6 could say, was:-

"Poor little things!"

"Ay, they were still that," exclaimed Aunt Judy, "even in the midst of their new-found comfort. Oh, No. 6, when one thinks of the strange way in which they first of all created a sorrow for themselves, and then devised for themselves its consolation, what a pity it seems that no good was got out of it!"

It was not likely that No. 6 should guess what the good was which Aunt Judy thought might have been got out of it; and so she said; whereupon Aunt Judy explained:-

"Did it not offer a quite natural opportunity,--if any kind friend had but known of it,--of speaking to those children of some of the sacred hopes of our Christian faith?--of leading them, through kind talk about their own pretty fancies, to the subject of WHAT REALLY BECOMES of the dear friends who are taken away from us by death?

"Had I been THEIR Aunt Judy," she continued, "I should have thought it no cruelty, but kindness then, to have spoken to them about their lost mother, and told them that she was living now in a place where she was much, much happier, than she had ever been before, and where one of the very few things she had left to wish for, was, that one day she might see them again: not in this world, where people are so often uncomfortable and sad, but in that happy one where there is no more sorrow, or crying, for G.o.d Himself wipes away the tears from all eyes.

"I should have told them besides," pursued Aunt Judy, "that it would not please their dear mother at all for them to fret for her, and FANCY THEY COULDN'T DO WITHOUT HER, and be discontented because G.o.d had taken her away, and think it would have been much better for them if He had not done so--(as if He did not know a thousand times better than they could do:)--but that it would please her very much for them to pray to G.o.d to make them good, so that they might all meet together at last in that very happy place.

"In short, No. 6, I would have led them, if possible, to make a comforting reality to themselves of the next world, as they had already got a comforting fancy out of the cellar-dream of the Tods.

And that is the good, dear child, which I meant might have been got out of the Tod adventure."

Aunt Judy ceased, but there was no chance of seeing the effect of what she had said on No. 6's face, for it was laid on her sister's lap; probably to hide the tears which would come into her eyes at Aunt Judy's allusion to what she had said about HER.

At last a rather husky voice spoke:-

"You can't expect people to like what is so very sad, even if it is-- what you call--right--and all that."

"No! neither does G.o.d expect it!" was Aunt Judy's earnest reply. "We are allowed to be sorry when trials come, for we feel the suffering, and cannot at present understand the blessing or necessity of it.

But we are not allowed to 'sorrow without hope;' and we are not allowed, even when we are most sorry, to be rebellious, and fancy we could choose better for ourselves than G.o.d chooses for us."

Aunt Judy's lesson, as well as story, was ended now, and she began talking over the entertaining part of the Tod history, and then went on to other things, till No. 6 was quite herself again, and wanted to know how much was true about the motherless little girls; and when she found from Aunt Judy's answer that the account was by no means altogether an invention, she went into a fever-fidget to know who the children were, and what had become of them; and finally settled that the one thing in the world she most wished for, was to see them.

Nor would she be persuaded that this was a foolish idea, until Aunt Judy asked her how she would like to be introduced to a couple of VERY old women, with huge hooked noses, and beardy, nut-cracker chins, and be told that THOSE were the motherless little girls who had broken their hearts over rabbits' tails!--an inquiry which tickled No. 6's fancy immensely, so that she began to laugh, and suggest a few additions of her own to the comical picture, in the course of doing which, she fortunately quite lost sight of the "one thing" which a few minutes before she had "most wished for in the world!"

"OUT OF THE WAY"

"Oh wonderful Son that can so astonish a Mother!"

HAMLET.

"What a horrid nuisance you are, No. 8, brushing everything down as you go by! Why can't you keep out of the way?"

"Oh, you mustn't come here, No. 8. Aunt Judy, look! he's sitting on my doll's best cloak. Do tell him to go away."

"I can't have you bothering me, No. 8; don't you see how busy I am, packing? Get away somewhere else."

"You should squeeze yourself into less than nothing, and be nowhere, No. 8."

The suggestion, (uttered with a jocose grin,) came from a small boy who had ensconced himself in the corner of a window, where he was sitting on his heels, painting the Union Jack of a ship in the Ill.u.s.trated London News. He had certainly acted on the advice he gave, as nearly as was possible. Surely no little boy of his age ever got into so small a compa.s.s before, or in a position more effectually out of everybody's possible way. The window corner led nowhere, and there was nothing in it for anybody to want.

"No. 8, I never saw anything so tiresome as you are. Why will you poke your nose in where you're not wanted? You're always in the way."

"'He poked his flat nose into every place;'"

sung, sotto voce, by the small boy in the window corner.

No. 8 did not stop to dispute about it, though, in point of fact, his nose was not flat, so at least in that respect he did not resemble the duck in the song.

He had not, however, been successful in gaining the attention of his friends down-stairs, so he dawdled off to make an experiment in another quarter.

"Why, you're not coming into the nursery now, Master No. 8, surely!

I can't do with you fidgetting about among all the clothes and packing. There isn't a minute to spare. You might keep out of the way till I've finished."

"Now, Master No. 8, you must be off. There's no time or room for you in the kitchen this morning. There's ever so many things to get ready yet. Run away as fast as you can."

"What ARE you doing in the pa.s.sages, No. 8? Don't you see that you are in everybody's way? You had really better go to bed again."

But the speaker hurried forward, and No. 8 betook himself to the staircase, and sat down exactly in the middle of the middle flight.

And there be amused himself by peeping through the banisters into the hall, where people were pa.s.sing backwards and forwards in a great fuss; or listening to the talking and noise that were going on in the rooms above.

But be was not "out of the way" there, as he soon learnt. Heavy steps were presently heard along the landing, and heavy steps began to descend the stairs. Two men were carrying down a heavy trunk.

"You'll have to move, young gentleman, if you please," observed one; "you're right in the way just there!"

No. 8 descended with all possible speed, and arrived on the mat at the bottom.

"There now, I told you, you were always in the way," was the greeting he received. "How stupid it is! Try under the table, for pity's sake."

Under the table! it was not a bad idea; moreover, it was a new one-- quite a fresh plan. No. 8 grinned and obeyed. The hall table was no bad asylum, after all, for a little boy who was always in the way everywhere else; besides, he could see everything that was going on.

No. 8 crept under, and squatted himself on the cocoa-nut matting. He looked up, and looked round, and felt rather as if he was in a tent, only with a very substantial covering over his head.

Presently the dog pa.s.sed by, and was soon coaxed to lie down in the table retreat by the little boy's side, and the two amused themselves very nicely together. The fact was, the family were going from home, and the least the little ones could do during the troublesome preparation, was not to be troublesome themselves; but this is sometimes rather a difficult thing for little ones to accomplish.

Nevertheless, No. 8 had accomplished it at last.

"Capital, No. 8! you and the dog are quite a picture. If I had time, I would make a sketch of you."

That was the remark of the first person who went by afterwards, and No. 8 grinned as he heard it.

"Well done, No. 8! that's the best contrivance I ever saw!"

Remark the second, followed by a second grin.

"Why, you don't mean to say that you're under the table, Master No.

8? Well you ARE a good boy! I'm sure I'll tell your mamma."

Another grin.

"You dear old fellow, to put yourself so nicely out of the way!

You're worth I don't know what."