CHAPTER III
THE BLACK PUPPY
'His eyes so brown, his winning ways, His faithful heart, command our praise.'
After the adventure at the mill-wheel, Aunt Helen, judging wisely that'Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do,' sent thechildren into the fields with Lilian to gather cowslips to make cowslipbeer. It was pleasant work wandering among the green meadows picking thesweet-smelling flowers, while the larks sang their loudest overhead, andthe little brook babbled by on its path to the river--more especiallypleasant when they remembered that by this time next week school wouldhave begun again, with its attendant woes of Latin grammar and Frenchcomposition.
'I'm sure we must have enough now,' said Lilian, turning out hersixteenth basket of blossoms into the ever-increasing pile in thebakehouse. 'I'm almost tired of gathering them; I shall see nothing butcowslips when I shut my eyes in bed to-night.'
'It will take a fearfully long time to pick them all,' remarked Peggy,starting bravely to work on her task of pulling the yellow pips awayfrom the green calyces. 'It seems almost a shame to put them into abarrel, they look so pretty.'
'You won't say so when you come to taste it,' said unromantic Bobby,who was fond of cool, fizzy drinks in summer.
'Be that you, miss?' said a voice from the region of the door; and thegood-natured, freckled face and sandy hair of Joe, the farm-boy, madeits appearance, followed by the rest of his lanky person, as he enteredslowly, bearing something mysteriously concealed under his coat.
'Whatever have you got there, Joe?' cried three voices at once.
'Well,' replied Joe, with an important air, 'it do be a present for MissPeggy, it be. She were that disappointed about the guinea-pig as Mrs.Davenport promised to give her, and forgot all about, that I says tomyself, "I must make it up to her some ways, if I gets the chance." So Iwalks over to my granny's at Marlow last night, and I begs a black pupoff her, and here it is.'
Joe drew aside his jacket, and disclosed to the children's delightedeyes the sweetest little round fuzzy ball of black fluff, just like atiny woolly bear, with tan chest and paws, and a wagging morsel of atail like a black tassel. It had the brightest of brown eyes, thepinkest of tongues, and the shrillest of barks, and it was altogethersuch a dear, enchanting, soft, curly morsel of puppyhood that Peggy tookit to her arms and her heart at the same moment.
'Oh, thank you, Joe!' she exclaimed, almost too pleased to speak.
'Granny has five of 'em, miss,' said Joe; 'but I picked out the best.It'll make a grand dog, it will, when it's growed, and master was sayin'only the other day as he could do with another collie to train in oldRover's place.'
'Let me have him a moment!' begged Bobby, hugging the wriggling burden,which Peggy unwillingly relinquished.
'What shall you call the darling?' inquired Lilian, kissing the funnyblack nose that was smelling at her buttons.
'I think Rollo would be a jolly name, and of course we can all have apiece of him all the same, though he's mine,' announced Peggymagnanimously, for the Vaughans always shared their good things with oneanother.
They had a perfect menagerie of pets at the Abbey. First there were therabbits, five white ones and two black, which lived in a little hutchbehind the stackyard. They did not do very much except nibble at branand lettuce-leaves, it is true, but they were pretty, soft creatures,with long, silky ears, and it was fun sometimes to let them out for ascamper on the granary floor. Then there was Prickles, a bright littlehedgehog, which Peggy had rescued from some village boys who were usingthe poor little fellow as a football. She had brought him home, and fedhim on bread and milk, and he soon got to know her, and would come whenshe called him, and allow her to scratch the end of his funny pink nose.Prickles generally slept most of the day in a snug box lined with hay,but in the evenings he woke up, and Peggy would carry him into thekitchen, where he devoured black-beetles, much to his own delight andNancy's satisfaction.
Jack, the magpie, had fallen from his nest in the fir-tree when still anugly little half-fledged creature with a wide, gaping mouth. Thechildren had made a nest of grass for him inside a basket, and fed himon worms and scraps of raw meat until he was old enough to fly, when hewould follow them everywhere about the farmyard and outbuildings,calling 'Jack, Jack!' which, with the mewing of a cat, the gobble ofthe old turkey-cock, and a close imitation of David's winter cough, madeup the extent of his accomplishments.
Nancy kept him sternly out of the kitchen, for he was terriblymischievous, and seemed to take a positive delight in playing practicaljokes. He had purloined David's scarf from the saddle-room, and droppedit into the horse-trough, had filled Bobby's hat with pebbles, anddevoured the queen-cakes which Lilian had placed on the kitchenwindow-sill to cool; he had snatched Joe's breast-pin--a glitteringimitation diamond--from his Sunday tie, under the very nose of thatinjured youth, and had stolen so many small articles that if anythingwere missing the children would have a grand search for Master Jack'shiding-place, and would generally turn out the lost treasure from amongan odd collection of trifles--scraps of bright-coloured rags, bits ofbroken glass, hairpins, pen-nibs, pencil-ends, together with pieces ofbread and half-picked bones which the thief had concealed in somecunning corner inside a manger or under the roof of the loft.
Then there was Pixie, the pony, who would come whinnying up from thefurther side of a field to poke her soft nose into the children'spockets for pieces of bread or lumps of sugar; there were numerous catswho lived in the barns and stables, and Tabbyskins, the stately grayPersian, who usually sat sunning herself on the pigsty wall, keeping astrict eye on naughty Jack, who was wont to harry her if he got thechance.
Bobby had a pretty set of bantams, whose small eggs afforded him muchdelight and some slight profit, for Aunt Helen bought them from him atthreepence a dozen--a transaction which he always recorded in chalk uponthe hen-house door, the pennies being carefully put by towards thepurchase of a pair of fantail pigeons, which was at present the summitof his ambition.
This spring, too, there was a pet lamb called Daisy. David had found itbleating beside its dead mother one bitter morning early in March, andhad carried the poor orphan into the kitchen, where Nancy had reared iton a feeding-bottle like a baby. It returned her care by an affectionwhich was quite embarrassing to the worthy girl, for however attractivea pet lamb may be, it becomes distinctly in the way when it insists uponfollowing you into the dining-room with the dinner, or presses itsattentions on you when you are engaged in cleaning the grate orscrubbing the floors.
It was not only outside that the children had treasures. Aunt Helen wasvery long-suffering with respect to hobbies, for she rightly thoughtthat the more a child's life is filled with interests, the more chanceit has of growing up an intelligent and broad-minded individual, and ofescaping from that lethargy of boredom which swallows up the lives ofmany young people who ought to know better how to amuse themselves inGod's beautiful world. 'I don't know what to do,' was an unknownexpression among the young Vaughans, who had always so many projects onhand that the difficulty lay in finding time to carry them all out.
The Rose Parlour, as it was called, from the tangle of pink roses whichframed the windows in summer-time, was especially given up to thechildren's use. It was a bright, cheerful room, with a view over theriver to the sunset and the Welsh mountains, and had a French windowwhich opened into the garden. Here was the old piano on which theypractised, here the ink-pots and rulers for their home-lessons, withtheir paint-boxes, crayons, and drawing-books.
A cupboard in the corner was devoted to a kind of museum, where theykept their collection of birds' eggs, a few butterflies, moths, andbeetles, Lilian's pressed wild-flowers, a box full of shells and fossilswhich they had brought home from their one never-to-be-forgotten visitto the seaside, a curious plaited basket filled with bone rings, shellbracelets, and other curiosities, sent by a sailor cousin from the SouthSea Islands, and an odd assortment of stones, old coins, foreign stamps,crests and postmarks, which r
epresented landmarks in the history of pastfads.
Lilian's canary hung in the sunniest window, Peggy's silkworms lay in abox on the sideboard, and Bobby's white mice reposed in much comfort ina cage on the chimneypiece.
The walls were adorned with school drawings and prize maps, fastened upwith tacks; a bookcase of much-read volumes filled the space between thefireplace and the window; and in the corner might be found amiscellaneous collection of cricket-bats, fishing-rods, tennis-racquets,bows and arrows, croquet-mallets, sticks, balls and ninepins, and otherarticles very dear to the children's hearts, but which Nancy generallyclassed impartially under the head of 'lumber.'
The black puppy proved a delightful addition to the already long list ofpets. Lilian hunted up a piece of blue ribbon to tie round his fluffyneck; but he objected to decorations, and soon clawed it off, and chewedit into a soft, slimy pulp. He ran after the children with little short,sharp barks, worrying at their heels till Aunt Helen declared therewould soon not be a whole stocking left in the establishment; he had afray at once with Jack, but was much worsted by that worthy, returningto Peggy for protection with his scrap of a tail between his legs; hetore Bobby's cricket-ball to pieces, licked the polish off Father'sboots, devoured Aunt Helen's goloshes, and nestled cosily down to sleepon the top of Nancy's best Sunday hat, which that luckless damsel hadimprudently left in an open band-box on the kitchen settle.
On the first night of his arrival he howled so piteously on being leftalone that Peggy insisted on taking him to bed with her.
'He'll be no trouble, the darling!' she said. 'He'll just cuddle down onthe rug at the foot of my bed, and go to sleep like an angel; I know hewill!'
She and Lilian made him a very snug little nest with the help of an oldpillow, and he settled himself with a sigh of much content.
'He's _far_ better than a baby,' declared Peggy, 'for he doesn't wanthushing and rocking, and he won't cry in the night.'
But his fond mistress had given her favourite his good character alittle too soon. About midnight the bright moonlight streaming inthrough the window woke Master Rollo, who, having had a refreshing nap,was now very wide awake, and ready for anything. He heaved himself outof his wrappings, and with a delighted yelp fell upon Peggy's curls,worrying them with little gasps of joy, till she had to dive beneath thebedclothes to escape her too sportive pet.
After that there was no more rest for Peggy or Lilian; Rollo was on thewar-path, and determined to make the most of his opportunities. It wasin vain that Lilian held him in her arms, and tried to soothe him tosleep; he grunted and whined, and wriggled down on to the floor, where,with a shrill bark, he unearthed a cardboard box full of old gloves,which had been stored away under the bed. The chewing and tearing up ofthese afforded him much sport, as did also the bare feet of hismistress, when she attempted to interfere. Peggy was at her wits' end,but she finally seized the tempestuous ball of fluff, and dropped him tothe bottom of the empty clothes-basket.
'He can't do any harm in there, at any rate,' she said hopefully.
He could make such a noise, however, that he effectually banishedslumber; he twisted and turned, he bit at the wickerwork, and scratchedwith his claws, and after ten minutes of much commotion managed to tipover the basket and crawl out in triumph, to renew his attacks upon theshoes and other property of the despairing girls.
'It's no use,' groaned Lilian at last, getting out of bed and catchingthe small sinner; 'we shall just have to take it in turns to nurse himtill morning; he's as lively as a cricket, and if we leave him ragingabout on the floor like that we shan't have a thing in the room leftunchewed!'
Never had a night seemed so long; the only one who thoroughly enjoyedhimself was the puppy, who, delighted to receive so much attention,pursued his diversions until the sun was well in at the window, when atlength he snuggled into Peggy's pillow, and composed himself to sleep,leaving his weary guardians only time for a brief rest before Nancy'sunwelcome tap was heard at the door.
After this experience Peggy was not so enthusiastic about having Rollofor a bedfellow, and he slept in the stables, with the cats to bear himcompany.
He was an amusing little fellow, and soon learned to sit up and beg forbiscuits, and Peggy promised herself to teach him many moreaccomplishments in course of time. As he grew older his pranks assumedrather a more serious form.
'Just look what that precious dog of yours has done, Peggy!' cried Mr.Vaughan one day, bursting indignantly into the Rose Parlour with a deadkitten in his hand.
There was a howl of consternation and woe from the children, for thepoor gray kit had been rather a favourite, and an instant search wasmade for the murderer. But Rollo had fled from the stern hand ofjustice, and though they sought him far and near, it was of no avail,and by bedtime he was still missing.
'No doubt he's hiding somewhere about in the barns,' said Lilian. 'Hemust be fearfully hungry; but it serves him right, the wretch!'
The children had long ago gone to bed, and Mr. Vaughan was on the pointof following their example when he noticed a curious and most unusuallump underneath his counterpane.
'What on earth has that stupid Nancy given me a hot bottle for on such awarm evening?' he exclaimed; and flinging down the clothes he disclosedto view, not the expected earthenware bottle, but the shrinking andapologetic form of Master Rollo, who, if ever a dog could be said to owna conscience, surely showed he knew he had offended, and repentedheartily of his sins.
Mr. Vaughan laughed so much that he had not the heart to thrash thelittle rogue, but next morning he devised a punishment for him whichPeggy declared was far worse. The body of the dead kitten was securelytied round his neck with a piece of rope, and, like the albatross in theballad of the 'Ancient Mariner,' it proved such a weight of shame thatthe guilty dog did not dare to show his face to his friends, but slunkaway to hide his dishonoured head in dark corners of the barn orstackyard.
Mr. Vaughan was inflexible, and would not allow Rollo to be relievedfrom his burden until the following evening.
'We must teach him a lesson he is not likely to forget,' he said. 'Icannot have him touching any of the animals on the farm, or we shallhave him killing the sheep when he is older.'
So Rollo bore his punishment as best he could, and was fed behind thepigsty by the sympathetic Peggy, who, while mourning for the departedRuffles, forgave her erring pet from the bottom of her heart when shesaw the depths of his unutterable woe.