Children of the Dear Cotswolds

t and bushy all over his head. Moreover, at tennis parties he was sometimes allowed to "squeege" the soda water i

Wuzzy, but of a man to whom Fortune had

oes on the drunk for days together; and yet h

zzy's mother looked up as Mr. Calcraft sp

who's got Vereker's old rooms. Riddell

said nothing. Then a small voice remarked: "I know Mr. Riddell. He's got

t's silence his mother asked, "Do you like

all knew that-but this time he said, "I like Riddell. He's a very clever fellow, and most good

ening, sir, you would have seen more than a sign. He broke every cue

ndow?" exclaimed Fuzzy ecstatica

zzy. His mother looked reproachfully at Mr. Calcraft, an

ap. He is all right for weeks together, and is as hard as nails; then he goes off and makes an ass of himsel

ow me. I think it is too bad. You all say he is foolish, yet not

murmured Mr. Calcraft. "He'd throw you

said Fuzzy's mother, "and I shall talk

erries in the kitchen garden a

over his collar, his collar frayed; he wore a terrible old cap, and the front of his coat was smothered in du

tting with friends at the next table. They looked a little surprised at Mrs. Ainger's ca

t and most far-reaching; when with men his conversation was so garnished with oaths, that one had to pick one's steps, as it were, to discover what he was talking about. But with ladies, he was the most courtly and careful of men. At the horse show he had dis

s. When other ladies met him constantly at the Aingers', and found him to be not only harmless but charming, they also asked him to lunch and to dine. Thus "The Bookie" who had plenty

d that she believed all the stories of his rowdiness to be slander

gracefully on the seat of his dogcart as he drove off the course. He had not brought his man, and as he was, his friends considered, quite capable of getting home in safety, they preferred not to be seen with him. He pressed th

n this particular afternoon, having wheeled him in his go-cart some distance along the high road, "she sat her down upon a green bank," and bidding him "P

is hot, fat hand, set off at a run down the road, giggling delightedly w

and Fuzzy was an extremely sensible small boy. Then there passed him a horse and dogcart, the horse going at a hand gallop, the dogcart empty. This struck Fuzzy as

o bestow pence on tramps, and on the road men, boots and the professor's old coats. In fact the professor was often heard to complain that he met his favourite coat by a heap of stones every time he went out. Fuzzy advanced fearlessly to inspect this weary man, who was lying on his

distance. Suddenly Fuzzy gave a little cry-"Bookie! Bookie dear! are you hurted? Why do you lie in

hild tried to turn him over on his back, but the Bookie being six foot two, and propor

Bookie's head, so that it rested on his clean holland smock. He stroked the tumbled hair, and laid his soft little face upon the Bookie's hot, prickly cheek. They re

ed that his arm was certainly broken, that a wheel had gone over his ankle, that his face was resti

orting him. A golden head, resting on two plump arms crossed behind it; sturdy legs, crushed by his weight, which now drew themsel

vement woke Fuzzy. He too was puzzled for a moment as to where he could be, then, he saw the Bookie, and, his brains not being muddled by various

he couldn't. Fuzzy was on his feet in a moment and held out

carried it to his lips, saying brokenly, "

levant things that grown-up people have a habit of saying, so he said, "Aren't

omething had gone wrong with his leg, as well as his a

you see I was pitched out of the dog-cart, an

round the Bookie's neck, "and then they could bring a carriage for you; you're

I've been!" The Bookie groaned, and Fuzzy clasped his arms tighter round his neck. Then he wiped his frie

urs?" asked

!" Fuzzy answered composedly, "bu

ll be anxious; do you think you could go by yourself, and tell them wh

hen he got home it was nearly eight o'clock. His father and mother, white-faced and anxious, were standing at the drive gate, straining their eyes in the twilight. Nana, having searched vainly herself, had only just co

orse were captured in an adjacent village, and the Bookie spent a month indoors. Fuzzy went to see him every day, so did t

during the narrative, but at the end he said: "And I'm damned if those dusty str