“Oh, dear, what a melancholy story; I don’t think I would have cared much to hear that. Did Mrs. Roberts read you nothing better than that? nothing merry about cats?”
“She read us also an anecdote which we thought interesting. A lady went to visit a friend in the country, and this friend had a favourite cat and dog; they were very fond of each other, ate together from the same plate, and slept on the same rug. Puss had kittens while the lady was staying with her friend, and Pincher went regularly every day to visit the kittens, whose nursery was at the top of the house. One morning there was a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning; Pincher was in the drawing-room, and the cat was watching her little family in the garret. Pincher seemed quite frightened by the bright flashes of lightning, and trembled all over; and just as he had crept close to the visitor, and laid himself down at her feet, (as if for protection,) some one came into the drawing-room, followed by puss, who walked in with a most disturbed air, and mewing with all her might, came up to Pincher, rubbed her face against his cheek, touched him gently with her paw, and then walked to the door, stopped, looked back, mewed again, and seemed to say, as plainly as words could have done, ‘Do come with me, Pincher;’ but Pincher was too much frightened himself to give any comfort to poor puss, and took not the least notice of her invitation. She came back and renewed her request with increased mewing. But the hard-hearted Pincher was immovable, though he seemed perfectly to understand her meaning, for he turned away his head with a conscious guilty look, and crept still closer to the lady; and pussy, finding all her entreaties useless, left the room. But soon after her mewing became so very piteous, that the lady could no longer resist going to see what was the matter. She met the cat at the top of the stairs, close to her bed-room; she ran to her, rubbed herself against her, and then went into the room, and crept under the wardrobe. A mewing was then heard as if from two voices, and the lady discovered that she had brought down one of her kittens and hidden it there for safety; but her mind being in an unhappy state of anxiety for the kittens above, and this little one below, she had wished Pincher to have the kindness to watch by this one while she went for the others. She seemed to trust, however, to having now found a better friend, for she came out from below the wardrobe and hastily left the room. The lady followed, carrying with her the kitten, placed it with the others, and moved their little bed further from the window, through which the lightning had flashed so brightly as to alarm poor pussy, who then lay down beside them quite happy, and the lady remained in the room till the sun shone out again, and all was quite calm. Next morning, to the lady’s surprise, she found pussy waiting for her at the door of her bed-room; she went down with her, sat by her, and caressed her in every possible way. Before that she had always been in the habit of going down to breakfast with the lady of the house, but on this morning she had resisted all her coaxing, and would not move a step with her. As soon as breakfast was over, she returned to her family in the garret; and she never did this again. She seemed to think she had shown her gratitude and done her duty. But for a long time after she took very little notice of Pincher, and always looked distant and huffy when he came near her.”
“Well,” Matilda said, “this anecdote is interesting; I should have liked very much to hear Mrs. Roberts read it. But I am glad it is only about animals that she is reading to you now, for it interests me much more to hear about men and women, and, above all, about children, especially when they get into scrapes.”
CHAPTER XIII.
IT was a beautiful morning; Selina and Matilda had been allowed to breakfast at Woodlands, and were to return to Elmgrove with Leila after a visit to Peggy Dobie’s cottage, for the old gardener had promised to be there by ten o’clock with the bee-hive, and he was faithful to his word, for, as they reached the cottage, they found Peggy opening the little wicket-gate leading to the garden, to admit him and his precious burden; the hive was safely placed in a sunny, sheltered corner, close to the green turf seat which Leila had erected for Peggy, and to witness her joy with the whole arrangement was delightful. She placed herself on the turf seat, and with her hands clasped firmly together on her knees, she kept gazing on the hive in a perfect ecstasy of delight.
“Weel, my bairns,” she exclaimed, “you hae surely entered into a compact to spoil the auld woman all thegither. If there was a wish in my heart, amang all the grand things, and the wonderfu’ blessings that surround me, it was for a bee’s skep; it is no’ to be told the love I hae for thae creatures, they will be friends to me, and company to me, and example too, for they are a weel principled, upright set, never leaving their ain house, but for the useful work o’ the day; and sae blythe and contented, for a constant singing that bonnie sang amang the flowers, that’s just music to my ears. Can ony mortal man, or woman either, hae a pleasanter employment than just to sit down afore a bee’s skep, and tak observation o’ their wonderfu’ ways? and is there nae honourable mention made o’ the work o’ their hands in the very Bible itsel’, Deuteronomy thirty-second chapter, thirteenth verse: ‘He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the incense of the fields, and he made him to suck honey out of the rock.’ And in the eighty-second Psalm, sixteenth verse: ‘He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.’ Na, na, it’s no thae jams and jellies, and sic articles o’ man’s contrivance, that ye hear tell o’ them, but it’s the handiwork o’ thae wonderfu’ creatures that’s had in honour; and I maun just end, as I began, and say to you, my dear bairns, that you could na hae given me a greater compliment than this bonnie bee’s skep.”
“But, Peggy,” Matilda observed, “we did not give it you, it was Cousin Leila; she saved up her money to buy it for you; we only came to see your joy.”
“Oh, but it is a dear bairn,” Peggy said, looking fondly at Leila, “and sae generous, and sae thoughtfu’ for her years. Weel, I am no just the woman I was, for my head’s often unco confused now, and my memory’s no o’ the best since that fearfu’ journey; but surely I’ll forget my ainsel, afore I forget all she has done for me.”
“Don’t say that,” Leila said anxiously, “don’t say you are not just the same; you are looking as well as you ever did now, and you must be quite happy and cheery,—I don’t like to see you look grave. We have never been grave since you came back, every day as merry and cheery as can be; and you have never told us yet if you saw all your friends in comfort before you came away from Scotland, and if you enjoyed yourself with them very much.”
“And did I no’, Miss Leila? ’Deed, ’tis no possible to say the pleasant tea drinkings I had afore I came away; but the very pleasantest of all was the last night but ane afore I got into the awfu’ ship. It was at my cousin, Mrs Brown’s, and nae strangers but my ain kith and kind. There was, forby hersel, just four o’ us. There was mysel, that’s ane; and there was the twa Dobies, that’s twa; and there was Johnny, man, that’s three; tuts, but there was four o’ us. There was Johnny, man, that’s ane; and there was the twa Dobies, that’s twa; and there was mysel, that’s three,—but there was four o’ us; weel, I’ll begin wi’ mysel this time. There was mysel, that’s ane; and the twa Dobies, that’s twa; and Johnny, man, that’s three; preserve me, for I am clean stupid all thegither! There was Johnny, man, that’s ane; and there was the twa Dobies, that’s twa; and there was mysel, that’s three,—and if I am no at mysel again. Weel, and I maun gie it up all thegither; but I am morally certain there was just four of us.”