Catherine Sinclair

“ Laura sat down and cried during a quarter of an hour after Lady Harriet had gone to dinner. She felt sorry for having behaved ill, and sorry to have vexed her good grandmama; and sorry not to see all the fine party at dessert; and sorry to think that next day she must leave Holiday House; and sorry, last of all, to consider what Mrs. Crabtree would say when all her ruined frocks were brought home. In short, poor Laura felt perfectly overwhelmed with the greatness and variety of her griefs, and scarcely believed that any one in the world was ever more miserable than herself. ”

“ I wish steam-boats had never been invented! People are sure to be blown up to the clouds, or sunk to the bottom of the ocean, or scalded to death like so many lobsters. I cannot stand this any longer! Stop the ship, and set me on shore instantly!”
Laura clung closer to Harry, and felt that they were like two mere pigmies, amid the wide waste of waters, rolling and tossing around them, while his spirits, on the contrary, rose to the highest pitch of excitement with all he heard and saw, till at length, wishing to enjoy more of the “fun,” he determined to venture above board. ”

“ It was so dark, she could not see what they were like, but a moment afterwards the sash began slowly and heavily opening, after which two figures leaped into the room, while Frank flew to ring a peal at the bell, and Lady Harriet sunk into her own arm-chair, covering her face with her hands, and nearly fainting with fright.
“Never mind, grandmama! do not be afraid! it is only us!” cried Harry; “surely you know me?”
“You!!!” exclaimed Lady Harriet, looking up with amazement. “Harry and Laura!! impossible! how in all the world did you get here? ”

“ There is a wide and wonderful world for you to see first, and then a happy home afterwards to revisit.”
“Yes, dear, good, kind uncle David! no one ever had a happier home; and till the east comes to the west, I shall never cease to think of it with gratitude to you and grandmama. We shall surely all meet again. I must live upon that prospect. Hope is the jewel that remains wherever we go, and the hope to which grandmama has directed me, is truly compared to a rainbow, which not only brightens the earth, but stretches to heaven.” ”

“ Not a thing in this world is made to be useless, Harry; the very weeds that grow in the ground are for some serviceable purpose, and you would not wish to be the only creature on earth living entirely for yourself. It would be better if neither of us had ever been born, than that the time and opportunities which God gives us for improving ourselves and doing good to others, should all be wasted. Let me hope, Harry, when I am away, that you will often consider how dull grandmama may then feel, and how happy you might make her by being very attentive and obedient. ”

“ Instead of calling for assistance, however, uncle David carefully lifted Frank in his own arms, and carried him to the carriage, where, after a few moments, the fresh air, and the rapid motion revived his recollection, and he burst into tears.
“Poor grandmama! and Harry and Laura!” cried he, weeping convulsively. “Oh! when shall I see them all again!”
“My dear boy!” said Major Graham, trying to be cheerful; “do you think nobody ever left home before? One would suppose you never expected to come back! Three years seem an age when we look forward, but are nothing after they have fled. ”

“ Crabtree!” said Frank, laughing. “I shall send you a sugar-cane from the West Indies, to beat Harry and Laura with, and a whole barrel of sugar for yourself, from my own estate.”
“None of your nonsense, Master Frank! Get out of the nursery this moment! You with an estate indeed! You will not have a place to put your foot upon soon except the topmast in a man-of-war, where all the bad boys in a ship are sent.” ”

“ Lord Rockville gravely looked at his watch, while Harry luckily considered how often his grandmama had recommended him to make no answer when he was scolded, so he nearly bit off the tip of his tongue to keep it quiet, while he could not but wish, in his own mind, that my Lord himself saw how very fierce the bull had looked.
Laura felt more vexed on Harry’s account than her own, and the dinner went on as uncomfortably as possible; for even when a French cook has dressed it, if ill-humour be the sauce, any dish becomes unpalatable. ”

“ There was no time for more than half a scold from Mrs. Crabtree, as Mrs. Darwin’s car had been waiting some time; so Harry said she might be owing him the rest, on some future occasion.
“Yes! and a hundred lashes besides!” added Peter Grey, laughing. “Pray touch him up well, Mrs. Crabtree, when you are about it. There is no law against cruelty to boys!”
This put Mrs. Crabtree into such a rage, that she followed Peter with a perfect hail-storm of angry words, till at last, for a joke, he put up Mrs. Darwin’s umbrella to screen himself, and immediately afterwards the car drove slowly off. ”

“ Harry went into fits of laughing when he perceived what a ridiculous figure Laura had made of herself, and he turned her round and round to see the havoc she had made, saying,
“You should give all this hair to Mr. Mills the upholsterer, to stuff grandmama’s arm-chair with! At any rate, Laura, if Mrs. Crabtree is ever so angry, she can hardly pull you by the hair of the head again! What a sound sleep you will have to-night, with no hard curl-papers to torment you!” ”

“ At last, one morning, as soon as Laura got up, Lady Harriet gravely led her towards a large table on which all the ill-used frocks had been laid out in a row; and a most dismal sight they were! Such a collection of stains and fractures was probably never seen before! A beggar would scarcely have thanked her for her blue merino; and the green silk frock looked like the tattered cover of a worn-out umbrella.
“Laura,” said Lady Harriet, “in Switzerland a lady’s wardrobe descends to many generations; but nobody will envy your successor! ”

“ Not ten minutes elapsed before they both commenced racing about as if they were mad, perfectly screaming with joy, and laughing so loudly at their own funny tricks, that an old gentleman who lived next door, very nearly sent in a message to ask what the joke was.
Presently Harry and Laura ran up and down stairs till the housemaid was quite fatigued with running after them. They jumped upon the fine damask sofas in the drawing-room, stirred the fire till it was in a blaze, and rushed out on the balcony, upsetting one or two geraniums and a myrtle. ”

“ Immediately upon seeing the flames, they all began screaming too, in such a loud discordant way, that it sounded as if a whole flight of crows had come into the passages. Never was there such an uproar heard in the house before, for the walls echoed with a general cry of “Fire! fire! fire!”
Up flew Mrs. Crabtree towards the nursery like a sky-rocket, scolding furiously, talking louder than all the others put together, and asking who had set the house on fire, while Harry and Laura scarcely knew whether to be most frightened for the raging flames, or the raging Mrs. Crabtree ”

“ I never cared for any young people but yourselves, and I shall never take charge of any others. Master Frank was the best boy in the world, and you would both have been as good under my care,—but it is no matter now!”
“But it does matter a very great deal,” cried Harry, eagerly. “You must stay here, Mrs. Crabtree, as long as you live, and a great deal longer! I shall write a letter to papa all about it. We were very troublesome, and it was our own faults if we were punished. Never mind, Mrs. Crabtree, but take off your bonnet and sit down! ”

“ Harwood had again tied it up in the towel; “what can be done?”
“Here is the very best plan!” cried Harry, suddenly seizing the prodigious cake; and before any body could hinder him, he gave it a tremendous push off the steepest part of Arthur’s Seat, so that it rolled down like a wheel, [62] over stones and precipices, jumping and hopping along with wonderful rapidity, amidst the cheers and laughter of all the children, till at last it reached the bottom of the hill, when a general clapping of hands ensued.
“Now for a race!” cried Harry, becoming more and more eager. ”

“ Mrs. Darwin has heard that there are certain children who become occasionally rather unmanageable! I cannot think who they can be, for it is certainly nobody we ever saw; so she has requested that Mrs. Crabtree will follow in the mail-coach.”
Harry and Laura looked as if a glass of cold water had been thrown in their faces, after this was mentioned; but they soon forgot every little vexation, in a burst of joy, when, some days afterwards, Mrs. Darwin stopped at the door to pick them up, in the most curious-looking carriage they had ever seen. ”

“ In this dark corner, Harry had time to reflect and to feel more and more alarmed and sorry for his misconduct, so he said, in a very distressed voice, “Oh, Peter! what a pity it is ever to be naughty, for we are always found out, and always so much happier when we are good!”
“I wonder how Mrs. Crabtree will get up the long ladder?” whispered Peter, laughing. “I would give my little finger, and one of my ears, to see her and Betty scrambling along!” ”

“ Frank felt no unnatural apathy or indifference about dying, for he looked upon it with awe, though not with fear; nor did he express any rapturous excitement on the solemn occasion, knowing that death is an appointed penalty for transgression, which, though deprived of its sharpest sting by the triumphs of the cross, yet awfully testifies to all succeeding generations, that each living man has individually merited the utmost wrath of God, and that the last moment on earth, of even the most devoted Christian, must be darkened by the gloom of our original sin and natural corruption. ”

“ At this moment Frank opened his eyes, which were dim and glassy, while it became evident that he had relapsed into a state of temporary delirium.
“Get more candles! how very dark it is!” he said. “Who are all those people? Send away everybody but grandmama! I must speak to her alone. Never tell papa of all this, it would only distress him—say nothing about me. Why do Harry and Laura never come? They have been absent more than a week! Who took away uncle David too?” ”

“ Frank knows you are here; he is impatient for you to embrace him; he becomes more and more agitated every moment the meeting is delayed; yet if you give way to childish grief, or even to childish joy, upon seeing him again, the Doctors think it may cause his immediate death. You might hear his breathing in any part of this house. He is in the lowest extreme of weakness! It will be a dreadful scene for you both. Tell me, Harry and Laura, can you trust yourselves? ”

“ Crabtree! What delightful fun! the house will be as full as an egg!”
Mrs. Crabtree seemed completely puzzled what to think of all this, and looked so much as if she did not know exactly what to be angry at, and so ready to be in a passion if possible, that Harry burst out a laughing, while he said, “Only think Mrs. Crabtree! here is every body coming to tea with us!—all my cousins, besides Peter Grey, Robert Stewart, Charles Forrester, Adelaide Cunninghame, Diana Wentworth, John Fordyce, Edmund Ashford, Frank Abercromby, Ned Russel, and Tom ——”
“The boy is distracted!” ”

“ It was long past five before Harry and Laura reached Holiday House, where Lord Rockville met them at the drawing-room door, looking taller, and grander, and graver than ever, while Lady Rockville rose from her sofa, and came up to them, saying, in a tone of gentle reproach,
“My dear children! you ought to return home before the dinner hour, and not keep his Lordship waiting!” ”

“ Now, Harry and Laura, listen both of you!—here is a grand opportunity to show everybody, that we can be trusted to ourselves, without getting into any scrapes, so that if grandmama is ever ill again, and obliged to go away, she need not feel so sad and anxious as she did to-day. I mean to become nine times more attentive to my lessons than usual this morning, to show how trust-worthy we are, and if you are wise, pray march straight up to the nursery yourselves. ”

“ All Laura’s clothes had been packed the night before, in a large chaise seat, which was now put into the carriage along with herself, and every thing seemed ready for departure, when Lady Harriet’s maid was suddenly taken so very ill, as to be quite unfit for travelling; therefore she was left behind, and a doctor sent for to attend her; while Lady Harriet said she would trust to the maids at Holiday House, for waiting upon herself and Laura.
It is seldom that so happy a face is seen in this world, as Laura wore during the whole journey. ”