Teddy | Page 8

the gloaming, the snow-flakes were
falling slowly and steadily from a leaden-hued sky overhead.
The only thing breaking the stillness of the murky air was the
melancholy "Chirp, churp! chirp, churp" uttered at intervals by some
belated sparrow who had not gone to bed in good time like all sensible
bird-folk, and whose plaintive chirp was all the more aggravating from
its monotonous repetition.

"I'm sore sumtin d'eadfill's happened," whimpered little Cissy, the
youngest of the three watchers, after a long silence between them. "Pa
sood have been back hours and hours and hours ago."
"Nonsense, Cissy!" said Miss Conny, her elder sister, who by virtue of
her seniority and the fact of her having reached the mature age of ten
was rather prone to giving herself certain matronly airs of superiority
over the others, which they put up with in all good faith, albeit they
were most amusing to outside onlookers. "You are always imagining
something terrible is going to befall everybody, instead of hoping for
the best! Why don't you learn to look on the bright side of things, child?
Every cloud, you know, has its silver lining."
"But not dat one up dere!" retorted Cissy, unconvinced by the proverb,
pointing to the sombre pall of vapour that now enveloped the whole sky
overhead; when, struck more than ever with the utter dismalness of the
scene, she drew out a tiny sort of doll's handkerchief from as tiny a
little pocket in her tiny pinafore-apron, and began wiping away the
tears from her beady eyes and blowing her little red nose vigorously.
"It's all black, and no light nowhere; and I'm sore poor pa and Teddy
and all of dem are lost!"
With that, completely overcome by her own forebodings, the little thing
all at once broke down, sobbing in such a heart-broken way that it was
as much as Conny could do to comfort her; the elder sister drawing her
to her side and hugging her affectionately, rocking her small person to
and fro the while with a measured rhythm-like movement as if little
Cissy were a baby and she her mother, hushing her to sleep!
At this moment, Liz, who occupied the middle step between the two,
and was of a much more sedate and equable nature than either of her
sisters, suddenly effected a diversion that did more to raise Cissy's
spirits than all Conny's whispered consolation and kisses.
"I think I see a black speck moving in the lane," she exclaimed,
removing her face a second from the glass to look round at the others as
she spoke, and then hastily glueing it to the pane again. "Yes,
somebody's coming. There's an arm waving about!"

Conny and Cissy were instantly on the alert; and before Liz had hardly
got out the last words they had imitated her example, wedging their
little noses once more against the window, looking down the lane, and
trying somewhat vainly to pierce the haze obscuring the distance.
"No," said Conny, after a prolonged observation of the object Liz had
pointed out; "it's only a branch of the lilac tree blown about by the
wind."
A minute later, however, and Liz began to clap her hands triumphantly,
although still keeping her face fixed to the window.
"I was right, I was right!" she exclaimed in triumph. "The speck is
getting nearer, and, see, there are two more behind."
"I believe you are right," said Conny, after another steady glance down
the lane. "There are three people approaching the house, and--"
"Dat's pa in front, I know," shouted out Cissy, interrupting her and
clapping her hands like Liz, her whilom sad little face beaming with
gladness. "I see him, I see him, and he's dot Teddy in his arms!"
"So he has," said Conny, carried away by the excitement out of her
ordinarily staid and decorous demeanour. "Let us all run down and
meet him!"
Her suggestion was hailed with a shout of exclamation; and, the next
moment, forgetful of the falling flakes and the risk of getting damp feet,
which Conny the careful was ever warning the others against, the three
had run out into the hall, opened the outside door of the porch, which
the wind banged against the side of the passage with a thump that
shook the house, and were racing towards the entrance gate over the
white expanse of lawn, now quite covered with some six inches of
snow.
Just as the little girls reached the gate, all breathless in a batch, it was
opened from without, and they were confronted by their father with
Master Teddy on his shoulder, still holding the kitten in his arms; while,

close behind, followed Jupp taking care of Mary the nurse.
"Oh, papa!" cried Conny, Cissy, and Liz in chorus, hanging on