‘i have been asking the robinsons about the fair,’ said aunt grace, on monday morning, ‘and i think it will be all right for you to go under mary’s charge. but i don’t want it to be on a saturday. i wonder if she would be able to have you to-day week instead.’

‘it might put out her plans to change the day,’ objected emmeline, more from a perverse desire to find fault than because she seriously thought so. ‘why shouldn’t we go on a saturday?’

‘because i don’t choose for you to go on a school-holiday, when the place will be crowded with children,’ said aunt grace. ‘there’s no saying what you mightn’t catch. if mary can’t have you on the monday i’m afraid you must give up the idea of going to the fair, but i think it would be worth while to write and ask her.’

‘very well,’ said emmeline, in a voice which sounded more sulky than pleased.

[50]

‘oh dear, shall i ever understand emmeline? sighed aunt grace to herself, when her niece had gone off to the schoolroom. ‘micky and kitty are dear little things, but i always seem somehow to rub emmeline the wrong way. i thought she would have been so pleased about this fair.’

so at the bottom of her heart emmeline was, but a kind of cross-grained loyalty made her resent aunt grace’s having thought it needful to consult the robinsons as to whether a treat proposed by mary was suitable. it was that feeling which had been at the bottom of her ungracious manner.

emmeline’s objection that mary might be inconvenienced by the change of dates proved a groundless one. a warm letter arrived in the course of a day or two to say that she would be only too much delighted to see the children on monday, if that suited best; and so without further ado it was arranged.

three eager heads were craned out of the carriage window, when on the following monday morning the woodsleigh train slowly steamed into eastwich station. everyone wanted to be the first to catch sight of mary. ‘there she is!’ screamed micky, and ‘i see her!’ shrieked kitty, as they fixed on two different ladies, neither of whom proved on closer view to resemble mary in the least.

[51]

‘but wherever can mary be?’ cried kitty, when she was convinced of her mistake.

‘i thought she would have been sure to come and meet us,’ said mick, in an injured voice.

‘we’ll wait here a few minutes, just in case something has hindered her,’ said emmeline, ‘and then if she doesn’t come we’ll make our own way to the house.’

the few minutes passed, and still there was no sign of mary, so they presently left the station and set out by themselves for her house. emmeline was in the best of good humours, and made herself quite charming to her little brother and sister. she liked nothing so well as to find herself in a position of authority.

the walk was not long. in a very few minutes they were bursting open mary’s front door, and rushing down the little passage to the kitchen, with joyous cries of ‘mary, we’re here!’ ‘mary, we’ve come!’

mary was seated in an arm-chair by the fire. ‘take care, dearie,’ she explained, as micky was charging at her recklessly. ‘i’ve sprained my ankle rather badly, and though it doesn’t hurt so much now, it wouldn’t do to knock it. i do feel that vexed with myself for having done such a stupid thing to-day of all days. well, my darlings, this is nice to see you again! why,[52] master micky, i do believe you’ve grown even in these few weeks since i saw you.’

‘i must have grown too, then,’ chimed in kitty: ‘our two heads come to just exactly the same place on the schoolroom door.’ kitty was quite willing that micky should be acknowledged her superior in every other way, but that he should have the palm for tallness was rather too much even for her twin-sisterly devotion.

‘so you have, my darling,’ said mary, while emmeline anxiously asked after the sprain.

‘oh, it won’t be anything much,’ said mary, ‘but i’m afraid i shan’t be able to use my foot for the next few days, and what bothers me is how you’re to go to the fair without me. of course, it’s as quiet as it can be just now—it’s only on saturday afternoons and in the evenings it gets a bit rough—so i don’t see myself how you could possibly come to harm under miss emmeline’s charge, but maybe miss bolton wouldn’t think it quite the thing. if only i knew anyone whom i could ask to go with you, but i don’t—not at such short notice,’ and mary’s pleasant face looked thoroughly worried.

‘i’m sure aunt grace wouldn’t mind our going with emmeline,’ said kitty.

‘no, she’s much too jolly,’ agreed micky.

emmeline could not feel so sure. an uncomfortable remembrance came to her that aunt[53] grace had specially said they might go under mary’s charge. did that mean that they might go by themselves now that mary was unable to escort them?

‘well, what do you think, miss emmeline dear?’ asked mary, anxiously.

‘oh, emmeline,’ pleaded kitty, as emmeline still hesitated, ‘of course she wouldn’t mind! why you’re twelve years old—almost grown up.’

that decided emmeline. she could not bear to lose prestige in the eyes of the little sister who thought her almost grown up. ‘i’m sure aunt grace couldn’t mind,’ she said boldly; ‘she knows i’m quite to be trusted to look after the others.’

‘that you are, my darling,’ agreed mary, rather too easily reassured—as a nurse it had been her one weakness that she never could endure to disappoint the children—‘and micky and kitty will be as good as gold, i’m sure’; whereupon the twins assumed the expressions of a pair of youthful saints.

‘may micky and i look at the picture bible?’ suggested kitty meekly. whenever the twins visited that house—they had often done so in the days when mary was still their nurse—one of two amusements was the recognised order of the day. either they played—not the real game, but one of their own invention—with a set of[54] elaborate indian chessmen brought home by a sailor brother of mary’s; or else they looked at the pictures of a fascinating old french bible which had somehow come into the possession of mary’s grandfather.

‘and now, dearie, tell me all about how you’ve been getting on,’ said mary, as soon as there was quiet in the room, owing to the twins having become blissfully absorbed in the picture of the plague of frogs in the old french bible. it always sent delicious thrills through them to discover frogs hopping lightheartedly out of pharaoh’s very modern looking soup tureen, or creeping out from between his bedclothes.

‘aunt grace is kind in her own way,’ acknowledged emmeline—she was always candid about people’s merits even when she disapproved of them—‘but living with her isn’t like living with you, mary.’

‘well, dear, it’s not to be expected it should be, seeing that she’s a young lady, and me only an old nurse,’ said mary simply; ‘but i’m sure whatever changes there are will work out right in the end, for i know she is fond of you.’

‘yes, she’s fond of us—that is, she is fond of the twins,’ said emmeline, ‘but she doesn’t care about the sort of things mother cared about, and you care about. what she really cares for is dressing prettily and going to parties, and so on.’

[55]

‘i don’t think, dear, we can judge what’s in other people’s hearts,’ said mary, slowly. she felt somewhat at a loss how to answer emmeline, for she was too good and loyal to encourage the child in criticising her aunt, but she herself had been brought up to regard most amusements as dangerous, if not actually sinful, and there was no doubt that aunt grace was very gay and merry.

‘but i’m not judging what’s in her heart, but what she says,’ persisted emmeline. ‘i’ll just tell you what she said the other day’; and she related the conversation with mr. faulkner about the little kathleen who had been like an angel to the poor. ‘you don’t think it’s true that children only do harm when they try to do work of that sort?’ she ended.

‘no, indeed,’ said mary; ‘i think a guileless child can often do more than anyone else to touch a sinner’s heart.’ mary spoke with earnest conviction. it was true that she had never actually come across such a young person as the guileless child of whom she spoke, but she none the less firmly believed in the type.

‘mary, isn’t it nearly time for dinner?’ broke in micky at this point. the twins had just reached the last meal of the israelites before they left egypt, and the picture had put it into micky’s head to be hungry.

[56]

‘and, mary, may we set the table?’ chimed in kitty.

they were in the midst of setting the table when mary’s brother george came in from work. he was a burly, good-natured, red-faced person, chiefly remarkable for pockets which bulged out with apples and sweets, and for certain time-honoured jokes which the children always greeted with the cordiality due to such old friends.

‘george always pretends he’s going to put us in his pockets,’ micky had remarked to kitty on one occasion; ‘it’s getting a bit stale.’

‘yes, but we must laugh,’ said kitty: ‘he’d be so disappointed if we didn’t,’ and accordingly the twins always laughed uproariously as soon as george so much as mentioned his pockets.

they sat down to table after full justice had been done to these pleasantries, and the meal that followed might have been one grand joke from beginning to end to judge from the continual laughter that went on. mary had remembered everybody’s favourite dishes; there was liver and bacon to please the twins, pancakes for emmeline, though shrove tuesday was about half a year distant, and baked potatoes for them all. when at last everybody had eaten as much of these good things as they could manage, and george had gone back to work, it was high time to start for the fair.

[57]

‘i wonder what time i had better have tea ready for you,’ said mary, as they were putting on their hats. ‘did miss bolton say you were to go back by any particular train?’

‘she said either the 5.5 or the 5.25,’ replied emmeline; ‘it doesn’t really matter which, for she isn’t going to meet us at the station. she’s going to a croquet-party at the vicarage this afternoon, so it would not be convenient, and you see she always trusts me to look after the others.’ perhaps emmeline would not have dragged this in if her conscience had been quite at ease about the afternoon’s expedition.

‘well, then, i’ll expect you back to tea about a quarter past four,’ said mary. ‘miss emmeline will be able to keep count of time with that dear little watch of hers. and now, my darlings, it’s high time you were off, or you’ll have to come back almost as soon as you get there.’

‘it’s a horrid shame you can’t come too, mary,’ said micky; and his sisters declared that it wouldn’t be half so much fun without her.

‘yes, i don’t know when i’ve been so disappointed about anything,’ said mary, with unfeigned regret; ‘but you’ll have to tell me all about it when you come back to tea. i shall be looking forward to that all the afternoon.’