I DID not think when I began to write in this book, how many things I should have to mention.
Ravenscliffe is such a quiet place, that I thought all the days would be alike, and that I should very seldom have any.. thing fresh to say. But we had not been there long before the fire happened, and I had to write about that, and now what took place last week was even more dreadful than the fire, at least it made us much more unhappy.
Mother has gone to spend the day at Langholme with Miss Howard, so we are having no lessons, and I mean to write a long, long piece of my story.
We came back to Ravenscliffe on the Saturday after the fire. Mrs. M’Intire and her daughter were very glad to see us, and Whisker was more glad than any one. She ran out to meet us, and purred and rubbed herself against us, and followed Melville wherever he went ; even at dinner she sat on his shoulder.
It was beautiful weather after we came back, and we were out of doors nearly all day.
Mother took us once to see the wonderful rocks. We held fast to her hand, and peeped at them, but we were very glad she was with us, for the path was so narrow, and looked so dangerous, that we should not like to have gone alone. When Melville and I went out by ourselves, we always went to a place up the shore much nearer Langholme, where there were no high rocks, but where there was plenty of nice smooth sand.
After we had been back at Ravenscliffe for about a week, Melville’s birthday came. He had such a great many presents; we all of us gave him something. I could not think for a long time what to get for him, because there are no shops here. We have not seen a single shop since we left London. Mother sends for all the things that she wants to a little town seven miles away, the town where Mrs. M’Bride’s home is. A carrier brings them here every Monday morning.
So I was very puzzled what to do about Melville’s birthday.
But one day, when I was at Langholme, and I was alone with Miss Howard, I asked her if she thought she could keep a secret, and she said she thought she could. So then I told her about Melville’s birthday, and asked her what she thought I could do about it.
Miss Howard sat thinking for a minute or two, and then she asked me if I knew how to knit. I told her I could knit a little, but not very well. Then she asked me if I did not think a nice warm pair of cuffs for the winter would be a useful. present for Melville; and she said that if I liked she would show me how to knit them for him. I thought it would be very nice, and Melville would be so pleased if I made them myself; so Miss Howard went to a drawer, and brought out some soft grey wool and white wool, and some knitting needles, and let me begin at once.
The cuffs were quite finished before I left Langholme. Miss Howard used to let me sit in her room to knit them, so that Melville might never get to know that I was doing them.
They looked so pretty when they were finished, and mother gave me some thin white paper to wrap them in, and some narrow pink ribbon with which to tie them up, and then I hid them at the bottom of my drawer, till Melville’s birthday came.
I shall never forget that birthday as long as I live. It was a very beautiful day at the beginning of April. I got up very early, before Melville or any of the children were awake, and went out and gathered flowers, to make the breakfast table pretty. I put a wreath of primroses, and violets, and ferns round Melville’s plate, and decorated everything on the table with flowers.
Then mother came downstairs with Melville’s presents, which she arranged on the table near his plate, and then I brought my little parcel, and laid it upon a fern leaf close to the others.
We had locked Melville into his room, that he might not come down till we were ready for him ; but, when all was done, I went to let him out, and to bring him downstairs. He was so pleased when he saw how pretty the table was ; and then he looked at all his presents, and he liked the cuffs very much, and put them on, and mother said they fitted him beautifully.
Then mother told us that it was such a fine day that she was going to let us have a picnic by the seashore. We might all go, even the baby boy, and we would take our dinner with as, and eat it on the sands. We were so pleased that we almost danced for joy, and Melville 6aid he was sure he had never had such a happy birthday before.
After breakfast, mother and Mrs. M’Bride packed two large baskets with all the things for dinner. Everything was quite ready in Mrs. M’Intire’s larder ; she had prepared it all the day before, but mother had not told us anything about it, because she thought that if, after all, it was a wet day, we should be so much disappointed.
So the basket did not take very long to pack. We kept running in and out whilst they were doing it, but we felt too happy to stay very long in the house, so we went outside and had a run on the Langholme Road.
Whilst we were there, we met Miss Howard’s manservant riding on a horse, with a letter and a parcel in his hand. We looked after him, and saw that he was stopping at Ravenscliffe, so we ran back to see why he had come.
The letter was for mother, such a kind letter from Miss Howard, asking mother and Melville and me to go and spend the evening at Langholme after our picnic was over. Mother had told her about the picnic when she had seen her the day before. The parcel was for Melville, such a pretty book, full of beautiful pictures and splendid stories.
‘Isn’t the Primrose Lady kind?’ said Melville, as he opened it, for when she was not in the room he still called Miss Howard ‘the Primrose Lady.’ We sat down quietly after this to look at all the pictures in Melville’s book until baby awoke from his morning sleep, and then mother said we might all get ready to start.
Stella was put into the pony carriage, and Mrs. M’Bride, and baby, and the little boys got into it, and mother drove them and the two large baskets down to the sea, whilst Emma and Melville and I walked after them as fast as we could.
As soon as we got down to the shore, Mrs. M’Bride took the pony out of the carriage, and fastened him to some palings in a green field very sear the sea, and here be nibbled the grist, and seemed very happy and contented.
Then we began to get dinner ready. We spread the tablecloth on the short grass, and put a stone on each corner, to prevent it blowing away. Then we gathered fern leaves for plates, and put the cakes and the pies upon them, and decorated them all with flowers. Then Mrs. M’Bride said that we must make mother a cup of tea ; she had brought a kettle and a teapot, and all she wanted now was a fire.
Oh, how we enjoyed making that fire ! we ran about all round, gathering dry wood and sticks, and Mrs. M’Bride put the kettle on two large stones, and soon we had a beautiful blaze.
When the kettle boiled we all came to dinner ; mother said grace, and we began to eat, and very hungry we all were with the sea air.
Whilst we were eating our dinner, Mrs. M’Bride told us of a wonderful cave, about two miles farther up the coast. She went to see it once when she was a girl. About a hundred years ago, some pirates used to live in this cave and keep all their stolen goods there. They used to put up lights at night to draw the ships towards the shore, and then, when the ships ran upon the rocks, they used to plunder them, and murder the sailors, and carry off everything they could find to this cave.
Mrs. M’Bride said it was a very strange, curious cave, with a very narrow opening into it, but as large as a house inside.