Rose had not been in the country long before she began to miss Kenneth more than ever,—more even than she had expected. It was all Charlie’s fault.
Charlie had his naughty days,—every one has naughty days, sometimes, until he learns better. But it happened unfortunately that Charlie’s naughtiest time came the very day after Rose arrived in the country, when she was feeling especially lonesome, and before she was acquainted with the new house and the barn and the new pets and playthings. She began to be homesick almost as soon as her father said good-by to her and went away to the train which would carry him home to Mamma and Kenneth and the city. But she was still more homesick the next morning, when she woke up and remembered that she was not going to see Kenneth all that long, bright, beautiful, out-of-doorsy day. So you see she needed very much that Charlie should be extra kind and good to her.
Charlie’s mamma lay awake that morning smiling to herself to think how nice it was that Rose was going to be Charlie’s little sister for a time, and how happy he would make her in this beautiful country, showing her the new kittens, and the rabbits, and old Brindle’s little calf, and the flower-garden,—all the things which Charlie had enjoyed so much since he had come into the county to live. But that was before she knew this was Charlie’s naughty day.
From the moment when he first opened his eyes and got out of the wrong side of the bed, Charlie was in trouble, and his mother had to speak to him so many times that she was ashamed to have Rose hear.
After breakfast, when Rose cried eagerly, “Oh, Charlie, now will you show me everything?” Charlie sulked and said, “Oh, bother!” And when Rose followed him out into the garden, he tried to run away from her. But Rose could run fast too, and he soon found her panting at his heels.
“What makes you run so fast, Charlie?” she asked. “I can hardly keep up with you.”
“Well, I don’t want you to keep up with me,” he answered, turning his back on her and slapping his stick at a poor sunflower. “You had better go back to the house. I don’t want to play with you.”
Rose’s eyes filled with tears and she said, “What makes you so bad to me, Charlie? I haven’t seen you for a long time, but I thought you were a nice, pleasant boy, like Kenneth. Oh, how I wish I could go back to Kenneth!”
“Go home as soon as you please,” said Charlie rudely. “I don’t want you for a sister if you are so fussy and cross.”
“I am not fussy and cross!” cried Rose indignantly. “You have been very impolite and horrid to me, and I am ashamed of you!”