CHAPTER VII
A STORY-TELLING GAME
When Aunt Emma was safely settled, cap and all, in one of thedrawing-room arm-chairs, it seemed to the children as if the rain andthe gray sky did not matter nearly so much as they had done half an hourbefore. In the first place, her coming made something new andinteresting to think about; and in the second place, they felt quitesure that Aunt Emma hadn't brought her little black bag into thedrawing-room with her for nothing. If only her cap had been in it, whyof course she would have left it in mother's bedroom. But here it was inher lap, with her two hands folded tight over it, as if it containedsomething precious! How very puzzling and interesting!
However, for a long time it seemed as if Aunt Emma had nothing at all tosay about her bag. She began to tell them about her drive--how in twoplaces the horse had to go splashing through the water, and how once,when they were crossing a little river that ran across the road, thewater came so far up the wheels that "I put my head out of the window,"said Aunt Emma, "and said to my old coachman, 'Now, John, if it's goingto get any deeper than this, you'd better turn him round and go home,for I'm an old woman, not a fish, and I can't swim. Of course, if thehorse can swim with the carriage behind him it's all right, but I havemy doubts.' Now John, my dears, has been with me a great many years, andhe knows very well that I'm rather a nervous old woman. It's very sad,but it is so. Don't you be nervous when you're old people. So all hesaid was 'All right, ma'am. Bless you, he can swim like a trout.' Andcrack went the whip, splash went the water! It seemed to me it was justgoing to come in under the door, when, lo and behold! there we were safeand sound on dry ground again. But whether my old horse swam through orwalked through I can't tell you. I like to believe he swam, because I'mso fond of him, and one likes to believe the creatures one loves can doclever things."
"I'll ask John when he comes to take you away, Aunt Emma," said Olly. "Idon't believe horses can swim when they're in a carriage."
"You're a matter-of-fact monkey," said Aunt Emma. "Dear me, what'sthat?"
For a loud squeak had suddenly startled the children, who were nowlooking about them everywhere in vain, to find out where it came from.Squeak! again. This time the voice certainly came from near Aunt Emma'schair, but there was nothing to be seen.
"What a strange house you live in," said Aunt Emma, with a perfectlygrave face. "You must have caught a magician somehow. That's amagician's squeak."
Again came the noise!
"I know, I know!" shouted Olly. "It's Aunt Emma's bag! I'm sure it cameout of the bag."
"My bag!"--holding it up and looking at it. "Now does it look like a bagthat squeaks? It's a perfectly well-behaved bag, and never did such athing in its life."
"I know, Aunt Emma," said Olly, dancing round her in great excitement."You've got the parrot in there!"
"Well now," said Aunt Emma. "This is really serious. If you think I amsuch a cruel old woman as to shut up a poor poll-parrot in a bag,there's no help for it, we must open the bag. But it's a very curiousbag--I wouldn't stand too near it if I were you."
Click! went the fastening of the bag, and out jumped--what do you think?Why, the very biggest frog that was ever seen, in this part of the worldat any rate, a green speckled frog, that hopped on to Aunt Emma's knee,and then on to the floor, where it went hopping and squeaking along thecarpet, till all of a sudden, when it got to the door, it turned over onits back, and lay there quite quiet with its legs in the air.
The children followed it with looks half of horror, half of amazement.
"What is it, Aunt Emma? Is it alive?" asked Milly, jumping on to a chairas the frog came near her, and drawing her little skirts tight round herlegs, while Olly went cautiously after it, with his hands on his knees,one step at a time.
"You'd better ask it," said Aunt Emma, who had at last begun to laugh alittle, as if it was impossible to keep grave any longer. "I'm sure itlooks very peaceable just now, poor thing."
So the children crept up to it, and examined it closely. Yes, it was agreen speckled frog, but what it was made of, and whether it was alive,and if it was not alive how it managed to hop and squeak--these were thepuzzles.
"Take hold of it, Milly," said Mr. Norton, who had just come up from hiswork, and was standing laughing near the door. "Turn it over on its legsagain."
"No, I'll turn it," cried Olly, making a dash, and turning it over in agreat hurry, keeping his legs and feet well out of the way. Hop! squeak!there it was off again, right down the room with the children after it,till it suddenly came up against a table leg, and once more turned overon its back and lay quite still.
"Oh, Aunt Emma, is it a toy?" asked Milly, who now felt brave enough totake it up and look at it.
"Well, Milly, I believe so--a very lively one. Bring it here, and I'lltell you something about it."
So the children brought it very cautiously, as if they were not quitesure what it would do next, and then Aunt Emma explained to them thatshe had once paid a visit to a shop in London where Japanese toys--toysmade in the country of Japan--far away on the other side of theworld--were sold, and that there she found master froggy.
"And there never was such a toy as froggy for a wet day," said AuntEmma. "I have tried him on all sorts of boys and girls, and he neverfails. He's as good a cure for a cross face as a poultice is for a sorefinger. But, Milly, listen! I declare there's something else going on inmy bag. I really think, my dear bag, you might be quiet now that youhave got rid of froggy! What can all this chattering be about? Sh! sh!"and Aunt Emma held up her finger at the children, while she held the bagup to her ear, and listened carefully. Olly was almost beside himselfwith excitement, but Milly had got his little brown hands tight in hersfor fear he should make a jump at the bag. "Yes," said Aunt Emma. "It'sjust as I thought. The bag declares it's not his fault at all, but thatif I will give him such noisy creatures to carry I must take theconsequences. He says there's a whole family now inside him, making sucha noise he can hardly hear himself speak. It's enough, he says, to drivea respectable bag mad, and he must blow up if it goes on. Dear me! Imust look into this. Milly, come here!"
Milly came near, and Aunt Emma opened the bag solemnly.
"Now, Milly, I'll hold it for fear it should take it into its poor headto blow up, and you put your hand in and see what you can find."
So Milly put her hand in, feeling a good deal excited as to what mighthappen--and what do you think she brought out? A whole handful of themost delicious dolls:--cardboard dolls of all sorts and kinds, likethose in mother's drawer at home; paper dolls, mamma dolls, little boydolls and little girl dolls, baby dolls and nurse dolls; dolls in suitsand dolls in frocks; dolls in hats and dolls in nightgowns; a papa introusers and a mamma in a magnificent blue dress with flounces and atrain; a nurse in white cap and apron and the most bewitching baby dollyou ever saw, with a frilled paper cap that slipped on and off, and awhite frock with pink ribbons. And the best of these dolls was, thateach of them had a piece of cardboard fastened on behind and a littlebit of cardboard to stand on, so that when you spread out the piecebehind they stood up as naturally as possible, and looked as if theywere going to talk to you.
"Oh, Aunt Emma, dear Aunt Emma!" cried Milly, beside herself withdelight as she spread them all out in her lap. "They're just likemother's at home, mother's that you made for her when she was a littlegirl--only ever so many more."
"Well, Milly, I made mother's for her long ago, when it rained for daysand days without stopping, and she had grown tired of pretty nearlyeverything and everybody indoors; and now I have been spending part ofthese rainy days in making a new set for mother's little girl. There,dear little woman, I think you must have given me a kiss for each ofthem by this time. Suppose you try and make them stand up."
"But, Aunt Emma," said Olly, who was busy examining the mysteriousbag--how could the dolls talk? they're only paper."
"I know nothing about it," answered Aunt Emma, rescuing the bag, andputting it safely under her chair. "You _might_ ask
the bag--but itwouldn't answer you. Magical bags never do talk except to their mastersor mistresses."
So Olly had to puzzle it out for himself while he played with theJapanese frog. That was an extraordinary frog! You should have seennurse's start when Olly hid himself in the passage and sent the froghopping and squeaking through the open door of the night nursery, wherenurse was sitting sewing; and as for cook, when the creature cameflopping over her kitchen floor she very nearly spoilt the hash she wasmaking for dinner by dropping a whole pepper-box into the middle of it!There was no end to the fun to be got out of froggy, and Olly amusedhimself with it the whole of the morning, while Milly went through longstories with her dolls upstairs, helped every now and then by Aunt Emma,who sat knitting and talking to mother.
At dinner the children had to sit quiet while Mr. and Mrs. Norton andAunt Emma talked. Father and mother had been almost as much cheered upby Aunt Emma's coming as the children themselves, and now thedinner-table was lively with pleasant talk; talk about books, and talkabout pictures, and talk about foreign places, and talk about themountains and the people living near Ravensnest, many of whom mother hadknown when she was a little girl. Milly, who was old enough to listen,could only understand a little bit here and there; but there was alwaysAunt Emma's friendly gentle face to look at, and her soft old hand inits black mitten, to slip her own little fingers into; while Olly was sotaken up with the prospects of the black-currant pudding which he hadseen cook making in the morning, and the delight of it when it came,that it seemed no trouble to him to sit still.
As for the rain, there was not much difference. Perhaps there were a fewbreaks in the clouds, and it might be beating a little less heavily onthe glass conservatory outside the dining-room, still, on the whole, theweather was much the same as it had been. It was wonderful to see howlittle notice the children had taken of it since Aunt Emma came, andwhen they escorted her upstairs after dinner, they quite forgot to rushto the window and look out, as they had been doing the last three daysat every possible opportunity.
The children got her safe into a chair, and then Olly brought a stool toone side of her, and Milly brought a stool to the other.
"_Now,_ can you remember about old Mother Quiverquake?" said Olly,resting his little sunburnt chin on Aunt Emma's knee, and looking up toher with eager eyes.
"'Suppose we have a story-telling game'"]
"Well, I daresay I shall begin to remember about her presently; butsuppose, children, we have a _story-telling game_. We'll tellstories--you and Olly, father, mother, and everybody. That's much fairerthan that one person should do all the telling."
"We couldn't," said Milly, shaking her head gravely, "we are only littlechildren. Little children can't make up stories."
"Suppose little children try," said mother. "I think Aunt Emma's is anexcellent plan. Now, father, you'll have to tell one too."
"Father's lazy," said Mr. Norton, coming out from behind his newspaper."But, perhaps, if you all of you tell very exciting stories you may stirhim up."
"Oh, father!" cried Olly, who had a vivid remembrance of his father'sstories, though they only came very seldom, "tell us about the rat withthree tails, and the dog that walked on its nose."
"Oh dear, no!" said Mr. Norton, "those won't do for such a grandstory-telling as this. I must think of some story which is all longwords and good children."
"_Don't_ father," said Milly, imploringly, "it's ever so much nicer whenthey get into scrapes, you know, and tumble down, and all that."
"Who's to begin?" said Aunt Emma. "I think mother had better begin.Afterwards it will be your turn, Olly; then father, then Milly, and thenme."
"I don't believe I've got a scrap of a story in my head," said Mrs.Norton. "It's weeks since I caught one last."
"Then look here, Olly," said Aunt Emma, "I'll tell you what to do. Go upgently behind mother, and kiss her three times on the top of the head.That's the way to send the stories in. Mother will soon begin to feelone fidgeting inside her head after that."
So Olly went gently up behind his mother, climbed on a stool at the backof her chair, and kissed her softly three times at the back of her head.Mrs. Norton lay still for a few moments after the kisses, with closedeyes.
"Ah!" she said at last. "Now I think I've caught one. But it's a verylittle one, poor little thing. And yet, strange to say, though it's verylittle, it's very old. Now, children, you must be kind to my story. Icaught him first a great many years ago in an old book, but I am afraidyou will hardly care for him as much as I did. Well, once upon a timethere was a great king."
"Was it King Arthur, mother?" interrupted Olly, eagerly.
"Oh no! this king lived in a different country altogether. He lived in abeautiful hot country over the sea, called Spain."
"Oh, mother! a _hot_ country!" protested Milly, "that's where the raingoes to."
"Well, Milly, I don't think you know any more about it, except that you_tell_ the rain to go there. Don't you know by this time that the rainnever does what it's told? Really, very little rain goes to Spain, andin some parts of the country the people would be very glad indeed if wecould send them some of the rain we don't want at Ravensnest. But now,you mustn't interrupt me, or I shall forget my story--Well there wasonce a king who lived in a _very_ hot part of Spain, where they don'thave much rain, and where it hardly ever snows or freezes. And this kinghad a beautiful wife, whom he loved very much. But, unluckily, thisbeautiful wife had one great fault. She was always wishing for the mostunreasonable and impossible things, and though the king was alwaystrying to get her what she wanted she was never satisfied, and every dayshe seemed to grow more and more discontented and exacting. At last, oneday in the winter, a most extraordinary thing happened. A shower of snowfell in Cordova, which was the name of the town where the king and queenlived, and it whitened the hills all around the town, so that theylooked as if somebody had been dusting white sugar over them. Now snowwas hardly ever seen in Cordova, and the people in the town wondered atit, and talked about it a great deal. But after she had looked at it alittle-while the queen began to cry bitterly. None of her ladies couldcomfort her, nor would she tell any of them what was the matter. Thereshe sat at her window, weeping, till the king came to see her. When hecame he could not imagine what she was crying about, and begged her totell him why. 'I am weeping,' she said, sobbing all the time, 'becausethe hills--are not always--covered with snow. See how pretty they look!And yet--I have never, till now, seen them look like that. If you reallyloved me, you would manage some way or other that it should snow once ayear at any rate.'
"'But how can I make it snow?' cried the king in great trouble, becauseshe would go on weeping and weeping, and spoiling her pretty eyes.
"'I'm sure I don't know,' said the queen, crossly, 'but you can't loveme a bit, or you'd certainly try.'
"Well, the king thought and thought, and at last he hit upon a beautifulplan. He sent into all parts of Spain to buy almond trees, and plantedthem on the hills all round the town. Now the almond tree, as you know,has a lovely pinky-white blossom, so when the next spring arrived allthese thousands of almond trees came out into bloom all over the hillsround Cordova, so that they looked at a distance as if they were coveredwith white snow. And for once the queen was delighted, and could nothelp saying a nice 'Thank you' to the king for all the trouble he hadtaken to please her. But it was not very long before she grewdiscontented again, and began once more to wish for all kinds ofridiculous things. One day she was sitting at her window, and she sawsome ragged little children playing by the river that ran round thepalace. They were dabbling in the mud at the side, sticking their littlebare feet into it, or scooping up pieces which they rolled into ballsand threw at one another. The queen watched them for some time, and atlast she began to weep bitterly. One of her maidens ran and told theking that the queen was weeping, and he came in a great hurry to seewhat was the matter.
"'Just look at those children down there!' said the queen, sobbing andpointing to them. 'Did you ever
see anybody so happy? Why can't I havemud to dabble in too, and why can't I take off my shoes and stockings,and amuse myself like the children do, instead of being so dull andstuck-up all day long?'
"'Because it isn't proper for queens to dabble in the mud,' said thepoor king in great perplexity, for he didn't at all like the idea ofhis beautiful queen dabbling in the mud with the little ragged children.
"'That's just like you,' said the queen, beginning to cry faster thanever,' you never do anything to please me. What's the good of beingproper? What's the good of being a queen at all?'
"This made the king very unhappy, and again he thought and thought, tillat last he hit upon a plan. He ordered a very large shallow bath ofwhite marble to be made in the palace-garden. Then he poured into it allkinds of precious stones, and chips of sweet-smelling wood, besides athousand cartloads of rose-leaves and a thousand cartloads of orangeflowers. All these he ordered to be stirred up together with a greativory spoon, till they made a kind of wonderful mud, and then he had thebath filled up with scented water.
"'Now then,' he said to the queen, when he had brought her down to lookat it, 'you may take off your shoes and stockings and paddle about inthis mud as much as you like.' You may imagine that this was a verypleasant kind of mud to dabble in, and the queen and her ladies amusedthemselves with it immensely for some time. But nothing could keep thistiresome queen amused for long together, and in about a fortnight shehad grown quite tired of her wonderful bath. It seemed as if the king'spains had been all thrown away. She grew cross and discontented again,and her ladies began to say to each other, 'What will she wish for next,I wonder? The king might as well try to drink up the sea as try to gether all she wants.' At last, one day, when she and her ladies werewalking near the palace, they met a shepherdess driving a flock of sheepup into the hills. The shepherdess looked so pretty and bright in herred petticoat and tall yellow cap, that the queen stopped to speak toher.
"'Where are you going, pretty maiden, with your woolly white sheep?' sheasked.
"'I am going up to the hills,' said the shepherdess. 'Now the sun hasscorched up the fields down below we must take our sheep up to the coolhills, where the grass is still fresh and green. Good-day, good-day, thesheep are going so fast I cannot wait.' So on she tripped, singing andcalling to her sheep, who came every now and then to rub their softcoats against her, as if they loved her. The queen looked after her, andher face began to pucker up.
"'Why am I not a shepherdess?' she exclaimed, bursting into tears. 'I_hate_ being a queen! I never sang as merrily as that little maiden inall my life. I must and will be a shepherdess, and drive sheep up intothe mountain, or I shall die!"
"And all that night the foolish queen sat at her window crying, and whenthe morning came she had made herself look quite old and ugly. When theking came to see her he was dreadfully troubled, and begged her to tellhim what was the matter now.
"'I want to be a shepherdess, and drive sheep up into the mountains,'sobbed the queen. 'Why should the little shepherdess girls look alwaysso happy and merry, while I am dying of dulness?'
"The king thought it was very unkind of her to say she was dying ofdulness when he had taken so much trouble to get her all she wanted; buthe knew it was no good talking to her while she was in such a temper. Soall he said was:
"'How can I turn you into a shepherdess? These shepherdesses stay outall night with their sheep on the hills, and live on water and a crustof bread. How would you like that?'
"'Of course I-should like it,' said the queen, 'anything for a change.Besides, nothing could be nicer than staying out of doors these lovelynights. And as for food, you know very well that I am never hungry here,and that it doesn't matter in the least to me what I eat!'
"'Well,' said the king, 'you shall go up to the hills, if you promise totake your ladies with you, and if you will let me send a tent to shelteryou at night, and some servants to look after you.'
"'As if that would give me any pleasure!' said the queen, 'to befollowed about and waited upon is just what I detest. I will go alone;just like that pretty little shepherdess, if I go at all.'
"But the king declared that nothing would induce him to let her goalone. So the queen set to work to cry, and she cried for two days andtwo nights without stopping, and at the end of that time the poor kingwas ready to let her go anywhere or do anything for the sake of a littlepeace.
"So she had her own way. They found her a flock of the loveliest whitesheep, all with blue ribbons round their necks, and blue rosettes ontheir little white tails; and the queen dressed herself up in a red silkpetticoat and a cap embroidered in gold and silver, and then she set outby herself.
"At first it was all delightful. She drove the sheep up the soft greenhillsides, and laughed with delight to see them nibbling the freshgrass, and running hither and thither after her, and after each other.The evening sun shone brightly, and she sat herself down on a rock andsang all the tunes she knew, that she might be just like the littleshepherdess. But while she was singing the sheep strayed away, and shehad to run after them as fast as she could, to catch them up. This madeher hot and tired, so she tried to make them lie down under a chestnuttree, that she might rest beside them. But the sheep were not a bittired, and had no mind to rest at all. While she was calling one set ofthem together the other set ran scampering off, and the queen found outthat she must just give up her way for once and follow theirs. On wentthe sheep, up hill and down dale, nibbling and frisking and trotting totheir hearts' content, till the queen was worn out.
"At last, by the time the sun was setting, the poor queen was so tiredthat she could walk no longer. Down she sat, and the ungrateful sheepkicked up their little hind legs and trotted away out of sight as fastas they could trot. There she was left on the hillside all alone. Itbegan to get dark, and the sky, instead of being blue and clear as ithad been, filled with black clouds.
"'Oh dear! oh dear!' sighed the queen, 'here is a storm coming. If Icould only find my way down the hill, if I could only see the town!'
"But there were trees all about her, which hid the view, and soon it wasso dark there was nothing to be seen, not even the stars. And presently,crash came the thunder, and after the thunder the rain--such rain! Itsoaked the queen's golden cap till it was so heavy with water she wasobliged to throw it away, and her silk petticoat was as wet as if shehad been taking a bath in it. In vain she ran hither and thither, tryingto find a way through the trees, while the rain blinded her, and thethunder deafened her, till at last she was forced to sink down on theground, feeling more wretched and frightened and cold than any queenever felt before. Oh, if she were only safe back in her beautifulpalace! If only she had the tent the king wanted to send with her! Butthere all night she had to stay, and all night the storm went on, tillthe queen was lying in a flood, and the owls and bats, startled out oftheir holes, went flying past her in the dark, and frightening her outof her senses. When the morning came there was such a shivering,crumpled up queen sitting on the grass, that even her own ladies wouldscarcely have known her.
"'Oh, husband! husband!' she cried, getting up and wringing her coldlittle hands. 'You will never find me, and your poor wicked wife willdie of cold and hunger.'
"Tirra-lirra! tirra-lirra! What was that sounding in the forest?Surely--surely--it was a hunting horn. But who could be blowing it soearly in the cold gray morning, when it was scarcely light? On ran thequeen toward where the sound came from. Over rocks and grass she ran,till, all of a sudden, stepping out from behind a tree, came the kinghimself, who had been looking for her for hours. And then what do youthink the discontented queen did? She folded her hands, and hung herhead, and said, quite sadly and simply:
"'Oh, my lord king, make me a shepherdess really. I don't deserve to bea queen. Send me away, and let me knit and spin for my living. I haveplagued you long enough.'
"And suddenly it seemed to the king as if there had been a black speckin the queen's heart, which had been all washed away by the rain; and hetook he
r hands, and led her home to the palace in joy and gladness. Andso they lived happy ever afterward."
"Thank you _very_ much, mother," said Milly, stretching up her arms anddrawing down Mrs. Norton's face to kiss her. "Do you really think thequeen was never discontented any more?"
"I can't tell you any more than the story does," said Mrs. Norton. "Yousee there would always be that dreadful night to think about, if sheever felt inclined to be; but I daresay the queen didn't find it veryeasy at first."
"I would have made her be a shepherdess," said Olly, shaking his headgravely. "She wasn't nice, not a bit."
"Little Mr. Severity!" said Aunt Emma, pulling his brown curls. "It'syour turn next, Olly."
"Then Milly must kiss me first," said Olly, looking rather scared, as ifsomething he didn't quite understand was going to happen to him.
So Milly went through the operation of kissing him three times on theback of the head, and then Olly's eyes, finding it did no good to stareat Aunt Emma or mother, went wandering all round the room in search ofsomething else to help him. Suddenly they came to the window, where abrown speck was dancing up and down, and then Olly's face brightened,and he began in a great hurry:
"Once upon a time there was a daddy-long-legs--"
"Well," said Milly, when they had waited a little while, and nothingmore came.
"I don't know any more," said Olly.
"Oh, that _is_ silly," said Milly, "why, that isn't a story at all. Shutyour eyes tight, that's much the best way of making a story."
So Olly shut his eyes, and pressed his two hands tightly over them, andthen he began again:
"Once upon a time there was a daddy-long-legs--"
Another stop.
"Was it a _good_ daddy-long-legs?" asked Milly, anxious to help him on.
"Yes," said Olly, "that's it, Milly. Once upon a time there was a gooddaddy-long-legs--"
"Well, what did he do?" asked Milly, impatiently.
"He--he--flewed on to father's nose!" said Olly, keeping his hands tightover his eyes, while his little white teeth appeared below in a broadgrin.
"And father said, 'Who's that on my nose?' and the daddy-long-legs said,'It's me, don't you know?' And father said, 'Get away off my nose, Idon't like you a bit.' And the daddy-long-legs said, 'I shan't go away.It's hot on the window, the sun gets in my eyes. I like sitting up herebest.' So father took a big sofa-cushion and gave his nose _ever_ such abang! And the daddy-long-legs tumbled down dead. And the cushion tumbleddown dead. And father tumbled down dead. And that's all," said Ollyopening his eyes, and looking extremely proud of himself.
"Oh, you silly boy!" cried Milly, "that isn't a bit like a real story."
But Aunt Emma and father and mother laughed a good deal at Olly's story,and Aunt Emma said it would do very well for such a small boy.
Whose turn was it next?
"Father's turn! father's turn!" cried the children, in great glee,looking round for him; but while Olly's story had been going on, Mr.Norton, who was sitting behind them in a big arm-chair, had beencovering himself up with sofa cushions and newspapers, till there wasonly the tip of one of his boots to be seen, coming out from under theheap. The children were a long time dragging him out, for he pelted themwith cushions, and crumpled the newspapers over their heads, till theywere so tired with laughing and struggling they had no strength left.
"Father, it isn't fair, I don't think," said Milly at last, sitting abreathless heap on the floor. "Of course little people can't _make_ bigpeople do things, so the big people ought to do them without making."
"That's not at all good reasoning, Milly," said Mr. Norton, who couldnot resist the temptation of throwing one more sofa cushion at herlaughing face. "You can't _make_ nurse stand on her head, but that's noreason why nurse should stand on her head."
Just then Olly, moving up a stool behind his father's chair, brought hislittle mouth suddenly down on his father's head, and gave him threekisses in a great hurry, with a shout of triumph at the end.
"Dear me!" said Mr. Norton, shutting his eyes and falling back as ifsomething had happened to him. "This is very serious. Aunt Emma, thatspell of yours is really _too_ strong. My poor head! It will certainlyburst if I don't get this story out directly! Come, jump up,children--quick!"
Up jumped the children, one on each knee, and Mr. Norton began at once.