TOMMY was standing at the table before breakfast, reciting in a breathless, sing-song voice. Before school closed for the summer holidays Miss Lavinia had taught him the poem so that he could say it as a surprise to Daddy and Mammy this morning. For this morning was the 29th of August, and Tommy’s birthday, and he was just exactly “seven times one.”
His parents listened to him with pride, but Mammy could not help feeling a little sad, for she realized how very quickly Tommy was growing up. Because she was always busy the months simply sped along. This spring had passed unusually quickly, and now here was the summer almost over and Tommy was actually seven years old!
Mrs. Tregennis had been very successful in letting her rooms this season; since the first week in May the house had been full. She and Daddy and Tommy were all greatly disappointed that Tommy’s Ladies were not coming to Draeth this year. They had sent some of their friends, certainly, and they proved to be very nice people and paid Mrs. Tregennis well. But, of course, it was not the same. From these friends, too, Mrs. Tregennis had heard disquieting rumours, and she was much afraid that it would be a long, long time before the Blue Lady and the Brown Lady would come again to Draeth to stay.
“And show me your nest with the young ones in it,
I will not steal them away;
I am old, you can trust me, linnet, linnet;
I am seven times one to-day.”
Tommy ended the surprise poem with pride, for not one stumble had he made all the way through from beginning to end. Daddy showed his appreciation by giving him a sixpenny bit, as he wished him “Many ’appy returns o’ the day.”
This awakened memories of the past, and Tommy became reflective.
“My poor Granny used to give me a half-a-crown on my birthday,” he remarked, reminiscently. “She didn’t never have ought to ’a done it,” he continued, shaking his head, “for she couldn’t rightly afford ’e. Still, she did allus give me a half-a-crown did my poor Gran!”