Hildegarde's Neighbors

rde Grahame, flying i

ou, thrilling news

looked up fro

y, Hugh has developed wings and flown away. None of these things would greatly surprise me; bu

urs!" said the girl. "The d

with her broad straw hat. "It is

mother. "Astonishing! I should

use is let, and the family is moving in to

n of the pulse, with fever-flush; nothing more. But it is grea

arde q

come; one hor

f both hung

s were on

id and seamstress, two dogs, two cats (at least the basket me

Grahame has been looking th

nd no one saw me; and they came tumbling in in such a funny, jolly way! I rathe

olonel will say!" Mr

sed. He knows Mr. Merryweather, and likes him; i

d Mrs. Grahame, severely. "I think you would bet

er lightly on the forehead. "Precisely, dear madam. Where is my thimble? Oh, here! Where are

thing in bed, and moaning piteously. I am bound to say, however, that the moans did not begin till after I clicked the latch. It is frightful to see

d Mrs. Grahame; "t

Grahame, my dear! you don't know anything about trouble or sickness, and no need to before your time. A breath of air, my dear,

nd shut the door, and stayed there till she was baked 'a beautiful light brown,' as Mrs. Lincoln says. ''T was a brick oven, dear, such as you don't see 'em nowadays; and she was cured of her

his soul that came out in spots-the lamb! And I had to stay and talk with him a bit, and he was so dear! And then I walked along, and just as I came to the gap in the hedge, Mrs. Grahame, my dear madam, I heard the sound of a lawn-mower on the other side, and a man's voice whistling. This was amazing, and I am human, though I don't know whether you ever noticed it. I looked, I did; and so would others, if they had been there. A wagon stood at the back door, all piled w

ividual was, in all probability, the coachm

hen there was Mrs. Merryweather-stout and cheerful-looking, and I should think very absent-minded. Well, but, mother," seeing Mrs.

were pretty, and one of the big boys was so full of fun he twinkled all over. A handsome boy, with red hair and dark blue eyes

e, her needle darting in and out wit

hem. The girl named Toots tumbled out of the wagon, and the others all laughed, and she laughed, too. She dropped everything she was carrying, and she was carrying a great deal,-a butterfly-net, and a mouse-trap, and three books, and a bandbox,-and everybo

. Grahame, very quietly,

egarde. "You are an

good it would be to have many children, like a crown of sunbeams, about

ked up with her u

eelings behind the hedge; but you have not told me how you came to know

en I knew that he, too, wanted to see what was going on. So I slipped to the gate and beckoned to him, and he came in on tiptoe and joined me. Such fun we had,-just like two conspirators! He could see over my head, so we could both look at once; and he kept mutter

had to say about our new neighbours. A pretty state of things, truly! the magnate and t

her was thinking of when she brought you up, young woman!' and so on, and so on, in his own delightful way. Really, mammina, from what he said, we are going to have a great acquisition to the little neighbourhood. We must call as soon as it would be in any way decent, mustn't we? Oh, but wait! I must tell you the end. We had been so interested in watching the children, and in seeing them go tumbling down and up into the house, that we had lost sight of Mr. Merryweather himself. I suppose he must have driven round to the stable and left the horses there; for suddenly, almost in our ears, we heard a deep voice saying, 'A fine hedge, but needs clipping badly; we must set the boys to work in the morning.' We started back as if we had been shot. Colonel Ferrers turned purple, and I felt every colour in the rainbow flooding my cheeks. We made sure we had been seen or heard, and I think Colonel Ferrers was on the point of stepping forward like a soldier, and apologizing; but I held his