[CHAPTER VII.]
MASTER REGGIE.
THAT evening, about seven o'clock, my mistress sent for me. I was shown into a beautiful room, with a carpet as soft as velvet, and all round the room there were lovely pictures, and photographs, and vases of hothouse flowers, and so many pretty and charming things, that I felt as if it was a strange dream that I was there, and that it could not be true.
Mrs. Tremayne was as beautiful and as good and as kind as Bagot had described her. She was sitting by the fire with her work when I went in, and on the other side of the fire, lying on a spring sofa, was the thinnest, whitest little boy I have ever seen. He looked just like a tiny skeleton dressed up in clothes, but, though his face was so pale and worn, it was a very beautiful little face, for he had large lovely eyes, that seemed as if they saw far more than our eyes see; they seemed to be looking at something very far away.
"Dear mother," he said, in a little, thin, high-pitched voice, "what is that boy's name?"
"It is Peter," said his mother; "he has come to live in Bagot's cottage."
"Oh! Is it Peter?" said the little boy, "Peter who walked on the sea! Oh! I am glad you've come. We read about you in my new Bible yesterday. Weren't you very frightened, Peter, when you began to sink?"
"Oh! It isn't the same Peter," said his mother, smiling; "that Peter lived a long time ago."
"Oh! I'm sorry it isn't the same Peter," said the little voice; "I do wish it was the same Peter."
Mrs. Tremayne talked very kindly to me, and told me she hoped I should be very happy there, and would do my work well, not to please her, but to please God. Then she told me what my work was to be, and how she wished me to divide my time; and she said she hoped I should be very obedient to Bagot, and take his advice in everything, "for he is a good, worthy man," she said.