Mrs. Molesworth

“ For Max was sitting in one corner pretending to read, and Dolly was sitting in another corner—the two furthest-off-from-each-other corners they could possibly find—pretending to sew, and on both little faces the expression was one which mammas are always very sorry indeed to see.
But mammas learn by experience to be wise. And all wise people know that when other people are "upset" or "put out," or, to say it quite plainly, "in a bad temper," it is no use, even though it is rather difficult not to do so, to go "bang at them," with some such questions as these: "What is the matter with you?" ”

“ This was too much for Max.
"Dolly," he said, tugging at her till she was obliged to look up, "don't—I can't bear you to be unhappy because of—because of me—do kiss me, Dolly, and don't let us ever think any more about those stupid little black pigs."
So they kissed each other, and it was "all right."
"But," said Dolly, "I'm so afraid it'll begin again when we see them. Could papa ask Farmer Wilder to put them somewhere else, mamma? We can't leave off looking out of our windows, can we?" ”

“ I don't think there was ever a plant more watched, and cared for. It was Pansy's first thought in the morning and last at night. Every [Pg 70] little speck of dust was tenderly wiped off its leaves, it was moved from one part of the room to another to get the sunshine, of which, as I have told you, there was seldom more than a scanty amount at Northclough, and the window-sill, its own particular home, was kept as clean as if the pansy was a fairy princess who got out of her flower-pot at night to take a little exercise on her terrace. ”

“ I remember when I was a little girl that it seemed to me big people couldn't have real troubles; that only children had them. Big people could do as they liked, get up when they liked, not go to bed till they liked; eat what they chose, dress as they pleased, do no lessons, and were never scolded. Things do not look quite like that to me now, when for many many more years than I was a child I have been a big person. However, as each of you will find out for himself or herself all about big people in good time, I won't try to explain it to you. ”

“ Their heads were full of little black pigs, you see. No, as he came nearer, they found it was a small black dog—a new one, which they had never seen before.
"Good morning, Mr. Wilder," said their mother, "that's your new dog—Max and Dolly have not made acquaintance with him yet. 'Nigger,' you call him? He's a clever fellow, isn't he?"
"A bit too clever," replied the farmer. "He's rather too fond of meddling. Yesterday afternoon he got into the big field where we'd just turned out all the little black pigs, and he was chasing and hunting them all the time." ”

“ Laurence did not know the little girl's name, but in his own fancy he called her "Gay." She always looked so bright and happy. And after a while the two children began to smile at each other as if they were friends, and sometimes Gay would call out, "Good morning, Sir. What a nice day!" or some little speech like that, to which Laurence would reply, "Good morning, Miss," like a little gentleman, lifting his cap as he spoke. Of course these remarks were made in French. In English they do sound rather odd, I must allow.
One day Laurence and Emma set off for rather a long walk. ”

“ Pansy looked very anxious.
"I wonder if it's that," she said. "I noticed, though I tried to think it was fancy, that one of the biggest flower-leaves," (she meant "petals," but she was too little to know the right word) , "not the leaf-leaves you know, was a tiny atom of a bit crushed up, almost like," and here Pansy dropped her voice, as if what she was going to say was almost too dreadful to put in words, "almost like as if it was beginning to—to wither a little." [Pg 72]
Bob nodded his head. ”

“ But one day, unfortunately, Bob had an inspiration, if you know what that is.
"Pansy," he said to his sister, "I've been thinking if you want the flowers to last as long as they possibly can, you must really give them a little more fresh air. It's all very well in the daytime when your window's open, but at night I'm sure the pansy feels choky and stuffy. You see flowers aren't like us, except hot-house ones of course, they're used to live out-of-doors." ”

“ Lily took Belle's hand as they got to the foot of the stairs. [Pg 32]
"Isn't she a nice lady?" she said, for Lily was feeling very pleased just then with herself and everybody else—I must say she was very seldom a cross little girl, but she was perhaps rather too inclined to be pleased with herself—"and didn't you like," she went on, "what mamma said of us two, to her?"
"No," said Belle, roughly, pulling herself away from her sister. "I don't want to be counted a clumsy, stupid, left hand. I don't wonder you're pleased, you always get praised." ”

“ Especially if, as these children's mamma just now was clever enough to find out, the angry feelings are beginning to soften down into unhappiness, and the first little whisper of "wishing I hadn't been so cross"—or "so unkind," is faintly making its way into the foolish, troubled little hearts. ”

“ Think of Jeanne d'Arc, and—and—somebody, I forget her name, who defended her husband's castle." [Pg 85]
"All right," said Hector. "I'm not quarrelling with your having a catapult, and you can defend your husband's castle with it if you like—that's to say if you ever get a husband. I should think a girl who knew how to sew nicely, and to keep her house very neat and comfortable, a much nicer wife than one who went about catapulting and trying to be like a man. And you know you're not really so grand and brave as you try to make out, Dolly. ”

“ In winter I think they managed this better than in summer, for good blazing fires do a great deal, especially of an evening when the curtains are drawn and the cold north wind, howling and blustering outside as if in a rage at not being able to get in, only makes the house seem still cosier. ”

“ No accident happened this time, and when the season was over, the pansy root was planted in a corner of the little strip of flower border at the side of the house, where it managed to get on very well, and perhaps will have more buds and flowers for several springs to come.
There is one thing more to tell. Pansy's godmother was so touched by the story of the pansy, that she sent an "extra" present to the vicarage children that summer, though it wasn't any "birthday" at all. The present was a beautiful case of ferns, with a glass cover, so that it could stand in the house all the year round. ”

“ But the two older girls at least, listened with all their ears to one or two little things their own dear mother herself said about them.
"Lily," she said, as she drew forward the fair-haired little girl, "is already quite my right hand."
Lily's eyes sparkled with pleasure, but Belle grew rather red, and turned away. She was not the least like Lily, her hair was dark and cut short round her head, for she had had a bad illness not long ago.
The stranger lady had quick eyes.
"And Belle?" she said, kindly. "You can't have two right hands of course. ”

“ Still he did sometimes wish he had a brother or sister near his own age. It did not seem quite fair that he should be so alone in the family. Hugh and Isabel were such nice friends for each other, and so were the two still older sisters and the big brother of all, who was called Robert. Now and then when little Laurence was trotting along the street by Emma's side he would look with envy at other children, two and three together, and wish that one of them "belonged" to him. ”

“ Her godmother was kind, but she was old and unused to children, and she had not seen Pansy since she was very tiny, so her thought was more perhaps about helping Pansy's mother than pleasing Pansy herself. And so the present was sure to be a new frock—or stuff to make one with, or a nice jacket, or even once—that was rather a funny present for a little girl, I think—a new set of china tea-cups and saucers and plates and milk jugs and everything complete for a nursery tea-service. ”

“ Nurse let us look out of the night nursery one for a little—it's turned the other way, so we couldn't see the pigs."
"But we'll have to see them in a minute," said Max, "when we come out of this path we're close to the gate of the big field, you know, mamma."
"I know," said mamma, "but I want to turn the other way—down the little lane, for before we go to the field to look at the pigs, I want to speak to Farmer Wilder a moment." ”

“ Truly the little girl had got a good sixpenceworth of pleasure out of her purchase.
The weather grew warmer, early in June it was really sultry for a few days. Pansy began to be careful in a new way for her pet. It must not be allowed to get too hot, or to be broiled up by the sun, so a shady corner was chosen for the flower-pot during the middle of the day. And it really seemed grateful for the care bestowed upon it. Never did a [Pg 71] pansy prosper better, or lift itself up in fresher beauty to greet its little gardeners. ”

“ It was every Thursday, the regular market-day, when the country people came in to sell and to buy. But Northclough was not a pretty, old-fashioned country town, such as you would very likely fancy from the mention of markets and country folk. Once, long ago, it had been a village, a rather lonely and out-of-the-way village, though never a pretty one. For it was up in the north, as its name tells, in a bare and cold [Pg 55] part of the world, where the grass is never very brightly green, and the skies much more often grey than blue. ”

“ There was a great consultation held in Pansy's room, and this was what the children decided; sixpence should be spent on a pair of ducks to float in a basin of water attracted by a magnet, a toy which they had seen in a shop window with the price marked in plain figures. And [Pg 66] sixpence should be spent, for Pansy's own special pleasure, in a flower growing in a pot, such as they had often seen on the flower-stall below their windows. The ducks could be bought that very morning, which Pansy was glad of, as she knew that Bob and Ruth were even more anxious to have them than she was herself. ”

“ A·SHILLING of HALFPENCE
She was a lonely little old lady. She was one of those who had "seen better days," as it is called. I am afraid there are a great many people in the world of whom this can be said, and the saddest part of it is that they are very, very often, old people.
It is sad to see anyone in want even of comforts, and still more of really needful things, but I think it is worst of all to see very old or very young folk deprived of what they should have. ”

“ Fancy splitting up a poor little pig."
"There isn't one to split, not a thirteen one," said Max, rather surlily.
"Yes there is," retorted Dolly.
Mamma looked at them both. [Pg 20]
"My dear children," she said. "You really must be at a loss for something to quarrel about. And after all, you remind me of——"
"What do we remind you of, mamma?" asked both, eagerly, "something about when you were a little girl?"
"No, only of an old story I have heard," said mamma.
"Oh, do tell it," said Max and Dolly. ”

“ A sou is about the same as an English halfpenny, and it is often [Pg 51] called a "five centime piece"—for there are ten centimes in each two-sous piece, just as there are four farthings in one English penny.
"Another sou?" said Laurence. "But I have not got one. Emma, have you got one?"
Emma had nothing at all in her pocket. It was stupid of her, but she had not thought of bringing her purse. However it was so little, and she began asking the clerk in her very bad French, mixed with German words, to let the little gentleman have the pincushion for a franc. ”

“ And though hidden from the view of the front of the house, there was, farther back, a path to the poultry-yard, where two or three times a day their mamma's pet beauties were fed, and the noise and chatter of the pretty feathered creatures could be heard even through the closed nursery windows. For this was not the big poultry-yard, but their [Pg 11] mother's own particular one. And most interesting of all, perhaps, further off beyond the lawn, divided from it by a "ha-ha," there was the great field let to Farmer Wilder, where all sorts of creatures were to be seen in their turn ”

“ Christy minstrel men are, I [Pg 13] know, for nurse told me so when I was frightened of them. And pigs couldn't paint themselves black. But oh, Max," she broke off, "do look how they're running and jumping now. They're all over the field. One, two, three, four—there's thirteen of them, Maxie."
"No," said Max, after a moment or two's silence, "there's only twelve."
Dolly counted again—it was not very easy, I must allow. But she stuck to it. ”