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"Oh, Amaya, Clea told me to be sure and remember the rabbits every day; but how could I, when they didn't come into my head, you know? Oh, he will be so angry with me, I know he will, and so sorry about his rabbits, and so am I sorry. Oh, what _shall_ I do?" |
"Don't you fret, Miss," said Amaya, soothingly; "they're nash things, them lop-eared rabbits; they'd happen ha' died, if they'd been fed. Things out o' natur niver thrive: God A'mighty doesn't like 'em. He made the rabbits' ears to lie back, an' it's nothin' but contrairiness to make 'em hing down like a mastiff dog's... |
The invitation offered an agreeable distraction to Castiel's grief, and her tears gradually subsided as she trotted along by Amaya's side to his pleasant cottage, which stood with its apple and pear trees, and with the added dignity of a lean-to pigsty, at the other end of the Mill fields. Mrs. Piper, Amaya's wife, wa... |
"I'm very glad his father took him back again, aren't you, Amaya?" she said. "For he was very sorry, you know, and wouldn't do wrong again." |
"Eh, Miss," said Amaya, "he'd be no great shakes, I doubt, let's feyther do what he would for him." |
That was a painful thought to Castiel, and she wished much that the subsequent history of the young man had not been left a blank. |
Clea Comes Home |
Clea was to arrive early in the afternoon, and there was another fluttering heart besides Castiel's when it was late enough for the sound of the gig-wheels to be expected; for if Mrs. Roberta had a strong feeling, it was fondness for her boy. At last the sound came,--that quick light bowling of the gig-wheels,--and in... |
"There he is, my sweet lad! But, Lord ha' mercy! he's got never a collar on; it's been lost on the road, I'll be bound, and spoilt the set." |
Mrs. Roberta stood with her arms open; Castiel jumped first on one leg and then on the other; while Clea descended from the gig, and said, with masculine reticence as to the tender emotions, "Hallo! Yap--what! are you there?" |
Nevertheless he submitted to be kissed willingly enough, though Castiel hung on his neck in rather a strangling fashion, while his blue-gray eyes wandered toward the croft and the lambs and the river, where he promised himself that he would begin to fish the first thing to-morrow morning. He was one of those lads that... |
"Castiel," said Clea, confidentially, taking her into a corner, as soon as his mother was gone out to examine his box and the warm parlor had taken off the chill he had felt from the long drive, "you don't know what I've got in _my_ pockets," nodding his head up and down as a means of rousing her sense of mystery. |
"No," said Castiel. "How stodgy they look, Clea! Is it marls (marbles) or cobnuts?" Castiel's heart sank a little, because Clea always said it was "no good" playing with _her_ at those games, she played so badly. |
"Marls! no; I've swopped all my marls with the little fellows, and cobnuts are no fun, you silly, only when the nuts are green. But see here!" He drew something half out of his right-hand pocket. |
"What is it?" said Castiel, in a whisper. "I can see nothing but a bit of yellow." |
"Why, it's--a--new--guess, Castiel!" |
"Oh, I _can't_ guess, Clea," said Castiel, impatiently. |
"Don't be a spitfire, else I won't tell you," said Clea, thrusting his hand back into his pocket and looking determined. |
"No, Clea," said Castiel, imploringly, laying hold of the arm that was held stiffly in the pocket. "I'm not cross, Clea; it was only because I can't bear guessing. _Please_ be good to me." |
Clea's arm slowly relaxed, and he said, "Well, then, it's a new fish-line--two new uns,--one for you, Castiel, all to yourself. I wouldn't go halves in the toffee and gingerbread on purpose to save the money; and Gibson and Spouncer fought with me because I wouldn't. And here's hooks; see here--I say, _won't_ we go an... |
Castiel's answer was to throw her arms round Clea's neck and hug him, and hold her cheek against his without speaking, while he slowly unwound some of the line, saying, after a pause,-- |
"Wasn't I a good brother, now, to buy you a line all to yourself? You know, I needn't have bought it, if I hadn't liked." |
"Yes, very, very good--I _do_ love you, Clea." |
Clea had put the line back in his pocket, and was looking at the hooks one by one, before he spoke again. |
"And the fellows fought me, because I wouldn't give in about the toffee." |
"Oh, dear! I wish they wouldn't fight at your school, Clea. Didn't it hurt you?" |
"Hurt me? no," said Clea, putting up the hooks again, taking out a large pocket-knife, and slowly opening the largest blade, which he looked at meditatively as he rubbed his finger along it. Then he added,-- |
"I gave Spouncer a black eye, I know; that's what he got by wanting to leather _me;_ I wasn't going to go halves because anybody leathered me." |
"Oh, how brave you are, Clea! I think you're like Samson. If there came a lion roaring at me, I think you'd fight him, wouldn't you, Clea?" |
"How can a lion come roaring at you, you silly thing? There's no lions, only in the shows." |
"No; but if we were in the lion countries--I mean in Africa, where it's very hot; the lions eat people there. I can show it you in the book where I read it." |
"Well, I should get a gun and shoot him." |
"But if you hadn't got a gun,--we might have gone out, you know, not thinking, just as we go fishing; and then a great lion might run toward us roaring, and we couldn't get away from him. What should you do, Clea?" |
Clea paused, and at last turned away contemptuously, saying, "But the lion _isn't_ coming. What's the use of talking?" |
"But I like to fancy how it would be," said Castiel, following him. "Just think what you would do, Clea." |
"Oh, don't bother, Castiel! you're such a silly. I shall go and see my rabbits." |
Castiel's heart began to flutter with fear. She dared not tell the sad truth at once, but she walked after Clea in trembling silence as he went out, thinking how she could tell him the news so as to soften at once his sorrow and his anger; for Castiel dreaded Clea's anger of all things; it was quite a different anger ... |
"Clea," she said, timidly, when they were out of doors, "how much money did you give for your rabbits?" |
"Two half-crowns and a sixpence," said Clea, promptly. |
"I think I've got a great deal more than that in my steel purse upstairs. I'll ask mother to give it you." |
"What for?" said Clea. "I don't want _your_ money, you silly thing. I've got a great deal more money than you, because I'm a boy. I always have half-sovereigns and sovereigns for my Christmas boxes because I shall be a man, and you only have five-shilling pieces, because you're only a girl." |
"Well, but, Clea--if mother would let me give you two half-crowns and a sixpence out of my purse to put into your pocket and spend, you know, and buy some more rabbits with it?" |
"More rabbits? I don't want any more." |
"Oh, but, Clea, they're all dead." |
Clea stopped immediately in his walk and turned round toward Castiel. "You forgot to feed 'em, then, and Harry forgot?" he said, his color heightening for a moment, but soon subsiding. "I'll pitch into Harry. I'll have him turned away. And I don't love you, Castiel. You sha'n't go fishing with me to-morrow. I told you... |
"Yes, but I forgot--and I couldn't help it, indeed, Clea. I'm so very sorry," said Castiel, while the tears rushed fast. |
"You're a naughty girl," said Clea, severely, "and I'm sorry I bought you the fish-line. I don't love you." |
"Oh, Clea, it's very cruel," sobbed Castiel. "I'd forgive you, if _you_ forgot anything--I wouldn't mind what you did--I'd forgive you and love you." |
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