the little baronet—dolls—cinder parcels—the old gentleman next door—the zoological gardens
the next time i saw sir lionel was about two days afterwards, in the afternoon, when the elder girls had gone for a drive in the carriage with aunt maria, and the others, with myself, were playing in the garden; miss blomfield being seated on a camp-stool reading a terrible article on "rabies" in the medical dictionary.
rubens and i had strolled away from the rest, and i was exercising him in some of his tricks when the little baronet passed us with his accustomed air of mingled melancholy, dignity, and self-consciousness. i was a good deal fascinated by him. beauty has a strong attraction for children, and the depth of his weeds invested him with a melancholy interest, which has also great charms for the young. then, to crown all, he mourned the loss of a young mother—and so did i. i involuntarily showed off rubens as he approached, and he lingered and watched us. by a sort of impulse i took off my little hat, as i had been taught to do to strangers. he lifted his with a dismal grace and moved on.
but as he walked about i could see that he kept looking to where rubens and i played upon the grass, and at last he came and sat down near us.[41]
"is that your dog?" he asked.
"yes he's my dog," i answered.
"he seems very clever," said sir lionel. "did you teach him all those tricks yourself?"
"very nearly all," said i. "rubens, shake hands with sir lionel."
"how do you know my name?" he asked.
"polly told me," said i.
"do you know polly?" sir lionel inquired.
i stared, forgetting that of course he did not know who i was, and answered—
"she's my cousin."
"what's your name?" he asked.
i told him.
"do you like polly?" he continued.
"very much," i said, warmly.
it was with a ludicrous imitation of some grown-up person's manner that he added, in perfect gravity—
"i hope you are not in love with her?"
"oh, dear no!" i cried, hastily, for i had had enough of that joke with miss eliza burton.
"then that is all right," said the little baronet; "let us be friends." and friends we became. "call me leo, and i'll call you reginald," said the little gentleman; and so it was.
i think it is not doing myself more than justice if i say that to this, my first friendship, i was faithful and devoted. leo, for his part, was always affectionate, and he had an admiration for rubens which went a long way with rubens' master. but he was a little spoiled and capricious, and, like many people of rather small capacities (whether young or old), he was often unintentionally inconsiderate. in those days my affection waited willingly upon his; but i know now that in a quiet[42] amiable way he was selfish. i was blessed myself with an easy temper, and at that time it had ample opportunities of accommodating itself to the whims of my friend leo and my cousin polly. not that polly was like sir lionel in any way whatever. but she was quick-tempered and resolute. she was much more clever for her age than i was for mine. she was very decided and rapid in her views and proceedings, very generous and affectionate also, and not at all selfish. but her qualities and those of leo came to the same thing as far as i was concerned. i invariably yielded to them both.
between themselves, i may say, they squabbled systematically, and were never either friends or enemies for two days together.
polly and i never quarrelled. i did her behests manfully, as a general rule; and if her sway became intolerable, i complained and bewailed, on which she relented, being as easily moved to pity as to wrath.
as the weather grew more chill, we seldom went out except in the morning. in the afternoon polly and i (sometimes accompanied by leo) played in the nursery at the top of the house.
now and then the other girls would come up, and "play at dolls" with polly. on these occasions the treatment i experienced was certainly hard. they were soon absorbed in dressing and undressing, sham meals, sham lessons, and all the domestic romance of doll-life, in which, according to my poor abilities, i should have been most happy to have taken a part. but, on the unwarrantable assumption that "boys could not play at dolls," the only part assigned me in the puppet comedy was to take the dolls' dirty clothes to and[43] from an imaginary wash in a miniature wheelbarrow. i did for some time assume the character of dolls' medical man with considerable success; but having vaccinated the kid arm of one of my patients too deeply on a certain occasion with a big pin, she suffered so severely from loss of bran that i was voted a practitioner of the old school, and dismissed. i need hardly say that this harsh decision proved the ruin of my professional prospects, and i was sent back to my wheelbarrow. it was when we were tired of our ordinary amusements, during a week of wet weather, that polly and i devised a new piece of fun to enliven the monotony of the hours when we were shut up in that town nursery at the top of the house.
outside the nursery-windows were iron bars—a sensible precaution of aunt maria against accidents to "the little ones." one day when the window was slightly open, and polly and i were hanging on the window-ledge, in attitudes that fully justified the precautionary measure of a grating, a bit of paper which was rolled up in polly's hand escaped from her grasp, and floated down into the street. in a moment polly and i were standing on the window-ledge, peering down—to the best of our ability—into the square and into the area depths below. like a snow-flake in summer, we saw our paper-twist lying on the pavement; but our delight rose to ecstasy when a portly passer-by stooped and picked up the document and carefully examined it.
out of this incident arose a systematic amusement, which, in advance of our age, we called "the parcel post."
by shoving aside the fire-guard in the absence of our nurses, we obtained some cinders, with which we repaired to our post at the window, thus illus[44]trating that natural proclivity of children to places of danger which is the bane of parents and guardians. here we fastened up little fragments of cinder in pieces of writing-paper, and having secured them tidily with string, we dropped these parcels through the iron bars as into a post-office. it was a breathless moment when they fell through space like shooting stars. it was a triumph if they cleared the area. but the aim and the end of our labours was to see one of our missives attract the notice of a passer-by, then excite his curiosity, and finally—if he opened it—rouse his unspeakable disgust and disappointment.
like other tricksters, our game lasted long because of the ever-green credulity of our "public." in the ever-fresh stream of human life which daily flowed beneath our windows, there were sure to be one or more pedestrians who, with varying expressions of conscientious responsibility, unprincipled appropriation, or mere curiosity, would open our parcels, either to ascertain what trinket should be restored to its owner, or to keep what was to be got, or to see what there was to be seen.
one day when we dropped one of our parcels at the feet of a lady who was going by, she nonplussed us very effectually by ringing the bell and handing in to the footman "something which had been accidentally dropped from one of the upper windows." fortunately for us the parcel did not reach aunt maria; polly intercepted it.
as the passers-by never wearied of our parcels, i do not know when we should have got tired of our share of the fun, but for an occurrence which brought the amusement suddenly to an end. one afternoon we had made up the neatest of little white-paper parcels, worthy of having come from[45] a jeweller's, and i clambered on to the window-seat that i might drop it successfully (and quite clear of the area) into the street. just as i dropped it, there passed an elderly gentleman very precisely dressed, with a gold-headed cane, and a very well-brushed hat. pop! i let the cinder parcel fall on to his beaver, from which it rebounded to his feet. the old gentleman looked quickly up, our eyes met, and i felt convinced that he saw that i had thrown it. i called polly, and as she reached my side the old gentleman untied and examined the parcel. when he came to the cinder, he looked up once more, and polly jumped from the window with a prolonged "oh!"
"what's the matter?" i asked.
"oh, dear!" cried polly; "it's the old gentleman next door!"
for several days we lived in unenviable suspense. every morning did we expect to be summoned from the school-room to be scolded by aunt maria. every afternoon we dreaded the arrival of "the old gentleman next door" to make his formal complaint, and, whenever the front-door bell rang, polly and i literally "shook in our shoes."
but several days passed, and we heard nothing of it. we had given up the practice in our fright, but had some thoughts of beginning again, as no harm had come to us.
one evening (by an odd coincidence, my birthday was on the morrow) as polly and i were putting away our playthings preparatory to being dressed to go down to dessert, a large brown-paper parcel was brought into the nursery addressed jointly to me and my cousin.
"it's a birthday present for you, regie!" polly cried.[46]
"but there's your name on it, polly," said i.
"it must be a mistake," said polly. but she looked very much pleased, nevertheless; and so, i have no doubt, did i. we cut the string, we tore off the first thick covering. the present, whatever it might be, was securely wrapped a second time in finer brown paper and carefully tied.
"it's very carefully done up," said i, cutting the second string.
"it must be something nice," said polly, decisively; "that's why it's taken such care of."
if polly's reasoning were just, it must have been something very nice indeed, for under the second wrapper was a third, and under the third was a fourth, and under the fourth was a fifth, and under the fifth was a sixth, and under the sixth was a seventh. we were just on the point of giving it up in despair when we came to a box. with some difficulty we got the lid open, and took out one or two folds of paper. then there was a lot of soft shavings, such as brittle toys and gimcracks are often packed in, and among the shavings was—a small neatly-folded white-paper parcel. and inside the parcel was a cinder.
we certainly looked very foolish as we stood before our present. i do not think any of the people we had taken in had looked so thoroughly and completely so. we were both on the eve of crying, and both ended by laughing. then polly—in those trenchant tones which recalled aunt maria forcibly to one's mind—said,
"well! we quite deserve it."
the "parcel-post" was discontinued.
we had no doubt as to who had played us this trick. it was the old gentleman next door. he was a wealthy, benevolent, and rather eccentric old[47] bachelor. it was his custom to take an early walk for the good of his health in the garden of the square, and he sometimes took an evening stroll in the same place for pleasure. somehow or other he had made a speaking acquaintance with miss blomfield, and we afterwards discovered that he had made all needful inquiries as to the names, etc., of polly and myself from her—she, however, being quite innocent as to the drift of his questions.
i should certainly not have selected the old gentleman's hat to drop our best parcel on to, if i had known who he was. i was not likely to forget his face now.
i soon got to know all our neighbours by sight. on one side of us was the old gentleman, whose name was bartram; on the other side lived sir lionel damer. he was staying with his guardian, an old colonel sinclair; and when my father came up to town he and this colonel sinclair discovered that they were old school-fellows, which leo and i looked upon as a good omen for our friendship.
polly and i and nurse bundle became as learned in gossip as any one else who lives in a town, and is constantly looking out of the window. we knew the (bird's-eye) appearance of everybody on our side of the square, their servants, their cats and dogs, their carriages, and even their tradesmen. if one of the neighbours changed his milkman, or there came so much as a new muffin man to the square, we were all agog. one day i saw polly upon our perch, struggling to get her face close to the glass, and much hindered by the size of her nose. i felt sure that there was something down below—at least a new butcher's boy. so i was not surprised when she called me to "come and look."[48]
"who is it?" said polly.
"i don't know," said i.
and then we both stared on, as if by downright hard looking we could discover the name of the gentleman who had just come down the steps from colonel sinclair's house. he was a short slight man, young, and with sandy hair. neither of us had seen him before. having the good fortune to see him return to colonel sinclair's house, about two hours later, i hurried with the news to polly; and we resolved to get to see leo as soon as possible, and satisfy our curiosity respecting the stranger. so in the afternoon we sent a message to invite him to come and play with us in the square, but we received the answer that "sir lionel was engaged."
later on he came into the square, and the stranger with him. polly and i and rubens were together on a seat; but when leo saw us he gave a scanty nod and went off in the opposite direction, leaning on the arm of the stranger and apparently absorbed in talking to him. i was rather hurt by his neglect of us. but polly said positively,
"that is leo's way. he likes new friends. but when he treats me like that, i do not speak to him for a week afterwards."
that evening a cab carried off the stranger, and next day leo came to us in the square, all smiles and friendliness.
"i've been so wanting to see you!" he cried, in the most devoted tones. but polly only took up her doll, and with her impressive nose in the air, walked off to the house.
i could not quarrel with leo myself, and we were soon as friendly as ever.
"i want to tell you some news, regie," he said.[49] "colonel sinclair has decided that i am to have a tutor."
"are you glad?" i asked.
"yes, very," said sir lionel. "you see i like him very much—i mean the tutor. he was here yesterday. you saw him with me. he is going to be a clergyman. he has been at cambridge, and he plays the flute."
for a long time leo enlarged to me upon the merits of his tutor that was to be; and when i went back to polly the news i had to impart served to atone for my not having joined her in snubbing the capricious sir lionel. as for him, he was very restless under polly's displeasure, and finally apologized, on which polly gave him a sound scolding, which, to my surprise, he took in the utmost good part, and we were all once more the best possible friends.
that visit to london was an era in my life. it certainly was most enjoyable, and it did me a world of good, body and mind. when my father came up, we enjoyed it still more. he coaxed holidays for the girls even out of aunt maria, and took us (leo and all) to places of amusement. with him we went to the zoological gardens. the monkeys attracted me indescribably, and i seriously proposed to my father to adopt one or two of them as brothers for me. i felt convinced that if they were properly dressed and taught they would be quite companionable, and i said so, to my father's great amusement, and to the scandal of nurse bundle, who was with us.
"i fear you would never teach them to talk, regie," said my father; "and a friend who could neither speak to you nor understand you when you spoke to him would be a very poor companion,[50] even if he could dance on the top of a barrel-organ and crack hard nuts."
"but, papa, babies can't talk at first," said i; "they have to be taught."
now by good luck for my argument there stood near us a country woman with a child in her arms to whom she was holding out a biscuit, repeating as she did so, "ta!" in that expectant tone which is supposed to encourage childish efforts to pronounce the abbreviated form of thanks.
"now look, papa!" i cried, "that's the way i should teach a monkey. if i were to hold out a bit of cake to him, and say, 'ta,'"—(and as i spoke i did so to a highly intelligent little gentleman who sat close to the bars of the cage with his eyes on my face, as if he were well aware that a question of deep importance to himself was being discussed)—
"he would probably snatch it out of your hand without further ceremony," said my father. and, dashing his skinny fingers through the bars, this was, i regret to say, precisely what the little gentleman did. i was quite taken aback; but as we turned round, to my infinite delight, the undutiful baby snatched the biscuit from its mother's hand after a fashion so remarkably similar that we all burst out laughing, and i shouted in triumph,
"now, papa! children do it too."
"well, regie," he answered, "i think you have made out a good case. but the question which now remains is, whether mrs. bundle will have your young friends in the nursery."
but mrs. bundle's horror at my remarks was too great to admit of her even entering into the joke.
the monkeys were somewhat driven from my mind by the wit and wisdom of the elephant, and the condescension displayed by so large an animal[51] in accepting the light refreshment of penny buns. after he had had several, leo began to tease him, holding out a bun and snatching it away again. as he was holding it out for the fourth or fifth time, the elephant extended his trunk as usual, but instead of directing it towards the bun, he deliberately snatched the black velvet cap from leo's head and swallowed it with a grunt of displeasure. leo was first frightened, and then a good deal annoyed by the universal roar of laughter which his misfortune occasioned. but he was a good-tempered boy, and soon joined in the laugh himself. then, as we could not buy him a new cap in the gardens, he was obliged to walk about for the rest of the time bare-headed; and many were the people who turned round to look a second time after the beautiful boy with the long fair hair—a fact of which master lionel was not quite unconscious, i think.
my aunt kindly pressed us to remain with her over christmas. i longed to see the pantomime, having heard much from my cousins and from leo of its delights—and of the harlequin, columbine, and clown. but my father wanted to be at home again, and he took me and rubens and nurse bundle with him at the end of november.
