Hildegardes Neighbors | Page 3

another dropped egg, and so on; and away they all went into the
house, laughing and shouting and tumbling over each other. Such a
jolly family. Mamma!"
"Yes, my dear," said Mrs. Grahame, very quietly, but without looking
up.
"Nothing!" said Hildegarde. "You are an angel, that is all."
Mrs. Grahame sighed, and thought, as Hildegarde had been thinking,
how good it would be to have many children, like a crown of sunbeams,
about her; and thought of a little grave in Greenwood, where her only

boy lay.
Presently she looked up with her usual bright smile.
"This is all very interesting, Hilda, and I fully sympathize with your
feelings behind the hedge; but you have not told me how you came to
know about our new neighbours. Did Colonel Ferrers join you at your
peep-hole?"
"He did, mamma! He did just precisely that. I saw him coming along
the road, swinging his stick, and frowning and humming to
himself,--dear thing! And when he came near the house, and heard the
voices, he stopped and looked, and began to go softly and slowly; so
then I knew that he, too, wanted to see what was going on. So I slipped
to the gate and beckoned to him, and he came in on tiptoe and joined
me. Such fun we had,--just like two conspirators! He could see over my
head, so we could both look at once; and he kept muttering scraps of
information in my ear, so that it quite buzzed. Yes, I know you are
shocked, dear madam, but it really could not be helped; and you said
once to Jack--poor old Jack!--that his uncle was a criterion of gentle
breeding and manners! So now, Mrs. Grahame!"
"Well," said Mrs. Grahame, "since matters are so, I may as well hear
what my criterion had to say about our new neighbours. A pretty state
of things, truly! the magnate and the maiden, spying through bushes on
these unsuspecting strangers. Say on, unhappy girl!"
"Of course he said, 'Hum, ha!' first, a good many times; and we laughed
at each other, under our breath, and were very happy. And then he said,
'Miles Merryweather, my dear! Excellent person! Heard he had taken
the old house, but had no idea he was coming so soon. Eminent
scientific man, manager of the new chemical works at Brompton, over
yonder. Met him once, some years ago; glad to renew the acquaintance.
Large family, I see, yes, yes; hum, ha! Boy about Hugh's age; inferior
to him in intellect, my dear, I'll bet a--I should be tolerably certain.
Astonishing lad, my Hugh! Ha! Mrs. Merryweather, presumably;
literary, I hear, and that sort of thing. Don't care for literary people
myself; prefer their books; but looks amiable. Pretty girl that, Hilda, my
dear! the tall slip with the fair hair! Yes, yes! "A pretty girl's the noblest
work of"--you remember? What's that? "An honest man," in the
original? Now, will you hear this girl setting her elders to rights? I
wonder what your mother was thinking of when she brought you up,

young woman!' and so on, and so on, in his own delightful way. Really,
mammina, from what he said, we are going to have a great acquisition
to the little neighbourhood. We must call as soon as it would be in any
way decent, mustn't we? Oh, but wait! I must tell you the end. We had
been so interested in watching the children, and in seeing them go
tumbling down and up into the house, that we had lost sight of Mr.
Merryweather himself. I suppose he must have driven round to the
stable and left the horses there; for suddenly, almost in our ears, we
heard a deep voice saying, 'A fine hedge, but needs clipping badly; we
must set the boys to work in the morning.' We started back as if we had
been shot. Colonel Ferrers turned purple, and I felt every colour in the
rainbow flooding my cheeks. We made sure we had been seen or heard,
and I think Colonel Ferrers was on the point of stepping forward like a
soldier, and apologizing; but I held his arm for a moment, in pure
cowardice, and the next moment we saw Mr. and Mrs. Merryweather,
arm in arm, gazing calmly at the hedge, and evidently unconscious of
any guilty crouchers on the other side. Oh, mammy! if you could have
seen us stealing away, how you would have laughed. The Colonel is
not very light, you know, bless him! and to see him mincing along on
the tips of his dear toes, scarcely daring to draw breath, still purple with
embarrassment and suppressed laughter, and looking over his shoulder
at every step, as if he expected to see Mr. Merryweather come