"Poor, dear Mrs. Merryweather!" cried Hildegarde, laughing. "I think it was pretty cruel, all the same. And—did you ever find the brown gingham?"
"Oh, that was naughty!" cried Gertrude. "He buried it all in the back garden. That was truly naughty of Papa. Mammy found them there a week after, when she was setting out the asters. They were all neatly laid in a box, and buried quite deep down. But Mammy took them up, and sent them to the Orphans' Home. Dear Mammy!"
CHAPTER IX.
AN EVENING HOUR.
"And what shall we play this evening?" asked Mrs. Merryweather.
Hildegarde and her mother had been taking tea at Pumpkin House. Hugh was there, too, and now Colonel Ferrers had come in, so the cheerful party was nearly complete.
"If we only had Roger and Papa!" sighed Bell. "Nothing seems just right without the whole clan together."
"We shall have them soon," said her mother. "Meanwhile let us be merry, and honour their name. It is too soon after tea for charades, I suppose. Why not try the Alphabet Stories?"