Milly and Olly | Page 9

out and say good-bye to it for a long, long time! They had
to wait a little, till father had found all the boxes and put them in the
carriage that was waiting for them, and then in they tumbled, nurse
having first wrapped them up in big shawls, for it was evening now,
and the wind had grown cold. That was a nice drive home among the
mountains. How tall and dark and quiet they were. And what was this
shining on their left hand, like a white face running beside them, and
peeping from behind the trees? Why, it was a lake; a great wide lake,
with tiny boats upon it, some with white sails and some without.

"Mother! mother! may we go in those boats some day?" shouted Olly,
in a little sharp tired voice, and his mother smiled at him, and
said--"Yes, very likely."
How happy mother looked. She knew all the mountains like old friends,
she could tell all their names; and every now and then, when they came
to a house, she and father would begin to talk about the people who
lived in it, just as if they were talking about people they knew quite
well. And now came a little town, the town of Wanwick mother called
it, right among the mountains, with a river running round it, and a tall
church spire. It began to get darker and darker, and the trees hung down
over the road, so that the children could hardly see. On they went, and
Olly was very nearly asleep again, when the carriage began to crunch
over gravel, and then it stopped, and father called out--"Here we are,
children, here we are at Ravensnest."
And out they all jumped. What were those bright lights shining? Olly
and Milly hardly knew where they were going as nurse took them in,
and one of Uncle Richard's servants showed them the way upstairs to
the nursery. Such a nice nursery, with candles lit, and a little fire
burning, two bowls of hot bread and milk on the table, and in the corner
two little white beds, as soft and fresh as nests! In twenty minutes Olly
was in one of these little white beds, and Milly in the other. And you
may guess whether they were long about going to sleep.
CHAPTER III
RAVENSNEST
"Poor little souls! How late they are sleeping. They must have been
tired last night."
So said nurse at eight o'clock, when she came back into the nursery
from a journey to the kitchen after the breakfast things, and found the
children still fast asleep; so fast that it looked as if they meant to go on
sleeping till dinner-time.
"Milly!" she called softly, shaking her very gently, "Milly, it's

breakfast-time, wake up!"
Milly began to move about, and muttered something about "whistles"
and "hedges" in her sleep.
Then nurse gave her another little shake, and at last Milly's eyes did try
very hard to open--"What is it? What do you want, Nana? Where are
we?--Oh, I know!"
And up sprang Milly in a second and ran to the window, her sleepy
eyes wide open at last. "Yes, there they are! Come and look, Nana!
There, past those trees--don't you see the mountains? And there is
father walking about; and oh! do look at those roses over there. Dress
me quick, dress me quick, please, dear Nana."
Thump! bump! and there was Olly out of bed, sitting on the floor
rubbing his eyes. Olly used always to jump out of bed half asleep, and
then sit a long time on the floor waking up. Nurse and Milly always left
him alone till he was quite woke up. It made him cross if you began to
talk to him too soon.
"Milly," said Olly presently, in a sleepy voice, "I'm going right up the
mountains after breakfast. Aren't you?"
"Wait till you see them, Master Olly," said nurse, taking him up and
kissing him, "perhaps your little legs won't find it quite so easy to climb
up the mountains as you think."
"I can climb up three, four, six, seven mountains," said Olly stoutly;
"mountains aren't a bit hard. Mother says they're meant to climb up."
"Well, I suppose it's like going up stairs a long way," said Milly,
thoughtfully, pulling on her stockings. "You didn't like going up the
stairs in Auntie Margaret's house, Olly."
Auntie Margaret's house was a tall London house, with ever so many
stairs. The children when they were staying there were put to sleep at
the top, and Olly used to sit down on the stairs and pout and grumble

every time they had to go up.
But Olly shook his obstinate little head.
"I don't believe it's a bit like going up stairs."