CHAPTER V
AUNT EMMA'S PICNIC
Instead of taking them straight into the house, however, Aunt Emma tookthe children up a little shady path which very soon brought them to awhite cottage covered with honeysuckle and climbing roses.
"This is where my coachman's wife lives," said Aunt Emma, "and she ownsa small boy who might perhaps find you a pair of stockings, Olly, to puton while your own are washed."
Olly opened his brown eyes very wide at the idea of wearing some otherlittle boy's stockings, but he said nothing.
Aunt Emma tapped at the door, and out came a stout kind-looking woman.
"Mrs. Tyson, do you think your Johnny could lend my little nephew a pairof his stockings while we get his own washed? Master Olly has beentumbling into a bog by way of making friends with the mountains, and Idon't quite know how I am to let those legs into my dining-room."
"Dear me, ma'am, but Johnny'll be proud if he's got any clean, but I'llnot answer for it. Won't ye come in?"
In they walked, and there was a nice tidy kitchen, with a wooden cradlein the corner, and a little fair-haired boy sitting by it and rockingthe baby. This was Johnny, and Olly looked at him with great curiosity."I've got bigger legs than Johnny," he whispered solemnly at last toAunt Emma, while they were waiting for Mrs. Tyson, who had gone upstairsto fetch the stockings.
"Perhaps you eat more bread and milk than Johnny does," said Aunt Emma,very solemnly too, "However, most likely Johnny's stockings willstretch. How's the baby, Johnny?"
"She's a great deal better, ma'am," said the little boy, smiling at her.Milly and Olly made him feel shy, but he loved Aunt Emma.
"Have you been taking care of her all the morning for mother?"
"Yes, ma'am, and she's never cried but once," said Johnny proudly.
"Well done! Ah! there comes Mrs. Tyson. Now, Olly, sit up on that chair,and we'll see to you."
Off came the dirty stockings, and Mrs. Tyson slipped on a pair of woolensocks that tickled Olly very much. They were very thick, and not a bitlike his own stockings; and when he got up again he kept turning roundand round to look at his legs, as if he couldn't make them out.
"Do they feel funny to you?" said Mrs. Tyson, patting his shoulder."Never you mind, little master; I know they're nice and warm, for Iknitted them myself."
"Mother buys our stockings in the shop," said Olly, when they gotoutside again; "why doesn't Mrs. Tyson?"
"Perhaps we haven't so many shops, or such nice ones here, Olly, as youhave at Willingham; and the people here have always been used to do agreat many things for themselves. Some of them live in such lonelyplaces among the mountains that it is very difficult for them to get toany shops. Not very long ago the mothers used to make all the stuffs fortheir own dresses and their children's. What would you say, Milly, ifmother had to weave the stuff for it every time you had a new dress?"
"Mother wouldn't give me a great many new dresses," said Milly, gravely,shaking her head. "I like shops best, Aunt Emma."
"Well, I suppose it's best to like what we've got," said Aunt Emma,laughing.
Indoors, Olly's muddy stockings were given to Aunt Emma's maid, whopromised to have them washed and dried by the time they had to go home,and then, when Mrs. Norton had covered up the black spots on his frockwith a clean pinafore she had brought with her, Olly looked quiterespectable again.
The children thought they had never seen quite such a nice house as AuntEmma's. First of all it had a large hall, with all kinds of corners init, just made for playing hide-and-seek in; and the drawing-room wasfull of the most delightful things. There were stuffed birds in cases,and little ivory chessmen riding upon ivory elephants. There werepicture-books, and there were mysterious drawers full of cards andpuzzles, and glass marbles and old-fashioned toys, that the children'smother and aunts and uncles, and their great-aunts and uncles beforethat, had loved and played with years and years ago. On the wall hung agreat many pictures, some of them of funny little stiff boys in bluecoats with brass buttons, and some of them of little girls with mob-capsand mittens, and these little boys and girls were all either dead now,or elderly men and women, for they were the great-aunts and uncles; andover the mantelpiece hung a picture of a lovely old lady, with bright,soft brown hair and smiling eyes and lips, that looked as if they werejust going to speak to the two strange little children who had come fortheir first visit to their mother's old home. Milly knew quite well thatit was a picture of great-grandmamma. She had seen others like itbefore, only not so large as this one, and she looked at it quietly,with her grave blue eyes, while Olly was eagerly wandering round theroom, spying into everything, and longing to touch this, that, and theother, if only mother would let go his hand.
"You know who that is, don't you, little woman?" said Aunt Emma, takingher up on her knee.
"Yes," said Milly, nodding, "it's great-grandmamma. I wish we could haveseen her."
"I wish you could, Milly. She would have smiled at you as she is smilingin the picture and you would have been sure to have loved her; alllittle children did. I can remember seeing your mother, Milly, when shewas about as old as you, cuddled up in a corner of that sofa over there,in 'grandmamma's pocket,' as she used to call it, listening with all herears to great-grandmamma's stories. There was one story called 'Leonora'that went on for years and years, till all the little children init--and the little children who listened to it--were almost grown up;and then great-grandmamma always carried about with her a wonderfulblue-silk bag full of treasures, which we used to be allowed to turn outwhenever any of us had been quite good at our lessons for a whole week."
"Mother has a bag like that," said Milly; "it has lots of little toys init that father had when he was a little boy. She lets us look at it onour birthdays. Can you tell stories, Aunt Emma?"
"Tell us about old Mother Quiverquake," cried Olly, running up andclimbing on his aunt's knee.
"Oh dear, no!" said Aunt Emma; "it's much too fine to-day forstories--indoors, at any rate. Wait till we get a real wet day, and thenwe'll see. After dinner to-day, what do you think we're going to do?Suppose we have a row on the lake to get water-lilies, and suppose wetake a kettle and make ourselves some tea on the other side of the lake.What would you say to that, Master Olly?"
The children began to dance about with delight at the idea of a row anda picnic both together, when suddenly there was a knock at the door, andwhen Aunt Emma said, "Come in!" what do you think appeared? Why, a greatgreen cage, carried by a servant, and in it a gray parrot, swingingabout from side to side, and cocking his head wickedly, first over oneshoulder and then over the other.
"Now, children," said Aunt Emma, while the children stood quite stillwith surprise, "let me introduce you to my old friend, Mr. Poll Parrot.Perhaps you thought I lived all alone in this big house. Not at all.Here is somebody who talks to me when I talk to him, who sings andchatters and whistles and cheers me up wonderfully in the winterevenings, when the rains come and make me feel dull. Put him down here,Margaret," said Aunt Emma to the maid, clearing a small table for thecage. "Now, Olly, what do you think of my parrot?"
"Can it talk?" asked Olly, looking at it with very wide open eyes.
"It _can_ talk; whether it _will_ talk is quite another thing. Parrotsare contradictious birds. I feel very often as if I should like to beatPolly, he's so provoking. Now, Polly, how are you to-day?"
"Polly's got a bad cold; fetch the doc--" said the bird at once, in sucha funny cracked voice, that it made Olly jump as if he had heard one ofthe witches in Grimm's "Fairy Tales" talking.
"Come, Polly, that's very well behaved of you; but you mustn't leave offin the middle, begin again. Olly, if you don't keep your fingers out ofthe way Polly will snap them up for his dinner. Parrots like fingersvery much." Olly put his hands behind his back in a great hurry, andmother came to stand behind him to keep him quiet. By this time,however, Polly had begun to find out that there were some new people inthe room he didn't know, and for a long time Aunt Emma could not m
akehim talk at all. He would do nothing but put his head first on one sideand then on the other and make angry clicks with his beak.
"Come, Polly," said Aunt Emma, "what a cross parrot you are.One--two--three--four. Now, Polly, count."
"Polly's got a bad cold, fetch the doc--" said Polly again while AuntEmma was speaking. "One--two--six--seven--eight--nine--two--_Quick_march!"
And then Polly began to lift first one claw and then the other as if hewere marching, while the children shouted with laughter at hisridiculous ways and his gruff cracked voice.
Then Aunt Emma went behind him and rapped gently on the table. Theparrot stopped marching, stuck his head on one side and listened. AuntEmma rapped again.
"Come in!" said the parrot suddenly, quite softly, as if he had turnedinto quite another person. "Hush--sh--sh, cat's got a mouse!"
"Well, Polly," said Aunt Emma, "I suppose she may have a mouse if shelikes. Is that all you've got to tell us? Polly, where's gardener?"
"Get away! get away!" screamed Polly, while all his feathers began tostand up straight, and his eyes looked fierce and red like two littlelive coals.
"That always makes him cross," said Aunt Emma; "he can't bear gardener.Come, Polly, don't get in such a temper."
"Oh, isn't he like the witches on the broom-sticks in our fairy-book,Olly?" cried Milly. "Don't you think, Aunt Emma, he must have beenchanged into something? Perhaps he was a wicked witch once, or amagician, you know, and the fairies changed him into a parrot."
"Well, Milly, I can't say. He was a parrot when I had him first, twelveyears ago. That's all I know about it. But I believe he's very old. Somepeople say he's older than I am--think of that! So you see he's had timeto be a good many things. Well, Polly, good-night. You're not a nicebird to-night at all. Take him away, Margaret."
"Jane! Jane!" screamed Polly, as the maid lifted up the cage again."Make haste, Jane! cat's in the larder!"
"Oh, you bad Polly," said Aunt Emma, "you're always telling tales.Jane's my cook, Milly, and Polly doesn't like cats, so you see he triesto make Jane believe that our old cat steals the meat out of the larder.Good-bye, Polly, good-bye. You're an ill-natured old bird, but I'm veryfond of you all the same."
"Do get us a parrot, mother!" said Olly, jumping about round his mother,when Polly was gone.
"How many more things will you want before you get home, Olly, do youthink?" asked his mother, kissing him. "Perhaps you'll want to take homea few mountains, and two or three little rivers, and a bog or two, and afew sheep--eh, young man?"
By this time dinner was ready, and there was the dinner-bell ringing. Upran the children to Aunt Emma's room to get their hands washed and theirhair brushed, and presently there were two tidy little folks sitting oneither side of Aunt Emma's chair, and thinking to themselves that theyhad never felt quite so hungry before. But hungry as Milly was shedidn't forget to look out of the window before she began her dinner, andit was worth while looking out of the window in Aunt Emma's dining-room.
Before the windows was a green lawn, like the lawn at Ravensnest, onlythis lawn went sloping away, away till there was just a little rim ofwhite beach, and then beyond came the wide, dancing blue lake, that thechildren had seen from the top of the mountain. Here it was close tothem, so close that Milly could hear the little waves plashing, throughthe open window.
"Milly," whispered Aunt Emma when they were all waiting for pudding, "doyou see that little house down there by the water's edge? That's wherethe boat lives--we call it a boathouse. Do you think you'll befrightened of the water, little woman?"
"No, I don't think so," said Milly, shaking her little wise headgravely. "I am frightened sometimes, very. Mother calls me a littlegoose because I run away from Jenny sometimes--that's our cow at home,Aunt Emma, but then she's got such long horns, and I can't help feelingafraid."
"Well, the lake hasn't got horns, Milly," said Aunt Emma, laughing, "soperhaps you will manage not to be afraid of it."
How kind and nice Aunt Emma looked as she sat between the children, withher pretty soft gray hair, and her white cap and large white collar.Mrs. Norton could not help thinking of the times when she was a littlegirl, and used always to insist on sitting by Aunt Emma at dinner-time.That was before Aunt Emma's hair had turned gray. And now here were herown little children sitting where she used to sit at their age, andstealing their small hands into Aunt Emma's lap as she used to do solong ago.
After dinner the children had to sit quiet in the drawing-room for atime, while Aunt Emma and father and mother talked; but they hadpicture-books to look at, and Aunt Emma gave them leave to turn outeverything in one of the toy-drawers, and that kept them busy and happyfor a long time. But at last, just when Olly was beginning to get tiredof the drawer, Aunt Emma called to them from the other end of the roomto come with her into the kitchen for a minute. Up jumped the childrenand ran after their aunt across the hall into the kitchen.
"Now, children," said Aunt Emma, pointing to a big basket on the kitchentable, "suppose you help me to pack up our tea-things. Olly, you go andfetch the spoons, and, Milly, bring the plates one by one."
The tea things were all piled up on the kitchen table, and the childrenbrought them one after another to Aunt Emma to pack them carefully intothe big basket.
"Ain't I a useful boy, Aunt Emma?" asked Olly proudly, coming up ladenwith a big table-cloth which he could scarcely carry.
"Very useful, Olly, though our table-cloth won't look over tidy at teaif you crumple it up like that. Now, Milly, bring me that tray of breadand the little bundle of salt; and, Olly, bring me that bit of butterover there, done up in the green leaves, but mind you carry itcarefully. Now for some knives too; and there are the cups and saucers,Milly, look, in that corner; and there is the cake all ready cut up, andthere is the bread and butter. Now have we got everything? Everything, Ithink, but the kettle, and some wood and some matches, and these must goin another basket."
"Aunt Emma," said Milly, creeping up close to her, "were you ever afairy godmother?"
"Not that I know of, Milly. Would you like me better if I had a wand anda pair of pet dragons, like old Fairy Blackstick?"
"No," said Milly, stroking her aunt's hand, "but you do such nicethings, just like fairy godmothers do."
"Do I, little woman? Aunt Emma likes doing nice things for goodchildren. But now come along, it's quite time we were off. Let us goand fetch father and mother. Gardener will bring the baskets."
Such a merry party they were, trooping down to the boathouse. There laythe boat; a pretty new boat, painted dark blue, with a little red flagfloating at her bows, and her name, "Ariel," written in large whiteletters on the stern. And all around the boathouse stretched thebeautiful blue water, so clear and sunny and sparkling that it dazzledMilly's eyes to look at it. She and Olly were lifted into the boatbeside Aunt Emma and mother, father sat in the middle and took the oars,while gardener put the baskets into the stern, and then, untying therope which kept the boat tied into the boathouse, he gave it a good pushwith one hand and off she went out into the blue lake, rising up anddown on the water like a swan.
"Oh! mother, mother, look up there," shouted Olly, "there's themountain. Isn't that where we climbed up this morning?"
Yes, there it was, the beautiful green rocky mountain, rising up aboveAunt Emma's house. They could see it all so clearly as they got fartherout into the lake; first the blue sky, then the mountain with the littlewhite dots on it, which Milly knew were sheep; then some trees, and infront, Aunt Emma's house with the lawn and the boathouse. And as theylooked all round them they could see far bigger and grander mountainsthan Brownholme, some near and green like Brownholme, and some far awayand blue like the sky, while down by the edge of the lake were hayfieldsfull of flowers, or bits of rock with trees growing on the top of them.The children hardly knew what it was made them so quiet; but I think itwas because everything was so beautiful. They were really in thehill-fairies' palace now.
"Aren't there any water-fairies in th
is lake, mother?" whispered Milly,presently, looking down into the clear blue water, and trying to see thebottom.
"I can't tell, Milly, I never saw any. But there used to bewater-fairies in old days. After tea suppose we ask Aunt Emma to tell usa story about a king in olden times whom the water-fairies loved; sheused to tell it to me when I was small, and I liked it best of allstories. But, Olly, you must sit still, or the boat will go tipping overto one side, and father won't be able to row."
"Do let me row, father," begged Olly.
"Not yet, old man--I must get used to the boat first, and find out howto manage her, but presently you shall come and try, and so shall Millyif she likes."
On they rowed, farther and farther from the shore, till Aunt Emma'shouse began to look quite small, and they could hardly see the gardenerworking on the lawn.
"Father, what a long way we've come," cried Milly, looking all round."Where are we going to?"
"Well, presently, Milly, I am going to turn the boat a little bit, so asto make her go over to that side of the lake over there. Do you see abig rock with some trees on it, far away, sticking out into the lake?"
"Yes," said the children, looking very hard.
"Well, that's where we're going to have tea. It's called BirdsnestPoint, because the rocks come out in a point into the lake. But first Ithought I would bring you right out into the middle of the lake, thatyou might see how big it is, and look at the mountains all round.""Father," said Olly, "if a big stone fell down out of the sky and madeever such a big hole in the boat, and the water came into the hole,should we all be dead?"
"I daresay we should, Olly, for I don't think I could carry mother, andAunt Emma, and Milly, and you on my back, safe home again, and you seenone of you can swim but me."
"Then I hope a big stone won't come," said Milly, feeling just a littlebit frightened at Olly's suggestion.
"Well, big stones don't grow in the sky generally, Milly, if that's anycomfort to you. But do you know, one day long ago, when I was out rowingon this lake, I thought all of a sudden I heard some one shouting andscreaming, and for a long time I looked and waited, but could seenothing; till at last I fancied I could see, a long distance off, whatlooked like a pole, with something white tied to it. And I rowed, androwed, and rowed, as fast as I could, and all the time the shouting andscreaming went on, and at last what do you think I saw? I saw a boat,which looked as if something was dragging it down into the water. Partof it had already sunk down into the lake, and in the part which wasstill above the water there were three people sitting, a gentleman, andtwo little girls who looked about ten years old. And they were shouting'Help! help!' at the top of their voices, and waving an oar with ahandkerchief tied to it. And the boat in which they sat was sinkingfarther and farther into the water, and if I had'n't come up just when Idid, the gentleman and the two little girls would have been drowned."
"Oh, father!" cried Milly, "what made their boat do like that? And didthey get into yours?"
"There was a great hole in the bottom of their boat, Milly, and thewater was coming through it, and making the boat so heavy that it wassinking down and down into the lake, just as a stone would sink if youthrew it in. How the hole came there we never quite knew: I thought theymust have knocked their boat against a sharp rock--in some parts of thelake there are rocks under the water which you can't see--and the rockhad made the hole; but other people thought it had happened in someother way. However, there they were, and when I took them all into myboat you never saw such miserable little creatures as the two littlegirls were. They were wet through, they were as white as little ghosts,and when they were safe in my boat they began to cry and shake so, poorlittle souls, though their father and I wrapped them up in our coats,that I did want their mother to come and comfort them."
"Oh, but, father, you took them safe home to their mother, didn't you?And do tell me what she said."
"They had no mother, Milly, they had only their father, who was withthem. But he was very good to them, and I think on the whole they werehappy little girls. The Christmas after that I got a little parcel onemorning, and what do you think was in it? Why, two photographs of thesame little girls, looking so neat and tidy and happy, I could hardlybelieve they were really the same as the little drowned rats I hadpulled out of the water. Ask mother to show you the pictures when we gethome; she has them somewhere. Now, Olly, would you like to row?"
"Oh, father, don't bump against any rocks," said Milly, whose thoughtswere very full of the little girls.
"Don't you trouble your head about rocks, old woman. I know a good dealmore about this lake than those little girls' father did, and I won'ttake you into any harm. Come along, Olly."
Olly was helped along the boat by mother and Aunt Emma till his fathercaught hold of him and pulled him on to his seat, where he let him puthis two small paws on one of the oars, and try what he could do with it.Mr. Norton pulled too; but Olly thought it was all his doing, and thatit was really he who was making the boat go.
"Don't we go fast, father?" he cried out presently, his little faceflushed with pleasure and excitement. "You couldn't row so fast withoutme, could you, father?"
"You little fly-on-the-wheel," said his father, smiling at him.
"What does that mean, father?"
"Never mind, you'll know when you're bigger. But now look, children, howclose we are coming to the shore. And quick, Milly, quick! What do yousee over there?"
Mr. Norton pointed over the water to a place where some green rusheswere standing up out of the water, not very far from the edge. What werethose great white and gold things shining among the rushes; and whatwere those large round green leaves lying on the water all about them?
"Water-lilies! water-lilies!" cried Milly, stamping her little feet withdelight. "Oh, mother, look! it was on one of those leaves that the oldtoad put little Tiny in my fairy-book, don't you remember? Only thelittle fishes came and bit off the stalk and set her free. Oh, I wish wecould see little Tiny sitting on one of those leaves!"
"Well," said Aunt Emma, "there's no saying what you may find in theseparts if you look long enough. This is a very strange country. But now,Milly, look out for the lilies. Father's going to take us in among them,and I'll hold you, while you gather them."
And presently, swish went the boat up against the rushes, and there werethe lovely white lilies lying spread out on the water all round them,some quite open and showing their golden middles, and some still buds,with their wet green cases just falling off, and their white petalsbeginning to unclose. But what slippery stalks they had. Aunt Emma heldMilly, and father held Olly, while they dived their hands under thewater and pulled hard. And some of the lilies came out with such shortbits of stalk you could scarcely hold them, and sometimes, flop! outcame a long green stalk, like a long green snake curling and twistingabout in the boat. The children dabbled, and splashed, and pulled, totheir hearts' content, till at last Mr. Norton told them they had gotenough and now they must sit quite still while he rowed them in to theland.
"Oh, father, just those two over there!" pleaded Milly, who could notbear leaving so many beauties behind.
"No, Milly, no more. Look where the sun is now. If we don't make hasteand have our tea, we shall never get back to Ravensnest to-night."
Milly's face looked as if it would like to cry, as the boat began tomove away from the rushes, and the beautiful lilies were left behind. Itold you, to begin with, that Milly was ready to cry oftener than asensible little girl should. But Aunt Emma was not going to have anycrying at her picnic.
"Who's going to gather me sticks to make my fire?" she said suddenly, ina solemn voice.
"I am! I am!" shouted both the children at once, and out came Milly'ssmiles again, like the sun from behind a cloud.
"And who's going to lay the table-cloth?"
"We are! we are!"
"And who's going to hand the bread and butter?"
"I am!" exclaimed Milly, "and Olly shall hand the cake."
"And who'
s going to _eat_ the bread and butter?"
"All of us!" shouted the children, and Milly added, "Father will want a_big_ plate of bread and butter, I daresay."
"I should think he would, after all this rowing," said Mr. Norton. "Nowthen, look out for a bump!"
"So they put Olly up on a tall piece of rock, and hesang."]
Bump! Splash! there was the boat scraping along the pebbles near theshore; out sprang Mr. Norton, first on to a big stone, then on to theshore, and with one great pull he brought the boat in till it was closeenough for Aunt Emma and Mrs. Norton to step on to the rocks, and forthe children to be lifted out.
"Oh! what a nice place!" cried Milly, looking about her, and clappingher hands, as she always did when she was pleased. It was a point ofrock running out into the lake, a "peninsula" Milly called it, when shehad been all round it, and it was covered with brown heather spread allover the ground, and was delightfully soft and springy to sit upon. Inthe middle of the bit of rock there were two or three trees standing uptogether, birch trees with silvery stems, and on every side but onethere was shallow brown water, so clear that they could see every stoneat the bottom. And when they looked away across the lake, there were thegrand old mountains pushing their heads into the clouds on the otherside, and far away near the edge of the lake they saw a white dot whichthey knew was Aunt Emma's house. How the sun shone on everything! How itmade the water of the lake sparkle and glitter as if it were alive! Andyet the air was not hot, for a little wind was coming to them across thewater, and moving the trees gently up and down.
And what was this under the trees? Why, a kind of fireplace made ofstones, and in front of it a round green bit of grass, with tufts ofheather all round it, just like a table with seats.
"Who put these stones here, Aunt Emma?" asked Olly, as she and motherand Mr. Norton brought up the baskets, and put them in the green placeby the stones.
"Well, Olly, long ago, when all your uncles and aunts were little, andthey used to come here for picnics, they thought it would be very niceto have a stone fireplace, built up properly, so that they needn't makeone every time. It was Uncle Richard's idea, and we had such funbuilding it up. The little ones brought the stones; and the big onespiled them together till you see we made quite a nice fireplace. And ithas lasted ever since. Whenever I come here I mend it up if any of thestones have tumbled down. Numbers of little children come to picnic hereevery summer, and they always use our fireplace. But now, come alonginto the woods, children, and gather sticks."
Off they ran after Aunt Emma, and soon they were scrambling about thewood which grew along the shore, picking up the dry sticks and dry fernunder the trees. Milly filled her cotton frock full, and gathered it upwith both her hands; while Olly of course went straight at the biggestbranch he could see, and staggered along with it, puffing and panting.
"You grasshopper, you!" said Mr. Norton, catching hold of him, "don'tyou think you'd better try a whole tree next time? There, let me breakit for you." Father broke it up into short lengths, and then off ranOlly with his little skirts full to Aunt Emma, who was laden too with anarmful of sticks. "That'll do to begin with, old man. Come along, andyou and I'll light the fire."
What fun it was, heaping up the sticks on the stones, and how they didblaze and crackle away when Aunt Emma put a match to them. Puff! puff!out came the smoke; fizz--crack--sputter--went the dry fir branches, asif they were Christmas fireworks.
"Haven't we made a blazey fire, Aunt Emma?" said Olly, out of breathwith dragging up sticks, and standing still to look.
"Splendid," said Mr. Norton, who had just come out of the wood with hisbundle. "Now, Olly, let me just put you on the top of it to finish itoff. How you would fizz!"
Off ran Olly, with his father after him, and they had a romp among theheather till Mr. Norton caught him, and carried him kicking and laughingunder his arm to Aunt Emma.
"Now, Aunt Emma, shall I put him on?"
"Oh dear, no!" said Aunt Emma, "my kettle wouldn't sit straight on him,and it's just boiling beautifully. We'll put him on presently when thefire gets low."
"Olly, do come and help mother and me with the tea-things," cried Milly,who was laying the cloth as busily and gravely as a little housemaid.
"Run along, shrimp," said his father, setting him down.
And off ran Olly, while Mr. Norton and Aunt Emma heaped the wood on thefire, and kept the kettle straight, so that it shouldn't tip over andspill.
Laying the cloth was delightful, Milly thought. First of all, they put aheavy stone on each corner of the cloth to keep it down, and prevent thewind from blowing it up, and then they put the little plates all round,and in the middle two piles of bread and butter and cake.
"But we haven't got any flowers," said Milly, looking at it presently,with a dissatisfied face, "you always have flowers on the table at home,mother."
"Why, Milly, have you forgotten your water-lilies; where did you leavethem?"
"Down by the water," said Milly. "Father told me just to put theirstalks in the water, and he put a stone to keep them safe. Oh! that'llbe splendid, mother. Do give me a cup, and we'll get some water forthem."
Mother found a cup, and the children scrambled down to the edge of thelake. There lay the lilies with their stalks in the water, close to theboat.
"They look rather sad, mother, don't they?" said Milly, gathering themup. "Perhaps they don't like being taken away from their home."
"They never look so beautiful out of the water," said mother; "but whenwe get home we'll put them into a soup-plate, and let them swim about init. They'll look very nice then. Now, Olly, fill the cup with water, andwe'll put five or six of the biggest in, and gather some leaves."
"There, look! look! Aunt Emma," shouted Milly, when they had put thelilies and some fern leaves in the middle of the table. "Haven't we madeit beautiful?"
"That you have," said Aunt Emma, coming up with the kettle which hadjust boiled. "Now for the tea, and then we're ready."
"We never had such a nice tea as this before," said Olly, presentlylooking up from a piece of bread and butter which had kept him quiet forsome time. "It's nicer than having dinner at the railway station even."
Aunt Emma and mother laughed; for it doesn't seem so delightful togrown-up people to have dinner at the railway station.
"Well, Olly," said mother, "I hope we shall often have tea out of doorswhile we are at Ravensnest."
Milly shook her head. "It'll rain, mother. That old gentleman said itwould be sure to rain."
"That old gentleman is about right, Milly," said Mr. Norton. "I think itrains dreadfully here, but mother doesn't seem to mind it a bit. Onceupon a time when mother was a little girl, there came a funny old fairyand threw some golden dust in her eyes, and ever since then she can'tsee straight when she comes to the mountains. It's all right everywhereelse, but as soon as she comes here, the dust begins to fly about in hereyes, and makes the mountains look quite different to her from what theylook to anybody else."
"Let me look, mother," said Olly, pulling her down to him.
Mrs. Norton opened her eyes at him, smiling.
"I can't see any dust, father."
"Ah, that's because it's fairy dust," said Mr. Norton, gravely. "Now,Olly, don't you eat too much cake, else you won't be able to row."
"It'll be my turn first, father," said Milly, "you know I haven't rowedat all yet."
"Well, don't you catch any crabs, Milly," said Aunt Emma.
"Catch crabs, Aunt Emma!" said Milly, very much puzzled. "Crabs are onlyin the sea, aren't they?"
"There's a very big kind just about here," said Mr. Norton, "and they'realways looking out for little children, particularly little girls."
"I don't understand, father," said Milly, opening her eyes very wide.
"Have some more tea, then," said Mr. Norton, "that always makes peoplefeel wiser."
"Father, aren't you talking nonsense?" said Olly, stopping in the middleof a piece of cake to think about what his father was
saying.
"Very likely, Olly. People always do at picnics. Aunt Emma, when are yougoing to tell us your story?"
"When we've washed the things and put them away," said Aunt Emma, "thenOlly shall sing us two songs, and I'll tell you my story."
But the children were so hungry that it was a long time before they gaveup eating bread and butter, and then, when at last tea was over, whatfun it was washing the cups and plates in the lake! Aunt Emma and Ollywashed, and mother and Milly dried the things on a towel, and theneverything was packed away into the baskets, and mother and Aunt Emmafolded up the table-cloth, and put it tidily on the top of everything.
"I did like that," said Milly, sighing as the last basket was fasteneddown. "I wish you'd let me help Sarah wash up the tea-things at home,mother."
"If Sarah liked to let you, I shouldn't say no, Milly," said Mrs.Norton. "How soon would you get tired of it, old woman, I wonder? Butcome along, let's put Olly up on a rock, and make him sing, and thenwe'll have Aunt Emma's story."
So they put Olly up on a tall piece of rock, and he sang "The MinstrelBoy," and "Bonnie Dundee," and "Hot Cross Buns," just as if he were alittle musical box, and you had nothing to do but to wind him up. He hada sweet, clear, little voice, and he looked a delightful brown gipsy, ashe sat perched up on the rock with his long legs dangling, and his curlsblowing about his face.
"There!" said Olly, when he had shouted out the last note of "Hot CrossBuns." "I have singed three whole songs; and now, Aunt Emma, tell usabout the king and the fairies. Krick, please."
"It must be 'krick' indeed," said Aunt Emma, "if we want to get hometo-night."
For the sun had almost sunk behind the mountains at their back, and thewind blowing across the lake was beginning to get a little cold, whileover their heads the rooks went flying, singing "caw, caw," on their wayto bed. And how the sun was turning the water to gold! It seemed to bemaking a great golden pathway across the lake, and the mountains wereturning a deep blue, and plash, plash, went the little waves on therocks, so softly they seemed to be saying "Good-night! good-night!"
"Well," said Aunt Emma, settling herself on a soft piece of heather, andputting her arms round Milly and Olly, "Once upon a time there was agreat king. He was a good king and a wise man, and he tried to make allthe people round about him wiser and better than they were before hecame to rule over them; and for a long time he was very powerful andhappy, and he and the brave men who helped him and were his friends dida great deal of good, and kept the savage people who lived all about himin order, and taught them a great many things. But at last some of thesavage people got tired of obeying the king, and they said they wouldnot have him to reign over them any more; so they made an army, and theycame together against the king to try and kill him and his friends. Andthe king made an army too, and there was a great battle; and the savagepeople were the strongest, and they killed nearly all the king's bravemen, and the king himself was terribly hurt in the fight. And at last,when night came on, there were left only the king and one of hisfriends--his knights, as they were called. The king was hurt so muchthat he could not move, and his friend thought he was dying. They wereleft alone in a rocky desert place, and close by there was a great lakewith mountains round it--like this, Olly. It was very cold, and the moonwas shining, and the king lay so still that once or twice his friendalmost thought that he was dead. But at last, about the middle of thenight, he began to speak, and he told his friend to take his sword thatwas by his side and to go down to the side of the lake and throw it asfar as he could into the water. Now, this sword was a magic sword. Longbefore, the king was once walking beside this lake, when he suddenly sawan arm in a long white sleeve rising out of the lake, and in the hand atthe end of it was a splendid sword with a glistening handle. And theking got into a boat and rowed as fast as he could till he got nearenough to take hold of the sword, and then the arm sank down under thewater and was seen no more. And with the sword the king won a great manybattles, and he loved it, and never would part with it; but now that hewas dying, he told his friend to take the sword and throw it back intothe lake where he had found it, and see what would happen. And hisfriend took it, and went away over the rocks till he came to the edge ofthe lake, and then he took the sword out of its case and swung it abovehis head that he might throw it far into the water; but as he lifted itup the precious stones in the handle shone so splendidly in themoonlight that he could not make up his mind to throw it into the water,it seemed such a pity. So he hid it away among the rushes by the waterside, and went back to the king. And the king said, 'What did you see bythe lake?'
"And the knight said, 'I saw nothing except the water, and themountains, and the rushes.'
"And the king said, 'Oh, unkind friend! Why will you not do as I askyou, now that I am dying and can do nothing for myself? Go back andthrow the sword into the lake, as I told you.'
"And the knight went back, and once more he lifted the sword to throw itinto the water but it looked so beautiful that he _could_ not throw itaway. There would be nothing left, he thought, to remember the king bywhen he was dead if he threw away the sword; so again he hid it amongthe rushes, and then he went back to the king. And again the king asked,'What did you see by the lake?' and again the knight answered, 'I sawnothing except the water and the mountains.'
"'Oh, unkind, false friend!' cried the king, 'you are crueller to methan those who gave me this wound. Go back and throw the sword into thewater, or, weak as I am, I will rise up and kill you.'
"Back went the knight, and this time he seized the sword without lookingat it, so that he should not see how beautiful it was, and then he swungit once, twice, thrice, round his head, and away it went into the lake.And as it fell, up rose a hand and arm in a long white sleeve out of thewater, and the hand caught the sword and drew it down under the water.And then for a moment, all round the lake, the knight fancied he heard asound of sobbing and weeping, and he thought in his heart that it mustbe the water-fairies weeping for the king's death.
"'What did you see by the lake?' asked the king again, when he cameback, and the knight told him. Then the king told him to lift him up andcarry him on his back down to the edge of the lake, and when they gotthere, what do you think they saw?"
But the children could not guess, and Milly pressed Aunt Emma's handhard to make her go on.
"They saw a great black ship coming slowly over the water, and on theship were numbers of people in black, sobbing and crying, so that theair was full of a sound of weeping, and in front sat three queens inlong black dresses, and with gold crowns on their heads, and they, too,were weeping and wringing their hands.
"'Lift me up,' said the king, when the ship came close beside them, 'andput me into the ship.' And the knight lifted him up, while the threequeens stretched out their hands and drew him into the ship.
"'Oh, king! take me with you,' said the knight, 'take me too. What shallI do all alone without you?' But the ship began to move away, and theknight was left standing on the shore. Only he fancied he heard theking's voice saying, 'Wait for me, I shall come again. Farewell!'
"And the ship went faster and faster away into the darkness, for it wasa fairy ship, till at last the knight could see it no more. So then heknew that the king had been carried away by the fairies of the lake--thesame fairies who had given him the sword in old days, and who had lovedhim and watched over him all his life. But what did the king mean bysaying, 'I shall come again'?"
Then Aunt Emma stopped and looked at the children.
"What did he mean, auntie?" asked Milly, who had been listening with allher ears, and whose little eyes were wet, "and did he ever come backagain?"
"Not while the knight lived, Milly. He grew to be quite an old man, andwas always hoping that the fairies would bring the king again. But theking never came, and his friend died without seeing him."
"But did he _ever_ come again?" asked Olly.
"I don't know, Olly. Some people think that he is still hidden awaysomewhere by the kind water
-fairies, and that some day, when the worldwants him very much, he will come back again."
"Do you think he is here in this lake?" whispered Milly, looking at thewater.
"How can we tell what's at the bottom of the lake?" said Aunt Emma,smiling. "But no, I don't think the king is hidden in this lake. Hedidn't live near here."
"What was his name?" asked Milly.
"His name was King Arthur. But now, children, hurry; there is fatherputting all the baskets into the boat. We must get home as quick as wecan."
They rowed home very quickly, except just for a little time when Millyrowed, and they did not go quite so fast as if father were rowing alone.It was quite evening now on the lake, and there were great shadows fromthe mountains lying across the water. Somehow the children felt muchquieter now than when they started in the afternoon. Milly had curledherself up inside mother's arm, and was thinking a great deal about KingArthur and the fairy ship, while Olly was quite taken up with watchingthe oars as they dipped in and out of the water, and occasionally askinghis father when he should be big enough to row quite by himself. Itseemed a very little time after all before they were stepping out of theboat at Aunt Emma's boathouse, and the picnic and the row were bothover.
"Good-bye, dear lake," said Milly, turning with her hands full ofwater-lilies to look back before they went up to the house. "Good-night,mountains; good-night, Birdsnest Point. I shall soon come and see youagain."
A few minutes more, and they were safely packed into a carriage whichdrove them back to Ravensnest, and Aunt Emma was saying good-bye tothem.
"Next time, I shall come and see you, Milly," she said, as she kissedMilly's little sleepy face. "Don't forget me till then."
"Then you'll tell us about old Mother Quiverquake," said Olly, huggingher with his small arms. "Aunt Emma, I haven't given Johnny back hisstockings. They did tickle me so in the boat."
"We'll get them some time," said Aunt Emma. "Good-night, good-night."
It was a sleepy pair of children that nurse lifted out of the carriageat Ravensnest. And though they tried to tell her something about it, shehad to wait till next morning before she could really understandanything about their wonderful day at Aunt Emma's house.