CHAPTER I.
A COUPLE OF BARBARIANS.
All the young Maybrights, with the exception of the baby, were collected in the morning-room. It was the middle of October. The summer heat had long departed, the trees were shedding their leaves fast, the sky had an appearance of coming wind and showers; the great stretch of moorland which could be seen best in winter when the oaks and elms were bare, was distinctly visible. The moor had broad shadows on it, also tracts of intense light; the bracken was changing from green to brown and yellow color—brilliant color was everywhere. At this time of year the moors in many ways looked their best.
The Maybright children, however, were not thinking of the landscape, or the fast approach of winter, they were busily engaged chattering and consulting together. It was four o’clock in the afternoon, and they knew that the time left for them to prepare was short, consequently their busy fingers worked as well as their tongues. Helen was helping the twins and the little boys to make up a wreath of enormous dimensions, and Polly, as usual, was flitting about the room, followed by her satellite Firefly. As usual, too, Polly was first to remark and quickest to censure. She looked very much like the old Polly; no outward change was in the least visible, although now she yielded a kind of obedience to the most gentle and unexacting of sisters, and although she still vowed daily to herself, that she, Polly, would certainly climb the highest mountain, and for father’s sake would be the best of all his children.
“How slow you are, Nell,” she now exclaimed, impatiently; “and look what a crooked ‘E’ you have made to the end of ‘WELCOME.’ Oh, don’t be so slow, boys! Paul and Virginia will be here before we are half ready.”
“They can’t come before six o’clock,” said Helen. “We have two hours yet left to work in. Do, dear, pretty Polly, find something else to take up your time, and let the twins and the boys help me to finish this wreath.”
“Oh, if you don’t want me,” said Polly, in a slightly offended voice. “Come along, Fly, we’ll go up and see if Virginia’s room is ready, and then we’ll pay a visit to our baby. You and I won’t stay where we are not wanted. Come along.”
Fly trotted off by her elder sister’s side, a great light of contentment filling her big eyes. The two scampered upstairs, saw that a cozy nest was all ready for the Australian girl, while a smaller room at the other side of the passage was in equal readiness for the boy.