'tis done quite innocent like. 'Tis to be hoped the Almighty understands her, for I'm sure I don't."
"A good lot has happened to me to-day, darling Chris," said Harebell softly in the ear of her pony, as she wished him good-night that evening. She was getting quite accustomed to give him her confidences.
"It's a great comfort to tell secrets to some one who can't talk," she said to herself. ”

“ There are simply thousands of things I want to know!"
"Take your arms off the table and go on with your sum. After lessons are over, you can ask me questions."
Harebell obeyed instantly, but she was ready with her questions before she went home.
"Grown-up people always turn away when I ask them about things, or they laugh," said Harebell. "Now you promise not to do either, will you?"
Miss Forster promised, a glint of amusement in her eyes, which happily Harebell did not see. Nan and Peter stared at her with open mouth and eyes. She talked to their governess as if she were her equal. ”

“ And you've got such a nice cottage, that you seem just the one he wants."
"No," said Fanny, smiling and shaking her head; "if a man wants to marry, 'tis his business to get a cottage, and a living, and then the girl may consider the matter, but 'tis not for her to give her husband, her mother's cottage, and make a home for him! 'Tis all the wrong way round—that is!"
Harebell looked very disappointed.
"I did hope you would say 'yes.' But if he gets work and a cottage and never drinks any beer, you couldn't simply say 'no' to him. You must be his wife! ”

“ They're hardly brilliant—I must own it! I suppose I expect too much; and, after all, genius brings much danger in its path. They're dears, both of them!"
Then she took hold of Harebell's hand and patted it.
"You want fattening up," she said; "too thin! She's much too thin, Diana. Have you tried Grape-nuts? And Benger's Food?"
Harebell looked horrified.
"I've come from India," she said; "it's only babies and old people who are fat there!"
"She has a good appetite," said Mrs. Keith indifferently.
"What is your little girl's name?" Harebell asked, looking up at Mrs. Garland with earnest eyes. ”

“ What possessed you to speak to such a man at all?"
"Oh, Aunt Diana, I'm getting so fond of him! He is so nice to me—and we talk about such interesting things—cottages, and wives, and work, and beer—and even the Kingdom's Door!"
Mrs. Keith looked with cold hard eyes at the little girl.
"Explain yourself more clearly and don't talk so fast. When did you first meet him?"
"He belongs to Miss Triggs. He's her brother, and Mrs. Triggs was angry when I called him wicked. I don't think he's really wicked, Aunt Diana; he wants to give up drinking beer, but he can't. ”

“ I'll exercise Chris till your aunt comes back, Miss Harebell. I dursn't trust him out with you after this!"
"I don't care! He's safe! He's found!"
Harebell was ecstatic in her joy. She could hardly tear herself away from her pet, till Andy reminded her, he would be wanting his feed; and then she reluctantly let him go, and watched him down the road with adoring eyes.
"Oh!" she said, throwing herself impulsively into the arms of Mrs. Garland, who came out to see what the children were doing, "I have joy again! Isn't it wonderful how different things seem when you're happy?" ”

“ She tackled Andy as he was cleaning the silver in the pantry after tea.
"Andy, what are Aunt Diana's troubles? I didn't know she had any."
"Most on us have troubles," said Andy slowly; "and some take 'em softly, and some hardly, but have 'em we must."
"I haven't any just now," said Harebell. "Of course I've had a lot—chiefly in India, you know—mostly deaths I've had. They get killed so quickly in India—'specially puppies. Has Aunt Diana had many deaths belonging to her?" ”

“ There were pictures of it, and dad told me she poured a bottle of wine over it. Babies have water—what should my pony have? Would it be wicked to christen him like a baby? God made him, didn't he? He belongs to God just as much as a baby does."
"Don't you know that animals have no souls?" said Mrs. Keith. "You cannot play at such games. Ponies don't require christening."
"But I'm giving him a name," said Harebell. "Couldn't I have a little drop of wine, just in a medicine bottle?"
"Most certainly not. You are talking nonsense. Go on with your dinner."
Harebell next consulted Andy. ”