"I don't make mistakes when I thrash you, old Worm, so you'd better mindwhat you are about," answered Steve, without a ray of proper respect forhis elder brother.
"It is getting dark, and I must go, or mamma will be alarmed," saidAriadne, rising in sudden haste, though she hoped to be asked to remainto the nut-party.
No one invited her; and all the while she was putting on her things andchatting to Rose the boys were telegraphing to one another the sad factthat someone ought to escort the young lady home. Not a boy felt heroicenough to cast himself into the breach, however; even polite Archieshirked the duty, saying to Charlie, as they quietly slipped into anadjoining room,
"I'm not going to do all the gallivanting. Let Steve take that chit homeand show his manners."
"I'll be hanged if I do!" answered Prince, who disliked Miss Blishbecause she tried to be coquettish with him.
"Then I will," and, to the dismay of both recreant lads, Dr. Alec walkedout of the room to offer his services to the "chit."
He was too late, however, for Mac, obeying a look from Rose, had alreadymade a victim of himself, and trudged meekly away, wishing the gentleAriadne at the bottom of the Red Sea.
"Then I will take this lady down to tea, as the other one has found agentleman to go home with her. I see the lamps are lighted below, and Ismell a smell which tells me that auntie has something extra nice for usto-night."
As he spoke, Dr. Alec was preparing to carry Rose downstairs as usual;but Archie and Prince rushed forward, begging with penitent eagernessfor the honour of carrying her in an arm-chair. Rose consented, fearingthat her uncle's keen eye would discover the fatal bits of silk; so theboys crossed hands, and, taking a good grip of each curly pate, she wasborne down in state, while the others followed by way of the banisters.
Tea was ordered earlier than usual, so that Jamie and his dolly couldhave a taste, at least, of the holiday fun, for they were to stay tillseven, and be allowed twelve roasted chestnuts apiece, which they wereunder bonds not to eat till next day.
Tea was despatched rapidly, therefore, and the party gathered round thewide hearth in the dining-room, where the nuts were soon dancing gailyon hot shovels or bouncing out among the company, thereby causingdelightful panics among the little ones.
"Come, Rosy, tell us a story while we work, for you can't help much,and must amuse us as your share," proposed Mac, who sat in the shadepricking nuts, and who knew by experience what a capital littleScheherazade his cousin was.
"Yes, we poor monkeys can't burn our paws for nothing, so tell away,Pussy," added Charlie, as he threw several hot nuts into her lap andshook his fingers afterwards.
"Well, I happen to have a little story with a moral to it in my mind,and I will tell it, though it is intended for younger children thanyou," answered Rose, who was rather fond of telling instructive tales.
"Fire away," said Geordie, and she obeyed, little thinking what adisastrous story it would prove to herself.
"Well, once upon a time, a little girl went to see a young lady who wasvery fond of her. Now, the young lady happened to be lame, and hadto have her foot bandaged up every day; so she kept a basketful ofbandages, all nicely rolled and ready. The little girl liked to playwith this basket, and one day, when she thought no one saw her, she tookone of the rolls without asking leave, and put it in her pocket."
Here Pokey, who had been peering lovingly down at the five warm nutsthat lay at the bottom of her tiny pocket, suddenly looked up and said,"Oh!" in a startled tone, as if the moral tale had become intenselyinteresting all at once.
Rose heard and saw the innocent betrayal of the small sinner, and wenton in a most impressive manner, while the boys nudged one another andwinked as they caught the joke.
"But an eye did see this naughty little girl, and whose eye do you thinkit was?"
"Eye of Dod," murmured conscience-stricken Pokey, spreading two chubbylittle hands before the round face, which they were not half big enoughto hide.
Rose was rather taken aback by this reply, but, feeling that she wasproducing a good effect, she added seriously,
"Yes, God saw her, and so did the young lady, but she did not sayanything; she waited to see what the little girl would do about it. Shehad been very happy before she took the bandage, but when it was in herpocket she seemed troubled, and pretty soon stopped playing, and satdown in a corner looking very sober. She thought a few minutes, and thenwent and put back the roll very softly, and her face cleared up, andshe was a happy child again. The young lady was glad to see that, andwondered what made the little girl put it back."
"Tonscience p'icked her," murmured a contrite voice from behind thesmall hands pressed tightly over Pokey's red face.
"And why did she take it, do you suppose?" asked Rose, in aschool-marmish tone, feeling that all the listeners were interested inher tale and its unexpected application.
"It was so nice and wound, and she wanted it deffly," answered thelittle voice.
"Well, I'm glad she had such a good conscience. The moral is that peoplewho steal don't enjoy what they take, and are not happy till they putit back. What makes that little girl hide her face?" asked Rose, as sheconcluded.
"Me's so 'shamed of Pokey," sobbed the small culprit, quite overcome byremorse and confusion at this awful disclosure.
"Come, Rose, it's too bad to tell her little tricks before everyone,and preach at her in that way; you wouldn't like it yourself," began Dr.Alec, taking the weeper on his knee and administering consolation in theshape of kisses and nuts.
Before Rose could express her regret, Jamie, who had been reddeningand ruffling like a little turkey-cock for several minutes, burst outindignantly, bent on avenging the wound given to his beloved dolly.
"I know something bad that you did, and I'm going to tell right out. Youthought we didn't see you, but we did, and you said uncle wouldn't likeit, and the boys would tease, and you made Ariadne promise not to tell,and she punched holes in your ears to put ear-rings in. So now! andthat's much badder than to take an old piece of rag; and I hate you formaking my Pokey cry."
Jamie's somewhat incoherent explosion produced such an effect thatPokey's small sin was instantly forgotten, and Rose felt that her hourhad come.
"What! what! what!" cried the boys in a chorus, dropping their shovelsand knives to gather round Rose, for a guilty clutching at her earsbetrayed her, and with a feeble cry of "Ariadne made me!" she hid herhead among the pillows like an absurd little ostrich.
"Now she'll go prancing round with bird cages and baskets and carts andpigs, for all I know, in her ears, as the other girls do, and won't shelook like a goose?" asked one tormentor, tweaking a curl that strayedout from the cushions.
"I didn't think she'd be so silly," said Mac, in a tone ofdisappointment that told Rose she had sunk in the esteem of her wisecousin.
"That Blish girl is a nuisance, and ought not to be allowed to come herewith her nonsensical notions," said the Prince, feeling a strong desireto shake that young person as an angry dog might shake a mischievouskitten.
"How do you like it, uncle?" asked Ar
chie, who, being the head of afamily himself, believed in preserving discipline at all costs.
"I am very much surprised; but I see she is a girl, after all, and musthave her vanities like all the rest of them," answered Dr. Alec, witha sigh, as if he had expected to find Rose a sort of angel, above allearthly temptations.
"What shall you do about it, sir?" inquired Geordie, wondering whatpunishment would be inflicted on a feminine culprit.
"As she is fond of ornaments, perhaps we had better give her a nose-ringalso. I have one somewhere that a Fiji belle once wore; I'll look itup," and, leaving Pokey to Jamie's care, Dr. Alec rose as if to carryout his suggestion in earnest.
"Good! good! We'll do it right away! Here's a gimlet, so you holdher, boys, while I get her dear little nose all ready," cried Charlie,whisking away the pillow as the other boys danced about the sofa in trueFiji style.
It was a dreadful moment, for Rose could not run away she could onlygrasp her precious nose with one hand and extend the other, cryingdistractedly,
"O uncle, save me, save me!"
Of course he saved her; and when she was securely barricaded by hisstrong arm, she confessed her folly in such humiliation of spirit, thatthe lads, after a good laugh at her, decided to forgive her and lay allthe blame on the tempter, Ariadne. Even Dr. Alec relented so far as topropose two gold rings for the ears instead of one copper one for thenose; a proceeding which proved that if Rose had all the weakness ofher sex for jewellery, he had all the inconsistency of his in giving apretty penitent exactly what she wanted, spite of his better judgment.