The three children were to dine late with the rest of the party, and were in high glee at the prospect of the afternoon's amusement; Elizabeth seemed to have recovered her spirits; Harriet was as noisy as ever; and Lucy, if possible, a little quieter than was her wont; Anne, as usual, ready to be amused with anything; and Rupert quite prepared to amuse everyone.
Fido was again mentioned, and Rupert, who had heard about half of the history of his loss, suggested the possibility of his having been despatched by the railroad to London, there to be converted into sausages. Harriet, after many exclamations of 'O Mr. Merton!' declared that if she believed such a thing could ever happen, she would never eat another sausage in her life, and concluded as usual with, 'would you, Lucy?' Mrs. Woodbourne inquired anxiously after Winifred's hand. Mrs. Hazleby was on the point of taking fire at the implied suspicion of her lamented favourite's sanity, when Rupert averted the threatened danger, by a grave examination of Winifred and Meg Merrilies, who had both been wounded, and concluded by recommending that as soon as puss shewed symptoms of hydrophobia, Winifred should be smothered between two feather-beds, to prevent further mischief. Everyone laughed, except Dora, who thought the proposal exceedingly shocking; and Rupert argued very gravely with her on the expediency of the measure, until she was called away to prepare for the walk.
Chapter X.
Dora re-considered her arguments while putting on her bonnet, and the instant the walking party were outside the front door, she began again. 'But, Rupert, it would be committing murder to kill Winifred, even if she had the Fidophobia.'
'No, no, Dora,' said Rupert, 'it is your mamma and Lizzie who have the Fidophobia.'
'What can you mean?' said Helen; 'how can you frighten the child so, Rupert?'
'Do not you know, Helen,' said Elizabeth, ''tis his vocation. He is a true Knight Rupert.'
'Expound, most learned cousin,' said Rupert; 'you are too deep.'
'You must know,' said Elizabeth, 'that Knecht Ruprecht is the German terrifier of naughty children, the same as the chimney-sweeper in England, or Coeur de Lion in Palestine, or the Duke of Wellington in France.
'Baby, baby, he's a giant,
Tall and black as Rouen steeple;
And he dines and sups, 'tis said,
Every day, on naughty people.'
'I should have thought,' said Rupert, 'that considering my namesake's babe-bolting propensities, and his great black dog, that he would have been more likely to be held up in terrorem in England.'
'I suppose there was some old grim Sir Rupert in Germany,' said Elizabeth; 'but my dictionary is my only authority.'
'You are taking knecht to mean a knight,' said Anne, 'contrary to your argument last night. Knecht Ruprecht's origin is not nearly so sublime as you would make it out. Keightley's Fairy Mythology says he is only our old friend Robin Good-fellow, Milton's lubber fiend, the Hob Goblin. You know, Rupert, and Robert, and Hob, are all the same name, Rudbryht, bright in speech.'
'And a hobbish fellow means a gentleman as clumsy as the lubber fiend,' said Elizabeth.
'No doubt he wore hob-nails in his shoes,' said Rupert.
'And chimney hobs were so called, because his cream bowl was duly set upon them,' said Anne.
'And he was as familiar as the Robin Redbreast,' said Elizabeth.
'And wore a red waistcoat like him, and like Herb Robert,' said Anne.
'As shabby as this flower,' said Elizabeth, gathering a ragged Robin from the hedge.
'Well done, etymology,' said Rupert; 'now for syntax and prosody.'
'I hope we have been talking syntax all this time,' said Elizabeth; 'we will keep prosody for the evening, and then play at Conglomeration.'
They now came to some bright green water-meadows, which bordered the little stream as soon as it left the town. There was a broad dry path by the river side, and as they walked along it, there was no lack of laughter or merriment in anyone but Helen, and she could find no amusement in anything she saw or heard. At last, however, she was highly delighted at the sight of some plants of purple loose-strife, growing on the bank. 'Oh!' cried she, 'that is the flower that is so beautiful at Dykelands.'
'What! the loose strife?' said Elizabeth, 'it is common enough in all damp places.'
Poor Helen! as if this slight to the flower she admired were not a sufficient shock to her feelings, Rupert, perfectly unconscious on what tender ground he was treading, said, 'If it is a lover of damp, I am sure it can nowhere be better suited than at Dykelands. Did you grow web-footed there, Helen?'
'O Rupert,' said Helen, 'I am sure the garden is always quite dry.'
'Except when it is wet,' said Elizabeth.
'That was certainly the case when I was there two years ago,' observed Rupert; 'I could not stir two steps from the door without meeting with a pool deep enough to swim a man-of-war.'
'Rupert,' said Elizabeth, 'I hereby give notice, that whosoever says one single word against the perfect dryness, cleanliness, and beauty, of dear Dykelands, commits high treason against Miss Helen Woodbourne; and as protecting disconsolate damsels is the bounden duty of a true knight and cavalier, I advise you never to mention the subject, on pain of being considered a discourteous recreant.'
'Lizzie, how can you?' said Helen peevishly.
'How strange it is,' said Anne, 'that so many old family houses should have been built in damp places.'
'Our ancestors were once apparently frogs,' said Rupert; unhappily reminding Helen of her sister's parody.
'Well,' said Elizabeth, 'I can understand why monasteries should have been built in damp places, near rivers or bogs, both for the sake of the fish, and to be useful in draining; but why any other mortal except Dutchmen, tadpoles, and newts, should delight in mud and mire, passes my poor comprehension.'
Rupert pointed to a frog which Dora's foot had startled from its hiding-place, and said, 'Pray, why, according to my theory, should not the human kind have once been frogs? leap-frog being only a return to our natural means of progression.'
'And bull-frogs in a course of becoming stalwart gentlemen,' said Anne.
'Yes, we often hear of a croaking disposition, do not we, Helen?' said Elizabeth;
'you see both that propensity, and a love of marshes, are but indications of a former state of existence.'
'And I am sure that your respectable neighbour, Mr. Turner, is a toad on his hind legs,' said Rupert.
'Minus the precious jewel,' said Elizabeth.
'By-the-bye,' said Rupert, 'is there not some mystery about that gentleman? This morning I hazarded a supposition, in the drawing- room, that the lost darling we have heard so much of, might have been dissected for the benefit of Mr. Turner's pupils, and thereupon arose a most wonderful whispering between Kate and one of your sweet cousins there, Lizzie, about some nephew, an Adolphus or Augustus, or some such name; but the more questions I asked, the more dark and mysterious did the young ladies become.'
'I wonder if it is possible!' cried Elizabeth, with a sudden start.
'What is possible?' asked Anne.
'That Rupert should be right,' said Elizabeth; 'was Mrs. Hazleby in the room when you spoke ?'
'Yes, but what of that?' said Rupert.
'That you, talking at random,' said Elizabeth, 'very nearly betrayed Harriet's grand secret.'
'Really, the affair becomes quite exciting,' said Rupert; 'pray do not leave me in suspense, explain yourself.'
'I do not think I can, Rupert,' said Elizabeth, not wishing to expose Harriet, for Mrs. Woodbourne's sake.