Part 11 (1/2)

”And how old are you?” asked Fergus, raising himself a little on his elbow. ”I'm eight and a half. I'm not so very small for my age when I stand up--am I, mother?”

”No, dear,” she answered with a little shadow over her bright face. ”And you, Gratian?”

”I am nine,” he said; ”but they say at school I don't look so much. Tony is twelve, but he is much, much bigger.”

”Tony--who is Tony?” asked Fergus; ”is he your brother?”

”Oh no, I have no brothers. He's the head boy at the school.”

”Yes,” said Fergus's mother, ”I remember about him. He was the boy Mr.

Cornelius first thought of sending.”

”And why didn't he come?” asked Fergus.

Gratian looked up at the lady.

”Did the master tell you?” he asked. The lady smiled, and nodded her head.

”Yes,” she said, ”I know the story. You may tell it to Fergus, Gratian; he would like to hear it. Now I am going away, for I have letters to write. In half an hour or so you shall have your tea. Would you like it here or in the library, Fergus?”

”Oh, in the library,” he said eagerly. ”I haven't been there for two days, mother. And then Gratian can see the pictures--you told me he liked pictures?--and best of all, you can play the organ to us, little mother.”

”Then you feel better to-day, my boy?” she said, stooping to kiss the white forehead as she was leaving the room. ”Some days I can't get him to like to move about at all,” she added to Gratian.

”Yes, I do feel better,” he said. ”I don't mind it hurting me when I don't feel that horrible way as if I didn't care for _anything_. Have you ever been ill, Gratian? Do you know how it feels?”

Gratian considered.

”I once had a sore throat,” he said, ”but I didn't mind very much. It was winter, and I had a fire in my room, and I liked to see the flames going dancing up the chimney.”

”Yes,” said Fergus, ”I know how you mean. I'm sure we must have the same thinkings about things, Gratian. Do you like music too, as much as pictures? Mother says people who like pictures very much, often like music too, and--and--there's something else that those kind of people like too, but I forget what.”

”Flowers,” suggested Gratian; ”flowers and trees, perhaps.”

”No,” said Fergus, looking a little puzzled, ”these would count in with pictures, don't you think? I'll ask mother--she said it so nicely. Don't you like when anybody says a thing so that it seems to fit in with other things?”

”Yes,” said Gratian, ”I think I do. But I think things to myself, mostly--I've not got anybody much to talk to, except sometimes Jonas.

He's got very nice thoughts, only he'd never say them except to Watch and me.”

”Who's Watch?” asked Fergus eagerly. ”Is he a dog?”

”He's our sheep-dog, and Jonas is the shepherd,” replied Gratian.

”They're sometimes alone with the sheep for days and days--out on the moors. It's so strange--I've been with them sometimes--it's like another world--to see the moors all round, ever so far, like the sea, I suppose--only I've never seen the sea--and not a creature anywhere, except some wild birds sometimes.”

”Stop,” said Fergus, closing his eyes; ”yes, I can see it now. Go on, Gratian--is the sky gray, or blue with little white clouds?”

”Gray just now,” said the boy, ”and there's no wind that you can feel blowing. But it's coming--you know it's coming--now and then Watch p.r.i.c.ks up his ears, for he can tell it much farther off than we can, and old Jonas pats him a little. Jonas has an old blue round cap--a shepherd's cap--and his face is browny-red, but his hair is nearly white, and his eyes are very blue. Can you see him, Fergus? And the sheep keep on browsing--they make a little scrumping noise when you are quite, quite close to them. And just before the wind really comes a great bird gives a cry--up, very high up--and it swoops down for a moment and then goes up again, till it looks just a little black speck against the sky. And all the time you know the wind is coming. Can you see it all, Fergus?”

”All,” said the boy; ”it's beautiful. You must tell me pictures often, Gratian, till I can go out again. I never had any one who could make them come so, except mother's music--they come with that. Haven't you noticed that they come with music?”