L. T. Meade

“ Uncle Ben may catch us any minute."
"Who's Uncle Ben?" asked Diana.
"Why, Di! how very queer you are. Don't you remember Uncle Ben, the awful man who has the circus?"
"No, I don't," said Diana. "Is it true that Rub-a-Dub's dead?"
"Oh, Di! Rub-a-Dub died weeks ago. What does it matter about a mouse? I'm frightened about Uncle Ben. If he catches us he'll change his mind, perhaps, and I cannot ride Greased Lightning again. Don't speak so queer, Di. Do rouse yourself. We must get out of this as fast as we can."
"As fast as we can," echoed Diana. "All wight, Orion; I's k'ite sati'fied." ”

“ It did not seem so very dreadful to Iris and Apollo to have cousins to walk about with and talk to. Philip and Conrad, too, were fairly kind to little Orion; they took him round to see their gardens and their several pets. Life was certainly prim at the Rectory compared to what it had been at the Manor; but children will be children all the world over, and when there is a bright sun in the heavens, and flowers grow at their feet, and a gentle breeze is blowing, it is almost impossible to be all sulks and tears and misery. Even Diana was interested in what was going on. ”

“ You know, Iris, the meaning of your names, don't you?"
"Of course," answered Iris; "and, mother, I have often talked to the others about our names. I have [12] told Apollo how beautiful he must try to be, not only in his face, but in his mind, mother, and how brave and how clever. I have told him that he must try to have a beautiful soul; and Orion must be very brave and strong, and Diana must be bright and sparkling and noble. Yes, mother; we all know about our names."
"I am glad of that," said Mrs. Delaney. ”

“ Delaney.
Iris put up her soft, rosebud lips; they met the equally soft lips of the mother.
"You are much better, mummy; are you not?" said the child, in an eager, half-passionate whisper.
"I have had a long sleep, darling, and I am rested," said Mrs. Delaney. "I told Fortune to call you. Father is away for the day. I thought we could have half an hour uninterrupted."
"How beautiful, mother! It is the most delightful thing in all the world to be alone with you, mummy."
"Well, bring your little chair and sit near me, Iris. Fortune will bring in tea in a moment, and you can pour it out. ”

“ Orion, after staring at her for some little time, gave her a sharp little tap on her arm.
"What are you crying about?" he said. "Don't you think you are rather stupid?"
"You poor innocents!" said Miss Stevenson.
"Please don't call us that," said Diana; "that is our name for the worms. Worms can't see, you know, and they are not to blame for being only worms, and sometimes they get trodden on; and Iris thought we might call them innocents, and we have always done so since she gave us leave; but we would rather not be called by quite the same name." ”

“ As she was not likely to meet any of the Dolman family on the road, Diana did not wear her sun-bonnet, but kept it hanging on her arm. "It is nice to be out," she said, as she tripped along. "I love hot sun; I love twees; I love blue sky; I love dust."
"I don't," replied Orion; "this road is horrid dusty, and it gets into my shoes. I have only my house shoes on, you know, Diana."
"Oh, never mind!" answered Diana. "If you is a giant, you isn't going to g'umble. What is the use of g'umbling? You be all wight soon. ”

“ Lucy, Mary, and Ann surrounded Iris; Apollo marched away by himself, and Philip and Conrad mysteriously disappeared with little Orion. Diana thus found herself alone. For a time she was contented to lie stretched out flat on the grass playing soldiers, and watching the tricks of a snow-white rabbit who ran in and out of his hole close by. Presently, however, she grew tired of this solitary entertainment, and sprang to her feet, looking eagerly around her.
"Punishment is a very good thing," she said to herself. "I's punished, and I's lot better. ”

“ Little Orion scrambled as quickly and nimbly to his feet as Diana herself. He caught the reins; crack again went the whip; the horses flew round and round. Now and then Diana said a soft word to Greased Lightning; now and then she stamped her small foot on Pole Star's neck. Each movement, each glance of the child, seemed to thrill through the willing beast. Incomprehensible as it may seem, both these wild, half-tamed creatures loved her. They kept straight, veering neither to left nor right, for her sake. ”

“ Her bow was also gone, and her arrow no longer hung round her neck. She clutched a firm hold of Orion's hand.
"Don't you be afeared, Orion," she said. "Don't you forget you is a big giant. Don't you forget you has got your belt and your sword."
"But I haven't, that's just it," replied Orion. "Diana, I aren't a giant, and I'm awfu' frightened."
"Where can us be?" said Diana. "What a keer room! But there's one good comfort; there isn't no aunts anywheres 'bout."
"I can't remember nothing," said Orion. "Why aren't we in bed? It's too early to get up. How have we got into this horrid little room?" ”

“ Philip and Conrad might also be seen on the terrace in their clean linen blouses and fresh knickerbockers; their hands were also carefully washed, their hair brushed back from their faces, the faces themselves shining from soap and water.
"Oh, dear! there's no help for it," thought little Ann, "I must go into the nursery and let Simpson pull me about. How she will scrub me and tug at my hair, and put on such a horrid starched dress, and it's so hot to-night! Well, if I hurry I may be in time to tell Philip what I know about their names. Oh, how delicious it will be! He'll be so excited. ”

“ Orion was only too anxious to accede to this proposition. He took the bow and arrow and made valiant efforts, but in the course of his endeavors to shoot properly, the badly made bow suddenly snapped in two, and Diana, in her discomfiture, and the dashing to the ground of her hopes, burst into tears.
"You is bad boy," she cried. "See what you's done. Back we goes to slav'ry—to Aunt Jane and Miss Wamsay. You is a bad, howid boy."
"I aren't," said Orion, who had a very easily aroused temper. "It's you that's a horrid little girl." ”

“ We ought to have a whole holiday to-day, ought we not? Just as if it was a birthday, you know."
"I think so too," said Orion, with a shout. "I don't think we need be bothered with old Stevie to-day." He raised his voice, and ran to meet her. "You are not to give us any lessons to-day, Stevie," he said. "It is a holiday, a great, big holiday—it is a sort of birthday. We were all eating strawberries, for Iris said we were not to go back to the house."
"Oh, my poor, dear, little boy!" said Miss Stevenson. She was a kind-hearted, although old-fashioned, governess. ”

“ His own ruddy and sunburnt face turned absolutely pale; there was a look in his eyes which Diana could not in the least understand, nor could Orion, and which even Apollo only slightly fathomed; but one glance told Iris the truth.
"When I am away you are to be a mother to the others," seemed at that moment to echo her mother's own voice in her ear. ”

“ The place is so close and so used-up that there is not a breath anywhere; so, Iris, if you have got that feel, and if you will promise not to tell your Aunt Jane that that is your reason for returning to the Manor, why, we may just as well do so—only, I suppose, the place is all shut up."
"Fortune, at any rate, is there," replied Iris; "and if anybody can help us to find Diana and Orion, it's Fortune; for she had them, you know, Uncle William, from the moment the angel brought them down from heaven. ”

“ Oh, surely we four little children ought to try to be great, and good, and brave, if we are ever to meet our mother again!"
"Well, it is all very puzzling," said Apollo, "and I can't understand things the way you can, Iris, and I have an awful ache in my throat. I am hungry, and yet I am not hungry. I love strawberries as a rule, but I hate them to-day. If only father would come and talk to us it would not be quite so bad; but Fortune said we were not to go to him, that he was shut up in his study, and that he was very unhappy. She said that he felt it all dreadfully about mother." ”

“ Fortune did talk nonsense. She said, Iris—do you know what she said?—she said that in the middle of the night, just when it was black dark, you know, a white angel came into the room and took mother in his arms and [19] flew up to the sky with her. You don't believe that; do you, Iris?"
"Yes, I do, Diana," answered Iris. "But I will tell you more about it in the arbor. Come, Apollo; mother would not like us to stay in the house just because she has gone away to the angels. Mother never was the least little bit selfish. Come into the garden." ”

“ She is only away up above the stars and the blue sky, and she will never have any more suffering, and she will always be as happy as happy can be, and sometime or other, Apollo, I think she will be able to come back; and, if she can, I am sure she will. Yes, I am quite sure she will."
"If she comes back we shall see her," said Apollo; "but she can't come back, Iris. Dead people can't come back."
"Oh, please, don't call her that," said Iris, with a note of great pain in her voice.
"But Fortune says that mother is dead, just like anybody else, and in a few days she will be put into the ground. ”

“ Fortune hurried her steps, and Iris kept time with her. When they reached the house, the woman stopped and looked intently at the child.
"You can go straight upstairs at once, miss, and into the room," she said. "You need not knock; my mistress is waiting for you."
"Don't you think, Fortune, that mother is just a little wee bit better?" asked Iris again. There was an imploring note in her question this time.
"She will tell you herself, my dear. Now, be quick; don't keep her waiting. It is bad for people, when they are ill, to be kept waiting." ”

“ I thought her a silly sort of a body."
"She's an aunt, and that's enough," said Diana. "I don't like no aunts; they are silly people. I want her to go."
"Apollo and I brought the two younger children," continued Iris, "because we thought it best for us all to come. It is not Aunt Jane being here that is so dreadful to me, and so very, very terrible to Apollo," she continued. "It's what she said, father, that we—we were to go away, away from the house [60] and the garden—the garden where mother used to be, and the house where the angel came to fetch mother away—and we are to live with her. ”

“ Oh, I say, Orion," suddenly concluded Diana; "what is we to do without Iris? She is our little mother now. You underland what I mean; doesn't you, Orion?"
The only answer Orion made was to fling himself flat down on the floor and begin to howl with all his might.
"You had best not do that, young sir," said Aunt [179] Sarah, "for if Uncle Ben hears he'll be awful angry. He is a terrible man when he's angered. It's only right I should tell you the solemn truth, you poor little kids."
"We isn't kids; we is sildrens," said Diana. ”

“ Dolman.
"Oh, yes, yes, Uncle William!" said Diana, really terrified for the first time in her life. "Yes, I's sossy—I's awfu' sossy, Aunt Jane. It's all wight now, Aunt Jane; Diana's sossy."
"You shall be a great deal more sorry before I have done with you," said Mrs. Dolman, who had no idea of letting the culprit off. "Now, then, William, do your duty."
"But it's all wight," said Diana, gazing with puzzled eyes up into her aunt's face. "I's been a bad girl, but I's sossy; it's all wight, I say. Naughty wod, go 'way, naughty wod." ”

“ Iris had lovely hair—it was of a deep, rich chestnut, and it curled and curled, and waved and waved in rich [51] profusion down her back. When Susan had brushed it, and taken the tangles out, it shone like burnished gold. Her pretty white frock was speedily put on, and she ran out of her little room to join Apollo, who, in his black velvet suit, looked very picturesque and handsome. ”

“ She had not an instant to regret her absence from Iris and Apollo. The exploits, the feats performed by the three circus girls, and by Tom the clown, to say nothing of the advent of the elephant and of the donkey who could perform numberless tricks, and finally, the performances of the [188] troop of dogs, who seemed more human than most human beings, all fascinated the little girl. Even Orion forgot his terrors as he looked on; his cheeks flamed through their walnut dye, and his dark eyes grew brighter than ever. ”