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Page 8
"Will the others like it?" asked Hildegarde.
"They'd better!" said Bell. "And they will, of course. It was only
because we had not found the right name that we did not agree.
Thank you so much, Miss Grahame! Oh, I must go now, for I have
fifty thousand things to do! But,--I am so glad to have met you."
"And I to know you," cried Hildegarde, warmly. "I hope we shall
see a great deal of each other. We shall come to call in due form,
as soon as you are ready to receive visitors. But meanwhile, allow
me to present you with the freedom of the fence and of the Ladies'
Garden. See! our two boys are deep in confidences already."
In truth, the black head and the red one were laid close together,
and the two round faces wore the same look of deep importance.
"Mine are green and white," said Will. "That is Austrian, but I
have them Crusaders a good deal of the time."
"Mine are blue," said Hugh, "and sometimes they are Americans, and
sometimes they are Greeks and Trojans. Will you be my friend, and
shall we fight great fights together?"
"All right," said Will Merryweather, shyly.
"We will plan a campaign," cried Hugh, his eyes shining with
ardour.
"Yes; but now you must come in to your music lesson," said
Hildegarde, taking his hand, and frowning at herself for feeling
another little pang, as Hugh's face turned toward his new
acquaintance.
"Read the Talisman?" cried Will. "I'll be Saladin, and you be
Richard."
"Come along, Will," said his sister, taking him by the shoulders
and marching him toward the fence.
"Lots of sand that will do for Palestine!" "Plains of Marathon
over beyond the stone wall!" "Turbans and lances!" "Horsetail
helmets and real armour!"
Still shouting, Will was pitched bodily over the fence by his
stalwart sister, while Hugh went away holding Hildegarde's hand,
and looking backward as he passed.
"We will fight!" he said, giving a little leap of joy. "Our necks
shall be clothed with thunder, and we shall say, 'Ha! ha!' among
the trumpets. And will you bind my wounds, Beloved?" he added,
looking up in Hildegarde's face. "And will you give me my shield,
and tell me to come back with it or upon it? Will you do that? The
cover of the washboiler will do beautifully for a shield."
"So it will!" said Hildegarde; and they went into the house
together.
CHAPTER III.
PUMPKIN HOUSE.
When Mrs. Grahame and Hildegarde went to call on their new
neighbours, two days after the meeting in the garden, they found
them already entirely at home, the house looking as if they had
always lived in it. The furniture was plain, and showed marks of
hard usage; but there were plenty of pictures, and the right kind
of pictures, as Hildegarde said to herself, with satisfaction; and
there were books,--books everywhere. In the wide, sunny sitting-
room, into which they were ushered by a pleasant-faced maid, low
bookcases ran all round the walls, and were not only filled, but
heaped with books, the volumes lying in piles along the top. The
centre-table was a magazine-stand, where Saint Nicholas and The
Century, The Forum and The Scientific American jostled each other
in friendly rivalry. Mrs. Merryweather sat in a low chair, with
her lap full of books, and had some difficulty in rising to
receive her visitors. Her hearty welcome assured them that they
had not come a day too soon, as Mrs. Grahame feared.
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