"Oh, yes. Dawn is always telling me they were. Day was the blacksmith; he is a young man and wants to marry Connie, only she says his face is too dirty. And Dusk was old Mr. Green, who used to be a cobbler, but he's nearly blind now, and Miss Bertha goes to read to him every Saturday."
"Take me to see Dawn now. It is a dear little name, and if he is a nice boy, he shall come to play with you every day. I have a small brother who is coming here for his holidays. In fact, I meant to have brought him here yesterday, for there is an outbreak of fever at his school, but he is staying in London for a few days with one of my sisters. He will soon shake you up and keep you lively!"
Christina was too shy to assure her stepmother that she did not want to be shaken up, but she quickened her steps joyfully in the direction of Dawn's home, and then suddenly, down the road in front of them, he came tearing along, his curly hair flying in the wind.
He took off his hat and waved it frantically when he caught sight of Christina.
"I'm running away!" he cried out. "Running for my life. Dad has gone to London, and Aunt Rachael has a headache, and I've eaten all cook's mince pies for Sunday, and she's after me with a broom!"
"Ah," said Mrs. Maclahan, "this is a boy after my own heart! Come for a walk with us, and then you shall come back to tea with Tina!"
Dawn looked up at her with laughing assurance.
"You're Tina's new mother, aren't you? I like you awfully. If you will talk to that old Nurse and tell her Tina won't get into mischief, I'll come and spend every day with her. I don't go to school when we live in the country. Dad and I vegetate, and rest our brains, and then we go back to London, and I'm at lessons all day long. I'm awfully glad dad is doing a country picture that makes him come here. I'd like to stay here always!"
The walk that Christina dreaded turned out a very happy one. Dawn chattered on as freely to Mrs. Maclahan as he did to Christina alone. They went up as far as the breezy common, and here Christina shivered and caught her breath, and tried to shield herself behind her mother, for the wind was bitter, and seemed to be trying to get into her bones.
Mrs. Maclahan noticed her reluctance to face the wind, but made her do it.