A Flat Iron for a Farthing | Page 9

will do the child good, Regie," she said to my father. "He will be
with other children, and all our London sights will be new to him. I will
take every care of him, and you must come up and fetch him back. It
will do you good too."
"To be sure!" chimed in Uncle Ascott, patting me good-naturedly on
the head; "Master Reginald will fancy himself in Fairy Land. There are
the Zoological Gardens, and Madame Tussaud's Waxwork Exhibition,
and the Pantomime, and no one knows what besides! We shall make
him quite at home! He and Helen are just the same age, I think, and
Polly's a year or so younger, eh, mamma?"
"Nineteen months," said Aunt Maria, decisively; and she turned once
more to my father, upon whom she was urging certain particulars.
It was with unfeigned joy that I heard my father say,
"Well, thank you, Maria. I do think it will do him good. And I'll

certainly come and look you and Robert up myself."
There was only one drawback to my pleasure, when the much
anticipated time of my first visit to London came. Aunt Maria did not
like dogs; Uncle Ascott too said that "they were very rural and nice for
the country, but that they didn't do in a town house. Besides which,
Regie," he added, "such a pretty dog as Rubens would be sure to be
stolen. And you wouldn't like that."
"I will take good care of Rubens, my boy," added my father; and with
this promise I was obliged to content myself.
The excitement and pleasure of the various preparations for my visit
were in themselves a treat. There had been some domestic discussion as
to a suitable box for my clothes, and the matter was not quickly settled.
There happened to be no box of exactly the convenient size in the
house, and it was proposed to pack my things with Nurse Bundle's in
one of the larger cases. This was a disappointment to my dignity; and I
ventured to hint that I "should like a trunk all to myself, like a
grown-up gentleman," without, however, much hope that my wishes
would be fulfilled. The surprise was all the pleasanter when, on the day
before our departure, there arrived by the carrier's cart from our nearest
town a small, daintily-finished trunk, with a lock and key to it, and my
initials in brass nails upon the outside. It was a parting gift from my
father.
"I like young ladies and gentlemen to have things nice about 'em,"
Nurse Bundle observed, as we prepared to pack my trunk. "Then they
takes a pride in their things, and so it stands to reason they takes more
care of 'em."
To this excellent sentiment I gave my heartiest assent, and proceeded to
illustrate it by the fastidious care with which I selected and folded the
clothes I wished to take. As I examined my socks for signs of wear and
tear, and then folded them by the ingenious process of grasping the
heels and turning them inside out, in imitation of Nurse Bundle, an idea
struck me, based upon my late reading and approaching prospects of
travel.

"Nurse," said I, "I think I should like to learn to darn socks, because,
you know, I might want to know how, if I was cast away on a desert
island."
"If ever you find yourself on a desolate island, Master Reginald," said
Nurse Bundle, "just you write straight off to me, and I'll come and do
them kind of things for you."
"Well," said I, "only mind you bring Rubens, if I haven't got him."
For I had dim ideas that some Robinson Crusoe adventures might befall
me before I returned home from this present expedition.
My father's place was about sixty miles from London. Mr. and Mrs.
Ascott had come down in their own carriage, and were to return the
same way.
I was to go with them, and Nurse Bundle also. She was to sit in the
rumble of the carriage behind. Every particular of each new
arrangement afforded me great amusement; and I could hardly control
my impatience for the eventful day to arrive.
It came at last. There was very early breakfast for us all in the
dining-room. No appetite, however, had I; and very cruel I thought
Aunt Maria for insisting that I should swallow a certain amount of food,
as a condition of being allowed to go at all. My enforced breakfast over,
I went to look for Rubens. Ever since the day when it was first settled
that I should go, the dear dog had kept close, very close at my heels.
That depressed and aimless wandering about which always afflicts the
dogs of the household when any