The Adventures of Herr Baby

e with the sa

s through th

ivision. Grandfather was very fond of children, but in a carriage, he used to say, two small people were enough of a good thing. So Celia and Denny worried Lisa to get out their best hats and ja

of shops. He was fond of buying things, but before he bought anything he used to like to be quite sure which was the best shop to get it at-I mean to say at which shop he could get it best-and he often asked the price two or three times before he fixed. And he had never

nt very fast. He wanted auntie to stop every minute to look at someth

t," said Fritz. "They're very nice, but I

l have a calliage wif hundreds of cows to pull it along, and wi

d make ever so much more jingling, 'cos they go so fast. Isn't it funny t

ntie and Lisa came first, of course, because they happened to be in his sight, "and mother, and Celia, and Denny all for his wife

r one, will be quite gray; I shall be quite an old woma

id Baby. "And him will be werry kind to you when you're old. Him wil

that growing old could mean only growing old in years-he thought it meant as well, poor and worn-out, like his own little old shoes. Just now it would have been no good trying to explain, even if mother had quite understood what was in his mind, which she didn't till he told her himself long after. For it only made him cry when people tried to explain and he couldn't explain what he meant. There was nothing vexed him so much! And I think there was something rather nice mixed up with this funny idea about getting old. It made Baby wish to be so kind to all poor old people. H

him very gravely, for in his own mind he was wondering if the time was very soon coming for poor grandfather

ressmakers' and milliners' and shawl shops. Lots of grand dresses and hats and bonnets were to be seen, which would have pleased Celia and Denny perhaps, but which Fritz said were very stupid. Auntie did not seem to care for them either-she was in a hurry to go to an office where she was going to ask about a hou

e minute. Him sees shiny glass jugs l

ts of queer things. Some among them were more queer than pretty, but some were very pretty too, and in one corner of the window there were several jugs, and cups, and bottles, and such thing

ease 'top one minute. Him

ther's. Oh, do

to E

e," he said, again

ntion to the glass, for she was not thinking of Baby's adventure in the

is mind which he had hardly yet understood himself, and he did not want to speak of it to any one else. He just stood at the window sta

m sinks," he murmured, "but

ther, and mother had examined it to see if it could possibly be mended so as to look pretty as an ornament, even though it would never do to hold water, and, when she found nothing could be done, she had told Thomas to

not a very great deal of the shiny glass in the shop window, there was enough to make it rather a wonder that such a little boy as Baby had caught sight of the two jugs at all, for the

ne," and when Fritz, who had not found the shop so interesting as the others had done, in his turn gave h

eet, Fritz?"

but it's rather dirt

y old woman by now or most likely she must be dead!" I think it was that that made one feel sad on first looking at the picture, for, after all, the face was bright and happy-looking: the rosy, roguish, little mouth was smiling, the soft blue eyes had a sort of twinkling fun in them, though they were so soft, and the fair hair, so fair that it almost seemed white, drawn up rather tight in an old-fashioned way, fell back again on one side as if little Blue-eyes had just been having a good run. And one fat, dimpled shoulder was poked out of the prim white

se that little shoulder wouldn't have got leave to poke itself out of its sleeve,

tle dirty, aunt

hanging up in a frame for over a hundred years?" said

es went back to

, "very, very sweet, an

ad been given to the shiny glasses. Suddenly the sound

t is so 'weet,

dear. Hanging up by the

nd in a moment hi

e said. "Oh, her is 'weet! Aunti

r learn to paint like that, Baby. I should very much like to copy it if I could have the loan of it. It would be sure to be very dear to buy,"

waited one moment behind. He pressed his face c

a 'nother day. P'ease, pitty little girl, don't let nobody tak

wn the street after the others, who

ye to the picture, Baby

aid Baby

thinking of taking. The little boys stood beside her and listened gravely whi

alk lubbish talk," said Herr Baby to Fritz with a

"That's all I care about," and as soon as they were out in the street aga

about," said auntie. "Some have gardens and some haven't, but t

the one at ho

ferent here from at home. People only come to stay a short

big enough for us to have a corner to dig in, and

not a very fussy person! Indeed she was rather too

arden, too, very muc

ing. His mind was still running on the s

he said, which didn't seem much

man," said auntie. "What do

would n

had queer loose brown coats, with big capes, something like grandfather's Inverness cloak, Fritz thought, and silver chains hanging down at their sides, and, queerest of all, no stockings or proper boots or shoes, only things like the soles of shoes strapped on to their bare feet. These

z, making a face. "I shouldn

are so cold. Lisa," he went on, turning round to his nurse, "'member-when the w

you are a Frantisker, Baby, you won't have any pennies,

oked ve

e a Frantisker,"

ind, you see. And his last thought that night as he was falling asleep was, "H

was fancy, how much was earnest i

d the sea, the blue sunny sea of the south. And from one side, or from a little farther down in the garden, one could see the white-capped mountains, rising, rising up into the sky, with sometimes a soft mist about their heads which made them seem even

such as one never sees in such quantities in the north. And in among the stones of the terrace there lived lizards-the most delightful lizards. One in particular grew so friendly that he used to come out at meal-times to drink a little milk which the children spilt for him on purpose; for the day nursery, or school-room, as Celia liked it to be called, opened on to the terrace too, though at the other end from the two drawing-rooms and grandfather's "study," and the windows were long and low, opening like doors, so that Lisa had hard work to keep the children quiet at table the first few days, for every minute

a corner where it couldn't be seen! Peters was more patient than Linley. When Linley couldn't make herself understood she used to shout louder and louder, as if that would make the others know what she meant, and then she used to say to Celia that it really was "a very hodd thing that the people of this country seemed not to have all their senses." And however Celia explained to her, she couldn't be got to see that she must seem just as stupid to them as they seemed to her! Peters was less put about. He had been in India with grandfather, so he said he was used to "furriners." He seemed to think everybody that wasn't English could be put together as "furriners"; but he had brought a dictionary and a book of little sentences in four languages, and he would sit on the kitchen table patiently trying one language after ano

a real tellable ogre in the house. Him's seen him in one of the windo

d, their own country. But a dreadful idea struck her that this was not England; this might be one of the countries where ogres, like wolves and bears, were still occasionally to be found.

t Baby by

he said; "sall we g

cons

vely. "You must have made a mistake, I think, Bab

's courage. His hand slipped

y?" he said. "Him will sta

n Baby was better than nobody. "I shouldn't know where you saw the

ing to see if there was f'owers 'side of the wall," said Baby.

ot near the house. Suddenly Denny felt Baby squeeze her hand more tightl

e cried. "Him see

und. The little black-ey

hem smili

to E

where he had fastened up half-a-dozen live chickens he had bought at the market that morning, meaning to kill two of them for dinner, but finding them not so fat as he had expected, he was putting them back among their friends for a d

t's not a' ogre," she said. "

e little black-eyed, white-capp

stroked down the ruffled feathers of the poor chickens, and held them out to the two children,

g to sell the chi

ngland, understood the children's language better than t

he morning. Fine poulets, goot poulets, not yet strong-wait o

name, please?" said Denn

plates for Mademoiselle and Monsieur Bébé. Jean-Georges loves little messieurs and little 'd

," which, of course, children,

he must have a man cook? Good morning, Mr. Cook, we'll ask mother to let us go and see yo

s magnificent a bow as he could manage, considering t

rgetting that she, too, had not been without some fears. "You see, Baby dear, h

Denny's courage, but still he wasn't quite sure that she had not been a ve

ne if there had been a'

ood of talking about things that couldn

. They walked on slowl

two, "didn't the little man say s

at this. Parties of all ki

mother to have some parties; it seems quite a long time since I had one of my best frocks on to come down to the drawing-room before dinner, the way we did at home.

ad left Baby's wits some way behind. They ha

s parties," he said. "Mother told him that were why s

about, Baby," said Denny. "Let's h