“The what?”
“Only the children, sir — fox-huntin’ the cat, sir—”
His voice was lost in the yelling dissonance descending crescendo from floor to floor. Then an avalanche of children and dogs poured down the hall-stairs in pursuit of a rumpled and bored cat, tumbling with yelps and cheers and thuds among the thick rugs on the floor.
Here the cat turned and soundly cuffed a pair of fat beagle puppies, who shrieked and fled, burrowing for safety into the yelling heap of children and dogs on the floor. Above this heap legs, arms, and the tails of dogs waved wildly for a moment, then a small boy, blond hair in disorder, staggered to his knees, and, setting hollowed hand to cheek, shouted: “Hi! for’rard! Harkaway for’rard! Take him, Rags! Now, Tatters! After him, Owney! Get on, there, Schnitzel! Worry him, Stinger! Tally-ho-o!”
At which encouraging invitation the two fat beagle pups, a waddling dachshund, a cocker, and an Irish terrier flew at Selwyn’s nicely creased trousers; and the small boy, rising to his feet, became aware of that astonished gentleman for the first time.
“Steady, there!” exclaimed Selwyn, bringing his walking stick to a brisk bayonet defence; “steady, men! Prepare to receive infantry — and doggery, too!” he added, backing away. “No quarter! Remember the Alamo!”
The man at the door had been too horrified to speak, but he found his voice now.
“Oh, you hush up, Dawson!” said the boy; and to Selwyn he added tentatively, “Hello!”
“Hello yourself,” replied Selwyn, keeping off the circling pups with the point of his stick. “What is this, anyway — a Walpurgis hunt? — or Eliza and the bloodhounds?”
Several children, disentangling themselves from the heap, rose to confront the visitor; the shocked man, Dawson, attempted to speak again, but Selwyn’s raised hand quieted him.
The small boy with the blond hair stepped forward and dragged several dogs from the vicinity of Selwyn’s shins.
“This is the Shallowbrook hunt,” he explained; “I am Master of Hounds; my sister Drina, there, is one of the whips. Part of the game is to all fall down together and pretend we’ve come croppers. You see, don’t you?”
“I see,” nodded Selwyn; “it’s a pretty stiff hunting country, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. There’s wire, you know,” volunteered the girl, Drina, rubbing the bruises on her plump shins.
“Exactly,” agreed Selwyn; “bad thing, wire. Your whips should warn you.”
The big black cat, horribly bored by the proceedings, had settled down on a hall seat, keeping one disdainful yellow eye on the dogs.
“All the same, we had a pretty good run,” said Drina, taking the cat into her arms and seating herself on the cushions; “didn’t we, Kit-Ki?” And, turning to Selwyn, “Kit-Ki makes a pretty good fox — only she isn’t enough afraid of us to run away very fast. Won’t you sit down? Our mother is not at home, but we are.”
“Would you really like to have me stay?” asked Selwyn.
“Well,” admitted Drina frankly, “of course we can’t tell yet how interesting you are because we don’t know you. We are trying to be polite—” and, in a fierce whisper, turning on the smaller of the boys— “Winthrop! take your finger out of your mouth and stop staring at guests! Billy, you make him behave himself.”
The blond-haired M.F.H. reached for his younger brother; the infant culprit avoided him and sullenly withdrew the sucked finger but not his fascinated gaze.
“I want to know who he ith,” he lisped in a loud aside.
“So do I,” admitted a tiny maid in stickout skirts.
Drina dropped the cat, swept the curly hair from her eyes, and stood up very straight in her kilts and bare knees.
“They don’t really mean to be rude,” she explained; “they’re only children.” Then, detecting the glimmering smile in Selwyn’s eyes, “But perhaps you wouldn’t mind telling us who you are because we all would like to know, but we are not going to be ill-bred enough to ask.”
Their direct expectant gaze slightly embarrassed him; he laughed a little, but there was no response from them.
“Well,” he said, “as a matter of fact and record, I am a sort of relative of yours — a species of avuncular relation.”
“What is that?” asked Drina coldly.
“That,” said Selwyn, “means that I’m more or less of an uncle to you. Hope you don’t mind. You don’t have to entertain me, you know.”
“An uncle!” repeated Drina.
“Our uncle?” echoed Billy. “You are not our soldier uncle, are you? You are not our Uncle Philip, are you?”
“It amounts to that,” admitted Selwyn. “Is it all right?”
There was a dead silence, broken abruptly by Billy; “Where is your sword, then?”
“At the hotel. Would you like to see it, Billy?”
The five children drew a step nearer, inspecting him with merciless candour.
“Is it all right?” asked Selwyn again, smilingly uneasy under the concentrated scrutiny. “How about it, Drina? Shall we shake hands?”
Drina spoke at last: “Ye-es,” she said slowly, “I think it is all right to shake hands.” She took a step forward, stretching out her hand.
Selwyn stooped; she laid her right hand across his, hesitated, looked up fearlessly, and then, raising herself on tiptoe, placed both arms upon his shoulders, offering her lips.
One by one the other children came forward to greet this promising new uncle whom the younger among them had never before seen, and whom Drina, the oldest, had forgotten except as that fabled warrior of legendary exploits whose name and fame had become cherished classics of their nursery.
And now children and dogs clustered amicably around him; under foot tails wagged, noses sniffed; playful puppy teeth tweaked at his coat-skirts; and in front and at either hand eager flushed little faces were upturned to his, shy hands sought his and nestled confidently into the hollow of his palms or took firm proprietary hold of sleeve and coat.
“I infer,” observed Selwyn blandly, “that your father and mother are not at home. Perhaps I’d better stop in later.”
“But you are going to stay here, aren’t you?” exclaimed Drina in dismay. “Don’t you expect to tell us stories? Don’t you expect to stay here and live with us and put on your uniform for us and show us your swords and pistols? Don’t you?”
“We have waited such a very long time for you to do this,” added Billy.
“If you’ll come up to the nursery we’ll have a drag-hunt for you,” pleaded Drina. “Everybody is out of the house and we can make as much noise as we please! Will you?”
“Haven’t you any governesses or nurses or something?” asked Selwyn, finding himself already on the stairway, and still being dragged upward.
“Our governess is away,” said Billy triumphantly, “and our nurses can do nothing with us.”
“I don’t doubt it,” murmured Selwyn; “but where are they?”
“Somebody must have locked them in the schoolroom,” observed Billy carelessly. “Come on, Uncle Philip; we’ll have a first-class drag-hunt before we unlock the schoolroom and let them out.”
“Anyway, they can brew tea there if they are lonely,” added Drina, ushering Selwyn into the big sunny nursery, where he stood, irresolute, looking about him, aware that he was conniving at open mutiny. From somewhere on the floor above persistent hammering and muffled appeals satisfied him as to the location and indignation of the schoolroom prisoners.
“You ought to let them out,” he said. “You’ll surely be punished.”
“We will let them out after we’ve made noise enough,” said Billy calmly. “We’ll probably be punished anyway, so we may as well make a noise.”
“Yes,” added Drina, “we are going to make all the noise we can while we have the opportunity. Billy, is everything ready?”
And before Selwyn understood precisely what was happening, he found himself the centre of a circle of madly racing children and dogs. Roun
d and round him they tore. Billy yelled for the hurdles and Josephine knocked over some chairs and dragged them across the course of the route; and over them leaped and scrambled children and puppies, splitting the air with that same quality of din which had greeted him upon his entrance to his sister’s house.
When there was no more breath left in the children, and when the dogs lay about, grinning and lolling, Drina approached him, bland and dishevelled.
“That circus,” she explained, “was for your entertainment. Now will you please do something for ours?”
“Certainly,” said Selwyn, looking about him vaguely; “shall we — er — build blocks, or shall I read to you — er — out of that big picture-book—”
“Picture-book!” repeated Billy with scorn; “that’s good enough for nurses to read. You’re a soldier, you know. Soldiers have real stories to tell.”
“I see,” he said meekly. “What am I to tell you about — our missionaries in Sulu?”
“In the first place,” began Drina, “you are to lie down flat on the floor and creep about and show us how the Moros wriggle through the grass to bolo our sentinels.”
“Why, it’s — it’s this way,” began Selwyn, leaning back in his rocking-chair and comfortably crossing one knee over the other; “for instance, suppose—”
“Oh, but you must show us!” interrupted Billy. “Get down on the floor please, uncle.”
“I can tell it better!” protested Selwyn; “I can show you just the—”
“Please lie down and show us how they wriggle?” begged Drina.
“I don’t want to get down on the floor,” he said feebly; “is it necessary?”
But they had already discovered that he could be bullied, and they had it their own way; and presently Selwyn lay prone upon the nursery floor, impersonating a ladrone while pleasant shivers chased themselves over Drina, whom he was stalking.
And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway — and halted amazed.
Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody’s exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure — a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.
Mortified, he got to his feet, glanced out into the hallway, and began adjusting his attire.
“No, you don’t!” he said mildly, “I decline to perform again. If you want any more wriggling you must accomplish it yourselves. Drina, has your governess — by any unfortunate chance — er — red hair?”
“No,” said the child; “and won’t you please crawl across the floor and bolo me — just once more?”
“Bolo me!” insisted Billy. “I haven’t been mangled yet!”
“Let Billy assassinate somebody himself. And, by the way, Drina, are there any maids or nurses or servants in this remarkable house who occasionally wear copper-tinted hair and black fox furs?”
“No. Eileen does. Won’t you please wriggle—”
“Who is Eileen?”
“Eileen? Why — don’t you know who Eileen is?”
“No, I don’t,” began Captain Selwyn, when a delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise.
“Phil! You! Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes — dear fellow!” recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands. “Six years!” she said again and again, tenderly reproachful; “Alexandrine was a baby of six — Drina, child, do you remember my brother — do you remember your Uncle Philip? She doesn’t remember; you can’t expect her to recollect; she is only twelve, Phil—”
“I remember one thing,” observed Drina serenely.
Brother and sister turned toward her in pride and delight; and the child went on: “My Aunt Alixe; I remember her. She was so pretty,” concluded Drina, nodding thoughtfully in the effort to remember more; “Uncle Philip, where is she now?”
But her uncle seemed to have lost his voice as well as his colour, and Mrs. Gerard’s gloved fingers tightened on the lapels of his coat.
“Drina — child—” she faltered; but Drina, immersed in reflection, smiled dreamily; “So pretty,” she murmured; “I remember my Aunt Alixe—”
“Drina!” repeated her mother sharply, “go and find Bridget this minute!”
Selwyn’s hesitating hand sought his moustache; he lifted his eyes — the steady gray eyes, slightly bloodshot — to his sister’s distressed face.
“I never dreamed—” she began— “the child has never spoken of — of her from that time to this! I never dreamed she could remember—”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about, mother,” said Drina; but her pretty mother caught her by the shoulders, striving to speak lightly; “Where in the world is Bridget, child? Where is Katie? And what is all this I hear from Dawson? It can’t be possible that you have been fox-hunting all over the house again! Your nurses know perfectly well that you are not to hunt anywhere except in your own nursery.”
“I know it,” said Drina, “but Kit-Ki got out and ran downstairs. We had to follow her, you know, until she went to earth.”
Selwyn quietly bent over toward Billy: “‘Ware wire, my friend,” he said under his breath; “you’d better cut upstairs and unlock that schoolroom.”
And while Mrs. Gerard turned her attention to the cluster of clamouring younger children, the boy vanished only to reappear a moment later, retreating before the vengeful exclamations of the lately imprisoned nurses who pursued him, caps and aprons flying, bewailing aloud their ignominious incarceration.
“Billy!” exclaimed his mother, “did you do that? Bridget, Master William is to take supper by himself in the schoolroom — and no marmalade! — No, Billy, not one drop!”
“We all saw him lock the door,” said Drina honestly.
“And you let him? Oh, Drina! — And Ellen! Katie! No marmalade for Miss Drina — none for any of the children. Josie, mother feels dreadfully because you all have been so naughty. Winthrop! — your finger! Instantly! Clemence, baby, where on earth did you acquire all that grime on your face and fists?” And to her brother: “Such a household, Phil! Everybody incompetent — including me; everything topsy-turvy; and all five dogs perfectly possessed to lie on that pink rug in the music room. — Have they been there to-day, Drina? — while you were practising?”
“Yes, and there are some new spots, mother. I’m very sorry.”
“Take the children away!” said Mrs. Gerard. But she bent over, kissing each culprit as the file passed out, convoyed by the amply revenged nurses. “No marmalade, remember; and mother has a great mind not to come up at bedtime and lean over you. Mother has no desire to lean over her babies to-night.”
To “lean over” the children was always expected of this mother; the direst punishment on the rather brief list was to omit this intimate evening ceremony.
“M-mother,” stammered the Master of Fox Hounds, “you will lean over us, won’t you?”
“Mother hasn’t decided—”
“Oh, muvver!” wailed Josie; and a howl of grief and dismay rose from Winthrop, modified to a gurgle by the forbidden finger.
“You will, won’t you?” begged Drina. “We’ve been pretty bad, but not bad enough for that!”
“I — Oh, yes, I will. Stop that noise, Winthrop! Josie, I’m going to lean over you — and you, too, Clemence, baby. Katie, take those dogs away immediately; and remember about the marmalade.”
Reassured, smiling through tears, the children trooped off, it being the bathing hour; and Mrs. Gerard threw her fur stole over one shoulder and linked her slender arm in her brother’s.
“You see, I’m not much of a mother,” she said;
“if I was I’d stay here all day and every day, week in and year out, and try to make these poor infants happy. I have no business to leave them for one second!”
“Wouldn’t they get too much of you?” suggested Selwyn.
“Thanks. I suppose that even a mother had better practise an artistic absence occasionally. Are they not sweet? What do you think of them? You never before saw the three youngest; you saw Drina when you went east — and Billy was a few months old — what do you think of them? Honestly, Phil?”
“All to the good, Ninette; very ornamental. Drina — and that Josephine kid are real beauties. I — er — take to Billy tremendously. He told me that he’d locked up his nurses. I ought to have interfered. It was really my fault, you see.”
“And you didn’t make him let them out? You are not going to be very good morally for my young. Tell me, Phil, have you seen Austin?”
“I went to the Trust Company, but he was attending a directors’ confab. How is he? He’s prosperous anyhow, I observe,” with a humorous glance around the elaborate hallway which they were traversing.
“Don’t dare laugh at us!” smiled his sister. “I wish we were back in Tenth Street. But so many children came — Billy, Josephine, Winthrop, and Tina — and the Tenth Street house wasn’t half big enough; and a dreadful speculative builder built this house and persuaded Austin to buy it. Oh, dear, and here we are among the rich and great; and the steel kings and copper kings and oil kings and their heirs and dauphins. Do you like the house?”
“It’s — ah — roomy,” he said cheerfully.
“Oh! It isn’t so bad from the outside. And we have just had it redecorated inside. Mizner did it. Look, dear, isn’t that a cunning bedroom?” drawing him toward a partly open door. “Don’t be so horridly critical. Austin is becoming used to it now, so don’t stir him up and make fun of things. Anyway you’re going to stay here.”
“No, I’m at the Holland.”
“Of course you’re to live with us. You’ve resigned from the service, haven’t you?”
Works of Robert W Chambers Page 323
