My Young Days | Page 7

evening. Next day we
were quite happy and comfortable, had a very merry breakfast, and then
a delightful ramble about the gardens and orchards. Of course, I was
only one of the little ones, coming in between Alick and Murray,
feeling very small beside Lottie and Harry. Yet we were all very good
friends, and Lottie soon told me that she thought it would be very nice
to have a girl to talk to, and not only boys. This remark pleased me,
though when I thought of Bobbie, it sounded rather strange. Indeed, I
am not sure that I was not a little too fond of boys' play.
I remember feeling rather disappointed one day when she said to me in
the garden--
"Sissy, let's come and have a nice quiet walk together, and leave the
boys to play by themselves."
[Illustration: GOING TO THE WARS.]
Now, three of the boys were just preparing for a military march, one
with a bright flag, another with a trumpet, and another with a
sword-stick, so-called; and there was a most refreshing prospect of
shouting, stamping, and huzzahs! Do you wonder that I turned away

rather unwillingly?
However, Lottie's confidences soon made up for it all. Such beautiful
stories Lottie could tell! When she began to talk about the Alps, and the
blue lake and the mountain flowers, I thought it seemed almost as good
as my hymns and verses. I know I looked up at her with eyes full of
admiration, and when she put her arms round me, and gave me a loving
kiss, I thought I had never been so happy before.
And then she listened to all I had to tell her about Bobbie, and baby
Willie, and Rosalinda, and gave me her advice about dressing
Rosalinda like the Queen.
My letters, too, she read, and said they were very nice, which made me
love mamma for writing them all the more. And she showed me her
own letter that had just come across the sea, with its foreign stamps and
thin paper. Quite a nice talk it was altogether, and we were ever so
sorry when we were called in to dinner.
My boy-cousins were very polite to me at first, and hardly seemed to
know what to make of me. Harry was a little too patronizing, called me
"a mite of a thing," and played tricks upon me in a gentle way. But then
he was not often with us. He had not been a night in the house before
he had quite determined to be a sailor like Uncle Hugh, so it followed,
as a matter of course, that he must be always with him.
Force of habit, however, made him confide all his plans and thoughts to
Lottie, so that our private talks in the shrubbery were often interrupted
by his merry voice. Then he would throw himself down among the
grass and periwinkles, and tell us all about his future ship. This usually
ended in Lottie's being carried off to make sails or flags for his new
craft. Then, being left to myself, I soon ran off to my other cousins,
nothing loath to have a game of romps with them.
Alick seemed likely to be my special friend. What a funny little fellow
he must have been, though I did not think so then! Jane called him a
little dandy, much to his displeasure; yet I am afraid his friendship was
likely to increase my childish vanity. He was so fond of decking me

with flowers, making wreaths for me, and then looking at me, and
sometimes comparing my hair or eyes with Lottie's; and his look of
vexation if my face was dirty or my pinafore torn, often comes back to
me even now when I feel untidy in any way.
One afternoon, when Alick and I and one of the other boys were alone,
it suddenly came into our wise little heads that we would play at going
to a party. What vast preparations we made! What pains the boys took
to tie up my sleeves with some bright ribbon meant for Harry's flags!
How cleverly we succeeded in carrying off a hair-brush, and what a
long time it took to decide how the boys' hair and ties should be
arranged! And then came the flowers, my wreath, and the bouquet to be
carried for me by one of my gentlemen.
We were all ready, I remember, and I was just taking Alick's arm, and
we had all put on our best airs and graces for a solemn entrance to the
supposed ball-room, when, all of a sudden, who should come round the
corner but Uncle Hugh and Harry!
[Illustration: GOING TO A PARTY.]
Oh, those bursts of laughter pealing out again and