Part 13 (1/2)

”But it's not raining one drop now,” said Mervyn, ”and I declare, there is the sun coming out; I do wish he would come.”

”Oh, but it's wet under-foot, Mervyn,” remarked Bunny wisely, ”and it's a bad thing to get your feet wet--Sophie screams fearfully at me if I put my toe out, even long after the rain has stopped.”

”Yes, when you go in your thin shoes, of course,” cried Mervyn; ”but big boys like Frank Collins are not afraid of wetting their feet.

Are they, Miss Kerr?”

”No, I don't think they are, dear,” answered the governess, laughing, ”I know my brothers run out in all kinds of weather.”

”Come in, my boy! Here they are at their dinner,” said Mr. Dashwood, opening the door at this moment, and entering the room with young Collins. ”Miss Kerr, this is our young friend who so bravely saved poor Bunny yesterday,” he added as he presented Frank to the governess.

”I am very glad to see you, Master Collins, and these children have been longing for you to come,” said Miss Kerr; ”it was very brave of you to stop the pony.”

”Brave! not at all, Miss Kerr,” answered Frank with a bright honest smile that won the lady's heart at once. ”I don't think the pony was really running away, and if this little girl,” and he patted Bunny on the head, ”had not been frightened, but had sat up properly and kept a good hold of her reins, she would have been all right.”

”Oh! Bunny, Bunny, you little coward,” cried Miss Kerr, ”and so, after all, it was you who held on by the mane, and not Mervyn, as you so gaily told him he would do yesterday.”

”Did she tell him that?” asked Frank as he took a seat at the table beside Mervyn. ”Well, I think this little chap would be the bravest of the two in real danger. He would not be so rash, perhaps, but I think he would keep cool and not lose his head as she did.”

”Oh, but I was frightened,” sighed Bunny. ”I was sure Frisk was running away;” and she looked so very tearful that her papa kindly changed the conversation by asking his young guest how he liked staying at Scarborough.

”Are there many nice walks about?” asked Mr. Dashwood, when they had all finished their lunch and were preparing to leave the table. ”I mean short walks within easy distance, where these little folks could go, for instance?”

”Yes, there's the old castle,” said Frank, ”on the West Cliff, then there's the people's Park in the valley, which of course you all know well, and Oliver's Mount, which I think the nicest walk of any.”

”Oliver's Mount! Oh, that is a nice place,” said Bunny, who had quite recovered her gay spirits again. ”Sophie says she went up there one day with some friends, and she had buns and lemonade and all kinds of things, in a little house, a funny small house, she says, that is up there on the top. Do take us up Oliver's Mount, like a dear good papa.”

”Yes, I know the little house Sophie means,” said Frank; ”it is only a small shed, you can just see it from the window, look, there it is, right away up on the top of the mount.”

”It looks a great height, certainly,” said Mr. Dashwood. ”I wonder if these little ones could manage to go such a long way.”

”Oh! yes, we could, we could,” cried the children together.

”Very well, then, I suppose we had better set off at once,” said Mr.

Dashwood; ”you have no objection to my taking these small people, Miss Kerr?”

”Not the slightest,” she replied. ”I was going to send them with Sophie, but I am sure they will enjoy going with you much better.

Mrs. Dashwood is not well enough to go out, so I intend to read to her the best part of the afternoon.”

”I am glad to hear that, for I was afraid she might feel dull if we set off for a long walk,” said Mr. Dashwood. ”Well, run away, children, and get ready; the sooner we start the better.”

”It will be a long way for their little legs if we go right to the top,” said Frank doubtfully. ”Mervyn doesn't look very strong, and Bunny's legs are very short.”

”Indeed they are not,” cried Bunny indignantly. ”I can walk splendidly; can't I, Miss Kerr?”

”Yes, dear, you are a very good walker for your age and size.”

”There, do you hear that?” cried Bunny, jumping off her chair and throwing her arms round her father's neck. ”Do take us, do take us, dear darling old papa.”

”You little rogue!” cried Mr. Dashwood, ”I do believe you could coax the birds off the bushes.”