Scenes and Characters, or, Eighteen Months at Beechcroft Part 12

'Are you coming in, Claude?' said Emily.

'Send Ada to call me, if there is any one worth seeing,' said Claude

'They will see you from the window,' said Emily.

'No,' said Claude, 'no one ever found me out last summer, under these friendly branches.'

The old butler, Joseph, now showed himself on the terrace; and the young ladies, knowing that he had no intention of crossing the lawn, hastened to learn from him who their visitors were, and entered the house. Just then Phyllis came running back from the kitchen garden, and without looking round, or perceiving Claude, she took up the flower-pot and released the captive, which, unconscious of its peril, rested on a blade of gra.s.s, vibrating its gauzy wings and rejoicing in the restored sunbeams.

'Fly away, fly away, you pretty creature,' said Phyllis; 'make haste, or Maurice will come and catch you again. I wish I had not given you such a fright. I thought you would have been killed, and a pin stuck all through that pretty blue and black body of yours. Oh! that would be dreadful. Make haste and go away! I would not have caught you, you beautiful thing, if I had known what he wanted to do. I thought he only wanted to look at your beautiful body, like a little bit of the sky come down to look at the flowers, and your delicate wings, and great s.h.i.+ning eyes. Oh! I am very glad G.o.d made you so beautiful. Oh! there is Maurice coming. I must blow upon you to make you go. Oh, that is right--up quite high in the air--quite safe,' and she clapped her hands as the dragon-fly rose in the air, and disappeared behind the laurels, just as Maurice and Reginald emerged from the shrubbery, the former with a bottle in his hand.

'Well, where is the Libellulla?' said he.

'The dragon-fly?' said Phyllis. 'I let it out.'

'Sold, Maurice!' cried Reginald, laughing at his brother's disaster.

'Upon my word, Phyl, you are very kind!' said Maurice, angrily. 'If I had known you were such an ill-natured crab--'

'Oh! Maurice dear, don't say so,' exclaimed Phyllis. 'I thought I might let it out because I caught it myself; and I told you I did not catch it for you to kill; Maurice, indeed, I am sorry I vexed you.'

'What else did you do it for?' said Maurice. 'It is horrid not to be able to leave one's things a minute--'

'But I did not know the dragon-fly belonged to you, Maurice,' said Phyllis.

'That is a puzzler, Mohun senior,' said Reginald.

'Now, Redgie, do get Maurice to leave off being angry with me,'

implored his sister.

'I will leave off being angry,' said Maurice, seeing his advantage, 'if you will promise never to let out my things again.'

'I do not think I can promise,' said Phyllis.

'O yes, you can,' said Reginald, 'you know they are not his.'

'Promise you will not let out any insects I may get,' said Maurice, 'or I shall say you are as cross as two sticks.'

'I'll tell you what, Maurice,' said Phyllis, 'I do wish you would not make me promise, for I do not think I CAN keep it, for I cannot bear to see the beautiful live things killed.'

'Nonsense,' said Maurice, fiercely, 'I am very angry indeed, you naughty child; promise--'

'I cannot,' said Phyllis, beginning to cry.

'Then,' said Maurice, 'I will not speak to you all day.'

'No, no,' shouted Reginald, 'we will only treat her like the horse- stinger; you wanted a puella, Maurice--here is one for you, here, give her a dose of the turpentine.'

'Yes,' said Maurice, advancing with his bottle; 'and do you take the poker down to Naylor's to be sharpened, it will just do to stick through her back. Oh! no, not Naylor's--the girls have made a hash there, as they do everything else; but we will settle her before they come out again.'

Phyllis screamed and begged for mercy--her last ally had deserted her.

'Promise!' cried the boys.

'Oh, don't!' was all her answer.

Reginald caught her and held her fast, Maurice advanced upon her, she struggled, and gave a scream of real terror. The matter was no joke to any one but Reginald, for Maurice was very angry and really meant to frighten her.

'Hands off, boys, I will not have her bullied,' said Claude, half rising.

Maurice gave a violent start, Reginald looked round laughing, and exclaimed, 'Who would have thought of Claude sneaking there?' and Phyllis ran to the protecting arm, which he stretched out. To her great surprise, he drew her to him, and kissed her forehead, saying, 'Well done, Phyl!'

'Oh, I knew he was not going to hurt me,' said Phyllis, still panting from the struggle.

'To be sure not,' said Maurice, 'I only meant to have a little fun.'

Claude, with his arm still round his sister's waist, gave Maurice a look, expressing, 'Is that the truth?' and Reginald tumbled head over heels, exclaiming, 'I would not have been Phyl just them.'

Ada now came running up to them, saying, 'Maurice and Redgie, you are to come in; Mr. and Mrs. Burnet heard your voices, and begged to see you, because they never saw you last holidays.'

'More's the pity they should see us now,' said Maurice.

'I shall not go,' said Reginald.

'Papa is there, and he sent for you,' said Ada.

'Plague,' was the answer.

'See what you get by making such a row,' said Claude. 'If you had been as orderly members of society as I am--'

'Oh, but Claude,' said Ada, 'papa told me to see if I could find you.

Dear Claude, I wish,' she proceeded, taking his hand, and looking engaging, 'I wish you would put your arm round me as you do round Phyl.'

'You are not worth it, Ada,' said Reginald, and Claude did not contradict him.

CHAPTER VIII--THE BROTHERS

'But smiled to hear the creatures he had known So long were now in cla.s.s and order shown - Genus and species. "Is it meet," said he, "This creature's name should one so sounding be - 'Tis but a fly, though first-born of the spring, Bombylius Majus, dost thou call the thing?"

It was not till Sunday, that Lily's eager wish was fulfilled, of introducing her friend and her brothers; but, as she might have foreseen, their first meeting did not make the perfections of either party very clear to the other. Claude never spoke to strangers more than he could help, Maurice and Reginald were in the room only a short time; so that the result of Miss Weston's observations, when communicated in reply to Lily's eager inquiries, was only that Claude was very like his father and eldest brother, Reginald very handsome, and Maurice looked like a very funny fellow.

On Monday, Reginald and Maurice were required to learn what they had always refused to acknowledge, that the holidays were not intended to be spent in idleness. A portion of each morning was to be devoted to study, Claude having undertaken the task of tutor--and hard work he found it; and much did Lily pity him, when, as not unfrequently happened, the summons to the children's dinner would bring him from the study, looking thoroughly f.a.gged--Maurice in so sulky a mood that he would hardly deign to open his lips--Reginald talking fast enough, indeed, but only to murmur at his duties in terms, which, though they made every one laugh, were painful to hear. Then Claude would take his brothers back to the study, and not appear for an hour or more, and when he did come forth, it was with a bad headache. Sometimes, as if to show that it was only through their own fault that their tasks were wearisome, one or both boys would finish quite early, when Reginald would betake himself to the schoolroom and employ his idle time in making it nearly impossible for Ada and Phyllis to learn, by talking, laughing, teasing the canary, overturning everything in pursuing wasps, making Emily fretful by his disobedience, and then laughing at her, and, in short, proving his right to the t.i.tle he had given himself at the end of the only letter he had written since he first went to school, and which he had subscribed, 'Your affectionate bother, R. Mohun.' So that, for their own sake, all would have preferred the inattentive mornings.

Lily often tried to persuade Claude to allow her to tell her father how troublesome the boys were, but never with any effect. He once took up a book he had been using with them, and pointing to the name in the first page, in writing, which Lily knew full well, 'Henry Mohun,' she perceived that he meant to convince her that it was useless to try to dissuade him, as he thought the patience and forbearance his brother had shown to him must be repaid by his not shrinking from the task he had imposed upon himself with his young brothers, though he was often obliged to sit up part of the night to pursue his own studies.