"But could you, Henrietta?" asked Beatrice.
"O yes, I know I can; I made 'M.L.' in roses on mamma's last birthday, and set it up over the chimney-piece in the drawing-room, and I am sure we could contrive this. How appropriate it will look!"
"Ah!" said Mr. Franklin, "I have heard of such things, but I had always considered them as quite above our powers."
"They would be, without Henrietta," said Queen Bee, "but she was always excellent as wreath weaving, and all those things that belong to choice taste and clever fingers. Only let us have plenty of the wherewithal, and we will do our work so as to amaze the parish."
"And now," said Uncle Geoffrey, "we must be walking home, my young ladies. It is getting quite dark."
It was indeed, for as they left the church the sunlight was fast fading on the horizon, and Venus was already shining forth in pure quiet beauty on the clear blue sky. Mr. Franklin walked a considerable part of the way home with them, adding to Henrietta's list by asking counsel about a damp spot in the wall of the church, and on the measures to be adopted with a refractory farmer.
By the time they reached home, evening was fast closing in; and at the sound of their entrance Mrs. Langford and Frederick both came to meet them in the hall, the former asking anxiously whether they had not been lingering in the cold and damp, inspecting the clogs to see that they were dry, and feeling if the fingers were cold. She then ordered the two girls up stairs to dress before going into the drawing-room with their things on, and told Henrietta to remember that dinner would be at half-past five.
"Is mamma gone up?" asked Henrietta.
"Yes, my dear, long ago; she has been out with your grandpapa, and is gone to rest herself."
"And how long have you been at home, Fred?" said Queen Bee. "Why, you have performed your toilette already! Why did you not come to meet us?"
"I should have had a long spy-glass to see which way you were gone," said Fred, in a tone which, to Henrietta's ears, implied that he was not quite pleased, and then, following his sister up stairs, he went on to her, "I wish I had never come in, but it was about three, and Alex and Carey thought we might as well get a bit of something for luncheon, and thereby they had the pleasure of seeing mamma send her pretty dear up to change his shoes and stockings. So there was an end of me for the day. I declare it is getting too absurd! Do persuade mamma that I am not made of sugar candy."
With Uncle Geoffrey's admonitions fresh in her mind, these complaints sounded painfully in Henrietta's ears, and she would gladly have soothed away his irritation; but, however convenient Judith might find the stairs for private conferences, they did not appear to her equally appropriate, especially when at the very moment grandpapa was coming down from above and grandmamma up from below. Both she and Fred therefore retreated into their mamma's room, where they found her sitting on a low stool by the fire, reading by its light one of the old childish books, of which she seemed never to weary. Fred's petulance, to do him justice, never could endure the charm of her presence, and his brow was as bright and open as his sister's as he came forward, hoping that she was not tired.
"Quite the contrary, thank you, my dear," said she, smiling; "I enjoyed my walk exceedingly."
"A walk!" exclaimed Henrietta.
"A crawl, perhaps you would call it, but a delightful crawl it was with grandpapa up and down what we used to call the sun walk, by the kitchen garden wall. And now, Pussy-cat, Pussy-cat, where have you been?"
"I've been to Sutton Leigh, with the good Queen," answered Henrietta, gaily. "I have seen everything-Sutton Leigh, and the Pleasance, and the church! And, mamma, Mr. Franklin has asked us to go and dress the church for Christmas! Is not that what of all things is delightful? Only think of church-decking! What I have read and heard of, but I always thought it something too great and too happy for me ever to do."
"I hope you will be able to succeed in it," said her mamma. "What a treat it will be to see your work on Sunday."
"And you are to help, too, Fred; you and Alexander are to come and reach the high places for us. But do tell us your adventures."
Fred had been all over the farm; had been introduced to the whole live stock, including ferrets and the tame hedge-hog; visited the plantations, and assisted at the killing of a stoat; cut his name out on the bark of the old pollard; and, in short, had been supremely happy. He "was just going to see Dumpling and Vixen's puppies at Sutton Leigh, when-"
"Wen I caught you, my poor boy," said his mamma; "and very cruel it was, I allow, but I thought you might have gone out again."
"I had no other thick shoes upstairs; but really, mamma, no one thinks of minding those things."
"You should have seen him, Henrietta," said his mother; "his shoes looked as if he had been walking through a river."
"Well, but so were all the others," said Fred.
"Very likely, but they are more used to it; and, besides, they are such sturdy fellows. I should as soon think of a deal board catching cold. But you-if there is as much substance in you, it is all height; and you know, Fred, you would find it considerably more tiresome to be laid up with a bad cold."
"I never catch cold," said Fred.
"Boys always say so," said Mrs. Frederick Lang- ford; "it is a-what shall I call it?-a puerile delusion, which their mammas can always defeat when they choose by a formidable list of colds and coughs; but I won't put you in mind of how often you have sat with your feet on the fender croaking like an old raven, and solacing yourself with stick-liquorice and Ivanhoe."
"You had better allow him to proceed in his pursuit of a cold, mamma," said Henrietta, "just to see how grandmamma will nurse it."
A knock at the door here put an end to the conversation, by announcing the arrival of Bennet, Mrs. Frederick Langford's maid; who had come in such good time that Henrietta was, for once in her life, full dressed a whole quarter of an hour before dinner time. Nor was her involuntary punctuality without a reward, for the interval of waiting for dinner, sitting round the fire, was particularly enjoyed by Mr. and Mrs. Langford; and Uncle Geoffrey, therefore, always contrived to make it a leisure time; and there was so much merriment in talking over the walk, and discussing the plans for the Pleasance, that Henrietta resolved never again to miss such a pleasant reunion by her own tardiness.
Nor was the evening less agreeable. Henrietta pleased grandmamma by getting her carpet-work out of some puzzle, and by flying across the room to fetch the tea-chest: she delighted grandpapa by her singing, and by finding his spectacles for him; she did quite a praiseworthy piece of her own crochet purse, and laughed a great deal at the battle that was going on between Queen Bee and Fred about the hero of some new book. She kept her list of Uncle Geoffrey's manifold applicants on the table before her, and had the pleasure of increasing it by two men, business unknown, who sent to ask him to come and speak to them; by a loud and eager appeal from Fred and Beatrice to decide their contest, by a question of taste on the shades of grandmamma's carpet-work, and by her own query how to translate a difficult German passage which had baffled herself, mamma, and Fred.
However, Queen Bee's number, fifty, had not been attained, and her majesty was obliged to declare that she meant in a week instead of a day, for which reason the catalogue was written out fair, to be continued.
Mrs. Frederick Langford thought herself well recompensed for the pain her resolution had cost her, by the pleasure that Mr. and Mrs. Langford evidently took in her son and daughter, by the brightness of her two children's own faces, and especially when Henrietta murmured in her sleep something about "delightful," "bright leaves and red berries," and then, "and 'tis for my own dear papa."
And after all, in the attainment of their fondest wish, were Henrietta and Frederick as serenely happy as she was?
CHAPTER VI.
CHRISTMAS Eve, which was also a Saturday, dawned brightly on Henrietta, but even her eagerness for her new employment could not so far overcome her habitual dilatoriness as not to annoy her cousin, Busy Bee, even to
a degree of very unnecessary fidgeting when there was any work in hand. She sat on thorns all breakfast time, devoured what her grandpapa called a sparrow's allowance, swallowed her tea scalding, and thereby gained nothing but leisure to fret at the deliberation with which Henrietta cut her bread into little square dice, and spread her butter on them as if each piece was to serve as a model for future generations.
The subject of conversation was not precisely calculated to soothe her spirits. Grandmamma was talking of giving a young party-a New-year's party on Monday week, the second of January. "It would be pleasant for the young people," she thought, "if Mary did not think it would be too much for her."
Beatrice looked despairingly at her aunt, well knowing what her answer would be, that it would not be at all too much for her, that she should be very glad to see her former neighbours, and that it would be a great treat to Henrietta and Fred.
"We will have the carpet up in the dining-room," added Mrs. Langford, "and Daniels, the carpenter, shall bring his violin, and we can get up a nice little set for a dance."
"O thank you, grandmamma," cried Henrietta eagerly, as Mrs. Langford looked at her.
"Poor innocent, you little know!" murmured Queen Bee to herself.
"That is right, Henrietta," said Mrs. Langford, "I like to see young people like young people, not above a dance now and then,-all in moderation."
"Above dancing," said grandpapa, who, perhaps, took this as a reflection on his pet, Queen Bee, "that is what you call being on the high rope, isn't it?"
Beatrice, though feeling excessively savage, could not help laughing.
"Are you on the high rope, Queenie?" asked Fred, who sat next to her: "do you despise the light fantastic-?"
"I don't know: I do not mind it much," was all she could bring herself to say, though she could not venture to be more decidedly ungracious before her father. "Not much in itself," she added, in a lower tone, as the conversation grew louder, "it is the people, Philip Carey, and all,-but hush! listen."
He did so, and heard Careys, Dittons, Evanses, &c., enumerated, and at each name Beatrice looked gloomier, but she was not observed, for her Aunt Mary had much to hear about the present state of the families, and the stream of conversation flowed away from the fête.
The meal was at last concluded, and Beatrice in great haste ordered Frederick off to Sutton Leigh, with a message to Alex to meet them at the Church, and bring as much holly as he could, and his great knife. "Bring him safe," said she, "for if you fail, and prove a corbie messenger, I promise you worse than the sharpest sting of the most angry bee."
Away she ran to fetch her bonnet and shawl, while Henrietta walked up after her, saying she would just fetch her mamma's writing-case down for her, and then get ready directly. On coming down, she could not help waiting a moment before advancing to the table, to hear what was passing between her mother and uncle.
"Do you like for me to drive you down to the Church to-day?" he asked.
"Thank you," she answered, raising her mild blue eyes, "I think not."
"Remember, it will be perfectly convenient, and do just what suits you," said he in a voice of kind solicitude.
"Thank you very much, Geoffrey," she replied, in an earnest tone, "but indeed I had better go for the first time to the service, especially on such a day as to-morrow, when thoughts must be in better order."
"I understand," said Uncle Geoffrey: and Henrietta, putting down the writing-case, retreated with downcast eyes, with a moment's perception of the higher tone of mind to which he had tried to raise her.
In the hall she found Mrs. Langford engaged in moving her precious family of plants from their night quarters near the fire to the bright sunshine near the window. Henrietta seeing her lifting heavy flower-pots, instantly sprang forward with, "O grandmamma, let me help."
Little as Mrs. Langford was wont to allow herself to be assisted, she was gratified with the obliging offer, and Henrietta had carried the myrtle, the old-fashioned oak-leaved geranium, with its fragrant deeply-indented leaves, a grim-looking cactus, and two or three more, and was deep in the story of the orange-tree, the pip of which had been planted by Uncle Geoffrey at five years old, but which never seemed likely to grow beyond the size of a tolerable currant-bush, when Beatrice came down and beheld her with consternation-"Henrietta! Henrietta! what are you about?" cried she, breaking full into the story. "Do make haste."
"I will come in a minute," said Henrietta, who was assisting in adjusting the prop to which the old daphne was tied.
"Don't stop for me, my dear," said Mrs. Langford: "there, don't let me be in your way."
"O, grandmamma, I like to do this very much."
"But, Henrietta," persisted the despotic Queen Bee, "we really ought to be there."
"What is all this about?" said grandmamma, not particularly well pleased. "There, go, go, my dear; I don't want any more, thank you: what are you in such a fuss for now, going out all day again?"
"Yes, grandmamma," said Beatrice, "did you not hear that Mr. Franklin asked us to dress the church for to-morrow? and we must not waste time in these short days."
"Dress the church! Well, I suppose you must have your own way, but I never heard of such things in my younger days. Young ladies are very different now!"
Beatrice drove Henrietta up-stairs with a renewed "Do make haste," and then replied in a tone of argument and irritation, "I do not see why young ladies should not like dressing churches for festivals better than arraying themselves for balls and dances!"
True as the speech was, how would Beatrice have liked to have seen her father or mother stand before her at that moment?
"Ah, well! it is all very well," said grand- mamma, shaking her head, as she always did when out-argued by Beatrice, "you girls think yourselves so clever, there is no talking to you; but I think you had much better let old Martha alone; she has done it well enough before ever you were born, and such a litter as you will make the Church won't be fit to be seen to-morrow! All day in that cold damp place too! I wonder Mary could consent, Henrietta looks very delicate."
"O no, grandmamma, she is quite strong, very strong indeed."
"I am sure she is hoarse this morning," proceeded Mrs. Langford; "I shall speak to her mamma."
"O don't, pray, grandmamma; she would be so disappointed. And what would Mr. Franklin do?"
"O very well, I promise you, as he has done before," said Mrs. Langford, hastening off to the drawing-room, while her granddaughter darted upstairs to hurry Henrietta out of the house before a prohibition could arrive. It was what Henrietta had too often assisted Fred in doing to have many scruples, besides which she knew how grieved her mamma would be to be obliged to stop her, and how glad to find her safe out of reach; so she let her cousin heap on shawls, fur cuffs, and boas in a far less leisurely and discriminating manner than was usual with her.
"It would be absolute sneaking (to use an elegant word), I suppose," said Beatrice, "to go down the back stairs."
"True," said Henrietta, "we will even take the bull by the horns."
"And trust to our heels," said Beatrice, stealthily opening the door; "the coast is clear, and I know both your mamma and my papa will not stop us if they can help it. One, two, three, and away!"
Off they flew, down the stairs, across the hall, and up the long green walk, before they ventured to stop for Henrietta to put on her gloves, and take up the boa that was dragging behind her like a huge serpent. And after all, there was no need for their flight; they might have gone openly and with clear consciences, had they but properly and submissively waited the decision of their elders. Mr. Geoffrey Langford, who did not know how ill his daughter had been behaving, would have been very sorry to interfere with the plan, and easily reconciled his mother to it, in his own cheerful pleasant way. Indeed her opposition had been entirely caused by Beatrice herself; she had not once thought of objecting when it had been first mentioned the evening before, and had not Beatrice not first fidgeted and then argued, would only
have regarded it as a pleasant way of occupying their morning.
"I could scold you, Miss Drone," said Beatrice when the two girls had set themselves to rights, and recovered breath; "it was all the fault of your dawdling."
"Well, perhaps it was," said Henrietta, "but you know I could not see grandmamma lifting those flower-pots without offering to help her."
"How many more times shall I have to tell you that grandmamma hates to be helped?"
"Then she was very kind to me," replied Henrietta.
"I see how it will be," said Beatrice, smiling, "you will be grandmamma's pet, and it will be a just division. I never yet could get her to let me help her in anything, she is so resolutely independent."
Queen Bee did not take into account how often her service was either grudgingly offered, or else when she came with a good will, it was also with a way, it might be better, it might be worse, but in which she was determined to have the thing done, and against which her grandmamma was of course equally resolute.
"She is an amazing person!" said Henrietta. "Is she eighty yet?"
"Seventy-nine," said Beatrice; "and grandpapa eighty-two. I always say I think we should get the prize in a show of grandfathers and grandmothers, if there was one like Uncle Roger's fat cattle shows. You know she thinks nothing of walking twice to church on a Sunday, and all over the village besides when there is anybody ill. But here is the Sutton Leigh path. Let me see if those boys are to be trusted. Yes, yes, that's right! Capital!" cried she in high glee; "here is Birnam wood coming across the field." And springing on one of the bars of the gate near the top, she flourished her handkerchief, chanting or singing,
"Greet thee well, thou holly green,
Welcome, welcome, art thou seen,
With all thy glittering garlands bending,
As to greet my-quick descending:" she finished in an altered tone, as she was obliged to spring precipitately down to avoid a fall. "It made a capital conclusion, however, though not quite what I had proposed. Well, gentlemen," as four or five of the boys came up, each bearing a huge holly bush-"Well, gentlemen, you are a sight for sair een."
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