Hildegardes Neighbors | Page 7

with old turf,
that when I saw you this morning walking under the tree, I made up a
romance about you,--a pretty little romance. You are quite sure you
don't mind? You were the last of an ancient family, and you were very
delicate, and your mother kept you in this lovely solitude, hoping to
preserve your precious life. And now," she burst into a clear peal of
laughter, in which Hildegarde joined heartily, "now I see you near, and
you are no more delicate than I am, and you are not the last of an
ancient family. At least, I hope you are not," she cried, growing
suddenly grave.
"Oh! do you like to make romances?" cried Hildegarde, with ready tact
waiving the last question. "It is my delight, too. No, I am not in the
least delicate, as you say, and we have only been here two years, my
mother and I; yet it seems like home, and I hope we shall always live
here now. And are you beginning to feel at all settled in,--I don't know
any name for your house; we have called it just the 'Yellow House' as it

had no special interest, being uninhabited. But I suppose you will give
it a name?"
"If we can decide on one!" said Bell Merryweather, laughing. "The
trouble is, there are so many of us to decide. I want to call it Gamboge:
brief, you see, and simple. But one boy says it must be Chrome Castle,
and another votes for Topaz Tower; so I don't know how it will end."
"When I was a little girl," said Hildegarde, "I had a book, the dearest
little book, called 'Pumpkin House.' It was about--"
"Oh, DID you have 'Pumpkin House?'" cried Bell Merryweather,
eagerly. "Oh! wasn't it a darling? And didn't you think you never could
be perfectly happy till you could live in a pumpkin? And to think of my
forgetting it now, just when the opportunity has come! Of course we
shall call the new home Pumpkin House!"
"Will the others like it?" asked Hildegarde,
"They'd better!" said Bell. "And they will, of course. It was only
because we had not found the right name that we did not agree. Thank
you so much, Miss Grahame! Oh, I must go now, for I have fifty
thousand things to do! But,--I am so glad to have met you."
"And I to know you," cried Hildegarde, warmly. "I hope we shall see a
great deal of each other. We shall come to call in due form, as soon as
you are ready to receive visitors. But meanwhile, allow me to present
you with the freedom of the fence and of the Ladies' Garden. See! our
two boys are deep in confidences already."
In truth, the black head and the red one were laid close together, and
the two round faces wore the same look of deep importance.
"Mine are green and white," said Will. "That is Austrian, but I have
them Crusaders a good deal of the time."
"Mine are blue," said Hugh, "and sometimes they are Americans, and
sometimes they are Greeks and Trojans. Will you be my friend, and
shall we fight great fights together?"
"All right," said Will Merryweather, shyly.
"We will plan a campaign," cried Hugh, his eyes shining with ardour.
"Yes; but now you must come in to your music lesson," said
Hildegarde, taking his hand, and frowning at herself for feeling another
little pang, as Hugh's face turned toward his new acquaintance.
"Read the Talisman?" cried Will. "I'll be Saladin, and you be Richard."
"Come along, Will," said his sister, taking him by the shoulders and

marching him toward the fence.
"Lots of sand that will do for Palestine!" "Plains of Marathon over
beyond the stone wall!" "Turbans and lances!" "Horsetail helmets and
real armour!"
Still shouting, Will was pitched bodily over the fence by his stalwart
sister, while Hugh went away holding Hildegarde's hand, and looking
backward as he passed.
"We will fight!" he said, giving a little leap of joy. "Our necks shall be
clothed with thunder, and we shall say, 'Ha! ha!' among the trumpets.
And will you bind my wounds, Beloved?" he added, looking up in
Hildegarde's face. "And will you give me my shield, and tell me to
come back with it or upon it? Will you do that? The cover of the
washboiler will do beautifully for a shield."
"So it will!" said Hildegarde; and they went into the house together.

CHAPTER III
.
PUMPKIN HOUSE.

When Mrs. Grahame and Hildegarde went to call on their new
neighbours, two days after the meeting in the garden, they found them
already entirely at home, the house looking as if they had always lived
in it. The