it was still early when the children reached troublous times castle. dr. maybright would not be likely to join them for nearly an hour. they had walked fast, and polly, at least, felt both tired and cross. when the twins ran up to her and assured her with much enthusiasm that they had never had a more delightful walk, she turned from them with a little muttered “pshaw!” polly’s attentions now to maggie were most marked, and if this young person were not quite one of the most obtuse in existence, it is possible she might have felt slightly embarrassed.

“while we’re waiting for father,” exclaimed polly, speaking aloud, and in that aggressive tone which had not been heard from her lips since the night of the supper in the attic—“while we’re waiting for father we’ll get the banqueting-hall ready. maggie and i will see to this, but any one who likes to join us can. we don’t require any assistance, but if it gives pleasure to any of the others to see us unpack the baskets, now is the time for them to say the word.”

“but, of course, we’re all going to get the dinner ready,” exclaimed dolly and katie, in voices of consternation. “what a ridiculous way you are talking, polly! this is all our affair; half the fun is getting the dinner ready. isn’t it, nell?”

“yes, of course,” said helen, in her pleasant, bright voice. “we’ll all do as much as we can do to make the banqueting-hall ready for father. now, let’s get george to take the hampers there at once; and, flower, i thought, perhaps, you would help me to touch up the creepers here and there, they do look so lovely falling over that ruined west window. come, flower, now let’s all of us set to work without any more delay.”

“yes, flower, and you know you have such a way of making things look sweet,” said david, taking his sister’s hand and kissing it.

she put her arm carelessly round his neck, stooped down, and pressed her lips to his brow, then said in that light, arch tone, which she had used all day, “david is mistaken. i can’t make things look sweet, and i’m not coming to the banqueting-hall at present.”

there was a pointed satire in the two last words. flower’s big blue eyes rested carelessly on maggie, then they traveled to where polly stood, and a fine scorn curled her short, sensitive upper lip. the words she had used were nothing, but[pg 95] her expressive glance meant a good deal. polly refused to see the world of entreaty on david’s face—she threw down her challenge with equal scorn and a good deal of comic dignity.

“it’s a very good thing, then, you’re not coming to the banqueting-hall, flower,” she said. “for we don’t want people there who have no taste. i suppose it’s because you are an australian, for in england even the cottagers know a little about how to make picnics look pretty. maggie is a cottager at present, as she’s out of a situation, so it’s lucky we’ve brought her. now, as every one else wants to come, let them, and don’t let’s waste any more time, or when father comes, we really will have nothing ready for him to eat.”

“very well,” said flower. “then i shall take a walk by myself. i wish to be by myself. no, david you are not to come with me, i forbid it.”

for a quarter of a second a queer steely light filled her blue eyes. david shrank from her glance, and followed the rest of the party down a flight of steps which led also into the old banqueting-hall.

“you’ve done it now,” he whispered to polly. “you’ll be very, very sorry by-and-by, and you’ll remember then that i warned you.”

“i really think you’re the most tiresome boy,” said polly. “you want to make mysteries out of nothing. i don’t see that flower is particularly passionate; she’s a little bit sarcastic, and she likes to say nasty, scathing things, but you don’t suppose i mind her! she’ll soon come to her senses when she sees that we are none of us petting her, or bowing down to her. i expect that you and your father have spoiled that flower of yours over in ballarat.”

“you don’t know flower a bit,” responded david. “i warned you. you’ll remember that presently. flower not passionate! why, she was white with passion when she went away. well, you wait and see.”

“i wish you’d stop talking,” responded polly, crossly. “we’ll never have things ready if you chatter so, and try to perplex me. there’s poor fly almost crying over that big hamper. please, david, go and help her to get the knives, and forks, and glasses out, and don’t break any glasses, for we’re always fined if we break glasses at picnics.”

david moved away slowly. he was an active little fellow as a rule, but now there seemed to be a weight over him. the vivaciousness had left his handsome dark little face; once he turned round and looked at polly with a volume of reproach in his eyes.

she would not meet his eyes, she was bending over her own hamper, and was laughing and chatting gayly with every one who came within her reach. the moment flower’s influence was removed polly became once more the ringleader of all the fun. once more she was appealed to, her advice asked, her directions followed. she could not help[pg 96] admitting to herself that she liked the change, and for the first time a conscious feeling of active dislike to flower took possession of her. what right had this strange girl to come and take the lead in everything? no, she was neither very pretty nor very agreeable; she was a conceited, ill-tempered, proud creature, and it was polly’s duty, of course it was polly’s duty, to see that she was not humored. was there anything so unreasonable and monstrous as her dislike to poor little maggie? poor little harmless maggie, who had never done her an ill-turn in her life. really david had been too absurd when he proposed that maggie should be sent home. david was a nice boy enough, but he was not to suppose that every one was to bow down to his queen flower. ridiculous! let her go into passions if she liked, she would soon be tamed and brought to her senses when she had been long enough in england.

polly worked herself up into quite a genuine little temper of her own, as she thought, and she now resolved, simply and solely for the purpose of teasing flower, that maggie should dine with them all, and have a seat of honor near herself. when she had carelessly thought of her coming to the picnic, she, of course, like all the others, had intended that maggie and george should eat their dinner together after the great meal was over; and even helen shook her head now when polly proposed in her bright audacious way that maggie should sit near her, in one of the best positions, where she could see the light flickering through the ivy, which nearly covered the beautiful west window.

“as you like, of course, polly,” responded helen. “but i do think it is putting maggie a little out of her place. perhaps father won’t like it, and i’m sure flower won’t.”

“i’ll ask father myself, when he arrives,” answered polly, choosing to ignore the latter part of helen’s speech.

the banqueting-hall, which was a perfect ruin at one end, was still covered over at the other. and it was in this portion, full of picturesque half-lights and fascinating dark corners, that the children had laid out their repast. the west window was more than fifty feet distant. it was nearly closed in with an exquisite tracery of ivy; but as plenty of light poured into the ruin from the open sky overhead, this mattered very little, and but added to the general effect. the whole little party were very busy, and no one worked harder than polly, and no one’s laugh was more merry. now and then, it is true, an odd memory and a queer sensation of failure came over her. was she really—really to-day, at least—trying to climb successfully the highest mountain? she stifled the little voice speaking in her heart, delighted her brothers and sisters, and even caused a smile to play round david’s grave lips as she made one witty remark after another. firefly in particular was in ecstasies with her beloved sister, and when the doctor at last appeared on the scene the fun was at its height.[pg 97]

the moment he entered the banqueting-hall polly went up to him, put on her archest and most pleading expression, and said in a tone of inquiry:

“it’s all so delightful, and such a treat for her. and you don’t mind, do you father?”

“i don’t know that i mind anything at this moment, polly, for i am hungry, and your viands look tempting of the tempting. unless you bid me not to come to the feast, i shall quarrel with no other suggestion.”

“oh! you darlingest of fathers; then you won’t be angry if poor maggie sits next me; and has her dinner with us? she is a little afraid of the moor, and i wanted to cure her, so i brought her to-day, and she will be so happy if she can sit next me at dinner.”

“put her where you please, my dear; we are not sitting on forms or standing on ceremony at present. and now to dinner, to dinner, children, for i must be off again in an hour.”

no one noticed, not even david, that while the doctor was speaking a shadow stole up and remained motionless by the crumbling stairs of the old banqueting-hall; no one either saw when it glided away. polly laughed, and almost shouted; every one, flower excepted, took their places as best they could on the uneven floor of the hall; the white tablecloth was spread neatly in the middle. every one present was exceedingly uncomfortable physically, and yet each person expressed him or herself in tones of rapture, and said never was such food eaten, or such a delightful dinner served.

for a long time flower was not even missed; then david’s grave face attracted the doctor’s attention.

“what is the matter, my lad?” he said. “have you a headache? don’t you enjoy this al fresco sort of entertainment? and, by the way, i don’t see your sister. helen, my dear, do you know where flower is? did not she come with you?”

“of course she did, father; how stupid and careless of me never to have missed her.”

helen jumped up from the tailor-like position she was occupying on the floor.

“flower said she would take a little walk,” she continued. “and i must say i forgot all about her. she ought to have been back ages ago.”

“flower went by herself for a walk on the moor!” echoed the doctor. “but that isn’t safe; she may lose her way, or get frightened. why did you let her go, children?”

no one answered; a little cloud seemed to have fallen on the merry party. polly again had a pinprick of uneasiness in her heart, and a vivid recollection of the highest mountain which she was certainly not trying to climb.

the doctor said he would go at once to look for flower.