Christmas-Tree Land

by Mrs. Molesworth

  CHAPTER II.

  IN THE FIR-WOODS.

  ...'Gloomy shades, sequestered deep, ....whence one could only see Stems thronging all around.'...

  KEATS.

  Supper was a formal and stately affair. The children were placed one oneach side of their cousin, and helped to such dishes as she consideredsuitable, without asking them what they liked. But they were not greedychildren, and even at their own home they had been accustomed to muchmore strictness than is _nowadays_ the case, my dear children, for thosewere still the days when little people were expected to be 'seen but notheard,' to 'speak when they were spoken to,' but not otherwise. So Rolloand Maia were not unduly depressed, especially as there was plenty ofamusement for their bright eyes in watching the queer, pompous mannersof Lady Venelda's attendants, and making notes to discuss togetherafterwards on the strange and quaint china and silver which covered thetable, and even in marvelling at the food itself, which, though allgood, was much of it perfectly new to them.

  Now and then their hostess addressed a few words to them about theirjourney, their father's health when they had left him, and such things,to which Rollo and Maia replied with great propriety. Lady Veneldaseemed pleased.

  'They have been well brought up, I see. My cousin has not neglectedthem,' she said in a low voice, as if speaking to herself, which was ahabit of hers. Rollo and Maia exchanged signals with each other at this,which they had of course overheard, and each understood as well as ifthe other had said it aloud, that the meaning of the signals was, 'Thatis right. If we go on like this we shall soon get leave to ramble aboutby ourselves.'

  After supper Lady Venelda told the children to follow her into what shechose to call her retiring-room. This was a rather pretty room at theextreme end of the long white gallery, but unlike that part of thecastle which the children had already seen. The walls were not white,but hung with tapestry, which gave it a much warmer and morecomfortable look. One did not even here, however, get rid of the poordeer, for the tapestry all round the room represented a hunting-scene,and it nearly made Maia cry, when she afterwards examined it bydaylight, to see the poor chased creatures, with the cruel dogs uponthem and the riders behind lashing their horses, and evidently shoutingto the hounds to urge them on. It was a curious subject to have chosenfor a lady's boudoir, but Lady Venelda's tastes were guided by but onerule--the most profound respect and veneration for her ancestors, and asthey had seen fit thus to decorate the prettiest room in the castle, itwould never have occurred to her to alter it.

  She seated herself on an antlered couch below one of the windows, whichby day commanded a beautiful view of the wonderful woods, but was nowhidden by rather worn curtains of a faded blue, the only light in theroom coming from a curiously-shaped oil lamp suspended from the ceiling,which illumined but here and there parts of the tapestry, and was fartoo dim to have made it possible to read or work. But it was not muchtime that the lady of the castle passed in her bower, and seldom thatshe found leisure to read, for she was a very busy and practicalperson, managing her large possessions entirely for herself, and caringbut little for the amusements or occupations most ladies take pleasurein. She beckoned to the children to come near her.

  'You are tired, I dare say,' she said graciously. 'At your age Iremember the noble Count, my father, took me once a journey lasting twoor three days, and when I arrived at my destination I slept twelve hourswithout awaking.'

  'Oh, but we shall not need to sleep as long as that,' said Rollo andMaia together. 'We shall be quite rested by to-morrow morning;' at whichthe Lady Venelda smiled, evidently pleased, even though they had spokenso quickly as _almost_ to interrupt her.

  'That is well,' she said. 'Then I shall inform you of how I propose toarrange your time, at once, though I had intended giving orders that youshould not be awakened till eight o'clock. At what hour do you rise athome?'

  'At seven, lady cousin,' said Rollo.

  'That is not very early,' she replied. 'However, as it is but for a timethat you are confided to my care, I cannot regulate everything exactlyas I could wish.'

  'We would like to get up earlier,' said Maia hastily. 'Perhaps not_to-morrow_,' she added.

  'I will first tell you my wishes,' said Lady Venelda loftily. 'At eighto'clock prayers are read to the household in the chapel. You willalready have had some light refreshment. At nine you will haveinstruction from Mademoiselle Delphine for one hour. At ten the chaplainwill take her place for two hours. At twelve you may walk in the groundsround the house for half an hour. At one we dine. At two you shall haveanother hour from Mademoiselle Delphine. From three to five you may walkwith your attendants. Supper is at eight; and during the evening you mayprepare your tasks for the next day.'

  Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was not so very bad; still itsounded rather severe. Rollo took courage.

  'If we get up earlier and do our tasks, may we stay out latersometimes?' he inquired.

  'Sometimes--if the weather is very fine and you have been veryindustrious,' their cousin replied.

  'And,' added Maia, emboldened by this success, 'may we sometimes ramblealone all about the woods? We do so love the woods,' she continued,clasping her hands.

  Now, if Lady Venelda herself had a weakness, it was for these samewoods. They were to her a sort of shrine dedicated to the memory of herrace, for the pine forests of that country had been celebrated as farback as there was any record of its existence. So, though she was ratherstartled at Maia's proposal, she answered graciously still:

  'They are indeed beautiful, my child. Beautiful and wonderful. Therehave they stood in their solemn majesty for century after century,seeing generation after generation of our race pass away while yet theyremain. They and I alone, my children. I, the last left of a long line!'

  Her voice trembled, and one could almost have imagined that a tearglittered in her blue eyes. Maia, and Rollo too, felt very sorry forher.

  'Dear cousin,' said the girl, timidly touching her hand, 'are we not alittle _little_, relations to you? Please don't say you are all alone.It sounds so very sad. Do let Rollo and me be like your little boy andgirl.'

  Lady Venelda smiled again, and this time her face really grew soft andgentle.

  'Poor children,' she said, in the peculiar low voice she always usedwhen speaking to herself, and apparently forgetting the presence ofothers, 'poor children, they too have suffered. They have no mother!'Then turning to Maia, who was still gently stroking her hand: 'I thankyou, my child, for your innocent sympathy,' she said, in her usual tone.'I rejoice to have you here. You will cheer my solitude, and at the sametime learn no harm, I feel sure, from the associations of this ancienthouse.'

  Maia did not quite understand her, but as the tone sounded kind, sheventured to repeat, as she kissed her cousin's hand for good-night, 'Andyou will let us ramble about the woods if we are very good, won't you?And _sometimes_ we may have a whole holiday, mayn't we?'

  Lady Venelda smiled.

  'All will depend on yourselves, my child,' she said.

  But Rollo and Maia went upstairs to bed very well satisfied with thelook of things.

  They _meant_ to wake very early, and tried to coax Nanni to promise togo out with them in the morning before prayers, but Nanni was cautious,and would make no rash engagements.

  '_I_ am very tired, Miss Maia,' she said, 'and I am sure you must be ifyou would let yourself think so. I hope you will have a good longsleep.'

  She was right. After all, the next morning Rollo and Maia had hardlytime to finish their coffee and rolls before the great bell in thecourtyard clanged for prayers, and they had to hurry to the chapel notto be too late. Prayers over, they were taken in hand by MademoiselleDelphine, and then by the old chaplain, till, by twelve o'clock, whenthey were sent out for a little fresh air before dinner, they felt moresleepy and tired than the night before.

  'I don't care to go to the woods now,' said Maia dolefully. 'I am sotired--ever so much more tired than with lessons at home.'

/>   'So am I,' said Rollo. 'I don't know what is the matter with me,' and heseated himself disconsolately beside his sister on a bench overlookingthe stiff Dutch garden at one side of the castle.

  'Come--how now, my children?' said a voice beside them; 'why are you notrunning about, instead of sitting there like two old invalids?'

  'We are so tired,' said both together, looking up at the new-comer, whowas none other than the short, stout old gentleman who had beenintroduced to them as Lady Venelda's physician.

  'Tired; ah, well, to be sure, you have had a long journey.'

  'It is not only that. We weren't so tired this morning, but we've hadsuch a lot of lessons.' 'Mademoiselle Delphine's French is very hard,'said Maia; 'and Mr.--I forget his name--the chaplain says the Latinwords quite differently from what I've learnt before,' added Rollo.

  The old doctor looked at them both attentively.

  'Come, come, my children, you must not lose heart. What would you say toa long afternoon in the woods and no more lessons to-day, if I were toask the Lady Venelda to give you a holiday?'

  The effect was instantaneous. Both children jumped up and clapped theirhands.

  'Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr.--Doctor,' they said, for they had notheard his name. 'Yes, that is just what we would like. It did not seemany good to go to the woods for just an hour or two. And, oh, Mr.Doctor, do ask our cousin to give us one holiday a week--we always havethat at home. It is so nice to wake up in the morning and know there are_no_ lessons to do! And we should be so good all the other days.'

  'Ah, well,' said the old doctor, 'we shall see.'

  But he nodded his head, and smiled, and looked so like a good-naturedold owl, that Rollo and Maia felt very hopeful.

  At dinner, where they took their places as usual at each side of theircousin, nothing was said till the close. Then Lady Venelda turnedsolemnly to the children:

  'You have been attentive at your lessons, I am glad to hear,' she said;'but you are doubtless still somewhat tired with your journey. My kindphysician thinks some hours of fresh air would do you good. I thereforeshall be pleased for you to spend all the afternoon in the woods--therewill be no more lessons to-day.'

  'Oh, thank you, thank you,' repeated the children, and Maia glanced ather cousin with some thought of throwing her arms round her and kissingher, but Lady Venelda looked so very stiff and stately that she felt hercourage ebb.

  'It is better only to kiss her when we are alone with her,' she saidafterwards to Rollo, in which he agreed.

  But they forgot everything except high spirits and delight when, half anhour later, they found themselves with Nanni on their way to thelonged-for woods.

  'Which way shall we go?' said Maia; and indeed it was a question forconsideration. For it was not on one side only that there were woods,but on every side, far as the eye could reach, stretched out thewonderful forests. The white castle stood on raised ground, but in thecentre of a circular valley, so that to reach the outside world one hadfirst to descend and then rise again; so the entrance to the woods wassloping, for the castle hill was bare of trees, which began only at itsbase.

  'Which way?' repeated Rollo; 'I don't see that it matters. We get intothe woods every way.'

  'Except over there,' said Maia, pointing to the road by which they hadcome, gleaming like a white ribbon among the trees, which had beenthinned a little in that direction.

  'Well, we don't want to go there,' said Rollo, but before he had time tosay more Maia interrupted him.

  'Oh, Rollo, let's go the way that we saw the little cottage. No, I don'tmean that we saw the cottage, but we saw the smoke rising, and we weresure there was a cottage. It was--let me see----' and she tried to putherself in the right direction; 'yes, it was on my left hand--it must beon that side,' and she pointed where she meant.

  Rollo did not seem to care particularly about the real or imaginarycottage, but as to him all roads were the same in this case, seeing allled to the woods, he made no objection, and a few minutes saw the littleparty, already in the shade of the forest, slowly making their wayupwards. It was milder than the day before; indeed, for early spring itwas very mild. The soft afternoon sunshine came peeping through thebranches, the ground was beautifully dry, and their steps made apleasant crackling sound, as their feet broke the innumerable littletwigs which, interspersed with moss and the remains of last year'sleaves, made a nice carpet to walk on.

  'Let us stand still a moment,' said Maia, 'and look about us. Howdelicious it is! _What_ flowers there will be in a little while!Primroses, I am sure, and violets, and later on periwinkle and cyclamen,I dare say.'

  A sigh from Nanni interrupted her.

  'What is the matter?' said the children.

  'I am so tired, Miss Maia,' said poor Nanni. 'I haven't got over thejourney, and I was so afraid of being late this morning that I got up Idon't know how early--they told me in the kitchen that their lady was soangry if any one was late. I think if I were to sit down on this nicemossy ground I should really go to sleep.'

  '_Poor_ Nanni!' said Maia, laughing. 'Well, do sit down, only I thinkyou'd better not go to sleep; you might catch cold.'

  'It's beautifully warm here among the trees, somehow,' said Nanni.'Well, then, shall I just stay here and you and Master Rollo play about?You won't go far?'

  'You _would_ get a nice scolding if we were lost,' said Rollomischievously.

  'Don't tease her, Rollo,' said Maia; adding in a lower tone, 'If you do,she'll persist in coming with us, and it will be such fun to run aboutby ourselves.' Then turning to Nanni, 'Don't be afraid of us, Nanni; weshan't get lost. You may go to sleep for an hour or two if you like.'

  The two children set off together in great glee. Here and there amongthe trees there were paths, or what looked like paths, some goingupwards till quite lost to view, some downwards,--all in the mosttempting zigzag fashion.

  'I should like to explore all the paths one after the other, wouldn'tyou?' said Maia.

  'I expect they all lead to nowhere in particular,' said Rollo,philosophically.

  'But we want to go somewhere in particular,' said Maia; 'I want to findthe cottage, you know. I am sure it must be _somewhere_ about here.'

  'Upwards or downwards--which do you think?' said Rollo. 'I say, Maia,suppose you go downwards and I upwards, and then we can meet again hereand say if we've found the cottage or had any adventures, like thebrothers in the fairy tales.'

  'No,' said Maia, drawing nearer Rollo as she spoke; 'I don't want to goabout alone. You know, though the woods are so nice they're _rather_lonely, and there are such queer stories about forests always. Theremust be queer people living in them, though we don't see them. Gnomesand brownies down below, very likely, and wood-spirits, perhaps. But Ithink about the gnomes is the most frightening, don't you, Rollo?'

  'I don't think any of it's frightening,' he replied. But he was a kindboy, so he did not laugh at Maia, or say any more about separating.'Which way shall we go, then?'

  'Oh, we'd better go on upwards. There can't be much forest downwards,for we've come nearly straight up. We'd get out of the wood directly.'

  They went on climbing therefore for some way, but the ascent becamequickly slighter, and in a short time they found themselves almost onlevel ground.

  'We can't have got to the top,' said Rollo. 'This must be a sort ofledge on the hillside. However, I begin to sympathise with Nanni--it'snice to get a rest,' and he threw himself down at full length as hespoke. Maia quickly followed his example.

  'We shan't do much exploring at this rate,' she said.

  'No,' Rollo agreed; 'but never mind. Isn't it nice here, Maia? Just likewhat father told us, isn't it? The scent of the fir-trees is sodelicious too.'

  It was charmingly sweet and peaceful, and the feeling of mystery causedby the dark shade of the lofty trees, standing there in countless rowsas they had stood for centuries, the silence only broken by theoccasional dropping of a twig or the flutter of a leaf, impressed thechildren in a way they could not have put
in words. It was a sort ofrelief when a slight rustle in the branches overhead caught theirattention, and looking up, their quick eyes saw the bright brown, bushytail of a squirrel whisking out of sight.

  Up jumped Maia, clapping her hands.

  'A squirrel, Rollo, did you see?'

  'Of course I did, but you shouldn't make such a noise. We might haveseen him again if we'd been quite quiet. I wonder where his home is.'

  'So do I. _How_ I should like to see a squirrel's nest and all thelittle ones sitting in a row, each with a nut in its two front paws!_How_ nice it would be to have the gift of understanding all the animalssay to each other, wouldn't it?'

  'Yes,' said Rollo, but he stopped suddenly. 'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'Ibelieve I smell burning wood!' and he stood still and sniffed the air alittle. 'I shouldn't wonder if we're near the cottage.'

  'Oh, do come on, then,' said Maia eagerly. 'Yes--yes; I smell it too. Ihope the cottage isn't on fire, Rollo. Oh, no; see, it must be abonfire,' for, as she spoke, a smouldering heap of leaves and drybranches came in sight some little way along the path, and in anothermoment, a few yards farther on, a cottage actually appeared.

  Such an original-looking cottage! The trees had been cleared for somedistance round where it stood, and a space enclosed by a rustic fence ofinterlaced branches had been planted as a garden. A very pretty littlegarden too. There were flower-beds in front, already gay with a fewearly blossoms, and neat rows of vegetables and fruit-bushes at theback. The cottage was built of wood, but looked warm and dry, with deeproof and rather small high-up windows. A little path, bordered primly bya thick growing mossy-like plant, led up to the door, which was closed.No smoke came out of the chimney, not the slightest sound was to beheard. The children looked at each other.

  'What a darling little house!' said Maia in a whisper. 'But, Rollo, doyou think there's anybody there? Can it be _enchanted_, perhaps?'

  Rollo went on a few steps and stood looking at the mysterious cottage.There was not a sound to be heard, not the slightest sign of life aboutthe place; and yet it was all in such perfect order that it wasimpossible to think it deserted.

  'The people must have gone out, I suppose,' said Rollo.

  'I wonder if the door is locked,' said Maia. 'I am _so_ thirsty, Rollo.'

  'Let's see,' Rollo answered, and together the two children opened thetiny gate and made their way up to the door. Rollo took hold of thelatch; it yielded to his touch.

  'It's not locked,' he said, looking back at his sister, and he gentlypushed the door a little way open. 'Shall I go in?' he said.

  Maia came forward, walking on her tiptoes.

  'Oh, Rollo,' she whispered, '_suppose_ it's enchanted, and that we neverget out again.'

  But all the same she crept nearer and nearer to the tempting half-opendoor.