Chapter V: Part 5

"Now, my love," said his mother, "do not ride far this morning, for fear you will get lost again in these wild woods. Keep to the main road, or I shall never dare to trust you away from the castle again without Peter behind you."

"I shall never go into the woods again," said Rick, in a tone of decision, which quite re-assured his mother. "I am going over to Herr Schuler's, to get him to teach me to read and write and cipher, and to train me with his long stick."

His mother could not believe her ears; and, while she was collecting her wits, Rick rode away, not in his usual gay manner, but looking as serious as a judge.

When he came to Herr Schuler's house, he dismounted, and knocked at the door.

Herr Schuler himself appeared.

"Ah, my little man!" said he, "what can I do for you?"

"I want you to teach me," said Rick.

"Indeed! Did your mother send you to me?"

"No, sir: I have come because I wanted to."

"Are not you the boy who dislikes schools and teachers so much?"

"I was that boy; but I am a boy now who wants to learn, and no one can teach me but you."

"I must go over and see your mother, then, and find out about it," replied Herr Schuler, who was much perplexed.

"But I want to commence this morning, and have brought the books that my mother and Nanette tried to make me study in."

Hereupon Rick ran and took off a little satchel which he had hung upon his saddle.

"This looks like business," said Herr Schuler. "If you keep on as you have begun, it will not take long to make a scholar of you."

He took Rick in, set him down at a little table, and gave him an easy lesson to learn, in spelling. It was soon learned, and then followed one column of the multiplication table. After that, Rick wrote the words of a copy over half a dozen times, very carefully. Then he read a short story aloud. Herr Schuler said that was enough for once; and Rick went home feeling very proud and happy, to tell his mother and Nanette what Herr Schuler said,--that there was now no reason why he should not become as good a scholar as any in the whole country.

His mother and Nanette praised and encouraged him; but they said behind his back, that this new freak would not continue long. They were greatly mistaken. Day after day Rick went to Herr Schuler's, and learned his lessons faithfully: more than that, he seemed to enjoy them as much as he had previously enjoyed his idleness. One reason of this was, that Herr Schuler had a way of making lessons so interesting that they seemed like play, and he did not give too long tasks.

After Rick had been to school about a fortnight, he lingered after he had been dismissed.

"Do you want to speak with me, Rick?" asked Herr Schuler.

"I only want to ask you," replied Rick, "when you are going to use your long stick upon me?"

"What!" exclaimed Herr Schuler, in great glee, thinking Rick was joking. "You don't want a whipping, do you?"

"Yes, I do!" replied Rick soberly and emphatically.

"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Herr Schuler, in amazement.

"Why not?" replied Rick. "I never shall make a man, if you don't whip me some; and I want you to begin right off."

It was with much difficulty that Herr Schuler restrained his smiles. "Well, well, Rick! if you are really willing"--

"Willing!" interrupted Rick, "I am in a great hurry."

"Very well: perhaps there are some things that you will learn better by the use of my long stick, than you will from books or lectures; so look out for a whipping soon."

Rick hurried home in high spirits, to tell his mother and Nanette that he was getting on so well that Herr Schuler was going to begin switching him with his long stick, to teach him some things that he could not learn out of books.

"My dear child!" exclaimed his mother. "It is because you have never known what a whipping is, that you are in such glee. What have you been doing to displease Herr Schuler? Tell me at once. I will go directly and ask him to pardon you and spare his rod."

"No, no!" cried Rick excitedly. "If you do, I will never forgive you!"

"But do you know, my child, that a whipping hurts?"

"Of course I do! Don't I switch Skip with my whip, to make her go faster, and to mind what I tell her? And haven't I switched myself with it, too, for fun? And haven't I seen boys whipped ever so many times, and crying and dancing about? But I shall neither dance nor cry, because I shall like it."

"What a strange boy!" said his mother, laughing. "But I will trust Herr Schuler not to do my boy any injury, and we will see if you like the rod so well after you have felt it."

The next day, when Rick made his appearance, Herr Schuler said,--

"This is the third or fourth time you have been late, my boy. One of the worst of faults is to be habitually late. Suppose we apply a little birch, to strengthen your memory of this fact?"

So Herr Schuler went to a little closet in one corner of the room, and took down a long, smooth birch switch, from a nail upon which it was hanging.

Rick's eyes glistened with anticipation, and he began to pull off his jacket.

"Oh! you needn't take off your jacket," said Herr Schuler.

"Yes," answered Rick: "that's the way Peter makes his boy do, when he whips him."

Herr Schuler whizzed the rod through the air with a great flourish and noise, but brought it down as lightly as possible upon Rick's back.

"You are only making believe!" exclaimed Rick, with a sort of indignation at the sham. "Such a whipping as that will never make a man of me."

Upon this, Herr Schuler laid on with a will, determined to give Rick so much of the stick that he would never again plead for a whipping. But the little hero never winced.

"Will that do?" asked the master at last, in almost a tone of entreaty.

"Perhaps it will do for this time," replied Rick; "but it's no more than a respectable whipping. Now I'm ready for my lessons, and I'll try never to be late again."

"Bravo!" cried Herr Schuler: "at this rate, I will soon put you in a way to become such a man as your country will be proud of."

But Herr Schuler's resolution failed him. Although he had whipped many a rough and heedless scholar into better manners by his long stick, his kind heart and his just soul recoiled from the thought of punishing so steady and earnest a boy as Rick had become, for trivial faults of which the boy himself was unconscious. It was Rick himself who next referred to the rod.

"It is two weeks since I have had a birch lesson," he said.

"Ah! h'm!" replied Herr Schuler, getting up and going to the closet very reluctantly. "So you want another birch lesson, so soon?"

He took down the stick, and then resumed his seat in front of Rick.

"What was that you were telling little Jean Pettis, when you first came this morning? Did you not say that you had seen an elephant as high as my barn, and that you rode upon his back with about a hundred other children?"

"Well, he was a very large elephant."

"Was he as high as my barn?"

"Why, he was almost as high, I think."

"Look out of the window at the barn, and tell me, truly as you can, about how high you really think the elephant would reach."

Rick looked out, and, after a careful examination, said, with rather an ashamed look, that he thought he would reach about to the top of the barn-door.

"Very good," said Herr Schuler; "and now think, and tell me truly, about how many children you really suppose there were on the elephant's back."

After thinking a while, Rick said, with a deep blush, that he was not sure that there were more than twenty-five.

"Very well," said Herr Schuler: "if you go on at this rate, do you expect to grow up a reliable man, whose word can be depended upon? Take off your jacket!"

"There!" he continued, after he had given Rick a number of sharp blows, "will that make you remember to be more truthful in your statements?"

"I guess it will help," replied Rick; "but if I find myself talking so carelessly again, I will tell you, and take another whipping to help my memory."

He was as good as his word: he came to Herr Schuler several times after that, with the information that he had not told the exact truth, and took a whipping for it.

Only once, however, did Herr Schuler whip him with a right good will of his own; and that was after he had paid a visit at the castle, and heard Rick, several times, speak disrespectfully to his mother.

For instance, when his mother said she thought she should have a branch cut from one of the trees near the castle, because it shaded Rick's window too much, Rick said,--

"A branch! I guess I'll have that whole tree down, or nothing; it's only a bother, anyway; it not only darkens the window, but it spoils the view out of the window. I'll have the tree cut down to the ground!"

Herr Schuler was so polite a man that he appeared to take no notice of Rick's independent remarks; but the next day, he said to him,--

"If you want a good whipping now, young man, you can have it, and I can put it on with a good will."

"All right," replied Rick very cheerfully: "what is it for?"

Herr Schuler then told him how sorry he had been to find that he was in the habit of speaking disrespectfully to his mother, and to other elders at home.

"Why, I didn't know there was any harm in that," replied Rick, in unfeigned surprise. Thereupon Herr Schuler gave him a very decided little lecture upon the danger of growing up without habits of respect and politeness for others in word and action. At the end of the lecture, he gave Rick so smart a whipping, that he was fully satisfied for that time.

By the end of the summer, Rick had made such progress, that his father, who had been away from home for several months on important business, was completely astonished at the change in his son, when he came to take his family back to the city.

One of the best changes in Rick was the improvement in his manners. Herr Schuler's little lectures, and the way in which Rick had insisted upon having them impressed upon his mind with the long stick, according to the hints given by the fairy, had worked a complete transformation: he had, even in this short time, become a very gentlemanly boy, careful to do right for the sake of doing right, and thoughtful of others' comfort.

During the following winter, he made great progress at the grand school at the capital, to which he was recommended by Herr Schuler; and the carefulness, both in lessons and deportment, which he had already learned, helped him even more than his natural brightness. He was so conscious of this himself, that, whenever he was asked how he came to be so good a scholar, and why he was always so polite and thoughtful, he answered,--

"Herr Schuler taught me how to study and to be mannerly."

As his mother's health was poor, the next summer, it was decided that she should go to the seaside instead of the castle; and Rick spent the summer there with her and Nanette, and was a great comfort to them.

The following summer, however, his mother's health being fully restored, they went back to the castle; and, soon after their arrival, Herr Schuler was invited to pay them a visit with his wife and daughter.

Rick had now become a tall, manly youth, and would have smiled incredulously at one of Nanette's fairy-stories. He knew that there were not, and never had been, any fairies; but he had, for a good while, been greatly perplexed about the woman in red and yellow whom he met in the forest, and who had so cunningly induced him to go to school to Herr Schuler.

In the evening, he said that, if they liked, he would tell them a curious story, which, although it would convince his mother and Nanette and Herr Schuler that he had been no such wonderful boy as they had thought him, was well worth hearing.

He then told them all about his losing his way among the mountains; his meeting with the woman in red and yellow clothing, whom he had believed to be a fairy; the wonderful appearance of the bright and airy giant who had advanced towards him with a whip in his hand, saying, "Ho! ho! ho! ho!" the supposed fairy's terrible warnings and good advice, and how singularly the way out of the mountains had opened before him.

Herr Schuler laughed loud and long.

"So that was the secret of your wonderful docility!" he exclaimed. "As for the giant figure, it was nothing but the mirage which is frequently seen in these mountains: it was a magnified reflection of Rick Lordelle upon the vapor in front of him."

"But how came the figure to have a long whip in his hand?" inquired Rick.

"You must have had a stick in your own hand."

"Oh, yes! I carried my riding-whip in my left hand, and the giant appeared to have a whip in his right hand. But how came the giant to say 'Ho! ho! ho! ho!'?"

"It was, without doubt, the echo of your sobs, from the ledge near you."

"And as for the fairy," said Herr Schiller's daughter, "she was one of the band of gypsies who passed through here about that time; and the smoke you saw in the woods, came from their camp. I remember this woman very well. I saw her the day before you met her, and she had that yellow satin skirt and red waist in a bundle of old clothes she carried: I gave her the old red silk handkerchief myself, for one of her baskets; and she opened the bundle, to put it in with the rest of the clothes."

"And I saw her too!" exclaimed Rick's mother. "She was here at the castle, and begged me to give her some old clothes in exchange for some of her pretty baskets. She showed me an old embroidered yellow satin skirt, which a lady had given her, and asked me if I could give her a waist to go with it. Knowing how much the gypsies like bright colors, I gave her an old red satin waist, which pleased her greatly."

"Oh, yes!" said Rick; "and now I remember her myself. When I first saw her, she was dressed in an old faded calico: she was about the castle some time, and finally went out of the yard carrying her bundle of old clothes with her. I scarcely looked at her at the time, she appeared to be so uninteresting. Nanette was having great trouble with me that morning, trying to get me to read a lesson; and I told her, that, if she did not stop her noise, or tell me a fairy-story, I would slap her in the face, to which she replied, 'Rick Lordelle, you will surely grow up a disgrace to every one who belongs to you!' I remember this distinctly; because, after Zenia foretold what would happen to me if I kept on in my ways, I recollected Nanette had said something like that to me, when she was so vexed with me in the morning."

"As for the paths opening, that is plain enough," added Herr Schuler. "These little woodland paths seldom appear until you are close to them, and the road that opened between the mountains was in one of those narrow defiles which are quite invisible in the distance. Across that marshy district, there are a great many moss-grown stones, which serve for footing, if any one can tell them from the rest of the bog."

"It does not make any difference now," said Rick, "that Zenia turns out to be only a gypsy; for her warnings were just as true, and her advice just as good, as a real fairy's could have been: but I should not have thought so two years ago, and so I am very glad that I took her for one of Nanette's fairies."

After Pierre had finished reading, they all expressed themselves as much pleased with the story: Johnny was especially enthusiastic.

"I thought you didn't like fairy-stories, Johnny," said Sue.

"I never did like one very much before: but, you see, this fairy didn't turn out to be a fairy after all, and every thing she said was true, and really came to pass, so far as the person reading the story can know; and then, there is a good deal of sense in it from beginning to end; and that's the kind of story I like."

"It's just as good as a fairy-story, I think," said Felix; "because you suppose there is a fairy in it, until the very end, and then when you find it was a gypsy, you like the old gypsy just as well as you would a fairy. The worst of it is, I think it is a very long story for me to learn to read well very soon; and so I'm afraid it will be a good while before I get to Boston."

"I don't think it will take you long to learn to read it well, if you pay good attention to my directions," replied Pierre; "and if you want to get on faster at any time, you have only to give more time to the practice."

*CHAPTER VIII.*

*AT THE COTTAGE.*

Johnny found plenty of time for undisturbed possession of the sky-room, for Felix was always off on his bicycle in the morning on pleasant days; so that, when Johnny preferred to stay at home, he was sure of the time until noon to himself. When he could not persuade "Prof." to accompany him, Felix generally found Harrison Brown quite ready; and since Harrison was a pleasant, well-disposed boy, Mr. Le Bras had given Felix permission to go with him at any time in the morning. As bicycle-riding was vetoed for the afternoon, Felix had various expedients for amusement during that portion of the day, among which were lawn-tennis at a neighbor's, base-ball with some boys on the park towards evening, and other outdoor recreations. In fact, he was in the house so seldom that Johnny experienced very little inconvenience after the first terror at his coming had subsided. And Felix had never behaved well for so many days in his life before, as since his residence with his uncle: his parents would have been greatly pleased and astonished at his unusual affability and tractableness, which were simply the result of the firm, orderly government under which he found himself placed.

Felix had read to Pierre every morning for two weeks, and at the end of that time accompanied his uncle to Boston, the latter having expressed himself satisfied with the test-reading. Johnny had accompanied them, and, as he was quite familiar with Boston, had shown his cousin the principal sights while his father was transacting the business on which he had come. As soon as Mr. Le Bras was at liberty, he took the boys down the harbor, to Nantasket Beach, after which they returned home.

Felix had made so much improvement, during the two weeks, in reading, that he was now quite ready to take part in the evening readings; and this practice, with the standing instructions Pierre had given him, caused him to make constant improvement.

The morning lessons in the fairy-story had been given by Pierre in his own room, which was the spare chamber. The lesson always began by Pierre's reading the portion of the story he wished Felix to read, while Felix listened to him, with the purpose of imitating him as nearly as possible when his turn came. As Pierre was a good elocutionist, he read very finely, changing his voice admirably; so that, by the second or third lesson, Felix had nearly given up the monotone which had helped to make his own reading so painful to hear. By being made to read over any words that sounded indistinct, Felix soon overcame the defects of his enunciation. Pierre made him spell, by dividing into syllables, all the words he could not pronounce. This discipline was kept up also during the evening readings, for Felix's benefit. Of course, the drill rather detracted from the interest of what Felix read; but no one was inclined to complain, except Sue, who had been strictly charged to exhibit no impatience, or say any thing that could discourage Felix or hurt his feelings. He was certainly making a braver attempt to overcome his deficiencies than any one could have expected of him, and his aunt was certain that the example of Rick in the story helped him not a little. "I think," said Sue one day, "that Rick Lordelle was exactly like Felix in every way,--anyhow, as Felix used to be, whenever we went to see him in New York; though I think he's an ever so much better boy now; and I like him first-rate, when he isn't too rough, and don't get to teasing me awful bad."

By the last of July, Mr. Le Bras was able to leave his business for a while, and accompany the family to his brother's seaside cottage. They started off one pleasant morning, with trunks and valises, a very merry company. Mr. Le Bras himself was almost as light-hearted as a boy at getting away from his office: and Pierre, who was a great lover of the sea, by which he had lived when he was a little boy, was full of anticipations of fishing and hunting excursions; he carried his gun in his hand, and had a fishing basket and tackle in his trunk. As for Johnny, Felix, and Sue, of course they were exceedingly happy: Felix and Sue chattered incessantly.

It was a four hours' journey, with one change of cars. They reached the village nearest the cottage about noon, and found Oliver waiting for them with the carriage. As they were getting out of the cars, an enormous dog jumped upon Felix, barking loudly, and then began to bound about him and the rest of the party with every demonstration of joy possible.

"Why, Clyde!" exclaimed Felix. "Yes, it is Clyde! Of course it is! But how did he ever come here? Where did you find him, Oliver?"

"He jumped off the cars one day, and came right over to the cottage," replied Oliver, with a smiling side-glance at Mr. Le Bras.

"Well, now! if that wasn't knowing of him!" said Felix. "But I wonder how he knew which train to take, and how the conductor came to let him stay on, and how he happened to know just what station to get off at?"

"But you've always heard tell, Felix, that dogs are mighty knowin' creatures," returned Oliver, smiling from ear to ear.

"But they're not quite so knowing as that, after all," said Johnny: "there's some other explanation, if we could only find out."

"I'll tell you just how it was, boys," said Mr. Le Bras, as soon as they were all stowed in the roomy two-horse carriage, and Oliver had started off, with Clyde following behind, wagging his tail joyously. "I think I must confess, now"--

"Oh! you did it, did you?" interrupted Sue. "Before I'd have thought"--

"Hush, Sue!" said her mother: "you must not interrupt papa."

"Well, the long and short of it is, Felix, that it was unpleasant for us to have such a great, warm-hearted dog as Clyde rushing into a city-house, with his feet dusty or muddy, and jumping up on our clothes, and on the furniture, to say nothing of his tracks on the carpets; and so I concluded, after a little observation of his mischief, to send him down to the cottage. But as I didn't know you as well as I do now, and wrongly supposed, you might be vexed with me, and not get over it very easily, if I told you Clyde must be banished from the city, I took him down to my office one morning, wrote a note to Oliver, which I tied to his collar, and then accompanied him to the depot, and put him in charge of the conductor, who agreed to hand him over to the conductor of the other road, with instructions to put him off at this station, where I was certain, if he did not find his way to the cottage himself, some one would carry him there; since I knew Oliver would be well known all about here."

"So that's the trick you played on me!" replied Felix, looking at his uncle with more of an expression of admiration than indignation. "You're a pretty fellow, ain't you? Now, I'll bet I'll play you as good a trick as that before you go home!"

"But I thought conductors would not allow dogs on board the cars," said Johnny.

"The conductor said he would have him tied up in the baggage-car; but I didn't stop to see what disposal he made of him, beyond the fact that he gave him in charge to one of the baggage-men, who said he would see that it was all right. I offered either to buy Clyde a half ticket, or pay his way as freight; but the conductor, who is a friend of mine, said it was unnecessary, and that the other conductor would be glad to oblige him. So Clyde came as a deadhead."

"I'm mighty glad he wasn't lost," said Felix, "and that I didn't spend any of my money advertising him. I don't care so much for the money; but you see, if I'd advertised him, I should have been all the more fooled. I didn't know how to get along without Clyde down here by the water, and I was going to remind you of your promise that I should have another dog, if he didn't turn up before we came to the cottage; but we were all in such a hurry and excitement this morning, that I forgot all about it."

After passing through the village, they came upon a very hard, handsome road perfectly white.

"What makes this road so white?" asked Sue.

"It is a shell road," replied Felix: "it has been covered with clam and oyster shells, and the carriage-wheels have powdered the shells."

"It is a very handsome road," remarked Johnny, "and will be fine for our bicycles."

"Capital!" returned Felix; "for it is a very long road, and even as a floor; it extends two miles at least, as far as two monstrous cottages which are the only ones beyond ours, though ours is a mile this side of them."

The shell road soon led along the beach, and in front of a row of small but pretty cottages built quite closely together. Beyond these cottages were larger summer residences, placed much farther apart. As they drove on, there were no more houses to be seen.

"Why! Where is your cottage, Felix?" asked Johnny.

"Oh! you'll see it in a minute."

They soon came to a sharp turn in the beach, and just ahead was a handsome house in the Queen Anne style.

"Oh! what a pretty house!" exclaimed Sue. "Is that your cottage?"

"No; but ours is just as handsome; I think ours is painted handsomer."

There was a little strip of woods beyond the Queen Anne cottage; but when they were past this obstacle to the view, they came suddenly upon another cottage, which was really a large wooden house, built in fancy style, abounding in odd and pretty windows, balconies, and verandas.

Before Sue had time to ask if this was the cottage, Oliver entered a driveway at the right, which led, with a broad sweep, up to the front-door, and continued around the house.

Oliver's wife met them at the door with,--

"I'm awful glad to see all of you! It's ben dreadful lonesome here without the folks, and nothin' to do to keep one busy."

"You must not suppose, Mary," replied Mrs. Le Bras, "that you will have all the work to do for such a company. Katie will be here to-night: she could not get away this morning very well."

The interior of the cottage was prettily furnished with straw mattings, wicker chairs, light curtains, and other furnishings in style appropriate for a summer residence: nothing was lacking to make it as convenient and comfortable as possible. Mrs. Le Bras had her trunks carried to the chamber facing the water, and told Pierre and the children that they could make a selection of the other chambers to suit themselves, if the boys and Sue came to no disagreement in doing so. Johnny said he thought Felix ought to choose first, because it was his father's cottage; but Felix insisted that Pierre should have the first choice. Pierre said he should like the chamber looking up the road, as that direction, being free from houses, was where he should be most likely to see game. Since that was the most retired room, Felix seemed to think it was the worst choice that could be made; but Pierre said he was perfectly satisfied.

"Felix must choose next," said Johnny, "because he is the next oldest."

"Then, I'll take the room I had last summer, which looks down the beach. To be sure, you can't see down the beach only a little way, on account of the grove: but there's a real nice girl lives in the cottage there; and when she could play with me, she used to hang a blue ribbon out of that window in the corner, which is the only one you can see through the trees. I sha'n't want to play with her this year, because I have other company; but I was glad enough to, last year, for there wasn't a boy or another girl in any of the other cottages around here.--And now it's your turn, Johnny."

"I'll take the corner room next to yours, then, which has one window toward the woods, and two towards the grounds back of the house, where there is such a fine huckleberry pasture in view, with rocks and juniper-trees. Now for you, Sue."

"I think I'll take the little room that opens out of mamma's, because that looks towards the sea too; and although it isn't as big as your rooms, if it gets too little for me any time, I can go right through into mamma's big room. There is a real cunning balcony out of the little room, too, and I can sit out there ever so much."

"Yes," said Felix: "there is a canopy there; and, if you draw it up, it will make it cool and shady in the balcony any time."

"There is the north-west corner room left for company," said Johnny.

"But where will Katie sleep?" asked Sue.

"There are two splendid rooms up the next flight, a good deal like your sky-room at home," replied Felix: "Oliver and his wife have one of them, and Katie can have the other. Come up, and I'll show it to you."

The verdict was that Katie's room was very pleasant indeed, and had the best landward view of any; since you could see through and over the grove, and down the beach from the east window, and far beyond the huckleberry pasture, to a country road in the distance, from the north windows. It had a west window also, looking much farther west than Pierre's room; so that, if he had not already chosen, he thought he should have preferred that room. The boys said, however, that he must not change; for they wanted him on the same floor with themselves. By the time the selection was made, Mary announced dinner and; they went down into the cool dining-room, which looked very inviting, with its neatly set table.

Mr. Le Bras was seated before a platter of roast lamb, with a smoking dish of potatoes by its side; while bread, green peas, and other accompaniments were interspersed at suitable intervals.

"Mrs. Oliver has treated us very handsomely," said Mr. Le Bras; "although we wrote that she must not put herself out, since we could very well wait till Kate arrived, and I had a chance to go marketing."

"Where shall I go to hire a sail-boat, Felix?" inquired Mr. Le Bras when dinner was over.

"Hire a boat? Why, we've got two boats--a row-boat and a sail-boat--of our own!"

"I remember, now, hearing you say so; but as I saw no boat around here, I had forgotten about it. Where are the boats kept?"

"They are down at the pier usually, when they are in use. I'll go and ask Oliver about them."

Oliver soon came in with Felix, and stated that the boats were at the pier which they had noticed just this side of the row of cottages; they had been in the keeping of a man in the village who owned a boat-house, and had not been taken out until Oliver heard Mr. Le Bras was coming; but, the day before, he had told the man to bring them to the pier, and he presumed they would be found there, although he had forgotten to notice as they came past. Felix's father was intending to have a little wharf built out in front of the cottage, but he had not been able to attend to it yet.

"But the beach comes to an end for a while, a little above here," continued Oliver; "and you can run a boat up there, and land by the rocks, when you don't want to go down as far as the pier; but the pier is a handier place to get out and in, if you've got ladies along."

Sue was very anxious then to see the pony and dog-cart which Felix said she could use. Oliver told her he would harness the pony by and by, so that she could drive along the beach.

"But it won't be half so nice to go alone, and the boys don't care any thing about riding in a dog-cart."

"I shouldn't at all wonder," said Mary, who was standing in the kitchen-door, "if Miss Julia, the young lady who lives in the next cottage, would like to ride with you: she has asked to borrow the dog-cart several times herself, when she's had young friends here, and she seems to like it very much. Mr. Le Bras told her she could take it any time she wanted it."

"I wish some one would ask her," said Sue. "Won't you, Felix?"

"Yes: if you and Johnny will come and sit in the front piazza, I'll go and ask her to come over here and get acquainted."

Accordingly, Johnny and Sue sat down in the veranda while Felix ran off towards the cottage. Pierre was just going up the road with his gun.

"Don't you want to get back in time for a sail about four?" asked Mr. Le Bras. "Oliver, who, they say, is a good hand with a boat, is going to take Mrs. Le Bras and myself out about that time, and we should like to have you along."

"Which way shall you go?" inquired Pierre, stopping.

"We thought we would go up toward the cottages above here. Oliver tells me there is a good landing there; and, as I have a little business with a gentleman who lives in one of the cottages, I thought I would make him a call."

"I am going up that way," replied Pierre; "and I will be around about the time you arrive, and come back with you, if you are willing."

"Certainly," replied Mr. Le Bras, who was standing in the front-door: "we will be on the lookout for you."

Presently Felix came back, accompanied by a pleasant-looking girl of about Johnny's age: she had golden-brown wavy hair, and eyes that looked quite blue before she came into the shade of the piazza, after which they appeared to be of a grayish color, with a slight suspicion of brown in them; they were very bright eyes, that seemed to take in every thing at a glance.

"This is my cousin Johnny, Julia, and this is Sue," said Felix, as if he thought a very slight introduction indeed would answer for a little girl like Sue. But Sue pieced out her introduction by saying, "I'm Johnny's sister: but I sha'n't tell that I'm Felix's cousin, because he wouldn't say so himself; and I don't much care, because I've got a good many relations without him."

Julia laughed heartily at this, and Felix looked a little nonplussed.

"I'm real glad there are to be so many young folks here this season," said Julia: "there wasn't any one here last summer, except Felix, without I went ever so far to see them. It wasn't pleasant at all: I was just as homesick as I could be. But now I think we can have very nice times, unless,"--and she looked questioningly at Johnny,--"unless Johnny is as great a tease as Felix is."

"Johnny is not a bit of a tease," said Sue: "I don't know as he ever tried to tease me in his life; though I tease him once in a great while, when I have what he calls one of my 'high times.'"

"He must be a new kind of a boy if he don't tease," returned Julia: "every boy I ever knew liked to tease, but Felix is the very worst boy to plague any one I ever saw."

Felix laughed, and made up a comic face.

"But you liked to play with him last year, or you wouldn't have hung the blue ribbon out of the window," replied Sue.

"Now, you go and tell every thing! that's just like you!" exclaimed Felix, with a look of vexation.

"He didn't see the blue ribbon very often," replied Julia, laughing. "After he had teased me real hard, I wouldn't play with him for ever so long, and that happened pretty often. I guess he wouldn't have got on very well if it hadn't been for a boy who came up from one of the cottages."

"I wonder if Jack is here this year?" said Felix.

"Yes: I saw him one day down by his cottage, firing pebble-stones at a little kitten he had thrown into the water, to keep her from coming ashore. I stopped the carriage, and told him he ought to be ashamed of himself. Then he let the kitten come ashore; and I got out, and took up the poor, shivering little thing, and brought it home. I saw him a while after, and he accused me of stealing his kitten; but I did not pay any attention to him: I didn't believe a boy had any right to a kitten he wanted to keep just for the sake of treating it cruelly. It's a beautiful little tortoise shell; and he'll never get it again, if I can help it!"

They had all been talking so fast that Johnny, who was always careful not to interrupt, and who never forced himself into notice, had not said a word, except to bow, and say "Good-morning," when he was introduced.

"Why don't you say something, Johnny?" whispered Sue in his ear, as Felix went on talking about Jack, saying he was a pretty good fellow to have a gay time with, and he thought he should look him up before long.

"I haven't had a good chance," Johnny whispered back: "I'm waiting for Felix to get through."

"He never will get through," returned Sue: "when he makes a little pause, you just say something as quick as ever you can."

"What if I should set Clyde on the kitten?" said Felix to Julia.

"You'd better not, young man: I'll never forgive you if you do!"

"Just let me get a sight of her, that's all," returned Felix, running off in the direction of the cottage in which Julia lived, looking back, and laughing roguishly as he ran. "Come, Clyde!" he called back; and Clyde, who was lying in the piazza, jumped up and followed him.

"I sha'n't please him by running after him," said Julia: "but if he does set Clyde on the kitten, I've a mind not to have any thing to do with him all summer; he is one of the most annoying boys I ever saw; I only came over because I wanted to get acquainted with the rest of you."

"Felix has been pretty good at our house this season," replied Johnny, "and I don't believe he will tease you this year if father finds it out; for father don't believe in teasing, and he has charge of Felix this summer."

"Then, you don't tease!" returned Julia, with a pleased look. "I am so glad! I think I can have some nice times with you and your sister."

Sue then asked Julia if she would go to ride in the dog-cart with her.

"Yes, indeed! I should like to go very much, any time."

Felix soon came back, saying he could not find the kitten this time, but he should be on the lookout for it.

"I should like to stay longer, if Felix had not begun to tease," said Julia; "but since he has, I think I will go home:" and she rose, and began to go down the steps.

"I wish you wouldn't go yet: I haven't more than half got acquainted," said Sue.

"I'll go home with you, and see if I can find the kitten," remarked Felix, beginning to walk down the steps also, and laughing.

"No, you won't!" replied Julia, sitting down on the steps. "I declare, Felix Le Bras, I won't come over here another time, if you are going to act like this!"

It happened that Mr. Le Bras, who had been sitting in a balcony over the piazza, had heard most of the conversation between the children. He now appeared at the door, and said, "Is this the young lady who lives near us?"

"Yes," replied Johnny: "she came to make us a call."

"And Felix is teasing her," said Sue.

"How is that, Felix?" asked Mr. Le Bras, in a tone of feigned surprise. "I hope you would not be so ungentlemanly, and towards a visitor too!"

"Oh! I'm only joking with her a little," returned Felix.

"Is the joke amusing to you or to her?"

"Why, to me."

"And it is very annoying to me," said Julia.

Mr. Le Bras came out, sat down in a chair on the piazza, and began to talk with Julia. She seemed much pleased, and conversed with him very prettily.

"I want you to come in now, Julia, and see Mrs. Le Bras," he said, after they had conversed for about ten minutes, "so that we shall all be acquainted with you." He then took Julia up into the balcony where Mrs. Le Bras was sitting.

"I think you've been a good deal of a tell-tale this morning, Sue," said Felix, looking quite cross.

"I haven't told any thing but the truth," replied Sue, quite decidedly.

"But you know, Sue," said Johnny, "that you shouldn't tell any thing any one would not like to have told, unless there is some very necessary reason."

"I didn't think when I told about the blue ribbon," replied Sue: "and I told papa, because I thought Felix ought not to tease Julia; but I won't tell any more, unless Felix is very troublesome indeed."

"All the fun there is in being with girls is to tease them: every one knows that," replied Felix. "I don't tease you, Sue, because you are not as old as I am; but it's all right to tease Julia, and she don't care half as much as she pretends."

"But you wouldn't really set Clyde on her kitten, would you?" asked Johnny.

"Why, of course I would! What harm would it do? It would only scare the kitten a little, and make her bristle up her tail, and run up a tree."

"How would you like to have a great, savage-looking animal run after you?" replied Johnny.

"Perhaps I shouldn't like it. But what has that to do with it?"

"The kitten wouldn't like it, either," said Sue.

This putting himself in the place of a kitten, imagining her terrors, and pitying them, was an entirely new idea to Felix; but he was not willing to admit that he saw any force to the argument. "Oh! girls have queer notions," he said, "and Johnny's just like them. For my part, I'm going to do as other boys do: I ain't going to be a girl-boy. I shall tease Julia some; and if Sue wants to keep on being a tell-tale, she can."

Julia then came running down-stairs.

"I've had a splendid visit," she said, "and I'm going home to tell mamma about it. Now, don't you follow me, Felix!"

She ran down the steps and towards home like a flash. Possibly it might have been Felix's intention to follow her with Clyde; but as his uncle appeared at the door just after Julia left, he sat still on the steps.

"That is a nice, bright girl," said Mr. Le Bras: "you are very lucky to have such a neighbor, children."

Mr. Le Bras then returned to the balcony, and Sue accompanied him. Felix whistled to Clyde, and went to the barn to see Oliver. But Johnny continued sitting in the piazza for some time, looking at the light waves that curled up over the beach in front of the cottage, and gazing off at the blue expanse, here and there dotted with a white sail. He was interested, too, in the flight of the sea-gulls, of which a great many were darting about over the water. For once, when alone, he forgot to wish for a book to read.

*CHAPTER IX.*

*LOST.*

They all started out, about four o'clock, on pleasure excursions, that first day of their arrival at the cottage. Mr. and Mrs. Le Bras walked down to the pier, and embarked in the sail-boat with Oliver. Sue and Julia went riding in the dog-cart, first going to the pier to see the party set sail, and then riding on down the beach to the village. Felix and Johnny, having found their bicycles at the baggage-house, near the depot-building, went up the beach. As they came through the village, they met Julia and Sue, who were driving leisurely about the streets.

"Don't you wish you could ride on a bicycle, Julia?" said Felix, as he shot past at his best pace.

"No," called back Julia, "not with you!"

Johnny, who came after at a slower rate, lifted his hat politely, saying, "I hope you will have a very pleasant ride."

"I like your brother ever so much," said Julia to Sue. "I think he is very manly and polite."

"Felix thinks he is the manliest," replied Sue.

"I don't," replied Julia, with emphasis.

As the boys passed the cottage, Clyde, who had been commanded to stay at home by Felix, ran towards them, barking loudly.

"You can come on now, Clyde," said Felix; and the dog bounded happily after them up the road.

"It will be fun to go on up this way," remarked Felix; "because I've never been any farther than the cottages, where the shell road ends. We'll have to go across through a kind of cart-track after we get there, in order to cross over to the regular country road, which is a good deal back from the water. You can see the road when we get to the cottages, and it leads to the Point, where they blast rocks. They're to work there all the time, Oliver says. I didn't explore this region much last year, because I hadn't a bicycle; as for a pony-cart, it isn't worth any thing for exploring; but if you are on a bicycle, you can go over stone walls, if you want to, and then set your wheel up again and go on."

For the whole length of the shell road, the white-sanded beach was just at their left, with waves dashing gently in and retreating. The expanse of water beyond extended a long distance, and was bounded by a blue, misty strip of land that looked almost like a dark cloud lying along the horizon. There were many sail-boats visible, and now and then a yacht, a schooner, or a steamboat.

"We can see no end of yachts by going down to the Harbor," said Felix.

"Where is the Harbor?"

"Oh! they generally take the cars, and go away down below the village, you know: but we could go on our bicycles well enough; it isn't so very far. If you go down to the town, you can see all sorts of vessels: sometimes there's a whale-ship in. And there are two or three big steamboats that go from there. There are propellers and tugs and barges and schooners, and lots of excursion steamers, and a school-ship, and some of the cunningest little steamers, not much bigger than a real big sail-boat, which run between the Harbor and the town; they only charge you ten cents each way; it's a fine sail, too, past the fort and up the river."

"I should like to go to the town some day," said Johnny, who was quite captivated with this description, as he had never had an opportunity to see much shipping, except from a distance.

"We can go down there most any time: there are some things I want to buy, and they have all kinds of shops there."

So the boys talked, on one subject and another, as they rode up the shell road; and at length they reached the cottages, just beyond which the road ended.

"Let's get off here, and wait until father and mother come up," said Johnny; for Felix had wheeled around, as if to go back a distance, after they had reached the end of the road, which terminated very abruptly.

"I'm going back to the cart-path," replied Felix. "Didn't you see it as we came by?"

"Yes: I noticed some tracks of wheels going across a pasture."

"That's it. I guess we sha'n't have any trouble getting along through it to the road. If we do, we can get off and walk across. Let's just go and try it a way, and then we can come back and wait."

Accordingly, the boys rode back to the cart-path, which was a little distance below the cottages. As it had been considerably travelled, they found a very good road for their bicycles in the middle of the track, which had been worn by the feet of the horses and oxen.

"We may have to get off in that rocky place," said Johnny; "but I think we can get along very well. How far is it to the road?"'

"Oliver said it is a short half-mile."

As they were about to turn back from the lane, after their exploration, they observed a sail-boat coming toward the shore.

"There they are!" said Felix. "I saw that sail-boat as we were coming along; but it was so far off, I couldn't be sure they were in it, as there were so many boats around."

The boys rode back to a little wharf between the two cottages, and alighted. There was a row of bathing-houses back on the beach at one side of the wharf, against an end of which they leaned their bicycles. They then went and sat down on the wharf, with their feet hanging over the side. The sail-boat was still some distance off.

"What enormous cottages these are!" remarked Johnny: "there must be large families in them, to need so much room."

"No: that largest one has only two folks in it besides the servants,--a man and his wife,--unless they have company; and there are only four persons in the other family,--a man and his wife and two grown-up daughters. But the men who own the houses are millionnaires, and my father says they build big houses to use up some of their money: they don't know what else to do with it."

"I should feel lonely in such a great house, unless it had a good many folks in it," replied Johnny. "I think I should look up some folks to enjoy it with me, or else I should think of some other use for my money."

"I would build a great, magnificent ship, and sail around the world in it," said Felix.