The Kings Daughters | Page 7

led them forward.
"Mother, here be two bits of Maypoles," said she, "for they be scarce
fatter; and two handfuls of snow, for they be scarce rosier--that say you
promised them that I should go home with them and bear their jar of
meal."
"So I did, Rose. Bring them in, and let them warm themselves,"
answered Mrs Mount. "Give them a sup of broth or what we have, to
put a bit of life in them; and at after thou shalt bear them company to
Thorpe. Poor little souls! they have no mother, and they say God looks
after them only."
"Then I shall be in His company too," said Rose softly. Then, dropping
her voice that the children might not hear, she added, "Mother, there's
only that drop of broth you set aside for breakfast; and it's scarce
enough for you and father both. Must I give them that?"
Alice Mount thought a moment. She had spoken before almost without
thinking.
"Daughter," she said, "if their Father, which is also ours, had come with
them visible to our eyes, we should bring forth our best for Him; and
He will look for us to do it for the little ones whose angels see His Face.
Ay, fetch the broth, Rose."
Perhaps Cissy had overheard a few words, for wheel the bowl of broth
was put into her hands, she said, "Can you spare it? Didn't you want it
for something else than us?"
"We can spare it, little maid," said Alice, with a smile.

"Sup it up," added Rose, laying her hand on the child's shoulder; "and
much good may it do thee! Then, when you are both warmed and rested,
I'll set forth with you."
Cissy did not allow that to be long. She drank her broth, admonished
Will by a look to finish his--for he was disposed to loiter,--and after
sitting still for a few minutes, rose and put down the bowl.
"We return you many thanks," she said in her prim little way, "and I
think, if you please, we ought to go home. Father 'll be back by the time
we get there; and I don't like to be away when he comes. Mother bade
me not. She said he'd miss her worse if he didn't find me. You see, I've
got to do for Mother now, both for Father and the children."
Alice Mount thought it very funny to hear this little mite talking about
"the children," as if she were not a child at all.
"Well, tarry a minute till I tie on my hood," said Rose. "I'll be ready
before you can say, `This is the house that Jack built.'"
"What do you with the babe, little maid, when you go forth?" asked
Alice.
"Baby?" said Cissy, looking up. "Oh, we leave her with Ursula Felstede,
next door. She's quite safe till we come back."
Rose now came in from the inner room, where she had been putting on
her hood and mantle. There were no bonnets then. What women called
bonnets in those days were close thick hoods, made of silk, velvet, fur,
or woollen stuff of some sort. Nor had they either shawls or
jackets--only loose mantles, for out-door wear. Rose took up the jar of
meal.
"Please, I can carry it on one side," said Cissy rather eagerly.
"Thou mayest carry thyself," said Rose. "That's plenty. I haven't walked
five miles to-day. I'm a bit stronger than thou, too."

Little Will had not needed telling that he was no longer wanted to carry
the jar; he was already off after wild flowers, as if the past five miles
had been as many yards, though he had assured Cissy at least a dozen
times as they came along that he did not know how he was ever to get
home, and as they were entering Bentley had declared himself unable
to take another step. Cissy shook her small head with the air of a
prophetess.
"Will shouldn't say such things!" said she. "He said he couldn't walk a
bit further--that I should have to carry him as well as the jar--and I don't
know how I could, unless I'd poured the meal out and put him in, and
he'd never have gone, I'm sure; and now, do but look at him after those
buttercups!"
"He didn't mean to tell falsehoods," said Rose. "He was tired, I dare say.
Lads will be lads, thou knowest."
"Oh dear, I don't know how I'm to bring up these children to be good
people!" said Cissy, as gravely as if she had been their grandmother.
"Ursula says children are great troubles, and I'm sure it's true. If there's
any place where Will should be, that's just where he always isn't; and if
there's one spot