The Gap in the Fence | Page 2

hardly drunk any of it yet."
"Very nice, thank you, dear," said her father.
Norah got down from her seat and carried the big milk jug round to his side.
"Won't you have some more milk, father?" she said. "Perhaps your tea is too hot, and you can't drink it quickly."
"But I don't want to drink it quickly," said her father.
He looked in a puzzled way at his wife, and Mrs. Carew laughed.
"I told the children to let you drink one cup of tea in peace before they bothered you with questions," said she.
"I think I know what the questions will be about," said the vicar.
He drank the rest of his tea and handed the cup to Philip.
"Father! Have you heard Haver Grange is let?" said the boy.
"And whom it's let to?" asked Ruth.
"And whether there are any children?" asked Norah.
"One question at a time!" said their father, laughing. "Yes, I heard from Mr. Denny that the Grange had been let to a foreign gentleman, who is coming to live there very soon, I believe, as the caretakers have orders to have the house in readiness before the end of this week; but where he comes from and whether he has any children I do not know."
Dan had been opening and shutting his mouth for the last two minutes.
"Father!" he burst out at last, "Do you think he will have the gap in the fence boarded up?"
"The gap in the fence? My dear Dan, what do you mean?" asked his father.
"He means the gap where we used to get through and have picnics in the Grange grounds," said Ruth, "but we haven't been there for a long time now. Have you and Dan been lately, Norah?"
"Yes," said Norah, "Dan and I often go and sit there. Shan't we ever be able to go any more?" And the little girl looked quite sad.
"No," said Mr. Carew; "certainly you must not go again. Little trespassers! I had no idea you were in the habit of going there for picnics or anything else."
"What's trespassers?" asked Dan.
"People who break through other people's fences and get taken up and put in prison," said Philip, as Mr. and Mrs. Carew left the tea-table and went towards the house. "Just fancy! You and Norah might have been quietly having a picnic in the glen one day when some fat old policeman would come along and take you both off to prison."
"Levick wouldn't," said Norah stoutly. "Levick's a very nice man. Dan and I often go to see him and his wife and baby."
"Well, Levick isn't the only policeman in the world," said Philip teasingly. "I saw a very fat, red-faced old policeman in Borsham the other day, and he had a little twinkle in his eye, which seemed to say: 'Where are the little boy and girl who have been breaking through the Grange fence?'"
"Oh, Philip, don't be silly," said Mary, seeing that her little brother was looking rather grave. "You know policemen wouldn't take up people and put them in prison unless they were doing anything really wrong."
"But perhaps some policemen would, Mary," said Dan. "Perhaps all policemen are not nice, kind policemen like Levick, who live in dear little white cottages like Levick's cottage, and have dear little babies like Levick's baby, and lots of little pigs like Levick's pigs."
The other children burst out laughing.
"No, of course they are not all exactly like Levick," said Philip, who was a little ashamed of himself for having frightened his little brother; "but I was only joking when I said that about the policeman in Borsham, Dan. What a little duffer you are!"
"Tell us about Jack the Giant-killer, then," said Dan coaxingly; and Philip sat down good-naturedly and told his little brother and sister story after story, until it was bedtime.
The next morning, when Philip went to the schoolroom to finish the Latin translation which he meant to have done the evening before, he found Ruth seated at the table with pen, ink and paper before her, and a very blank look on her face.
"What are you doing?" he asked in surprise; for Ruth was a very lazy little girl as a rule, and was seldom seen either reading, writing or working.
"It's my holiday task," she said dismally. "I can't think of anything to say."
"What have you got to write about?" asked Philip.
"Alfred the Great," said Ruth. "I know about him burning the cakes; but I can't think of anything else, and Mary has half done hers. Miss Long has offered a prize for the one who does it best."
"I wish old Jones would offer a prize for my holiday task," said Philip. "I can't get this stuff into my head!" and the boy turned to his Latin with a sigh.
"It's because we've had holidays, I think," said Ruth. "My mind