Bob Strongs Holidays | Page 3

the old gentleman in a snappish tone.
"Pooh, pooh, nonsense, girl! I wasn't a bit asleep. Heard every word
you said. What was it you said, eh--what, what?"
Bob and Nellie exchanged a smile at this; for, the old gentleman had
not merely nodded previously to their having determined to change
windows, but his gold-rimmed spectacles had almost tumbled from his
nose, the latter organ also having given audible vent to certain
stentorian sounds uncommonly like snoring!
The old gentleman, however, did not appear conscious of all this
evidence against his fancied wakefulness; and he blinked out so queerly
from a pair of little black beady eyes, half-hidden under a fringe of
bushy white eyebrows, which made them look all the blacker from
contrast, as he glared over his spectacles at the brother and sister, that
Bob's giggle expanded into a fit of irrepressible merriment, although he
endeavoured vainly to conceal his want of manners by burying his face
in his pocket-handkerchief.
Bob some time afterwards told Nellie in confidence that, just then, the
old gentleman so comically resembled `Blinkie,' a dissipated old tame
jackdaw they had at home, in the way he cocked his head on one side,
with his ruffled hair and all, that he couldn't have helped laughing, if he
had died for it!
"Well?" said the old gentleman inquiringly, after a bit, tired apparently
of waiting for an answer to his original question as to what Nellie had
said as he woke up, gazing still fixedly at her, his beady black eyes
twinkling and his bushy eyebrows bristling up like the whiskers of a cat
when it is angry. "What did he say, eh?"
"He--he was only speaking to me, sir," stammered poor Nellie, now
trembling with fright. "He was only speaking to me, that's all."
"What, what?" jerked out her unappeased questioner. "Who is `he'?"
"My brother--Bob, sir," said she, still trembling and nervous; "my
brother here, sir."

"Bob what?"
"Strong, sir," replied Nellie, a little less timidly, now that she saw the
old gentleman was not going to eat her up quite--"Robert Dugald
Strong, sir."
"Humph!" he grunted out in reply to this. "He may be Strong by name
and he looks strong by nature; but, really, he seems unusually weak in
mind--he's a lunatic, I should think!"
But, there was a quaint, good-humoured expression on his face that
somewhat belied his abrupt manner and harsh, peremptory voice, which
sounded like that of a bullying old barrister, cross-examining a
hesitating witness in court; so Nellie, therefore, gathered increased
confidence as she caught his glance, to proceed with her explanation
anent Master Bob.
"You're mistaken, sir,--he isn't silly," she said. "He only wanted me to
cross over to the other side of the carriage; and I told him I couldn't
pass by you, sir. That was all, sir."
"Oh, indeed! Then I'm sure I beg your pardon," said the old gentleman
very politely, drawing in his legs, so as to leave the road clear. "I don't
see, though, what the young rascal has got to laugh at in that way, like a
regular young yahoo."
"Please, sir, pray excuse him," pleaded Nellie on behalf of Bob. "It is
only a way he has got. He cannot help laughing for the life of him when
the fit is on. He really does not mean to be rude, sir, I assure you."
"Doesn't he?" repeated the old gentleman, smiling in a knowing fashion
as if he knew all about it. "Then, he's very unlike all the boys I have
come across in my time; and they've been a goodish few, missy! But,
there, get along with you both, and look out of the window to your
heart's content. Take care, though, that neither you nor that young
jackanapes don't manage to tumble out on the line, for I can't pick you
up from here!"

Bob and Nellie took advantage at once of the permission granted them;
but, soon, becoming tired of the monotonous sameness of the ever-
whirling landscape, turned back within the railway-carriage, and, sitting
down like ordinary and regular travellers accustomed by this time to all
the sights and scenes of the road, the pair were presently engaged in
earnest and confidential conversation with the now extremely affable,
old gentleman.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, breaking the ice on seeing the pair at last quiet.
"So, your name is Strong, eh?"
"Yes, sir," answered Bob, acting as spokesman. "Father is a barrister,
and he cannot get away from London yet for his holiday like us; and, of
course, sir, my mother couldn't leave him alone, you know--"
"No, of course not," agreed the old gentleman, "of course not."
"So, then," continued Bob, "they sent us on first; and we're going to the
seaside, where we've never been before! Isn't