The days when granny was away were happy days for them. They could then sing their songs, tell their stories, play their plays, and invite to their hut the little children of the shore, without fearing blows from the old staff.
In the summer Rosebud had taken very little notice of the doings of granny. She only knew, that, although appearing quite lame, she went often to the town; that when at home she did little but poke in the ashes and smoke her pipe; and now Rosebud began to wonder how she fed them all. She spoke of this to Myrtle, but he only shook his head, and said granny would not bear to be questioned, and that she would be very sorry if she made the old woman angry.
Now, as Rosebud had no wish to make the old woman angry, she kept her mouth shut, but opened her eyes very wide, and wondered why granny muttered so much to herself, and fell asleep often in her chair, and, when asleep, muttered strange things, and whose were the voices she heard evenings, when all the children were in bed?—gruff men’s voices.
And, when tired of wondering at all these, she would wonder about Rupert, and why he never had come for her as he promised, and almost hoped he would not, now that she had become accustomed to her new life, and to Myrtle, and to all the children of the shore, and that there was so much to be done, when winter was over, about the garden. She hoped Rupert would leave her there, at least until the earth had been dug up and the seeds planted, and the plants came up and budded and bloomed, and lovely nosegays had been gathered.
Poor Rupert! Rosebud need neither have feared nor wondered concerning his coming had she known the ill that had befallen him.
It may be remembered that, when Rosebud was taken from the palace, she wore a green dress besprinkled with diamonds. Now, on the day in which Rupert had taken her to the hut, while waiting in the wood for the approach of evening, Rosebud, at his request, gave him those diamonds, that he might with them pay the expenses of his journey. And, had he known their real value, all might have gone well with him; but, as he by no means knew the worth of these jewels, all went ill with him.
For at an inn of some great city he offered one of them for a loaf of bread, two cuts of bacon, and a night’s lodging.
“You thief!” cried the innkeeper, and called an officer of justice, who arrested him upon the spot. The unlucky Rupert was stripped of his jewels and thrown into prison, where he was lying, sad and miserable, all the time his little girl was thinking how strange it was that he came not as he had promised.
But, as spring drew near, Rosebud gave up all her thinking and her wondering, and began hoping. She hoped the weather would be mild, hoped granny would let her have a garden, hoped the dog would not bite, hoped the gardener would not refuse the seeds, hoped every one would come up, hoped the high winds would not blow them over, hoped the plants would bud, and the buds would blossom, and the blossoms would look lovely, smell sweet, and delight everybody.