Milly and Olly, Mrs. Humphry Ward [ebook e reader .TXT] 📗

they were having a good time all to themselves, before anybody woke up to interrupt them. Mr. Norton took the children down to the stepping-stones, and then, while Milly and nurse stayed on the bank he lifted Olly up, and carried him to the middle of the stepping-stones, where the water would about come up to his chest. Mr. Norton had already taken off his own shoes and stockings, and when they came to the middle stone, he put Olly down on the stone, and stepped into the water himself. "Now, Olly, give me your hands and jump in. Mind, it'll feel very cold."

Olly shut his eyes, and opened his mouth, as he always did when he felt just a little frightened, and then in he went; splash! ugh! it was so cold--much colder than the sea used to feel--but after a few splashes Olly began to get used to it, and to think it fine fun.

"Oh, father, fetch Milly, and then we'll all dance about," entreated Olly.

"Come, Milly," called Mr. Norton. "Try whether you can manage the stepping-stones by yourself." So Milly came, holding up her bathing dress, and stepping from one big stone to another with a very grave face, as if she felt that there would be an end of her altogether if she tumbled in. And then, splash! In she jumped by the side of Olly, and after a little shiver or two she also began to think that the river was a delightful bathing place, almost as nice as the sea, perhaps in some ways nicer, because it was such a strange and funny one. They danced and splashed about in the brown sparkling water till they were tired, and at last Olly stopped to take breath.

"I should think the fishes must be frightened of us," he said, peering down into the river. "I can't see any, father."

"Well, they wouldn't choose to swim about just where little children are shouting and capering. The fishes are hidden safe away under the banks and the big stones. Besides, it's going to be a very hot day, and they like the shady bits of the river. Just here there's no shade."

Suddenly there was a great commotion in the river, and when Mr. Norton looked round for a second he could see nothing of Milly, till up came a dripping head and a pair of hands, and there was Milly kneeling on the stones at the bottom of the river, with just her head above water, looking very much astonished and rather frightened.

"Why, what happened, old woman?" said Mr. Norton, holding out his hand to help her up.

"I--I--don't quite know, father; I was standing on a big stone, and all of a sudden it tipped up, and I tumbled right in."

"First of all I thought you was a big fish, and then I thought you was going to be drowned," said Olly, cheerfully. "I'm glad you wasn't drowned."

"Miss Milly! Miss Milly!" shouted nurse from the bank, "it's quite time you came out now. If you stay in so long you'll get cold, and you, too, Master Olly."

Olly was not inclined to come. He would have liked to go on dabbling and splashing till breakfast-time, but Mr. Norton hurried him out, and the two dripping little creatures were well wrapped up in large shawls which nurse had brought with her. Then nurse took up Olly in her arms, and father took up Milly, who was small and light for her age, and they set off up the bit of road to the house. By this time it was past six o'clock, and whom should they meet at the Ravensnest gate but John Backhouse, with Becky and Tiza, and his two dogs. He was just bringing the milk, and both he and his children looked as brisk and wide awake as if they had been up and about for hours.

Milly and Olly were very much excited at the sight of them, and Olly struggled hard to get down, but nurse held him tight.

"Oh, Becky! we've had such a nice bathe," cried Milly, as she passed them muffled up in her shawl, her little wet feet dangling out.

Becky and Tiza looked longingly after them as they disappeared into the house. They wished they could have had a bathe too, but they knew very well that their hard-worked father and mother had something else to do on a fine summer's morning than to take them to bathe, and in a few minutes they had forgotten all about it, and were busy playing with the dogs, or chattering to their father about the hay-making, which was soon to begin now.

That evening there were strange clouds at sunset time, and Mr. Norton shook his head as he heard Mrs. Norton arrange to take the children next day to a small mountain village near Ravensnest, to call on some old friends of hers.

"I wouldn't make much of a plan for to-morrow if I were you," he said to his wife, "the weather doesn't look promising."

"Oh, father!" said Milly, protesting. "There are some red clouds over there--look! and Nana always says it's going to be fine when there are red clouds."

"Well, Milly, your red clouds may be right and I may be wrong. We shall see."

But, alas! father was quite right. When Milly woke up next morning there was no nice sunshine creeping on to her bed as it had done almost ever since they came to Ravensnest; but instead there was rain beating steadily against the window, coming down out of a heavy gray sky, and looking as if it meant to go on for ever.

"Oh dear!" sighed Milly, as she began to dress, "we can't go out, and the wild strawberries will get so wet. I meant to have gathered some for mother to-day. There would have been such nice ones in the wood."

But it was no use thinking about woods or strawberries, and when Mrs. Norton came into the children's room just as they were finishing breakfast, she found a pair of dull little faces staring out at the rain, as if looking at it would make it stop.

"Nasty rain," said Olly, climbing up on his mother's knee. "Go to Spain. I don't want you to come and spoil my nicey time."

"I am afraid scolding the rain won't make it go away," said his mother, smiling into his brown face as he knelt on her lap, with his arms round her neck. "Now what are we going to do to-day?"

"I don't know," said Milly, sitting down opposite her mother, and resting her face gravely on her hands. "Well, we brought _some_ toys, you know, mother. Olly's got his top; I can help him spin it, and I can play with Katie a bit."

"That won't take very long," said Mrs. Norton. "Suppose we do some lessons first of all."

"Oh, mother, lessons!" said Milly, in a very doubtful voice.

"It's holidays, mother, it's holidays," cried Olly. "I don't like lessons--not a bit."

"Well, but, Olly, think a bit; you can't spin your top and look at picture-books all day, and I'm afraid it's going to rain all day--it looks very like it. If you come and do some reading and counting with me this morning, I can give you some spills to make, or some letters to tear up for me afterwards. That will save the toys for this afternoon; and some time this afternoon, if it doesn't stop raining, we'll all have a romp. And as for you, Milly, don't you think it's quite time Katie had a new frock? I believe I can find a beautiful bit of blue silk in my bag, and I'm sure nurse will show you how to make it."

Milly's face brightened up very much at this, and the two children went skipping upstairs to the drawing-room after their mother, in very fair spirits again. Olly did some reading, while Milly wrote in her copybook, and then Olly had his counting-slate and tried to find out what 6 and 4 made, and 5 and 3, and other little sums of the same kind. He yawned a good deal over his reading, and was quite sure several times that h-a-y spelt "ham," and s-a-w spelt "was," but still, on the whole, he got through very well. Milly wrote her copy, then she learnt some verses of a poem called "Lucy Gray," and last of all mother found her a big map of Westmoreland, the county in which the mountains are, and they had a most delightful geography lesson. Mother pretended to take Milly a drive all about the mountains, and made her find out their names, and the names of the towns and the lakes, beginning with Lake Windermere. Olly was interested too, for Mrs. Norton told them a great many things about the places, and made quite a story out of it.

"Why, mother, I never could go all that long way all at once--_really_, could I?" asked Milly, when they had been all round the mountains, in and out and round about.

"No, Milly, not quite," said Mrs. Norton, laughing, "but it's very easy to go a long way in a pretendy drive. It would only take us about ten minutes that way to get to the other side of the world."

"How long would it take really?" asked Olly.

"About three months."

"If we could fly up, and up, ever so far," said Olly, standing on tiptoe, and stretching out his little arms as high as they would reach, "it wouldn't take us long. Mother, don't you wish you was a bird?"

"No, I don't think so, Olly; why do you?"

"Because I should like to go so _krick_. Mother, the fly-catchers do fly so krick; I can't see them sometimes when they're flying, they go so fast. Oh, I do wish father would let me get up a ladder to look at them."

"No Olly, you'll frighten them," said Milly, putting on her wise face. "Besides, father says you're too little, and you'd tumble down."

Olly looked as if he didn't believe a word of it, as he generally did when Milly talked wisely to him; but just then he found that mother had put into his lap a whole basketful of letters to tear up, and that interested him so much that he forgot the fly-catchers. Nurse cut out a most fashionable blue dress for Katie, and Milly was quite happy all the rest of the morning in running up the seams and hemming the bottom. So the morning passed away. After dinner there were the toys to play with, and Katie's frock to try on, for nurse had taken a turn at the body while Milly had been making the skirt. It fitted very well, and Milly had only the band to put on and the sleeves to make before it would be quite finished. Then nurse promised to put a little white lace round the neck, and cut out a blue sash, that Katie might be quite turned into an elegant young lady. Tea came very soon, and when it was cleared away father and mother came into the big kitchen without a fireplace, next to the children's room, and they all had a splendid romp. Mr. Norton made himself into a tiger, with a tiger-skin in the hall, that Uncle Richard had brought home from India, and Olly shot him all over with a walking-stick from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. When they were tired of this, mother set them to play