Beechcroft at Rockstone | Page 4

said Gillian. 'Indeed, I will do my best, mamma, and it will not
be for very long.'
'I hope and trust not, my dear child. Perhaps we shall all meet by
Easter---papa, and all; but you must not make too sure. There may be
delays. Now I must see Halfpenny. I cannot talk to you any more, my
Gillyflower, though I am leaving volumes unsaid.
Gillian found Aunt Jane emerging from her room, and beset by her
three future guests.
'Aunt Jane, may we bring Quiz?'

'And Rigdum Funnidos and Lady Rigdum?'
'And Ruff and Ring? They are the sweetest doves in the world.'
'Doves! Oh, Mysie, they would drive your aunt Ada distracted, with
coo-roo-roo at four o'clock in the morning, just as she goes off to sleep.'
'The Rigdums make no noise but a dear little chirp,' triumphantly
exclaimed Valetta.
'Do you mean the kittens? We have a vacancy for one cat, you know.'
Oh yes, we want you to choose between Artaxerxes and the Sofy. But
the Rigdums are the eldest pair of guinea-pigs. They are so fond of me,
that I know poor old Funnidos will die of grief if I go away and leave
him.'
'I sincerely hope not, Valetta, for, indeed, there is no place to put him
in.'
'I don't think he would mind living in the cellar if he only saw me once
a day,' piteously pleaded Valetta.
'Indeed, Val, the dark and damp would surely kill the poor thing, in
spite of your attentions. You must make up your mind to separation
from your pets, excepting the kitten.'
Valetta burst out crying at this last drop that made the bucket overflow,
but Fergus exclaimed: 'Quiz! Aunt Jane! He always goes about with us,
and always behaves like a gentleman, don't you, Quizzy?' and the little
Maltese, who perfectly well understood that there was trouble in the air,
sat straight up, crossed his paws, and looked touchingly wistful.
'Poor dear little fellow!' said Aunt Jane; 'yes, I knew he would be good,
but Kunz would be horribly, jealous, you see; he is an only dog, and
can't bear to have his premises invaded.'
'He ought to be taught better,' said Fergus gravely.

'So he ought,' Aunt Jane confessed; 'but he is too old to begin learning,
and Aunt Ada and Mrs. Mount would never bear to see him disturbed.
Besides, I really do not think Quiz would be half so well off there as
among his own friends and places here, with Macrae to take care of
him.' Then as Fergus began to pucker his face, she added, 'I am really
very sorry to be so disagreeable.'
'The children must not be unreasonable,' said Gillian sagely, as she
came up.
'And I am to choose between Xerxes and Artaxerxes, is it?' said Aunt
Jane.
'No, the Sofy,' said Mysie. 'A Sofy is a Persian philosopher, and this
kitten has got the wisest face.'
'Run and fetch them,' suggested her aunt, 'and then we can choose. Oh,'
she added, with some relief at the thought, 'if it is an object to dispose
of Cockie, we could manage him.'
The two younger ones were gratified, but Gillian and Mysie both
exclaimed that Cockie's exclusive affections were devoted to Macrae,
and that they could not answer for his temper under the separation. To
break up such a household was decidedly the Goose, Fox, and Cabbage
problem. As Mysie observed, in the course of the search for the kittens,
in the make-the-best-of-it tone, 'It was not so bad as the former moves,
when they were leaving a place for good and all.'
'Ah, but no place was ever so good as this,' said poor Valetta.
'Don't be such a little donkey,' said Fergus consequentially. 'Don't you
know we are going to school, and I am three years younger than
Wilfred was?'
'It is only a petticoat school,' said Val, 'kept by ladies.'
'It isn't.'

'It is; I heard Harry say so.'
'And yours is all butchers and bakers and candlestick makers.'
On which they fell on each other, each with a howl of defiance. Fergus
grabbed at Val's pigtail, and she was buffeting him vehemently when
Harry came out, held them apart, and demanded if this were the way to
make their mother easy in leaving them.
'She said it was a pet-pet-petticoat school,' sobbed Fergus.
'And so it ought to be, for boys that fight with girls.'
'And he said mine was all butchers and bakers and candlestick makers,'
whined Valetta.
'Then you'd better learn manners, or they'll take you for a tramp,'
observed Harry; but at that moment Mysie broke in with a shout at
having discovered the kittens making a plaything of the best library
pen-wiper, their mother, the sleek Begum, abetting them, and they were