Part 5 (1/2)
”If it could take us both, I should be very happy, but I will not go without you, Laura, after you were so good to me, and gave me this in a present. No, no! I only wish we could do like the poor madman grandmama mentioned, who planted sixpences in the ground that they might grow into s.h.i.+llings.”
”Pray! what are you two looking so solemn about?” asked Frank, hurrying into the room, at that moment, on his way to school. ”Are you talking of some mischief that has been done already, or only about some mischief you are intending to do soon?”
”Neither the one nor the other,” answered Laura. ”But, oh! Frank, I am sure you will be sorry for us, when we tell you of our sad disappointment!”
She then related the whole story of the party to Arthur's Seat, mentioning that Mr. Harwood had kindly offered to take charge of Harry and herself, but as her little fortune had been so foolishly squandered, she could not go, and Harry said it would be impossible to enjoy the fun without her, though Lady Harriet had given them both leave to be of the party.
All the time that Laura spoke, Frank stood, with his hands in his pockets, where he seemed evidently searching for something, and when the whole history was told, he said to Harry, ”Let me see this poor little sixpence of yours! I am a very clever conjuror, and could perhaps turn it into a s.h.i.+lling!”
”Nonsense, Frank!” said Laura, laughing; ”you might as well turn Harry into uncle David!”
”Well! we shall see!” answered Frank, taking up the sixpence. ”I have put the money into this box!--rattle it well!--once! twice!
thrice!--there, peep in!--now it is a s.h.i.+lling! I told you so!”
Frank ran joyously out of the room, being much amused with the joke, for he had put one of his own s.h.i.+llings into the box for Harry and Laura, who were excessively surprised at first, and felt really ashamed to take this very kind present from Frank, when he so seldom had money of his own; but they knew how generous he was, for he often repeated that excellent maxim, ”It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
After a few minutes, they remembered that nothing could prevent them now from going with Mr. Harwood to Arthur's Seat, which put Laura into such a state of ecstacy, that she danced round the room for joy, while Harry jumped upon the tables and chairs, tumbled head over heels, and called Betty to come immediately that they might get ready.
When Mrs. Crabtree heard such an uproar, she hastened also into the room, asking what had happened to cause this riot, and she became very angry indeed, to hear that Harry and Laura had both got leave to join in this grand expedition.
”You will be spoiling all your clothes, and getting yourselves into a heat! I wonder her ladys.h.i.+p allows this! How much better you would be taking a quiet walk with me in the gardens! I shall really speak to Lady Harriet about it! The air must be very cold on the top of them great mountains! I am sure you will both have colds for a month after this Tom-foolery.”
”Oh no, Mrs. Crabtree! I promise not to catch cold!” cried Harry, eagerly; ”and, besides, you can scarcely prevent our going now, for grandmama has set out on her long airing in the carriage, so there is n.o.body for you to ask about keeping us at home, except uncle David!”
Mrs. Crabtree knew from experience, that Major Graham was a hopeless case, as he always took part with the children, and liked nothing so much for old and young as ”a ploy;” so she grumbled on to herself, while her eyes looked as sharp as a pair of scissors with rage. ”You will come back, turned into scare-crows, with all your nice clean clothes in tatters,” said she, angrily; ”but if there is so much as a speck upon this best new jacket and trowsers, I shall know the reason why.”
”What a comfort it would be, if there were no such things in the world as 'new clothes,' for I am always so much happier in the old ones,” said Harry. ”People at the shops should sell clothes that will never either dirty or tear!”
”You ought to be dressed in fur, like Robinson Crusoe, or sent out naked, like the little savages,” said Mrs. Crabtree, ”or painted black and blue like them wild old Britons that lived here long ago!”
”I am black and blue sometimes, without being painted,” said Harry, escaping to the door. ”Good-bye, Mrs. Crabtree! I hope you will not die of weariness without us! On our return we shall tell you all our delightful adventures.”
About half an hour afterwards, Harry and Laura were seen hurrying out of the pastry-cook, Mrs. Weddell's shop, bearing little covered baskets in their hands, but n.o.body could guess what was in them. They whispered and laughed together with very merry faces, looking the very pictures of happiness, and running along as fast as they could to join the noisy party of their cousins and companions, almost fearing that Mr. Harwood might have set off without them. Frank often called him ”Mr.
Punctuality,” as he was so very particular about his scholars being in good time on all occasions; and certainly Mr. Harwood carried his watch more in his hand than in his pocket, being in the habit of constantly looking to see that n.o.body arrived too late. Mail-coaches or steamboats could hardly keep the time better, when an hour had once been named, and the last words that Harry heard when he was invited were, ”Remember!
sharp twelve.”
The great clock of St. Andrew's Church was busy striking that hour, and every little clock in the town was saying the same thing, when Mr.
Harwood himself, with his watch in his hand, opened the door, and walked out, followed by a dozen of merry-faced boys and girls, all speaking at once, and vociferating louder than the clocks, as if they thought everybody had grown deaf.
”I shall reach the top of Arthur's Seat first,” said Peter Grey. ”All of you follow me, for I know the shortest way. It is only a hop, step, and a jump!”
”Rather a long step!” cried Robert Fordyce. ”But I could lead you a much better way, though I shall show it to n.o.body but myself.”
”We must certainly drink water at St. Anthony's Well,” observed Laura; ”because whatever any one wishes for when he tastes it, is sure to happen immediately.”
”Then I shall wish that some person may give me a new doll,” said Mary Forrester. ”My old one is only fit for being lady's maid to a fine new doll.”
”I am in ninety-nine minds what to wish for,” exclaimed Harry; ”we must take care not to be like the foolish old woman in the fairy tale, who got only a yard of black pudding.”
”I shall ask for a piebald pony, with a whip, a saddle, and a bridle!”