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I've observed something fascinating recently. 5 years ago, senior developers with vital iOS expertise obtainable for brand spanking new work appeared roughly as straightforward to seek out as unicorns who additionally laid golden eggs. Even two years ago, they have been awfully exhausting to unearth. This yr, though? Perhaps it's just a random blip — but this yr, like the truth, they appear to be on the market. And some issues make me suspect it's not a blip.
App Annie's "State of Cellular 2019" refers obliquely to "cellular maturity," i.e. the point at which the number of downloads per yr flattens out in a given market. That very same report exhibits that the US is there; the number of app downloads in the US elevated a paltry 5% from 2016 to 2018 — though it's value noting that app income which flowed via the app store increased 70% in that same time.
In the meantime, the number of apps within the iOS App Store is essentially flat during the last two years — this has been influenced by more stringent approval standards from Apple, sure, but continues to be noteworthy.
Meanwhile meanwhile, non-native cross-platform improvement platforms are growing in reputation. "We scanned Microsoft's iOS and Android apps and found that 38 of them, including the likes of Phrase, Excel, Xbox, and lots of others, have been just lately updated to incorporate React Native" reports AppFigures, who add "In the last yr use of React Native has almost doubled."
I can affirm anecdotally that shoppers are more and more serious about building cross-platform apps, or no less than simple cross-platform apps, in React Native. I definitely don't assume this is all the time the best move — I wrote about this choice and its trade-offs for ExtraCrunch a couple of months in the past — but It's definitely a extra viable choice than Cordova/Ionic, which I've had nothing however a number of terrible experiences with through the years. After which there's the sluggish but distinct rise of PWAs.
Is the app growth over? Are at present's app specialists doomed to grow to be the COBOL programmers of tomorrow? Not so quick. Native improvement instruments and applied sciences have gotten quite a bit higher in that point, too. (For example, I've by no means talked to anyone who doesn't vastly want Swift to Goal-C, and whereas Kotlin is newer, it seems to be on an analogous trajectory for Android.) And we're still seeing consistent progress in a "long tail" of latest app improvement, which, as an alternative of being constructed for mass shopper or enterprise-wide audiences, are built and iterated for very specific enterprise needs.
However I'd still feel at the very least barely uneasy about going all-in as a specialist app developer if I was early in my career. Not because the market's going to go away … however because, barring some new transcendent know-how out there solely on telephones (perhaps some AR breakthrough?) the relentless progress and ever-increasing demand of yesteryear is, in mature markets like the US, apparently gone for the foreseeable future. There's nonetheless some progress, but it appears that evidently's being sopped up by the rise of non-native improvement.
Briefly, for the primary time because the launch of the App Store it's potential to no less than envision a future during which the demand for native app builders begins to diminish. It's definitely not the one potential future. This definitely isn't the traditional wisdom — just ask any of the hordes of Android builders flocking to Google I/O in Might, or WWDC in June. However it may be value build up a backup technique, just in case.


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Understanding M&A Technical Due Diligence
Understanding Mergers and Acquisition Due Diligence - What should you do prior to an acquisition? Are you comfortable that you have a comprehensive view of your acquisition target's technical quality, scalability, risks, operational maturity, and OpEx/CapEx investments required? In complex transactions (such as carveouts or divestiture of assets), careful technical due diligence

subset: commoncrawl


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Manufactured by Grit Guard USA, the first address when it comes to clever hand car wash solutions.
- Sold Separately
- Heavy-Duty chrome diamond plate connector for the dollies with the "Swissvax Dual Wash-System"
Note: Use only NON-LOCKING casters in the Connector Plate holes. The lever on the locking casters (should be only 2) can touch and make rolling difficult.
The Connector Plate works with both 2 & 3 inch casters. (Please Be Careful of any sharp edges)


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As Google will be quick to point out, yes, a machine can more quickly identify shapes, categorize things, and not miss any. Much better than our feeble human brains can do these simple tasks. But here comes the million dollar question — IF marketing organizations had more personalized, custom information about their customers, would it REALLY matter? Would we REALLY be smarter? Or would we still send out more e-mails, cram people into funnels and really use the technology to just do more stuff, more frequently and poorly. Because as I see it, that's what is happening with machine learning. Listen to me rage against this machine that will be used to further destroy marketing's reputation out there. Oh, and of course, we'll bake up a fresh batch of Winning and Losing this week as you join me for another fantastical episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.
Music Business, Podcasts, May The Best Brand Win


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Coriander Chutney, Cilantro, Dhania, Kothamalli, 240g
Coriander Chutney is a very tasty recipe which can be served with rice or south Indian recipes like Dosa or Idli. Coriander Chutney can be used in Sandwich also. It is also known as Green or hari chutney, is a refreshing Indian condiment that goes with nearly everything from samosas to seafood to chaat. At its core, it is a puree of coriander, chilies and lemon juice with different regional variants calling for the addition of various spices and flavourings. Once made, this verdant chutney will keep for a week or two ,depending on how much salt and water you add. Keep it in a sealed container and it freezes well.
Ingredients for Coriander Chutney:
• Bunch Chopped Coriander leaves – 1
• Grated Coconut – ¼ Cup
• green chillies – 2
• roasted red chillies – 2
• Ginger paste – ½ tsp
• Garlic paste – ½ tsp
• small onion finely chopped – 1
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Salt to taste
Preperation Method :
Blend all the ingredients in a mixie into a smooth paste. If necessary add little water or do a seasoning.
Buy Coriander Chutney, Cilantro, Dhania, Kothamalli from our Online Indian Shop at cheap rate with best quality.


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For the past eight years, on the second Saturday in May (World Bellydance Day), teams of belly dancers around the world dance a Shimmy Mob, a belly dance flash mob held annualy in support of victims of abuse worldwide.
We need your help. There are so many ways that you can be involved. We need dancers, dance teachers, dance schools, sponsors and volunteers. Learn more by visiting the FAQ section of our website.
This is a fun event, held for a good cause. Feel good about yourself by helping others. Join us!
Shimmy Mob supports victims of abuse, and the shelters and similar organizations in participating local areas, by promoting awareness and furthering the cause. The Sydney Team will be announcing their chosen local charity in the coming weeks - so stay tuned!
Performance locations will be announced in due course.
Everyone is welcome to participate. We have women, men and children join us every year. Anyone who wants to be part of this event in any capacity and has officially registered can participate. You don't have to be a dancer to be involved. The dance is easily adaptable to less experienced dancers and we have a new, super easy dance option for those who have never danced before.
Each dancer that participates in the Shimmy Mob performance MUST be registered through www.shimmymob.com and order the Shimmy Mob t-shirt. When you complete your registration, you gain access to the choreography instruction and breakdown. You will need to learn the dance, attend rehearsals as scheduled by your Team Leader and then perform on the Shimmy Mob designated event date.
To make it accessible to as many people as possible, we try to make the choreography fun and easy to learn. We have added a second choreo that non-dancers should be able to learn and then particpate as a group
Shimmy Mob is easily identifiable as all the dancers in the group wear the official Shimmy Mob t-shirt (it includes the shimmymob.com URL). Note that the t-shirt is a different color every year; if you were part of a previous Shimmy Mob performance, your previous t-shirt will not work for the next event.
Registrations for the 2019 Shimmy Mob event close on Sunday, 31 March 2019, at midnight (PST). Cost is US$36 plus postage and handling.
You can also purchase a 'gift certificate' from the Shimmy Mob store and we will send the recipient the instructions of how to apply it to their registration.
If you have any questions - please message me - Jessica (Sydney Team Leader) from Shimmy Juju Bellydance - through the Facebook event page.
Happy shimmies! Jess


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Pre-Holiday Healthy Snacks
It's officially November, which means the holidays are coming! We're so excited for all the delicious food to come, but this is a good time to stay on track with health, too. That way, we can definitely indulge around the holidays, knowing we put good food into our bodies leading up to grandma's famous pumpkin pie! Whether you prefer salty or sweet snacks, we've got you covered. Try some of these holiday-inspired healthy recipes.
1. Cranberry Apple Smoothie
There is no better fruit combination than the tartness of cranberries and the sweetness of apples. Blend them together with some spinach (you won't even taste it), add some ice and you have a delicious smoothie you can drink any time of day.
Find the recipe here.
2. Sweet Potato Fries
Sometimes, you just want fries! They're crispy on the outside, soft in the inside and if you're craving them, it's hard to stay away. Simply substitute regular potatoes for healthier sweet potatoes, which are popular this time of year—plus, they taste amazing.
The recipe can be found here.
3. Cinnamon Apple Chips
Caramel apples, apple cider, apple muffins; there is so much apple in fall, and we love it! But if you're trying to stay healthier, bake apples into sweet and delicious chips. Dust them with cinnamon and you've got a crunchy (and tasty) pre-holiday snack.
Find the chip recipe here.
4. Turkey Cranberry Rollups
If you want something to sustain you through a long day of class or holiday shopping, look no further than turkey cranberry rollups. Turkey is protein, and it tastes delicious with the sweeter cranberries. If you want, you can dress them up with some mayo and lettuce.
Here is the recipe.
5. Popcorn with Dark Chocolate
Popcorn is the perfect healthy snack for anytime of year, but adding something sweet to it makes it that much yummier. It's almost the holidays, which means a lot of chocolate will be consumed! If you want to stay on track, choose dark chocolate candies to add to your mix.
This is just a sample recipe, but you can get creative with this and use butter substitutes if you prefer.
Happy (and healthy) snacking, collegiettes!


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Bounty Hunters (2016)
Lee Shan and Ayo are ex-Interpol agents who are now bounty hunters, chasing fugitives for cash rewards. When the two of them are framed for a hotel-bombing, they join hands with a legendary bounty hunter named Cat, along with her teammates, to find the real bomber.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Director: Shin Tae-Ra
Actors: Fan Siu-Wong, Jeremy Xu Zheng-Xi, Karena Ng, Lee Min-ho, Tang Yan, Wallace Chung
Duration: 106
Release: 2016


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Today I will Review about best WordPress theme you can choose the best theme for your website so let's start with techteum.
|Best WordPress Theme Themeforest
1. Bifrost Best WordPress Theme
|Bifrost Best WordPress Theme
Bifrost is probably the few themes at Themeforest by having an almost 5-star rating. This theme comes with increased than 30 demos which you'll easily set up while using powerful Elementor drag as well as drop editor. Bifrost is a responsive theme that makes it a great fit for that screen of all dimensions.
This theme is compatible with WooCommerce that makes it a great choice to have an online store. Moreover, you are able to create your website in various languages as it is actually WPML ready.
2. Ascend Nice Free Theme
|Ascend Nice Theme Themeforest
Ascend really best and free WordPress multi-purpose concept by Kadence Themes. It comes bundled together with 4 different demo designs you could easily import into your internet site.
Ascend also lets an individual create stunning galleries on your website and never having to use any WordPress gallery plugin. That supports 3 different gallery types: normal, no-margin and submit style.
Ascend is any Gutenberg compatible theme, meaning you can generate as rich a post layout obviously with the famous Gutenberg plugin.
3. Plum lovely Free Multipurpose Theme
|Plum lovely Free Multipurpose Theme
Plum is a free multi-purpose theme by InkHive. With over 30, 000 satisfied customers and 2 million downloads, InHive is one of the most reliable WordPress theme hubs.
Plum comes with all the current essential features you'll must build a stunning website easily, such as responsive and also mobile-friendly, retina and 4k all set, multilingual and WooCommerce help, and so on.
It allows you to easily add a slider in your homepage and publish an incredible gallery page to show off your portfolio. All your theme options may be adjusted from the Customizer cell.
Hello Hello Hello If you are looking for 4 Best responsive and Most Popular Wordpress Theme
Many thanks to everyone for reading so hard.


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Iraq children tortured, unfairly tried for alleged IS ties: Human Rights Watch
BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities are prosecuting children suspected of ties to the Islamic State group in a "deeply flawed" process, using flimsy accusations or confessions obtained through torture, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
The rights group's extensive report was based on interviews with 29 Iraqi children who are current or former detainees in the Kurdish Regional Government, as well as relatives, prison guards, and judicial sources.
Iraq announced it defeated IS in late 2017, but has continued to try men, women, and children, including foreigners, accused of belonging to the group.
"The screening, investigation, and prosecution of children as IS suspects by Iraqi and KRG authorities is deeply flawed, often leading to arbitrary detention and unfair trials," HRW wrote.
It found many boys were arrested from camps or checkpoints based on weak evidence.
They were beaten, subjected to electric shocks, denied access to relatives or legal representation, and coerced into admitting IS membership even if they had never joined the jihadists, it said.
"They were beating me all over my body with plastic pipes. First they said I should say I was with IS, so I agreed," said a 14-year-old held by the KRG's Asayish police.
While IS did widely recruit and indoctrinate children, having some carry out executions, most of those interviewed by HRW said they never fought with the group.
They were tried without lawyers, in hearings that lasted no more than ten minutes and were conducted in Kurdish, a language the Arabic-speaking boys could not understand.
Sentences in the KRG were between six and nine months.


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Posted by Malcolm Graham-Wood - Malcy's Blog
WTI $64.73 -79c, Brent $75.36 -2c, Diff -$10.63 +77c, NG $2.90 +1c
Oil Price
Who would be an oil trader with such odd moves that propel WTI and Brent in differing directions even on published data? Yesterday's EIA inventory stats were much worse than the teenage scribblers had predicted with crude building 2.1m barrels against guesses of a draw of 2.2m, now you know why I call them guesses. The ultimate irony is that the differential of over ten bucks is making WTO attractive to overseas buyers who can handle their crude, whilst last week the US doubled their imports of oil from Saudi Arabia….
Sound Energy
The Sound machine is back up and running alright, today is day four of the assault on the RNS system as the company are back up and running in Morocco make no mistake. Today they announce a significant step in the company's operations in Morocco with a FEED award and HOT for conditional construction and financing of all infrastructure requirements including a 20″ pipeline and facilities to commercialise the company's existing gas discoveries in Eastern Morocco. The consortium, made up of Enagas, Elecnor and Fomento has exclusivity to finalise the funding, construction and operation of the pipeline and central processing facility under a Build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) structure.
This is 'a hugely important milestone for the company' without any doubt and 'for Sound Energy shareholders who are on the pathway to commercialising existing and future gas resources in Eastern Morocco, all without additional equity dilution'. The pipeline which at 20″ is very generously sized for potential volume increases, is intended to deliver an estimated 60 mmscf/d of gas to the Gas Maghreb-Europe pipeline system, some 120km away. The 15 year operating period, during which Sound will pay an annual fee to be agreed post the FEED and will not exceed $45m per annum after which the ownership will be transferred to Sound and its partners subject to any extension agreed by the partners.
This is certainly a 'dream deal' for Sound who are back and knocking the ball out of the park all over the place. The consortium looks very strong and the inclusion of Spanish distribution network owners Enagas is inspired when you look at end-market opportunities. There is now a clear line of sight on development funding for the pipeline and facilities and done with no equity dilution for shareholders. For those loyal investors who have stayed the trip, they are getting towards the commercialisation of the time and money during the exploration phase, to coin a phrase, is Sound beginning to look like a World Cup team with Schlumberger and Enagas as their star strikers?
Why not call it #deliveringdreamsinthedesert?
Frontera Resources
FRR has announced that it has renegotiated its deal with Yorkville and at a cost of up to $265/- per month have final closure on this financing. It is perfectly possible that this could be effected without significant dilution and in any case closing it out carries massive benefits.
This finally consigns the old financing, which might have been right at the time, to history and it is time to look forwards. I am not sure that the market has yet to appreciate quite how much FRR has changed, particularly with regard to recent successes at Taribani, where should finance be needed the company should be able to draw on something significantly better than historically. Potential that I saw in the company a long time ago is getting closer and certainly warrants investigation as the upside in Georgia is sizeable and at long last close to being delivered.
SOCO International
I recently met with the SOCO management and get the feeling that there are a number of opportunities being addressed by the company. In the meantime it's business as usual with production guidance remaining at 8-9/- b/d and drilling imminent on CNV and TGT. With $150m of cash there is plenty to pay the 5.25p of dividend and the company is in an very strong position with scope for much more should the right deal come along.
Echo Energy
I mentioned Echo briefly yesterday but with little time to go through the announcement I wanted to flesh it out a bit today after a chat with the CEO. The complication in the well was that whilst the Springhill reservoir was showing only limited gas shows leading one to believe that a better chance may be up dip, the Tobifera was oil bearing in thin beds. When the test rig arrives on site it will establish whether the oil will flow here and given the well came in at 2/3 of budgeted cost it is not money wasted.
The company will drill the third well which is another Springhill/Tobifera play after which all options remain open to the company. The fourth well was certainly de-risked by the first well which leaves all options open for the company as it looks at this well programme's results as well as the successes achieved in the workover programme on Fracción D. With the drilling programme 2/2 Echo is having a good start to its campaign in Argentina and with good value too.
Hurricane Energy
I attended the Hurricane AGM yesterday, I am not normally an AGM attender but as this is the annual occasion for a 'state of the nation' presentation by CEO Dr Robert Trice it is always worthwhile. The detail of the presentation is now all on the company's website and is worth a visit, particularly the timeline and comments on monetisation.
All I would add in these respects are that the company is still very much on target for first oil in 1H 2019 as all the pieces of the jigsaw are put together. Aware that Hurricane is in the sights of many bigger oil companies, and that they themselves have no plans to develop out to full field status and their preference is to 'monetise our resources in a timely fashion', Trice said that he didnt expect any meaningful commercial discussions would take place until they had had '6-12 months of steady state production'.
There is clearly a feeling amongst HUR investors that with operational achievements probably ahead of the game, production might start at least at the beginning of the 1H 2019 window, next year is going to be one of great excitement for the company and its investors.
Savannah Petroleum
I wrote briefly about SAVP in yesterday's flash blog and won't add much as after the announcement I was extremely fortunate to be able to interview CEO Andrew Knott on Core Finance TV. There is no doubt that the well result was right at the top of, if not above pre-drill expectations and the clue is that they are commencing detailed development concept evaluation work around the creation of a potential R3 East Area Early Production System. With another well to drill in this campaign there is more to look forward to and of course the chance of taking up options to drill more wells in the area can't be ruled out.
The words of Savannah Chairman Steve Jenkins are also most interesting as he says that 'these two wells have the potential to underpin a future R3 East development hub'. With many leads and opportunities to capture the seemingly plentiful resources and backing from partners now and in the future, including the Government, Savannah and its very strong team are well placed and the very modest rise in the share price is nothing like enough. The link to the interview is below.
Core Finance CEO interview: Andrew Knott of Savannah Petroleum
President Energy
I said that I would add to comments on President I made in yesterday's blog after the conference call, little changed the overall tone of the statement but it was clear that things are going extremely well for the company. Growth that the company is able to evidence is clearly visible and that both Puesto Flores and Estancia Vieja are going to be highly profitable investments. The bringing to the fore of these parts of the portfolio has meant that others such as Puesto Guardian and the Paraguay prospect have been temporarily usurped but I am led to believe that they are very much part of the PPC plan.
This growth from the new projects is not just for highly professional operational reasons, where costs are down and production is beating forecasts, but across the board there is a continuing attack on an already low cost base. This means that the concentration on cash flow, profits and margins bode well for the future and I for one cannot understand why the share price isn't significantly higher.
Rose Petroleum
Rose Petroleum had results yesterday but given the change in nature of the company recently were completely immaterial as the company focuses on its US E&P assets in the Paradox Basin in Utah. A $4m raise was followed by 3D seismic and with new acreage added one can expect a new, updated CPR before long. With a potential farm-out and hopefully a well to be drilled later in the year the metamorphosis is very much underway and it looks like an interesting proposition given the warmth of the US onshore market at the moment. I recently met with CEO Matt Idiens and was impressed by the potential scalability of Rose, he is a man on a mission, or should i say, another mission.
And Finally...
England play Costa Rica tonight in their last warm-up game before the World Cup, now there's a familiar name from the not too distant past of England misery…
Visit source site
https://malcysblog.com/2018/06/oil-price-sound-ene...MalcyMalcy'sMalcy's Blogoil priceSound Energyfrontera resourcesSOCOEcho EnergySavannah PetroleumPresident EnergyRose Petroleum
Oil Price, Savannah, Range, Pantheon, and Finally…WTI $45.88 -$2.29, Brent $54.35 -$2.89, Diff -$8.47 -$1.57, NG $3.58 -14c Oil Price Whether you call it a risk off moment after the Fed and others warned about the economy next year or just a supply worry that Opec+, ie Russia won't cut production next year the oil price retreated and will li ...
Malcolm Graham-Wood - Malcy's Blog
Oil Price, Faroe, President, Range, Wentworth, and Finally…WTI $47.20 +96c, Brent $57.24 +98c, Diff -$10.04 +2c, NG $3.73 -11c Oil Price A rally yesterday after a handy set of inventory numbers but oil is down again today after world markets did not like the rate rise from the Fed. The EIA announced a crude draw of around half a million barrels which ...
Malcolm Graham-Wood - Malcy's Blog
Oil Price, Reabold, Angus, IOG, and Finally…WTI $46.24 -$3.64, Brent $56.26 -$3.35, Diff -$10.02 +29c, NG $3.84 Oil Price Another very bad day for oil yesterday and whilst news is still not good it is certainly not as bad as this price suggests. Today is Fed decision day and we are led to believe that another rise is on the cards but f ...
Malcolm Graham-Wood - Malcy's Blog
Petrofac, President, IOG, Infrastrata, IGas, Cairn/Far, AminexPetrofac Trading update from PFC this morning, all in line with expectations, indeed I would venture that this is a pretty good update given where company has come from. The $5bn order intake is impressive giving a backlog of $10.2bn and with over $15bn of tenders out the outlook for 1H 2019 is ...
Malcolm Graham-Wood - Malcy's Blog
Oil Price, DGO, Block Energy, and Finally…WTI $52.58 +$1.43, Brent $61.45 +1.30, Diff -$8.87 -13c, NG $4.12 -1c Oil Price It looks like the oil price will be roughly even on the week, today it is down a touch on the poor Chinese economic data but the better than expected inventory data from the API, EIA and Genscape have also shown s ...
Malcolm Graham-Wood - Malcy's Blog


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Need to update the information on this page?
Contact us at here
Diocese: Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
There are no public Masses at the moment. Churches are now open at certain times - please check with the parish to find out when.
St Cuthbert`s RC Primary School School, Parkfield, Stockton On Tees, Cleveland, TS18 3SY
Mrs Julia Douglass - Head Teacher
Mrs Helena Mcgouran - Deputy Head Teacher
Mrs M Dowson - Chair of Governors
Fr Simon Weymes - Chaplain
|01642 601567
|01642 601567
|Click here to email St Cuthbert`s RC Primary School
Nearest Schools
St Patrick`s Catholic Primary, Thornaby (0.8 miles)
St Bede`s Catholic Primary School, Stockton On Tees (1.1 miles)
St Patrick`s Catholic College, Thornaby (1.4 miles)
Our Lady And St Bede RC Comprehensive School, Stockton On Tees (1.5 miles)
St Patrick`s RC Primary School, Stockton On Tees (1.8 miles)
Nearest Parishes/Churches
St Cuthbert, Stockton-On-Tees (0.4 miles)
St Patrick, Thornaby on Tees (0.7 miles)
St Mary, Stockton-On-Tees (0.9 miles)
St Bede`s, Stockton-On-Tees (1 miles)
Christ the King, Thornaby (1.6 miles)
Nearest Schools and Churches are calculated `as the crow flies` and may not be the closest or easiest when travelling.
About Us
Maintained Primary School in Stockton On Tees (Diocese of Hexham & Newcastle)


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text: UFDC Home | Help | RSS TABLE OF CONTENTS HIDE Front Cover Half Title Frontispiece Title Page Table of Contents The children grumble The children smile New friends Terrible disasters The little old gentleman The children make plans Back Cover Spine Title: Some other people CITATION THUMBNAILS PAGE TURNER PAGE IMAGE ZOOMABLE Full Citation STANDARD VIEW MARC VIEW Permanent Link: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00078669/00001 Material Information Title: Some other people Physical Description: 47 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 24 cm. Language: English Creator: Weber, AliceBerkeley, Edith ( Illustrator )Moody, Fannie ( Illustrator )Maplestone, Florence ( Illustrator )Connell, M ( Illustrator )Hammond, Gertrude Demain, d. 1934 ( Illustrator )Fenn, Harry, 1838-1911 ( Illustrator )Maplestone, Edith ( Illustrator )May, Gertrude ( Illustrator )Finnemore, Joseph, 1860-1939 ( Illustrator )Strutt, A. W ( Illustrator )Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh ( Publisher ) Publisher: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh Place of Publication: London ;Sydney Publication Date: [1890?] Subjects Subject: Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Brothers and sisters -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Measles -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Family -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Aunts -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Christian life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )Family stories -- 1890 ( local )Bldn -- 1890 Genre: Family stories ( local )novel ( marcgt ) Spatial Coverage: England -- LondonAustralia -- Sydney Notes Statement of Responsibility: by Alice Weber ; illustrated by Edith Berkeley, Fannie Moody, Florence Maplestone, M. Connell, Gertrude Demain Hammond, Annie Manville Fenn, Edith Maplestone, Gertrude May, J. Fennimore, A. W. Strutt, R.B.A., &c. General Note: Date of publication from inscription. General Note: Some illustrations printed in colors. Record Information Bibliographic ID: UF00078669 Volume ID: VID00001 Source Institution: University of Florida Rights Management: All rights reserved by the source institution and holding location. Resource Identifier: aleph - 002225230notis - ALG5502oclc - 180989951 Table of Contents Front Cover Front Cover 1 Front Cover 2 Half Title Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Frontispiece Page 4 Title Page Page 5 Page 6 Table of Contents Page 7 Page 8 The children grumble Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 The children smile Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 New friends Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Terrible disasters Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 The little old gentleman Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 The children make plans Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Back Cover Back Cover 1 Back Cover 2 Spine Spine Full Text im I'M- INC SOME OTHER PEOPLE ,, "'L; L :'!- SOME OTHER PEOPLE ALICE WEBER AUTHOR OF "WHEN I'M A MAN." ILLUSTRA TED BY EDITH BERKELEY, FANNIE MOODY, FLORENCE MAPLESTONE, M. CONNELL, GERTRUDE DEMAIN HAMMOND, ANNIE MANVILLE FENN, EDITH MAPLESTONE GERTRUDE MAY, J. FENNIMORE, A. W. STRUTT, R.B.A., &c. GRIFFITH FARRAN OKEDEN & WELSH NEWBERY HOUSE LONDON AND SYDNEY The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are reserved. THE CHILDREN GRUMBLE CHAPTER II. THE CHILDREN SMILE CHAPTER III. NEW FRIENDS CHAPTER IV. TERRIBLE DISASTERS CHAPTER V. THE LITTLE OLD GENTLEMAN CHAPTER VI. THE CHILDREN MAKE PLANS CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE I __ __ SOME OTHER PEOPLE. CHAPTER I. THE CHILDREN- GRUMBLE. THE children had had the measles-all four of them-Gladys, Sidney, Molly, and Toby; and they were all in that limp and flabby state when a very little thing makes you cross, and a still smaller thing makes you cry, and a smaller thing still makes your bones ache as if you had been running for miles. Nobody knew how they had caught it; but Nurse had her strong suspicions that when they were at the seaside last August, "the seeds," as she expressed it, had been sown. For the shore used to swarm with children like sandhoppers in number, and Nurse said that amongst so many there must have been one child on the verge of measles, and her theory was that "one measles would make a thousand." She also remembered that "the day they began it-the day when she knew something was wrong with Miss Gladys-what does Master Sidney do but paddle about with her, he and she in their bathing toggery, with their fishing- nets all the morning. Measles was in them then, she was sure of it, and measles was checked-sent inside them by that fishy paddling, which she always had set her face against, and their Ma never would!" Whether Nurse was right or wrong, certainly the two elder children had been seriously ill; the two younger ones were always said to hop through everything, but Sidney and Gladys took things hard. And now it was October, and they were said to be convalescent, which is one word for the two words, "limp and flabby." They were well enough to go out, if it had been weather for them, but what an endless number of wet days Sidney had noted down on his weather-chart that week! "And mother says, 'Where's your chirpiness, Sid?' I should like to know who could be chirpy after measles, and in all this rain " Sidney stood in the schoolroom window, the picture of woe; it was a bow- window that looked right over the charmingly picturesque old High Street, with the bridge across the river at the bottom of it, but Sidney could see nothing charming out of doors that afternoon. Blue-eyed Gladys, pale and peaky from B :-" 71-'i:~--~ ~) ~11'"17;r*-, inpr~-;TCir _I-. I- -1-T 7-.. -.;-~-.;--.----~T~ Az ^*%&-lS- SOME OTHER PEOPLE. measles, said peevishly, from the depths of the arm-chair, where she sat curled up with a book : "I get so tired of everything! I'm tired of reading now! I wish some- thing nice would happen! I wish doctor's children need never have the measles! 0 Molly! how you make my head ache! do go and play battle- dore upstairs " For Molly was now able-bodied enough to spring about the room after her shuttlecock; SI but, as she liked being with Sidney and Gladys in the schoolroom better than being in the nursery with that young Turk Toby, she-for a wonder --did not argue; but, discovering that her head, too, ached a little, went and stood in the window with Sidney. S"Father and mother have a secret," she said grandly; "and it's something about us, I know." "I wish you didn't always think you knew every- thing!" murmured Gladys, fretfully. .....L "And it's sure to be nothing nice," grumbled Sidney. "Nothing nice will ever come again." ':./4 T can tell nyo some- thing else," continued Molly, nodding her head wisely. Hodge says the Ribstone pippins in his garden are quite ripe now, and little Jenny Hodge i picked up the windfalls yesterday, and sat under the hedge eating three before they found out. Father has sent her some medi- ..- cine." Molly, there's Toby calling you," said Sidney, as a shrill little voice was heard from the upper regions, crying ," out, "Molly! Molly! Tiger's come up to play wif us! Now, * S~ Tiger was a large Newfoundland. Molly disappeared in a twink- ling. She and Toby were very good friends; Toby was a Turk. and a pickle, but then he was a boy, and only four years old, and pickles of four years old may be something very good by the. time they are forty; Molly w.as seven, and a girl, and so of course was different altogether; then, as Mr Sepia told her, So much is expected of girls, they are the salvation of society." L_ 'P;: ~~t i~y .~i~c~ ~ THE CHILDREN GR UMBLE. Mr Sepia was an artist-friend of their father's, and he had come down from London to stay at Dr Darcy's, on purpose to paint bits of the picturesque old town. Would you believe it? he had been in the house ten days, and in all that time had not once been able to sit out of doors to sketch. So he had to make the best of circumstances, which means that on that very afternoon when the children were grumbling in the schoolroom, he had fixed his easel in the study (called his "studio"), and had begun a picture indoors. "Such a curus picture to make!" Molly had told Gladys and Sidney; for Molly had gone in on tip-toe to see what-he was about, and although he had frowned his thick eyebrows, and tossed back his shaggy hair, with a fierce "What do you want in here ? he had, at the same time, stretched out an arm, and Molly had calmly walked into it, and contemplated his picture. "Such a very curus one I" she had told them; "it was a large hat, and there was a feather in it, and there was a cup and ball by it, and there was a bow, and a thing to hold arrows, and then there was an arrow stuck through whatever it was the hat and cup and ball were lying on. And what do m you think he called the -- ____ --_--- picture? He said he called it 'Gone Away!' And then he told me a beautiful story about it; and it was about a little girl, and her father, and ." But Gladys and Sidney had begged Molly not to tell them any more, because she always made her stories so uninteresting, they said, by putting in so many "ands," they would rather ask Mr Sepia to tell them himself. And when Molly had gone up to the nursery, it struck them that perhaps Mr Sepia would come and tell them a story, then and there. Sidney volunteered to ask him, going out of the room as if he were carrying a sack of coals on his back, and creeping downstairs as if the bannisters were his sole support in life. He sauntered into the studio. It was too dusk to paint any longer; the firelight was dancing and flickering in the corners of the comfortable, warmly-coloured room; through the window could be seen, away over the line of hills beyond the water meadows, a rent in the grey curtain of cloud that had hung there all day, and through the rent peeped a streak of greenish-blue sky. It looked very watery outside-very warm inside. The artist had thrown himself into an arm-chair, and was evidently napping. Sidney leaned over the table on his elbows, and taking up a paint-brush dabbled it about in the glass of water. SOME OTHER PEOPLE. Hallo came from the arm-chair, "leave my things alone I" Sidney had not even the energy to start; he pulled himself up, and went round to the arin-chair,-it was something to lean against. We do wish you would come and tell us a story," he said, with a sigh. Couldn't do it. I had boiled mutton for lunch. Who could tell a story after boiled mutton ?" replied Mr Sepia, with his eyes closed. Sidney found this unanswerable; but after a minute's pause he began again : "Measles are such miserable things, Gladys and I think; we don't think we have ever been so miserable in our lives-ever." "Molly and Toby don't seem to think so," said the artist, still with his eyes closed. I looked into the nursery a little while ago, and they were sledg- ing with Tiger and the clothes-basket-Molly inside." Molly and Toby are children," returned Sidney, superbly. Good gracious I" exclaimed Mr Sepia, with wide-open eyes; but he shut them again directly. There was profound silence until Sidney spoke again. Nobody does anything to amuse us to-day; everything is so horrid. We don't think we are ever going to see the Maynes at the Vicarage again, because they have never had measles; and they have some darling puppies which they are longing to show us; but we can't go to them, and they mustn't come to us. It is miserable." "You re- .mind me so much,"said Mr Sepia, half opening his eyes, of a certain jackdaw who has been sitting on the dead branch of that oak tree just outside the window. Now, jackdaws are known to be the most contented and cheery birds; nobody ever saw or heard of a moping, melancholy jackdaw. But this one S, evidently has a grievance-perhaps his friends the starlings have measles, and he and his family cannot therefore associate as usual- whatever it is, he was flapping and cawing on that branch for at least a quarter of an hour. And I took it to be his way of grumbling; he must make himself intensely disagreeable to the other birds, as all grumbling things and people do." THE CHILDREN GRUMBLE. 13 Poor Sidney put his head down on the top of the arm-chair with some- thing very like a sob, as he said : But I don't believe that jackdaw felt as tired as I do !" Then the artist looked up and pulled Sidney round on to his knee, and kissing him quite in a surprising way, exclaimed : My dear boy! I'm sorry if I have been a brute! Let's come to tea; I hear a clinking of cups and saucers in the schoolroom." He and Sidney got up from the arm-chair n .t.o together and went off arm-in-arm to the school- room; only it was un- fortunate that they left the studio door open, for the consequences were disastrous. Toby had been allowed to join the schoolroom tea-party for a treat because of the wet weather. Not that Toby's spirits were even damped by rain; it was more likely because the others wanted something to laugh at that he was so promoted. Mr Sepia, too, was never cross or sulky; in fact he was always happy; and such people are always welcome when they drop in for a cup of tea. They were really all beginning to be quite a merry little tea-party; Toby, beaming over his bread and jam, was announcing to the party generally, When I am a big man, I will give you all sweet cakes," which Mr Sepia told S"Gladys was a polite reflection on the lack of such dainties that evening; and at that very moment Jane, the parlour-maid, came into the schoolroom, and, with a face of dis- may, told startling 1 -, news. Two kittens, children of the Vicarage cat, and only sent to Sidney and Gladys yesterday, had strolled into the studio together. They were said by the little Maynes to be the sweetest kittens that ever were, and believed to be so by the Darcy children, but not by poor Mr Sepia when Jane said: SOME OTHER PEOPLE. Oh if you please, sir I the two kittens have been and got on the study table, and have walked over your paints, and bitten your paint-brushes and torn one of your painting-bottles, dreadful " "Oh !" screamed Gladys, jumping up from her chair, "the darlings will be poisoned !" "Of course they will, if we don't make them sick I" cried Molly the all-wise. "Castor oil! castor oil at once! cried Gladys; for which Sidney precipi- tately hurried up to the nursery, the two girls rushing after him, hearing that the kittens had been carried off there. Mr Sepia, the only injured one, said nothing, but he felt the more, as he went back to the studio to pick up the pieces of what remained. So Toby found himself alone with the jam. The opportunity was a grand one; and when, after a few minutes, the three others came back to the tea-table-having left the kittens purring on the nursery rug, unharmed by paint, and therefore saved from castor oil-they found the jam-pot empty. "Toby!!!" they all three exclaimed at once. It really was enough to crush him, but Toby was not easily crushed. He faced them all with his sweetest smile, and said: I petended I was a man, and stood eat eberysing I liked "-Perhaps it was rather a pity that he did not suffer any more than the kittens did. Mr Sepia looked in upon them before dinner; he put his head round the door, and said: "Those kittens have bitten two of my paint-tubes to bits, and. torn the hairs out of three of my best brushes. Whose fault is it ?-the measles or the weather ?" "It is the weather's fault," cried the children; "because if it had been fine you would have been painting out of - doors. Dear Mr Sepia, we are so sorry , but do come in and sit with us again- Toby's gone to bed-and we have no one and nothing to make us laugh!" But the dinner-gong sounded, and the artist's head vanished. '"After dinner we shall have our secret, I think!" said Molly, hopping -. on one leg and clapping her hands, - And so they had. ., CHAPTER II. THE CHILDREN SMILE. THE Maynes living at the Vicarage, and the Darcys had often thought it would be a charming thing to their two houses; only they had never seen their wayclearly to laying down the wires through that piece of marsh-land which separated them where the wild duck flew across in the long winter nights, and where J living in the High Street, have a telephone between "Late in the autumn, on still and cloudless evenings, Among the golden reed-beds I heard the starlings sing." Gladys might have been corn orted that afternoon in her disconsolate w dumps if she could have heard Mlaggie Mayne say in her cheerful tone- Measles can't last for ever, you know. We and the Darcys must meet at last." There were four children at the Vicarage: Harold and Maggie were the two eldest,-Grace, the youngest, was only two years old and then there was a Daisy, the same age as Toby. "And they never have anything the matter with them i the Darcys used to say; "never have measles or mumps, or any of the other things we are always having!" Indeed, the Maynes were apparently born under such a lucky star that Gladys had said on that identical wet, grumbly afternoon, "Very likely the Maynes have been able to do something very jolly to-day--something, perhaps, with the darling new puppies." Certainly ii I i li~---------L_--------- SOME OTHER PEOPLE. the Darcys had missed something that was rather funny, for Harold and Maggie had gone out into the back-yard after dinner with one of the puppies, and the sister kitten to the Darcys' two; and they had made them sit up opposite to one another, with their little forepaws beating the air to steady themselves, and they were made to promise one another that they would always be good friends, and not lead a cat and dog life-the mother-cat watching the scene from a window-sill above. This sort of introduction was always gone through between the Vicarage cats and dogs. Then the rain had come pouring down; the introduction was over, and Harold and Maggie were obliged to go indoors, like everyone else. "Father says if this rain lasts much longer the floods will come," said Harold. "Shall we have Noah's ark then ?" asked Daisy. But before her question could be answered, somebody said that the young puppies were all brought in from the stables by their father, and were now downstairs in the hall waiting for them. Helter-skelter downstairs rushed the children, leaving little Grace hanging on to the nursery-gate, and peeping through the bars in wonder as to what she would see, if she looked long enough. If she could have looked round corners, she would have seen her father stretched at full length on the matted hall floor, leaning on his elbows, whilst a puppy, soft and white, licked his face. Harold, Maggie, and Daisy were down on their knees, and on all-fours with another fat thing; whilst their mother stood in the drawing-room doorway, with the third dumpling in her hands, cuddling it against her cheek. How glad I am that you and father are as fond of creatures as we are, mother! cried Maggie. "If the floods are coming, and Daisy's ark is floated, it would be lovely for one thing, because we should have all the animals living with us! It was rather a delightful idea, and they discussed it fully at nursery tea, only Nurse did not seem quite to see the beauty of it. She would persist in repeating, "Where should I air my clean things then, Miss Maggie?" She was a dear old thing, their old Rebecca. Never a tea-time passed without Baby Grace climbing on to her knee for the small fingers of bread and butter,, delicately spread with brown sugar. Then the poems she used to recite to them poetry that she had learnt when she was a little girl at school, and which sounded so utterly unlike any other poetry, that once Harold asked her if it were English. But there is a great charm sometimes in listening to what you cannot understand. Another of her accomplishments was to tell fortunes from tea-cups; many an evening did Harold pass her his empty mug with the little black grounds of tea running up the side of it, to have it returned by Nurse with the words: "A successful man you'll surelie be- Up at the top of the tallest tree 1 " SOME OTHER PEOPLE. "Must it always be the same ?" Harold asked, for all the children used to think that successful man sounded most uninteresting. "Would you wish for anything better, Master Harold, my dear ?" "To have a pack of hounds one day would be much jollier objected Harold. "How would that help your dear Pa and Ma?" was Nurse's answer, as stern as she could make it, but she was not stern by nature. To live with the Darcys all in one house would be much nicer I" cried Maggie. Ah Miss Maggie, happy families don't always agree; it's very difficult to say now what you'd like as a good fortune when you're much older. Daisy, my dearie, do you want to say what you'd like? Say it then." For Daisy, spoon in hand, paused before her next spoonful with an anxious look in her little eager face. Breathlessly she exclaimed: I'd like a toy boat, and a horse and cart, and a ball, and a top, for rmy own!" "And so she shall one of these fine days," rang out in their father's cheery voice, as he just then came into the nursery. He had put the puppies to bed, and written many letters, and been into the town since the children saw him last, and now he had come upstairs for a cup of tea. Maggie jumped off her chair-which he instantly dropped into -and began to make him some toast. "Still raining, sir ?" asked Nurse. Raining! I should think so. We shall have the floods out before to- morrow morning." "And then we shall have the ark to live in, and Darcys and dogs and donkeys and dear little pussies to live wif us w" A consummation devoutly to be wished for," said the father, laughing, as he stroked Daisy's hair. Father is so clever," the children used to say, we and Nurse don't always understand his long words." In the Darcys' dining-room that evening the great secret was revealed. Molly and Toby had gone to bed, for it was during late dinner-time, when Sidney and Gladys always sat in two arm-chairs with their books, until their father took out his watch, which always meant "good-night." They particularly liked late dinner-time when Mr Sepia was there, because he would speak to them occasionally. Father and mother when alone generally talked to one THE CHILDREN SMILE. another, because, you see, father was on his rounds all day, and sometimes had to go a long, long way into the country, so that he and mother had a great deal to say to one another. It was very pleasant, the chil- dren thought, when Mr Sepia would look at them, even from his soup, and .perhaps say: Do you think, if it is Fine to-morrow, one of you could bring me in some More of that Travellers' Joy ? I want some for my picture just to finish it." This gave them eachasense of being somebody, which is always comfortable. But now, this evening, r"- their father himself looked at them with his tired, kind eyes, and said : "Mother has a piece of news to tell you." Down went both books, round grew both pair of eyes, as their mother smiled, and Mr Sepia put on his pince-nez to study the effect well. Oh, mother please be quick i panted Gladys. Sidney pretended he was in no hurry, but his face was glowing, and he looked ready to spring from his chair. "Do you remember Miss Silverton ?" said the mother at last, her smile growing larger. My godmother!" exclaimed Gladys, "who sends me a present on my birthday, and has the little green parrokeets you have often told us about; and she is so kind, and lives in London with her brother, and we have always longed to see her; and now are we going there? Oh! then Maggie was right! " Mrs Darcy leaned back in her chair and folded her arms complacently, as she replied : You know so much about it, Gladys, that I see I need not tell you." Gladys was contrite and silenced; Sidney stood up with a protesting gasp; and their father said : Don't keep them in suspense, poor children." Then once more the mother leaned forward smiling, and said : Miss Silverton has written to ask you all to go and stay with her at Mistle- SOME OTHER PEOPLE. toe Lodge, as she and her brother are not afraid of measles, and father and I think you would all get well and strong much sooner in London at this time of the year than you will amongst dead leaves and rising floods." "Maggie and Toby too?" inquired both children eagerly, having, perhaps, a half sort of feeling that it would be rather nice if they might be the only two people to visit Mr and Miss Silverton at Mistletoe Lodge. Yes; and Nurse. And I only hope that Toby's love of animals, and of the unknown will not lead him into the parrot cage," said Dr Darcy. "Where do you think he was found by Sepia this afternoon, my dear? Seated, in that pouring rain, out in the yard on the old barrel, in his little white pinafore, smiling serenely upon Tiger, who was doing 'Trust' at his commands i Nurse had turned her back for a moment, and in that moment he was off down the backstairs, like a shot. His plea was, 'I did want Tiger-and Tiger did want me.' So a compromise was effected by Tiger being marched up into the nursery." "Maggie will be proud that she has guessed right!" observed Gladys thoughtfully, but her meditations were scattered by marching orders being given for "Bed." "Well," said Mr Sepia as the children went round the table to say good-night, "is the secret as good as you expected? will it quite cure measles, and make you forget bad weather ?" "Yes Quite, quite !" they cried. "We feel as if we were never going to be disappointed now any more." Disappointed in what ?" asked Mr Sepia, twiddling his eye-glasses. In giving ? or in having what you want ?" "Don't detain them, Sepia," murmured their father. "They look like two little washed-out rags already." The children stared at Mr Sepia without answering him, and went to bed. CHAPTER III. NEW FRIENDS. IT is a wonderful thought, when we have had measles, and are cross, or when there has been too much rain for us to be cheerful, and altogether things look dark instead of bright,-it is a wonderful thing just to think, "We are not the only ones in the world-somewhere there are other children-somewhere there is other weather-somewhere there are grand plans being made-somewhere there is grand work being done." Far away from the Darcys and the Maynes, there lived a little girl in London whose name was Katie. She had no brothers and sisters, and her father and mother died when she was quite a little thing; and she lived with her Aunt Joan, who thought herself ill when she was not, and spent most of her days in bed. But all the servants doted on Katie; and Katie, too, had something to dote on-her dolls; to her they were really living,-as to ever sticking a pin into one of them, she would far rather have had one stuck into herself. Once upon a time she had lived in an Orphan Asylum; it was soon after her father and mother's death, when nobody knew what to do with poor little Katie; and so she was popped into this large Home with lots of other little fatherless and motherless children, who all wore neat little caps and pinafores, and had their hair cut short. Katie was only there a very little while, for one day her Aunt Joan found herself S; well enough to think about her, and she had told her coachman to drive "to St Agatha's Orphan S : Asylum." Then she had brought Katie away with her, and ordered Sthe lady's-maid to dress her "re- -, spectably," and commanded the short hair to grow as quickly as possible. But there was a day at the Orphan Asylum which made a S far more lasting impression upon Katie than her aunt taking her away from it, and that was a visit from a lady, who, they told her, often came to see the children, and who gave Katie a doll for her very own. That lady will never forget the little orphan's face as NE W FRIENDS. she held her treasure out at arm's length before her, and said: "My own dear darling! And the little orphan will never forget that lady's face when she looked up into it at last from her doll's. The lady's name was Miss Silver- ton. It was the beginning of a life-long friendship, for Miss Silverton's house on Campden Hill was just opposite Miss Joan Catling's. Katie never wished not to have an Aunt Joan, but she did think sometimes what a lovely aunt Miss Silverton would make. It would be nice," she said, confidentially, to her eldest doll, "to have an aunt who does not live in bed, and she would care for you all much more than Aunt Joan does! Indeed, one day, when Miss Silverton was calling upon Miss Catling, she had begged to be allowed to go upstairs and make the acquaintance of the doll family. She found Katie giving them their tea, and a regular introduction was then gone through. "This one is my baby," she said, hugging the one on her lap, and her name is Rosebud. I know she has black arms, but then she is partly African,- her great-great-aunt was a negress living at Zanzibar, and this poor child was brought over to England by a very kind missionary. That dear, little, cheerful thing in a cap is Martha-she never had much hair,-we have tried everything to make it grow. So she is obliged to wear a cap, poor little thing! she doesn't much like it,--the others will make remarks. Mrs Crakanthorp is the worst of them-that elderly person who stares so; she was once housekeeper in a very large establishment, and so she thinks she may make personal remarks and gossip; but it is not good of her, and she is old enough to know better,"-here Katie put up her hand and whispered behind it,-" the other dolls can't bear her; it's as much as I can do to keep the peace ; "-then aloud : "Opposite you see my dear, sweet little Jap. I wish he would sometimes try to sit straight up; but he has such a soft waist, I suppose he can't. That one sitting on the floor is my sensible, good-tempered Tillie. She won't sit anywhere else, because she says she takes so much room,-she never thinks of herself one bit. There's only one thing about her I don't quite like: she will gum her hair down in those two great bands on each side of her face. It is so unbecoming! but whenever I wish to alter it, she says: 'Please, please don't! I have my reasons;' but I don't know what her reasons are, for she always cries so about it that I have to talk of something else." After this introduction between Miss Silverton and the dolls of course she felt a deep interest in them; and it was Katie's delight to seat them all in a. row at the nursery window every afternoon just before her tea-time. With a bright fire on the hearth and lamp light on the table behind them, they could be distinctly seen from the opposite house; and Mary, the maid, would always let the blinds remain up until something had come to pass. What do you think that something was? Miss Silverton would pass up the stairs as the clock struck five, and as regularly as clockwork would pause at the staircase window and look across at the nursery window opposite. And Katie would know- although on these darkening autumn afternoons she could not always see-that SOME OTHER PEOPLE. Miss Silverton was kissing her hand five times to the five dolls, and then would come always a long sixth kiss for little Katie herself; and she would wave her handkerchief vigorously, and would hold up little Jap till he nodded and nodded again and again. Then she knew that Miss Silverton passed on to that morn- ing room where the tea-table stood. She knew exactly how Miss Silverton would stand under -the bracket which held the little b-J clock that boomed the hours in Cathedral tones, beneath a waving peacock feather and above a real Chinese teapot and cup and saucer, and looking up at its face, would say: Ah i it is five minutes past; the tea has stood quite long enough; he must come now." And in answer to her call in a low sweet tone on the landing, her brother would step out from a room close by like a cuckoo out of a cuckoo clock. Katie knew all this because she spent many an hour at Mistletoe Lodge, and she knew that Miss Silverton never disturbed him all the afternoon until then, for Mr Silverton had been writing a book for twenty years, and at five minutes past five he took a cup of tea which had stood five minutes exactly. But one afternoon in this very wet October, when the brother and sister Silverton had had their tea, Mr Silverton did not return to his book as usual. Both seemed restless. He walked up and down the room, first on one square of Persian carpet, then on the other, never once slipping on the polished boards between, which Katie always thought so clever of him. Up and down, back- wards and forwards, he walked, until at last Miss Silverton, standing in one of the curtained window recesses, said, "Here they are, Hannibal!" And then with marvellous agility she ran downstairs. There, in the carpeted, flower- scented hall, with the light falling in mellowed colours from the antique stained glass lamp, with the soft south-west wind rushing in at the open door as the luggage followed them into the house, the children and Miss Silverton met. As they all went upstairs together, after many hugs and kisses, warm on one side, rather shy on the other, Miss Silverton stopped them at the landing window, and told them to look across the dusk outside at a lighted window, where stood a little figure with five smaller figures in front of her. Katie and her family," said Miss Silverton ; "you will know one another to-morrow." In less than no time Gladys and Sidney and Molly were.having their tea in the morning room, whilst Toby sat on Miss Silverton's lap, and was fed as if he had been a little bird, until at last Gladys said : NEW FRIENDS. You know Toby can feed himself quite well "; to which Miss Silverton replied: Ah, yes I but Hannibal does not like crumbs on his carpet." At this Molly looked up from her bread and butter, and fixing her big brown eyes on Mr Silverton, said: P' Are you Cannibal, then ?" Sidney and Gladys were much shocked at what they considered Molly's forwardness; but Mr Silverton and his sister both laughed. She laughed merrily S -he laughed feebly. Then Miss Silver- ton told them, what was just like a story out of a book, how her grandmother had i known their mother's grandmother when .she was quite a girl; and Miss Silverton described even the venr dress that their great-grandmother used to wear n those days-the large strange bonnet, the short waist, the narrow skirts. Her name was Dorothy, my dears, and she was so fond of giving that she would give the very cloak off her back if she saw anybody without one. She and my grand- mother \\ere closest friends, and this friendship between the two families %was kept up until your dear grandmother and I became the friends we were--and are." "Grandmamma is dead," observed Molly, gravely. "But we are still friends," observed Miss Silverton. "And who was your friend ?" asked Molly of Mr Hannibal, standing on the rug watching them as if they were all some very strange little animals. Once more Sidney and Gladys looked reprovingly at her across their teacups; but Molly was not to be daunted. I had a friend once, fairest among women,'" murmured Mr Silverton dreamily as he looked at Molly's jovial countenance. Hannibal, dear," said his sister, Molly will not understand Charles Lamb yet." "Ah, no! of course not," he replied gently. "Well, my dear little girl, little Katie is my friend-my sweet little friend; and all the human race is my friend." Monkeys ?" asked Toby, inquiringly. This stopped Mr Hannibal in anything further that might have been com- ing, for his sister and all the other children laughed uncontrollably; indeed Molly quite shrieked. Mr Hannibal looked at them all curiously. "Mother said you had some dear little parrokeets," said Gladys, in a very polite little way to Miss Silverton. "You shall see them to-morrow, my dear; there are only two left now. D NE W FRIENDS. Perhaps mother told you how Hannibal brought them years ago from Australia, where they used to fly about in the trees." Mr Hannibal instantly began to describe that part of the world to the children and all the birds and beasts that live there; he did not seem able to leave off; and Molly, who was sitting on a little chair : against Miss Silverton's knee, began to nod drow- " sily; and Toby, looking him full in the face, cut short a description which sound ed to Gladys rather like a geography book, by asking him dpropos of nothing: Have 'oo any dogs ?" Mr Hannibal was dumb at once. "Yes, a dear little terrier called Spot," said Miss Silverton, "and you shall see him to-morrow; but now you must come to bed, little man, and Molly too." Nurse was at the door waiting, and Sidney and Gladys were so tired that they actually condescended to go with the little ones. Molly and Toby had a room with Nurse, up a charming stair- case, with pictures on the walls. As to Gladys' room, it almost made her feel grown-up at once. "Why, it's prettier even than mother's at home!" she said'to Sydney when he. came in to say good-night- "Mother always said Miss Silverton's house was like a book. It is only children in books who have fires in their rooms in October. Oh being in London is delicious! We only want father and mother and the Maynes, and then we should be quite happy to live here always!" In a very few minutes after this Gladys was fast asleep, but she had a dream that disturbed her. She dreamt that she was in those countries where Mr Hannibal had once been, and he was with her, and animals were making hideous noises all around, and he was saying: "Never mind, they won't hurt," when a terrific roar came, and she woke with a start, to hear the roar as it SOME OTHER PEOPLE. seemed just underneath the window. She plunged under the bed-clothes, and then popped out one hand to knock against Sidney's wall. In he came at once, to see what was the matter. She said "She was sure that there was some wild animal below, and begged him to look out of the window." He peeped through the blind, and there, in the broad mloonli-ghlt, he saw St'.- cats on the garden-w\all, and a dog's head and .,lepaws belo%%. "Is it a tiger?" gasped lion ?" Gladys. "Oh! do say! is it a tiger or a "You silly" exclaimed Sid; "as I looked out of the window a cat's tail and hindlegs flourished away over the wall, but there's another hideous old tabby still there with such a back, and Spot the terrier is longing to get at her." And Sidney thought he must try to get at her too-with a jug of water. Gladys was now sitting up, with the bed-clothes tucked under her chin, on her knees, watching Sid as he took a small jug from the wash-hand stand, and filled it with cold water; then he went to the window and gently opened it, just as the cat on the wall began another pathetic wail for her lost companion. A window immediately below was thrown open at the same moment. '40_ NEW FRIENDS. 29 Swish went the water from the jug. The cat escaped. But a head below was hastily drawn in: "Oh dear I" sighed Mr Hannibal, wiping his head with his towel, "how it rains still " "Thank you Sid !" cried Gladys, cuddling down into bed again; "that horrid cat won't come back now. Is it still raining? " "No-moonlight," yawned Sid. Then perhaps the floods won't be out now down at home," said Gladys, contentedly. "I'm so glad." .I- T ." CHAPTER IV. TERRIBLE DISASTERS. BUT Gladys was wrong: that night was one long to be remembered in her' home world, for the floods were all out, and rising so rapidly that Hodge the gardener's children, whose home was in the water meadows, might have been all drowned if it had not been for Jock, the miller's son. What did he do but wade right across that large, vast lake which had been meadow land in the morning, until he reached S .the small white cottage in the middle of it. Pushing open the door, he saw the three poor little girls in their nightgowns, crouching round the fire. "O Jock, we can't go to bed !" they cried, because the water's a-comin' in and driving us out; it's all over the floor in .. the next room where we sleep, and mother and father isn't come back yet from marketing. Whatever shall we do?" I'm going to carry you over. to .the mill," he said calmly- every one of you. I must carry -- you because Miss Thomasina had my boat this afternoon, and she's not brought it back. We must start at once." You can't take three, Jock," said Bessie, the eldest. I'll wait here if you TERRIBLE DISASTERS. take the two little ones. I can wait upstairs and get out on to the roof if the water rises as it did last winter. If you carried me with them too, you'd be dragged down." Jock knew she was right, and there was no time to waste on words. So he picked up the two crying little ones, and strode out into the dark waste of waters with them. In some places the water was up to his knees; the little things in his arms sobbed silently from terror; and the thought of that brave and lonely little maid, waiting patiently in the rising floods behind them, made every minute seem an hour. All this was happening whilst Gladys was burying her head before a cat's caterwauling, when the moon was shining calmly over London streets and pave- ments. Perhaps the best way of describing how that night adventure for the gardener's children ended will be to give it as the Darcys had it in letters from home. First, there was a letter from Harold Mayne, who wrote to his great friend Sidney the very next day. "DEAR SID, We have the flood, and it came last night. We are safe, you know, because we are up the hill, but the little Hodgeses were nearly drowned. But Jock from the mill saved them. He carried Susie and Kitty right across to the mill, and then went back for Bessie. And then they were all tucked up in hot blankets. Hodge and his wife were away at Rock- borough, and the flood kept them there all night. We think father must build an ark soon, but the waters are abating, because old Meredith, when he was digging up his turnips this afternoon, said he saw a hedge 1K in the distance which he couldn't see yester- day. The pups are quite well, and the pigeons, and the mice, and the bullfinch, and all the cats. When are you coming back ? We all send our loves.-From your affectionate HAROLD MAYNE." The other letter was from Mr Sepia to Gladys: MY DEAR GLADYS, Terrible things have happened since you all went away. That horrid child, Thomasina Williams, is responsible for a great deal (get out your dictionary before you read this letter). Can you picture all the water meadows SOME OTHER PEOPLE. a sheet of water? and Hodge's cottage in the middle of it, with the water creeping- up higher and higher, and those three little girls all alone in it, because their mother would go over to Rockborough that afternoon to do some shopping. Luckily that brick, Jock, stepped across, like some long-legged-wading bird, to look after them all. And if that rascal Thomasina had not bagged his boat that very day! so that instead of rowing them all across to the mill, he had to carry them. Just as he was reaching dry land he put his foot into a deep hole and fell, children and all; of course they were soaked. But hot baths were ready and waiting at the mill, and hot blankets, and hot drinks. Then the plucky chap waded back for the plucky Bessie, and there he found her waiting for him as bravely as any little woman could wait. They are all happy enough at the mill now, not to go home yet. Mr and Mrs Hodge have come back safe and sound, and say that Jock will always have their blessing; but the vicar and your father mean to give him 'something more substantial. What shall we give Thomasina ? A whipping, I should say. If I ever see you growing like her in character, Gladys, I promise I'll tell you of it. We are very dull without you all, but we try to be conterit. Your Vicarage darlings have eaten another of my oil-tubes, and still they are not poisoned. Tell Toby that Tiger misses him dreadfully. Ask Molly if she has learned anything that she did not know already about great London town ? But I suppose that would be impossible.- Your affectionate friend, JACK SEPIA." "And who is Thomasina ? asked Miss Silverton, when both these letters had been thrust on to her lap for her to read, and the three children stood around her, their hair almost standing on end at the vivid picture of the flood that had come at last. Oh a horrid, horrid girl! answered Molly, vehemently, with a protesting. stamp; "you should have seen her the day we came here getting leaves and things out of the hedge for the harvest festival. She thought she would get all the best of everything, because she knew we hadn't been able to do anything this time. She is so unkind !" "Gently, gently," said Miss Silverton, laying a hand on Molly's little fist, which she was clenching; "and I do not yet know who Thomasina is. Tell me Gladys." Thomasina is Thomasina Williams," replied Gladys; and she lives just out- side the town, and her father keeps a school, and mother says we ought to be kind to her because she has no mother, and being so much with boys makes her rough; still, she might wash her hands sometimes. And Maggie Mayne, who is very kind, once gave her a piece of scented soap at Christmas, and oh Thomasina was so very annoyed. She said it was 'a deliberate insult'-she will always use such grand words. Poor Maggie never meant to be insulting, and she cried about it. TERRIBLE DISASTERS. So we had them both at our house to spend the day and 'come to terms,' as Mr Sepia said, because he was with us then; but we called it 'making it up.' But as soon as Thomasina saw Maggie Mayne coming in at the gate, what do you think she did ? She actually crawled into the dog- kennel to hide, and we none of us knew where she was till our coachman told us that he had seen her do it, and then saw her creep out and run home. She is not a nice girl, really, godmother." Possibly not, my dear child ; the world Sr is not made entirely of nice people. And now I must go out and make some calls, and you little folk must be ready for Katie, who will soon be here. What is little Toby doing, I wonder?" She might well ask, and little did she know or guess what she would hear in another moment. The elderly brother and sister thought Toby a charming child, with the face of a little angel. He was not the least bit shy; to him Mr Hannibal was a playfellow worth cultivating. That very morning when he came in from his walk, Toby had stopped at the study door and thumped upon it till someone on the other side had opened it, when, without looking to the right or to the left, Toby had marched in, and extending one little gloved paw on the table, had dropped therefrom a pebble, which he left there, saying with great complacency, as he turned round and trotted out of the room again, I have brought you my tone." And Mr Hannibal really touched that stone quite tenderly, and placed it carefully in a large antique cabinet in company with various treasures, old and new-treasures which little Katie used to come over every morning to dust. Each little china cup, each delicate piece of glass, she wiped with a soft silk handkerchief kept specially for that purpose by Mr Hannibal, who sat watching her all the while, saying always, when she had finished: Thank you, dear little girl. Now, I must go on with my writing. Kiss me, and go." Katie told the Darcys that she was very, very fond of Mr Hannibal, and they already felt that they must try and be fond of anyone Katie loved; but as yet none of them seemed to understand Mr Hannibal as Toby did. But we have gone far away from what Toby was doing when Miss Silverton mentioned his name. After dinner he had been taken off to the nursery, as usual, by Nurse; for there was a real nursery at Mistletoe Lodge, with a real toy cupboard in it; although they had neither of them been used for many years until SOME OTHER PEOPLE. the children had come. Toby had no intention of staying in the nursery just to please the rest of the world. He had seen Spot, the terrier, down in the yard below, and Spot had looked up at him, wagging his tail; and it ":cCL rred to the generous Toby that .,, had dined, and perhaps Spot had not. So, whilst Nurse wenr t across the landing into an- other room, Toby trotted away du.,a stairs, and opening the garden- door at the end of the hall, he called in the most insinuating little %- way: "' Spot Spot does 'oo want oo (dinner?" Spot needed no pressing. Into the hall he dashed with a bound, and Toby speedily introduced him to the dining-room, where MTiss Silverton's cat sat purr- ing on the rug. She and Spot were good friends; consequently, when Spot jumped on a chair and surveyed the luncheon-table, she took another chair to watch what would happen next. Toby stood on the hearth-rug watching. Does 'oo like tsicken, Spot?" he asked. Apparently Spot liked it very much, for he seized the remains of the J, cold chicken bodily as it lay upon the dish. Toby's eyes opened very wide. "Eatdsently, Spot!" he said warningly, having had those words so often said to himself. Crack went the pinion! crack went the leg! already ordered to be grilled for Mr Hannibal's breakfast the next morning. Steps were heard coming across .the hall. Crack went the drum- stick I and this time it was too much for the cat's powers of endurance. Whether she could no longer stand such a breach of good manners without making some protest, or whether she thought it high time that she should have some share in the spoils, history telleth not. Anyhow, TERRIBLE DISASTERS. she sprang-and the dish slid-and the dog fell backwards off the chair-whilst the dish never stopped sliding till it fell with a smash on the floor, where it lay in two pieces. Toby alone was unmoved. The cat and dog fled, panic-stricken, from the room, very nearly rushing between the feet of Mr Hannibal, who just then came in to look for his eye-glasses, which he had left on the table. He found Toby struggling with one half of the china dish, which he was trying to lift in his small arms. "Dear! dear!" observed Mr Hannibal, looking down upon the signs of devastation. "Dear! dear! there seems to have been an accident of some sort." "Spot and pussy-tat have been, and here is some tsina for 'oo tabinet." "Too large, my little boy-too modern-too much broken!" replied Mr Hannibal, mournfully shaking his head. "Our new dinner set that Tina values so much. I wonder where my eye-glasses are ?" he continued dreamily, scanning the carpet. Toby dropped the dish in a startling way, and instantly went down on hands and knees; pushing aside the carcase of the chicken, he held aloft the glasses, as he sang out cheerily: Here zay are! Under the tsicken zey was! " Then, as Mr Hannibal took them from him, he put his little hand con- fidingly into his old friend's, and said, cheerfully as ever: "Tatie's toming, and we must wass our hands." Mr Hannibal thought he must certainly wash his glasses; but he said nothing until they reached the drawing-room, which hand-in-hand they entered together, just as Miss Silverton was wondering what little Toby was doing. "My dear Tina, there has been an accident," said her brother. "Your favourite dish is broken, the cold chicken is on the floor-Spot and pussy were in the room with Toby." "Oh, Toby! you naughty boy exclaimed all the children at once. Spot was hungry," was all that Toby could say, with a deep sigh. Just then his Nurse appeared on the scene, looking so very severe that Miss Silverton's severity melted away in her gracious smile, as she patted his curly head, saying: "We must forgive him this time, Nurse, but he must not do it again." Here that most sweet and demure little maiden Katie arrived, and Miss Silverton then said she must go out: Be as happy as you can, my dear children," she said. You will find materials for a feast on the dining-room sideboard, and soap bubbles waiting to be blown in the schoolroom. Hannibal has gone to his writing, and so you will all be left to your own devices. How is your Aunt Joan, little Katie ?" "She is quite in bed to-day, thank you, Miss Silverton. Because, you know," she explained to the children, as they all went their way to the school- room, "she is sometimes in her dressing-gown on the sofa." SOME OTHER PEOPLE. "How awfully dull it must be for you!" exclaimed Sid. "What's the matter with her? " Katie shook her head as she replied: I don't know; but it is such a good thing that she is never too ill to see people, and she can always eat and drink and sleep. One of my dolls- Mrs Crakanthorpe- was getting into that state of health once, and I had to shake her hard each time I saw it beginning. Aunt Joan doesn't al- ways care to see me S--but then I can al- ways go to my dolls. But it is better still to come over here! ShI'm so glad to come this afternoon, every- thing is so happy and nice, and everyone is so good " Gladys looked into Katie's happy face, and exclaimed : .6. "You are just like the Maynes! They are always jolly, never have measles, nor bad weather on the wrong days-" Before she could say another word Sid had burst in with: What a jolly bowl of soapy water, and just look at all the pipes Miss Silverton has given us, in case we should break some !" In another moment Katie was seated on the floor with a pipe in her mouth, and very soon bubble after bubble went floating about the schoolroom. CHAPTER V. THE LITTLE OLD GENTLEMAN. MOLLY seized this opportunity of tripping downstairs to the dining-room to fetch the sweets of which Miss Silverton had told them. Cakes, apples, figs, and chocolates,-there they were in tempting array! but in her zeal and anxiety to be the first to get them, she slipped just as she reached the sideboard, and fell on the back of her head. It seemed almost as if some evil genius had possession of the dining-room that afternoon, for Spot's remains had only just been picked up, and now it seemed likely that poor Molly's remains would have to be swept up too. Oh do someone come and pick me up she screamed, frantically. And Mr Hannibal heard her, and came to the rescue; heard her-even although it was only three o'clock, and who ever dreamed of disturbing him when he was writing his book in the afternoon ? Molly heard someone coming; and although she could quite well have picked herself up, it seemed to complete the tragedy of her overthrow better if she were to lie quite still with her eyes shut. She heard the somebody who was coming draw nearer and nearer until he stopped beside her; then she felt someone stoop over her, and then a gentle old voice murmured: Poor child I think we must dash some cold water in her face !" Oh, no!" cried Molly, opening her eyes wide, "please don't! It's only my head does hurt so, and I want someone to pick me up and carry me; but I don't think you can, Mr Cannibal." Molly was not always right though she had a way of thinking herself so. Very gently Mr Silverton slipped an arm under her and raised her to her feet. Very gently he lifted her in his arms, and, as if she were an elongated baby, began carrying her towards his library. Oh! how you are letting my legs dangle! it is so uncomfortable!" complained poor Molly. But when he had placed her on a most comfortable couch drawn up by the fire-when she felt her aching head at rest on the softest of cushions, and a wet bandage in the shape of a delicately-fine cambric handkerchief soaked in eau-de-cologne from a cut-glass bottle that stood on his writing-table, she said, with a deep sigh: Oh Mr Cannibal, you are good and her broad strong little palm was stretched out invitingly towards him. And so, what could he do but take hold of it, and let it drag him down into the arm-chair beside her, turning his back on his writing. SOME OTHER PEOPLE. Did you think I was killed ? she whispered, tragically. No, my dear, I did not think that," he answered, patting the little hand between his own, but I am always terrified when I hear a scream. It reminds me," he murmured-" it reminds me "- he paused. Tell me what it reminds you of," urged Molly. "No, my dear child, I cannot," he replied, quietly; then, rousing himself with an effort, and with a little laugh, he said: Strange that I should just have been writing in my memoirs the story my father used so often to tell me of his grandfather's wonderful slide with some of his wild companions. They were coming home from some late party one winter night-it was a winter of unusually severe frosts-and my great-grandfather dared the others to slide down a certain steep hill, he himself taking the lead. This particular road on that night was like a sheet of glass. My great-grandfather fell and broke a small bone in his ankle, which caused him to limp ever afterwards. The rest of the story you shall read in my memoirs when you are older, my dear." 0 that is so horrid cried Molly. "I don't like being told that I must wait till I am older." Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait,'" murmured Mr Hannibal, apply- ing more eau-de-cologne to the bruised head. Just then was heard the sound of feet outside and voices; one very soft voice-Katie's-said: "Please, is Molly here ?" That door always opened to Katie, and now, not only Katie, but Gladys, Sidney, and Toby all trooped in. I fell down and hurt my head when I was going to fetch the feast," ex- plained Molly, very sorry for herself; adding, with a touch of dignity, "and Mr Cannibal came and picked me up, and is talking to me about his grandfathers." "Are you telling Molly about your book, Mr Hannibal ?" exclaimed Katie, awestruck at the very idea of such a privilege, which had never been conferred upon her. Oh i do tell us!" cried the other children. "Toby, you must go up to Nurse," said Gladys, sternly; but Toby cast an appealing glance at his friend, who instantly took him on his knee, the others all clustering round. So, when Miss Silverton came in from her drive she found the children- not playing at hide and seek, nor feasting, nor blowing soap-bubbles, but-in that sanctum of sanctums, the library; all-yes, all-even Toby, as good as gold, with his head on Mr Hannibal's shoulder and his fingers in his watch- chain, listening, listening, as though they could listen for ever, to stories ofwhen he was young, and when his grandfather and his great-grandfather were young too. Miss Silverton stood in the doorway, gazing upon them all in blank astonishment. "Why, Hannibal! Why, my dear children! this is what even I am never allowed to do!" And there was just the faintest shadow of reproach in her tone. THE LITTLE OLD GENTLEMAN. Ah, Tina said the old gentleman, "I have been in a garden of roses, with sing- ing birds and sunshine about -it has been spring time again!" Such love had Mr Hannibal for little children. But the children did not understand what he meant; Miss Silverton did, and gave a small sigh, which she smiled away in a moment Her sigh was, perhaps, be- cause she had not the power of conjuring up roses and sunshine and singing birds in her brother's library; her smile was, undoubtedly, be- cause the children had that power -and she did not grudge it them. The Darcys did not get strong all at once, but they were so much better that Miss Silver- ton begged that they might be allowed to stay with her till Christmas; which was accordingly arranged. Of course it was not to be all holidays; a governess was to come every day, and Katie was to learn with them. SOME OTHER PEOPLE. "It seems a long time without seeing father and mother," said Molly, "though it is very nice in London." But mother says they will try to be happy without us," said Gladys; and father says it is very unhealthy now, with so much water about." I hope father and mother won't get ill! said Molly; upon which she was told that fathers and mothers were never ill, especially fathers who were doctors. Molly then.wondered why Katie was an orphan, and upon that she was reminded that at least her father had not been a doctor. Mr Sepia wrote another of his long letters, in which he said :-" I have got no sketching done out of doors, and the days are getting short ; there is nothing but water, for though it is better, there is still very much flood. I can go out fishing instead of sketching, and I expect soon to catch sharks and whales; for if the waters rise any higher the streams will join the rivers, and the rivers join the seas, and nobody will know the difference between salt water and fresh-it will all be brackish. The Maynes still talk of an ark. The house is very silent. Tiger and I shed tears together." The Darcys tried to explain to Katie what an extremely good comrade Mr Sepia was. "Should I like him as much as Mr Hannibal? she asked; and who are the Maynes he mentions ?" At which Gladys blushed to think that they had never told Katie about the Maynes! She had not forgotten them, she said, but they had got rubbed out for a time. "I don't think that one of my dolls would ever get rubbed out." said Katie, simply, "unless it was Mrs Crakanthorpe." Meanwhile the little, rubbed-out Maynes were a sturdy little set-of people who would not let themselves be effaced by any manner of means, so long as they had something to do; and as to forgetting the Darcys didn't Maggie, every morning, look out of her window across that waste of waters in the direc- tion where London lay, miles and miles away, and wonder what they were doing that day at Miss Silverton's ? She wanted to get some blackberries to send up to them, when she heard they were not coming home before Christmas. She knew there were quantities in Thicket Wood, because some of the school children had been there last week, and "not only gathered hundreds, but left thousands," so Maggie had been told. And some of those remaining thousands she and Harold gathered one lovely October afternoon, and Gladys was greatly delighted to receive this letter next day: "DEAR GLADYS, "Father has sent you a hamper of blackberries. We got them out of Thicket Wood. Our two pups fought a frog yesterday. They didn't touch it; they only made faces. at one another. Tell us if the black- berries are good.-Your affectionate friend, HAROLD." SOME OTHER PEOPLE. The Darcys scarcely knew how much they loved their home until that hamper arrived, full of the glossy, black fruit. They declared that it actually smelt of home. And didn't they know almost every bush the blackberries grew on in Thicket Wood ? "Gladys," said Harold, gravely, I daresay you are thinking of a black- berry pudding and a tart ?" "Yes," Gladys replied. Miss Silverton had suggested either or both. But I am thinking of jam," continued Sid; though we none of us like it. Because when Mr Hannibal heard that blackberries were coming, he said, half to himself, in that funny way of his, 'Ah! blackberry jam! Those old associa- tions with blackberry jam !' Shall we ask cook privately to make them all into jam ?" Which they accordingly did, and wrote on the covers, Old associations for Mr Hannibal." Such a terrible word of five syllables to spell! But they did it-with a dictionary. My dears," said Miss Silverton afterwards, when her brother had told her about it, Hannibal was quite touched, I assure you." "What was it touched him, I wonder?" asked Molly; "was it the sticky jam ? or was it the old things with a long name?" I' - I CHAPTER VI. TIE CHILDREN MAKE PLANS. IF there were days of flood in the country, there were days of fog in town, such fog as the Darcys had never seen before And Nurse declared it was enough to make one cry, it really was, to see the way clean white pinafores turned black in one day." And the children thought the fog seemed to affect Mr Hannibal's spirits, for he became so very silent. Just before the fogs began, he and his sister had taken the children to the Zoological Gardens, and he had managed to lose his way three times, from lingering behind them and then taking the wrong turning, until at last Toby had said, "Be my good dog, and let me lead 'oo." And Mr Hannibal had looked so sorry then for having given so much trouble, and was so silent for all the rest of the day; and then the next day came a thick fog, and the next, and the next, until at last Mr Hannibal was so very sad and silent that Miss Silverton took him away to Brighton for two days, to find the sunshine. They took Spot with them; and poor little Spot went down on the shore and got his tail nip- ped by a crab, which he did not like at all. On one of the days that they were away Gladys and Sidney were asked to join Katie and her aunt in a drive to the Orphan Asylum ; and neither Gladys nor Sidney cared at all about a drive in a close carriage with .. both windows up, particularly as they were to go back to tea at Aunt Joan's, where the butter was always what they called "uncountrified," and the jam had a way of looking like SOME OTHER PEOPLE. apricot and turning out to be a very poor sort of rhubarb. Katie, however never thought of these things, and she drew such a vivid picture of a delightful day in the summer when she and her aunt had taken some of the orphans for a drive into the country, and one little girl had said she should 'like to spend the whole of .. her life in gathering flowers, --that Gladys rose to the occasion and went cheerfully, -Sidney, most reluctantly. "Couldn't we take them some toys ? Katie had sug- Sgested. Aunt Joan quite approved, but bought none herself, nor did she give rKatie anything towards get- ting them. Gladys and Sid clubbed together and bought battledores and shuttlecocks and books; whilst Katie, with secret tears, washed out her baby-doll's garments, painted its cheeks, combed its hair, wrapped it in its new long cloak and hurried to the carriage hugging the precious baby in her arms. The dolls so often went for a drive that nothing was thought of it; but great was the surprise of Gladys and Sidney when, as they gave their battledores and books to some of the little girls, they overheard Katie saying hurriedly to another, "I heard you say, when I was here in the summer, that you would love to have a baby-doll. This is for you. Please love her always." "Why, Katie!" they exclaimed, as they passed out together to the carriage behind Aunt Joan, who was hurrying along in front, finding the wind very cold. Oh yes please don't say anything!" pleaded Katie. "You see I couldn't buy a doll-I hadn't enough money-and she did want one so much!" It was a sacrifice; and none but little Katie knew how large it was. Gladys and Sidney went home and told Nurse and Molly that Aunt Joan was a selfish old stingy thing," who thought far more of herself than of Katie, and gave them very, VERY stale seed cake for tea, which "Katie did eat so cheerfully." I think we must have Miss Katie to come and stay with us in the spring down at home," said Nurse, as she whisked Toby's little nightgowned figure up in her arms, before carrying him into bed. Just think what a treat it would be for her to go out in the woods to gather primroses and daffy-down-dillies !" SOME OTHER PEOPLE. A vision rose before Gladys and Molly of themselves and Katie, knee-deep in the sweet meadow grass, gathering cowslips for wine and balls. Katie had never done this, and they had done it-how often?-without thinking of the sweetness of it! Gladys had heard her talking of such delights this afternoon to the little orphans as if it were all some beauti- with them al- ful dream, not to be indulged in every ,- ways," murmured day; and she told it all to Miss Mr Hannibal. Silverton when she came home Nurse says from Brighton, who said in reply: she pities those Mly dear Glady-, some who have broke people are only allowed to in Molly vehe- see in beautiful dreams mently. But all wihat other people have this actually set in every day of their Gladys thinking, life." and she spoke "' s o gme i.t. a. out some of her people have l thoughts to Sid- the children lney; and the re- sult was that they both agreed, next time they had any odious .. complaint like measles, or any terrible affliction like floods, they would not grum ble one word, but would think of all t Other people in the world who wanted things .. -t they had not got, and would do their best to give it, at least, to one of them. They had learnt something whilst staying with Miss Silverton and her brother, and since they had known Katie. The floods disappeared at last down in the home country, and then the children disappeared from Miss Silverton's, leaving only their toys as outward signs that they had been. The little Maynes made an arch of holly and ivy over the garden gate to THE CHILDREN MAKE PLANS. 47 welcome them, and there they all stood with Mr and Mrs Darcy and Mr Sepia, and the puppies and the kittens. "We thought we might' have been floating away in the ark by the time you came back !" cried Maggie. "But we are all high and dry, though a little rusty," said Mr Sepia; "and what do you think of London, Gladys? mis it worth visiting? Did you get everything you wished for?" "I have been thinking a good many things about it," replied Gladys, wonderfully gravely and sweetly; "but I don't think I can tell you what till next spring, when the wild flowers begin to come out, and I sit on my favourite stile. We have lovely plans for next spring !" 0 Contact Us | Permissions | Preferences | Technical Aspects | Statistics | Internal | Privacy Policy © 2004 - 2010 University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries.All rights reserved. Acceptable Use, Copyright, and Disclaimer Statement Last updated October 10, 2010 - - mvs