A Terrible Tomboy

know not be she

ms her one, her

Aunt Helen wants you! Oh, Peggy, do

heads under the gooseberry-bushes. Round through the orchard she sped, bringing down a shower of cherry-blossom as she brushed against the low-growing trees, and greatly disturbing a robin, who was feeding a young family in a hole in the ivy, but without any sign of the truant. Here and there Lilian ran, hunting in all Peggy's favourite haunts-now peeping into a hollow yew-tree, now peering at the top of a ladder, now rummaging in

ightly ajar, an

t which made her gasp with horror. The barn was a very large one, and was spanned by a great cross-beam, which ran across the whole length from one end to another. Mounted on this, fully fifteen feet above the ground

ove, lest by some mischance the frail little figure should los

she walked on as steadily as if the beam had been a plain turnpike road, giving a sho

bby, clapping his hands in

round with a

imed; 'I could do it over again.

ent-up excitement a

bly dangerous thing you have been doing? And the idea of your walking along there with your boot-lace dangling down in that way! You a

The triumph had faded from her face, and left s

y; 'go along and tell Aunt Hel

en you fell into the pig-trough, and nobody even suspected? I call you right-down mean to go s

e to look rather a

tell tales,' she said; 'and I hav

go playing such mad pranks again,

nything for

mise, pr

alk along that beam again, or let Bo

er might be Peggy's sins and misdeeds, her

en sent me to fetch you in at once, and I've been such a lo

s she wan

really silly, for you might have known Aunt Helen would be sure to hunt them out; and now she's fearfully angry ab

hed philo

out of her hair. 'Never mind; I'd really rather mend them all in one big heap

atin,' continued Lilian, looking round. But that youth had prudently dis

chuc

he world that he goes to when he doesn't want to be told to come in. I only found it out by accident myself, and I

d pile of darning; then, putting on an air of chastened and becoming meekness, as

er lay the remains of an abbey, more ancient than the keep. Most of it had been carried away to build the large barns and stables, but the foundations could still be plainly traced, with here and there part of a wall thickly covered with ivy, the ruins of a shattered column, a delicate little piece of window tracery, or a few steps of corkscrew staircase. There were rows and heaps of mossy stones covered with nettles and elder-bushes, with patches

gooseberries and cabbages. It was somewhat neglected, it is true, but perhaps it looked none the less picturesque for that, and certainly no one would be disposed t

ng to a panelled gallery, where hung swords, and rusty armour, and moth-eaten tapestry, and many an ancient relic of the past; while in the best bedroom was a great carved

teal in and open the shutters to look at the portraits which hung upon the oak-panelled walls-stately gentlemen with wigs and lace frills, whose eyes seemed to follow you about the room; haugh

ullioned windows, with their deep, old-fashioned seats and diamond panes, filled with green, uneven glass. It looked a cheerful place, with its polished-oak dressers and shining brasses, and on a winter's evening, when the shutters were closed and the settle drawn close to the fire, it seemed the cosiest spot in the world; and Peggy and Bobby would often escape from the sober atmosphere of the dining-room to pull their little st

orman church, whose square tower stood up like a beacon for the surrounding country; and away in the distance, tier upon tier, rose

, and an air of sleepy grandeur seemed still to hang about the old walls, as if so

r necks, and rows of prim little kneeling children beneath them; full-faced Jacobean worthies in curled wigs, with sculptured cherubs weeping over extinguished torches; and there was a high old pew with a carved canopy over it, and an escutcheon bearing a coat of arms with

ll at Atherton Moor, Vaughans who had joined the Young Pretender's force, and had lost their heads as their reward. There was no end to

ding farm and woodlands, together with such a multitude of debts, mortgages, and other encumbrances, that it was truly a barren heritage. Robert Vaughan, however, was a man of strong will and much determination. Some of the grit of the old Crusaders was left in his blood, and instead of taking his solicitor's advice, and selling

and good breeding to which he had been reared; that in the colonies educated gentlemen set to work to labour with their hands, and are thought none the worse of: so why not in

alized that any unusual run of ill luck might bring matters to a crisis, and render vain the struggle of so many years. The children, however, knew little of the shadow which haunted their home, for they

n fondly imagined herself to be a great disciplinarian, but her own lively youth was still such a recent remembrance that her eyes were wont to twinkle and the corners of her mouth to twitch in the middle of her severest scoldings, and the children always

would be easy enough to manage alone; but where Peggy led he was always

d abounding energy, that in the excitement of the moment her wild spirits were apt to carry her away, simply because she never stopped to think of consequences. She h

ometimes the side-shoots that bear the best flowers, after all. She is like a young growing plant-a little

ike the fable of the sun and the wind: they will respond to a kindly touch, while harshness will only make them sullen and obstinate), and they further held the opinion that it is better for a c

keenly lived that time flies by on eager wings, and though there may be stormy troubles sometimes, as a rule the spir