"We never have a bath in the river," said Becky, looking very much astonished at the idea.

"Do you have your bath in the nursery like we do?" asked Milly.

"We haven't got a nursery," said Becky, staring at her, "mother puts us in the toob on Sat.u.r.day nights. I don't mind it but Tiza doesn't like it a bit. Sometimes she hides when it's Sat.u.r.day night, so that mother can't find her till it's too late."

"Don't you have a bath except on Sat.u.r.day?" said Milly. "Olly and I have one every morning. Mother says we should get like shock-headed Peter if we didn't."

"I don't know about him," said Becky, shaking her head.

"He's a little boy in a picture-book. I'll show him you when you come to tea. But there's mother calling. Come along, Olly. Tiza won't come down Becky says."

"She's a very rude girl," said Olly, who was rather hot and tired with his game, and didn't think it was all fun that Tiza should always. .h.i.t him and he should never be able to hit Tiza. "I won't sit next her when she comes to tea with us."

"Tiza's only in fun," said Becky, "she's always like that. Tiza, are you coming down? I am going to get baby out, I heard him crying just now."

"May you take baby out all by yourself?" asked Milly.

"Why, I always take him out, and I put him to sleep at nights; and mother says he won't go to sleep for anybody as quick as for me," said Becky proudly.

Milly felt a good deal puzzled. It _must_ be funny to have no Nana.

"Will you and he," said Becky, pointing to Olly, "come up this afternoon and help us call the cows?"

"If we may," said Milly; "who calls them?"

"Tiza and I," answered Becky; "when I'm a big girl I shall learn how to milk, but fayther says I'm too little yet."

"I wish I lived at a farm," said Milly disconsolately.

Becky didn't quite know what to say to this, so she began to call Tiza again.

"Swish!" went something past them as quick as lightning. It was Tiza running to the house. Olly set out to run after her as fast as he could run, but he came bang up against his mother standing at the farmhouse door, just as Tiza got safely in and was seen no more.

"Ah, you won't catch Tiza, master," said Mrs. Backhouse, patting his head; "she's a rough girl, always at some tricks or other--we think she ought to have been a boy, really."

"Mother, isn't Becky very nice?" said Milly, as they walked away. "Her mother lets her do such a lot of things--nurse the baby, and call the cows, and make pinafores. Oh, I wish father was a farmer."

"Well, it's not a bad kind of life when the sun shines, and everything is going right," said Mrs. Norton; "but I think you had better wait a little bit till the rain comes before you quite make up your mind about it, Milly."

But Milly was quite sure she knew enough about it already to make up her mind, and all the way home she kept saying to herself, "If I could only turn into a little farmer's girl! Why don't people have fairy G.o.dmothers now like Cinderella?"

CHAPTER IV

OUT ON THE HILLS

Milly and Olly, and the four little Westmoreland children, had a very pleasant tea together in the afternoon of the Nortons's first day at Ravensnest. Bessie and Charlie certainly didn't talk much; but Tiza, when once her mother had made her come, thought proper to get rid of a great deal of her shyness, and to chatter and romp so much that they quite fell in love with her, and could not be persuaded to go anywhere or do anything without her. Nurse would not let Milly and Olly go to call the cows, though she promised they should some other day; but she took the whole party down to the stepping-stones after tea, and great fun it was to see Becky and Tiza running over the stepping-stones, and jumping from one stone to another like little fawns. Milly and Olly wanted sorely to go too, but there was no persuading Nana to let them go without their father to fish them out if they tumbled in, so they had to content themselves with dangling their legs over the first stepping-stone and watching the others. But perhaps you don't quite known what stepping-stones are? They are large high stones, with flat tops, which people put in, a little way apart from each other, right across a river, so that by stepping from one to the other you can cross to the opposite side. Of course they only do for little rivers, where the water isn't very deep. And they don't always do even there.

Sometimes in the river Thora, where Milly and Olly's stepping-stones were, when it rained very much, the water rose so high that it dashed right over the stepping-stones and n.o.body could go across. Milly and Olly saw the stepping-stones covered with water once or twice while they were at Ravensnest; but the first evening they saw them the river was very low, and the stones stood up high and dry out of the water. Milly thought that stepping-stones were much nicer than bridges, and that it was the most amusing and interesting way of getting across a river that she knew. But then Milly was inclined to think everything wonderful and interesting at Ravensnest--from the tall mountains that seemed to shut them in all around like a wall, down to the tiny gleaming wild strawberries, that were just beginning to show their little scarlet b.a.l.l.s on the banks in the Ravensnest woods. Both she and Olly went to bed after their first day at Ravensnest with their little hearts full of happiness, and their little heads full of plans. To-morrow they were to go to Aunt Emma's, and perhaps the day after that father would take them to bathe in the river, and nurse would let them go and help Becky and Tiza call the cows. Holidays _were_ nice; still geography lessons were nice too sometimes, thought Milly sleepily, just as she was slipping, slipping away into dreamland, and in her dreams her faithful little thoughts went back lovingly to Fraulein's kind old face, and to the capes and islands and seas she had been learning about a week ago.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The flowers Milly gathered for her mother"]

The next morning Mr. and Mrs. Norton were busy indoors till about twelve o'clock; and the children wandered about the garden with nurse, finding out many new nooks and corners, especially a delightful steep path which led up and up into the woods, till at last it took the children to a little brown summer-house at the top, where they could sit and look over the trees below, away to the river and the hay-fields and the mountains.

And between the stones and this path grew the prettiest wild strawberries, only, as Milly said, it was not much good looking for them yet, for there were so few red ones you could scarcely get enough to taste what they were like. But in a week or two, she and Olly planned that they would take up a basket with some green leaves in it, and gather a lot for father and mother--enough for regular dessert--and some wild raspberries too, for these also grew in the wood, to the great delight of the children, who had never seen any before. They began to feel presently as if it would be nothing very extraordinary to find trees covered with barley sugar or jam tarts in this wonderful wood. And as for the flowers Milly gathered for her mother, they were a sight to see--moon-daisies and meadow-sweet, wild roses and ragged-robins, and bright bits of rhododendrons. For both the woods and the garden at Ravensnest were full of rhododendrons of all colours, pink and red, and white and flame colour; and Milly and Olly amused themselves with making up bunches of different coloured flowers with as many different colours in them as they could find. There were no rhododendrons at Willingham; and the children thought them the loveliest, gayest things they had ever seen.

But at last twelve o'clock came. Nurse tidied the children, gave them some biscuits and milk, and then sent them to the drawing-room to find father and mother. Only Mrs. Norton was there, but she said there was no need to wait for father, as he was out already and would meet them on the way. They were to go straight over the mountain instead of walking round by the road, which would have taken much longer. So off they set--Olly skipping, and chattering as he always did; while Milly stuck close to her mother, telling her every now and then, when Olly left off talking, about their morning in the wood, the flowers they had gathered and the strawberries they had found. At the top of the garden was a little gate, and beside the gate stood Bessie and Charlie, who had really been watching for the children all the morning, though they didn't dare to come into the garden without leave.

"Bessie, we are going to Aunt Emma's," said Milly, running up to them.

"Where are you and Charlie going to?"

"Nawhere," said Bessie, who, as usual, had her pinafore in her mouth, and never said more than one word at a time if she could help it.

"Nowhere! what do you do all the morning, Bessie?"

"I doan't know," said Bessie, gravely looking up at her; "sometimes I mind the baby."

"Do you mind the baby, too? Dear, dear! And what does Charlie do?"

"Nawthing," said Bessie again. "He only makes himself dirty."

"Don't you go to school ever?"

"No, but mother's going to send us," said Bessie, whose big eyes grew round and frightened at the idea, as if it was a dreadful prospect. "Are you going to be away for all day?"

"Yes; we shan't be back till quite evening, mother says. Here she is.

Good-bye, Bessie; good-bye, Charlie. Will you come and play with us to-morrow morning?"

Bessie nodded, but Charlie ran off without answering; for he saw Olly coming, and was afraid he might want to kiss him. On the other side of the gate they had to begin to climb up a steep bit of soft green gra.s.s; and very hard work it was. After quite a little way the children began to puff and pant like two little steam engines.

"It _is_ a little bit like going upstairs, don't you think, Olly?" said Milly, sitting down by her mother on a flat bit of gray stone.

"No, it isn't a bit like going upstairs," said Olly, shaking his head; for Olly always liked contradicting Milly if he could. "It's like--it's like--walking up a house!"

Suddenly they heard far above them a shout of "Hullo!" Both the children started up and looked about them. It was like father's voice, but they couldn't see him anywhere.

"Where are you, father?"

"Hullo!" again. And this time it sounded much nearer to them. Where could it be? The children began to run about and look behind the bushes and the rocks, till all of a sudden, just as Milly got near a big rock, out jumped Mr. Norton from behind it with a great shout, and began to run after her. Away ran Milly and Olly as fast as their small feet could carry them, up and down, up and down, till at last there came a steep place--one of Milly's feet tripped up, down she went, rolling over and over--down came Olly on the top of her, and the two of them rolled away together till they stopped at the bottom of the steep place, all mixed up in a heap of legs and arms and hats and pinafores.

"Here's a boy and girl tied up in a knot," said Mr. Norton, scrambling down after them and lifting them up. "There's no harm done, is there?"

"I've got a b.u.mp on my arm," said Milly, turning up her sleeve.

"And I've got a scratch on my nose," said Olly, rubbing it.

"That's not much for a nice tumble like that," said Mr. Norton, "you wouldn't mind another, would you, Milly?"