Susan | Page 2

to answer questions properly. Susan had
never been encouraged to ask questions, and it would be more than
usually difficult at present, for there was a mysterious bustle going on
all over the house, and nothing was just as usual. She constantly found
strange boxes and packages in different rooms, with her mother and
nurse in anxious consultation over them, and she was allowed to go
where she liked and do as she liked, provided only that she did not get
in the way or give trouble; above all, she knew she must not ask many
questions, or say "why" often, for that worried people more than
anything. The governess, who came every day to teach Susan and
Freddie, had given them her last lesson yesterday, and said "good-bye;"
she was not coming again, she told them, for the whole winter. In this
state of things the only person in the house who seemed always
good-tempered and ready to talk was Maria, the nursery-maid--perhaps
she had not so much on her mind. It was not, however, at all
satisfactory to make inquiries of Maria, for, with the best will in the
world, and an eager desire to please, she was rather stupid, and could
seldom give any answer worth having.
So Susan had little hope of learning much about Aunt Enticknapp, and
yet the more she thought of it the more she felt she must try to do
so--even if she had to ask her mother, which she was afraid to do, for
Mother was always so occupied and anxious about Freddie that Susan's
wants and wonders had to give way, or be kept to herself, and this she
thought quite natural because Freddie was ill.
After breakfast she took a doll, a small work-box, and a tattered book,
and settled herself quietly in her favourite corner; this was in Freddie's
room, between the back of his couch and the wall, and, though rather
dark, very snug and private, and not too retired for her to see all that
went on. From here she could watch her mother as she came in and out,
and judge when it would be best to speak to her. Not yet evidently.

Mother's face looked full of worry and business this morning, and if
she sat down for one minute a maid-servant would be sure to appear
with, "If you please, ma'am," and then she would have to go away
again. Susan sighed as she pushed her sticky needle in and out the doll's
frock she was making. Her mind was full of Aunt Enticknapp; if she
was Mother's aunt she must, of course, be very very old. Very old
ladies always looked cross, and were nearly always deaf. Ought she to
call her "aunt" when she spoke to her? What was her other name?
Perhaps Freddie could tell her that, at any rate! She stood up and
looked at him over the back of the sofa--there he was, reading as usual,
with a frown on his white forehead, and all his thick black hair pushed
up by his impatient hand. Freddie was ten, two years older than Susan;
he had never been able to run about and play like other boys, and her
earliest recollection of him was that he was always lying on his back,
and always reading. The books he liked best were those that had plenty
of fighting and hunting and hardships in them. He was reading now a
tale of the Coral Islands, and she knew quite well that he would not like
to be disturbed. He was not always good-tempered, but Mother had told
Susan that she ought to be patient with him because he was so often in
pain. She stood there with her doll under her arm staring thoughtfully at
him, and at last he turned a page.
"Freddie!" she said very quickly, so that he might not have time to get
interested again. "What do you think I ought to call her?"
Freddie turned his great black eyes upon her with a puzzled and rather
vexed look in them; it was a long way from the Coral Islands to Susan.
But she stood expecting an answer, and he said at last with an impatient
glance at the doll:
"Call her! Oh, call her what you like!"
Susan saw his mistake at once.
"Oh, I don't mean the doll!" she said in a great hurry. "I mean Aunt--
Aunt--Emptycap."
Freddie's attention was caught at last. He put the book down on his

knees.
"Aunt who?" he said with real interest in his voice.
Susan knew he was going to laugh at her, and this she never liked.
"You know who I mean," she said, "it's not quite the name, but it
sounds like that. I want to know