but Nature had ordered it so, and in requital had provided for rapid successors. Did you come to love a pig, and he was taken from you, grief was quickly assuaged in the delight of selection from the new litter. But now, when it was no question of a peerless pig, but only of a governess, Nature seemed helpless, and the future held no litter of oblivion. Things might be better, or they might be worse, but they would never be the same; and the innate conservatism of youth asks neither poverty nor riches, but only immunity from change.
Edward slouched up alongside of me presently, with a hangdog look on him, as if he had been caught stealing jam. ‘What a lark it’ll be when she’s really gone!’ he observed, with a swagger obviously assumed.
‘Grand fun!’ I replied dolorously; and conversation flagged.
We reached the hen-house, and contemplated the banner of freedom lying ready to flaunt the breezes at the supreme moment.
‘Shall you run it up,’ I asked, ‘when the fly starts, or—or wait a little till it’s out of sight?’
Edward gazed round him dubiously. ‘We’re going to have some rain, I think,’ he said; ‘and—and it’s a new flag. It would be a pity to spoil it. P’raps I won’t run it up at all.’
Harold came round the corner like a bison pursued by Indians. ‘I’ve polished up the cannons,’ he cried, ‘and they look grand! Mayn’t I load ’em now?’
‘You leave ’em alone,’ said Edward severely, ‘or you’ll be blowing yourself up’ (consideration for others was not usually Edward’s strong point). ‘Don’t touch the gunpowder till you’re told, or you’ll get your head smacked.’
Harold fell behind, limp, squashed, obedient. ‘She wants me to write to her,’ he began presently. ‘Says she doesn’t mind the spelling, if I’ll only write. Fancy her saying that!’