The Happy Adventurers | Page 6

finished. Come on, Grizzel, leave your old chain--come on,
Mollie."
Grizzel shook her head and set all the red curls bobbing; "I must finish
my chain first. You go. I won't be long."
Prudence and Mollie jumped the flower-beds again, Laddie, who had
fallen comfortably asleep among the dandelions, deciding after a few
lazy blinks to stay where he was. A slender boy in grey was waiting for
them in the veranda. He was like Prue, but fairer, and his eyes were
peculiarly clear and thoughtful.
"Come on," he said, "I'm ready for the furnishings now. What I want is:
first, a carpet; second, curtains; and third--third--a tin- opener; but there
is no great hurry for that. Where can I get a carpet?"
"Schoolroom hearthrug," Prudence suggested promptly. "No one will
notice, and it's pretty shabby since I dropped the red-hot poker and you
spilt the treacle-toffee."
"And the curtains?"
"You can have the striped blanket off my bed," said Prue, after a
moment's consideration, "we can cut it in halves."
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Mollie. "Cut a blanket in halves! What
will your mother say to that?"
"Mamma won't know," Prudence replied calmly. "She never looks at
my bed, and, if she did, she would forget it had ever had a striped
blanket on it. Come on, Mollie, we'll get the things and smuggle them
across while no one is looking."
Mollie felt shocked for a minute. Doing things behind backs was all
against Guide Law, and at home she would almost as soon think of
chopping up her own feet as of cutting up Mother's blankets to play
with. But, she reflected, different times have different ways; there was

no Guide Law in 1878, and perhaps Prue's mother was very extra strict,
in which case "all's fair in love and war", so she followed Prue into the
house. It was, to her eyes, an unusual sort of house, all built on the
ground floor, so that there was no staircase. The front door opened into
a square hall with doors on all sides. Prue pushed one open and they
passed through into a bedroom, very plainly furnished with two little
beds, two chests of drawers, a wash-stand, and a chair. They pulled the
white cover off one bed and hauled away a blanket, cheerfully striped
in scarlet, purple, yellow, and green, with a few black and white lines
thrown in here and there. Mollie thought it would be rather a difficult
blanket to forget about. Prue replaced the white cover, spreading it
smoothly and neatly, rolled up the blanket, and made for the door
again.
Hugh had disappeared. They walked down the veranda, passing several
open French windows through which Mollie caught a glimpse of
sitting-rooms, and crossed a paved courtyard, at the farther side of
which was a red brick house with a wooden porch in front of it.
"The schoolroom is here," Prudence explained, "because Mamma
doesn't like noise. It's a very good plan for us; we can do lots of things
we couldn't do if we were in the house. Miss Wilton is our governess;
she has gone home to-day to nurse a sister with bronchitis. I'm sorry for
the sister, but it's a treat for us, especially as Hugh has got a
half-holiday. Mamma is out, Bridget has taken Baby for a walk, and
Mary is talking to her sweetheart across the fence, so we'll get the
hearthrug without any questions."
As she talked, Prudence led the way into the schoolroom. It was plainly
furnished and not very tidy, but it had a homely look--in fact it
reminded Mollie of the nursery in North Kensington, so that, for one
very brief moment, she almost felt homesick. But Prudence gave her
little time to indulge in this luxurious sensation (because having a home
nice enough to be sick for is a luxury in its way), and Mollie had
merely taken in a general impression of books, toys, and shabbiness,
when Prudence called her to help with the hearthrug. It certainly was
shabby and by no means added to the beauty of the room. They rolled it

up with the blanket inside, and, carrying it between them, they left the
schoolroom, crossed the courtyard again, scrambled over a low stone
wall, and arrived at the foot of a tall tree.
It was a very large tree. Its trunk, grey, smooth, and absolutely straight,
rose from the ground for fourteen feet without a branch or foothold of
any description. At that height its thick boughs spread out in a broad
and even circumference, and across two of these boughs was built a hut,
perhaps five by seven feet in area, and high enough for a child of ten to
stand upright in. It had a floor, four walls, and a