H. Mary Wilson

“ The three other curly heads were peeping through the banisters, and three pairs of Irish blue eyes were looking horribly scared and unhappy.
But mother did not see them.
She picked up the screaming Norah, and carried her into the dining-room, while nurse came running from the kitchen and her ironing.
All the time that the sobbing little victim of the B. D. S. was being soothed into calmness, and the big swelling wheal on her forehead bathed and tended, Pattie, Mollie, and Kitty—upstairs—looked at one another in frightened silence. ”

“ There was no disguising the tears that stood in Gull's eyes now; and strange to say, he did not try to hide from his "little lads" that they were there.
He made the boys put their feet, now so stoutly booted, in a row upon the fender. How the brass tips shone in the firelight! And there was such a jolly noise when the heels knocked against the floor! Bob made the grand discovery that he could dance a hornpipe. And his sturdy feet careered over the floor, clattering, tapping, and jumping, until the quiet Tom was roused into clapping and "hurrahing" with delight. ”

“ Keep it, man!" repeated Mr. Kingsley. "I'm not going to say a word about your honesty. You are just as much a man as I am; and a true man is always honest. But keep it, because the Christmas bells will ring to-night."
"Thank you, sir."
Written, the words appear cold; but said, as Gull said them, they carried an amount of warmth and gratitude which quite satisfied Mr. Kingsley without the half-involuntary speech that followed, "So there will be boots for the little lads, after all!" ”

“ The sun shines warmly, and Phil's face grows hot and red. Phil begins to feel hungry too.
"If I was a big man, I think I should have a nice lot of bread and cheese! I wish I was a man. But I can be a gentleman now, father says so."
He stands with his head on one side and his hands in his pockets, looking down thoughtfully at his gleanings. He is sure that he has got enough now; but he is not quite so sure that he can carry them all at once. However, he boldly grasps the corner of his gay handkerchief lifts the bundle, and staggers under its weight across the uneven ground. ”

“ The blue eyes are just a little bit sleepy. Nurse has tucked him up for the night, and drawn down the blind. But they are not too sleepy to shine with love and admiration as they look up into the kind face bending over him. ”

“ Kingsley was also a widower; and it was his little only daughter who was pressing her tiny nose against the window-pane, and trying to guess how many people would go by the gate before daddy set it swinging and came up the drive.
Patsy's greeting was quite as loving and vigorous as the one the "twinses" gave their father every day. The slippers warming at the fire were elegant braided ones, bound round with velvet. Well! what of that? It was the love that thought of putting them there which made them so comfortable; and so, in that respect, Gull's were quite as good to wear as Mr. Kingsley's. ”

“ Gull had tried to teach his motherless lads "to do as mother used." So there followed a systematic cleaning and arranging of the small supply of crockery.
Tom was the first to find a seat upon father's knee as he sat by the fire; but Bob soon climbed opposite to him, and together they looked with expectant eyes into father's face.
And father rubbed his head ruefully as he said, "Eh! I've got to tell the little lads summat to-night, have I? But there's nothing new been done, as far as I knows. It's the old dull story, bairnies. The fewest tips when the weather's the bitterest." ”

“ There is quite a large bundle of gleanings lying on his outspread handkerchief. He has brought his best and largest to hold his gains; and now the heap of corn almost eclipses the border of kittens and puppies, with arched backs and bristling tails, that Phil thinks "so jolly." ”

“ It always does if she says nasty things."
"Rubbish, Mollie! That's nonsense! She fell down because her bolster was so big, and she couldn't see where the stairs came!" cried Pattie.
"I'm going to see where she's hurted herself," announced little Kitty; and she trudged off, leaving Pattie and Mollie to sort the heap of odds and ends that lay on the landing.
They went about it in doleful silence at first.
Then Mollie said, "This is my counterpane—isn't it, Pattie?"
"No; that's Norah's. Don't you see the corner all crumpled up which she holds in her hand when she goes to sleep?" ”

“ But I never got so far as being the good wind-fairy. Everything always goes just the wrong way!
First of all, the servants finished their tea sooner than they generally do, and nurse went straight back to the nursery. She might have waited—mightn't she?
And wasn't it unkind of Mrs. Rose to come and call, and to have to be shown into the drawing-room? She is our doctor's sister, and she is so stiff and white that we call her Mrs. Primrose. That's her nickname. But it never pricks her, because she never hears it. ”

“ He puts his bundle on the bed by the old woman's side, looks wistfully at the bandaged eyes, and then creeps slowly and softly across the room and runs out into the sunlight—down the lane.
With tired arms swinging from a sense of relief, with bright curls tossing, and dusty feet plodding over the ground, Phil enters the corn field, and runs—into the outstretched arms of Jane, the housemaid.
And this is the greeting she gives him—
"Well, you are a naughty boy, Master Phil! Nurse is in a rare taking, thinking you've gone and drownded yourself or got a sunstroke or something. ”

“ The little faces all brightened as she continued—
"I like my little girls to be tidy and neat in their rooms; but I think mother knows best how the furniture should stand, and where the things look nicest. So I suggest that we call our society the Bedroom Dusting Society. I will give you each a little cloth, and you shall dust your rooms every morning after nurse has made the beds. And once a week I will award a prize."
Then mother drew her hand forward and held before their eyes a Japanese fan, with a long handle, to which was tied a dainty bow of blue ribbon. ”

“ Pattie, Mollie, Kitty, and Norah. Four little Irish maidens, with this lovely plan to talk over and make perfect, while a snowstorm kept them indoors to-day.
Pattie. "Don't let's tell each other how we'll do our rooms until afterwards."
Norah. "You'll never keep your plans to yourself. You never could keep anything in." ”

“ This, very likely, was the case, for it was five o'clock on a warm summer morning, and the train from the North had been tearing along with its burden of drowsy passengers ever since nine o'clock the evening before.
Was it any wonder that this abrupt stoppage—here, where there was not even a platform in sight—somewhat disturbed and irritated the travellers?
"A most irregular proceeding!" cried one indignant gentleman who, in his anxiety to see what was wrong, had pulled the blue window-blind over his bald head.
"It's always the way," cried another fretfully. "Just my luck! ”

“ With the help of the policeman, who appeared at this moment, and watched by the usual curious crowd of onlookers, they bathed Gull's face with cold water, forced brandy between his lips, and chafed his cold hands. Then it was that they discovered, tightly clasped in the hand upon which he had been lying, a folded leather case. ”

“ I say, Tom, you're frizzing that 'erring black!"
"I ain't."
"My eyes! don't it smell fine? Oh! I do wish father'd come. He's allus a long time when the supper's 'ot;" and Bob, as he spoke, heaved a sigh of such prodigious depth that it might have come from his boots—if he had possessed any, poor little man!
These two small boys, Tom and Bob Gull, were six years old.
"We is only twinses," Bob would say. ”

“ At least, I was sent to bed, and now they call me Matty. Don't you think it is unkind of them? Ginevra is such a pretty name too!
I didn't mean to be naughty. And I do wish mother would make me understand all about it; but Teddie is ill, and, of course, she can't leave him until he's better. I shall have to wait, I suppose. But I can't be happy again until I have had a nice talk with mother. She makes everything so understand-ible.
What did nurse mean when she said, the other day, "There's one comfort; Miss Ginevra's character is still unformed"?
GULL'S "TWINSES."
ind! ”

“ Why did not his little master do the same?
"Boxer, I'm 'samed of you! How lazy you are! Come and play wid me."
And the fat arms dragged the dog up again and held him in a tight embrace, from which there seemed no escaping.
"Mother is fast as'eep! We'll play widout her, dis time," and Willie fixed his eyes longingly upon the window-strap. Then he looked back again at his mother's white tired face.
He was thinking to himself, "Mother said, Willie mustn't play wid dat fing—and—and me wants to."
Poor mother! why do you not wake? See! ”

“ It is true they will buy quite as many toys. And I might have had 'the yellow money,' only now, I expect, it is turned into shoeleather."
At the opening of this speech Patsy's face had borne an expression of disgust and disappointment; but before it was finished, it changed to one of undisguised interest.
"Oh! I'm sure you've been in a fairy tale to-day, daddy! You know I just love fairy stories. Do begin at once, before nurse comes. ”