BY '\ 
 
 MARY \ 
 C6VDEN-J
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I.
 
 "I found myself staring up at a strange man's face that 
 down at us." PAGE 13. 
 
 was staring
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 a 
 
 BY 
 MARY COWDEN-CLARKE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 THE "COMPLETE CONCORDANCE TO SHAKESPEARE," THE "SHAKESPEARE KBY," 
 
 "GIRLHOOD OF SHAKESPEARE'S HEROINES," "KIT BAM'S ADVENTURES," 
 
 "MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY," THE "IRON COUSIN," 
 
 "A RAMBLING STORY," ETC, ETC. 
 
 Let us from point to point this story know, 
 To make the even truth in pleasure flow. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
 1886.
 
 Copyright, 1886, 
 BY ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
 
 Bnfbrraftg firm : 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
 
 TO 
 
 MY MANY DEAR KIND FRIENDS 
 IN AMERICA, 
 
 AND 
 
 TO THEIR CHILDREN, 
 
 Qfyis 33aofc is JSrtucatetf, 
 
 WITH AFFECTIONATE ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE. 
 
 484047 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 PHEFACE. 
 
 TIRING a summer ramble in Ger- 
 many, while making some stay at 
 delightful Dresden, I met a sweet- 
 faced American lady, who looked 
 scarcely older than her two fair young daugh- 
 ters, so fresh was her complexion, and who 
 said to me, "I wish you would write some- 
 thing for our American children which would 
 make them know and love you as we all 
 have long known and loved you through 
 your pen." 
 
 On my return to my Italian home, I thought 
 over her obliging words; and one morning 
 I awoke with the sketch presented to my 
 mind of" Uncle, Peep, and I," which I thought 
 afforded scope for fulfilment of her wish. 
 The style of "Dutch painting," which I
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 adopted for this child's novel, is in accord- 
 ance with what I remember wishing for in 
 my childhood days, when I liked to know 
 every detail of a narrative, and asked, " Well, 
 what did he say ? " " Then, what did she 
 say?" The incidents are chosen that may 
 best develop the questions of graciousness 
 or ungraciousness in manner, kindliness or 
 unaffectionateness in gift and acceptance, the 
 enjoyment that lies in simple and inexpensive 
 pleasures, questions that are often uncon- 
 sciously yet keenly felt by sensitive and 
 naturally tasteful children ; while the English 
 figures, English landscape, English park scen- 
 ery, in my picture have been delineated as 
 likely to attract and interest my young 
 American readers, and incline them to take 
 into their favor 
 
 Their friend and well-wisher, 
 
 MARY COWDEN-CLARKE. 
 
 VILLA NOVELLO, GENOA. 
 February, 1886.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 USH ! Don't cry so, Peep." 
 " You 're crying yourself, Bab." 
 " I 'm trying not to cry, Peep." 
 " So am I, Bab ; but I can't help 
 crying. When I saw those men come and 
 take father away, I cried ; and I 've been 
 crying ever since. Where did they take 
 him to, Bab ? " 
 
 " To heaven, Peep." 
 " Where 's that, Bab ? Is it far ? " 
 " Oh, ever so far, Peep ; it must be." 
 "But where is it, .Bab?" 
 " I don't know, Peep." 
 Peep stopped a minute to think ; then he 
 said, 
 
 " Why do you think it 's far off, Bab ? "
 
 10 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Because when mother died, Peep, father 
 told me she was gone to heaven ; and she 
 never came back, so I thought it must be 
 a long way off. And now he 's gone, too, 
 to look after her, I suppose ; and very likely 
 he will never come back either." 
 
 Peep and I began to cry afresh then, and 
 went on crying. But presently he looked 
 at me again, and said, 
 
 " Do people always go to heaven in a long 
 box, Bab ? " 
 
 " What do you mean, Peep ? " 
 
 "I mean I saw those men put father in 
 a great long box when they took him away ; 
 and that was what made me cry most of all, 
 Bab ; it looked so odd and so " 
 
 Peep broke off, partly as if he did n't know 
 what word to use, partly as if crying stopped 
 his speaking. 
 
 " Don't sob so, Peep ; try and think of 
 father before he grew ill, and when he used 
 to talk and laugh and play with us, to keep 
 us from feeling dull and too hungry, when 
 he had little to bring home for us to eat."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 11 
 
 " I 'in hungry now, Bab." 
 
 " Are you, Peep ? I 'm afraid there 's not 
 much in the cupboard. But I '11 look." 
 
 I found a piece of bread, which I had put 
 away when I could n't eat at breakfast-time, 
 while the men came to carry father away. 
 So I gave it to Peep, who began to munch 
 it slowly ; for it was very hard, and he could 
 hardly get his teeth into it He was only 
 five years old, poor little fellow, and I was n't 
 much older, though I seemed so ; for father 
 used to tell me things about mother, and how 
 she would have taught me to be like a little 
 mother to Peep if she had n't had to go away 
 to heaven so soon ; and I tried to be like 
 one as well as I could by what he told me of 
 her. I was thinking about all this when 
 Peep said, 
 
 " Ain't you hungry, too, Bab ? " 
 
 " Not very, Peep ; not so hungry as you are." 
 
 " How do you know, Bab ? " 
 
 " Oh, I 'm sure of it, Peep ; I see you 're 
 hungry, very hungry, and I 'm only rather 
 hungry."
 
 12 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " I 'm very cold, too, Bab, and there 's no 
 fire in the grate." 
 
 " No, Peep, and I can't light one, for there 's 
 no wood left, and very little coal." 
 
 " What shall we do, Bab ? " 
 
 " Let 's sit down together on the rug, Peep, 
 and wrap ourselves up in it ; it '11 keep us 
 warm." 
 
 Peep's teeth were chattering, and he trem- 
 bled a good deal when we first sat down 
 on the rug ; but after we had hunched 
 ourselves close together and wrapped it 
 round us both, we felt rather better, and 
 he said, 
 
 "'What a cross old thing that Mrs. Wall 
 is, is n't she, Bab ? " 
 
 " Yes, she 's very cross, Peep ; but she 
 brought us some milk for breakfast this morn- 
 ing, and I don't think she could have been 
 paid for it; for father said last night he 
 had n't a shilling left, and how we should 
 get any breakfast he did n't know ; so it 
 must have been some milk she gave us for 
 kindness, though she is cross, Peep."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 13 
 
 Peep said nothing for some time, and at 
 last I felt him lean heavily against me ; so 
 heavily and so lumpily that I knew he must 
 be asleep, and I kept myself from moving for 
 fear of waking him. I suppose I must have 
 fallen asleep too, for I don't remember any- 
 thing else till I found myself staring up from 
 the folds of the rug at a strange man's face, 
 that was staring down at us as we lay there 
 wrapped up together. 
 
 " What are you at ? " said the strange man, 
 in a gruffish voice. 
 
 " We 're trying to keep ourselves warm," 
 I said. 
 
 " What 's your names ? " 
 
 " Peep and Bab," I answered. 
 
 " All right ; you 're the little 'uns I came 
 to look after. Your mother told me of you 
 in the last letter she wrote to me out there, 
 and asked me, when I returned, to come and 
 see after you. I'm returned, from sea, 
 and am come. She 's gone, I suppose. I 
 knew, from her letter, she could n't last long, 
 poor soul. Poor girl ! Poor Dolly 1 "
 
 14 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 The man put up his arm and brushed his 
 coat-sleeve over his eyes. 
 
 " Father used to call her Dolly, too ; but 
 her real name was Dorothy," I ventured to 
 whisper. 
 
 " Ay, ay ; all right. You 're my poor 
 sister's little 'uns, sure enough. Where 's 
 your father ? " 
 
 " Gone, too. They carried him away to 
 heaven this very morning. If mother was 
 your sister, you must be Uncle that she used 
 to tell us of," I added, staring still harder 
 up in his face. 
 
 " Yes, I 'm Uncle ; your uncle ; Uncle John 
 Bruff. Come along with me, young 'uns ; 
 you can't stay here, you know, all by your- 
 selves. Come, come along with me." 
 
 So saying, Uncle gave me a strong tug, 
 and gave Peep another, which pulled us up 
 on to our feet. Peep had been rubbing his 
 eyes, and waking, and staring up, too, at the 
 strange man with the gruffish voice. Just 
 then Mrs. Wall came into the room, and 
 Uncle went to her and spoke some words
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 15 
 
 with her, and gave her some money; and 
 then he turned to us again, took one of us 
 in each hand, and walked quickly downstairs 
 to the street-door, where there was a hackney- 
 coach waiting, into which he lifted Peep and 
 me. As we drove along, Uncle didn't look 
 much at us, but kept staring out of the coach 
 window, and seemed to be thinking hard and 
 not noticing what he saw in the streets. We 
 went through a good many, and at last came 
 to roads and lanes with trees and hedges 
 on each side. Peep crept closer still to me, 
 he had kept close to me all the time, 
 and, as he peered out on our side of the 
 coach, he whispered to me, 
 
 " Oh, Bab, we 're in the country ! " 
 
 "Yes, Peep, in the real country. How 
 nice and green it is ! " 
 
 " Do you think he 's going to steal us ? " 
 said Peep, with a frightened glance at 
 Uncle. 
 
 " No, Peep, I don't think so ; we ain't 
 worth stealing, and though his voice is gruff, 
 he don't seem really cross. He is n't going
 
 16 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 to do anything bad to us, I think. He called 
 mother i poor girl,' you know." 
 
 "Did he, Bab?" 
 
 " Yes, and ' poor Dolly.' I think he 's 
 going to be good to us, for her sake." 
 
 " If he 's going to be good, why does he 
 talk like being angry, Bab ? " 
 
 "I don't know, Peep. Some people do 
 talk rough though they mean to be kind. 
 Mrs. Wall did." 
 
 " So she did," said Peep, nodding his 
 head and falling silent again. Presently he 
 whispered, 
 
 " Oh, I am so hungry, Bab." 
 
 But just as he said this he nearly tumbled 
 off his seat ; for the coach stopped with a 
 sudden jerk, and we found ourselves before 
 the garden-gate of a house among trees ; 
 though by this time the evening was coming 
 on, and I could n't see much of the place we 
 were being taken to. 
 
 Uncle lifted us out as he had lifted us in, 
 and then took us, one in each hand, along 
 a little path that led to the door of the house,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 17 
 
 calling out as he did so, in a loud, roaring 
 voice, 
 
 Ahoy ! Sal ! Where are you ? Sal ! Sal ! " 
 
 A light came to the door ; it opened, and 
 a servant-girl appeared. 
 
 " Take these young 'uns into the parlor, 
 Sal, while I go and give coachee his fare." 
 
 Sal stared at us, repeating, " Young 'uns ! " 
 then took us from Uncle's hands, and turned 
 with us into a room where I was almost 
 blinded by the bright light of a blazing fire 
 and of two candles on the table, on which 
 there was a white table-cloth, and plates, and 
 knives and forks shining and glittering in 
 the candlelight. 
 
 Sal muttered something grumpily to her- 
 self that I could n't make out ; but when 
 Uncle came in, she turned to him, and said 
 in a snappish tone, 
 
 " You did n't say nothing about bringing 
 child'n home with you. But supper for one 's 
 supper for two, or for three, for that matter ; 
 so I s'pose there 's enough, Cap'n." 
 
 " Yes, yes, of course there 's enough ; so
 
 18 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 bring in supper, sharp, Sal, sharp, d' ye 
 hear ; for 1 11 bet these young 'uns are 
 sharp-set." 
 
 "That I'll be bound!" said Sal, as she 
 bounced out, and soon bounced in again, 
 bringing hot meat, and potatoes, and bread, 
 with which Uncle heaped our plates and his 
 own. Then Sal brought in a tray with 
 glasses, and a jug of hot water, and a bottle 
 with a bright ticket hung round its neck, 
 from which Uncle poured some strong-smelling 
 stuff into three glasses, filling them up with 
 hot water. 
 
 " Have some grog, Bab and Peep ; it '11 
 do you good, and put some warmth into you 
 after your long, cold drive." 
 
 Peep and I took what Uncle called " grog ; " 
 but it was so boiling hot and so strong that 
 it nearly took away our breath as we tried 
 to sip some. Uncle watched us, and laughed 
 a loud laugh at the way in which we drew 
 our lips suddenly back; but when he put 
 another lump of sugar into our glasses and 
 the " grog " was a little cooler, Peep gulped
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 19 
 
 it down, and soon after fell fast asleep and 
 nearly toppled off his chair. 
 
 " Sal, take the young shaver to bed," said 
 Uncle, still laughing. 
 
 " Let me go with him," I said. " I always 
 put Peep to bed, and he won't be comfortable 
 if I don't." 
 
 " Ay, ay, all right ; off with you too, Bab ; 
 a couple of rum young 'uns you are, and no 
 mistake. But I must make the best of you 
 I can, I s'pose, for poor Dolly's sake, poor 
 girl!" 
 
 Sal lifted Peep up in her strong, red arms, 
 and I followed her upstairs. She led the way 
 into a small room, with a white-curtained 
 window and a white-curtained bed, muttering 
 sulkily, 
 
 " Men are all alike ! No thought for any- 
 thing ! It 's a mercy Master Tom 's away 
 at school, or there 'd ha' been no bed for 
 these child 'n. But they can lie in his for 
 to-night, and to-morrow I '11 make 'em up 
 one in t' other room." 
 
 As soon as Sal had put Peep down on
 
 20 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 an arm-chair there was by the bedside, she 
 bounced out, and returned with a couple of 
 nightgowns, saying, 
 
 " There ! you can have Master Tom's night- 
 clothes till he comes back, and by then I 
 s'pose the Cap'n '11 have had some made for 
 you both your own selves." 
 
 I thanked her, and soon had Peep undressed 
 and snugly tucked up in bed, while Sal stood 
 by and looked at me. Suddenly she burst 
 out with, 
 
 " Well, I never ! That bit of a gal might 
 be an old 'oman, for the gumptionable way 
 she fettles up her little brother ! " 
 
 I was n't long in getting undressed myself ; 
 and then, after giving Peep a hearty kiss as 
 his white, tired-out face lay on the pillow, 
 comfortably resting there, I laid myself down 
 beside him and waited till Sal went out of 
 the room. Then I softly got up and knelt 
 down near the bed, as mother taught me, and 
 asked God to pity and help us; and then I 
 slipped into bed again, and was soon fast 
 asleep.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EXT morning I awoke long before 
 Peep, and crept out o' bed quietly 
 that I might n't wake him. I went 
 to the window and lifted up the 
 white curtain that hung before it and looked 
 out. I nearly cried out when I saw what was 
 there, it was all so pretty and so pleasant. 
 There were the trees and grass-plot and path- 
 way I had half made out overnight, and there 
 was a bright blue sky above them, in which 
 some white pigeons were flying round and 
 round, and there was a little bird singing on 
 a bush quite close to the house. I could see 
 him quite plainly, perching there, and could 
 hear his loud chirping voice as clearly as 
 possible. I stood there a good while, listen- 
 ing and looking, and found myself thanking 
 God for sending me to a place where I could
 
 22 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 see and hear all this, before I remembered 
 to kneel down and thank him in the words 
 mother taught me. Then I thought I would 
 get ready dressed and washed before Peep 
 awoke and wanted me to dress and wash 
 him. 
 
 " Where are we, Bab ? " were his first 
 words as he started up, leaning on his elbow 
 and staring round the room. 
 
 " We 're where Uncle brought us, Peep, 
 yesterday ; don't you recollect ? The coach, 
 the coming into the country, the stopping at 
 a house with a garden, the supper, the hot 
 ' grog,' as Uncle called it, don't you re- 
 member it all?" 
 
 " Yes, I think I do, Bab ; but what place 
 do you fancy it is ? " 
 
 "I s'pose it's his home, Peep." 
 
 " Do you think he means us to live in it, 
 to live with him, Bab ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't know ; I suppose he does, 
 Peep. How should you like to live here with 
 him ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't mind ; I should n't care to stay
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 23 
 
 here with him by myself, Bab ; but if he 's going 
 to have you and me both to stay with him, 
 I wouldn't mind. That was a good supper 
 last night, I was so hungry, Bab, though 
 I don t like the ( grog ; ' it was so burning, 
 not only hot, you know, but so stinging, 
 somehow ; it hurt my throat when I tried to 
 swallow it for fear he should be angry if 
 I did n't, when he had told me to drink 
 it up." 
 
 " I hope he won't bid us to drink any more 
 6 grog,' Peep, and then all the rest I like. 
 Not only the supper was good, / was hun- 
 gry, too, oh, so hungry, Peep ! but it was 
 good to have a bed to sleep upon, and night- 
 clothes to put on, and, oh, Peep ! such a nice 
 garden to look out at ! Do come and see 
 what there is at this window, pigeons, 
 trees, grass, oh, so green, so very, very 
 pretty ! " 
 
 Peep scrambled out of bed in a hurry ; and 
 when he and I had looked out till he began 
 to shiver a little, and I recollected it was too 
 cold for him to be staying there without his
 
 24 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 clothes, I began to wash and dress him 
 quickly ; so that when Sal came bouncing 
 in, she found us both ready. 
 
 "Well, I never!" she exclaimed; "that 
 gal beats all I ever see in the way of old 
 'ornanish gumption ! She has more nouse 
 than many a married 'oman I know, in regard 
 to being a mother to her little brother there. 
 Come, both on you ; as you 're ready dressed 
 a'ready, you can come down and be in the 
 parlor for breakfast before the Cap'n himself 
 is down." 
 
 However, this was not the case ; for we 
 found Uncle standing with his back to the 
 fire, his coat-tails under his arms and a news- 
 paper in his hand, as we went into the room 
 where breakfast was spread on the table and 
 looked very nice, it was so plentiful and good. 
 There was a pile of thick bread and butter 
 on a plate, and on another were some slices 
 of fried ham and eggs, while hooked on to 
 the fender was still another plate, with a tall 
 heap of buttered toast upon it, to keep hot be- 
 fore the fire. A coffee-pot, a milk-jug, and a
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 25 
 
 sugar-basin stood on the table, with an uncut 
 crusty loaf and a large pat of butter. 
 
 I saw Peep cast a longing look at all 
 these good things ; but I nudged him, and 
 whispered, 
 
 " Come and say good morning to Uncle, 
 Peep." 
 
 We took hold of hands and walked straight 
 up to the rug where Uncle stood behind the 
 big newspaper, which nearly hid him from us, 
 and said, 
 
 " Good morning, Uncle." 
 
 He nodded, without taking his eyes off the 
 newspaper ; then, putting one of his fingers 
 on the line he had been reading, he lowered 
 the large sheet and looked over its top at 
 us two. 
 
 " 'Morning, Bab and Peep. Stop a bit ; 
 wait till I 've finished this bit about the i Ship- 
 ping Intelligence ; ' then sharp 's the word 
 for breakfast." 
 
 In a few minutes Uncle laid down the big 
 paper, and took his seat at the table, nodding 
 to us to take ours also. He helped himself
 
 26 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 and us to huge portions of the good things 
 there, and we all three ate on in silence for 
 some time, till suddenly Peep leaned towards 
 me and whispered, 
 
 " Bab ! Look at that cow on the butter ! 
 Ain't it well done ? But what do they put 
 a cow on the butter for ? " 
 
 I looked at the pat of butter and saw there 
 was a cow, as Peep said, upon it ; but I did n't 
 know why it was put there, so I only said, 
 
 " Hush, Peep ; don't ask questions now ; 
 I '11 tell you about it afterwards." 
 
 " What are you two young 'uns whispering 
 about, hatching mischief, or what ? " said 
 Uncle, gruffly. 
 
 " Ain't hatching anything, Uncle," I plucked 
 up courage to say. 
 
 " Ain't you, though ? What are you whis- 
 pering ? Out with it." 
 
 " We want to know what a cow 's put on 
 the butter for, Uncle." 
 
 Uncle laughed his loud, roaring laugh ; then 
 he said, 
 
 "A cow gives milk; milk makes cream;
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 27 
 
 cream makes butter. That 's it ; don't you 
 see?" 
 
 Peep nodded. " I see," he said. 
 
 "Well, I'm off to town. Must go to 
 Lloyd's," said Uncle, starting up from table 
 as he finished breakfast. " Amuse yourselves, 
 young 'uns ; run about in the garden as much 
 as you like. By-by. 
 
 He went quickly out, walked briskly along 
 the garden-path, and went out of the gate, 
 giving it a sharp bang behind him. 
 
 Peep and I slipped off our chairs and ran 
 into the garden, where we played about till 
 we were tired, and went to sit upon a garden- 
 seat under a tree to enjoy the shade. Pres- 
 ently we saw a lad in a smock-frock, with 
 a wheelbarrow full of some dark stuff, come 
 into the garden by a side-gate towards the 
 back of the house. He saw us, and let go 
 the handle on one side of the barrow, that 
 he might lift his hand to his hair and twitch 
 one lock as he looked at us ; then he trundled 
 his barrow towards a flower-bed near, and 
 began strewing the dark stuff among the
 
 28 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 flowers. We both watched him, till at last 
 Peep said, 
 
 " Why does that boy put dirt there, Bab ? 
 It looks so nasty, and smells nastier. Why 
 does he do it?" 
 
 " I don't know, Peep." 
 
 " It '11 dirty the roses. I Ve a good mind 
 to tell him not to do it, Bab." 
 
 " P'rhaps he 's been told to do it, Peep ; 
 he 'd hardly do it if Uncle or Sal had n't told 
 him he might." 
 
 " Oh, they could n't have told him to strew 
 that mess in this nice garden, Bab ; I '11 ask 
 him if they did. He don't look like a bad 
 boy in his face, though he 's scattering dirt ; 
 so I'm not afraid of him." 
 
 Peep slid off the garden-seat and went 
 straight up to the lad in the smock-frock, 
 who left off what he was about to twitch the 
 lock of hair on his forehead again. 
 
 " What are you doing that for ? You '11 
 spoil the roses, putting that dirt among 'em. 
 Were you told to do it ?" 
 
 " Oh, mook don't spoil roses; it makes 'em
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 29 
 
 grow beautiful, it do. Cap'n Brooff has me 
 at odd times to do a bit o' gardening here, 
 and to-day I brought a barrowful o' mook 
 for the rose-bed." 
 
 " Mook ? " said Peep. 
 
 " Yes, little master, mook, doong, you 
 know, horse-doong ; Cap'n and the gentle- 
 folks sometimes calls it manoor." 
 
 This boy had a nubbly, ugly face, but a 
 very nice-looking face, too ; at least, I liked 
 it, and did n't wonder Peep had n't felt afraid 
 of speaking to him. I did n't feel afraid of 
 him either, so I said, 
 
 " ' Cap'n ? ' You mean Captain Bruff ; 
 Uncle, our Uncle." 
 
 " Yes, little miss, Cap'n Brooff. He 's 
 come to live here lately, and gives me a job 
 now and then, and lets me do a hand's turn 
 in the garden between-times." 
 
 " Between-times ? " said Peep. 
 
 " Yes, little master ; at odd hours, off and 
 on, when I ain't got other work. I mostly 
 get work at farmer Giles's ; but when 
 farmer Giles don't want extra hands, Cap'n
 
 30 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 takes me on here. I'm mortal fond o' 
 gardening." 
 
 " Are you ? " asked Peep. 
 
 " Yes, and I 'm fond o' gardening here ; for 
 Cap'n Brooff's a nice gen'l'man to work for, 
 though he 's a bit rough o' speech, and sounds 
 harder than he is." 
 
 "That's true," I said. 
 
 " How do you know, Bab ? We 've only 
 seen him since yesterday," said Peep. 
 
 " Well, I know it, Peep, because though he 
 speaks gruff and short he lifted us into the 
 coach and out of the coach gently, and did n't 
 hurt me a bit when he snatched me up to do 
 it ; and then he brought us to where we got 
 a good supper and a good breakfast when 
 we 'd nothing to eat where we were before, 
 and to a house with this nice garden instead 
 of a house with houses opposite and nothing 
 but streets all round to look at." 
 
 Peep did n't answer this, but kept steadily 
 watching the lad strewing the contents of his 
 barrow among the flowers. At last Peep 
 leaned towards me, still keeping his eye
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 31 
 
 fixed on the lad, and whispered in my 
 ear, 
 
 " I wonder what his name is, Bab." 
 
 " Ask him, Peep ; you ain't afraid of him, 
 you know." 
 
 " No, I ain't afraid of him. His face is n't 
 cross, and his voice is n't fierce, is it, Bab ? " 
 
 "No, Peep, I like his face and his voice 
 too." 
 
 " So do I. I say, boy, what 's your 
 name ? " said Peep, raising his own voice. 
 
 The lad looked up, pulled his lock of hair, 
 and said, 
 
 " Ned Carter." 
 
 " Should you mind giving me a ride in that 
 barrow, Ned Carter, when you Ve emptied 
 it all out?" said Peep. 
 
 " Not I, little master," said Ned, with his 
 cheery, brisk voice. "It'll soon be empty 
 now, and I '11 just give it a rub down clean 
 after the mook 's out, so it sha'n't do no hurt 
 to your clothes." 
 
 "P'rhaps it'll make 'em smell," I whis- 
 pered to Peep.
 
 32 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 But he was too eager for his ride in the 
 barrow to recollect what he himself had said 
 about the nasty stuif and its nastier smell ; 
 so he clambered in, and Ned Carter wheeled 
 him twice round the garden ; then he said, 
 
 " Now, little master, you '11 have to get 
 out ; because Cap'n Brooff pays me to work, 
 not play." 
 
 "Do you think it play to wheel me 
 about ? " asked Peep, as he let Ned lift him 
 down. 
 
 " Why, to be sure it is, little master." 
 
 "Well, then, Ned, I should like to have 
 some play with you again, next time you 
 come to work here." 
 
 " You '11 have to ask Uncle to let him play 
 a little with you, Peep, as well as work in 
 the garden," I said. 
 
 " I don't think I shall like to ask Uncle 
 that, or ask him anything, Bab; I'm afraid 
 of him, though I ain't of Ned Carter." 
 
 " But I ain't afraid, that is, much afraid, 
 of Uncle, Peep, and if you like, I'll ask him to 
 let you have some play with Ned some day."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 33 
 
 " Oh, that would be nice, Bab ! Do, do ! 
 Mind you don't forget, for I should like to 
 play with Ned ; he looks as if he 'd be a good 
 playfellow, and not mind having a game with 
 me though I am so much littler than he is." 
 
 We stayed in the garden watching Ned as 
 he went about working among the flowers, 
 till at last he gave a tug to his front hair, 
 said, " Good-day t' ye, little miss and little 
 master," and went away pulling his empty 
 barrow behind him. 
 
 We went into the house, where Sal gave 
 Peep and me a hunk of bread and cheese 
 apiece, saying, 
 
 " I s'pose you child'n '11 not be able to last 
 out till Cap'n comes home to dinner ; he 
 don't come home till latish, ever, and some- 
 times he don't come back till supper- time. 
 But he said he 'd be home to dinner to-day 
 nigh upon four." 
 
 What 's < Lloyd's/ Sal ? " I asked. 
 
 " What in the name o' patience does the 
 child mean?" was Sal's reply. 
 
 " Uncle said he was going to ' Lloyd's/ 
 3
 
 34 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 when he went out this morning," I replied. 
 " He said he was off to town, and must go to 
 < Lloyd's.' So, what's ' Lloyd's'? I mean, 
 where 's ' Lloyd's ' ? Is it in town, in London? " 
 
 " How should I know what it is or where 
 it is?" said Sal, snappishly. "But," she 
 added, sniffing up her nose sharply, " what 
 on earth have you two plagues o' child'n 
 been up to? Where have you been?" 
 
 " In the garden," I answered. 
 
 " The whole time ? Not gone outside ? 
 Let me catch you going out o' the gate, 
 that 's all, without leave ! Did you stay in 
 the garden all the while ? " 
 
 " Yes," we both said at once. 
 
 Suddenly Sal caught hold of Peep by the 
 shoulder, and said, 
 
 "It's you; you've been a-rolling on the 
 ground where Ned 's been manoorin the rose- 
 bed, and a fine job I shall have to make you 
 sweet and clean before Cap'n comes home. 
 It 's fit to p'ison him while he dines, it is ! " 
 
 " Never mind, Sal, / 'II clean up Peep," 
 I said. " Here, Peep, come upstairs with
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 35 
 
 me, and I '11 manage to make you all right 
 by the time Uncle comes back to dinner." 
 
 " Well, that bit of a gal 's as good as a play, 
 with her old-fashioned motherly ways," I 
 heard her mutter, as she bounced off to the 
 kitchen ; and I went up to the room where 
 we had slept last night, and took off Peep's 
 jacket and trousers, and wiped them with 
 a damp towel, and hung them out of window 
 till they lost the bad smell and were quite 
 dry for him to put on again. 
 
 By the time this was done, I heard Uncle 's 
 loud, roaring voice below, and Peep and I 
 went downstairs to be ready for dinner. He 
 nodded at us when we came into the parlor, 
 and we took our seats at the table, on which 
 the cloth was fdready laid, and Sal soon 
 served the meat. When she took it away 
 and put some cheese and radishes on the 
 table, Uncle suddenly said, 
 
 " Why did n't you give us a pudd'n', Sal ? 
 These young 'uns would have liked something 
 sweet, I'll bet."- 
 
 " You never give orders for none, Cap'n."
 
 36 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " No, but you might ha' guessed, Sal." 
 
 " How should I ha' guessed ? How should 
 I ha' known you 'd ha' chose to go to the 
 expense of a pudd'n' besides meat for these 
 child' n, when you don't never have one done 
 for yourself, Cap'n ? " 
 
 " Oh, me ? I 'm quite another thing ; I 
 ain't got a sweet tooth in my head, but 
 I s'pose these young 'uns have ; young 'uns 
 always have." 
 
 I thought it so good-natured of Uncle to 
 say this, that I felt able now to get out what 
 I had to ask him, and said, 
 
 " Uncle, please would you mind letting 
 Ned Carter play a little with Peep next time 
 he comes to garden here ? It would n't take 
 him very long from his work." 
 
 Uncle laid down his knife, with a bit of 
 cheese stuck on the tip of it, that he was 
 just going to put into his mouth, and stared 
 hard at me. Then he said, 
 
 " Peep 's rum, but you 're rummer, Bab, 
 a sight rummer ; not a doubt about it." 
 
 Then he closed his lips round the bit of
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 37 
 
 cheese, snapped off a morsel of radish, and 
 pinched off a piece of crust of bread, which 
 he crunched up all together, still keeping his 
 eyes fixed on me.. 
 
 I saw he was n't angry, though he stared 
 with such a grave look ; so I said, 
 
 '* Please, Uncle, would you ? " 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 " To be sure, child ; why should n't I ? It 's 
 nat'ral in young 'uns to like play, I s'pose. 
 We grown-ups like play now and then, too, 
 o' course." 
 
 He w r ent on slowly finishing his bread and 
 cheese and radishes, never taking his eyes off 
 me, and then he said, 
 
 "That 's for Peep ; have n't you anything 
 to ask me for yourself, Bab ? " 
 
 " Yes, Uncle ; where 's < Lloyd's ' ? " 
 
 He suddenly dropped his knife with a 
 clang on to his plate, and said, 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Where 's' ' Lloyd's,' Uncle, the place 
 you said you were going to this morn- 
 ing, you know ? Is it in London ? Is it
 
 38 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 near where we lived ? Is it near Mrs. 
 Wall's ? " 
 
 " Of all the rum gals I ever Well, it's 
 not so very far from that. alley I found you 
 in ; but what do you want to know for ? " 
 
 " Because next time you go to ' Lloyd's,' 
 Uncle, please would you take me with 
 you?" 
 
 " Take you with me to ' Lloyd's ' ! Why, 
 it 's only a place to get news about ships 
 from ; what should a bit of a gal like you 
 want to go there for ? " 
 
 " I don't want to go there, Uncle. But if 
 it's near Mrs. Wall's, I wish you'd take me 
 to her." 
 
 " Do you want to go back to her?" 
 " Not to stay, Uncle, only to speak to her." 
 " What do you want to say to her, Bab ? " 
 " I want to tell her I thought it was good 
 of her to give Peep and me that milk for 
 nothing, last morning, when father said he 'd 
 no money left. She was very cross ; but she 
 must have given us that milk for kindness, 
 and I want to tell her so and thank her."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 39 
 
 Uncle did n't* answer directly, but only 
 kept staring at me. I heard him say between 
 his teeth, 
 
 " The rummest, the very rummest " 
 without finishing. Then he began again, 
 "Is there anything partic'ler you'd like to 
 have, Bab ? " 
 
 " To go to Mrs. Wall's, Uncle." 
 
 " Ay, ay, I know that ; but I mean any 
 toy, or doll, or gimcrack, to play with?" 
 
 " Yes, Uncle ; oh, yes, Uncle ! There is 
 one thing I should like to have beyond 
 anything in the world." 
 
 " Well, out with it, Bab ; what is it ? " 
 
 "The old shell! the speckled shell! the 
 shell on Mrs. Wall's mantel-shelf I " I said ; 
 and I could n't help clasping my hands with 
 joy only to think of it. 
 
 " A shell ! " 
 
 " Yes, Uncle ; the shell that mother used 
 to hold to our ears that we might hear the 
 sound of the sea, where Uncle was always 
 sailing on, the shell that father liked to 
 hold in his hands, and kept smoothing and
 
 40 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 smoothing it when he talked to us of mother 
 after she went away to heaven. Oh, if I 
 could have that shell for my very own, 
 Uncle! Do you think I could?" 
 
 " We '11 see about it, Bab," Uncle said, in 
 a very quiet tone, quite different from the 
 roaring voice he generally talked in. 
 
 When I took Peep up to bed that night, 
 I asked him if he would like to go to Mrs. 
 Wall's with me, in case Uncle should take 
 me there. 
 
 " No, Bab, I should n't." 
 
 " But should you mind being left alone 
 without me here, Peep ? " 
 
 " No, Bab, not if I should have Ned Carter 
 to play with me while you 're gone." 
 
 " Then I '11 ask Uncle to let Ned come 
 here the day I 'in away, Peep."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 41 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 |AL had made us up a bed in a room 
 that led from the staircase-landing, 
 on the opposite side to the one 
 where we slept the first night ; 
 but it looked on the garden just the same, 
 and I could see the trees, and the grass, and 
 the pigeons quite as well. After breakfast, 
 before Uncle went away to town, Sal asked 
 him whether he wanted her to buy some 
 night-clothes for the children, as they had 
 none of their own, nor any change of linen 
 at all, for that matter, as they 'd been brought 
 here in such a hurry, she supposed they 'd 
 left their box behind 'em. 
 
 " Get what 's needful for 'em, Sal, and let 
 me know what there is to pay," said Uncle, 
 as he walked off along the garden-path and 
 slammed the gate behind him.
 
 42 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 When I saw Sal putting on her bonnet and 
 shawl, I said, 
 
 "Would you mind letting Peep and me 
 go with you, Sal ? " 
 
 " What should you want to go for ? " she 
 said, in a rather more snappish tone than 
 usual. 
 
 "It'd amuse us; we should like to see 
 what it 's like outside the garden." 
 
 " I dare say ; just like you child'n's cur'os- 
 ity. What d' ye expect to see ? " 
 
 "I don't know ; that 's just why we 'd like 
 to go, and find out what there is to look at" 
 
 " No great thing, I can tell you ; just a 
 village like other villages near London, 
 a shop or two, that's all." 
 
 " Oh, but we like to look into shop-windows, 
 especially toyshops, where there are dogs, 
 and horses, and baa-lambs, and wagoner's 
 carts, and windmills, and " 
 
 " Now, don't you think we 're going to 
 toyshops. We 're going to nothing o' the 
 kind ; we 're going to a shop for calico and 
 useful things."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 43 
 
 " Never mind, we shall like to go there, and 
 see you choose what you 're going to buy." 
 
 Sal did n't answer ; so I thought she meant 
 not to forbid us. Therefore Peep and I 
 followed her out at the gate, and found our- 
 selves in a pretty road, with houses and 
 gardens on each side ; then a green hedge 
 for a little way, with trees and a high wall 
 opposite ; and then a few neat shops, into one 
 of which, where there were gay ribbons and 
 bright-colored prints hanging up in the 
 window, Sal suddenly turned. Peep and I 
 watched her buy some calico, and flannel, 
 and socks, and handkerchiefs, till there was 
 a good heap piled up on the counter. 
 
 " Sal, would you mind having those things 
 packed up in three parcels instead of one ? 
 Peep and I would so like to carry something 
 ourselves." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I dare say ; and let 'em drop 
 into the mud, or lose 'em, or some mischief. 
 No, thank ye, not I." 
 
 " Do, Sal," said Peep. I should so like 
 to carry home a parcel."
 
 44 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " What persevering toads these child'n are ! 
 Well, do 'em up, miss, in three." 
 
 Sal said this to the young woman who was 
 serving in the shop, and who had been look- 
 ing at us with a smile. When the three 
 parcels were packed up, the young woman 
 picked a pretty ticket of pink and blue, bor- 
 dered with gold, from off the piece of calico 
 from which she had cut the yards bought by 
 Sal, and then cut out a still prettier red- 
 worked flower, with a long strip of gold edge 
 from the end of a piece of white muslin, and 
 putting the two bright scraps into a bit of 
 paper each, she handed them to Peep and 
 me, saying, 
 
 " There 's something you 'd like to have 
 to play with, would n't you ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, thank you!" Peep and I said, 
 joyfully, both together, as we stopped behind 
 Sal for a moment to say this, while she 
 bounced out of the shop. 
 
 " Come along, you dratted child'n ; you 
 want to come out o' doors with me, and then 
 you straggle about. I 've no time to lose, if
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 45 
 
 I'm to be back in time to cook the dinner 
 for the Cap'n; and I've still got to give 
 the night-clothes and things to be stitched 
 and made." 
 
 There was a neat little cottage in a small 
 garden, with a card hanging in the window, 
 and on the card were big letters that I could 
 read, "Needlework done here." Into this 
 cottage Sal went, and she gave the calico and 
 the flannel to a very pretty young woman 
 who was there, telling her she wanted 'em 
 made into shirts and shifts and petticoats of 
 our size ; and she wanted the socks and hand- 
 kerchiefs marked, all as soon as possible. 
 
 " I 'in afraid I can't let you have them till 
 next week," said the pretty young woman, in 
 one of the sweetest of voices I ever heard ; 
 "my mother is very ill, and nursing her 
 takes up almost all my time just now ; but 
 if you could give me till next week, I can 
 promise them faithfully, I think." 
 
 " You think ! " said Sal, in her most snap- 
 pish tone. 
 
 "I mean I'll do my best to get them
 
 46 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 finished by the time I promise them," said 
 the young woman, gently. 
 
 " Well, then, Thursday, next week, I shall 
 expect 'em home without fail, Miss King." 
 
 " Where shall I bring'them to ? " 
 
 " To Cap'n Bruff's, Trafalgar Lodge." 
 
 I noticed, though I don't think Sal did, that 
 the gentle-voiced young woman gave a little 
 start as Sal said this. 
 
 " What mark shall I put on the things ? " 
 said the young woman, after waiting a mo- 
 ment without speaking. 
 
 "Oh, by the bye, I don't azackly know. 
 They 've queer names, Bab and Peep ; but 
 I never heard their surnames. They 're niece 
 and nevVy to Cap'n Bruff, and you can put a 
 B and a P on their clothes ; that '11 do to know 
 'em by. He brought the child'n home sud- 
 den, without a word to me ; so how should I 
 know their right names ? " 
 
 " A ' B and a P ' ; very well," was the quiet 
 answer. And then we left the cottage and 
 went home.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ]HE following morning, after break- 
 fast, Uncle said, 
 
 "Peep, you'll find Ned Carter 
 in the garden, ready to have a 
 game with you; and Bab, you and I'll be off 
 to town, to Mrs. Wall's. There 's a hack at 
 the door, for I s'pose your little legs could n't 
 be expected to toddle so far. Sharp's the 
 word, young 'uns. Look out ! " 
 
 After seeing Peep and Ned Carter happily 
 racing together round the flower-beds, I put 
 my hand in Uncle's and we went to the gar- 
 den-gate, where a hackney coach was waiting, 
 into which he lifted me, and we drove along, 
 he staring out of the window, silent, as usual. 
 When we stopped at the door of the house 
 where I had lived ever since I could remem- 
 ber, with father, mother, and Peep, so hap-
 
 48 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 pily while father and mother were not gone 
 away, I felt as if I must have cried ; but I 
 thought it might vex Uncle, so I kept in my 
 tears as well as I could, and went upstairs 
 with him to the old room I knew so well. 
 It looked odd and strange though, somehow ; 
 but I turned straight to Mrs. Wall, who had 
 come into the room with us, and said to 
 her, 
 
 "I asked Uncle to bring me here to say 
 thank you, Mrs. Wall, for giving Peep and 
 me some milk that morning father was taken 
 away from us, and we had nothing left. So, 
 thank you, Mrs. Wall." 
 
 I went to her, and would have put up my 
 mouth to kiss her, if she had looked as if she 
 wished it ; but she did n't, so I kept still, look- 
 ing up in her face, and thinking how cross it 
 was, and how hard, and how straight her 
 mouth was, just as I always remembered it. 
 
 Uncle brought out from his coat-tail pocket 
 a lumpy, roundish parcel, and took off the 
 whitey-brown paper it was wrapped in, say- 
 ing*
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 49 
 
 " I 've brought you a little milk- jug, mum, 
 if you 'd like to have it. I thought mayhap 
 you would, to remind you of Bab's wanting 
 to come and thank you for giving her and 
 Peep that milk that day. It was a rum start, 
 her wanting to do it; but she's rum alto- 
 gether, and she did." 
 
 " Lauk-a-mussy me ! What a to-do about 
 a ha'p'orth o' milk ! I give it 'em, o' course, 
 nat' rally, when I know'd they was left starv- 
 ing orphans. As long as their father lived, 
 he allus paid his rent reg'lar for his logdin' ; 
 even though he had to pinch hisself and his 
 child'n's stomicks for it, many a time. That 
 I will say for him." 
 
 While Mrs. Wall was saying this, I was 
 looking up at the mantel-shelf, where I spied 
 the speckled shell in its old place. Uncle 
 saw my eyes fixed on it, and he walked over 
 to the mantel-shelf, taking 1 the shell into his 
 big hand, where it seemed almost hidden. 
 
 " I 've been a seafaring man, Mrs. Wall, 
 and I Ve a fancy for shells from foreign parts. 
 
 Would you have any objection to parting 
 
 4
 
 50 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 with this one ? What might you want for it, 
 now?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; it might be wuth a 
 matter o' half a crown, or it might be wuth 
 tuppence. I'm no judge o' shells myself." 
 
 " But I am, mum ; and I should say a half- 
 crown would n't be more than you'd get for 
 it, if you felt inclined to sell it." 
 
 " Well, then, you can have it for that." 
 
 Uncle put his hand in his trouser pocket, 
 rattled some silver there, drew out a half- 
 crown, put it into Mrs. Wall's hand, and tak- 
 ing mine, walked straight out of the room, 
 and we left the house. 
 
 As we drove along in the coach, Uncle 
 held the shell in his hand loosely, as if he 
 hardly knew he had it there, for he kept look- 
 ing out of the window, thinking and think- 
 ing, while I kept watching the least scraps of 
 the shell that peeped beyond his fingers; 
 then Uncle seemed to remember he had the 
 shell, for he wrapped it up in the crumpled 
 whitey-brown paper he had taken off the 
 inilk-jug, and held it covered up in a parcel,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 51 
 
 as he turned to look out of the window 
 again. 
 
 I did n't like to disturb his thinking, but I 
 could n't help longing and longing to see the 
 shell, and touch the shell, to have it in my 
 own hands. At last I took courage, and got 
 quite close to Uncle, till he felt ine against 
 his side. He looked round hastily, as if he 'd 
 been wakened out of a dream, and said, with 
 his gruff voice, 
 
 " Well, what is it, little 'un ? " 
 
 " If you please, Uncle, if it would n't trou- 
 ble you much, would you let me carry the 
 shell?" 
 
 " Carry the shell, Bab ? " 
 
 " Yes, Uncle ; would you mind letting me 
 hold it in my own hands, and look at it, and 
 touch it, and smooth it, as we ride along. 
 I '11 be very careful of it, and won't let it fall 
 and break ; and I '11 give it you back as soon 
 as we reach home." 
 
 " Give it me back, Bab ? Why, I got it for 
 you ; it 's yours, little 'un." 
 
 "Mine! Oh, Uncle!"
 
 52 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 I took it in both hands, for it was as big 
 and bulgy in one of mine as it seemed small 
 in his, and I held it close to me, and bent 
 my head over it, that I mightn't show my 
 eyes were wet. Uncle turned toward the 
 window again, and I thought he was n't no- 
 ticing me. So I softly pulled the paper off, 
 and could see and pat the shell as much as 
 ever I liked. And oh, how I did pat it, and 
 stroke it, and whisper to it about father and 
 about mother when they were fond of it too ! 
 When I came to thinking about mother, I 
 remembered how she put it to our ears, and 
 told Peep and me about hearing the sea, 
 where Uncle was ; and then I lifted it up and 
 listened, and heard the sound of far-off sea 
 waves, that she used to talk of. The shell 
 nearly slipped out of my hand, at the start I 
 gave when Uncle turned suddenly round to- 
 wards me and said, 
 
 " What are you trying to hear, Bab, the 
 noise of the sea ? " 
 
 I nodded, for somehow I could n't get out 
 any words.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 53 
 
 " Where Dolly where your mother 
 said I was sailing ? " 
 
 I nodded again, and Uncle turned away, 
 and looked out of the window as steadily as 
 before. 
 
 I looked at his wide back, as I turned and 
 turned the speckled shell round and round in 
 my hands, and I found myself thinking, " I 
 wish Uncle would n't keep his back towards 
 me ; I should so like to give him a hug, and 
 tell him how glad I am to have this dear old 
 shell again, and have it for my very own." 
 
 But Uncle did keep his back towards me, 
 and his face turned to the coach window ; so 
 I began to forget about giving him a hug, and 
 kept smoothing my shell all the way home ; 
 and I thought of nothing but the joy of its 
 being mine, mine for always. 
 
 The moment the coach stopped and the 
 door was opened, I nearly fell on my nose, 
 from the hurry in which I tried to get out 
 by myself and show Peep my treasure ; but 
 Uncle snatched at my skirts, and said, 
 
 " Hullo, little 'un ! Mind yourself! You'll
 
 54 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 break your neck, if you fling yourself out of 
 the hack that way. Wait a bit, till I give 
 you a heave." 
 
 He got out himself, and then lifted me out 
 in that soft, strong way of his, which always 
 made me so like to feel myself in his big 
 arms. I recollect thinking again, even at 
 that moment, when I was full of showing my 
 shell to Peep, how glad I should have been if 
 Uncle had cared to let me give him a good 
 hug, and thank him for getting the shell for 
 me ; and how pleasant it would be if he gave 
 me a good hug in return, though his coat- 
 sleeves were rough and his voice was rougher 
 still. 
 
 I ran to Peep, who was sitting on the 
 garden-seat, watching Ned Carter dig up one 
 of the beds that was to be replanted. Peep 
 started up and flew to meet me ; and he was 
 nearly as glad as I expected, to find I had got 
 the speckled shell. But he was full of the 
 games of play he and Ned had had together, 
 and he could hardly talk of anything else. 
 Once he broke off to say,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 55 
 
 " Did n't you bring back anything for me, 
 Bab ? " 
 
 " No, Peep ; I 'm sorry, but I could n't buy 
 anything for you, we 've no money, you 
 know, or I'd have brought you a barking 
 toy dog." 
 
 " I 'd rather have had a toy wheelbarrow, 
 like Ned's, Bab." 
 
 " I only wish I could have bought you one, 
 Peep. But never mind ; this dear old shell 
 shall be yours as well as mine ; we '11 always 
 call it ours." 
 
 " No, Bab, thank you; I don't think I care so 
 much about the shell as you do. It 's yours. 
 I '11 tell you what I 've thought. I want Uncle 
 to let me have a wheelbarrow that I can wheel 
 about and put weeds in, and help Ned Carter 
 to weed the garden. You shall ask Uncle for 
 me, Bab ; because I don't like asking Uncle, 
 and you don't mind asking him, do you ? " 
 
 " Well, no, not much, Peep ; only, just 
 now, when he 's given me this shell, I don't 
 care to ask him for anything fresh ; it seems 
 like, like "
 
 56 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Oh, if you don't choose to do it for me, 
 Bab, let it alone ; I don't want to make you 
 ask ; only if you did n't very much mind 
 asking, I should like to have a wheelbarrow 
 beyond anything. Just as you liked to have 
 the shell, Bab." 
 
 "Yes, Peep; I'll think about it; and 111 
 try for you, Peep." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, thank you, dear, dear Bab ! " 
 
 And Peep gave me a tight squeeze round 
 my neck with both his chubby arms, and his 
 rosy cheek pressed hard against mine, so that 
 I felt I could even ask Uncle for another gift 
 so soon after he had made me this one. 
 
 When we had done dinner that day, Sal 
 gave Uncle an account of what she had laid 
 out in new linen for us ; and as she reckoned 
 up what she had spent in flannel, calico, socks, 
 and handkerchiefs, my cheeks got very hot 
 to think how much Peep and I must cost him 
 to keep us ; and I felt still more unwilling to 
 ask him for the wheelbarrow Peep wanted. 
 Till, all of a sudden, I heard Sal say, 
 
 " And there 's still the making to pay for ;
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 57 
 
 but that won't be till next week, Cap'n, as 
 Miss King says she can't get 'em done till 
 then, because her mother 's so ill." 
 
 I chanced to be looking at Uncle's face, 
 and I noticed that it got as red as I felt mine 
 was. His eyes looked quite fierce, too, as he 
 roared out in his gruffest voice, 
 
 Miss who ? " 
 
 " Miss King, Cap'n. She takes in needle- 
 work ; and I 've heard say she 's a very neat 
 worker, so I thought I 'd give the things to 
 her to be made and marked." 
 
 Uncle hunched himself round towards the 
 fire with a short grunt, and said nothing more. 
 Presently he thrust his hand in his trouser 
 pocket, rattled the silver, and drew out sev- 
 eral shillings, sixpences, and half-crowns, 
 counted out the sum Sal had said she had 
 paid, and pushed it towards her, saying, 
 
 " There, that 's what you 've spent ; and 
 you can let me know what the rest comes to, 
 when you pay it, Sal." 
 
 She gathered up the money and bounced 
 off into the kitchen.
 
 58 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 Uncle kept his eyes on the fire, and his 
 back and shoulders seemed wider and rougher 
 than ever, as I looked at them, pondering 
 how I could get courage to speak to him 
 and break through this silence. Then Peep 
 softly nudged me, and whispered, 
 
 " Ask him now, Bab. Oh, I do want the 
 wheelbarrow so much ! I want it by the 
 time Ned Carter comes here, and then I can 
 garden with him." 
 
 It all of a sudden came into my head that 
 perhaps by helping Ned to weed, Peep might 
 be doing something useful to Uncle in return 
 for so much that he was doing for us; and 
 this gave me courage to blurt out, 
 
 " Uncle, do you mind my interrupting 
 you?" 
 
 " Interrupt me, Bab ? In what ? " 
 
 " In thinking. You 're thinking, I sup- 
 pose, when you keep quiet so long without 
 speaking, Uncle." 
 
 " Thinking ? Yes, well, I was thinking, 
 sure enough." 
 
 " I want to ask you something, Uncle."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 59 
 
 " Now, then, little 'un, speak up ; out with 
 it. What is it ? " 
 
 " I Ve been thinking, too, Uncle ; and I 've 
 thought that if you had a wheelbarrow made 
 for Peep, smaller, you know, just the size 
 that he could wheel about, he might help 
 Ned to work, instead of hindering him to 
 play." 
 
 " Ton my word ! No bad idea ! Well, 
 Bab, I will say this for you, you have the 
 very sensiblest notions in that bit of a noddle 
 of yours that I ever heard tell of in a chit 
 of your age. They 'd do credit to a grown 
 woman, that they would ! I '11 step round to 
 Dick Carpenter's to-morrow, and speak to him 
 about knocking together just such a sized 
 barrow as '11 do for Peep." 
 
 " Oh, Uncle ! A barrow ! A real wheel- 
 barrow, for me ! Oh, Uncle, you good, big, 
 kind Uncle ! " 
 
 Peep clapped his hands on high, and his 
 eyes sparkled with joy. Uncle stared round 
 at him, then turned again to the fire, and re- 
 mained some time with his eyes fixed upon
 
 60 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 the red-hot coals; By and by, giving him- 
 self a large rough shake, he said, gruffly, 
 
 " Come, it 's high time for you young 'uns 
 to be off to bed, ain't it ? " 
 
 Upon which Peep and I said " Good-night, 
 Uncle," and went straight upstairs.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LL the afternoon of the next day 
 Peep hung about the garden in a 
 dull sort of way, as if he could n't 
 play or run, or do anything but 
 talk of the wheelbarrow he had been prom- 
 ised. 
 
 " Do you think Uncle has thought about it, 
 Bab ? Do you think he remembered to go 
 and order the carpenter to make it, as he said 
 he would ? " 
 
 " Yes, Peep, I should think he has ; Uncle 's 
 always as good as liis word, generally bet- 
 ter ; for he don't say much, but he does much 
 for us." 
 
 " How you keep patting and petting that 
 shell, Bab," said Peep, pettishly. " You seem 
 as if you could think of nothing else ; you
 
 62 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 can't be attending to what I 'm saying about 
 my wheelbarrow." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I can ; I do, Peep. I 'm hoping 
 quite as much as you are, that you 11 have it 
 soon." 
 
 " Do you think the carpenter can get it 
 done by to-morrow, Bab ? " 
 
 " Well, perhaps not to-morrow, Peep." 
 
 Peep flung himself on the garden-seat, and 
 gave a vexed sigh. 
 
 Next day, then, Bab ? " 
 
 " "Well, perhaps, next day." 
 
 Peep flounced round to his other side, away 
 from me, saying, 
 
 " Oh, Bab ! How tiresome and patient you 
 are ! Do put down that shell and feel angry, 
 with me, about having to wait so long for my 
 barrow." 
 
 I laughed a little ; but Peep flounced 
 sharply back again towards me, and said in 
 a furious tone, 
 
 "Don't laugh, Bab!" 
 
 " I won't, Peep. There, I 've put the shell 
 down, and I 'm quite thinking about your
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 63 
 
 barrow. I should n't at all wonder if Uncle 
 has told the man to be as quick as ever he 
 can in making it." 
 
 " Do you really think so, Bab ? " 
 And Peep started up and gave me a hearty 
 squeeze. I was looking over his shoulder as 
 he did this, and I saw the garden-gate open, 
 and a man come in, bringing something with 
 him that made me cry out, 
 
 " Look there, Peep ! Oh, look there ! " 
 Peep looked round, scrambled off the gar- 
 den-seat, and ran towards the man, shouting, 
 " A barrow ! A little barrow ! It 's mine ! 
 It 's meant for me ! " 
 
 " Yes, young master," said the man ; " Cap'n 
 Bruff came to my shop this morning, and 
 axed me if I could make him in double-quick 
 time a barrow fit for a little chap under six 
 year old, and as lucked have it, I 'd got this 
 one ready-made. It was ordered by Sir 
 James Buckhurst for his little son ; but he 
 changed his mind for a four-wheeled cart, so 
 this was left on my hands, an' I let the Cap'n 
 have it at a bargain. He paid me for it,
 
 64 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 there and then, and told me to bring it up 
 here as sharp as I could ; so here it is." 
 
 " You see, Peep, I told you Uncle 's always 
 as good as his word, and better." 
 
 But Peep was too busy wheeling his barrow 
 about, and trying it at once, to notice much 
 what I said. 
 
 " Bab, you stoop and pick the weeds and 
 put 'em in my barrow, and then I can do like 
 Ned Carter, and wheel 'em away to the 
 heap." 
 
 " Ned stoops and weeds, as well as wheels 
 them away in the barrow, Peep," I said, 
 laughing. 
 
 " I told you not to laugh, Bab ; I don't 
 like you to laugh at what I say. I want you 
 to help me weeding." 
 
 " Well, then, I '11 wheel the barrow, Peep, 
 and you can stoop for the weeds." 
 
 "No, I want to wheel my own barrow, 
 Bab ; if you help me, you must do what I 
 tell you." 
 
 I felt very much inclined to laugh again at 
 Peep's grand, ordering way, and he such a
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 65 
 
 little bit of a fellow ; but I did n't want to 
 vex, so I set to, picking the weeds as hard as 
 I could. 
 
 While Peep and I were busy at this, a big 
 boy came lounging in at the garden-gate, 
 and stopped suddenly to look at us, with his 
 hands in his pockets. 
 
 " Who are you ? " he asked, bluffly. 
 
 " We 're Bab and Peep," I answered. 
 
 " Oh, you are, are you ? I 've heard of 
 you two, and of father's bringing you to our 
 house. But I 'm home for the holidays now, 
 so I can see what you 're like with my own 
 eyes." 
 
 "What, are you ' Master Tom,' that Sal 
 spoke of ? " I said. 
 
 "Yes, I'm Tom, Tom Bruff. I ain't 
 one to stand any nonsense, you know, so I 
 tell you at once you need n't give me any." 
 
 " We have n't any to give you," I said. 
 
 " Do you mean that for sauce ? " said Tom. 
 
 " I don't know what you mean," I replied. 
 
 " Don't you, though ? Well, I mean this : 
 I mean to be master here." 
 
 5
 
 66 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Of course. "Why you are master, here ; 
 you 're Master Tom. Sal calls you so, and so 
 do we." 
 
 " Oh, then you 've talked me over, have 
 you, already?" 
 
 " Yes, we wanted to see you ; and we 
 hoped you 'd come home soon, that we might 
 see what kind of a boy you are." 
 
 " Well, you see, now ; and you see I 'm not 
 one to have his nose put out o' joint with 
 father, or one to put up with any gammon ; 
 so just you mind what you're about, you 
 two." 
 
 I looked at Tom's nose, and I wondered 
 again what he meant ; but I did n't answer. 
 Presently he made a dive into the wheel- 
 barrow, snatched up handful after handful of 
 the weeds we 'd collected, and strewed them 
 on the gravel-path, finally giving a kick to 
 the wheelbarrow. 
 
 This last rudeness to his dear new barrow 
 made Peep burst out a-crying, and I ran to 
 comfort him. 
 
 " Cry, baby, cry. Put its finger in its
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 67 
 
 eye ! If there is a thing I detest, it 's a cry- 
 baby," said Tom, tauntingly. 
 
 "Why did you make him cry, then?" 1 
 said. 
 
 The boy turned on his heel and did n't an- 
 swer ; so I wiped Peep's eyes, and whispered 
 to him, 
 
 " Never mind ; when he 's gone away, I '11 
 help you to pick up the weeds and put 'em in 
 the barrow again." 
 
 " But he won't be gone away, Bab ; he '11 
 be staying here, living here, you know. Un- 
 cle 's his father, and he '11 keep him at 
 home." 
 
 " Perhaps only as long as the holidays, 
 Peep ; he '11 most likely only stay here till 
 they 're over, and then go back to school." 
 
 Peep cleared up a little at this; but just 
 then I caught sight of Tom, who had lounged 
 over to the garden-seat, where I had left my 
 shell when I went to help at weeding, and 
 saw him take it up in his big fists and begin 
 tossing it up in the air and catching it, like a 
 ball.
 
 68 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 "Oh, my shell! my shell! It'll drop! 
 It '11 break ! " I cried. ' 
 
 Tom only laughed a scoffing laugh, and 
 went on tossing up the shell higher and 
 higher. 
 
 " Oh, pray don't ! pray don't ! It '11 get 
 broken ! " 
 
 " Don't you fret yourself! I sha n't drop it. 
 See here ! " 
 
 And Tom flung himself down full-length 
 on the garden-seat, tossing up the shell as he 
 lay flat on his back. This brought his head 
 down very low, so low, that while I was 
 screaming to him and begging him to stop, 
 I did n't notice that Peep had crept round 
 and got quite close to Tom, whose upturned 
 face was just within Peep's reach. Then I 
 saw Peep suddenly bang his little bit of a 
 hand right between the big boy's cheeks. 
 
 " You give up Bab's shell ! " said Peep, 
 through his ground teeth. 
 
 Tom's nose burst out a-bleeding ; and I 
 saw in Peep's hand a jagged flint-stone that 
 he had picked up as he crept round.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 69 
 
 " Oh, Peep, what have you done ? Killed 
 him ! " 
 
 " I don't care if I have, Bab ! Why didn't 
 he let your shell alone ? " 
 
 " Well done, little Plucky ! " shouted Tom, 
 with a loud laugh. " You ain't the cry-baby 
 I took you for at first. I like a chap that 
 sticks up for his sister and won't see her 
 teased. I think I shall take a liking to you, 
 Peep, after all ; and here 's your shell, Bab. 
 You see I told you true when I said I 
 should n't drop it. I 'm a tip-top hand at 
 tossing and catching. Here it is, all safe and 
 sound." 
 
 "Oh, thank you! thank you, Tom!" I 
 said, as I seized my shell and cleaned it from 
 the blood that had flowed from Tom's nose 
 and smeared its speckled shininess. 
 
 When we went indoors, Sal seemed glad 
 to see Master Tom returned ; but she soon 
 saw the blood on his face and hands, and 
 spied some specks on my chest, where I had 
 hugged the shell with joy to get it back 
 again.
 
 70 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " What on earth have you all been at, 
 fighting already ? " 
 
 She looked so hard at me, and seemed so 
 ready to give me a cuff at the bare thought 
 of my having harmed her Master Tom, that 
 he stepped between her and me, and said, 
 
 " Fighting ? Not a bit of it. We 're the 
 best o' friends already. My nose came 
 against a flint-stone that set it a-bleeding; 
 and Bab's pinafore and handkerchief got 
 spotted wiping away the blood ; did n't it, 
 Bab?" 
 
 I could hardly help laughing at Tom's way 
 of putting it, which was true, and yet not 
 quite true. But I thought he meant kindly, 
 and said it to save us from Sal's anger; so I 
 answered nothing, and it passed off. She set 
 some bread and cheese on the table, and put 
 some fruit with it to make a better lunch for 
 Master Tom ; saying if she 'd known he was 
 coming to-day, she 'd ha' made him an apple 
 turnover, that she knew he was so fond of. 
 
 " Never mind, old gal ; you can give it us 
 for dinner, you know j and that '11 come to
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 71 
 
 
 
 the same thing, in honor of my lordship's re- 
 turn home for the holidays, you know." 
 
 Tom helped the fruit, and cut off the por- 
 tions of bread and cheese himself, sitting at 
 the head of the table in his father's place. 
 
 " Having you there, Tom, seems like hav- 
 ing Uncle with us when he 's away," I said. 
 
 Tom nodded, and looked pleased. 
 
 " Yes, when he 's away" said Peep. 
 
 " When father 's away, I 'm master here, 
 of course." 
 
 " But when he 's at home, he, 's master ; and 
 I like him to be here," said Peep. 
 
 " Are you giving us sauce with the bread 
 and cheese ? " said Tom. " You may like 
 father best for master, but you '11 have to like 
 me next best. If he 's head master, I 'm sec- 
 ond master. Understand that, young chap." 
 
 " You must be master, always master : 
 you 're Master Tom, you know," I said, 
 laughing. 
 
 Tom laughed too, saying, 
 
 " You 're a bright one, you are, Bab. Here, 
 have another apple, this rosy-cheeked one."
 
 72 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 
 
 After lunch, Tom sauntered off, saying he 
 was going to take a turn through the village, 
 and look up some of the people he knew 
 there ; and while he was gone, Peep and I 
 had some good fun in the garden, playing 
 with the barrow and the shell, after I had 
 helped to pick up the weeds that had been 
 scattered about. 
 
 " I 'm sorry Tom 's come home for the holi- 
 days, Bab." 
 
 " Are you, Peep ? Why ? " 
 
 " He 's so bluff, and so ordering, and so full 
 of his being master over us, Bab." 
 
 " Well, I don't know that that much mat- 
 ters, does it, Peep ? " 
 
 " Yes. I don't like it, Bab. Till he came 
 back, we could do as we pleased all day ; and 
 now, perhaps he won't let us." 
 
 " We don't know that he won't, Peep. 
 Wait till we see." 
 
 11 We know already, Bab. I don't mind his 
 being master in helping us to the good things 
 on the table ; but I do mind his being master 
 in flinging the weeds out of my barrow, and
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 73 
 
 his chucking up your shell when you told 
 him not. He wants to master us because 
 he 's bigger ; and he can master us, because 
 he 's stronger. And I don't like it, Bab." 
 
 " Well, he was n't ill-natured when you 
 made his nose bleed, Peep ; and he was good- 
 natured when he tried to hide who did it 
 from Sal." 
 
 Peep only grunted, but did n't answer. 
 Presently he saw Ned Carter come into the 
 garden, and he ran off to have a game of 
 play with him, and make him carry him 
 about pick-a-back. I watched Peep amusing 
 himself, and was glad he was amused ; but 
 I felt a little dull after a time, and a little 
 lonely at having nobody to play with me. I 
 began to think it a little hard that Peep had 
 a boy he liked for a playfellow, while there 
 was no girl I liked to have a game with me ; 
 and I was getting rather cross and almost 
 angry with Peep for leaving me by myself, 
 and I found I was pouting and frowning and 
 letting myself get into quite a bad humor. 
 So I got up and fetched my shell, and
 
 74 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 brought it out in the garden, and talked to 
 it a little about father and mother ; and after 
 a little while, smoothing it and thinking how 
 good Uncle had been to get it for me and 
 give it to me, I did n't feel so lonely ; and I 
 could watch Peep playing with Ned without 
 being vexed at all.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FEW mornings after this, when I 
 awoke, I found Peep very heavy 
 and sleepy, and unwilling to get 
 up; but after some coaxing he 
 gave way, and let me wash and dress him as 
 usual. Yet he seemed still but half awake ; 
 and even when we went down to the break- 
 fast-parlor he looked drowsy, and hardly no- 
 ticed what was on the table, which he gener- 
 ally attended to a good deal. 
 
 " Oh, Peep, here 's some honey ! " I whis- 
 pered to him, hoping that would rouse him. 
 
 He did for a moment look up, and his eyes 
 sparkled with joy. 
 
 Uncle was, as usual, hidden behind his big 
 newspaper ; but Tom said briskly, 
 
 " Ay, here 's honey, young people ! Have 
 some ! I '11 help you."
 
 76 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 He put some on two slices of bread, and 
 passed them over to Peep and me. I thanked 
 Tom, and Peep took his slice as if he liked 
 the thoughts of eating it ; but soon I noticed 
 that he put it down on his plate, with only a 
 bite or two taken. Uncle did n't seem to see 
 anything that was going on ; and Tom, when 
 his father took his hat and went away to 
 town, put on his cap too, and lounged off for 
 a turn in the village, saying, 
 
 " It 's precious slow here ! " 
 
 As neither of them had seen that Peep's 
 cheeks were very red, and that he had eaten 
 no breakfast, I thought it perhaps was not of 
 any consequence ; but I could n't help feeling 
 very uncomfortable about him when I saw 
 that instead of going out to play in the gar- 
 den, as he generally did as soon as we were 
 left alone, he threw himself on the hearth- 
 rug, and said, 
 
 " Oh, I 've got such a pain in my head, Bab : 
 and I 'm so hot, and so I-don't-know-how ! " 
 
 " Why do you lie so near the fire, Peep, if 
 you feel too hot ? "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 77 
 
 " Oh, I don't know, Bab ; I 'm too hot, 
 and yet I 'm so shivery." 
 
 I went and sat down beside him on the 
 rug, and made a pillow for his head on my 
 lap, and felt his red cheek, which was burn- 
 ing like fire ! 
 
 " How nice and cool your hand is, Bab ! 
 Put it on my forehead and hold it there." 
 
 I did, and we sat quite still for a little. 
 I thought very likely Peep was ill, and 
 wished I could do something to help him, 
 and get something to give him, though I 
 could n't tell what. I had a great mind to 
 get up and ask Sal about it ; but I knew she 
 would be cross, as she always was, par- 
 ticularly when we went and troubled her in 
 her kitchen. Besides, I thought if I got up 
 I should disturb Peep, whose head was rest- 
 ing on my knee, and he seemed quieter now 
 since it was there. So I sat and thought and 
 thought, and could not help crying worse 
 than I had been inclined to cry a day or two 
 before when I felt left out from play. That 
 was somehow a cross feeling as well as a sad
 
 78 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 one ; but now it was nothing else but a sad, 
 sorrowful, miserable feeling. I was ashamed 
 now to have half cried then ; because I now 
 found how much worse it was to be crying 
 for Peep than to be crying for myself. It 
 was in a confused way that I thought all 
 this ; but I did think it, and it made me sob 
 more bitterly than ever. It then came into 
 my head what I once heard mother say, 
 " When you 've nobody to help yon, ask God 
 to help you." So I tried to stop sobbing, and 
 said, 
 
 " Do, God, help us ! Do, God, pity us ! 
 Peep and I have nobody to help us; do you, 
 God, help us ! " 
 
 While I was saying this the room- door 
 opened, and Sal bounced in to clear away the 
 breakfast-things. 
 
 " What in the world are you two idle brats 
 lying there for? Get up with you, this 
 minute, and go and play in the garden, and 
 let's have the house quit of you while I 
 sweep up a bit." 
 
 " Hush, Sal, don't disturb Peep ; he 's quiet
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 79 
 
 now ; but he says his head aches, and I think 
 he must be ill." 
 
 " Parcel o' fancies ! I 've no patience with 
 such nonsense ! Ill indeed ! " 
 
 She bounced about in her usual way, and 
 made such a dreadful clatter with the break- 
 fast-things that I thought Peep must be 
 waked up by the noise. But he lay quite 
 still, and never even opened his eyes. As I 
 sat watching Sal's bounce-about movements 
 and cross looks, I found myself thinking, 
 "Is this how God helps us?" 
 
 Presently there came a ring at the door- 
 bell, and Sal bounced out to see who rang. 
 I heard her voice saying, 
 
 " Oh, it 's you, Miss King, is it ? Brought 
 home the things, I s'pose. Step in here, and 
 I '11 see that they 're all right, and pay you 
 at once." 
 
 She came into the parlor, followed by the 
 pretty young woman, who opened the bundle 
 she carried, and began counting the linen and 
 socks it contained. 
 
 " All right, Miss King. How much do you
 
 80 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 make it ? Stop a bit ; I '11 fetch the money 
 from the kitchen and be with you directly." 
 
 She bounced out, and Miss King looked to- 
 wards us. Then she said in her gentle voice, 
 
 " What 's the matter, dear ? What have 
 you been crying for ? I see you 've been 
 crying. What about ? " 
 
 "Peep's head aches badly, and I'm afraid 
 he 's ill. His cheeks are so hot and red, and 
 his eyes glittered so when they were open, 
 and now he keeps 'em shut, and looks so 
 lumpish and still." 
 
 Miss King came softly across the room, and 
 knelt down close beside us. 
 
 " The poor little fellow is ill," she said, 
 quietly. " But don't you cry, dear ; it will 
 only disturb him, and you would n't like to 
 do that, would you ? He ought to be in 
 bed. The servant had better carry him at 
 once to bed." 
 
 " I 'm afraid Sal won't like to do that. She 
 don't like trouble, and I always do everything 
 for Peep myself." 
 
 " But you can't carry him up to bed, and he
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AXD I. 81 
 
 is not able to walk himself. Stay ; if you '11 
 show me the way, I '11 carry him for you." 
 
 Miss King lifted Peep up in her arms, 
 so gently that he did n't awake, and I led 
 the way upstairs. She laid him on the bed, 
 and put the coverlets lightly round him, and 
 placed the pillows comfortably under his 
 head ; and as I watched her doing so, it came 
 into my head, " This is the way God helps us. 
 I did n't expect to have Miss King, but he 
 sent her to me." 
 
 When she had arranged Peep, she turned 
 to me and said, 
 
 " Now you will have to be his little nurse ; 
 and when you feel inclined to cry, think of 
 what you can do for your patient, your 
 little brother, I mean, and you'll find it'll 
 help you not to cry.* I would come myself 
 and nurse him for you ; but mother is so ill 
 I cannot leave her long together. Besides, 
 it will be good for you to learn to nurse him, 
 it will keep you from fretting better than 
 anything else could. Do you understand me, 
 dear?" 
 
 6
 
 82 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 She leaned down and gave me a kiss. It 
 was the first kiss I had had from anybody 
 for so long a time, and her voice was so 
 sweet, and her eyes were so gentle, as she 
 stooped towards me, that I felt dreadfully 
 inclined to cry again ; but I would n't let 
 myself do it after what she had said, so I only 
 nodded. 
 
 " Well, then, dear, listen to me, and I '11 
 tell you what you must do to nurse little 
 brother and make him get well soon. You 
 must coax the servant Sal, I think you 
 called her to make you some apple-tea or 
 some toast-and-water, and you must give 
 some to your brother every time he says he 's 
 thirsty, and even when he doesn't say so, as 
 often as you can. And before I go home I 
 will get you something to give him besides, 
 which will do him good." 
 
 "I'm afraid Sal won't like any trouble; 
 and I shall be afraid to ask her." 
 
 " No, dear, you won't be afraid, I know, 
 if it is to help your brother to get well. 
 Come downstairs now, for I must hurry home
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 83 
 
 as fast as I can, after bringing you the some- 
 thing to give him which I promised." 
 
 Miss King and I went down into the parlor 
 just as Sal bounced up the kitchen-stairs, 
 saying, 
 
 " That dratted butcher-boy kept me so 
 long waiting. But here's your money, Miss 
 King. How much did you say it comes to ? " 
 
 Miss King told her, and then said, 
 
 "The little boy has a bad, feverish cold, 
 and he ought to have plenty of cooling drinks. 
 I will bring him some medicine from the 
 chemist's, and will be back directly with it, 
 before I return home. I dare say you will 
 be so good as to make some apple-tea or 
 some toast-and-water for him, and his little 
 sister will give it to him." 
 
 Sal muttered something about having 
 enough to do without making a parcel o' 
 slops for sick children ; but somehow Miss 
 King's quiet decided manner, taking for 
 granted Sal would do what was needed, made 
 her not say she would n't. 
 
 When Miss King was gone, and Sal had
 
 84 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 bounced off to her kitchen, I ran upstairs to 
 Peep. He was still asleep ; so I sat by the 
 bedside, watching him and noticing how 
 quickly and pantingly he breathed. Then 
 I slipped down on my knees and begged God 
 to make him well, and thanked God for 
 sending Miss King to help us, and asked 
 God to let me keep from crying, that I might 
 be a good nurse to Peep. 
 
 It was not long before I heard the door-bell 
 ring again, and Miss King came upstairs with 
 a small packet in her hand. She opened it 
 and showed me some tiny folded papers inside, 
 one of which she also - opened, and I saw a 
 little powder in it. Then she took from her 
 pocket a screw of paper and a white spoon, 
 so clean and so pretty -looking, and she 
 said, 
 
 " I 've brought this nice bone spoon for my 
 clever little nurse, that she may always keep 
 it by her, ready for putting one of these 
 powders into it for her brother. See here ; 
 watch me, and you '11 know how to do as 
 I do."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 85 
 
 - 
 
 She unscrewed the little screw of paper 
 that had some powdered sugar in it; put 
 some into the white spoon, and then gently 
 shook the powder from the small folded paper 
 on to the sugar. Then she propped ftep 
 a little higher on his pillow, which half 
 awaked him, and then she put the spoon 
 softly between his lips, and he swallowed 
 what was in it. 
 
 "I'm so thirsty," he said, in a weak voice. 
 
 Miss King was stepping lightly across the 
 room to the water-bottle on the washing- 
 stand, when in bounced Sal with a glass of 
 toast-and-water in her hand, which she gave 
 to her, saying, 
 
 " I 've put some apple-tea on to make, but 
 it takes time, so you must wait for that." 
 
 " This toast-and-water will do capitally in 
 the mean while, Sal, and thank you for mak- 
 ing it so quickly, and so nice and clear," 
 said Miss King's sweet voice. 
 
 Sal bounced out again with a grump, 
 and Miss King held the toast-and-water to 
 Peep's parched lips. He drank a good long
 
 86 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 draught, and then lay back on the pillow 
 again. 
 
 " If you have n't strength to lift him up 
 by yourself, dear, when you give him drink, 
 don't take that large glass in your hand, but 
 just dip the spoon into the toast-and- water 
 or the apple-tea, when Sal brings it up, and 
 give him a spoonful at a time, as often as he 
 wishes for some. You will know when to 
 give him the powders by listening for the 
 kitchen-clock, which you can hear where we 
 are. Hark ! there it is ! listen ! And every 
 time it strikes give him one of the powders 
 as you saw me give it to him. Do you 
 understand, my dear ? " 
 
 There was something in her face, as she 
 looked at me and leaned down towards me, 
 that made me feel she would n't mind my 
 giving her a kiss of my own accord ; so I put 
 up my mouth to hers, and flung my arms 
 round her neck, as I answered, 
 
 " Yes, thank you ! oh, thank you ! " 
 
 She kissed me heartily in return, and 
 said,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 87 
 
 " You 're a loving, grateful little soul ; 
 and such a mite as you are, too ! How old 
 are you ? " 
 
 " I don't quite know ; but I think I 'm a 
 little past eight." 
 
 " And such a good little nurse as you are 
 going to be. I 'm sorry to have to leave 
 you ; but I must go now. I 've been so long 
 away from poor mother. Good-by, dear ! 
 I shall come to-morrow morning and see how 
 your brother is going on as early as I pos- 
 sibly can. Good-by again, dear." 
 
 She nodded cheerfully at me, and ran 
 quickly but very softly downstairs and out 
 of the house. 
 
 I found so much to do in putting the pow- 
 ders side by side, and the paper of sugar near 
 them, and laying the white spoon ready at 
 hand, thinking how nice and clean it looked, 
 and how glad I was to have it, instead of 
 being obliged to ask Sal for a silver one to 
 keep upstairs, that by the time she brought 
 the apple-tea I felt not at all inclined to cry, 
 but quite bright and brisk.
 
 88 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " To see the old-fashioned ways of that 
 chit," muttered Sal as she set the jug down 
 and looked at the powders and all the rest 
 spread out neatly on the table. " It 's like 
 playing with dolls' things, that it is ! That 
 she should have the sense to make a game 
 out of nursing her brother ! Only think ! 
 It beats all I ever see or heard on ; that it 
 does." 
 
 I gave Peep a little of the apple-tea in the 
 way Miss King had told me how, Sal stand- 
 ing by and watching me all the while, with 
 a sort of half-cross laugh. 
 
 " One 'd think you 'd ha' been a hospital 
 nuss all your bit of a life, that one would ! I 
 s'pose now you 'd like to have some nice 
 smooth water-grool for him instead of dinner 
 to-day, as he won't be very sharp-set for 
 meat, or even pudd'n', if he 's really ill ; 
 should n't you ? " 
 
 " Oh, what a good thought, Sal ! Thank 
 you ! Oh, yes, I should, very much." 
 
 " Then I '11 make you some, for the sake 
 o' the fun ; you are such a queer, old-fash-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 89 
 
 ioned child ; I never saw the likes of yon, 
 not I." 
 
 Peep had fallen into a sound sleep, and 
 his cheeks looked much less red and felt less 
 hot by the time I heard Uncle and Tom come 
 home ; so I went down to dinner with them, 
 not much minding having to leave the bed- 
 room. 
 
 " Where 's Peep ? " said Uncle, as I came 
 into the parlor. 
 
 " He 's not well, Uncle, and can't come 
 downstairs. But he don't want any dinner, 
 and Sal has made me some gruel for him, 
 which is much better." 
 
 "All right ; but if he gets worse he '11 want 
 a doctor, and if he does, let me know, and 
 I '11 send for one." 
 
 " Oh, I hope he won't get worse, Uncle ; 
 and even if he does, I 'm sure he won't want 
 a doctor, for he don't like 'em. When a doc- 
 tor once came to see him, he kicked and 
 screamed, and said he couldn't bear doctors 
 because he knew they would make him take 
 physic."
 
 90 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 Uncle laughed a loud laugh, and so did 
 Tom. Then they began to talk together, 
 and I, longing to be off to my nursing, ate 
 my dinner as quickly as I could and slid off 
 my chair the moment it was finished ; then, 
 bidding Uncle and Tom good-night, I ran 
 upstairs.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 91 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 the house next morning, and Tom 
 soon after also, than there came a 
 ring at the door-bell, and Miss 
 King, with her soft quick step, ran upstairs 
 to me, and asked how Peep had passed the 
 night. 
 
 " Very well indeed. He slept a good deal, 
 and only asked twice for something to drink. 
 So I gave him both times some apple-tea, as 
 he seems to like that better than toast-and- 
 water ; and both times I gave him a powder." 
 
 " Well done, my little nurse ! And his 
 hands are nice and moist this morning, and 
 his forehead too, not dry and hot and fev- 
 erish, as they were yesterday. So between 
 us, I think we shall have him soon well 
 again. Go on as you did before ; only in-
 
 92 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 stead of every time you hear the clock strike, 
 give him one of the powders every other time 
 you hear it strike. You understand ? " 
 
 " Yes, Miss King, quite. And how good of 
 you to leave your mother so early to come 
 and see about Peep ! Is she better ? Did she 
 have a good night, as he did ? " 
 
 " Not so bad a night as she has sometimes ; 
 she slept a little towards morning, and has 
 less pain than she has generally. Poor, poor 
 mother ! And she 's so good and patient." 
 
 I saw Miss King's eyes fill with tears ; but 
 I could see that she kept them back, and 
 wouldn't cry. 
 
 " Is she very, very ill ? " I asked, in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, very, very ill. I fear she 
 can never recover. I fear I must lose her." 
 
 Miss King held her hands very tightly to- 
 gether, and spoke in as low a tone as I did. 
 
 " Lose her ? How do you mean ? Do you 
 mean she '11 not be found some day when you 
 go home ? an she get out of bed and get 
 away ? "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 93 
 
 " No, dear ; I mean, I fear she will be lost 
 to me ; that God will take her, and that she 
 will go to heaven.' 1 
 
 " Ah, yes, as my mother went and my fa- 
 ther went to heaven. And when people go 
 there, I know they never come back. Oh. I 
 am sorry for you, Miss King ; I am sorry for 
 you. But 1 11 try not to cry, and I see 
 you 're trying not to cry ; because we know 
 it 's bad for Peep and for your mother, now 
 that we have to nurse them, don't we ? " 
 
 Miss King stooped down and gave me a 
 kiss, which I returned with all my heart ; and 
 after telling me a few things more that I could 
 do for Peep, she ran away downstairs, and I 
 heard the house-door shut quietly after her. 
 
 Peep, as Miss King said he would, soon got 
 quite well, and he then ate as heartily as 
 ever; and Tom heaped his plate, and mine 
 too, with good things at every meal, when 
 Uncle was too busy behind his newspaper to 
 notice that our plates were empty. Indeed, 
 Tom grew very kind to us for some time after 
 Peep had been ill ; but by degrees I thought
 
 94 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 I saw that Tom became what he was at first, 
 and even more cross and bluff than ever. 
 
 One day, when it was getting towards the 
 time that Tom's holidays were coming to an 
 end, and I heard that he was soon going back 
 to school, Peep was playing happily with his 
 wheelbarrow at a little distance from the 
 garden-seat on which I was sitting making a 
 little case for my shell with the bit of redr 
 worked muslin given to me by the smiling 
 young shopwoman, and Tom was leaning 
 with his head on his arm upon the back of 
 the long garden-seat at the end farthest away 
 from me. He was very silent ; and as much 
 as I could see of his face looked very frown- 
 ing and red and hot, though it was a cold 
 day, and Tom had been quite still for a long 
 time. 
 
 " Are you ill, Tom ? Do }^ou think you 've 
 got a feverish cold, as Peep had ? " 
 
 " No. What makes you think I 'm ill, 
 Bab ? Don't notice me. What do you care 
 if I 've anything the matter with me ? " 
 
 " Oh, I care a great deal, Tom. And I
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 95 
 
 think you may be ill, because you have hot 
 red cheeks, as Peep had when he was ill." 
 
 " 111 ? No, not I. Don't notice me, Bab, I 
 tell you." 
 
 " But I must notice you, Tom ; because if 
 you 're ill, you must be nursed, and I would 
 nurse you." 
 
 " You, Bab ? Nonsense ! " 
 
 " Oh, but I can nurse, and very well, too, 
 though I'm so little. I nursed Peep capi- 
 tally ; Miss King said so." 
 
 Tom turned upon me fiercely, and said, in 
 a rough loud voice, 
 
 " Who ? " 
 
 " Miss King. She taught me how to nurse, 
 and came to see how Peep got on while I 
 nursed him." 
 
 " She came here, did she ? How came I 
 not to know she did ? I 'd soon have made 
 the house too hot to hold her, and have sent 
 her to the right-about pretty quick, I can tell 
 you." 
 
 " What makes you angry with Miss King, 
 Tom ? Don't you like her ? "
 
 96 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Like her ? I hate her ! " 
 
 Why, Tom ? " 
 
 " Because because Oh, you would n't 
 understand why I hate her ! How should 
 you ? Such a young chit as you, how could 
 you understand what makes me hate her, 
 even if I were to tell you ? " 
 
 " Oh, but do tell me, Tom ; try to make me 
 understand. I want to make out why you 
 should hate Miss King, who has been so good 
 and kind to me, and who seems to me to be 
 just what I could love so very much. And I 
 do love her already ; I feel I do." 
 
 " Love her ? Love Miss King ? That you 
 would n't if you knew what I know about 
 her. You'd hate her, as I do. I've only 
 lately found it out; but it makes me detest 
 her." 
 
 " What is it, Tom ? Are you sure it 's 
 true?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, it 's too true ; those who told it 
 me see proofs of it every day." 
 
 " But what is it, Tom ? " 
 
 " Why, it 's just this, and nothing else :
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 97 
 
 she 's trying to get father for a husband. He 
 goes every day to see her, and wants her to 
 marry him." 
 
 " That seems as if he 's trying to get her for 
 a wife ; and that would be very nice, Tom." 
 
 " Nice, Bab ? " 
 
 " Yes ; because then she 'd come and live 
 here, and I should be very glad, for I love 
 her already ; I told you so." 
 
 " But I don't : I hate her. I hate step- 
 mothers, and I won't have her for one." 
 
 " Can you help it, Torn ? Why should n't 
 you like to have her for a step-mother ? " 
 
 " Because all step-mothers are hateful and 
 horrible ; and if she were to come here as my 
 step-mother, I 'd make her repent it ; I 'd do 
 all I could to make her life miserable." 
 
 " Then it would be you, Tom, who would 
 be hateful and horrible, not she." 
 
 " There, Bab ! I told you you would n't 
 be able to understand. Step-mothers are 
 always disagreeable; everybody says so." 
 
 "But I don't think, I cant think she 
 would be. Oh, Tom, you don't know how 
 
 7
 
 98 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 gentle and sweet-voiced and kind Miss King 
 is!" 
 
 " Don't call her l Miss King ' to me, Bab ! 
 I never call her so ; I call her Pen Prim. 
 I 've heard of her soft, silky ways, and I call 
 her Pen Prim, and I shall never call her any- 
 thing else. And if you care anything for 
 me, you '11 call her Pen Prim, too, Bab, to 
 please me." 
 
 " Why do you call her < Pen,' Tom ? " 
 " Because her name 's Penelope ; and as 
 sure as my name 's Tom, I '11 never call her 
 anything but Pen Prim." 
 
 " Perhaps you '11 have to call her step- 
 mother, Tom." 
 
 " That I won't if I can help it." 
 " But if you can't help it, Tom ? " 
 " How aggravating you are, Bab ! No, I 
 never will call her so. If father will have 
 her, and when he 's bent on a thing he 
 generally has his way, if he will marry 
 her, and if I can't help myself in that, at 
 least I'll never call her anything but Pen 
 Prim to the end of her days ; and I '11 not
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 99 
 
 make her married life too pleasant to her, if 
 she does succeed in getting father for a hus- 
 band and comes to live here. And if you care 
 for me at all, Bab, you'll promise to worry 
 her just as much when I 'm away at school as 
 I should if I were always at home. Come, 
 promise me you will." 
 
 " I can't promise that, Tom." 
 
 " Then you don't care for me, Bab." 
 
 " Yes, I do, Tom. You are not so bluff 
 and gruff to Peep and me now as you were 
 at first, therefore I like you now very much." 
 
 " You do, Bab ? Well, then, show that you 
 like me, by calling her Pen Prim, and by 
 being as rude as ever you can to her when- 
 ever she comes here." 
 
 " No, Tom, not even to please you, will I 
 promise that. She has been very good to 
 Peep and to me when he was ill ; and I know 
 I could n't be rude to her, even if I tried." 
 
 " But will you try ? " 
 
 "No, Tom, I won't even try." 
 
 " Then you don't care for me, and only 
 pretend to like me, Bab."
 
 100 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 I could n't answer any more ; and Tom got 
 up from the garden-seat and flung away in a 
 huff, saying, 
 
 " See if I forgive you, Miss Bab ! " 
 
 And he didn't forgive me; for whenever 
 he spoke to me he called me "Miss Bab." 
 But he hardly ever did speak to me at all, till 
 at last the morning came when he was going 
 back to school, and I felt I could n't bear he 
 should not make it up with me before he 
 went. So after watching him all through 
 breakfast, and seeing he looked sulky and 
 cross still, and kept his face turned from my 
 side of the table, I crept round near to him 
 and said in a low voice, so that nobody should 
 hear, 
 
 " Do say you forgive me, Tom, before you 
 go ! You '11 be such a long time away, and I 
 don't like you to keep angry with me all that 
 while." 
 
 " You can be forgiven, you know, Miss 
 Bab, directly ; you 've only to promise me 
 to do what I told you." 
 
 " But I can't promise, Tom."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 101 
 
 " Then I can't forgive yon, and I sha'n't 
 either. Don't you think it, Miss Bab. You 
 need n't look up at me in that pitiful way ; 
 you 've only to do as I tell you, and then 
 I '11 shake hands with you before I go. If 
 not, I won't. See if I do ! " 
 
 He kept his word. Even when the hack- 
 ney-coach came to the gate, and his box was 
 put in, and I stood waiting with the rest, 
 hoping he would shake hands with me at 
 the very last moment, he jumped in without 
 even looking at me, though I was trembling 
 and shaking all over, and could n't keep the 
 tears from rolling down my face. Peep 
 wasn't ill, so I could cry without fear of 
 doing him any harm ; and I did cry very 
 sorrowfully and long. 
 
 " Why, who 'd ha' thought you cared so 
 much for Master Tom as to cry 'cause he 's 
 going back to school," said Sal, sharply. 
 " I fancied you were no such great friends 
 as that comes to while he was here." 
 
 I didn't answer Sal; but when she was 
 gone down to her kitchen, and Peep noticed
 
 102 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 my red eyes, asking what had made me cry, 
 I burst out afresh, and said, 
 
 " Oh, Peep ! Tom did n't shake hands with 
 me before he went ; he did n't even say, 
 < Good-by, Bab ' ! " 
 
 " Well, it don't signify, Bab ; he 's almost 
 always bluff and surly, and don't care for us 
 much, you know. Why should he ? I 'm 
 sure I don't care much for him ; I like Ned 
 Carter fifty times better than I do Tom. 
 Ned 's always good-tempered and willing to 
 play with me, while Tom only wants to be 
 master."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 103 
 
 CHAPTEK VIH. 
 
 EXT day, just as Uncle had his hat 
 on, ready to go out, Sal bounced 
 into the parlor, saying in quite 
 a screaming voice, 
 " I 've heard something, Cap'n, that makes 
 me in such a way I can't a-bear myself! And 
 I must have a few words with you at once, 
 Cap'n, to settle my mind whether it 's true 
 or not. They 're a-sayin' in the village that 
 you 're a-thinkin' o' gett'n' married ; and if 
 you are, I must tell you plain I 'in not a-goin' 
 to stay here with a new missus over me. 
 That I could not stand ! " 
 
 " My good girl " Uncle began. 
 " Don't ( good gal ' me, Cap'n ; I 'm not 
 a-going to stand havin' a missus here, no, 
 not to please even you, Cap'n." 
 "But, Sal "
 
 104 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " No, Cap'n Bruff, sir, I could n't hear of 
 stay in', much as I like my place. If a 
 missus is to come to this house, I 'd leave 
 at once, and I 'd give you warnin' on the 
 spot." 
 
 " But, Sal, consider " 
 
 " Don't think it for a rninnit, Cap'n ; I 
 could n't, and what 's more I would n't ; so 
 you can think it over, sir." 
 
 Sal bounced off, banging the door behind 
 her, and Uncle stood looking at the fire, with 
 his hat still upon his head, but not going out. 
 
 I crept near to him, hoping he would 
 notice me ; but as he did n't, I put up my 
 hand very gently and touched him on his 
 thick coat-sleeve. He did n't feel me at first, 
 but when I said softly, " Uncle ! " he looked 
 down at me, and said, 
 
 "Well, Bab, what is it?" 
 
 " Do you want very much to be married, 
 Uncle?" 
 
 Uncle got very red j then he laughed, and 
 said, 
 
 " Why do you want to know, Bab ? "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 105 
 
 " Because, Uncle, if you do, you needn't 
 mind Sal's saying she '11 go, need you ? " 
 
 " Well, Bab, it '11 be very inconvenient 
 having no servant to keep things going here 
 a little tidily. And Sal 's accustomed to my 
 ways, and knows how 1 like to have 'ein 
 done ; and if she leaves me all of a hurry, 
 I should n't be able to get on till I bring 
 home a wife to set things straight for good 
 and all. And I should like to have the place 
 neat and tidy before she comes here, you see, 
 Bab." 
 
 " I don't think Sal is very neat and tidy, 
 Uncle ; is she ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't know, Bab ; perhaps not ; 
 but I 'm used to her, you see, and that 's the 
 fact. Besides, I don't know how I could 
 manage to get anybody else in her place, if 
 she left me suddenly. You heard her say 
 she 'd give me warning at once." 
 
 " Let her, Uncle." 
 
 " Ah, yes ; but, Bab, what should we do 
 without her?" 
 
 Very well, Uncle."
 
 106 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Not very well, Bab ; the place would be 
 all sixes and sevens, without somebody to 
 clean up, and cook, and make beds, and all 
 the rest of it." 
 
 " But we could get somebody instead of 
 Sal, Uncle." 
 
 " Could we, Bab, do you think ? Could 
 we get any one to come at once, if Sal gave 
 us warning ? " 
 
 " Yes, Uncle, I 'm sure we could. I think 
 I know somebody who 'd be quite glad to 
 come and be servant here directly." 
 
 " Bab, my little woman, I always said you 
 were the very rummest child I ever knew for 
 your age ; and here you are, making me feel 
 as if you were quite a comfort and a clever 
 little housekeeper, a wise grown-up person 
 to consult with, and to help me at a pinch. 
 Well, what about this servant- girl you think 
 would be glad to come to us ? " 
 
 " Why, Uncle, I heard Ned Carter say the 
 other day that his sister Sue wanted to get 
 a new place, for the one she has just left was 
 a very hard one, and they were very cruel
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 107 
 
 to her ; and he says he would be glad to have 
 her where they'd be kind to her and not 
 work her too hard. And here she 'd have an 
 easy place and be quite happy, you know, 
 Uncle." 
 
 " So she would, Bab ; with such a little 
 mistress as you at first, and with such a mis- 
 tress as Well, I must n't stay any longer, 
 I must be off to town ; so good-by, Bab." 
 And Uncle suddenly hurried away. 
 
 Luckily this was one of Ned Carter's days 
 for coming to do some gardening ; so I went 
 to him the moment he entered the gate, and 
 said, 
 
 " Did n't you say your sister Sue wants a 
 place, Ned?" 
 
 " Yes, little miss, she do." 
 
 " Don't you think she 'd like to come here, 
 Ned?" 
 
 " Like, little miss ! She 'd be ready to fly 
 out of her skin wi' joy, if she could get this 
 place ! But then there 's Sal ; mayhap she 
 wouldn't like it at all." 
 
 "Never mind Sal, Ned. You tell your
 
 108 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 sister to come up first thing to-morrow 
 morning, before Uncle is off to town, and 
 he '11 speak to her about coming here." 
 
 " Lord love you, miss, to be sure I will. 
 Sue '11 be ready to jump out of her skin, that 
 she will." 
 
 When Uncle came home that evening, and 
 had finished dinner and was sitting over the 
 fire, he called me over to him, away from 
 Peep, who remained at table, very busy play- 
 ing at boats with some large walnut-shells 
 that he had saved from dessert. 
 
 " Well, little woman, let 's hear what you 've 
 done about another servant-girl. Ned was 
 here to-day ; did you speak to him ? " 
 
 " Yes, Uncle ; and I told him to tell Sue 
 to step up and speak with you to-morrow morn- 
 ing about coming here at once. He says she '11 
 jump out of her skin to get such a place." 
 
 " Upon my word, Bab, you 're a capital 
 manager already. But you women, if you 're 
 ever so young, seem to be good at managing 
 a house a sight better than us men, if we 're 
 ever so old."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 109 
 
 Uncle fell into his usual habit of staring 
 at the fire and saying nothing for a long 
 while. At last he seemed to wake up, and 
 said, 
 
 Ring the bell, Bab ! " 
 
 I did so ; and Sal bounced into the room 
 with, 
 
 "Well, Cap'n?" 
 
 " This morning, Sal, you threatened to give 
 me warning. Now I give you warning 
 There 's a month's wages besides what is 
 owing to you up to to-night ; and to-morrow 
 you go." 
 
 " Cap'n ! " 
 
 " To-morrow you go ! " 
 
 " Well, I never ! Sent off at a word in this 
 way ! " 
 
 " You threatened to go off at a word, and 
 without caring whether it put me to an incon- 
 venience or not; so to-morrow you go." 
 
 "And pretty early, too; you see if I don't, 
 Cap'n ! I '11 just make your breakfast for 
 you, and after that I shall pack up my alls 
 and be gone, and you may shift how you can
 
 110 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 for your dinner. If you were starving for it, 
 I would n't cook it ; and I '11 never set foot 
 in this house again ; there ! " 
 
 "Mind you never do," said Uncle, as Sal 
 bounced out of the room. 
 
 " A good riddance of bad rubbish," I heard 
 him mutter. Then he turned to me and 
 said, 
 
 " You clever little woman, you got rid of 
 her for me. What would you like me to 
 bring for you from town, Bab ? Would you 
 like to have a doll ? " 
 
 Oh, Uncle ! A doll ! " 
 
 " Yes, a wax doll, a big pretty one, with 
 baby-clothes on." 
 
 " Oh, Uncle ! A doll ! A beautiful doll ! " 
 
 I stopped suddenly, thinking of something. 
 
 " Well, Bab, what is it ? Is there anything 
 you 'd like still better than a doll ? If there 
 is, out with it." 
 
 I felt very odd and very shy, and could n't 
 say anything for a moment. 
 
 " Well, little woman, speak up ! What 
 is it?"
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. Ill 
 
 " Uncle, there ' one thing I should like 
 even better than a doll. I should like you to 
 let me give you a kiss, a hug. I 've often 
 wanted to do it; but I but you " 
 
 " Of all the rum To give me a hug, 
 a rough, big bear like me ? Are you sure, 
 Bab, you want to kiss me ? " 
 
 u Very much, Uncle." 
 
 " Well, then, kiss me, little woman." 
 
 I stood on tiptoe and put both my arms 
 round his neck, and pressed my lips among 
 his -great rough beard and whiskers, just 
 where I found a little bit of cheek. 
 
 " Thank you, Uncle, for all you Ve done 
 for Peep and me ! " I whispered. 
 
 " All ? It ain't much ; and I have n't been 
 able to take very good care of you, or see 
 to you much. But perhaps soon perhaps 
 when I bring home a wife, she '11 help me to 
 understand how to do better for you." 
 
 " Yes, Uncle. Miss King." 
 
 Uncle started and stared at me. 
 
 "What do you know about Miss King, 
 Bab ? "
 
 112 TJNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " She came here while Peep was ill, Uncle, 
 and taught me how to nurse him ; and he got 
 well sooner than I think he would have done 
 if she had n't helped me. She was so good 
 and so gentle, and I felt so thankful to her, 
 that when I chanced to hear you were going 
 to marry her, I thought what a good thing it 
 would be, for I loved her already." 
 
 Uncle put his big arm round me and drew 
 me on to his knee, and gave me such a kiss 
 that I was even more glad than when he let 
 me kiss him ; because then he did n't seem 
 much to care to have a kiss, but now he 
 seemed to care very much. 
 
 " You 're right, my little woman ; she is 
 good and gentle, and one to love the moment 
 you see her. You 're right, my little woman, 
 my dear, ruin little Bab." 
 
 Uncle gave me a hearty squeeze, and then 
 began staring into the fire again ; but he 
 held me sitting on his knee, with his big 
 warm arm tight round me still. So I liked 
 being kept there ever so long, without his 
 speaking to me or I to him. And after that
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 113 
 
 evening, whenever Uncle had anything quiet 
 to say to me or I to him, he used to make 
 me sit on his knee while he told it me or I 
 told it him. 
 
 Next morning Sal bounced about more 
 than usual, sniffing and grumping, and set- 
 ting down the things on the breakfast-table 
 with a bang. But Uncle did n't take any 
 notice of her or say a word to her ; and she 
 said nothing to him, till she came up with her 
 bonnet and shawl on, and said, 
 
 " Well, I 'm going, Cap'n, and it 's to be 
 hoped you won't miss me." 
 
 " It's to be hoped not, Sal." 
 
 "See if you don't, though, Cap'n, when it 
 comes to dinner-time, and you come home 
 
 and find no vittels on the table ; that 's 
 
 di " 
 1. 
 
 Uncle did n't answer, so I said, 
 " Sal, why do you speak as if you were 
 spiteful against Uncle, when you 've made 
 such good dinners for him all this time, and 
 got us a bed ready, and some night-clothes for 
 Peep and me to put on when we came here 
 
 8
 
 114 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 that first night ? Thank you for that, at least, 
 Sal; and good-by, Sal." 
 
 " Good-by, Sal ! " said Peep, very briskly. 
 
 Sal gave a sort of half laugh, half snort, as 
 she said, 
 
 " I shall send for my box this arternoon ; " 
 and then flounced straight out of the room 
 and out of the house. 
 
 Not long after, there came a ring at the 
 door-bell, and I slipped out to open it, and, 
 as I expected, there was Susan Carter. I 
 brought her into the parlor, and said, 
 
 " Uncle, here's Sue." 
 
 He asked her if she had come to stay at 
 once, and she, dropping a courtesy, said, 
 
 " Yes, Cap'n, if I may." 
 
 " Yes, my girl, you may." 
 
 Then he spoke to her about wages, when 
 she dropped another courtesy, and he said, 
 
 " My little missy here '11 tell you all about 
 my ways and my hours, and what I like to 
 have for breakfast and for dinner, and and 
 all the rest of it ; won't you, Bab ? " 
 
 Yes, Uncle : "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 115 
 
 He put on his hat and went out at once ; 
 while I took Sue downstairs to the kitchen, 
 and then upstairs to the bedrooms, and 
 showed her all about the house. Then I 
 said, 
 
 " The butcher-boy generally comes here 
 about eleven o'clock, Sue; and Uncle likes 
 to have beef oftener than any other meat, so 
 you can order some for to-day to begin with." 
 
 " And Uncle often has a pudding or a pie, 
 Sue," said Peep. 
 
 " Can you make puddings and pies, Sue ? " 
 I asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes, miss; and very light crust too." 
 
 " That 's a good thing ! " said Peep. " You 
 can make a pie or a pudding every day, 
 Sue." 
 
 " Shall I, miss ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think you may, Sue." 
 
 " Does the Cap'n like his meat under-done 
 or much done, miss ? " 
 
 " He generally has the brown outside slice, 
 Sue ; but he likes the inside to just have the 
 gravy in, juicy, you know."
 
 116 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " I understand, miss." 
 
 " And, Sue, you may sometimes give us 
 apple dumplings or pancakes, for a change," 
 said Peep. " And, Sue, I like boiled paste 
 better than baked paste, so you can give us 
 puddings oftener than pies." 
 
 Very well, sir. Shall I, miss ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sue." 
 
 Just then there came a loud ring at the 
 door-bell, and we heard shrill whistling out- 
 side. 
 
 " That 's the butcher-boy," said Peep. " Or- 
 der ribs of beef to-day, Sue ; and give us a 
 roly-poly pudding afterwards. Oh, and put 
 plenty of plums in it, Sue." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Sue, as she flew off to open 
 the door and give the butcher-boy his orders. 
 
 " Some day, Sue, you may tell him to 
 bring steaks and kidneys, and you can make 
 us a beefsteak pudding," said Peep, when 
 she came back ; " and that day you can give 
 us pancakes, you know." 
 
 " Yes, sir. What time does the Cap'n 
 dine, miss ? "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 117 
 
 " Generally about five, Sue ; but sometimes 
 he 's a little later, so you '11 have to manage 
 and keep the meat hot, ready for any hour 
 Uncle comes home." 
 
 " I understand, miss." 
 
 " And he always breakfasts at nine ; there- 
 fore it must be ready exactly then, because 
 he goes out directly after." 
 
 " Yes, miss." 
 
 " And, Sue, Uncle likes to have all sorts 
 of things on the breakfast-table, sometimes 
 jam, sometimes honey, sometimes marmalade, 
 sometimes buttered toast, sometimes hot rolls, 
 sometimes bloater-herring, sometimes eggs 
 and bacon, sometimes chops, sometimes 
 sometimes oh, I '11 think of more things 
 presently ; but you may often have hot rolls, 
 Sue," said Peep. 
 
 " Very well, sir." 
 
 " And, Sue, be sure you have Uncle's coat 
 brushed and his boots blacked and brought in 
 the first thing, so that I may set them by the 
 fender, ready for him to put on before he 
 goes out; and you'll have to take in his
 
 118 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 paper before breakfast and bring it into the 
 parlor: the newspaper-boy comes round at 
 eight." 
 
 " Yes, miss." 
 
 " And I '11 show you the store-cupboard, 
 Sue ; where the tea and sugar and the pep- 
 per and salt and the raisins and currants 
 and spices and jarn-pots are kept; and 
 the corner where the candle-and-soap box 
 stands ; and the closet where the mops and 
 brooms and brushes are put; and I should 
 like you to buy a few neat little white cov- 
 ered jars for the store-cupboard, Sue, so that 
 the spices and the pepper and the salt may 
 be kept nicely, as mother used to keep them, 
 instead of screwed up in bits of paper, as Sal 
 used to keep them." 
 
 " I understand, miss." 
 
 And Sue showed that she did understand ; 
 for not long after she came, the house was 
 swept and scoured as it had not been for 
 many a day. Every room was like a new 
 pin for neatness and cleanliness ; she kept 
 everything in its place and thoroughly dusted ;
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 119 
 
 she bought new house-cloths and glass-and- 
 china cloths instead of the rags Sal used 
 and thought good enough; for Uncle gave 
 Sue a good supply of money in hand, and 
 bade her not spare in getting anything the 
 house wanted. She not only kept it in good 
 order, but she cooked capitally ; and Uncle 
 said he had not eaten better dinners he did 
 not know the time when, and Peep enjoyed 
 himself completely. She was very brisk and 
 good-tempered too, and flew about from 
 morning till night, singing at her work, and 
 always ready to have a chat with Peep and 
 me, or to do any little job we wanted at any 
 odd moment. She was fond of chatting ; but 
 she never left off from what she was about 
 while she chatted. She used to flit from 
 room to room all the time she talked, if she 
 were making the beds or doing any house- 
 work ; so that Peep and I had to follow from 
 place to place as we listened to her stories 
 and village gossip, of which she had an end- 
 less store. She seemed to know everybody 
 and to have heard everything ; and she
 
 120 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 amused us very much by the odd way 
 she had of telling about the people living 
 near. 
 
 Peep and I had plenty of amusement now, 
 and never felt dull, as we had sometimes felt 
 when we first came to Uncle's house ; and 
 besides, he brought me from town a beautiful 
 large wax-doll, dressed in long clothes, like 
 a baby, and with a pretty baby's cap on its 
 head, all of which were made so that they 
 could be taken off and put on again ; there- 
 fore I could dress and undress my dolly as 
 often as I pleased.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 121 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HAD often wished I could go be- 
 yond the garden-gate and see more 
 of what was outside Uncle's house, 
 and I thought it would be so pleas- 
 ant and free if Peep and I could do so by 
 ourselves ; but as long as Sal was there and 
 forbade us, we had never dared to venture 
 out. Now, however, that Sue let us do just 
 as we pleased, I asked Peep if he would n't 
 like to come for a walk with me. 
 
 " What a capital thing, Bab ! Let 's go at 
 once." 
 
 It was a fine afternoon, and not very cold; 
 but above the low light at the edge of the 
 sky there were some darkish clouds and 
 streaks, with a mistiness between. We very 
 much enjoyed our ramble through the village ; 
 looking in at the shop-windows and into the
 
 122 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 pretty bits of gardens that were in front of 
 the houses and cottages, until we got to the 
 end of the village, and I thought of turning 
 back. But Peep wanted to go up a steepish 
 hill there was, as he said he should like to see 
 what there was at the top ; so we went on 
 and on, till we felt rather, tired and longed 
 to sit down and rest. Fortunately, under 
 some trees at the top of the hill there was 
 a nice wooden seat ; but sitting upon it, with 
 her frock wide spread out and a smartly 
 dressed doll beside her, was a little girl, about 
 my age, who only stared at us when we 
 looked longingly at the seat. It was long 
 enough for us all to have sat upon it; but 
 the silk skirts of the little girl and those of 
 the doll took up all the room. Near to the 
 little girl stood a young woman, who leaned 
 her back against the tree under which the 
 seat was placed. Seeing that nothing but 
 a hard stare met our longing looks, Peep and 
 I moved closer to the bench and tried to edge 
 ourselves on to it ; but the little girl frowned, 
 and said in a sharp voice,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 123 
 
 " Take care, you '11 brush against my doll." 
 
 " Then take it off the bench ; Bab 's tired, 
 and wants to sit down, and so do I," said 
 Peep. 
 
 "I shan't." 
 
 " You must ; we 're tired and want to 
 rest." 
 
 " What do I care ? " 
 
 " You 're a rude girl." 
 
 " I 'm not a girl ; I 'm a young lady." 
 
 " You 're not ; young ladies don't speak so 
 rudely. Make room." 
 
 "I shan't, I tell you." 
 
 Peep did n't answer her any more, but 
 stepped forward and swept the doll right off 
 the seat on to the ground. 
 
 " Oh, it '11 be all dusty ! Oh, its silk clothes 
 will be spoilt ! " cried the little girl. 
 
 I picked up the doll, brushed the dust off, 
 and said, 
 
 " I don't think it's hurt ; it looks as bright 
 and beautiful as ever." 
 
 " Yes, is n't it a beauty ? Pa gave it me 
 on my last birthday, and I don't think there
 
 124 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 ever was such a handsome doll. Look at 
 its clothes, all real silk, and satin, and 
 velvet." 
 
 The little girl took the doll and held it 
 before herself and me, while she drew her 
 own skirts towards her, and cleared enough 
 space on the seat for Peep and me, where 
 we sat down and rested. 
 
 " Its dress is rich silk, its mantle is thick 
 satin, and its hat is real silk velvet, with a 
 lovely curly feather. Just look ! Did you 
 ever see such a beautiful doll ? " 
 
 " Well, it 's beautifully dressed ; but I think 
 my own doll, that Uncle gave me, is prettier." 
 
 " Oh, impossible ! Never was such a hand- 
 some doll as mine," said the little girl, with 
 a toss of her head. " I know there is n't ! 
 There cant be ! Why, pa gave more than 
 two guineas for it." 
 
 " I don't know how much mine cost ; Uncle 
 did n't tell me ; but it 's very, very pretty, 
 and I love it dearly." 
 
 " Well, I don't love my doll ; but I care for 
 it a good deal, it's so handsome and so
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 125 
 
 beautifully dressed. Pa never spares price 
 when he gives me anything, and he gives me 
 lots of presents." 
 
 " Does he ? " said Peep. 
 
 "Yes, he 's very rich; he is called the rich 
 Mr. Botterby. And I shall be rich some day. 
 I shall be an heiress, Ledwick says." 
 
 " What 's an heiress ? Somebody who gives 
 herself airs ? " asked Peep. 
 
 " No, stupid ; somebody who has lots and 
 lots of money to do as she likes with. Here, 
 Ledwick, take my doll and hold it care- 
 
 fully." 
 
 " Yes, Miss Botterby." 
 
 " Don't you carry your doll yourself ? Bab 
 always does," said Peep. 
 
 " Who 's Bab ? " 
 
 " She 's my sister." 
 
 Peep pointed to me, and Miss Botterby 
 stared at me again. Then she said, 
 
 " Ah, it may be all very well for your 
 sister to carry her own doll ; most likely she 
 has n't a servant to carry it for her ; but I 
 have. Ma never lets me go out without
 
 126 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 Ledwick to attend me. You see, I'm the 
 daughter of the rich Mr. Botterby, and it 
 would n't do for me to go about alone, like 
 a nobody." 
 
 " Are you a somebody ? " asked Peep. 
 
 "Of course; and ma don't approve of 
 my mixing with nobodies. Who 's your pa 
 and rna?" 
 
 " We have n't got any. They 're gone to 
 heaven. We have only Uncle now." 
 
 " Who 's he ? " 
 
 " Captain Bruff; we live with him." 
 
 " A captain, is he ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " He 's the Uncle who gave me the doll I 
 told you of; I '11 bring it to show you some 
 day," I said. 
 
 " You can if you like ; but I know it can't 
 be nearly so beautiful as mine. Has it real 
 silk clothes ? " 
 
 " No ; it has white baby-clothes." 
 
 " Oh, muslin, or linen, or calico ; it can't 
 be so handsome as mine." 
 
 " But it 's very pretty, and the clothes can
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 127 
 
 take off and on, and they can wash. Silk 
 ones can't, you know." 
 
 " Oh, well, I don't mind that. If my doll's 
 dress had been spoilt when it was tumbled 
 into the dust, I could have asked pa to buy 
 me a new one. He never minds expense." 
 
 " He seems to be a very kind papa." 
 
 " I don't know about ' kind.' He some- 
 times rows up awfully; but he don't mind 
 spending money." 
 
 "Don't you think, miss, you'd better be 
 going home ?" said Ledwick. "It's getting 
 dark ; and you know your ma does n't like 
 you to be out after dark, she 's so afeard of 
 your taking cold, you know." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I know how she fusses over me. 
 Well, let 's go home. And if you like to 
 come here again some day," she said, turning 
 to me, "to show me your doll, you can. I 
 often come here when the weather 's fine ; 
 this walk's just a nice distance from where 
 I live, Botterby House, you know, and 
 this seat is nice to rest upon before I go 
 back."
 
 128 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 We took a hasty leave of her, Peep and I 
 setting off to run downhill, as evening was 
 fast coming on and the clouds were thick- 
 ening over the sky. As we passed through 
 the village I looked up at the window of the 
 cottage where I knew Miss King lived, and 
 wondered whether her mother was any bet- 
 ter. I saw a light behind the white curtain- 
 blind, and wished I could go in and ask ; but 
 it was getting so late that I hurried on, hoping 
 to be home before Uncle returned to dinner. 
 
 We were there in such good time that I had 
 plenty for putting his slippers near the fender, 
 and setting his chair close by the fire ready for 
 him just as we heard his ring at the bell. He 
 seemed more than ever inclined to be silent 
 and busily thinking that evening; so I did n't 
 talk to him, but sat with Peep, looking over 
 the funny figures in a picture-book that Uncle 
 had brought us from town. 
 
 We were very glad of this picture-book, 
 as well as of a box of bricks and a Noah's 
 ark that he had lately given us, for several 
 days after this; because next morning we
 
 UXCLE, PEEP, AND I. 129 
 
 found the garden was all white with snow, 
 and we could not get out of doors for nearly 
 a week. We used to see Ned Carter come 
 the first thing in the morning to sweep a 
 path through the snow from the house-door 
 to the garden-gate, for Uncle to go out by ; 
 but no gardening could be done all that time, 
 so Peep had no amusement except indoors ; 
 though he was n't dull, playing with his toys, 
 or I either, dressing and undressing my doll 
 and putting her to bed in the cradle which 
 Uncle had also given me for her. But I 
 sometimes thought of Miss King, and wished 
 very much I could have gone and seen her 
 and asked her how her mother was ; which 
 I should have done, if it had not snowed so 
 hard every day. At last I thought of asking 
 Sue if she had heard anything of Mrs. King. 
 
 " Lor', yes, miss ; I 've heard she 's as 
 bad as bad can be, and ain't expected to last 
 long. Poor Miss King takes it to heart 
 dreadful, and sits by her mother's bedside 
 night and day ; never leaves her for a single 
 
 instant. It 's wearing herself out, she is ; 
 
 9
 
 130 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 and a good daughter she is, that 's the truth. 
 And everybody says so too." 
 
 " I wonder whether Uncle knows she 's 
 wearing herself out." 
 
 " Lor' bless you, yes, Miss, to be sure he 
 do. There 's not a day he misses calling to 
 know how Mrs. King 's a-going on ; he 's done 
 so for many a day ; but Miss King can hardly 
 spare him a moment away from her mother, 
 and only just sees him, and tells him she 's 
 no better, and then runs aw r ay upstairs again. 
 I know it ; for the blacksmith's forge is just 
 opposite the cottage where they live, and the 
 blacksmith's daughter, Polly Trebbitt, is my 
 great friend, and is the best of friends too 
 with Bet, the servant-gal at Mrs. Hodgkin's, 
 where Mrs. and Miss King lodge ; so Polly 
 tells me all about them. They 've been gen- 
 tlefolks, you see, miss, and have come down 
 in the world ; so Miss King has done needle- 
 work for her living, and has kept her mother 
 comfortable ever since with her own hands." 
 
 " That must be very comfortable for her- 
 self, Sue."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AXD I. 131 
 
 " Yes, miss, to be sure it is ; for, in course, 
 her mother kept her while they were well 
 off, and she 's comforted to be able to keep 
 her mother when they 're badly on ." 
 
 " And Miss King sadly wants comfort now, 
 Sue, if her mother is so ill, so very ill, that she 
 can't recover. I wish I could go and see her, 
 and try to give her all the comfort I can. 
 She was very good to me, and comforted me 
 very much when Peep was so ill." 
 
 " Well, miss, when the snow gives over, 
 you can go and see her, you know." 
 
 " So I can, and so I will, Sue." 
 
 The next morning, to my great joy, there 
 was no snow falling, and -I saw Ned Carter, 
 after sweeping the paths, begin to do a little 
 digging. As soon as Uncle was gone to town, 
 Peep and I ran into the garden, and bade 
 Ned " good morning " before going out of 
 the gate, as I meant to walk straight to Miss 
 King. 
 
 " 'Morning, little miss ; 'morning, little mas- 
 ter," said Ned, tugging the lock of hair on his 
 forehead. " Bad news in the village. They
 
 132 UNCLE, -PEEP, AND I. 
 
 say that Mrs. King died last night, and that 
 her poor daughter has lain in a dead faint 
 ever since. They 're afeard she '11 follow her 
 mother in no time, if she ain't kept quiet as 
 quiet can be." 
 
 " Then it would n't do for me to go to her, 
 I suppose, Ned ? " 
 
 " Lor' bless you, miss, it'd be as much as 
 her life 's worth to go and bother her now." 
 
 " But I would n't bother her, Ned. I would 
 only go and kiss her on tiptoe, just as she 
 lies, and it would n't disturb her, for I 
 wouldn't even speak one word to her not 
 even in a whisper." 
 
 " I don't know, miss : I doubt you would n't 
 be let to see her. Doctor was called in by 
 Mrs. Hodgkin before light this morning, and 
 he gave strict orders as not a soul but herself 
 was to go a-near her till she come out of her 
 faint. Mrs. Hodgkin is a good kind woman, 
 and she '11 see to her herself meantime." 
 
 All day long I could think of nothing but 
 Miss King, excepting of Uncle, who I felt sure 
 must be very sorrowful about her. So, when
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 133 
 
 he came home that evening very late, and 
 looking as if he did not know what he was 
 about, or what was on the table, all dinner- 
 time, I took courage to go to him when he 
 threw himself into his chair near the fire, after 
 Sue had taken away the cloth. 
 
 I seated myself on his knee, and put my 
 hand softly on his breast, and said, as gently 
 as I could, 
 
 " Uncle, I know what you are grieving 
 for." 
 
 " Do you, my little Bab ? " he said, in a 
 dreamy kind of a way. 
 
 " Yes, Uncle. You are afraid Miss King 
 has worn herself out nursing her mother, and 
 won't be able to marry you. But I think it 
 must have been such a comfort to her, that 
 when once she comes out of her ( dead faint,' 
 she '11 not be worn out at all, but perhaps be 
 the better for having done what she knew she 
 ought to do ; and that ought to comfort you, 
 oughtn't it, Uncle?" 
 
 " It does comfort me, little one ; and you 
 comfort me, my rum little Bab. You talk
 
 134 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 to me like the queer little sensible creature 
 I 've always found you ; so sensible, that 
 I'll tell you what I have done, and I think 
 you '11 understand it, bit of a creature as you 
 are. When I called there this morning as 
 I do every morning, you must know " 
 
 " Yes, I know, Uncle." 
 
 " You do, Bab ? Why, I never said any- 
 thing to anybody about going there. How- 
 ever, when I went there this morning and 
 found how it had been with my darling, I 
 took the matter into my own hands, and acted 
 for her, as she could n't act for herself. I look 
 upon her as my wife and upon myself as her 
 husband, I have done so ever since she 
 promised to marry me " 
 
 Uncle said this as if he were half talking 
 to himself; and, after breaking off for a mo- 
 ment and looking into the fire in his old way, 
 he went on, still seeming to say it half to 
 himself, half to me. 
 
 " She would never hear of marrying me 
 as long as her mother lived, lest the change 
 might hasten her end \ so I waited patiently,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 135 
 
 to please her. But this morning, when I saw 
 her lying there speechless, just come to after 
 her long swoon, and the doctor standing by, 
 I told him all the truth ; said I considered her 
 mine already, and meant to make her my 
 wife as soon as possible. He said I was quite 
 right, and gave me hope that she would soon 
 be herself again ; but made it a condition 
 that she should be kept perfectly quiet, and 
 see nobody for the next few days." 
 
 "Not even me, Uncle ? " 
 
 " Not even you, little Bab. Not even me, 
 my little comforter Bab. I mean to keep my- 
 self from fretting to see her, by busying my- 
 self about her mother's funeral, so as to have 
 it properly and quietly over by the time my 
 darling is herself again. Then, one of these 
 fine mornings I shall take her to some quiet 
 church in London, where we'll get married 
 together ; so that I can carry her away for 
 a week or two to the seaside place where she 
 was born, and set her up again in health and 
 strength before bringing her home here." 
 
 " Oh, that is a good plan, Uncle ! "
 
 136 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 I said this to keep on comforting him ; 
 therefore I did not tell him how glad I should 
 have been if the wedding could have been 
 in our own pretty village church, where I 
 could have seen him and Miss King married, 
 and Peep and I could have enjoyed the gay 
 sight and pleasant holiday.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 137 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LL took place as Uncle had planned, 
 and the morning came when he 
 went away to be married. Though 
 it was a bright sunny day, the 
 house looked rather dull, and even in the 
 garden I felt a little dull too, thinking we 
 should not see Uncle coming up the path to 
 dine at home with us that evening ; so I 
 asked Peep if we should take a walk together. 
 He joyfully said yes, and I ran to fetch my 
 doll, in case we should chance to meet with 
 Miss Botterby, as I had promised to show it 
 to her. 
 
 When we reached the top of the hill, there 
 was nobody on the seat under the tree, so 
 Peep and I had it all to ourselves. 
 
 "I 'm glad that girl's not here," said he. 
 "Why, Peep?"
 
 138 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Because she 's rude, and takes up all the 
 room." 
 
 " But she made room for us at last." 
 
 "Yes, when I made her make room by 
 pushing off her doll." 
 
 " Oh, Peep, you should n't have done that ! 
 That was rude ; and you might have spoiled 
 it or broken it." 
 
 " Suppose I had, her pa would have bought 
 her another; you know she said so. How 
 fond she seems to be of showing off about his 
 riches ! That 's another piece of rudeness in 
 her, as if she wanted to show how much more 
 money they have in their house than other 
 people have in theirs. I don't like her, and 
 I 'm glad she 's not here." 
 
 " Well, I 'm sorry ; I wanted to show her 
 my doll." 
 
 " She would only say it is n't so grand as 
 hers." 
 
 " Never mind if she did. I should always 
 like mine best." 
 
 "The only thing I should like her to 
 come for, is because she 'd find us here
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 139 
 
 first, and we'd not make room for her this 
 time." 
 
 " Oh, Peep, then you would be as rude as 
 she was." 
 
 Peep did n't answer this, but began shuf- 
 fling his feet among the dust of the path as 
 he sat, and seemed to be thinking of what I 
 said. 
 
 Presently I saw coming round the corner 
 of the lane which turned off from the road at 
 the top of the hill, Miss Botterby and her 
 maid Ledwick, who walked a little behind 
 her, carrying her doll. 
 
 " Oh, how lucky ! Here she is ! And she 
 has brought her doll with her. How lucky ! " 
 
 I ran to meet her ; but Peep kept his place 
 on the seat, still shuffling his feet among 
 the dust and gathering it up into little 
 heaps. 
 
 " Oh, you 've brought your doll, as you 
 promised, I see," said Miss Botterby, as she 
 and I sat ourselves down. " It 's a nice large 
 doll, and has a very pretty wax face and 
 arms, and looks exactly like a real baby.
 
 140 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 But what a pity it has n't a hat and a mantle 
 on ! Mine has, you see, when I take it out 
 of doors." 
 
 " Babies don't wear hats and mantles," said 
 Peep. 
 
 "But they wear hoods and long cloaks, 
 though." 
 
 " Bab can ask Uncle to get a hood and 
 cloak for her doll, if she likes. He always 
 buys her anything she asks for." 
 
 " Is your Uncle rich ? " 
 
 " I should think so ! He gives us lots of 
 toys, and lots of good things to eat. He lets 
 us have jam and honey and marmalade and 
 pies and puddings, and he gave me a beauti- 
 ful real wheelbarrow." 
 
 " A wheelbarrow ! What a toy ! Only fit 
 for a gardener's boy ! " 
 
 " I like it ; and I 'in a gentleman's boy, 
 a young gentleman." 
 
 " Are you ? " 
 
 Miss Botterby kept her eyes fixed upon 
 Peep for some moments. Then she turned 
 to me and said,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 141 
 
 " When your Uncle buys you a hood and 
 cloak for your doll, you can come up to Bot- 
 terby House and show it me properly dressed 
 for going out; I know ma won't mind your 
 coming to see us, though she 's very particu- 
 lar what little girls and boys I make acquaint- 
 ance with and invite to our house." 
 
 " I don't think I shall ask Uncle to buy me 
 a hood and cloak for my doll." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because he gives me so many things of 
 his own accord, that I don't like to ask him 
 for any. It seems like like " 
 
 " Encroaching, she means," said Peep. 
 " Bab often says mother used to tell her it 
 was not right to be encroaching." 
 
 " Well, if you don't like to ask your Uncle 
 to give you the going-out things for your doll, 
 I '11 tell you what I '11 do. I '11 let Ledwick 
 take its measure, and 1 '11 give her some white 
 cashmere and white satin to make a splendid 
 hood and cloak for it. I '11 get ma to buy me 
 as much as will be enough to make them, 
 I know she will, and you can come up
 
 142 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 to our house and fetch them when they 're 
 made ; and then you can see what a beautiful 
 place we 've got, what handsome furniture 
 and what fine grounds we have at Botterby 
 House." 
 
 " Oh, how very kind ! That will be nice ! " 
 
 While Ledwick was measuring my doll's 
 head and round its shoulders and its length, 
 a little girl in a blue frock and a straw hat, 
 with a little boy in a sailor's suit, came up the 
 hill and stopped still, looking at us. 
 
 " Let 's ask them if they 'd like to sit 
 down," I whispered to Miss Botterby. 
 
 " You can, if you like," she answered. 
 
 Peep had already slipped off the seat and 
 offered his place to the little girl in the blue 
 frock. I gave mine to the little boy who 
 was with her. 
 
 " If we were to squeeze a little and sit 
 close," said Peep, " there 'd be room for us 
 all." 
 
 " My frock would get rumpled if we sat 
 too near each other," said Miss Botterby. 
 
 " Oh, never mind your frock for once in a
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 143 
 
 way," said Peep, hunching himself on to the 
 edge of the seat at the end farthest from her 
 and close to the little girl. 
 
 " Then you sit next me," said Miss Botterby 
 to me. " Ma 's very particular who comes 
 too near me and is too intimate with me, 
 and I like you better than these children ; I 
 don't know who they are, and I seem to know 
 you quite well already." 
 
 " What a nice sweet face the little girl has, 
 and what a pretty frock she has on!" I whis- 
 pered in return. 
 
 " It 's only common stuff," said Miss Bot- 
 terby ; " and her straw hat is as coarse as 
 coarse can be. Mine is the finest chip." 
 
 She had not lowered her voice as I had, so 
 that all heard what she said. 
 
 " If it 's only coarse straw, it 's a very 
 pretty shape, I think," said Peep, looking up 
 at the hat next him ; " and the fine chip one 
 is the ugliest shape I ever saw." 
 
 " But chip is much handsomer than straw, 
 and costs more, and everybody would rather 
 wear a chip hat than a straw one if they
 
 144 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 could afford it," said Miss Botterby, tossing 
 her head. 
 
 " I would n't," said the little girl in the 
 blue frock. 
 
 " Then you 're a silly thing," said Miss Bot- 
 terby. 
 
 " She ain't silly ! " said the little boy, look- 
 ing up suddenly with flashing eyes across me 
 at Miss Botterby. 
 
 " What 's that written in gold letters on the 
 ribbon round your hat ? " said she, staring at 
 him in return. 
 
 "Can't you read?" he said. "Why, 
 they 're big plain letters that anybody can 
 make out." 
 
 " Perhaps she can't read," said Peep. 
 
 Miss Botterby got very red, and did n't 
 answer. Peep laughed, and said, 
 
 " Why, even I, little as I am, can read 
 those big printing-letters. They spell ' The 
 Terrible.' " 
 
 " Quite a good name for him, I declare ! " 
 said Miss Botterby. " He looked as if he 
 could have eaten me, just now."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 145 
 
 " It is n't his name, it 's the name of his 
 ship," said Peep. 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! But I should think he 's too 
 young to have a ship." 
 
 " I mean the ship he 's supposed to belong 
 to when he 's got on his sailor's suit. Of 
 course it 's not his own name." 
 
 " What is his own name ? " 
 
 u I don't know. What is your name ? " 
 said Peep, suddenly, to the little boy. 
 
 " Jamie." 
 
 " Ah, that 's your Christian name," said 
 Miss Botterby ; " but what 's the name of 
 your father and mother ? " 
 
 " Sir James and Lady Buckhurst," said the 
 little boy, quietly. 
 
 Miss Botterby drew back as if she had been 
 suddenly slapped. After a few moments she 
 said, 
 
 " I 'm sure I beg your pardon ; I took you 
 for quite poor children, such plain clothes 
 no maid with you. Are you allowed to 
 walk out by yourselves ? " 
 
 " Our old coachman is with us ; but he had 
 10
 
 146 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 to call at the forge about shoeing the horses, 
 so Jamie and I walked up the hill, knowing 
 he would soon overtake us," said the little 
 girl in as quiet a tone as her brother's. 
 
 "Really, Miss Buckhurst, if I'd known ' 
 
 Seeing that Miss Botterby stopped, as if at 
 
 a loss what to say, Miss Buckhurst looked at 
 
 the two dolls and said how beautiful they 
 
 were. 
 
 " Which do you like best ? " asked Miss 
 Botterby. 
 
 " I like them both very much ; but I think 
 the baby-doll is perhaps the nicest to have, 
 it's so natural, and must be so pleasant to 
 play with. Yes, for my own, I should like a 
 baby-doll certainly best." 
 
 " Have n't you got a doll, then ? " 
 " No ; my father says he has not money 
 enough to afford many toys for us. He lately 
 gave Jamie a strong cart, because he said it 
 would do for us both to play with, and that 
 it would last a long time." 
 
 " Then, after all, you are poor ? " 
 
 " Well, yes ; we are not rich, I believe.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 147 
 
 My mother often says so, and teaches us to be 
 careful and never wasteful." 
 
 " Oh, well, my pa and ma are very rich. 
 He 's called i the rich Mr. Botterby,' and 
 we live at Botterby House. Would you like 
 to come and see it some day ? I 'm sure ma 
 would n't object to my inviting you ; and we 
 should be very glad to see you there and 
 show you over the place." 
 
 " I will ask my mother if she will let me 
 come. Oh, there 's Stubbs," said Miss Buck- 
 hurst, as the old coachman came up the hill 
 towards us. She wished us all quietly " good 
 morning," and she and her little brother went 
 away with him. 
 
 " Well, I never was so" surprised. I had n't 
 the least notion who they were. Who could 
 have thought they were the little Buckhursts? 
 They live at Buckhurst Park ; I 've often 
 heard of it, and that it 's even a finer place 
 than pa's. At least, that it 's older, and has 
 grander trees ; but ours is very beautiful, and 
 you can come and see me there whenever you 
 like."
 
 148 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Thank you ! When do you think the 
 hood and cloak will be ready ? Because I can 
 bring my doll and try them on at once." 
 
 Miss Botterby turned to her maid, and 
 asked her how long she thought they would 
 take making. 
 
 " There '11 be the wheedling your ma to 
 give you the materials, miss, and then there'll 
 be the getting 'em bought, and then the cut- 
 ting 'em out, and then the making on 'ern 
 up ; so that it '11 take a good bit o' time." 
 
 "About four days, do you think, Led- 
 wick ? " 
 
 " Lauk, miss ! Not afore a week, at least, 
 I should say." 
 
 " Well, then, this day week I shall expect 
 you," said Miss Botterby, shaking hands with 
 me and walking away with her maid, while 
 Peep and I took our way downhill. 
 
 " You '11 allow that she 's rude now, Bab, I 
 suppose. You saw how she behaved to those 
 other children, till she found out who they 
 were ; and to us she 's little better. Not 
 that I want her to shake hands, I 'm sure, but
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 149 
 
 she is n't civil enough to shake hands with me 
 or say ' good morning ' to me. Not that I 
 care, though." 
 
 " But you 're not very civil to her, Peep. 
 That was why she asked me to go to Botterby 
 House, and not you, I dare say." 
 
 " I don't want to go there, and I should n't 
 go there if she asked me ever so much. She 's 
 a rude, vulgar girl, though she is so rich. 
 Now, the other little girl is very different; 
 for all her coarse straw hat and her stuff frock, 
 you can see at once she 's a little lady. I 
 knew the moment I saw her that she was not 
 a poor common child." 
 
 " She said she is poor, at least, not rich." 
 
 " Ah, I suppose not rich for a girl who has 
 a father and mother with ' Sir James and 
 Lady ' before their names." 
 
 While Peep and I were still talking of the 
 children we had met, we reached the vil- 
 lage and were passing the cottage where Miss 
 King had lodged. I stopped for a moment, 
 looking at it and thinking of her and won- 
 dering whether she was Uncle's wife by this
 
 150 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 time, when from out of the door ran a young 
 woman, who came up to me, and said, 
 
 " Please, miss, ain't you Captain Bruff 's 
 little girl ? Missus thinks you are, and bids 
 me ask if you 'd just step in a moment, as 
 she 's got something to tell you."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP. AND I. 151 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FOLLOWED the young woman 
 who I guessed must be Mrs. Hodg- 
 kin's servant, that Sue had told me 
 was called Bet into the cottage, 
 where I found Mrs. Hodgkin waiting for me 
 in the parlor. 
 
 " My dear young miss," said she, " I made 
 bold to have you called in here, because I 
 wanted to tell you something and to show 
 you something. I had a great respect for 
 Mrs. King, she was quite the gentlewoman; 
 and her sweet good daughter, too, there 's 
 few like her for dutifulness and right-doing, 
 and always such a pretty polite way with her 
 to everybody, the lowest as well as the high- 
 est, and I felt more for them in their sor- 
 rows than I can say. When Miss King was 
 working her fingers to the bone, and wearing
 
 152 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 herself to a thread to earn their living, it 
 was bad enough; but when the mother was 
 taken ill, and the daughter got as pale as a 
 ghost, sitting up night after night nursing her, 
 yet stitching hard all day just the same, my 
 heart fairly bled for them. The evening be- 
 fore Mrs. King took to her bed, never to rise 
 from it, more 's the pity ! she had in her 
 hands this." 
 
 Mrs. Hodgkin pulled open a table-drawer 
 and took from it a half-finished stocking with 
 four knitting-needles sticking in it, and the 
 point of one of them into a ball of cotton as 
 well. 
 
 " Mrs. King used to knit all her own and 
 her daughter's stockings, and she sighed when 
 she put this down ; and I heard her say softly 
 to herself, for I chanced to be close to her 
 arm-chair while she said it, and her daughter 
 happened to be at a little distance, ' Who 
 knows whether I shall ever finish it for her ? 
 But God's will be done ! ' Her daughter 
 helped her upstairs, and I took the knitting 
 and needles and ball, just as they were, and
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 153 
 
 put them carefully away in this very drawer 
 ready for her when she next came down ; but 
 she never did come down, poor lady ! and the 
 things went out of my mind till this very 
 morning, when I happened to open the 
 drawer, after Miss King went away to be 
 married to your Uncle, my dear young miss, 
 and I thought I would give them to you to 
 give them to her when she comes back from 
 her wedding-tour. I think they '11 perhaps 
 come better to her from you than from me ; 
 because she 's accustomed to see me with her 
 mother, and it might make her cry if I gave 
 them to her. Whereas, if they came to her 
 from an innocent child, it would touch her 
 softly instead of sorrowfully. She '11 be 
 glad to have them, I know, though at first 
 they '11 make her sad. It 's natural, both the 
 gladness and the sadness ; but the gladness 
 will be most, in the end, so I send them to 
 her. Please give them to her at some quiet 
 moment, my dear, with my best respects, and 
 tell Miss King Mrs. Bruff, I should say 
 how they were found by me. There 's a look
 
 154 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 in your young face that shows me you are 
 just the child to tell it all to her in the right 
 way and at the right time. Good-by, dear ; 
 I must n't keep you here any longer." 
 
 " Good-by, Mrs. Hodgkin ; and thank you 
 for giving me these to give back to her." 
 
 Peep, who had been rather impatient while 
 Mrs. Hodgkin was talking, gave me his hand 
 quickly, and we left the cottage. Directly 
 we were outside, he said, 
 
 " What long speeches Mrs. Hodgkin makes! 
 What a time she kept us ! And I 'm so hun- 
 gry, and it 's long after lunch-time, I 'm cer- 
 tain. I wonder what Sue has got us for 
 lunch, a mince-pie, perhaps." 
 
 " Do you know, Peep, I think if it 's so very 
 late, we 'd perhaps better not have lunch at 
 all ; it '11 only spoil our appetite for dinner." 
 
 " Don't you be afraid of that, Bab. I 
 always make a good dinner, however late we 
 have lunch." 
 
 " I 'm not quite sure that we 're not eating 
 more than is good for us, Peep, since Uncle 's 
 away."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 155 
 
 " What do you mean ? How can we pos- 
 sibly eat too much ? I 've often heard people 
 say a hearty appetite is a sign of good health, 
 and we want to be healthy, don't we ? " 
 
 " Of course we do ; but perhaps too many 
 good things at once too much mince-pie 
 and plum-pudding at a time may n't be 
 quite right for us." 
 
 I said " us," because I thought Peep might 
 n't like to have me say " you " ; though it 
 was really of him I had been thinking when I 
 talked of eating too much and too many good 
 things at once. Lately, since we had been 
 only ourselves at table, he had helped him- 
 self to such large platefuls of everything, and 
 had put such large mouthfuls into his mouth, 
 and had swallowed them down so fast, that I 
 was afraid he would be sick, and I did n't want 
 him to be ill again; and besides, I didn't 
 wish him to grow up a greedy boy, or to feel 
 ashamed of him in any way, which I should 
 have been if he were greedy or ill-mannered. 
 
 "As for ' quite right/ I don't know; but 
 it 's quite pleasant, and that 's enough for me."
 
 156 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " No, Peep ; ' quite pleasant ' ought n't to 
 be enough, if it 's not ' quite right ' too. Ke- 
 member what father used to say : ' Always 
 do what 's right, if you want to keep happy, 
 and to keep being a gentleman.' ' 
 
 " Yes, that's true ; and he taught me to try 
 and keep being a gentleman, though we were 
 so very, very poor. He said he never gave 
 up trying to keep being a gentleman himself, 
 and he hoped his little son would do the same 
 all his life. It 's odd, Bab, how well I can 
 remember many things that father used to 
 say to me, though I was such a very wee 
 child when he said them. He used to set me 
 on his knee, and spoke in such a serious way 
 and in such a grave tone, that it made me 
 notice his words and think of them after- 
 wards. I hope I shall never forget them. 
 I should n't like to forget them. Do you 
 think I shall, Bab ? " 
 
 " Not if you try to remember them, Peep. 
 I often remind myself to think back of what 
 father and mother said to us, and I find I can 
 keep on remembering very well."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 157 
 
 " I mean to try, and I '11 often remind my- 
 self to try ; and then I think I shall remem- 
 ber, and never forget." 
 
 That day, when we reached home, Peep, of 
 his own accord, told Sue he did n't want any 
 lunch ; so we both waited till dinner-time, and 
 ate with excellent appetites. 
 
 Sometimes, after that, I caught Peep's eye 
 just as he was going to help himself to an- 
 other slice of bread and jam, or a second plate- 
 ful of anything he particularly liked, and then 
 he would stop with a laugh, and content him- 
 self with what he had already had. I used 
 then to laugh too ; and we fell into many a 
 piece of fun together in this way. 
 
 When a week had passed, I thought I would 
 ask my way to Botterby House, and take my 
 doll to have her new hood and cloak tried on ; 
 so I asked Peep if he would go with me. 
 
 " No ! " he said shortly. " I told you I did 
 n't want to go there, and I mean what I say." 
 
 " But I sha'n't like to walk there by my- 
 self, Peep. I should be rather afraid to go 
 alone so far ; and besides, I should feel very
 
 158 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 shy to be among strangers ; for I don't know 
 Mrs. Botterby, though I do her daughter." 
 
 " Very little you know of either ; and that 
 little, very disagreeable." 
 
 " I don't find her so disagreeable as you do, 
 Peep. It 's of Mrs. Botterby I feel shy." 
 
 " Then don't go." 
 
 " But I should like to go, if you would go 
 with me. Do, Peep ; it '11 be a nice long 
 walk, and you '11 enjoy yourself when once 
 you 're out. And then you '11 like to see the 
 handsome house and the beautiful old trees. 
 Oh, should n't you like to see those, Peep ? " 
 
 " Yes, those; but I don't care to see any 
 more of her, that rude girl." 
 
 " You won't see much of her ; you need n't 
 talk to her at all if you don't wish ; I shall 
 talk to her ; she and I will have so much to 
 say to each other about our dolls that you 
 need n't say a word, if you don't like to 
 speak. Do go with me, there 's a good 
 Peep." 
 
 " What a coaxer you are, Bab ! " And he 
 went.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 159 
 
 The day was brilliant, and our road lay 
 through lanes with hedgerows and skirting 
 meadows, into which we occasionally dived, 
 when we came to a stile or a gate, and gath- 
 ered all the wild flowers we could find, which 
 were not as many as we could have wished, 
 since it was still winter-time. But we found 
 some beautiful snow-drops, which made a 
 lovely nosegay, and which Peep carried for 
 me, as I had my doll in my arms, and she 
 was rather heavy, being so big. 
 
 We easily found our way, by asking, as we 
 went along, for Botterby House ; and when 
 we reached there we saw tall iron gates, with 
 a winding road that went round a large grass- 
 plot, in the middle of which were some beds 
 of different colored leaves, planted in squares 
 and three-cornered shapes, that I thought 
 looked very bright, as there were no flowers 
 in blossom then. 
 
 "What frightful straight patches ! " said Peep. 
 " Where are the fine old trees she talked of? " 
 
 "There are some, perhaps, at the back of 
 the house."
 
 160 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 We came to a broad flight of steps that 
 looked very, very white against the bright 
 orange-colored gravel-paths on each side, which 
 led round the house under the windows, and at 
 the top of the white steps there was a broad, 
 high doorway between two large glass and 
 gold lamps that glittered in the sun. 
 
 We went up the steps and looked about 
 for the bell, but it was so high up that I 
 could hardly reach it on tiptoe. However, 
 I did manage to ring it, and the door was 
 opened by a man in an odd coat of reddy- 
 brown color, with worsted fringes, and cords, 
 and dangling ends that had tips of brass to 
 them, and yellowy-speckled bordered edges all 
 round it. He did n't look old, though he had 
 white hair that seemed floury all over. 
 
 He looked down at us, for he was very 
 tall, and he said, 
 
 " What might you be a-wanting, young 
 people ? " 
 
 " We want to see Miss Botterby ; she asked 
 us to come and see her, and we 're come." 
 
 " Oh, that 's it, is it ? Step into the hall,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 161 
 
 and I '11 go and inquire whether she '11 see 
 
 you." 
 
 " Of course she will ; she said so." 
 
 The tall man with the funny coat and the 
 floury hair went away, and we had time to 
 look about us and notice the big hall we were 
 in, that had all sorts of odd things stuck about 
 the walls and in the corners, principally 
 china ; plates and flat bowls and dishes 
 against the walls, large covered jars in the 
 corners, so that it looked almost like a 
 china-shop. Presently the tall man came 
 back, and said, 
 
 " Miss Botterby will be glad to see you ; 
 please step this way." 
 
 He led us into a side-parlor that had a 
 broad, high window reaching from the top 
 of the room to the ground, and which gave 
 a view into the garden at the back of the 
 house. There was another grass-plot, with 
 more beds that had square and three-cornered 
 patches of colored leaves in them ; but round 
 the grass-plot, and reaching far back, were 
 
 some bushes and some tall trees. On a 
 
 11
 
 162 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 sofa, near the window-curtains, which were 
 of thick striped yellow and scarlet silk, lay 
 a lady, with a fur coverlet over her knees, 
 and some crochet-work in her hands. She 
 looked lazily up at us, yawning as she looked, 
 but rather noticingly too ; while almost at 
 the same instant in came Miss Botterby and 
 walked towards us, holding out her hand 
 to me. 
 
 " Ma, this is the little girl I told you about, 
 the niece of Captain Bruff, you know; and 
 this is her brother." 
 
 " How d' ye do ? " said the lady, with 
 another half yawn. 
 
 " I 've brought you a little nosegay," I 
 said, as I took the bunch of snow-drops from 
 Peep's hand and gave them to Miss Botterby. 
 " We found them and gathered them as we 
 came along. We were so glad to find even 
 these few." 
 
 " Field-flowers ! Weeds ! Do you care for 
 such things, Almeria ? " said Mrs. Botterby 
 to her daughter. " You had better take your 
 young acquaintances into the conservatory,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 163 
 
 and show them our exotics ; they are some- 
 thing like flowers ! But stay ; there 's the 
 lunch-bell. We '11 have some lunch first, 
 and then you can take them round and show 
 them our place." 
 
 She got off her sofa, put down her crochet, 
 took up a small dog with a blue ribbon round 
 its neck, that had lain curled up beside her 
 under the fur coverlet, and led the way into 
 the dining-room, which was on the other side 
 of the big hall. 
 
 I thought it rather nasty to see Mrs. Bot- 
 terby put bits of chicken into the small dog's 
 mouth, and then pinch off morsels of the 
 bread beside her and put them into her own 
 mouth with the same hand that had touched 
 his slaver ; but I tried not to think of it as 
 I ate some of the many nice things on the 
 lunch-table, and felt glad that they were 
 handed round by the young man with the 
 odd coat and the floury head instead of being 
 helped by her. 
 
 I was also very glad to see that Peep did 
 not take too much of the delicious jellies and
 
 164 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 creams and cakes that were at this grand 
 lunch ; but he helped himself neatly and 
 moderately to some of them when they were 
 handed to him. 
 
 I saw that Mrs. Botterby noticed how well 
 he behaved and what nice manners he had, 
 though he was such a little fellow, and I felt 
 very proud of him and pleased with him. 
 
 After lunch Mrs. Botterby said, 
 
 " Now, Almeria, you can take them round 
 the grounds ; but if you go beyond the con- 
 servatory, mind you put a shawl over your 
 head and shoulders, for fear you should take 
 cold. Oh, and take care to hold it over your 
 mouth, when you pass out of the hot-houses 
 into the open air. Oh, and be sure not to 
 touch my white camellias ; you know I want 
 them all for next Saturday's dinner-party, 
 and they are very scarce ; any of the rest 
 the red, or pink, or streaked ones you may 
 have, if you want some to give a bouquet 
 to your young acquaintances." 
 
 All right, ma ! " 
 
 But when Miss Botterby took us into the
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 165 
 
 big hall instead of going through the glass- 
 door that led into the garden, she said, 
 
 " Let 's go upstairs to my room first ; I 
 want to show you how handsomely furnished 
 it is, and give you the hood and cloak for 
 your doll, I see you Ve brought her with 
 you, so we can put them on at once, and 
 you can carry her with us round the grounds 
 properly dressed for going out." 
 
 " Yes, that will be nice ! " 
 
 We went up a wide staircase that led out 
 of the hall, and passed into a beautiful room 
 that looked more like a parlor than a bed- 
 room, it was full of such a number of easy- 
 chairs and sofas covered with bright rich 
 stuffs, and large looking-glasses on the walls, 
 and thick curtains of the same color as the 
 coverings of the chairs on each side the 
 windows and round the bed. 
 
 " Led wick, get the hood and cloak for Miss 
 BrufFs doll." 
 
 The maid, who came into the room at one 
 door as Miss Botterby and I entered at the 
 other, opened a drawer and took out, oh,
 
 166 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 such a lovely white cashmere hood and cloak, 
 trimmed and lined with white satin ! And 
 when they were put on to my doll, they 
 fitted her, oh, so beautifully. 
 
 " Thank you, oh, thank you, Miss Botterby, 
 for such a lovely present ! It seems almost 
 too beautiful for me to take ! " 
 
 " Oh dear, no ; I 'm quite glad to give it 
 you, I assure you." 
 
 " And thank you, too, Ledwick, for making 
 them so cleverly." 
 
 " Quite welcome, I 'm sure, miss." 
 
 " Give me a shawl, Ledwick ; ma makes 
 such a fuss about my wrapping up when I 
 go in and out of the hot-houses, that I suppose 
 I must have one." 
 
 " To be sure you must, miss. 0' course 
 your ma 's careful about your health. What 
 would she or your pa do if you was to get 
 cold and be ill?" 
 
 As we went downstairs, Miss Botterby said 
 to me, 
 
 " Ledwick 's a good creature and very fond 
 of me, I do believe. But you need n't have
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 167 
 
 thanked her for making the doll's things; I 
 gave her orders to do it, and she obeyed me, 
 of course, and that was all." 
 
 I was just going to tell Miss Botterby that 
 I had felt I ought to thank Led wick for 
 the trouble she had taken for me, when I 
 was interrupted by Peep's calling out to 
 me, 
 
 " I 've been seeing such lots of amusing 
 things that Joe has shown me, croquet- 
 balls and croquet-mallets, he called them, and 
 said they were for playing at a game called 
 croquet." 
 
 Joe ? " 
 
 " Yes, Bab ; I asked him his name, and he 
 told me it was Joe." 
 
 Peep looked towards the tall young man 
 with the odd coat and the floury head, who 
 was standing near the glass door leading into 
 the garden, ready to open it for us as we 
 passed out.
 
 168 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 E means our footman," said Miss 
 Botterby, when we were in the 
 8 garden. 
 
 " What a curious coat he has 
 on ! " I said. 
 
 " It 's our livery," said she. " It 's hand- 
 some, isn't it? " 
 
 " Why does he put flour on his head ? " 
 " He wears powder ; livery footmen, be- 
 longing to great people, generally do." 
 " Are you great people ? " asked Peep. 
 " Of course ; pa 's one of the richest men 
 in the city. But look ; this is the conserva- 
 tory. Is n't it handsome ? Pa spared no 
 expense in building it and having it well 
 filled with the dearest plants and flowers." 
 
 The raptures both Peep and I fell into at 
 the sight of these in full bloom, though it
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AXD I. 169 
 
 was winter, seemed very much to please Miss 
 Botterbj. She gathered each of us a beau- 
 tiful bunch of camellias of the richest colors, 
 and Peep put his up to his nose to smell 
 them. 
 
 " They 've no scent," said she. 
 
 "No, none," he answered; "I can't find 
 the least smell in them. I don't like them 
 half so much as the roses in Uncle's garden." 
 
 " But roses are common flowers, and ca- 
 mellias are very rare. They only grow in 
 greenhouses. I suppose your Uncle has n't 
 a greenhouse, has he ? ' 
 
 " No," said Peep. " But he has a garden 
 full, full, full of roses, that Ned Carter keeps 
 well attended to, and makes them blossom 
 quite late in the year. He's very clever 
 at it." 
 
 " Who 's Ned Carter ? " 
 
 " A very nice boy who comes and gardens 
 for us." 
 
 " Pa keeps four gardeners and a gardener's 
 boy. With all our hot-houses and large 
 grounds we of course want as many."
 
 170 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " How pure and lovely those white camel- 
 lias are ! No wonder Mrs. Botterby prizes 
 them so much," I said. 
 
 " Yes, they 're beautiful, ain't they ? Ma 's 
 so fussy over them ; but one won't be missed. 
 You shall have one ; you can hide it from 
 her, you know, as you go out. She '11 never 
 see it." 
 
 " Oh, no, no ! Don't, pray, pray, Miss 
 Botterby ! " 
 
 But before I could prevent her, she had 
 plucked off one of the white flowers and held 
 it out to me. 
 
 " Don't take it, Bab ! " shouted Peep, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " No, of course not," I answered. " Thank 
 you, very, very much, Miss Botterby, but I 
 can't take it ! " 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Botterby told you not to gather the 
 white ones, you know ; she said you might 
 take any but those for us." 
 
 " Oh, ma fusses so ridiculously ; she fusses 
 about everything."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 171 
 
 "She particularly said, not the white ca- 
 mellias. I can't, I can't take them." 
 
 "*But it 's gathered now ; you must take it." 
 
 " I can't." 
 
 " Say you won't," said Peep. 
 
 "No, indeed, Miss Botterby, I cannot, I 
 will not ; you yourself must see that I ought 
 not." 
 
 " And after all I Ve done to please you, 
 you won't oblige me by taking this stupid 
 camellia. Don't you see that it'll get me 
 into trouble with ma if she finds I 've gath- 
 ered it against her positive orders. What 
 am I to do with it ? If you won't take it, 
 and help me to hide it from her, I shall get 
 into a fine scrape with her, and she '11 tell pa, 
 and I shall get into disgrace with him too." 
 
 " I 'm very, very sorry ; but I really can't." 
 
 "And after my giving you such a hand- 
 some hood and cloak for your doll, too ! 
 Fine thanks, not to do such a little thing 
 to please me ! " 
 
 I was so miserable to see her so vexed, 
 and it seemed so ungrateful in me, that I
 
 172 UNCLE, PEEP, ANP I. 
 
 felt half inclined to put out my hand for the 
 white flower she kept holding towards me. 
 
 "Don't take it, Bab!" almost screamed 
 Peep. 
 
 Suddenly she snatched back the camellia 
 and said, 
 
 " I know what I can do ! " 
 
 She began hurriedly digging up the earth 
 in the large pot where the plant of white 
 camellias grew, with a bit of stick she found 
 near ; and, plunging the gathered flower deep 
 into the mould, covered it up close, and 
 pressed the earth smoothly on the top. 
 
 " There ! nobody will ever notice anything. 
 I shall never be found out. Come, let 's go 
 and see the hot-houses." 
 
 But neither Peep nor I could so soon for- 
 get what had passed ; and we followed Miss 
 Botterby round the wonders of the place 
 without really enjoying the peach-house, or 
 the vine-house, or the pine-house, or any- 
 thing else that she showed us with her usual 
 question of " Is n't it handsome ? " and her 
 usual assurance that " it cost lots of money."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 173 
 
 We both felt very uncomfortable, for I 
 could see that Peep was quite as put out as 
 I was. One of the things that most troubled 
 me was, that I did n't like to keep the beauti- 
 ful hood and cloak Miss Botterby had given 
 me, after she had reproached me with her 
 gift ; and yet I hardly knew how I could tell 
 her so. But at last 1 got up courage to say : 
 
 " I would rather not keep these, Miss Bot- 
 terby," and I began taking them off my 
 doll. 
 
 " What are you about ? Don't, for good- 
 ness sake, give me back my present to you. 
 Ma will be sure to notice the doll has n't got 
 them on when you go to take leave of her ; 
 and then all will come out, and I shall be just 
 as badly off as ever." 
 
 " Give 'em back, Bab ! " said Peep. 
 
 " If you do, I shall have to give them to 
 Ledwick to take 'em out of the house without 
 ma seeing them ; and I shall have to manage 
 for you to go away without taking leave of 
 her." 
 
 " Manage as you like ! " said Peep.
 
 174 UNCLE. PEEP, AND I. 
 
 I folded up the beautiful hood and cloak 
 with trembling hands and gave them back to 
 Miss Botterby, saying, 
 
 " I 'm very sorry, I 'm very sorry ; it was 
 very good and kind of you to give them to 
 me, but I must." 
 
 She snatched them from me, tucked them 
 hastily under the shawl that was muffled 
 round her head and shoulders, and said, 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! Sorry ! sorry ! Why 
 could n't you have done what I asked you ? 
 Sorry ! Yes, I dare say ! " 
 
 "Indeed, indeed, I am sorry, Miss Bot- 
 terby ! " 
 
 But she did n't stay to listen to me ; she 
 walked straight into the house and into the 
 room where we had first seen Mrs. Botterby. 
 
 There was no one there, and Joe came for- 
 ward to his young mistress, saying, 
 
 " If you please, miss, missus has gone up- 
 stairs to lie down for an hour, and left word 
 she wasn't to be disturbed." 
 
 "All right," said' Miss Botterby, with her 
 face suddenly clearing up. Then turning to
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 175 
 
 Peep and me, she said, " Good-by ! It 's all 
 blown over, you see ; so you can come and 
 see me another day as soon as you like, and 
 then I '11 show you how to play at croquet." 
 
 We took leave of her, walking out of the 
 tall iron gates into the road without speaking 
 a word to each other ; but when we turned 
 into a shady lane, Peep broke silence by 
 saying, 
 
 " I 'm so glad you gave her back her pres- 
 ent ; I could n't have borne you to keep it." 
 
 " I should never have had any pleasure in 
 looking at it again, or in seeing it on my 
 dolly. I should always have been reminded 
 of" 
 
 " Yes ; you 'd always have thought of Miss 
 Almeria Botterby as she looked while cram- 
 ming that white flower under the mould. 
 What a bad face she has ! - How ugly she 
 looked while she was hiding it away ! She 's 
 not only a rude girl, but a bad girl ; and not 
 only a bad girl, but an ugly girl." 
 
 " Not ugly, Peep. She has blue eyes and 
 light hair and very pretty pink cheeks."
 
 176 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " I don 't care what eyes and hair and 
 cheeks she has ; she 's a horribly ugly girl ! " 
 We talked on till we came to the black- 
 smith's forge, where we stopped for a mo- 
 ment to watch some horses being shod. We 
 noticed that the old coachman we had seen 
 before was standing by, watching also. He 
 touched his hat when he saw us; and Peep 
 said, 
 
 " Good afternoon, Stubbs ! " 
 " You know my name, young master." 
 "Yes, Stubbs. I heard Miss Buckhurst 
 call you so." 
 
 " She and Master Jamie went off of their 
 own heads, down yon lane, while I stopped 
 here to see th' horses were rightly shod. If 
 you 're going that way, you might just give 
 a look after young master and miss. Would 
 you be so good ? And please say the shoe- 
 ing 's wellnigh done, and we 'd better be jog- 
 ging back to Buckhurst Park. They ivould 
 come with me to-day, though I said I had to 
 walk th' horses here and back. But they 're 
 main fond of a long ramble wi' me, bless
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 177 
 
 their little hearts ! "Would you be so good, 
 sir, if you 're going that way ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Stubbs ; we are going that 
 way." 
 
 I rather wondered to hear Peep say this, 
 as we had n't talked of going down the lane 
 that turned off at the corner where Trebbitt's 
 forge was. However, I supposed he had 
 thought of going, as I knew he liked throw- 
 ing stones into a pond that was there, and 
 making " ducks and drakes " with them. It 
 was a shallow pond, shelving down from the 
 edge at one side, where horses were taken to 
 water. It had been covered with ice lately, 
 when a good deal of sliding and skating had 
 taken place on it ; but since the last few days 
 there had been a thaw, and the ice was all 
 gone. 
 
 As we drew near the spot we heard loud 
 shrieks and cries, which made us hurry on to 
 see what was the matter. To our great dis- 
 may we saw little Miss Buckhurst and Jamie 
 up to their knees in the pond, and screaming 
 wildly. We ran forward, and she called out : 
 
 12
 
 178 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Oh, help us out ! help us out ! Jamie 
 ventured into the water after his whip, which 
 had dropped in and floated away ; but his 
 feet stuck in the mud and he could n't get 
 back again. Then I waded in after him ; but 
 my feet stuck too, and I could n't move. 
 I could only hold him by the hand, but 
 could n't drag him out." 
 
 " Hold his hand still ! Hold it fast ! Be 
 sure you don't let it go ! " I cried. " Hold it 
 tight, tight ! " 
 
 I looked round, and, by good fortune, saw 
 a large long pole of wood lying under a tree 
 close to the pond-side, and not far from where 
 Peep and I stood. I told him to help me to 
 lift it up. It was heavy, but not too heavy 
 for his and my strength put together. We 
 raised it and pushed it into the pond as near 
 as we could to where the two children were 
 standing, shivering, hand in hand. 
 
 " Put out the hand you 're not holding your 
 brother by, and try to catch hold of the 
 pole," I said. 
 
 The little girl seemed quickly to understand
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 179 
 
 what I wanted her to do, and succeeded in 
 clutching the end of the pole. 
 
 " Draw it to you, and tell your brother to 
 put his other hand upon it too. That 's it ! 
 Now, both of you hold by it, and it '11 bear 
 you up till we can get help. Peep, run as 
 fast as you can back to the forge and tell 
 Stubbs and Trebbitt what has happened, and 
 fetch them here." 
 
 While Peep ran off, I watched the two 
 children, and saw that the pole had reached 
 them just in time, for they had fast been 
 getting too frightened and too shivering to 
 have been able to hold up much longer by 
 themselves. I spoke cheerily to them, and 
 they answered more and more cheerily in re- 
 turn ; so that by the time the men came from 
 the forge they were quite merry, and laugh- 
 ing at the plight they were in. 
 
 They were soon got out of the pond, and 
 we all hurried back to the forge, that their 
 wet clothes might be thoroughly dried at the 
 blacksmith's roaring fire. Polly Trebbitt and 
 her mother made themselves very useful in
 
 180 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 giving proper attention to the two dripping 
 children, who were now in high spirits at 
 their adventure. 
 
 " If Sir James comes to know it, though, 
 it '11 be a bad job for me," said Stubbs, dole- 
 fully. u He '11 never let me take you out for 
 a walk again; he'll say I oughtn't to have 
 let you out of my sight, and so I ought n't." 
 
 " It was we who would go," said Jamie. 
 
 " It 's as much as my place is worth, if Sir 
 James comes to know it, any how." 
 
 " He must know it, of course. I shall tell 
 my father how it happened, myself, Stubbs; 
 and you '11 see, he won't be angry with you 
 when he knows it was all our fault." 
 
 " All your fault, Miss Mabel ? No, no, it 
 was mine ! I ought to ha' known better 
 than to let two such little things as you stray 
 off alone." 
 
 " Leave it to me, Stubbs. I shall tell my 
 father the truth, the exact truth ; and you '11 
 see he won't be angry. He never is, when we 
 tell him the whole truth. And he won't be 
 angry now, when Jamie and I are both safe
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 181 
 
 and sound, as we are ; because of your help 
 just in time," said Mabel, turning to Peep and 
 me. 
 
 " Thank you both ! Oh, thank you ! " 
 
 " We were very glad to be there to help 
 you." 
 
 " Very, very glad," said Peep, earnestly. 
 
 " I do think you saved our lives. Thank 
 you, dear, again and again, for your good 
 thought of the pole. You'll let me call you 
 ' dear,' won't you ? " she said to me. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ; and thank you for liking to 
 call me so." 
 
 We all four took leave of each other very 
 happily and affectionately ; and as Peep and 
 I walked home together, he said to me, 
 
 " Did you see ho\y sweet her eyes looked, 
 and how they sparkled when she thanked us ? 
 How pretty she is ! how very, very pretty ! " 
 
 " She looks more sweet than pretty, I 
 think." 
 
 " Oh, both, both ! She 's as sweet as she 's 
 pretty, and as pretty as she 's sweet. She 
 has the very darlingest face I ever saw. It 's
 
 182 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 even darlinger than yours, Bab ; and yet, 
 yours is the dearest in the world to me. I 
 have always felt I had rather look at it than 
 at any other; but now I would like often to 
 look at hers too. Do you think we shall 
 often see her again ? I could n't bear to think 
 we should not see her sometimes again." 
 
 " I don't believe we shall see very much of 
 her, Peep. You know her father and mother 
 are Sir James and Lady Buckhurst, and they 
 may be rather ' high and proud,' and not care 
 for us to be very much friends with their 
 children." 
 
 " I don't think Mabel's father and mother 
 can be ( high and proud ; ' she looks so gentle 
 and meek and sweet herself. Do you think 
 she would like you to call her 'Mabel'?" said 
 Peep. 
 
 " I 'm afraid she 'd think it too too " 
 
 " Too intimate ? She asked you to let her 
 call you ' dear,' you know." 
 
 " Yes, she did ; but, if you notice, I did n't 
 ask her in return to let me call her i dear.' 
 I thought she might n't like it ; and yet that
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 183 
 
 she would n't like to tell me so, for fear I 
 might be hurt by what she said." 
 
 " I can't be sure, of course ; but I feel some- 
 how certain she would n't mind being called 
 ' dear,' by you, Bab." 
 
 " Perhaps so ; and if she did n't mind it, I 
 should like very much to call her i dear/ for 
 she is very dear." 
 
 " Very, very dear ! " said Peep. 
 
 Next morning the postman brought a let- 
 ter to the door. Sue took it in, and brought 
 it to me. 
 
 " It 's for Uncle, I suppose. I '11 put it 
 with the rest of his letters, that have come 
 since he 's been away." 
 
 " I think it 's for you, miss." 
 
 " For me, Sue ? " 
 
 " Yes, miss ; look at it." 
 
 It was directed in large letters letters so 
 big and so clear that I could read them quite 
 easily ; and I saw " For Bab and Peep " writ- 
 ten upon it, with " Trafalgar Lodge " under- 
 neath. It was the first letter we had ever 
 received, so we were both in great delight.
 
 184 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 Inside, the writing was very big and clear 
 also ; therefore I could make out every word, 
 and I read the letter straight through to Peep : 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, Your Uncle and I hope to 
 he with you two days after this letter reaches you, 
 as I am now getting quite well and strong again. 
 The sea has done us both great good, and we have 
 enjoyed being out all day on the beach and letting 
 the wind blow upon our cheeks. Some day we 
 hope to bring you two with us here, and show you 
 the sea and the beach, where you can pick up shells, 
 and where Peep can fill his wheelbarrow with sand 
 and beautiful sea-weeds. I will not write any 
 more, because I hope to tell you all myself when I 
 come home. So good-by till then. I am 
 Your affectionate aunt, 
 
 PENELOPE BRUFF. 
 
 P. S. Uncle sends his love to you both, and 
 so do I. 
 
 " She knows about my wheelbarrow ! She 
 must be a nice woman, to care when Uncle 
 told her I had one. I suppose she asked 
 whether it was big enough to hold sand and 
 sea-weed. What a heap I will pile up in it ! "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 185 
 
 I told Sue the good news that Uncle and 
 his wife were soon coming home ; and she 
 helped me to arrange the rooms with holly 
 and evergreens, to make the house look 
 pretty and seem to welcome them with 
 brightness. 
 
 " It 's fit a bride should find her new home 
 at its very neatest and nicest," said Sue, "and 
 we '11 make it so all we can, won't we ? It 
 shall be in apple-pie order, I warrant ! " 
 
 When everything was burnished to its ut- 
 most everywhere, I went into the room that 
 was meant for their own, and on the white 
 frilled muslin covering that Sue had put over 
 the toilet-table, I placed the half-knitted 
 stocking, needles, and ball of cotton, just 
 as they had been given to me, in the midst 
 of a wreath of ivy with its dark purple ber- 
 ries and shining green leaves, which I had 
 made myself.
 
 186 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 |N the day Uncle and our new aunt 
 were expected home, it was all 
 that Peep and I could do to keep 
 still. We were perpetually run- 
 ning out into the garden and down to the 
 gate, that we might hear the very first sound 
 of wheels ; for we knew that they would 
 come in a coach, on account of the trunks 
 and bandboxes they had to bring from the 
 seaside where they had been staying. At 
 last, just as we had almost given up listening 
 and looking out, and were sitting down to 
 have some lunch that Sue had persuaded us 
 to eat, lest we should be too hungry if we 
 waited any longer for them, there came a dis- 
 tant rumble along the road, a sudden stop at 
 the gate, and out we both darted to meet 
 them. Not only Uncle, but his wife, gave us
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 187 
 
 many hearty kisses and hugs, and we all went 
 trooping into the house together, a merry, 
 laughing, joyful party. 
 
 " I 'm glad to see something on the table 
 ready to eat," said Uncle, rubbing his hands, 
 " for our journey has made us as hungry as 
 hunters. Come, Mrs. Bruff, my dear, take 
 your place at the head of the table at once, 
 and do the honors for us." 
 
 She sat down quietly, easily, just as if she 
 had been accustomed to sit there always, and 
 smiled round upon us all so pleasantly that 
 we did not feel the least strange or uncom- 
 fortable at finding some one new among our 
 family party. I had never seen Uncle look 
 so bright, or so alive to what was passing 
 round him, before ; he never fell into silences, 
 or seemed unnoticing, once while the meal 
 was going on ; and when it was over, instead 
 of turning round his chair and staring into 
 the fire, he looked at his wife and asked her 
 if she were tired, and whether she would n't 
 go upstairs and take her bonnet off, and take 
 a rest.
 
 188 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Little Bab, here, shall go with you and 
 show you your room. You don't know what 
 a capital little manager she is, though she is 
 such a mite." 
 
 "Yes, I think I do; I have seen before 
 now how capitally she manages when she has 
 only herself to rely upon, and is nursing some 
 one she is fond of. We know something of 
 each other already, Bab ; don't we ? " 
 
 She put her arm round me as she spoke 
 and drew me close to her, keeping me so even 
 while we went up the stairs together, chatting 
 quietly to me all the time. 
 
 "I was some comfort to you, my child, 
 when you were in trouble about your little 
 brother ; and now, Bab, you do not know, you 
 cannot know, the great, great comfort you 
 are to me." 
 
 " I, Miss Ki I mean Mrs " 
 
 " Aunty, Aunty Pen ! Call me so always 
 now, my dear." 
 
 " Yes, Aunty ; but I don't know how I can 
 be a comfort to you. I ? I ? " 
 
 " I told you you could not know, Bab.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 189 
 
 How should you understand what an immense 
 comfort your young artless ways, your pretty 
 childish liking for me, your mere little genu- 
 ine self here, is to me on my coming home 
 first to my new life ? No ; you do not know, 
 you cannot know ! " 
 
 She spoke this as if more to herself than 
 to me, though she fixed her eyes on mine, 
 looking down at me as we went up the stairs 
 together, so that I can quite well remember 
 the exact words she said. 
 
 " Well, I think I do begin to know a little 
 what you mean, Miss Aunty. I can fancy 
 that somebody even such a very young 
 somebody as I am must be a sort of com- 
 fort to you to find already in the house where 
 you come to live for the first time and for all 
 the rest of your life. Yes, I think I do begin 
 to understand. It makes you feel not quite 
 so much a stranger as you might have done 
 if Peep and I were not here, Peep and I 
 that you helped in our trouble, you know." 
 
 By the time I had said this, we had en- 
 tered the room which was to be her own, and
 
 190 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 I saw her eyes at once fasten upon the unfin- 
 ished knitting that lay on the white muslin 
 toilet-cover in the midst of the wreath of 
 green leaves. 
 
 " You guess what it is ? " I whispered. 
 " Mrs. Hodgkin gave it to me to give to you ; 
 she kept it safely for you, and' sent it you 
 through me." 
 
 I saw her turn very pale, and her eyes 
 filled with tears ; but she said in a quiet, low 
 voice, 
 
 " Yes, that evening ; I recollect it was left 
 when yes, I recollect. I like it to come to 
 me through you, my little Bab, my tender- 
 hearted little Bab, who knows, like me, what 
 it is to have lost a mother, a dear, dear 
 mother ; don't you, darling ? " 
 
 I nodded gently, kissed her as she sat down 
 near the toilet-table, and then crept out of 
 the room as softly as I could. 
 
 I found Uncle and Peep at high romps 
 when I went down into the parlor, Uncle 
 chasing Peep round the room, scampering 
 and laughing with him in a way that I had
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 191 
 
 never seen before, as if he enjoyed the fun 
 himself, instead of hardly ever noticing either 
 of us. I joined in the game, so that when 
 Aunt Pen came downstairs she was amused 
 to see the bustle and hear the uproar that 
 was going on. Her face was smiling and 
 calm, but it looked still rather white. Uncle 
 observed this directly, and said, 
 
 " I 'm afraid the journey has fatigued you, 
 my Penn'orth ; you must n't overdo it, you 
 know ; you 're not quite strong yet. Re- 
 member it 's a bargain ; you promised me to 
 rest whenever you felt tired." 
 
 " Yes, I remember. 1 'm going to rest by 
 sitting in this nice easy-chair and telling the 
 children a story, if they would like to hear 
 
 one." 
 
 " Oh, a story ! a story ! " exclaimed both 
 Peep and I. " We do love to hear a story ! " 
 
 "We '11 all listen," said Uncle, as he drew 
 a chair beside his wife, while Peep and I set- 
 tled ourselves on the rug at her feet. 
 
 " Why do you call her < Penn'orth,' Uncle ?" 
 said Peep, suddenly. "I thought her name
 
 192 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 was Penelope. It used to be Miss Penelope 
 King ; and now, I suppose it 's Mrs. Penelope 
 Bruff." 
 
 " Well, so it is, my boy ; but Pen 's short 
 for Penelope, and I make it into Penn'orth, 
 because she 's a good pennyworth to me." 
 
 We all laughed heartily at Uncle 's way of 
 saying this, till Peep broke in with, 
 
 " Hush ! Don't let 's laugh any more and 
 lose time. Let 's have the story." 
 
 " What kind of a story shall it be ? What 
 is it to be about ? " 
 
 " About lions and tigers," said Peep. " Or, 
 no, stay ; let it be about kings and queens 
 and genies and Sinbads and Aladdins and 
 forty thieves and wicked enchanters, such 
 as father used to tell us when he took us on 
 his knee." 
 
 " An Eastern story ? Well, then, once 
 upon a time " 
 
 " What 's the name of the story, Aunt 
 Pen ? " 
 
 " ' The story of Prince Zaraf and his 
 Mother/ and it begins : Once upon a time
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 193 
 
 there was a king called Gordubar, who had a 
 wife called Azuralma and a little son called 
 Prince Zaraf. This king was a proud, impe- 
 rious man, who could n't bear to be contra- 
 dicted in anything he said or did or ordered." 
 
 " What's ' imperious ' ? " said Peep. 
 
 " Oh, Peep, don't interrupt ! " I said. 
 
 " ( Imperious ' means commanding, domi- 
 neering, too fond of having his own way. 
 Unfortunately, Prince Zaraf took more after 
 his father than his mother, who was gentle 
 and very forbearing. The little prince would 
 throw himself into violent rages if he were 
 thwarted in the slightest thing he wished, and 
 he. liked to have his own way, right or wrong. 
 He would even burst into fits of passion and 
 resist his own father, if King Gordubar would 
 not let him have something he wanted, and 
 would storm and rave and stamp about the 
 room like a little fury. This brought father 
 and son into many an unseemly anger against 
 each other, which the good, gentle queen tried 
 in vain to appease ; but while Prince Zaraf 
 
 was still very young, he had a severe lesson 
 
 13
 
 194 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 which for a time made him try to keep 
 watch over his temper lest it should have the 
 fatal effect, in his own case, which to his dis- 
 may he beheld it have in his father's. 
 
 "It chanced that Gordubar's vizier, or 
 prime minister, was a very sage, prudent, be- 
 nevolent man, who had deeply at heart the 
 welfare of his royal master's subjects, and for 
 whose sake he would venture even to oppose 
 the will of the king himself, when it decided 
 upon any measure which the minister thought 
 was contrary to the interests of the people. 
 Once it so happened that King Gordubar gave 
 an order to his army which appeared to the 
 vizier, Verasmin, so extremely unjust and in- 
 jurious toward the peaceful citizens and peas- 
 ants of the kingdom that he boldly repre- 
 sented to the monarch the mischief that would 
 follow if his order were carried out, and be- 
 sought him to reconsider his commands. En- 
 raged to be thus opposed, Gordubar roughly 
 bade his wise counsellor immediately see that 
 the royal order was fulfilled, and take heed 
 how he hesitated or disobeyed. Verasmin
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 195 
 
 replied firmly that he owed obedience to his 
 sovereign, but that he owed a duty also to the 
 people, whom he would not see tyrannically 
 treated without at least trying to persuade the 
 king to reverse his decree. From roughness 
 and contempt Gordubar proceeded to insolence 
 and insult, overwhelming his good minister 
 with foul words and threats, until, in the very 
 midst of his storm of wrath, the king sud- 
 denly fell back, stone dead, having broken a 
 blood-vessel by his intemperate rage. Queen 
 Azuralma hoped that out of this terrible 
 calamity might come useful warning to her 
 young son ; that he might learn to curb his 
 own disposition ere the time came when he 
 should have to reign in his father's stead ; 
 and meantime, by her own gentle wisdom, 
 aided by the sage experience and prudence 
 of Verasmin, she governed the kingdom as 
 regent. For a while, the example of his 
 father's fate acted well upon Prince Zaraf; 
 but after a time he fell into his old habit 
 of going into furious fits of anger whenever 
 he was contradicted or disappointed. Once
 
 196 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 when he was giving way to one of these ve- 
 hement outbreaks his mother unexpectedly 
 came into the apartment where he was. She 
 went straight up to where he stood fuming 
 and raging, and laying her hand softly upon 
 his arm, she said, 
 
 " ' Alas ! my son, I see that even the dire- 
 ful scene you once beheld has ceased to have 
 controlling effect. But if that fail to move 
 you to self-correction, let what I am now 
 going to tell you have force to cure you of 
 your malady of temper. Know, that should 
 you ever suffer yourself to give way to such 
 fatal excess of anger as shall cause me equally 
 fatal excess of grief, it will cast me into the 
 power of a great enchanter, who will carry me 
 away beyond your reach. I shall fall into 
 his power, and it will be you, my own son, 
 my dearest Zaraf, who will have brought this 
 misery of separation upon us both.' 
 
 " The prince, shocked and sobered, prom- 
 ised his mother, with tears of repentance, to 
 try to obtain better control of his passionate 
 disposition; and for a long period he sue-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 197 
 
 ceeded in gaining some mastery over it. The 
 years passed by, and the boy grew into the 
 youth, and the youth into the young man ; 
 when, just as he attained the age to reign, his 
 sage minister, the Vizier Yerasmin, died, leav- 
 ing the young prince to mount the throne 
 with none to guide and assist him save the 
 queen-mother, Azuralma. Her gentle advice, 
 her lenient counsels, were of great avail, and 
 King Zaraf governed well and justly, and 
 became popular with his subjects. 
 
 " On one occasion, however, a Numidian 
 slave of his, whom he had trusted with some 
 grave charge, misunderstood his orders and 
 caused a favorite plan of King Zaraf's to fail. 
 In a frenzy of wrath to see his views frus- 
 trated, he commanded the slave to be forth- 
 with strangled ; and though the wretched 
 man pleaded mistake, not wilful disobedience 
 or guilt, Zaraf persisted in his command. 
 Azuralma, hearing of this stern sentence, has- 
 tened to her son's presence and entreated 
 him to withdraw it, pleading hard to have the 
 miserable slave's life spared, and seeking to
 
 198 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 move her son to mercy by telling him that 
 this slave had long been a faithful and devoted 
 servitor. But Zaraf was in too great a tu- 
 mult of foiled will and enraged resentment 
 to listen even to her, and he turned angrily 
 away to enforce immediate execution of his 
 command. At that moment a thick gray 
 mist filled the whole of the presence-chamber 
 where the court were assembled, and where 
 Zaraf was giving way to his cruel and ungov- 
 ernable fury. Appalled by the sudden veil- 
 ing of the light, he looked round and dimly 
 saw a gigantic figure extend its hand over 
 Queen Azuralma's head, who, casting sad, 
 despairing looks at her son to the last, was 
 wafted away from his sight. Zaraf fell to the 
 ground in a deadly swoon, from which he was 
 with difficulty recovered by his attendants; 
 but as soon as his senses were restored, he 
 sent out guards in every direction to seek his 
 mother, and endeavor to discover what had 
 become of her and whither she had been, con- 
 veyed. No trace of her, however, could be 
 found ; and it was whispered that those who
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 199 
 
 went in search of her never returned, but 
 were carried away also. A mystery, a dread 
 uncertainty as to the disappearance of the 
 queen-mother and of those who were sent 
 in pursuit of her, seemed to prevail among 
 the general court ; and as for King Zaraf, he 
 was completely overwhelmed by his loss, and 
 stricken down by sorrow. He remained se- 
 cluded in his own chamber, prostrate body and 
 mind ; for his deep dejection brought on sick- 
 ness, and he was really ill and unable to move." 
 
 " My dear Penn'orth, you will have to break 
 off your storv," sa'd Uncle, "for here's Sue 
 come to lay the cloth for dinner, and I won't 
 have you overtire yourself by talking too 
 much at a time." 
 
 " I hope Aunt Pen won't be too tired to 
 begin again after dinner," said Peep. " I do 
 so want to hear the rest of the story." 
 
 "We must see how she feels; she 's had a 
 long journey to-day, you know, Peep." 
 
 " Ay, ay, my little Bab, well said ! We '11 
 see about it, won't we ? We '11 not let her do 
 too much, will we ? " said Uncle.
 
 200 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 FTER dinner, when Aunt Pen was 
 comfortably arranged again by the 
 fire, and we had all taken our 
 places round her, she went on with 
 her story. 
 
 " For a long time the young King Zaraf lay 
 in this state of misery and restless pain ; for 
 he could not rest, though he was unable to 
 get up and move about. He tossed to and 
 fro, racked by the memory that it was his own 
 rash ungovernable temper which had caused 
 his fondly loved mother to be torn from him. 
 " ' She warned me ! She told me what 
 would be the consequence ! She warned me ! 
 She warned me ! ' 
 
 " This was one of the thoughts that per- 
 petually stung him with remorse. Another 
 was,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 201 
 
 " ( Where is she ? Whither has she been 
 spirited away ? Where, where is she ? Oh, 
 where, where is she ? ' 
 
 " Then he would fling himself round in 
 tortured, baffled longing and fruitless desire 
 to again behold her. 
 
 " At length, after a weary night of such im- 
 patient repinings, towards morning he fell 
 into a quieter slumber than any he had en- 
 joyed of late, from which he awoke in a soft- 
 ened mood, and with a strange feeling of 
 peace and submission. He looked languidly 
 round his sick-room ; the watch-lights were 
 burning low, the attendants had fallen asleep, 
 the half-darkness of the apartment was 
 broken by a slanting ray of pale light that 
 came from between the heavy folds of a rich 
 curtain drawn before the window, showing 
 him that the dawn was at hand. An uncon- 
 querable wish to go and seek his mother him- 
 self at once came upon him, and he rose from 
 his bed, threw on some wrapping garment 
 that lay near, and went quietly towards a com- 
 municating passage that led up from his own
 
 202 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 apartments into those which his mother had 
 formerly occupied. On entering the chamber 
 where he had so often stood beside her knee 
 and told her his childish troubles when a boy, 
 and where he had so often received her ca- 
 resses and comforting words, her soothing 
 advice, her gentle and wise admonitions, Zaraf 
 melted into tears, and stood for some moments 
 wrapped in tender recollections. Suddenly 
 his attention was attracted towards a small 
 door, not far from the bed's head, a door 
 which he had never observed there before. 
 He'went towards it, opened it, and perceived, 
 by the dim light that pervaded the room and 
 even penetrated within this small door, that 
 there was a narrow winding staircase leading 
 upward, he knew not whither. He ascended 
 the steps, and, on reaching their summit, found 
 himself in a long gallery, with a range of win- 
 dows on one side that looked out upon a fine 
 expanse of scenery which surrounded the 
 palace. The dawning light was gaining, 
 gaining, and the whole landscape was suf- 
 fused with a soft roseate hue blended with
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 203 
 
 the pale blue of the sky, amid which the fast- 
 disappearing stars and the slender silver bow 
 of a waning moon were just faintly visible. 
 He looked forth on the fair view, and his 
 heart softened more and more. 
 
 " t Oh, if I could but find her, could but 
 kno\v, at least, where she is ! ' 
 
 " He sighed deeply as he murmured these 
 words under his breath, and turned from the 
 window to pursue his way along the gallery, 
 at the farther end of which he perceived 
 another door. On passing through this he 
 came to corridor after corridor, leading 
 through a succession of side rooms that 
 seemed deserted and dismantled, and through 
 diverging- smaller passages with apparently 
 more disused rooms on either side, a per- 
 plexing labyrinth of places he had never 
 seen in this out-of-the-way uppermost story 
 of his own palace. At last he came to an- 
 other long gallery, at the termination of 
 which he saw a golden door, stately, superb, 
 and magnificently wide. He went eagerly 
 towards it, yet with a certain feeling of
 
 204 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 awe and trembling expectation. The door 
 yielded to his hand, and he entered. He 
 beheld a spacious chamber, lofty, vast, and 
 hung round with azure and fleecy folds of 
 pure white." 
 
 " What 's azure ? " whispered Peep. 
 
 " Oh, Peep, dorit interrupt ! l Azure' means 
 blue," I said. 
 
 " Across the centre of this chamber there 
 was a strong grating of iron bars," continued 
 Aunt Pen ; " and behind this grating Zaraf 
 saw his dear mother, with her sad, gentle eyes 
 bent upon him, as he sprang forward with a 
 fond exclamation of joy to try and clasp her 
 in his arms. But the strong iron bars were 
 there ; and beside her stood a grim figure, 
 gigantic, all-powerful, with outstretched arm 
 that seemed to hold her spellbound, a figure 
 in dusky robes, with dry bones and a cruel 
 face. Making one wild dash against the bars, 
 and finding he could not force his way through 
 them, Zaraf rushed out of the chamber to get 
 help, shouting for his guards and attendants 
 to come and beat down the iron grating.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 205 
 
 As he flew back along the gallery, he heard 
 the golden door close behind him with a 
 deep clanging noise, and when his guards 
 came in answer to the young king's cries 
 there was no golden door to be seen. In vain 
 he sought, in vain every effort was made to 
 discover this door, in vain search was dili- 
 gently pursued along each corridor and pas- 
 sage that Zaraf thought he had passed 
 through. Even he himself could not retrace 
 his way with any certainty, and even to him 
 they appeared unlike what they were when 
 he had first traversed them. Distracted, be- 
 wildered, he wandered to and fro, endeavor- 
 ing to lead his followers, but failing utterly 
 in his attempt. 
 
 " He sank again into a state of morbid in- 
 action and despondency. He neglected State 
 affairs, and left his kingdom to be ruled as 
 best it might. Fortunately, to Verasmin had 
 succeeded as vizier a son scarcely less well 
 qualified than the father ; so that, notwith- 
 standing the young monarch's neglect, the 
 public welfare was still cared for.
 
 206 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " An interval elapsed, when in the dead of 
 the night, in profound darkness, Zaraf felt 
 himself irresistibly impelled to creep up to 
 his mother's old apartments and kneel beside 
 the bed where she had lain. He groped his 
 way softly up the communicating passage, 
 and knelt down in an humble, childlike, trust- 
 ing way. He had often come to this room in 
 daylight, but never could he find the small 
 door near the bed. Now, when he raised his 
 head, after his devout humility of supplica- 
 tion, he saw a ray of moonlight pierce the 
 darkness and shed its silvery beam on the 
 very door he sought. He rose with beating 
 heart and went towards it, passing readily 
 through, up the narrow winding staircase, 
 and finding himself once more in the long 
 gallery with the range of windows on one 
 side, from which he now gazed upon a scene 
 of exquisite splendor, the whole landscape 
 bathed in the soft yet brilliant moonshine. 
 But he hurried on, and to his inexpressible 
 delight he found himself again threading the 
 same maze of corridors, passages, and side
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 207 
 
 rooms as before, until he reached the upper- 
 most gallery, where at its farther end he 
 saw oh, joy ! the stately golden door. 
 Again it yielded to his hand, and again on 
 entering he beheld the azure chamber, with 
 its fleecy hangings of pure white, its grating 
 of iron bars, behind which still was there his 
 dear mother, while beside her stood the dusky- 
 robed, grim, giant figure with its outstretched 
 bony arm and cruel face. The young king 
 cast himself on the ground, mutely, with 
 clasped hands, and with beseeching eyes fas- 
 tened upon hers, which regarded him with 
 tender, undying affection. 
 
 " e Zaraf, my son, it is permitted me to 
 speak to you ; be contented with thus much 
 of comfort. So long as you are in softened 
 mood, so long as you are patient, submissive, 
 trying to perfect your imperfect nature and 
 raise it into better and worthier condition, 
 so long will you be permitted to find your 
 way to the golden door, to enter the azure 
 chamber, to hold converse with your mother 
 who loves you, who watches over you with
 
 208 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 no less fondness than of old. Farewell for 
 the present, and remember ! ' 
 
 "As she uttered the last words, her form and 
 that of the grim figure seemed to fade from 
 before the eyes of Zaraf, the azure chamber 
 became indistinct and unsolid, and he sank 
 down senseless. Many times after this the 
 young king quietly sought and found the 
 golden door, holding in the azure chamber 
 much converse with his mother, whose gentle 
 advice and wise counsels aided him to govern 
 well and nobly. He grew thoughtful for his 
 people, benevolent towards them, and greatly 
 patient with their errors. It befell that a great 
 pestilence visited his kingdom, and Zaraf not 
 only took measures to prevent as much as 
 possible the extension of the evil, but he 
 gave personal inspection and tendance to the 
 sufferers. This ended in his taking the mal- 
 ady himself, and he lay in his own room sick 
 almost unto death. The chief suffering of 
 which he was conscious was an aching desire 
 to have strength enough for dragging himself 
 up to his mother in the azure chamber ; but
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 209 
 
 his weary, fever-worn limbs forbade the hope 
 each time he made an attempt to leave his 
 bed; and at length he gave up even this idea, 
 and quietly surrendered himself to mere pas- 
 sive lying there, thinking tenderly, gratefully, 
 placidly of her who had been his guardian 
 angel through life, and now became his sole 
 happiness of thought. The heat and glare of 
 the noonday sun had been screened from the 
 apartment by cool green outer shutters and 
 rich thick curtains within ; but suddenly Zaraf 
 became aware of a bland glory of light that 
 spread around him, and as he turned his eyes 
 towards its centre, he beheld, at a few paces 
 from his bedside, the golden door in all its 
 stately magnificence. He mustered what slight 
 remaining strength he had, and threw himself 
 from his couch in a transport of joy, find- 
 ing the golden portal yield like lightest down 
 to his touch. There, within, was the azure 
 chamber, the fleecy purity of cloudlike hang- 
 ings, the grating of iron bars, and the gentle 
 mother with her eyes of love, now radiantly 
 happy, and her face beaming with an ecstasy 
 
 14
 
 210 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 of welcome. The giant figure was also there ; 
 but the dusky robes looked mere soft, gray, 
 shadowy folds of drapery, and the face, no 
 longer cruel, wore a less frightful aspect. 
 Zaraf staggered forward, faltering out, 
 
 " i Mother, beloved mother ! Not so much 
 do I now desire to have thee back, as to corne 
 myself to thee ! ' 
 
 " The bars melted before him, he reached 
 his mother's breast, and they were folded in 
 each other's embrace nevermore to part." 
 
 Aunt Pen paused, and we were all for some 
 moments silent. Then Peep drew a long 
 breath, and said, 
 
 "I'm glad!" 
 
 " Glad Zaraf and his mother are together 
 again at last, or glad the story has come to an 
 end, my boy? " 
 
 " Oh, Uncle, you know which ! You know 
 I 'm glad Zaraf grew good and found his 
 mother forever. I like stories to end happily, 
 and this story does." 
 
 " Yes," I said. 
 
 "Yes, it ends happily/' said both Uncle
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 211 
 
 and Aunt Pen, softly. "And now I think 
 our young folk ought to be travelling to- 
 wards Bedfordshire, oughtn't they?" said 
 Uncle in a cheery tone, after he and Aunty 
 had been looking into the fire for a little 
 while. 
 
 Whereupon Peep and I gave both of them 
 a hug and a kiss and a " good night," and 
 thanking Aunt Pen for her story, we went off 
 to bed. 
 
 Next morning we had a bright, merry 
 breakfast; and after Uncle had gone away 
 to town, Aunt Pen showed us some pretty 
 picture-books that he and she had brought 
 from the seaside for us. She first told us 
 about the pictures in them, and then asked us 
 if we could read the nice large print of the 
 stories in the books. Peep hung his head, 
 then looked up briskly, and said, 
 
 " Bab can ! " 
 
 " Only a very little. I can only read when 
 the letters are very big." 
 
 " Would you like to be able to read big 
 letters, like Bab, Peep ? And would you, Bab,
 
 212 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 like to read small letters as well as big 
 ones?" 
 
 " That I should ! " both of us said at once. 
 
 " Then I will teach you, dears. We '11 have 
 nice little reading-lessons every morning as 
 soon as Uncle goes away to town after break- 
 fast, so that we shall be able to surprise him 
 some day with the pleasure of hearing you 
 each read a story to him out of the books he 
 has brought you." 
 
 " Oh, that will be nice ! Would you begin 
 to teach us at once, Aunt Pen ? To-day, 
 this very morning ? " 
 
 " Yes, Bab ; and I '11 begin with Peep. So 
 you can take your doll's work, and make 
 her a new pinafore while I show him his 
 letters." 
 
 " I 'm afraid I should n't know how to cut 
 out a pinafore, Aunt Pen." 
 
 " Then I '11 cut out one for you, and 
 you shall make it; it is pleasant to have 
 needle-work in one's hands while one is lis- 
 tening." 
 
 The pinafore was soon cut out from some
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 213 
 
 pretty white checked muslin which Aunt Pen 
 found for me, and I stitched away very busily 
 while Peep went through his alphabet with 
 so much readiness as to make Aunt Pen 
 say, 
 
 " Come ! you know your letters already 
 very well indeed ; you '11 soon learn to read 
 easily." 
 
 Peep looked very much delighted, and he 
 was just beginning to go through the small 
 letters after the capital letters, when we 
 heard the sound of wheels coming along the 
 road and then stop at our garden-gate. We 
 looked out and saw a lady, with a little boy 
 and girl beside her, walking up the path to- 
 wards the house. 
 
 It 's Mabel ! " cried Peep. 
 
 " It's Jamie ! " I said. " It must be their 
 mamma with them." 
 
 " Who are they ? Who is their mamma ? " 
 asked Aunt Pen. 
 
 " She 's Lady Buckhurst. We know them; 
 we have met them ; but we never saw 
 her."
 
 214 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 As I spoke, the house-door was opened by 
 Sue, who then opened the parlor-door and 
 showed in the lady and the two children. 
 They both ran straight to us and shook hands 
 with us, while their mamma went up to Aunt 
 Pen and said, 
 
 " I hope, dear Mrs. Bruff, you will forgive 
 the freedom I take in calling upon you so 
 very soon after your coming home ; but I felt 
 that I could not let a day pass before I came 
 to thank you for the great help your little 
 people gave mine lately, when, but for their 
 presence of mind, my little Mabel and Jamie 
 might have been drowned." 
 
 " Your ladyship is very good, very kind ; 
 but I hardly know what you speak of. I re- 
 joice to learn that my little Bab and Peep 
 behaved well ; but I have heard nothing of 
 any such accident. The children have had 
 hardly time to tell me yet ; I only came home 
 yesterday, and I have but just made their 
 acquaintance, as it were, though they are 
 already dear to me." 
 
 " They deserve to be dear to all who know
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 215 
 
 them ; they are good, brave, sensible children, 
 and I am glad to be able to thank them my- 
 self. I only waited to do so till I could call 
 upon you and introduce myself properly be- 
 fore I brought my own thanks. Let me do 
 so now. You see the little ones have already 
 made friends together, and understand each 
 other without ceremony. I hope we shall do 
 the same." 
 
 " Mamma," said little Jamie, eagerly, 
 " may I take Peep out to see Stubbs and the 
 horses ? He says he should like to see 
 them." 
 
 His mother nodded and smiled ; the two 
 boys ran out to the gate, and Lady Buckhurst 
 went on, 
 
 " I hope we shall become excellent neigh- 
 bors, Mrs. Bruff. My little people will have 
 charming companions in yours, and they are 
 sadly in want of young company just now, 
 for their elder brother is away at school, and 
 they miss him very much ; yet it is not every 
 child that I like mine to be intimate with, as 
 I wish them only to have for young friends
 
 216 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 children well brought up in right ideas of 
 good conduct and honest principles. I chance 
 to have heard something of the excellent be* 
 havior of your young folk in particular cir- 
 cumstances that I will relate to you some day 
 or other; and I tell you frankly, they are 
 just the companions and playfellows I should 
 like to secure for my Mabel and Jamie. Shall 
 it be so ? Will you let them come to Buck- 
 hurst Park ? " 
 
 " I shall be only too glad, and they, I 
 know, will be delighted to come." 
 
 " Then we have only to fix the day, and I 
 hope you will let it be an early one, and come 
 and spend the whole day with us. As the 
 Park is some distance from here, I hope you 
 will let me send the carriage for you. Shall 
 it be to-morrow, or the day after ? " 
 
 " You are very good, very thoughtful, Lady 
 Buckhurst ; but " 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Bruff, excuse my inter- 
 rupting you, but why need there be a ' but ' 
 in this case ? " 
 
 "Your ladyship has been so obliging as
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 217 
 
 to speak frankly to me ; will you allow me to 
 speak frankly to you ? " 
 
 u Certainly ; I ask nothing better." 
 
 " Well, then, I hope you will let me send 
 the children to the park to spend the day, 
 and permit me to stay at home." 
 
 " Do you feel not strong yet ? I hear you 
 have been ill and greatly tried. I would not 
 press you to come if you still feel unequal to 
 the exertion. But a drive in the open air, a 
 stroll in the garden, the park, I hope, might 
 even do you good." 
 
 " It is not that. I think it would be most 
 pleasant, most healthful ; but I told you I 
 would speak frankly you see me the wife 
 of Captain BrufF; he is of a good family, so 
 even am I ; but perhaps you do not know 
 that I have been a poor needle-woman, work- 
 ing for my daily bread, and I should not like 
 you hereafter to discover this, and perhaps 
 regret so well am I acquainted with the 
 conventional rules of society that you had 
 sought the acquaintance of one who has held 
 so low a position in the world."
 
 218 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Bruff, as we are frank with 
 each other, you know, I must say you make 
 me smile at your over-delicacy; and yet I 
 admire you the more for it. In a village 
 place like this, we get to know all i how and 
 about' everybody, and I have long known 
 all ' how and about ' the good devoted daugh- 
 ter who earned bread for her dear mother and 
 herself independently and nobly, instead of 
 being a burden upon her richer relations; 
 how she may have been a i poor needle- 
 woman,' an industrious seamstress, what 
 you will, but how she was always the born 
 gentlewoman, the innate gentlewoman, the 
 gentlewoman in heart as well as by birth." 
 
 I saw a look of bright joy flash out of 
 Aunt Pen's soft eyes as Lady Buckhurst said 
 this, then shook her warmly by the hand, and 
 ended by kissing her cordially on the cheek. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Bruff, I mean always to be 
 as frank and candid as I am now. It is my 
 nature to speak out openly ; I even do so 
 before my children, not being of opinion, 
 with many people, that there should be re-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 219 
 
 serves in their presence, as I think it well 
 they should early be taught the truth with 
 respect to worldly rank, position, and real 
 dignity. I will tell you, at once, that I am 
 less well-born than yourself. I was a hard- 
 working governess when Sir James Buck- 
 hurst married me, and my relations were 
 hard-working commercial people, not particu- 
 larly wealthy. I wish they had been, for a 
 rich dowry with his wife would have been 
 useful to my dear Sir James, who, though 
 descended from one of the oldest families in 
 the county, had his paternal estate so much 
 injured by the extravagance of his forefathers 
 that he has been obliged to practise the strict- 
 est economy to keep the old place still in his 
 own possession. Therefore you will find us 
 with antique furniture, faded carpets and cur- 
 tains, but with a certain grace and beauty of 
 bygone mode about it all which I think will 
 have its charm for you as well as I own it has 
 for me. Come and judge for yourself as soon 
 as may be. Let me say the day after to- 
 morrow, Saturday ; and meantime, pray
 
 220 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 forgive me for this unconscionably long first 
 call." 
 
 She stepped into her carriage with her 
 frank, winning smile, leaving us all delighted 
 with herself and her visit.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 221 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HEN Saturday came, it was as bril- 
 liant a morning as could be wished ; 
 and though there was a fresh, 
 crisp air, yet the sun shone out, 
 giving warmth and a feeling of actual spring 
 to the still early season. The carriage came 
 in excellent time, as appointed, during the 
 forenoon ; so that we children had not much 
 trial of our patience after we were ready 
 dressed a good quarter of an hour before we 
 need have been. Peep asked if he might 
 sit on the coach-box with Stubbs so that 
 Aunt Pen and I had the inside of the carriage 
 all to ourselves, and we could loll back on 
 the soft-cushioned seats and play at being 
 great ladies to our hearts' content. She 
 humored me in my fancy, and called herself
 
 222 
 
 the Duchess of Airs-and-Graces, while address- 
 ing me as Marchioness Mincing-Mouth ; and 
 we talked to each other in the most prim, 
 stiff, ridiculous tone and absurd manner. 
 Then she broke ofi^ laughing, and said, 
 
 " Ay, it 's all very well to do this for fun ; 
 but, really, the best-bred people are, in fact, 
 generally the most easy and unaffected." 
 
 The carriage had passed through the vil- 
 lage, and was now in a pretty little country 
 lane, where the hedges were beginning to be 
 covered with light green tips and tufts of 
 scarcely opened leaves; the slender blades 
 of grass beneath the hedges were of the most 
 exquisite tint, and suddenly, peering among 
 them, I called out, - 
 
 " Oh, look, look, Aunty ! There 's a speck 
 of bluish color ; I do believe it 's a vio- 
 let ! And, oh, look ! There are some prim- 
 roses. I do wish we were walking instead 
 of driving ! I could gather some to take to 
 Mabel." 
 
 " Ah, Bab, you see even being in a carriage 
 may have its drawbacks, eh ? "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 223 
 
 " Yes, Aunty. I wonder whether we 
 might tell Stubbs to stop a moment while 
 I get out and pick a little nosegay of violets 
 and primroses. Do you think I might ? " 
 
 " Well, my dear, I think it will not be 
 polite to linger on our way, when we are 
 paying our first visit, and gathering wild 
 flowers takes up time in a wonderful way ; 
 we go on from one to another, and finding 
 4 just this one more,' and, ' oh, just this other 
 little beauty,' till hours melt before we are 
 aware." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I know, exactly ; it 's quite true ; 
 you 're right, Aunty." 
 
 Just then the carriage turned through some 
 ivy-covered gates in the midst of a moss- 
 grown paling that enclosed the park for some 
 miles round. There was a mellow browny- 
 gray look about this wooden enclosure itself 
 which made its coating of velvety moss and 
 the ferns and docks at its foot form so beau- 
 tiful an effect that both Aunty and I burst 
 out with, 
 
 " Oh, how very, very lovely ! "
 
 224 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " I say, Bab," shouted Peep, "did you ever 
 see such a place ? Look up at these grand 
 old trees over our heads!" 
 
 We were passing along a noble avenue of 
 elms, and on either side we saw groups of tall 
 oaks, ashes, beeches (for Aunty told me their 
 names), in threes and twos, or more, together ; 
 while in the glades between we saw slants of 
 sunshine, and soft shadows and distant peeps 
 of blue hills. 
 
 " Oh, Bab ! " screamed Peep, " look there ! 
 Deer ! stags ! Oh, look at their branching 
 horns ! Look at their light brown sides, some 
 of them spotted underneath with white ! " 
 
 " Yes ; ' antlers,' you know, Peep, and 
 ' dappled coats,' that father used to tell us 
 deer had. Do you remember ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; and to think, Bab, that we 
 really see deer ourselves, at last! Oh, 
 look, quick ! I see something of bright 
 light blue dart across ! A bird ! a beautiful 
 bird ! " 
 
 "A jay, with its jewelled wing," said Aunt 
 Pen.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 225 
 
 "Jewelled, Aunty?" I said wonderingly. 
 " Can birds wear jewels ? " 
 
 Aunt Pen laughed, and said, 
 
 " Some birds seem made of jewels, the 
 jay with its wing like a sapphire ; the king- 
 fisher, the humming-bird, that look as if 
 rubies and emeralds and amethysts were 
 clustered together upon their throats and 
 breasts." 
 
 As she spoke, we drove up to the edge of 
 a broad stone terrace on which the house 
 stood. There was a fountain at one end of 
 this terrace and a sun-dial at the other ; and 
 the stone of the terrace and the fountain 
 and the antique dial was grass-grown, moss- 
 grown, and softened by this green coloring. 
 Before we had got well out of the carriage, 
 Lady Buckhurst, Mabel, and Jamie came out 
 upon the terrace to meet us. They welcomed 
 us in the heartiest way, and led us into a fine 
 spacious hall that reached from the ground- 
 floor up to the very top of the house. This 
 hall was hung round with old armor and 
 ancient weapons, with stags' antlers, and bows 
 
 15
 
 226 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 and arrows, and fowling-pieces, and fishing- 
 rods ; with tall Indian vases in the corners, 
 from which a delicious smell of lavender and 
 rose-leaves came and filled the air of the hall 
 with a delicate, hoarded-up kind of scent, like 
 old drawers full of lace and muslin that mother 
 used to tell me about ; and high up, round 
 the hall, there was a railed-in gallery, in one 
 recess of which there was an organ, with its 
 rows of metal pipes and its rich, dark front 
 of wood. Some of these things I noticed at 
 once ; others I remembered afterwards, when 
 Aunty talked them over with me after our 
 first visit. From the hall we turned into a 
 small room which Lady Buckhurst told us 
 was where Sir James saw his tenants and 
 farm-people, and which adjoined his own 
 study. On entering the small room, we saw 
 a young girl standing waiting, who dropped 
 a courtesy when we came in. Lady Buckhurst 
 asked her who she was, and the girl answered : 
 " If you please, mylady, I 'm Jenny Sparks ; 
 father sent me to Sir James to tell him to 
 ask him "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 227 
 
 " Sir James is gone out riding this morn- 
 ing, my girl, but he will be home soon after 
 one, and he will, see you then, and hear what 
 you have to say to him from your father." 
 
 " Yes, mylady ; the footman told me so, 
 and bade me wait here till Sir James returns." 
 
 We went on into the delightful little study, 
 which was fitted up with shelves full, full of 
 books, a lo'wish range of shelves, over which 
 were busts and statuettes on oaken brackets, 
 and engravings hung round in simple oak 
 frames. 
 
 " Sir James amuses himself with making 
 his brackets and frames with his own hands, 
 from the trees in the park," said Lady Buck- 
 hurst. " It saves cost, and it gives pleasant 
 occupation, a double good." 
 
 She showed us through many charming 
 rooms, one long drawing-room, where there 
 were some fine old family portraits and good 
 paintings, and where we lingered some time 
 enjoying the pictures until we came into 
 a nice shady homey-looking room, where 
 needle-work, and embroidery frames, and work-
 
 228 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 baskets, and books that looked as if they were 
 lying there to be read between whiles were in 
 just that pleasant confusion which does n't look 
 untidy, but only looks like comfortable ease. 
 Here Lady Buckhurst made us sit down and 
 rest till lunch-time ; there being endless sofas 
 and arm-chairs and low cushioned seats, 
 covered with a pretty flowered chintz. 
 
 " Very old-fashioned, you see, as I told 
 you ; but very cosey and enjoyable, I think. 
 I should be sorry to see anything modern- 
 ized in this dear old place, this old-world, 
 go-to-sleep, behind-the-age nook of ours." 
 
 " Nothing could be in worse taste than 
 to alter a single long-established decoration 
 here," said Aunt Pen, " where all is in har- 
 mony of antiquated grace and beauty." 
 
 " Mabel, my darling, go and tell Mrs. 
 Quince that I wish her not to wait till papa 
 comes home, but to send in lunch at once, 
 as I think our friends will be hungry after 
 their drive through the open air. And, Mabel, 
 you can take your little friend with you, as 
 she may like to see the housekeeper's room,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 229 
 
 and the store-cupboards, and the glass-closets, 
 and all Mrs. Quince's orderly ways, as well as 
 Mrs. Quince herself, who is quite a character, 
 and looks like an old picture stepped from its 
 canvas." 
 
 Lady Buckhurst said this last to Aunty, 
 while Mabel and I ran off to the old house- 
 keeper, whom we found looking the very 
 pink of neatness, in a close mob-cap, which 
 had a quilling of net that went round her 
 face and under her chin, and with a snowy 
 muslin kerchief folded across her bosom, and 
 a large white muslin apron over her dark 
 stuff gown. When Mabel had delivered her 
 mother's message, she said, 
 
 " Mrs. Quince, you dear old duck, I want 
 to coax you to let me put together a plate of 
 cakes and fruit and sweeties for Bab and me 
 to take to papa's morning-room, .where there 
 is a young girl waiting to speak to him, who 
 looked pale and thin and tired with her long 
 walk and her long waiting ; and I should so 
 like to take her something that would help to 
 pass the time till papa comes home."
 
 230 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Ah, Miss Mabel, Miss Mabel, you know 
 well enough I can never help letting you 
 have your own way, or anything you want. 
 There are the cakes, my dear, here are the 
 sweets and goodies, and here 's the fruit on 
 this shelf." 
 
 She opened her stores and displayed them 
 with evident pride in their orderly arrange- 
 ment. Mabel took two plates, and arranged 
 a pile of dainties on each, giving me one to 
 carry and carrying the other herself. 
 
 " Now give me a sheet of nice, stout, white 
 paper, Quincey dear, and then I shall have all 
 I want, and we '11 be off out of your way." 
 
 " Out of my way when you 've had yours, 
 eh, Miss Mabel ? Ah, just like all you chil- 
 dren. Well, it's natural, it's natural, and 
 I've nothing to say against it; for what's 
 natural 's natural, of course, and I 'm not one 
 to go against nature, so there 's an end of the 
 matter." 
 
 We carried our platesful very carefully, and 
 succeeded in conveying them without top- 
 pling off anything, straight along the passage
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 231 
 
 from the housekeeper's room, across the large 
 hall and into the small morning-room. As 
 Mabel set down her plate to open the door, 
 and I was balancing mine between both my 
 hands, I heard a rustle and quick rush across 
 the room we were entering ; but when Mabel 
 took up her plate again and she and I went 
 in, side by side together, we found the young 
 girl standing just where we had found her 
 when we first saw her. I noticed that her 
 face, which had been very white then, looked 
 very red now. However, she dropped her 
 courtesy as before, and seemed struck dumb 
 with surprise when Mabel and I put the 
 plates before her, Mabel saying, 
 
 " I thought you looked tired, and would be 
 still more tired waiting so long; therefore 
 we 've brought you some nice things to pass 
 the time, and I thought you 'd perhaps like to 
 have this sheet of paper and make a parcel of 
 what you did n't care to eat here, and take it 
 home with you to give to your little brothers 
 and sisters, if you have any. Have you ? " 
 
 " Six," was the short answer.
 
 232 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 Then the girl seemed to think it too short, 
 and she flurriedly said, 
 
 " Six, miss." 
 
 She looked staringly and rather bewil- 
 deredly at Mabel ; then she dropped another 
 courtesy, and said, 
 
 " Thank you ! Oh, thank you, Miss ! How 
 good of you how good of you to think of 
 bringing these !-" 
 
 "Good-by; I hope you'll enjoy them. 
 Come, Bab, we must fly back to mamma. 
 Lunch will be ready."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 233 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 E had such a pretty lunch ! Almost 
 as many wild flowers on the table 
 as dishes of cream-cheese and fruit 
 and cakes and preserves. There 
 were violets, primroses, daffodils, daisies, 
 mosses, and delicate grasses, placed in very 
 simple but very beautifully shaped vases and 
 glasses, which my Aunt admired extremely. 
 
 " Sir James and I always agree that what 
 we have in daily use need not be costly to be 
 elegant; and often the most really pretty 
 things are the least expensive. I remember 
 once seeing an exquisite little green basket- 
 dish of the very commonest earthenware 
 which my lady friend, who brought it from a 
 village in Italy, on the Adriatic, told me cost 
 but a few pence; and yet it was perfectly 
 fashioned, and looked like a firm open plait of
 
 234 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 green rushes rounded into a receptacle for 
 fruit, which she used constantly among her 
 dessert service. By the way, you see I give 
 you nothing more than bread and cheese and 
 fruit for lunch, as I want you to eat a good 
 dinner, which I have ordered rather early, so 
 that you may drive home before dark, and 
 not let Captain Bruff be left too long with- 
 out you all." 
 
 She chatted on gayly and brightly during 
 and after lunch, so that time passed almost 
 unperceived, until at length she said, 
 
 " It is rather strange Sir James is not yet 
 returned ; it must be long past the hour he 
 said he would be back." 
 
 " And that poor girl, Jenny Sparks, must 
 be still waiting, waiting, mamma," said Ma- 
 bel. " I 'm so glad Bab and I thought of 
 taking her something to help her pass away 
 the time. It must have seemed very long, 
 even then, when I first saw her and noticed 
 how pale and tired she looked." 
 
 " But she did n't look pale when we took 
 her the plates of nice things. She looked
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 235 
 
 very red, and she looked very odd, some- 
 how very startled and disturbed." 
 
 " Perhaps she had fallen asleep, tired of 
 waiting," said Mabel. 
 
 " No, I don't think she had been sleeping," 
 I said. " I thought I heard something stir 
 when you opened the door ; something like a 
 hurrying across the room, a hasty step." 
 
 " Your little Bab is a very noticing little 
 person, strangely observant for one so 
 young," said Lady Buckhurst, smiling at 
 Aunt Pen. " But if you are quite rested we 
 will go back to the hall, and I can let you 
 hear the fine tone of our organ ; and we will 
 take a peep at the poor, patient, long-waiting 
 girl at the same time, and see whether she is 
 asleep or awake now." 
 
 We all went, as she proposed ; and before 
 going up into the organ-gallery, Lady Buck- 
 hurst softly opened the door of the small 
 morning-room and looked in. The girl had 
 flung herself down upon one of the chairs, her 
 hands clasped over her face ; but she started 
 up with a slight scream as she heard us ap-
 
 236 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 proach. She burst into a passion of sobs, 
 and looked violently agitated as she said, 
 
 " Oh, mylady, forgive me, forgive me ! 
 Though I can't forgive myself hardly ; but 
 I '11 tell you the whole truth, indeed, indeed 
 I will ! " " 
 
 " If you tell me the whole truth, I cer- 
 tainly shall forgive you ; if you tell me the 
 exact truth, the exact truth, mind, I 
 promise to be not even very angry with 
 you." 
 
 u Oh, mylady, I did n't mean to do wrong ! 
 I did n't think of it, it did n't come into my 
 mind to do it, till, after waiting a good hour 
 for Sir James, I grew tired of staying in this 
 one room and I just gave a peep into the 
 next. I found it full, oh, so full of books; 
 I 'd never seen so many together before in 
 my life; I didn't think there 'd been so 
 many books in all the world, mylady ; and 
 then I began to take one of them down from 
 the shelf, to see if there were any pictures in 
 it ; but there were n't, and as I put it back in 
 its place my eye caught a queer little figure
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 237 
 
 on the table, a figure of a boy with wings 
 on his shoulders and his finger to his lips ; 
 and it was bright and shining, like silver, 
 and I thought it was silver, and I saw it 
 was perched on the top of the lid to a thing 
 made to hold ink, and I found the lid came 
 off quite easily when I touched it, for I did 
 touch it, mylady, oh, I did touch it! And 
 then the thought came into my head what a 
 pretty thing it was, and how I should like to 
 show it to brothers and sisters at home. Be- 
 fore I hardly knew what I did, mylady, I put 
 it in my pocket; but indeed I did n't take 
 it because it was silver. Indeed, indeed, I 
 did n't steal it ! I did n't take it for its value, 
 mylady ; do believe that ! " 
 
 " It is not silver ; it is not of value except- 
 ing for its prettiness. So, you see, if you 
 had taken it to sell, you would not have sold 
 it for much ; and you would not have been 
 able to sell it without being at once found 
 out, it is so peculiar. But go on." 
 
 " I had just put it in my pocket, mylady, 
 when I heard the door open and somebody
 
 238 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 outside who seemed to be coming in ; but be- 
 fore they did, I had time to run back to the 
 place where I had been standing in this room. 
 I had no sooner done so than I saw these two 
 little ladies, each carrying a plate piled up 
 with good things which they had brought for 
 me, for me, mylady, for me ! I, who had 
 just been behaving like a thief, and had 
 thought of robbing them, or at least taking 
 away something that belonged to their house. 
 I felt as I 'd never felt before, and as I hope I 
 never shall feel again in my life, if I live to be a 
 hundred years old. I was ashamed ashamed 
 of myself ; ready to hide under the earth if I 
 could, and stamp it down upon my head. This 
 was after the two little angels for they 
 looked like angels to me, had gone away ; 
 and then it suddenly darted into my head 
 that I could put back the queer figure with 
 the wings into its place, and nobody would 
 know how wicked I had been. It seemed to 
 burn my pocket, and I felt better when I put 
 it back again; but I could n't feel easy, even 
 though I thought nobody need know anything
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 239 
 
 of it. And now I'm glad you've made me 
 tell you the whole truth, mylady." 
 
 " So am I, Jenny ; and not only do I for- 
 give you, as I promised I would, but I trust 
 you and believe you. Nay, I even believe 
 that this one severe lesson, and the pain you 
 have gone through, will prevent you from 
 having the least wish to take anything that is 
 not yours as long as you live." 
 
 " She has n't touched one of the nice 
 things, mamma," said Mabel, looking at the 
 two plates. " May I make them up into a 
 parcel for her to take home to her six little 
 brothers and sisters ? " 
 
 " Yes, my dear. And, Jenny, it is no use 
 waiting any longer to-day for Sir James's re- 
 turn ; something has detained him, I dare say. 
 Therefore I will tell them to give you some- 
 thing more substantial to eat than cakes be- 
 fore you go, as you must be nearly famished, 
 I should think, waiting all this time. Good- 
 day, Jenny, and don't forget the lesson you 
 have had." 
 
 " No, mylady, never, never ! And never
 
 240 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 can I forget how good your ladyship 's been 
 to me ! " 
 
 She dropped her courtesy, and her heart 
 seemed too full to say more. Lady Buck- 
 hurst rang the bell and gave her orders to the 
 footman, who was followed by Jenny Sparks 
 with a grateful look at us all round as she 
 left the room. 
 
 We all went up into the gallery that ran 
 round the hall, and listened to some delight- 
 ful organ-playing till Sir James came home, 
 and then we all sat down to dinner, a 
 bright, cheery, gay meal, where Sir James 
 chatted as easily and pleasantly with us as 
 his frank-natured, smiling wife did ; so that 
 when the carriage came round to the terrace- 
 steps, our party were all sorry to break up, 
 and the kind, friendly father and mother, with 
 their young children, came out to see us off, 
 saying over and over how glad they were to 
 see us, and how they hoped it would not be 
 long before they saw us again. On arriving 
 at home we found Uncle at the garden-gate 
 looking out for us.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 241 
 
 " Well, my Penn'orth, how are you ? Not 
 overtired, I hope. Glad to see you here 
 again, I can tell you. They say * you 're 
 come back to me like a bad penny ; ' but I 
 say ' you 're come back to me like a good 
 penny,' the best I ever had, my lucky 
 penny, my fortunate penny, my own, own 
 Penn'orth, that I can't afford to lose, or 
 scarcely to let out of my sight." 
 
 He seemed in high spirits, as if on purpose 
 not to make us fancy he had been feeling 
 lonely or left-at-home while we had been en- 
 joying such a happy holiday ; and he asked us 
 everything we had seen, heard, and done, with 
 the liveliest interest, and we repeated it all 
 with such exact telling, that he said he felt as 
 if he had been there and enjoyed it with us. 
 
 It struck me often that Uncle was quite a 
 changed man in some things since his mar- 
 riage ; he was so cheery and merry, and 
 seemed so happy in his home now, with Aunt 
 Pen and Peep and me. She made us all feel 
 so much more close to each other and fond 
 of each other, and interested in what the 
 
 16
 
 242 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 whole family party thought and did. A de- 
 lightful feeling of being together, and being 
 glad to be together, seemed to have grown 
 up in the house since she had become its 
 second head ; and we enjoyed the improve- 
 ment immensely, though without saying much 
 about it in words. I sometimes thought how 
 astonished and pleased Tom would have felt 
 could he have been at home to see how very 
 different a step-mother really might be from 
 what he had made sure she would be. But 
 Tom was still away at school, and we only 
 very rarely had letters from him, which 
 merely said he was well and hoped we were 
 the same. 
 
 One of these letters came from him just 
 before we were expecting him home for the 
 Easter holidays ; but instead of its telling us 
 the day he was coming, it told us he was not 
 thinking of doing so at all. Uncle read out 
 the letter to us at breakfast, after he had 
 first read it to himself. The post generally 
 came in while we were at breakfast, so that 
 we often had letters read out to us all, now ;
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 243 
 
 though before we had Aunt Pen with us, Un- 
 cle used to read his letters only to himself, 
 and then sit looking into the fire without 
 speaking. This was Tom's letter : 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Dick Wentworth has asked 
 me to spend the Easter holidays at his father's 
 place near here. It's a fine place, he says, and 
 there '11 be lots of fishing and shooting and boat- 
 ing and games, and it '11 be great fun. So I hope 
 you'll let me go instead of coming home this half, 
 as Dick's father is quite one of the county swells, 
 and he expects a great many London swells at 
 Easter on a visit. I shall want a dress-suit of 
 clothes for evenings and dinner-parties, besides 
 plenty of other things that take cash, and my 
 pocket-money 's running short; therefore I shall be 
 glad if you '11 be the generous governor I 've always 
 found you, and send a supply to 
 
 Your dutiful son, 
 
 THOMAS BRUFF. 
 
 "Very 'dutiful/ truly!" said Uncle. 
 " * Governor ' ! ' swells ' ! How I hate slang ! 
 And how the young people use it now-a-days ! 
 How hard it sounds, and how hard it makes 
 them ! It seems to help them to fling off all
 
 244 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 feeling, even the little they might have 
 left ; for there 's the very smallest quantity 
 remaining, I think, now-a-days." 
 
 " Don't say so ; there 's plenty left in the 
 world," said Aunt Pen, earnestly, " only it 's 
 voted old-fashioned to show feeling." 
 
 " More 's the pity, Penn'orth ! I think just 
 a little might have been shown in this very 
 letter, if only for decent civility's sake. Not 
 one word of remembrance to any of us here; 
 not a syllable to show that though he 's eager 
 to go and spend his holidays with his school- 
 fellow, he 's sorry to have to give up coming 
 to see his old home and all of us here. I 
 could n't have believed Tom was so hard and 
 unfeeling." 
 
 " Boys are apt to be thoughtless about 
 sending messages home ; and they often seem 
 harder than they really are. They frequently 
 feel a good deal, but think it manly to hide 
 their feelings." 
 
 " The most manly men are the most tender- 
 hearted. Look at what Nelson was ! No ; 
 Tom 's only thinking of Dick's father's ' fine
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 245 
 
 place/ the ' lots of fun ' he '11 have there, and 
 the extra pocket-money he wants me to send 
 him." 
 
 " That his head should be full of the gay 
 holiday he hopes to have, is rather natural, 
 don't you think ? And that he should wish 
 to be provided with enough money to be able 
 to enjoy it properly, is also really very nat- 
 ural, I think ; and I 'm sure you '11 think so 
 too, Uncle, when you come to think it over 
 quietly." 
 
 Aunt Pen often called him " Uncle," hearing 
 us always call him so ; and it came to be her 
 settled name for him. 
 
 " Well, well ! I ivill think it over, my 
 Penn'orth, and I dare say I shall end by 
 thinking as you do ; for I generally come 
 round to your opinion, finding yours the most 
 sensible and certainly the most kind." 
 
 And thus, I afterwards heard, was the case. 
 Uncle sent Tom a handsome extra allowance, 
 wishing him a pleasant holiday this Easter at 
 Wentworth Hall, where he had his full con- 
 sent to go.
 
 246 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 JNE of the many pleasant things that 
 Aunt Pen did for me was to let me 
 feel that I could be useful to her. 
 After breakfast and lessons were 
 over she always let me go with her into the 
 kitchen to give Sue her orders for the day, 
 and then to the store-cupboard to look out 
 stores, and then to the pantry, the linen-cup- 
 board, and the china-cupboard, contriving 
 constantly to find out some little job for me 
 to do to help her. She even sometimes let 
 me do a little shopping for her, when she 
 found that I was proud of being allowed to 
 go out by myself and fetch the things she 
 wanted, and that I quite well knew my way 
 to the shops, and could choose and pay for 
 what I bought without any grown-up person
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 247 
 
 i 
 
 to help me. One day she happened to want 
 some darning-cotton and some reels of sewing- 
 cotton of different fineness and coarseness, 
 and as she had a batch of apple-jam to make, 
 she allowed me to go and buy the cottons ; 
 saying she would trust me, with my sharp 
 eyes, and my knowledge of the qualities she 
 wanted, to pick them out for her. I went 
 to the shop where the good-natured young 
 woman once gave me the pretty scraps I 
 mentioned, and I always asked her to serve 
 me when I went there, as she smiled at me 
 and seemed glad to help me in my purchases. 
 On this day I was glad to find her disengaged 
 and able to attend to me, and she was pa- 
 tiently helping me to choose out the fine and 
 the coarse skeins and reels for Aunt, when a 
 carriage stopped at the shop-door and a very 
 smartly dressed lady came in with rather an 
 important manner and an ordering voice, 
 though it was a drawling voice too. I knew 
 it at once, and I knew her ; but she did not 
 notice me, and I think did not even see who 
 I was, for I stood close to the counter, look-
 
 248 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 ing carefully into the two box-drawers placed 
 before me to choose from. 
 
 " Is Mrs. Pinkins in the way ? Tell her to 
 come and wait upon me ; I like the shop- 
 mistress herself to serve me. Let her know 
 Mrs. Botterby is here." 
 
 " Yes,ma'am,immegiate ; certainly, ma' am." 
 
 One of the young shopwomen hurried 
 away and soon returned with Mrs. Pinkins, 
 who came bustling and smirking and cour- 
 tesying, to show Mrs. Botterby some silks and 
 ribbons that she asked for. 
 
 While she was pulling over and having 
 shown to her roll after roll of ribbon, and 
 looking at length after length of various col- 
 ored silks, I went on with my picking out 
 cottons, both of which took some time ; but 
 still she did n't turn her eyes towards me. 
 She sat on one of the high shop-chairs with 
 her back a little turned from where I stood 
 close beside her, now and then drawing a 
 ribbon through her fingers, or trying the 
 thickness of one of the showy silks that lay 
 at last in a heap before her.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 249 
 
 " What did you say was the price of this 
 checked pink-and-brown ? " 
 
 " Eight and sixpence a yard, ma'am." 
 
 " And this red and olive ? " 
 
 " Same price, ma'am. They 're the last 
 thing out in checked silks, and not dear, 
 I think you'll say, ma'am, if you consider 
 their quality, and that they 're quite the last 
 fashion." 
 
 " Oh, price is not an object with me, Mrs. 
 Pinkins. I was only thinking which was most 
 becoming when made up, the dark or the 
 light check. Price, you know, is the last 
 thing that weighs with me." 
 
 " Of course, ma'am. We all know that the 
 lady of the rich Mr. Botterby you '11 excuse 
 me, ma'am, but that 's the name you go by 
 hereabouts need n't look to price in an 
 article she takes a liking to. Here 's this 
 gray satinet, it's nine-and-six a yard; and 
 though it 's so delicate in color, it '11 wear well, 
 it 's so good in quality." 
 
 " Oh, as to wearing well, that 's little con- 
 sequence with me, you know."
 
 250 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " To be sure, ma'am, of course ; but what 
 I mean is, it 's a lady-like, elegant silk. Cap- 
 tain BrufE lately bought a length for his 
 bride." 
 
 " Oh, by the bye, Mrs. Pinkins, I hear 
 you've a new neighbor settled here. What 
 sort of a person is she ? Somewhere I heard 
 that she was a mere nobody, a seamstress, 
 a girl who took in plain needle-work for her 
 living. What in the name of wonder made 
 the man marry her ? What luck those crea- 
 tures have, have n't they ? " 
 
 Mrs. Pinkins did n't seem to notice me any 
 more than Mrs. Botterby did ; but I saw the 
 young woman who was serving me get rather 
 red and cast a glance at my face. I suppose 
 she thought I did n't hear what was going on, 
 for I kept on steadily looking at the cottons. 
 
 " It was a good catch for her, to be sure, 
 ma'am," was Mrs. Pinkins's answer; "and to 
 think of the captain's buying that lady-like 
 rich silk for a dress for her ! It 's a beauty, 
 is n't it, ma'am ? " 
 
 " Well, Mrs. Pinkins, it 's rather too quiet
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 251 
 
 and dowdy to suit my taste. I like some- 
 thing more handsome-looking. What have 
 you in brocades?" 
 
 " Here are some just out, ma'am ; here 's one 
 
 but it 's eleven-artd-six the yard quite in 
 your way, ma'am. It 'd make a very stylish 
 dinner-dress, yellow, spotted with dead-leaf 
 colored sprigs." 
 
 " Yes, very pretty ; 1 think I '11 decide for 
 a length of that one. But what sort of a 
 looking person is this new Mrs. Bruff? Is she 
 pretty ? I suppose so, or he would n't have 
 thought of her for a wife, of course. Is she 
 anything in manners ? Does she know how 
 to behave ? Is she fit to mix in society ? 
 Because, you must know, Mrs. Pinkins, my 
 daughter Almeria Miss Botterby, you know 
 
 happened to meet the children the niece 
 and nephew, I believe they are of this 
 Captain Bruff ; and before I let her follow up 
 the acquaintance, for she took rather a 
 fancy to them, I should like to know 
 whether his wife 's the sort of person one 
 would care to invite or to call upon."
 
 252 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Oh, ma'am, I 've always heard she 's quite 
 respectable ; not a word against her, though 
 it 's quite true she took in needle-work and 
 earned her own livelihood." 
 
 " Oh, yes, respectable, I dare say ; worthy, 
 and all that. But what I mean is, are her 
 manners good ? Does she seem fit for her 
 new position?" 
 
 " Well, ma'am, to tell you the truth, I 've 
 never seen her yet. Whenever she 's come 
 to the shop, it so chanced that I was not in 
 the way. For I mostly don't serve myself; 
 I leave it to the young women ; and Mr. Pin- 
 kins don't care for me to attend much to the 
 business except when pa'tic'lar kind of ladies 
 like you, Mrs. Botterby, who are one of 
 our very best customers come into the 
 place. How many yards shall I say, 
 ma'am ? " 
 
 "Twenty yards; stay, perhaps you'd bet- 
 ter cut twenty-two; dresses take so much 
 stuff now-a-days, and I like my trains very 
 long. But as to this Mrs. Bruff, I really want 
 to know something about her that I can rely
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 253 
 
 upon. Do you know any one near here who 
 can tell me what she is ? " 
 
 " I can ! " I said, in a quiet but distinct tone. 
 
 Mrs. Botterby looked sharply round. 
 
 " And who may you be, child ? Oh, I see, 
 Captain Bruff s little girl." 
 
 " His niece," I said. 
 
 " And you heard all I have been saying to 
 Mrs. Pinkins, I suppose ? " 
 
 " I was so close to you, I could not help 
 hearing." 
 
 " Well, no great harm. I said nothing 
 that I care about being overheard." 
 
 " You said she was a mere nobody, a seam- 
 stress, a girl who took in plain needle-work 
 for her living." 
 
 " Well, I did say so ; and so she did, did n't 
 she ? " 
 
 " Yes, and she told Lady Buckhurst she 
 did ; and then Lady Buckhurst said she might 
 have been a poor needle-woman, but she was 
 a born gentlewoman, a gentlewoman in 
 heart and mind." 
 
 " Lady Buckhurst said so ? When ? "
 
 254 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " When she called to see us, and asked us 
 to go and see her at Buckhurst Park." 
 
 " Called ? Did Lady Buckhurst call upon 
 Mrs. Bruff ? Did she ask her to go and see 
 her at Buckhurst Park ? " 
 
 " Yes ; she invited us all to go and see her 
 there, and we spent oh, such a pleasant 
 day ! " 
 
 " Dear me ! Lady Buckhurst calling, Lady 
 Buckhurst inviting her up to the Park, 
 that makes an immense difference." 
 
 Mrs. Botterby stopped short in her speech 
 and seemed to be thinking. Then she sud- 
 denly said, 
 
 " After all, one has a right to be very par- 
 ticular as to who 's who, you know, Mrs. Pin- 
 kins, when one's children's visitors or one's 
 own visitors are the question. One likes to 
 know who one makes acquaintance with in 
 a country neighborhood ; one can't be too 
 careful." 
 
 " Quite so, ma'am ; and since Lady Buck- 
 hurst sets the example, why " 
 
 " Oh, as to Lady Buckhurst, well, she has
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 255 
 
 married into one of the oldest county fami- 
 lies ; so of course she 's received and thought 
 a great deal of. But even her ladyship, 
 between you and me, Mrs. Pinkins, I have 
 heard that she herself, before her marriage, 
 was only a governess, a governess ; actually 
 nothing more than a governess ! " 
 
 Mrs. Botterby had dropped her voice to a 
 whisper as she said this, leaning over the 
 counter and saying it quite low to Mrs. Pin- 
 kins ; but I distinctly heard her words, and I 
 saw Mrs. Pinkins glance towards me and 
 whisper, in return, something about " Little 
 pitchers have long ears, you know, ma'am;" 
 and then Mrs. Botterby nodded, saying, 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; I never saw such a child for 
 noticing and hearing everything ; really, I 
 never did." 
 
 Then she turned round to me and said, 
 
 " My daughter Almeria often talks of you 
 and your little brother, and wishes you'd 
 come and see her again. Will you ? " 
 
 "I will ask Aunt Pen if she will let me 
 come," I answered.
 
 256 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Let you come, child ? Why, of course 
 she will. She '11 be only too glad you should 
 visit at Botterby House." 
 
 " I '11 ask her. Good morning," I said. 
 
 Then, having chosen all the darning and 
 sewing cottons Aunty wanted, I went out of 
 the shop. 
 
 On reaching home, and having given her 
 the cottons and hearing her say I had done 
 iny commission like a nice little clever woman 
 who knew how to do shopping as if she were 
 grown up, I told Aunt Pen all I had seen and 
 heard at Mrs. Pinkins's. 
 
 She listened quietly to all I had to tell her, 
 and seemed much amused as I went on. But 
 when I came to Mrs. Botterby's invitation, 
 she asked me what I felt about it, and 
 whether I wished to accept. 
 
 " I don't think I should care to go to Bot- 
 terby House again, Aunty ; Miss Botterby is 
 a very good-natured girl, and I shouldn't like 
 to be ungrateful to her for her kindness, for 
 she meant to be kind and generous when she 
 had that beautiful doll's hood and cloak made
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 257 
 
 for me ; but some things make me not like 
 her or her mamma. I don't like Mrs. Bot- 
 terby 's saying what she did of you, or her 
 manner of saying it, in the first place ; and in 
 the second place " 
 
 " As far as what she said of me, Bab, it 's 
 of no consequence ; it 's true, you know : I 
 was a needle-woman ; and she has a right to 
 decide whether she '11 call upon me and ask 
 me to visit her, or not, just as she pleases. 
 What I should like to find out is, whether 
 you wish to visit there." 
 
 " Well, Aunty, I '11 try and explain all I 
 feel about this. I must begin by telling you 
 the whole story of Peep's and my meeting 
 Miss Botterby, and then our going to see 
 her." 
 
 " You went to see her ? You 've been to 
 Botterby House already ? But tell me the 
 whole story, tell it me all through." 
 
 I did so ; and then I said, 
 
 " You see, Aunty, though Miss Botterby 
 meant kindly, she behaved slyly and disagree- 
 ably ; and though her mamma is civil to me, 
 
 17
 
 258 UNCLE, PEEP, AND J. 
 
 she seems to me to be, for all her fine house 
 and her fine gardens and hot-houses, and her 
 fine clothes, and her great riches, to be a very 
 a very I don't know exactly how to say 
 it, but I know what I mean. Of course, she 
 is n't common and vulgar in the way that 
 people in the streets, or in the poor cottages, 
 are common and vulgar; but somehow Mrs. 
 Botterby seems to be a very vulgar woman. 
 Do you understand me, Aunt Pen?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear, quite. You find her vulgar- 
 minded, and she is so ; and certainly' her 
 daughter, though kind-hearted perhaps, is 
 full of sly, unworthy ways. I don't think 
 visiting at Botterby House will either be very 
 pleasant to you or very good for you. Still ; 
 we must n't be churlish to our neighbors when 
 they want to be polite to us ; and if Mrs. Bot- 
 terby calls here, we will be as civil as we can 
 to her while she pays her visit; and if we 
 meet her anywhere else, we can also be civil 
 for our own sakes as ladies. But we can 
 avoid regular yisjts to Botterby House."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XVin. 
 
 DAY was fixed for our going again 
 to Buckhurst Park, when we were 
 to walk instead of drive, in order 
 that we might more thoroughly 
 enjoy the beauties of the trees and glades; 
 but it vexatiously happened that poor Aunty 
 had one of her bad headaches that morning, 
 and she felt unequal to go. Uncle, before he 
 went away to town, made her promise that 
 she would not attempt it, and she readily 
 promised, saying that she would lie down 
 quietly as soon as he was gone ; hoping that 
 silence and darkness would cure her by the 
 time he came back in the evening. 
 
 "And as I shall be glad not to have to talk 
 or give lessons to-day, I think the chicks may 
 be allowed to go to Buckhurst Park by them-
 
 260 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 selves, and not be disappointed of their day 
 there, after all." 
 
 " A very good thought, my Penn'orth ! Just 
 like one of yours ! Off with you, Bab and 
 Peep ; and mind you don't get into any 
 scrapes by the way ! " 
 
 Though we were sorry not to have Aunt 
 Pen with us, Peep and I enjoyed our walk 
 immensely. First, it was a delicious spring 
 day, mild and sunny ; then our road lay 
 through such lovely scenery that at every 
 step there was something to admire. On en- 
 tering the ivy-covered Park gates and finding 
 ourselves in the noble avenue, we felt almost 
 as if we were going into a large, long church, 
 with rows of tall columns, and a soft green 
 light up among its arches and high roof; and 
 we walked on for a little while without saying 
 a word. Suddenly Peep called out, 
 
 " Bab, Bab, see there ! What 's that little, 
 bright, brown creature scampering across the 
 grass ? See, it 's making for those four big 
 trees over there ! " 
 
 " Oh, it 's a squirrel ! Look at its bushy
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 261 
 
 tail, and its smooth up-and-down body as it 
 runs ! Oh, it has reached the trees and is 
 climbing up one of them, oh, so quickly, 
 darting from branch to branch ! And now 
 it 's up at the top ; see how it peeps down at 
 us as if laughing at our not being able to fol- 
 low it up there ! " 
 
 We both ran towards the tree to see if we 
 could still watch the squirrel, who had popped 
 his head behind one of the top branches, af- 
 ter peeping at us from it ; and while we were 
 walking round and round the tree, peering up, 
 Peep had not noticed a tall stag that came 
 slowly up one of the green glades and then 
 stood stock-still, gazing at us. 
 
 " Peep," I whispered, " look at that deer ! 
 What huge branching horns he has ! How he 
 stares at us ! Perhaps he 's angry at our com- 
 ing so near his trees ; do you think he is ? " 
 
 " No, Bab, of course not ; he 's only look- 
 ing at us, as we 're looking at him. You 're 
 trembling ; are you afraid ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he looks so grave, and stares at us 
 so steadily."
 
 262 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Well, stand still, don't attempt to rim. 
 Keep your eyes fixed on him. I recollect 
 father said that if you tried to run from an 
 animal, they were sure to run after you and 
 attack you ; but that if you looked them full 
 in the face, and kept your eyes fixed upon 
 theirs, they could n't stand it, and would very 
 likely turn and run away." 
 
 " But he don't look as if he meant to run 
 away ; he never stirs." 
 
 " Keep tip your courage, and keep looking 
 at him, and don't move ! " 
 
 " My knees are shaking so, I can hardly 
 stand up." 
 
 " Try, try, Bab ! Hold still as long as ever 
 you can. Don't fall if you can possibly help 
 it. Bulls sometimes trample you to death, if 
 they see you drop on the ground. Be coura- 
 geous, Bab ; you generally are, you know. 
 Remember how you were praised for presence 
 of mind and courage when we helped the 
 children out of the pond. I can't bear to 
 feel you tremble. Don't give way ! " 
 
 Even in that moment, when I was so ter-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 263 
 
 ribly afraid, I felt proud of Peep's boldness, 
 and was glad to have him beside me, little 
 fellow as he was. All of a sudden he snatched 
 off his cap and threw it smack in the tall 
 stag's face, who gave a start backwards, turned 
 round, and lightly bounded away to join the 
 herd of deer that were at a little distance. I 
 could n't help bursting into a ridiculous gig- 
 gle of laughter, though tears were pouring 
 down my cheeks at the same time, as I sank 
 down on the grass and shivered all over. 
 
 " Nonsense, Bab, don't -do that ! You 
 frighten me, now, crying and laughing at 
 once. Don't, don't ! " 
 
 But I could n't stop myself, and poor Peep 
 looked at me in helpless bewilderment. Just 
 then there came in sight three figures, who, 
 immediately they saw us, ran eagerly towards 
 the spot where we were. It proved to be 
 Mabel and Jamie, with another boy, older than 
 they. 
 
 " Why, what 's the matter, Bab and Peep ? 
 You 're looking as scared as if you 'd seen a 
 wild beast, a lion or a tiger."
 
 264 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " We 've seen nearly as bad," said Peep ; 
 " we 've met a large stag who looked as if he 
 were going to drive his antlers into us for 
 daring to come too near him ; and Bab got 
 timid, and I got frightened seeing her shiver 
 and laugh and cry in this strange way. Look, 
 she can hardly keep from it now ! " 
 
 " Stay, give me your hand ; I '11 help you 
 up from the grass, and then lean upon my 
 arm while I take you a few steps from here, 
 where there 's a little mossy fountain with a 
 fresh clear spring of water, and some of that 
 will soon set you to rights. Come ! " 
 
 The boy who spoke with a bright, cheery 
 tone, and whose face was the most pleasant 
 and beaming I had ever seen I guessed 
 directly must be Mabel's and Jamie's elder 
 brother William, now come home from school 
 for the Easter holidays. 
 
 " I seem to know you both quite well 
 already, Bab and Peep," he said ; " I 've heard 
 so much about you from them all at home in 
 their letters to me. By the bye, what an odd 
 name you have, Peep ! I suppose you were n't
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 265 
 
 christened so; what's your real name? Not 
 but what I like your name of Peep, it's so 
 quaint and queer and pleasant." 
 
 " My real name 's Peter ; but I 've always 
 been called Peep. What 's yours ? Oh, yes, 
 I 've heard them speak of you by it ; it 's 
 William, isn't it?" 
 
 " Yes ; but here 's the fountain ; just hold 
 your hand in a hollow, cup-like shape, dip it 
 down into the water, and sip it gently." 
 
 I did so, and soon was quite better, and 
 able to chat with the rest, feeling grateful to 
 William for his nice thoughtful way of not 
 noticing me too much, but talking on cheerily 
 to draw off attention from me while I 
 could n't keep from that absurd laughing and 
 crying together. He had a delightful man- 
 ner with him, manly, yet not seeming as if 
 he fancied himself older or more clever than 
 we younger ones, and I took a great liking 
 to him at once. So did Peep, who talked as 
 freely and easily to William as if he 'd been 
 just the same age as himself. Leading us 
 to a tempting-looking mossy seat beside the
 
 266 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 fountain, William answered many questions 
 that Peep asked him about the different trees 
 that stood near the spot, telling him their 
 names, and what the wood of each was gen- 
 erally used for. At last Peep, pointing to a 
 grand old oak that had beautiful wide-spread- 
 ing boughs and a huge rugged trunk, with 
 wooden steps sticking out from its sides, asked 
 William what they were for. 
 
 " They are for the gamekeepers and wood- 
 men to climb up easily into the tree when 
 they want to be hidden among the boughs to 
 watch the deer at particular seasons of the 
 year. It is called a Forester's tree, and there 
 are several of them about the Park. Look, 
 how easy and convenient they are." 
 
 And William jumped up from his seat, ran 
 to the tree, set his foot on the lowest step, 
 and had soon mounted them all, till he seated 
 himself astride one of the topmost branches 
 and looked down at us, his bright eyes and 
 his curly brown hair making me think of the 
 squirrel we had lately seen in just such a po- 
 sition. When he came down he made us tell
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 267 
 
 him all about the meeting with the stag ; and 
 when I had finished, he said, 
 
 " Well done, Peep ! You 're a brave boy ! 
 You 've plenty of pluck, as the fellows say at 
 our school ; and you '11 be a credit to every- 
 body that knows you, when you 're a man." 
 
 " That he will ! " said Mabel. " I do love 
 bravery in a boy. Jamie often makes me feel 
 proud of him, he 's so courageous ; and Bab 
 feels the same of you, Peep, I know she does." 
 
 " Yes. When Peep held my hand so tight 
 and told me to keep up, and then flung his 
 cap right at the stag's eyes, I was almost glad 
 in the very midst of my fright." 
 
 " Peep 's a hero ! " said William, heartily ; 
 " and we '11 toast him after dinner, that we 
 will ! " 
 
 "Toast me? Roast me?" asked Peep, 
 with such a puzzled look that we all burst out 
 laughing. 
 
 " No, neither roast you nor baste you ; 
 neither make fun of you nor give you a beat- 
 ing. We '11 only drink your health with all 
 the honors. Hip, hip. hurrah ! Here 's Peep
 
 268 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 the brave, Peep the hero ! And the ladies 
 my mother and our sisters shall pledge us 
 with ringing cheers." 
 
 By this time we had left the mossy seat 
 and were walking on towards the house, the 
 three boys a little in advance, rather more 
 quickly, and looking at a dozen things that 
 caught their attention and had to be noticed 
 along the avenue path, while Mabel and I 
 followed quietly, chatting together. 
 
 " I am always so glad when William 's at 
 home," she said. " He 's such a capital brisk 
 fellow, and such a capital companion ; he tells 
 us about his school and his schoolfellows, but 
 he does n't seem so wrapped up in them that 
 he can talk of nothing else, as some boys do ; 
 he lets us see that though he enjoys the fun 
 and frolic and bustle of school, yet that he 
 likes his dear old home and all of us still bet- 
 ter, and does n't think himself above playing 
 with Jamie and me, for all we 're so much 
 younger than he is." 
 
 u How old is he ? How much younger are 
 you two ? "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 269 
 
 " Oh, he 's past twelve, and we 're only six 
 and eight. One of the things that makes us 
 so glad when William 's at home is, we can 
 have rounds together." 
 
 " Rounds ? " 
 
 u Yes, rounds ; don't you know what rounds 
 are ? " 
 
 " Well, I suppose they 're not squares, at 
 least." 
 
 Mabel laughed her merry little sweet- 
 toned laugh, and then said, 
 
 " Rounds are musical pieces for three or 
 more voices ; and my mother teaches them to 
 William and Jamie and me to sing together 
 when he 's at home. While he 's away she 
 practises them with us two younger ones 
 ready for William's return in the holidays." 
 
 " I wish I could hear you sing them." 
 
 " You shall, if you like ; we generally sing 
 some for my father after lunch, and my 
 mother beats time." 
 
 " What 's that ? What does ' beating time ' 
 mean ? " 
 
 " Oh, you '11 see when we sing our rounds.
 
 270 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 She moves her hand, just putting it down 
 lightly at the first of the bar, and waving it 
 to the right and then to the left for the 
 other beats of the bar." 
 
 I looked at Mabel, I suppose, with such 
 a droll look of not understanding, that she 
 again gave her pretty little laugh ; till the 
 boys turned round and asked us what made 
 us girls so merry. We told them, and we 
 all five went laughing on together till we 
 reached the terrace. Here we lingered a few 
 minutes more to look at the sun-dial, while 
 William explained the figures and lines upon 
 it, and showed us how it let people know 
 exactly the time of day so long as the sun 
 was shining ; and then he pointed out the 
 pretty motto carved round the dial, " I note 
 only the bright hours." 
 
 Sir James and Lady Buckhurst made us very 
 welcome ; and after lunch we had the prom- 
 ised rounds, the three children singing 
 several, among which I thought, " When the 
 rosy morn appearing," " Wind, gentle ever- 
 green," " How great is the pleasure," and
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 271 
 
 " Hark, the merry Christ Church bells," were 
 the prettiest. Lady Buckhurst kindly told us 
 that singing rounds was not very difficult; 
 and asking if Peep and I had any voice, said 
 she would show us how to take part in them. 
 We said we had a little, and could sing one or 
 two little tunes and songs. 
 
 " Well, songs are very pretty, and I hope 
 you'll sing us yours, we shall like to hear 
 them ; but rounds are still more amusing 
 when three or four singers are in company." 
 
 She then showed us how rounds are sung, 
 and taught Peep and me, at once, two very 
 easy rounds, " White sand and gray sand " 
 and " Turn again, Whittington," which we 
 both much enjoyed singing with William, Ma- 
 bel, and Jamie, I joining Mabel and Peep 
 joining Jamie, while William's stronger voice 
 did very well alone in his part.
 
 272 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HEN the rounds were finished, we 
 children all went out into the gar- 
 den, where there was a swing be- 
 tween two tall trees. 
 "William carpentered it all himself, and 
 put it up, with the help of the gardener," said 
 Mabel. " My father has given William one 
 of the outhouses as his workshop, and he car- 
 penters there many a useful and pretty thing 
 for us all. He made my mother a work- 
 table, and my father a set of library shelves, 
 and Jamie a wheelbarrow, and me a doll's 
 bedstead." 
 
 " Oh, have you got a wheelbarrow ?" said 
 Peep. " Uncle gave me one, one that I 
 believe was first made for you, Jamie ; but 
 the man said you 'd changed your mind for a 
 four-wheeled cart; which was very comfort-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 273 
 
 able for me, as I wanted a wheelbarrow be- 
 yond everything, and immediately." 
 
 " Yes, and very comfortable for me ; for 
 "William said he thought he could manage to 
 make me the wheelbarrow, and so I got both." 
 
 We were very happy laughing and talking, 
 while William swung us high, high, high. 
 At first I was a little bit afraid to find myself 
 flying up among the tree-tops; but when I 
 saw how unfrightened Peep and Jamie and 
 even Mabel were, I got to like it excessively. 
 They two only swung a little, letting Peep 
 and me have the most of the swinging, as it 
 was quite new to us ; and as for William, he 
 never got into the swing at all himself, but 
 only swung us. Such an unselfish boy we 
 found him from the first; and so polite and 
 kind to their visitors they all were ! 
 
 After we had had as much swinging as we 
 liked, they took us to a part of the grounds 
 where there was a target set up. William 
 fetched bows and arrows, and we had a try 
 to shoot at the mark. Jamie was a capital 
 .aimer, and hit the target right in the midst 
 
 18
 
 274 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 several times ; so did Mabel, for they both 
 said they had been practising hard every day 
 lately, to be able to surprise William when he 
 came home from school. Peep succeeded so 
 well in one or two aims he took, that William 
 shouted out, " Bravo ! bravo ! Peep the 
 hero ! " 
 
 At dinner Peep's health was drunk, as Wil- 
 liam had said it should be; and both Sir James 
 and Lady Buckhurst were interested with the 
 story of our meeting the stag, which William 
 made me repeat to them. 
 
 We took dessert in the drawing-room, where 
 the groups of fruit looked like paintings, 
 spread on a table underneath those fine old 
 pictures, and where the windows looked out 
 upon the green lawns and noble trees of the 
 Park. While we ate some delicious red- 
 cheeked apples and bronzy-colored pears, 
 and cracked some filberts, her mother told 
 Mabel to let us hear a Gay's Fable or two ; 
 and she repeated " The Turkey and the 
 Ant" and The Fox at the Point of Death " 
 so playfully and well, that we very much-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 275 
 
 enjoyed the ant's snubbing the greedy old 
 bird, and the pretended repentance of sly 
 Reynard. 
 
 In the evening, with the crimson and gold 
 of the setting sun shining through the avenue 
 trees, Peep and I had a delightful walk back, 
 Sir James and his wife and children accom- 
 panying us as far as the ivy-covered gates, 
 and bidding us good-by there with many 
 kind messages to Uncle and Aunty, and hopes 
 that we should find her headache quite passed 
 away. This was the case ; and they were both 
 ready to listen to our account of our day's 
 pleasure. 
 
 It did us lasting good, too ; for we began 
 learning round-singing and fable - repeating 
 with Aunt Pen, which made us pass many a 
 happy hour of an evening when Uncle came 
 home. Sometimes we had rounds, sometimes 
 songs, sometimes fables or short verse-pieces, 
 and sometimes Aunty would "tell us a story" 
 again. Time passed very fast, and we found 
 ourselves near the midsummer holidays, when 
 Tom was coming home.
 
 276 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 We made a feast to receive him; Aunty 
 and I ordering the dishes I knew he best 
 liked for dinner, and decking the table with 
 garlands and bunches of flowers, of which 
 there were by this time plenty. Our garden, 
 which had always been famous for being full 
 of roses, supplied heaps and heaps of them, 
 white, blush, pale yellow, delicate pink, 
 rich damask red, and clusters of noisettes and 
 banksias. Ned Carter had done his very 
 best, and had proved himself a capital gar- 
 dener, contriving to have the bushes and 
 standards and climbers in full bloom just the 
 very week " Master Tom" was expected. 
 
 When he came, however, he did n't much 
 notice the flowers ; and even when I drew his 
 attention to them, and told him how I had 
 helped Aunt Pen to arrange them, he said, 
 
 " What do I care about flowers ? Flowers 
 are well enough for women and girls to fuss 
 over, but boys don't think much of them. 
 What a row you make about 'em, Bab, you 
 see ! Yet what are they ? Only a lot of 
 roses, that are as common as cabbages. You
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 277 
 
 should have seen the cape-jessamines and 
 heliotropes and orchids. at Wentworth Hall; 
 they were something like, now ! " 
 
 "Like what?" I said. 
 
 " Oh, well, like like anything. Like 
 choice flowers. You know what I mean, 
 Bab." 
 
 " But why should n't you like roses because 
 they 're common, common as cabbages, as 
 you say ? Cabbages are very good things, I 
 think, and so are cabbage-roses," said Aunt 
 Pen, laughing. 
 
 Tom did n't even look towards her, and 
 gave her no answer. 
 
 " Cabbages are one of my favorite vegeta- 
 bles," I said ; " and cabbage-roses roses of all 
 sorts and kinds are my favorite flowers." 
 
 "Ah, that's because you 're a little stay-at- 
 home chit, Bab, who have scarcely seen any 
 other flowers than roses," said Tom. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I 've seen camellias at Botterby 
 House ; and both Peep and I like our own 
 roses a great deal better." 
 
 " t Birds of a feather flock together,' and
 
 278 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 you and he are a conple of young geese, fool- 
 ish goslings. Oh, there 's father at last," said 
 Tom, interrupting himself to look out of the 
 window, where he saw Uncle coming up the 
 garden path to the house. 
 
 I noticed that Tom's manner was changed 
 while his father was present. When Uncle 
 was at home, Tom was civilish and quietish, 
 though rather sulky and silent ; but when 
 Uncle was out of the house, Tom was bluff 
 and rude to Peep and me, and very insolent 
 to Aunt Pen, that is, he was insolent with- 
 out saying a single word to her. He never 
 looked at her, never seemed to hear her 
 when she spoke, never addressed her or 
 answered her, never appeared to know that 
 she was in the room or even in the house. 
 
 One morning, as soon as Uncle was off to 
 town, Tom went up to his own room and 
 came down again with something in his hand, 
 which, after looking at for a moment, I could 
 n't make out. 
 
 " What 's that, Tom ? " I asked. 
 
 "A pistol. I 'm going to practise my pistol-
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 279 
 
 shooting. I don't want to get out of practice. 
 I got to be a capital shot among the fellows at 
 school, and I shall lose my sure aim if I don't 
 keep it up." 
 
 " A pistol is a dangerous toy," said Aunt 
 Pen, quietly. 
 
 As usual, he took no notice of her having 
 spoken, and went on : " It 's capital fun, when 
 you get to be a good shot. You can come 
 out and watch me, if you ain't afraid, Peep?" 
 
 "I'm not afraid, Tom." 
 
 " Stand well at a distance, Peep," said Aunt 
 Peri; adding, in her gentle but firm voice, 
 " pistols are dangerous toys." 
 
 But again Tom looked as if he had n't 
 heard her speak, and only said, 
 
 " Come, Peep, if you care to come." 
 
 I felt fidgety about Peep's going out to 
 look on at the shooting, and I followed him 
 into the garden as he eagerly ran after Tom. 
 What with my feeling afraid about Peep, and 
 what with the startling bang of the jioise the 
 pistol made whenever Tom let it off, I could 
 hardly help screaming every time he did so ;
 
 280 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 but I managed to keep my scream pretty 
 well in, though not quite. 
 
 " Girls are wretched cowards," said Tom. 
 " What a piece of work they always make 
 about guns and pistols, even if they 're not 
 loaded ! And as to keeping from squeaking 
 when fire-arms are let off, they can't for the 
 life of them do it." 
 
 " I try not to scream ; I try not to start, 
 indeed, Tom ; but I really cannot quite help 
 doing- both." 
 
 "I say so, girls are a parcel of cowards, 
 and we can't expect any better of them." 
 
 " Boys are cowards too, sometimes, and in 
 some things," said Peep. 
 
 " Boys ? What nonsense ! Boys are always 
 brave ; that is, if they 've anything in them 
 at all. Why, I remember you yourself, Peep, 
 when you were quite a little chap, and though 
 it was against myself, you took my fancy by 
 your plucky way of smashing my face with a 
 shell when you thought I was vexing Bab." 
 
 " I 'm not thinking of being cowardly in 
 things like that. Every boy would be brave
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 281 
 
 when he saw his sister being teased and 
 couldn't help herself. But what I am think- 
 ing about is being a coward in other things, 
 being afraid to behave as rudely to a per- 
 son when somebody they 're obliged to behave 
 well before is in the room as they do when 
 he 's not." 
 
 "Is that meant for sauce, Master Peep?" 
 
 " It 's meant for truth," was the answer. 
 " It 's true, and you know it, Tom, that you 
 behave very differently to Aunt Pen while 
 Uncle 's away and when he 's at home ; and I 
 call that cowardly, very mean." 
 
 "Mean?" 
 
 " Yes, mean, very mean ; and not what any 
 brave boy. any brave man, any true gentle- 
 man would do. He 'd scorn to be so mean, 
 so cowardly." 
 
 " Upon my word, Master Peep, you 're 
 turned parson, you preach so grandly. And 
 to me, too, your elder and your better." 
 
 "Elder, but not better," I said. "Peep's, 
 good and true and brave to the backbone." 
 
 " A pretty joke, truly, that I 'm come
 
 282 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 home from school to be schooled and taken 
 to task by two brats like you, and for a 
 trumpery stitcher-for-her-bread like Pen Prim ! 
 A fine joke, upon my word ! " 
 
 At that moment off went Tom's pistol, 
 which he was holding carelessly in his pettish 
 anger, and Peep, having in his eagerness of 
 talk stepped a little forward from where he 
 stood at first, received the charge in his cap, 
 which fortunately he had put on when he w r ent 
 out. Tom was horribly frightened, and ran to 
 Peep with, " Hullo, old fellow ! I hope I have 
 n't hit you." 
 
 " No, no ; only my cap ! " said Peep, good- 
 humoredly. 
 
 "All right; but, by Jove, I thought the 
 ball had gone through your head, my lad ! " 
 
 " Pistols are dangerous toys," I said. 
 
 " Hold your nonsense, Miss Bab ! Boys, if 
 they want to be manly, should know how to 
 use fire-arms." 
 
 " Boys, if they want to be manly, should 
 practise pistol-firing when they 're not likely 
 to shoot people through the head ; and it is n't
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 283 
 
 manly to insist on not hearing reason, or on 
 being rude to those who talk reason, or on be- 
 ing mean and cowardly. That is n't manly .'' 
 
 " Bab, don't press him too hard," said Peep, 
 as we turned to leave the garden. 
 
 " Girls always do press a fellow when 
 they 've the right end of the stick," said 
 Tom ; " but as they are girls, and can't fight, 
 we let 'em have their say." 
 
 Nothing more was said. No mention was 
 made of Peep's cap having had a bullet 
 through it, for he was much too generous a 
 little fellow either to tell tales or to bear 
 malice for what was really an accident, though 
 it might have been so serious for himself. 
 Neither did Tom ever practise shooting again, 
 nor did we ever even see his pistol any more. 
 But he did not much mend his manners. It 
 is true, he was no longer so actually insolent 
 to Aunt Pen, but he grew more than ever 
 sulky and silent and unsociable. At last, 
 when Uncle noticed this one day, Tom said he 
 felt bored. 
 
 " Bored, Tom, at home ? With us ? "
 
 284 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Yes, with you all ; I liked being at home 
 for the holidays well enough when I had you 
 to myself, father ; but now there 's such a lot 
 of strangers in the house, I don't know it for 
 the same." 
 
 " Strangers ! Your cousins and my wife ! " 
 
 " Yes, strangers ; they 're strange to me, 
 and always will be. I don't feel at home with 
 them; home isn't home now to me, and I 
 don't care to come home." 
 
 " Not care to come home, Tom ! Not care 
 to be with me ! " 
 
 " Well, as I can't have you without them, 
 I don't care much even to be with you. 
 You 've got them and you don't want me. 
 I 'm getting tired, too, of school, and I want to 
 go to sea. I should like it ; I wish it ; and I 
 hope you '11 let me go, father." 
 
 " I thought you liked your school and your 
 schoolfellows so much, Torn." 
 
 " Ah, yes, I did ; but I don't care even for 
 school and the fellows there much now, since 
 I 've set my heart on going to sea. At sea, I 
 shall be my own master, at least."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 285 
 
 " Your own master at sea? Ah, Tom, you 
 little know what going to sea is, if you say 
 that." 
 
 u Let me try, father; let me try for my- 
 self; you went to sea, you know, when you 
 were a lad, and I want to go. Don't say no, 
 father. Let me go to sea." 
 
 " Well, my boy, you shall, if your heart is 
 set upon it. At any rate, you shall try what 
 the life is for a year, and then decide for 
 yourself. If, after a long voyage, and going 
 through all the hardships and discipline of a 
 sailor's life, you still wish to make it your pro- 
 fession, you shall have your way; I won't 
 thwart you." 
 
 " Thank you, father ! "
 
 286 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 [HERE .was to be a large garden- 
 party for young people at Buck- 
 hurst Park, and. we were all invited 
 to go. Sue, who knew all the 
 gossip and talk of the village told us that 
 everybody was striving to get invitations, and 
 that all the families round about were on 
 thorns till the cards came which showed they 
 were included. Uncle wished Aunty to order 
 new dresses for herself and for me, in order 
 to do proper honor to the occasion ; but she 
 said she meant to wear her delicate gray silk 
 dress, that he had given her for one of her 
 wedding dresses, and which she had scarcely 
 worn more than a few times ; while for me 
 she intended to make a simple white muslin 
 frock, which she thought the prettiest dress a 
 little girl could have for a dancing-frock, and
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 287 
 
 she had heard there was to be a ball after the 
 entertainments in the garden. 
 
 " The Buckhursts themselves have set the 
 excellent example of showing how little ex- 
 travagance has to do with true taste, Uncle," 
 she said ; " and we cannot do better than 
 follow so good an example. Besides, the 
 gray silk and the white muslin are really the 
 very most suitable things we could choose for 
 this garden-party and dance. You '11 see how 
 well Bab and I will look, and what credit we 
 shall do you. But I think you will have 
 to order a dress-suit for the boys, as their 
 every-day clothes are a little rough-looking 
 for such an occasion as this." 
 
 " Well, my Penn'orth, when you go out 
 to-day you can tell Fitwell the tailor to step 
 up here to-morrow morning and take Tom's 
 and Peep's measure. Meantime, I'm off to 
 town!" 
 
 Aunty let me help her in making up my 
 muslin frock, by running the seams while she 
 cut out the bodice and set it together. She 
 put rows and rows of tucks round the skirt,
 
 288 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 as she said they were quite the prettiest and 
 simplest trimming for a little girl's dress ; and 
 certainly it looked the freshest, daintiest frock 
 possible, when it was finished. 
 
 Finding Tom and Peep in the garden that 
 afternoon, I told them about Fitwell being 
 ordered to come up next morning and take 
 their measure. 
 
 " Not mine," said Tom ; " I shall wear what 
 I wore at Wentworth Hall. Thank her for 
 nothing ! As if I 'd let Pen Prim meddle 
 with my clothes ! Thank ye, not I ! " 
 
 " And yet it was she who got you to have 
 that very dress-suit you had at Wentworth 
 Hall," said Peep. " She asked Uncle to let 
 you have an extra allowance when you wrote 
 to him for more money for things you would 
 want at Wentworth Hall." 
 
 " She asked him ! Just like her meddling 
 ways ! I wish she 'd let me alone ! " 
 
 " Oh, Tom, how can you be so ungracious, 
 so ungrateful ? " I said. 
 
 " I don't want to be grateful to her. She 's 
 a meddling cat ! "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 289 
 
 " She always meddles as you call it 
 for kindness and for good ! " 
 
 "I don't want her kindness, or her good. 
 I only wish her to leave me alone. I suppose 
 she 's going too, to this garden-party ? " 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Well, one comfort of such parties is, 
 they 're so large, so full of company, and in 
 such a great space, that one can keep clear of 
 people one does n't want to mix with." 
 
 When the day of the garden-party came, 
 the carriage was sent for us from Buckhurst 
 Park, and we had the pleasure of introducing 
 Uncle to all the beauties of the place as we 
 drove along ; for he did n't go up to town 
 for once, that he might enjoy this special 
 holiday with us. Peep gave up his place on 
 the coach-box to Tom, who said he liked to 
 watch the horses. 
 
 Little Mabel came flying out to meet us as 
 we stepped from the carriage. She looked 
 quite a little fairy in her white frock, with 
 blue ribbons on her shoulders like wings, and 
 her hands full of flowers that she brought for 
 
 19
 
 290 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 Aunty and me to wear in the front of our 
 dresses. She had one herself among her 
 bright curls, and she insisted on sticking one 
 into my hair, a rosebud exactly like the 
 one she wore. She also put a little bunch 
 of lilies-of-the-valley into my bodice and one 
 into her own ; as she said she wished us to be 
 as alike as possible. Tom was very much 
 struck with her prettiness, and whispered to 
 me, as soon as she had flown off to welcome 
 other guests, how extremely he admired her. 
 
 The garden-party was charming; the grass 
 looked as if it were covered with blossoms as 
 the ladies and children in their bright-colored 
 dresses walked and ran about and played at 
 various games, or stood still to listen to some 
 beautiful part singing that was going on at 
 one end of the lawn ; while later on, at the 
 other end, a band struck up, and the dancers 
 began to think of choosing their partners. 
 
 " Bab," said Tom, " I should like you to in- 
 troduce me to your pretty little friend Mabel, 
 as I want very much to dance with her; but 
 I suppose I ought to ask you first, as you 're
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 291 
 
 my oldest acquaintance here. Should you 
 mind if I took her out before you ? " 
 
 " I ? Oh, not at all ! I should be glad ; 
 for I 'm engaged to William for the first 
 dance." 
 
 William ? Who 's he ? " 
 
 " William Buckhurst, that tall boy over 
 there, with the curly brown hair. Have n't 
 you been introduced to him yet ? " 
 
 " I 've been introduced to nobody. You've 
 all been too busy with each other you who 
 are already such great friends to mind 
 about me. You never noticed or cared 
 whether I was introduced or not." 
 
 " No, Tom, it was n't that, indeed ; it was 
 because I never could get a sight of you, you 
 kept so out of the way. Where were you ? " 
 
 " Oh, I was over there among that clump 
 of hawthorn-trees. I amused myself looking 
 -on, and watching the others. I did n't care 
 to be among a parcel of strangers, that I 
 did n't know one from another." 
 
 " If you kept apart, out of the way, how 
 could I introduce you, Tom ? "
 
 292 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Well, introduce me now. Introduce me to 
 your pretty little mite of a Mabel. It 's a pity 
 she 's so very small, so very young ; but still 
 I should like her for a partner, for all that." 
 
 We made our way through the crowd of 
 eager, bright, gay girls and boys, all bent 
 upon their own particular partners either 
 already secured or being sought for, and at 
 last found ourselves near to Mabel Buckhurst, 
 who, with her cheeks rosy from running 
 about, and her eyes sparkling with delight at 
 the idea of dancing, certainly looked prettier 
 than ever. 
 
 " Mabel, dear (for she had long since told 
 me to call her " Mabel," as she called rne 
 "Bab"), I've brought you my cousin Torn 
 BrufF, who wishes to be presented to you, 
 that he may ask you to dance the first dance 
 with him." 
 
 " I can't ; I 've already promised your 
 brother Peep to dance it with him." 
 
 Tom bit his lip and looked furious. 
 
 "With him, with that little chap? 
 Why, he 's hardly more than a baby ! "
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. . 293 
 
 "I'm hardly more than a baby myself," 
 said she ; " and if Peep 's little, I 'm littler. 
 We shall make a capital couple, an exact 
 pair." 
 
 She dropped Tom a saucy little courtesy, 
 and flew off to give her hand to Peep. I 
 think I had never seen Tom look so black be- 
 fore, though I had often seen his face very 
 dark and scowling. It looked black and 
 blank too, as he stood frowning and staring 
 on the ground. 
 
 " Stay ; I see some one over there I know, 
 Tom, and I '11 introduce you to her if you 
 like." 
 
 " Ay, do ! But who is she ? Which is 
 she ? " 
 
 " It 's that young lady in the pink silk, 
 over there talking to William. She 's the 
 rich Miss Botterby ; she said she should be 
 an heiress some day, and she 's very good- 
 natured and generous with her money, that 
 is, with her father's money ; for he refuses 
 her nothing, she told me so, and her mother 
 is very indulgent to her too. They make a
 
 294 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 great deal of her, and she 's thought very 
 much of in her neighborhood." 
 
 " She 's rather good-looking," said Tom. 
 " Yes, Bab, you may introduce me to her." 
 
 We crossed to the spot where Miss Botterby 
 stood smiling at William and talking very 
 fast to him. She turned to me as soon as she 
 saw me, with many assurances that she was 
 so glad to meet me again. 
 
 " I 've a crow to pick with you, though, 
 now I come to think of it. How is it you 've 
 never been to Botterby House again, you 
 naughty little creature you ? But never 
 mind, I won't begin by scolding you. I 'm so 
 pleased to see you again, any way, that I '11 
 forgive you without more to-do." 
 
 I introduced Tom to her. He made his 
 bow and asked her hand for the first dance. 
 
 " Oh, you 're very good, I 'm sure ; but I 
 rather think, I believe I " 
 
 She simpered, looked down at her fan, and 
 then gave a side glance at William, who 
 waited quietly and silently till she finished 
 her speech.
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 295 
 
 " I half thought I was already engaged ; 
 but I remember now, I 'm not. I shall be 
 very happy to give you the first dance." 
 
 She courtesied to Tom, who led her off to 
 join the dancers, now beginning to form for 
 the first set, which was to be a country- 
 dance. 
 
 " We shall be the top couple, I suppose," 
 I heard her say, as they moved away. 
 
 " I fancy not," was the answer ; " Miss Ma- 
 bel Buckhurst, who is the young lady of the 
 house, may perhaps lead off." 
 
 " Hardly, I should think," said Miss Bot- 
 terby, tossing her head ; " that would be 
 strange etiquette indeed. The daughter of 
 the house is the last person who should take 
 the lead. Get me a place as near the top as 
 you can, please." 
 
 To my great surprise I found that /, of all 
 little people in the world, had to lead off; 
 for it was settled that William (as son of the 
 house) and his partner should be top couple. 
 I felt a little a very little afraid, on find- 
 ing myself obliged to begin the dance, and
 
 296 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 hoped I might not be too shy or too awkward 
 to do William credit, who was a very grace- 
 ful dancer ; but Aunty had taught Peep and 
 me so well our first steps and positions, and 
 had so often made Uncle and us two stand up 
 with her for a dancing-lesson of an evening, 
 that we both acquitted ourselves very fairly ; 
 and she told us so when we reached home 
 after our pleasant day of the garden-party 
 and dance at Buckhurst Park. 
 
 It was long a subject of talk and bright 
 recollection afterwards ; but next morning 
 when Tom, Peep, and I were in the garden 
 together Tom said suddenly, 
 
 " Bab, promise me that while I 'm away 
 you won't dance any more with William 
 Buckhurst. There 's something about that 
 fellow I detest ; and I don't like to think of 
 your dancing with him." 
 
 Why ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't exactly know ; but I find him 
 an insufferable puppy, and I don't care to 
 have you his partner any more." 
 
 " But suppose I care ; suppose I like him,
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 297 
 
 which I do very much. He 's manly and 
 gentlemanly and gentle, and I like him ; he 's 
 a very good dancer too, and it's pleasant to 
 have him for a partner." 
 
 "But if I don't like him?" 
 
 " I can't help that ; I 'm sorry you don't, 
 and I think it 's a pity for yourself, Tom. 
 But I can't help it if you don't like him ; and 
 I don't see why your not liking him should 
 prevent my liking him." 
 
 " Yes, it ought ; I 'm your cousin ; you 've 
 known me much before you knew him, and 
 my likings and dislikings ought to have some 
 weight with you, Bab." 
 
 " I don't see at all why they should, espe- 
 cially when they 're unreasonable. You say 
 you don't know why you dislike William, you 
 can't give a reason for your not liking him; 
 therefore I can't see why I should give up my 
 liking to please a whim of yours." 
 
 " If you cared for me, if you cared for 
 my opinion, you would do as I ask you." 
 
 " Not if you ask me to do what is unreas- 
 onable."
 
 298 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 " Reasonable or unreasonable, you ought to 
 oblige me if you can." 
 
 " But I can't oblige you in this ; do not 
 ask it, Tom." 
 
 " Then you won't give up dancing with this 
 fellow ? It 's a small thing to ask ; will you 
 grant it me, Bab?" 
 
 No, Tom ! " 
 
 He ground his teeth hard, looked at me 
 fiercely, and then said, 
 
 " I could wring your neck at this moment, 
 Bab ! " 
 
 There was a pause, a silence, and then he 
 continued, 
 
 "I suppose you won't even shake hands 
 with me when I go to sea ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will ! Why not ? I '11 even now 
 shake hands with you, at once, Tom." 
 
 I held out my hand to him ; he took it in 
 his, and gripped it rather roughly, then let it 
 drop. 
 
 " And will you say good-by to me when I 
 go?" 
 
 "Of course, Tom."
 
 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 299 
 
 " Say it now, Bab." 
 
 " Good-by, Tom." 
 
 He snatched my hand again, looking hard 
 at me, then flung it from him, turned on his 
 heel, and tried to whistle as he went away. 
 
 " I can't bear Tom, I never could ! " ex- 
 claimed Peep. " Wring your neck, indeed ! 
 I like that ! " 
 
 " No, you don't, Peep." 
 
 " I mean, catch me standing by and letting 
 him do it ! " 
 
 " I think he tries to be kind, Peep ; but 
 somehow he seems as if he could n't be." 
 
 " It 's no use, Bab; I can't bear him, and I 
 never could ! " 
 
 Next morning when we all came down to 
 breakfast there was no Tom. Before it was 
 light he had left home for London to join his 
 ship, on board of which Uncle had procured 
 him a berth as cabin-boy, which was his own 
 wish. It seems he had taken leave of his 
 father overnight, and said he did n't want 
 good-byes with any one else. Uncle looked 
 rather disturbed and thoughtful that day, and
 
 300 UNCLE, PEEP, AND I. 
 
 for some days after; but Aunt Pen did all 
 she could to cheer him, and Peep and I did 
 our best to amuse him,- and prevent him from 
 feeling sad. 
 
 At the end of a fortnight came a letter 
 from Tom to his father, written in the highest 
 spirits, saying his ship was on the point of 
 sailing, that he liked his captain and his ship- 
 mates, and was now "as jolly and free as 
 could be." 
 
 Our little home party fell into its old pleas- 
 ant ways, and as we sat at breakfast one 
 bright summer morning looking at Aunt Pen, 
 who had just said something in her gentle 
 way that made us all break into a hearty 
 laugh, I thought, " I really do believe there 
 are not happier people in the whole wide 
 world than 
 
 AUNTY, UNCLE, PEEP, AND I!" 
 
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