Holiday House Part 12

"What can be the matter?" exclaimed Lady Rockville, anxiously. "This is very odd! His Lordship is as punctual as the postman in general!

especially for supper; and here is Lord Rockville's favourite dish of sago and wine, which will become uneatably cold in ten minutes, if he does not return home to enjoy it!"

Scarcely had she finished speaking, when the door opened and Lord Rockville walked majestically into the room. There was something so different from usual in his manner and appearance, however, that Harry and Laura exchanged looks of astonishment; his neckcloth was loose--his face excessively red--and his hand shook, while he breathed so hard, that he might have been heard at the porter's lodge. Lady Rockville gazed with amazement at all she saw, and then asked what he chose for supper; but when Lord Rockville tried to speak, the words died on his lips, so he could only point in silence to the sago and wine.

"What in all the world has happened to you this evening, my Lord?"

exclaimed Lady Rockville, unable to restrain her curiosity a moment longer. "I never saw you in such a way before! Your eyes are perfectly blood-shot--your dress strangely disordered--and you seem so hot and so fatigued! Tell me!--what is the matter?"

"Nothing!" answered Lord Rockville, drawing himself up, while he tried to look grander and graver than ever, though his Lordship could not help panting for breath--putting his hands to his sides--and wiping his forehead with his pocket-handkerchief in an agony of fatigue. Harry observed all this for some time, as eagerly and intently as a cat watches a bird on a tree. He saw that something extraordinary had occurred, and he began to have hopes that it really was the very thing he wished; because, seeing Lord Rockville now perfectly safe, he would not have grudged him a pretty considerable fright from his friend the bull. At last, unable any longer to control his impatience, Harry started off his chair, gazing so earnestly at Lord Rockville, that his eyes almost sprung out of their sockets, while he rubbed his hands with ecstacy, saying,

"I guess you've seen the bull? Oh! I am sure you did! Pray tell us if you have? Did he run after you,--and did you run away?"

Lord Rockville tried more than he had ever done in his life to look grave, but it would not do. Gradually his face relaxed into a smile, till at last he burst into loud peals of laughter, joined most heartily by Harry, Laura, and Lady Rockville. n.o.body recovered any gravity during the rest of that evening, for whenever they tried to think or talk quietly about anything else, Harry and Laura were sure to burst forth again upon the subject, and even after being safely stowed in their beds for the night, they both laughed themselves to sleep at the idea of Lord Rockville himself having been obliged, after all, to run away from that "most respectable, quiet, well-disposed animal,

"THE MAD BULL!"

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BROKEN KEY.

First he moved his right leg, Then he moved his left leg, Then he said, "I pardon beg,"

And sat upon his seat.

"Oh! uncle David! uncle David!" cried Laura, when they arrived from Holiday House, "I would jump out of the carriage window with joy to see you again; only the persons pa.s.sing in the street might be surprised!"

"Not at all! They are quite accustomed to see people jumping out of the windows with joy, whenever I appear."

"We have so much to tell you," exclaimed Harry and Laura, each seizing hold of a hand, "we hardly know where to begin!"

"Ladies and gentlemen! If you both talk at once, I must get a new pair of ears! So you have not been particularly miserable at Holiday House?"

"No! no! uncle David! we did not think there had been so much happiness in the world," answered Laura, eagerly. "The last two days we could do nothing but play and laugh, and"----

"And grow fat! Why! you both look so well fed, you are just fit for killing! I shall be obliged to shut you up two or three days, without anything to eat, as is done to pet lap-dogs, when they are getting corpulent and gouty."

"Then we shall be like bears living on our paws," replied Harry, "and uncle David! I would rather do that, than be a glutton like Peter Grey.

He went to a cheap shop lately, where old cheese-cakes were sold at half-price, and greedily devoured nearly a dozen, thinking that the dead flies scattered on the top were currants, till Frank shewed him his mistake!"

"Frank should have let him eat in peace! There is no accounting for tastes. I once knew a lady who liked to swallow spiders! She used to crack and eat them with the greatest delight, whenever she could catch one."

"Oh! what a horrid woman! That is even worse than grandmama's story about Dr. Manvers having dined on a dish of mice, fried in crumbs of bread!"

"You know the old proverb, Harry, 'one man's meat is another man's poison.' The Persians are disgusted at our eating lobsters; and the Hindoos think us scarcely fit to exist, because we live on beef; while we are equally amazed at the Chinese for devouring dog pies, and birds'-nest soup. You turn up your nose at the French for liking frogs; and they think us ten times worse with our singed sheep's head, oat cakes, and haggis."

"That reminds me," said Lady Harriet, "that when Charles X. lived in what he called the 'dear Canongate,' His Majesty was heard to say, that he tried every sort of Scotch goose, 'the solan goose, the wild goose, and the tame goose; but the best goose of all, was the hag-goose.'"

"Very polite, indeed, to adopt our national taste so completely,"

observed uncle David, smiling. "When my regiment was quartered in Spain, an officer of ours, a great epicure, and not quite so complaisant, used to say that the country was scarcely fit to live in, because there it is customary to dress almost every dish with sugar. At last, one day, in a rage, he ordered eggs to be brought up in their sh.e.l.ls for dinner, saying, 'that is the only thing the cook cannot possibly spoil.' We played him a trick, however, which was very like what you would have done, Harry, on a similar occasion. I secretly put pounded sugar into the salt-cellar, and when he tasted his first mouthful, you should have seen the look of fury with which he sprung off his seat, exclaiming, 'the barbarians eat sugar even with their eggs!'"

"That would be the country for me to travel in," said Harry. "I could live in a barrel of sugar; and my little pony, Tom Thumb, would be happy to accompany me there, as he likes anything sweet."

"All animals are of the same opinion. I remember the famous rider, Ducrow, telling a brother-officer of mine, that the way in which he gains so much influence over his horses, is merely by bribing them with sugar. They may be managed in that way like children, and are quite aware, if it be taken from them as a punishment for being restive."

"Oh! those beautiful horses at Ducrow's! How often I think of them since we were there!" exclaimed Harry. "They were quite like fairies, with fine arched necks, and long tails!"

"I never heard before of a fairy with a long tail, Master Harry; but perhaps in the course of your travels you may have seen such a thing."

"How I should like to ride upon Tom Thumb, in Ducrow's way, with my toe on the saddle!"

"Fine doings indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Crabtree, who had entered the room at this moment. "Have you forgotten already, Master Harry, how many of the nursery plates you broke one day when I was out, in trying to copy that there foolish Indian juggler, who tossed his plates in the air, and twirled them on his thumb! There must be no more such nonsense; for if once your neck is broke by a fall off Tom Thumb, no doctor that I know of can mend it again. Remember what a terrible tumble you had off Jessy last year!"

"You are always speaking about that little overturn, Mrs. Crabtree; and it was not worth recollecting above a week! Did you never see a man thrown off his horse before?"

"A man and horse indeed!" said uncle David, laughing, when he looked at Harry. "You and your charger were hardly large enough then for a toy-shop; and you must grow a little more, Captain Gulliver, before you will be fit for a dragoon regiment."

Harry and Laura stayed very quietly at home for several weeks after their return from Holiday House, attending so busily to lessons, that uncle David said he felt much afraid they were going to be a pair of little wonders, who would die of too much learning.

"You will be taken ill of the multiplication table some day, and confined to bed with a violent fit of geography! Pray take care of yourselves, and do not devour above three books at once," said Major Graham one day, entering the room with a note in his hand. "Here is an invitation that I suppose you are both too busy to accept, so perhaps I might as well send an apology; eh, Harry?"

Down dropped the lesson-books upon the floor, and up sprung Harry in an ecstacy of delight. "An invitation! Oh! I like an invitation so very much! Pray tell us all about it!"

"Perhaps it is an invitation to spend a month with Dr. Lexicon. What would you say to that? They breakfast upon Latin grammars at school, and have a dish of real French verbs, smothered in onions, for dinner every day."

"But in downright earnest, uncle David! where are we going?"

"Must I tell you? Well! that good-natured old lady, Mrs. Darwin, intends taking a large party of children next week, in her own carriage, to pa.s.s ten days at Ivy Lodge, a charming country house about twenty miles off, where you are all to enjoy perfect happiness. I wish I could be ground down into a little boy myself, for the occasion! Poor good woman! what a life she will lead! There is only one little drawback to your delight, that I am almost afraid to announce."

"What is that, uncle David?" asked Harry, looking as if nothing in nature could ever make him grave again. "Are we to bite off our own noses before we return?"

"Not exactly; but somebody is to be of the party who will do it for you.

Mrs. Darwin has heard that there are certain children who become occasionally rather unmanageable! I cannot think who they can be, for it is certainly n.o.body we ever saw; so she has requested that Mrs. Crabtree will follow in the mail-coach."

Harry and Laura looked as if a gla.s.s of cold water had been thrown in their faces, after this was mentioned; but they soon forgot every little vexation, in a burst of joy, when, some days afterwards, Mrs. Darwin stopped at the door to pick them up, in the most curious-looking carriage they had ever seen. It was a very large open car, as round as a bird's nest, and so perfectly crowded with children, that n.o.body could have supposed any room left even for a doll; but Mrs. Darwin said that whatever number of people came in, there was always accommodation for one more; and this really proved to be the case, for Harry and Laura soon elbowed their way into seats and set off, waving their handkerchiefs to Major Graham, who had helped to pack them in, and who now stood smiling at the door.

As this very large vehicle was drawn by only one horse, it proceeded very slowly; but Mrs. Darwin amused the children with several very diverting stories, and gave them a grand luncheon in the carriage; after which, they threw what was left, wrapped up in an old newspaper, to some people breaking stones on the road, feeling quite delighted to see the surprise and joy of the poor labourers when they opened the parcel. In short, everybody became sorry when this diverting journey was finished, and they drove up, at last, to the gate of a tall old house, that looked as if it had been built in the year one. The walls were very thick, and quite mouldy with age. Indeed, the only wonder was, that Ivy Lodge had still a roof upon its head, for every thing about it looked so tottering and decayed. The very servants were all old; and a white-headed butler opened the door, who looked as frail and gloomy as the house; but before long, the old walls of Ivy Lodge rung and echoed again with sounds of mirth and joy. It seemed to have been built on purpose for hide and seek; there were rooms with invisible doors, and closets cut in the walls, and great old chests where people might have been buried alive for a year, without being found out. The gardens, too, were perfectly enchanting. Such arbours to take strawberries and cream in! and such summer-houses, where they drank tea out of doors every evening! Here they saw a prodigious eagle, fastened to the ground by a chain, and looking the most dull, melancholy creature in the world; while Harry wished the poor bird might be liberated, and thought how delightful it would be to stand by and see him soaring away to his native skies.

"Yes! with a large slice of raw meat in his beak!" said Peter Grey, who was always thinking of eating. "I dare say he lives much better here, than he would do killing his own mutton up in the clouds there, or taking his chance of a dead horse on the sea-sh.o.r.e occasionally."

Harry and Peter were particularly amused with Mrs. Darwin's curious collection of pets. There were black swans with red bills, swimming gracefully in a pond close to the window, and ready to rush forward on the shortest notice, for a morsel of bread. The lop-eared rabbits also surprised them, with their ears hanging down to the ground, and they were interested to see a pair of carrier-pigeons which could carry letters as well as the postman. Mrs. Darwin showed them tumbler pigeons too, that performed a summerset in the air when they flew, and hors.e.m.e.n and dragoon pigeons, trumpeters and pouters, till Peter Grey at last begged to see the pigeons that made the pigeon-pies, and the cow that gave the b.u.t.ter-milk; he was likewise very anxious for leave to bring his fishing-rod into the drawing-room, to try whether he could catch one of the beautiful gold-fish that swam about in a large gla.s.s globe, saying he thought it might perhaps be very good to eat at breakfast.

Mrs. Darwin had a pet lamb that she was exceedingly fond of, because it followed her everywhere, and Harry, who was very fond of the little creature, said he wished some plan could be invented to hinder its ever growing into a great fat vulgar sheep; and he thought the white mice were old animals that had grown grey with years.

There were donkies for the children to ride upon, and Mrs. Darwin had a boat that held the whole party, to sail in, round the pond, and she hung up a swing that seemed to fly about as high as the house, which they swung upon, after which they were allowed to shake the fruit-trees, and to eat whatever came down about their ears; so it very often rained apples and pears in the gardens at Ivy Lodge, for Peter seemed never to tire of that joke; indeed the apple-trees had a sad life of it as long as he remained.

Peter told Mrs. Darwin that he had "a patent appet.i.te," which was always ready on every occasion; but the good lady became so fond of stuffing the children at all hours, that even he felt a little puzzled sometimes how to dispose of all she heaped upon his plate, while both Harry and Laura, who were far from greedy, became perfectly wearied of hearing the gong. The whole party a.s.sembled at eight every morning, to partake of porridge and b.u.t.ter-milk, after which, at ten, they breakfasted with Mrs. Darwin on tea, m.u.f.fins, and sweetmeats. They then drove in the round open car, to bathe in the sea, on their return from which, luncheon was always ready, and after concluding that, they might pa.s.s the interval till dinner among the fruit-trees. They never could eat enough to please Mrs. Darwin at dinner; tea followed, on a most substantial plan; their supper consisted of poached eggs, and the maid was desired to put a biscuit under every visitor's pillow, in case the young people should be hungry in the night, for Mrs. Darwin said she had been starved at school herself, when she was a little girl, and wished n.o.body ever to suffer, as she had done, from hunger.