Part 22 (1/2)

CHAPTER XIV

The Haunted Tree

There were so many jolly friends staying at Chagmouth at present that they made a most delightful circle. Generally they all managed to meet every day, and the usual trysting-place was The Haven, partly because it was in so central a situation for everybody, but chiefly because the kind-hearted, unconventional Castletons were ready at any and every time to welcome visitors, and would allow friends to 'drop in' in true Bohemian fas.h.i.+on, quite regardless of whatever happened to be taking place in the household. From the studio, indeed, they were excluded while Mr. Castleton was at his easel, but they were allowed to use it when he was not working, and it proved admirable for either games, theatricals, or dancing. With so many costumes in the cupboard it was easy to get up charades, and they had much fun over acting. Perhaps the most successful was a small performance of 'The Babes in the Wood,' given by the Castleton children, with Perugia and Gabriel, lovely in Elizabethan costume, as 'the babes' John and Jane; Madox and Constable as the two villains 'Daggersdrawn' and 'Triggertight,' who abandoned them in the wood; and Lilith as the beneficent fairy 'Dewdrop,' who found them and whisked them away to bonny Elfland. The little Castletons had natural dramatic instincts and were adepts at posing, so their play was really very pretty. Madox, in especial, absolutely excelled himself as a robber and came out tremendously. He bowed gallantly in response to the storm of applause, and blew an airy kiss to Merle, who nearly collapsed with mirth. She thought her ten-year-old admirer deserved something in return for so graceful an attention, so she sent him a box of chocolates with a few verses written on a sheet of paper and placed inside.

TO DAGGERSDRAWN

You're a very handsome fellow, So gallant and so gay; And I really blush to tell you, But you've stole my heart away.

When you took the part of Daggersdrawn, My bosom swelled with pride To hear your voice of thunder And see your manly stride.

You seized the nasty pistols up Without a sign of fear, And thrust and parried with your sword Just like a Cavalier.

As you've escaped the lonesome wood-- For so the story ends-- I send these chocs, with best regards, And beg we may be friends.

Merle had no doubt the chocolates would be appreciated, but she had not expected to receive back a poetical effusion from her small knight. He evidently, however, had some slight gift for minstrelsy, for one day there was a tremendous rap on the front-door knocker at Burswood Farm, then a sound of running footsteps, and inside the letter-box was a note addressed to 'Miss Merle Ramsay,' in a rather wobbly and unformed hand.

At the top of the sheet of paper was painted a boat with brown sails on a blue sea, and underneath was written:

You ask me, dear, will I be thine?

How can you such a question ask When, 'neath the robber's fearful mask, I languish for thee, lady mine!

Thou art the lady that I love; Thou art the lady that I chose.

Oh, fly with me from friends and foes!

Oh, for the wings of a dove!

O sail with me to a southern sea, To where an isle is fair and warm, And the sea around it bright and calm: O Merle, will you come with me?

But for the nasty pistols, miss, I have one ready to shoot me dead!

For already my heart is heavy as lead Unless you favour my wis.h.!.+

[Footnote: These verses were really composed by a little boy.]

It's rather silly but it's the best I can rite. M C.

In the privacy of the parlour Merle had a good laugh with Mavis over what they termed her first love-letter.

”'Oh, for the wings of a dove!'” quoted Merle. ”It's so Biblical, isn't it? He's a dear, all the same! I love him better even than Constable.

He's such a bright little chap. Don't tell Clive, or he'd tease Madox to death about this. It must be an absolute secret. I can just picture the child sitting writing it with his sticky little fingers!”

”You mustn't let him know about 'Sweet William,' or there'll be a free fight!” laughed Mavis.

William was Mrs. Treasure's little boy, and also an ardent admirer of Merle, who gave him chocolates when she met him in the garden or the stackyard. In spite of his mother's injunctions to 'Behave and not trouble the visitors,' he would hang about the pa.s.sages to present Merle with handfuls of ferns and flowers grabbed at random from the hedgerows and of no botanical value whatever; or sometimes the parlour window would be cautiously opened from the outside, a pair of bright eyes would appear, and a small grubby hand would push in a bird's egg or some other country trophy as an offering. It was William who told Merle about the 'headless horseman,' a phantom rider who was reported to gallop down the road after dusk, and whom Chagmouth mothers found useful as a bogey to frighten their children with.

”He'll get you if you're out when it's dark!” said William, with round awed eyes.

”What would he do with you if he did?” asked Merle.

But such a pitch of horror was beyond the limit of William's imagination, and he could only reaffirm his original statement.