The Story of the White-Rock Cove | Page 9

most enjoyable whole holiday I ever spent--why grown-up people who
always had them should seem so indifferent to their privileges, writing
it down upon the secret tablets of my resolve, that when I grew up
things should be very different with me.
My cousin and I sat side by side at the breakfast-table in a vehement
impulse of boyish affection, so completely taken up with each other
that I for one never remember noticing any one else during the progress
of the meal, except when once I caught a wistful look from my aunt,
and heard her saying, in a rather sorrowful low voice, to my mother,--
"I am very thankful to see our boys take to each other; it is quite a load

off my mind that Aleck should be with you instead of being left at
school."
"Won't Aleck come too?" I asked my mother, when she summoned me
to our usual Bible-reading after breakfast.
"Not whilst his own mamma is here," was the answer; and I was
obliged to rest content. But the moment I had put away my Bible, I
flew off in search of him, eagerly explaining that we were to do what
we liked for the whole of the morning, and sketching out a plan for our
amusement such as I thought would be pleasant to him:--
"First, we must go over the whole house--you've only seen a little bit of
it yet--and the kitchen-garden and the stables, and then down the
Zig-zag to old George's, and we'll get him to go out with us in the boat.
It's smooth enough to sail the 'Fair Alice'--that's a little yacht of mine
that old George gave me."
Aleck's face brightened. "May you go out in a boat when you like?" he
asked, eagerly. "Oh, how de-light-ful!"
How we careered over the house that morning, visiting every nook and
corner of it, from the "leads" on the roof; accessible only by a ladder
and trap-door, to the most hidden repositories in the housekeeper's
domain! The servants good naturedly remarked I had gone crazy.
Presently I bade Aleck shut his eyes, and submit to my guidance
blindfold, whilst I led him to the only room he had not been in. We
passed through several passages, and then I went forward, tapped at a
door, and finding I might come in, fetched Aleck, still with eyes shut.
"There now, you may look," I exclaimed, watching in a satisfied
manner the astonishment with which he opened his eyes to find himself
in the study, and his confusion on seeing my father seated at the library
table near the window, surrounded by books and papers.
"Oh, uncle," he exclaimed, "I did not know I was in your room!"
"And are very much startled at finding yourself there," said my father,

finishing his sentence for him. "What shall we do with the culprit,
Willie? Prosecute him according to the utmost rigour of the law, and
sentence him to a year's imprisonment at Braycombe, with hard labour,
under Mr. Glengelly and old George!"
"I think that would be a very good punishment," I answered, "only I
should like it to be more than a year."
"See what a cruel fellow your cousin is," said my father, getting up
from his chair, and proceeding to take Aleck round the room, showing
him various curiosities with which I was familiar; then he sat down
again, and keeping Aleck at his side, told him that so long as he
remained at Braycombe he was to feel as much at home, and as
welcome to the study as I was, and that he was to try and trust him as
he could his own father, until we all had the joy of welcoming his
parents home again.
"Famous chats we get here sometimes, eh, Willie?" he concluded,
appealing to me.
"Rather!" I answered emphatically, seating myself on the arm of his
chair, and looking over his shoulder. "Papa, shall you have time to play
with us this afternoon. It's a whole holiday. I want you to very much."
"I fear not, Willie. I must be away all the morning. Peter the Great will
be at the door to carry me off in another minute, and I must keep the
afternoon for your uncle and aunt. To-morrow afternoon I will give you
an hour, only I stipulate you must have mercy upon your old father, and
not expect him to climb trees like a squirrel, or run like a hare."
"You know you're not an old father, papa," I said; "and, Aleck, papa
can run quite fast--faster than anybody else I ever saw, and he climbs
better than anybody else. He's been up the tree I showed you in the
avenue."
"Whatever papa's qualifications may be," my father observed,