HARRY’S RASH WISH,
HOW THE FAIRIES GRANTED IT.
BY THE Hon. Mrs. GREENE, “Author of “ Cushions and Corners,’ “Star in the Dus heap,” ete.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON AND NEW YORK: FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 1891.
CONTENTS.
—_—-—
HARRY DISLIKES BABIES, THE FAIRIES GRANT HARRY’S WISH. GREAT CHANGES.
A VERY OLD MAN.
HARRY’S RASH WISH, AND HOW THE FAIRIES GRANTED IT.
—_~—
CHAPTER I. HARRY DISLIKES BABIES. ~4\J) HATE babies! I wish Hoh e. there were no such things in the world!” cried little Harry Thompson, as, hav- ing finished his first inspection of the new owner of the nursery cot, he tripped across the floor with his little bare feet and climbed into bed. “I wish, nurse, you’d take that nasty cradle
\
flarry's Rash Wish. —— out of the room, and bring back my rock- ing-horse instead.” “Indeed, Master Harry, I ain’t a-goin’ to do nothing of the kind, and I am ashamed of you, that I am, speakin’ in such a heartless way of your little sister,” replied nurse, reproachfully ; “it is not so many years ago since you were a-rocking in the same cradle yourself, and a very peevish, cross little baby you were— always a-screamin’ or a-whinin’ at sum- mat or other.” “T am sure I was never half so red, or so ugly, or so small,” cried Harry, taking his fairy-tale book from the head of his little wooden crib, and thrusting it under his pillow. “What good are babies? They can’t fight, or kill lions or tigers or buffaloes, or read fairy-tale books, or de anything useful.” “T can’t say as how-I see much use in readin’ the silly stuff as is printed now-a- days in fairy-tale books,” replied nurse, rather contemptuously; “and if I was
flarry dislikes Babies.
you, Master Harry, I’d be thinking of saying my prayers when I put my head down on my pillow, instead of gabbling about hobgob- lins and such- like.” “ Hobgoblins and fairies are ght not one scrap me likeeach other; sothere youare wrong, nurse,” cried Harry triumphantly. _ “ Hobgoblins are like ghosts —indeed, they NN are generally Nurse and Baby. flarry's Rash Wish. ghosts, with long white sheets and green eyes, and very hideous; .but fairies are most beautiful things, with wings, and yellow hair, and shining dresses, and wands, and they can come in and out of a room, and make people invisible, or do anything they like.” *T wish, then, they ’d make you invisi- ble, Master Harry, or do something with you to keep you quiet, for there’s not much chance of the baby sleepin’ while you keep up such a chatter and nonsense. Put your head down on your pillow now, and don’t let me hear another word till the mornin’.” After this admonition from aurse there was silence in the nursery for a few minutes; but until Harry was actually asleep he could seldom cease talking, and presently he began again in a kind of loud whisper, “ I wish—I wish—oh! how I do wish something.” “What do you wish, Master Harry? Is itaslice of the cake that I have in the |
flarry dislikes Babves.
press ?” asked nurse, who, after all, was not an unkindly soul; and she rose and walked towards the cupboard. “No, no, I did not mean the cake— though I should like a bit of that very much; but I wish so much I could be a fairy just for one night—only fora single night—and then I know what I should do.” “What would you do?” And nurse, having cut a slice from the cake, placed it in Harry’s outstretched hand. “T would turn ail the babies in the world into mice or rats or butter, as the enchanter did to the Queen and her chil- dren in the golden bower, and then cats would eat them, and people would catch them, and soon there would be no more ot them, and I should have my rocking- horse back in the nursery, instead of that nasty cradle.” “Well, well, if ever I heard such an idea!” murmured nurse to herself with a flarry’s Rash Wesh.
smile ; “‘a-turnin’ of babies into mice and suchlike. I doubt but you'd be repentin’ of your wish after a bit if the fairies were just to take you at your word.”
Harrys Rocking-Fiorse.
This speech of nurse’s hardly reached Harry's ears, for, having finished his cake, he was already half-way into the land of dreams. He tried to answer her, Harry dislikes Babves. but could not, and though his eyes were still blinking a little, and he could hear the singing of the kettle on the hob, yet he had an uncomfortable vision of see-
Baby Asleeh. ing the baby crawl slowly out of the cradle on to the floor, and, having looked all around it furtively, suddenly creep up the side of the nursery press, and dis- appear, squeezing itself through the well-
Flarry’s Rash Wrsh, BIE fe eae INO ORE RL tay known mouse-hole, out of which Harry had that very day picked the piece of cork placed there by the nursemaid Lizzie. Harry did not like looking any longer, lest he should see it come out again; so he turned on his pillow and covered his face with his hands. But this was only a dream; such a thing could not really happen; and soon—very soon—Harry’s eyelids closed altogether. He heard no longer the singing of the tea-kettle or the creak of the cradle-rockers, and when nurse came to replace the quilt which had fallen from his bed, he was fast asleep, with his arm under his head, and his red- brown curls hanging in wonderful confu- sion over his pillow. It was not very long after this that nurse herself began to yawn and to grow sleepy. Having glanced at the clock, she put her knitting aside in the work- basket, and took the spectacles from her nose, She then lit the night-light, and Harry dislikes Babies. replaced the piece of cake in the cup- board; and all her preparations for the night being completed, she raised the infant in her arms from the cradle, and as she looked into its little quiet face, she could not but smile over Harry’s strange wish that there might be no more babies in the world. Soon the nursery was as still as might be. There were no angry gusts of wind that night rushing against the panes of glass or moaning in the chimney; the kettle sang itself quietly to sleep in the fender; the cinders creaked and tinkled and fell into the grate below, till at length the red glow died out, and the grate be- came black and sombre as everything else around it. The night-light flickered a little at first, and cast strange shadows on the wall, but soon its light also sank beneath its yellow rim, and only a faint glowingcircle on the ceilingabove showed that it still burned: it was a night for people to sleep, and to sleep deeply.
florry’s Rash Wish Se SOS eee And very deeply little Harry slept, with his head pressed into his pillow and his arm thrust under it, holding in loving embrace his much-prized fairy-tale book. Had he not slept so very soundly, he might perhaps have seen—or perhaps, indeed, even in his sleep he did see—the fairies one by one, as the clock struck twelve, creeping out between the leaves of his book and climbing over the side of his bed, letting themselves stealthily down upon the floor. I think Harry must either have felt them squeezing themselves out of the book, or he must have seen them, as they clamberec. down, for he raised himself on his elbow, and though his eyes appeared shut, still he seemed to follow all their movements. And such a strange lot as they were, to be sure! enchanters and witches and gnomes, and lots of old well-known friends, such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and the Yellow Dwarf, and flarvy dislikes Babies.
Beauty and the Beast walking arm-in- arm, and Cinderella, whose train was carried by her two sisters, and at the head of the procession little Snow White,
whose mother had so long wished that she might be born, and when she was born she was so lovely—oh, so lovely !— Harry could hardly take his eyes off her. Yes, it was quite plain to see Harry was awake now, for he was busy counting them as they marched past his bed, each
Flarrys Rash Wish. with a wand in his or her hand; and so loudly did he number them, “two and two and two,” that nurse from her bed cried, “Hush, hush, be quiet there, Master Harry, with your two and two! this is the time for sleep, and not to be adding up your figures.” But then the curtains of nurse’s bed were drawn, and she could not see the fairies all filing along so grandly and in such order, and creeping up the legs of the nursery table, till at last they were all gathered in a crowd upon the top. Harry counted them twice over: there were just a hundred of them; and now as they all joined hand-in-hand and made a circle round the night-light, he could see them much plainer: such gorgeous robes and dazzling dresses, and, more re- splendent than all the others, little Snow White, in a dress of pure silver, who did not join hands with the others, but stood just inside the circle, waiting, as it were, till they had all taken their places.
GATHERING
FAIRY
THE
Farry dislikes Babies.
Then some strange kind of ceremony be- gan, which interested Harry so much that
he got up upon his knees and stretched his head as far as he could to watch them. Little Snow White seemed to be making -
Flarry’s Rash Wisa.
a speech, for she waved her wand to and fro, and clasped her hands, and appeared as if she were in some great trouble; and sometimes.she pointed her wand—which was shaped like a spear—at the night- light, and sometimes Harry thought she pointed it at him, till all at once it seemed to waver and flicker as it were from side to side, and to totter; and then two knights rushed out from the circle to catch her, but they were too late, for she slipped through their arms like water, and sank into a little white heap on the table, just for all the world like a flake of snow. This seemed to cause a great hubbub and commotion; the circle was quite broken up, and a crowd of angry faces gathered round the glass which held the night-light. Harry could see that they were all plunging their spears or wands into the boiling grease, and as each suc- cessive gnome or fairy drew it out, it seemed to him they looked furiously across the room at him, and such a buzz Harry dishkes Babzes. and hum began, and such a surging of heads round the light, that Harry grew quite terrified, and crept back under the - clothes, where he would have hidden his face also, only the night-light seemed to grow frightened as well at all the row they were making around it, for it gave two or three great leaps of red flame in its socket, and then went suddenly out with a splutter and crackle, leaving the room in total darkness, and all the fairies in dismay and confusion. Nor could Harry feel quite comfort- able himself, for he disliked very much being in the dark, especially with such a lot of angry fairies creeping about the room like wasps; and as the thought of wasps came into his head, he heard sud- denly a great sounding. and humming and buzzing, and he knew that all the gnomes and creatures were creeping up the side of his bed again as fast as ever they could, in great hurry and confusion, and as each of them passed by his face
Harry's Rash Wash.
to creep backwards under his pillow, they hissed out some word in his ear that sounded to him like “sleep,” “sleep,” “sleep,” and at the same moment plunged the sharp point of the wands into his eyelids; till at last, when the hundredth gnome had buzzed the word “sleep” into his ear, he did, strange to say, fall asleep, and into such a deep sleep as I hope you and J may never experience for our- selves.
The Fairies grant Harrys Wish.
CHAPTER IL THE FAIRIES GRANT HARRYS WISH. )T was a bitterly cold morn- ing, a red foggy sun, and the ground covered with many inches of snow, when at length Harry, having yawned: and stretched himself many scores of times, - opened his eyes and thought to himself that it was perhaps time to get up. The - sleet was drifting against the unshuttered windows, the room was grey and gloomy inside also, but in the yard beneath the cocks were crowing lustily, proclaiming aloud, in no faltering tones, that though flarry’s Rash Wish. the day was dull, it was time to be up and stirring. Harry had given a promise to his elder brother Jack, when he had to re- turn to school, that the rabbits in the hutch in the harness-room should not be for- gotten, but have their food given to them every morning early before breakfast; and now Jack was gone, and Harry had to fulfil his promise, so, without waiting for nurse’s usual summons, or the advent of Lizzie the nursemaid with the bath and hot water, he determined to get up and dress himself; and, with another yawn, which nearly stretched his mouth from ear to ear, he thrust his hand under the far corner of his pillow for the grey worsted stockings, where he had placed them the night before, intending to make his feet hot and toasty before putting them on the uncarpeted floor. But how was this? some one must have changed the stockings he wore yes- terday, and put another pair full of holes under his pillow, for the moment he
ard 3
The Fairies grant Harrys Wash. thrust his foot into one of them, out came both his toe and heel through the sole, and the ribbed top came off with such a jerk in his hands, that it threw him right back upon his pillow. “Somebody has been playing a trick upon me, and a very silly trick too,” muttered Harry, half angrily, as he sat up in his bed again, and tried whether the second stocking was in the same con- dition as its fellow; but matters were even worse with it, for in his efforts to draw it up his leg, the whole foot came right off at the ankle, and remained sus- pended on Harry’s toes, while the leg part flew suddenly into as many holes as if it had been cut in pieces purposely - with a pair of scissors. “Who on earth can have played such a silly trick?” cried Harry again, as he indignantly kicked the foot of the stock- ing over the edge of the bed, “ especially when I have only to walk across the roon) to the press to get out another pair. flarry’s Rash Wish.
It’s one comfort, whoever did it won’t hear the end of it from nurse for some time—that they won't!” And Harry, re- gardless of the cold, clambered out of his bed upon the floor, and crossed the room towards the old oak press which held the children’s linen. “But I say,” shivered Harry, as he gazed around him in some bewilderment, “ Lizzie has not even lit the fire yet: I never saw the grate look so black and empty; and what can have become of the cradle?” And Harry, stooping down over the spot where the cradle had stood when he last saw it, raised up a heavy piece of cumbersome, painted wood, the shape or form of which he could not at first make out, but which, after long inspection, looked to him like a roughly-carved horse’s head. A few hairs still stuck on the crest for the mane, and the painted eyeballs, though worm- ‘caten and dull, had a sad, meaningless stare in them, very unlike the fiery orbs of his own beloved rocking-horse, whose
The Fairies grant Harry's Wish.
absence from the nursery he had so bit- terly bemoaned. “© Phew!” sneered Harry, replacing the heavy piece of wood on the ground as gently as he might, lest he should wake the baby, “ phew! I suppose Lizzie has dragged this old head out of the lumber-pit in the yard to make firewood of; I am sure I wish she had it on the fire this moment, I do; it’s so wretchedly cold and raw, and so cheerless and dull an old nursery I never was in, without as much as a piece of carpet to stand on!” And, walking delicately on his heels, Harry turned again towards the oaken press in search of his hose. This press was usually locked, and had a very cranky key, that required much patient turning and twisting before the lock would yield to its pressure ; but this morning the press stood open—indeed, it seemed to have got some kind of wrench, for it hung forward and downward, as if depending from a single hinge, and Harry Flarry’s Rash Wash. moved it gently enough aside, fearing from its position it might fall upon his feet. “ Gracious me! what on earth has nurse been doing ?—why, the press is nearly empty!” cried Harry, standing upon his tiptoes so as to see up to the higher shelves. ‘“ Why, what has become of my new knickerbocker suit, and all my other things ? they could not be rolled up in this filthy bundle.” And Harry thrust his hand into the corner of the middle shelf, where there seemed to be a heap of some mouldy clothes; but quickly as he pushed in his hand, he drew it quicker forth, tor out rushed first a huge fat mouse with a long horny tail, and imme- diately afterwards such a host of wood- lice and earwigs as made Harry spring several paces back from the press, and shake his little night-dress frantically, to free himself from the host of unpleasant living creatures that had suddenly fallen upon it. “Nurse! nurse!” cried poor Harry
The Fairies grant Harry's Wash. a SER EE LL Se IE NSE Sa Sa et in great dismay and distress, “what has happened to the press? some one has taken all our nice clothes out, and put in a lot of dirty rubbish! Nurse, you must awake and get up, for robbers or people must have been here in the night and stolen everything! Nurse, nurse! do you hear ? I’m calling you.” But therewas no responsive sound from the bed: nurse must have been in a very sound sleep, for she never stirred, or even turned round at poor Harry’s terrified appeal; and only for a faint whining sound, like the waking yawn of his new- born sister, Harry would have thought that nurse must be already up. “Nurse,” he pleaded still more pite- ously, as the cold struck up through his bones, and his teeth chattered in his head, * do let’me get into your bed for a while ; I am half frozen with cold, and I can't find any clothes to put on; do let me just creep in at the foot, and I ‘ll promise not to disturb the baby.” Harrys Rash Wash.
So Harry, shivering and shuddering, sat upon his heels and gazed earnestly into the darkness, trying to make out the exact position of nurse and baby in the bed, so that he might clamber safely into a warmer nook; but by-and-bye, as he could see things a little better, it seemed to him that he must be mistaken as to nurse’s being asleep, for he was certain he saw her eyes wide open and staring at him in a horrible glaring kind of way, which made his blood, cold as it was already, run like ice throygh his veins. “What's the matter, nurse ?” he asked, timidly; “why are you staring at me in that way? I asked leave to get into your bed, and you did not say no.” But the eyes only glared more fiercely than before, and nurse said never a word. “ Nurse—nurse! why don’t you answer me? You are frightening me on pur- pose; it’s very unkind of you. I can't stay here if you don’t say something!” And at last, with a cry born both of fear
The Fairies grant Flarry's Wish. and anger, Harry tore back the curtain of the bed with one sudden wrench, and. beheld—oh, horrible sight !—ncither his nurse nor little sister asleep upon their pillows, but in their place a large tabby cat, gazing steadily at him with scared eyeballs, from a heap of dirty feathers, and surrounded by a mewing circle of tabby kittens. Poor, poor Harry! what a little object he looked, gathered up at the end of the bed, trembling from head to foot, and still holding in his grasp the faded curtain of the bed, which had come off the pole in his hands. For a moment or so Harry seemed uncertain what to do: surprise, fear, utter bewilderment, kept him rooted to the snot, while a host of vague questions rushed through his mind. What had happened ? where was he? was he in his own nursery at all? had he wandered in his sleep into some strange house, or could robbers have come in the night and- Fruryy’s Rash Wish. stolen every one and everything away ? for even the chairs.and tables in the room, he now remarked, were absent from their usual places. It would be well for him to find out whether he was in his own home or not: one glance out of the window would be. sufficient for him to recognize the garden, with its pretty circular flower-bed and close-clipped yew hedges ; and giving one frightened glance at the cat, whose eyes seemed to follow all his movements, Harry crawled back over the footboard and approached the window. Yes, it was his own house—there could be no doubt about it: there were the moun- tains opposite, so familiar to his eye; they looked a little strange, to be sure, wrapped up in their white sheet of snow, but still he could not mistake them, nor the fami- liar windmill on the top of the peak, and the great pine wood in the cleft of the hill, where Jack had often gone off in search of squirrels and rare nests; and here
The Fairies grant Harrys Wish. | ate
Harry’s eyes travelled downstairs to the garden which lay beneath the nursery windows, in the corner of which his brother had also built a summer-house, during his last holidays, and covered it with cones and bright pebbles from the brook which ran at the foot of the place. But where was the summer-house now? Harry could not see it, though he strained his eyes across the snow till they ached: it seemed to him as if the branches of the lilac-trees must have grown ever so much taller, for they hid it quite from his view ; either that, or those who had robbed the house had robbed the garden also, for even the very garden-seats of rustic wood were missing from their shady corners, and everything hada strange uncared-for look which the unusual amount of snow could not account for. But just at this moment, as Harry was about to turn back disappointed from his survey, something stirred below in the garden, some living 8 Harry's Rash Wish.
thing rushed suddenly from under the holly - bushes and darted beneath the thickest part of the yew hedge, sputter- ing up the snow as it hurried past, and making a dark track across it. _ Harry wondered what it could have been, for it was smaller than their dog Tray, and many times larger than a bird ; he remained, therefore, at the window, watching earnestly to see if it would move again; but though now and thena spray of yew-tree stirred, and a clump of snow fell from its branches to the ground, for some time there was no further sign of life within its precincts. At last, with another rush andascurry, out came the wild creature again, and this time, as its goal was much farther off, Harry had ample time to see it; and not only did he see it, but gave a loud scream, for what was it after all but Jack’s hand- ' some lop-eared rabbit, which had been + committed to his charge, and which must have escaped from its hutch, and there
~ The Fairies grant flarry's Wesh, it was now, rushing blindly, madly down the river-walk ! Just as madly and blindly did Harry rush cut upon the landing and down the two flights of steps which led to the hall. He had no further clothing than his night- dress, and no boots or stocking on his feet ; but what did all this matter, in com- parison with the fact that the black-and- white rabbit, for which Jack had given his whole year’s savings, had escaped from its house and was loose in the garden? Harry took the last three steps of the Stairs at a flying leap in his haste to reach the garden ; but, as the old proverb says, “more haste, worse speed,” instead of coming down safely on his feet, Harry seemed to land, first of all, on something warm, large, and hairy, which, emitting a cry, rolled over on its side and sens him sprawling on his face and hands into the vestibule, Harry's Rash Wisk.
CHAPTER IIs.
GREAT CHANGES.
3 \ q Sat y , At HAT could it have Me been ? surely that stupid old Tray had not remained lying on the rug when he _ heard some one running down the stairs ? No, old Tray was far too careful of his limbs to have quietly run such a risk; and as Harry rubbed the palms of his blue hands and his poor bruised knees, he could not resist turning back to see what had been the cause of his fall, and there in the inner hall, at the foot of the stairs, still seem- Great Changes.
ingly much annoyed at what had occurred, lay an old goat, with long beard and solemn eyes, licking with an earnest solici- tude the side of its body on which Harry had so unceremoniously descended.
The Goat.
So many extraordinary things had oc- curred this morning, that this almost astounding sight did not produce as great an effect on his mind as it might other- wise have done, so having for a moment tried to unravel the why and the where- fore in his puzzled brain, Harry gave it
Flarrys Rash Wish. up, and hurried down the narrow vesti- bule passage to the hall door, eager above all to rescue old Lop-ears from an un- timely end, and save his reputation in the eyes of Jack. Judging by the noise of nibbling, scratching, scrabbling, and skirmishing about in the passage, the mice seemed to be holding an early parliament, but all fled at the sound of the boy’s eager footsteps, and no further impediment pre- sented itself till Harry actually stood out- side, knee-deep in the cold snow which lay heaped up in the vestibule. Here, indeed, he did pause, poor child, and looked around him in dismay and utter bewilderment. He did not even seem to feel the cold, or to be sensible of the scantiness of his attire ; his whole mind had evidently become absorbed ir the endeavour to take in the extraordinary position of everything around him, and to arrive at some conclusion as to how it had all happened, i wt Great Changes. oe te San ee ee ee First, right across his path lay one of the great stone pillars which supported the portico; another, though not actually fallen, leaned in a helpless way against its neighbour; and the portico itself in many places seemed crumbled and fallen away. Nor was this the only token of ruin and disaster. The staunch oak-tree, between whose branches hung the children’s swing, and at whose base was built the circular seat, so secluded and sociable, lay also on its side—a fallen giant, with the snow piled high on its gnarled roots; and the very wall which bounded the pleasure- ground _ itself seemed nothing now but an irregular heap of stones, with great gaps leading out upon the highway. “There must have been an earthquake in the night! Some awful thing must have happened while I was asleep!” cried Harry, trembling from head to foot as he gazed around him. “Perhaps every one but myself has been killed!” And Flarry’'s Rash Wish. as this terrible thought occurred to his mind, his lip quivered, and the cry burst from his lips, “‘ Papa—mamma, where are you? What has become of you? What has happened?” But only a kind of hollow echo seemed to rush up through the empty house, which answered him mournfully, re are you ?—where are you?” Harry darted back into the house, down the dark vestibule to the foot of the stairs, eager to ascertain if they had really responded to his cry; but the goat had now taken possession of the lowest step, and would not allow him to pass by; and though he shouted and screamed to his father and mother, and all who ought to have heard and answered him, there was not a sound to be heard, but the scurry- ing hither and thither of mice and other wild but timid animals. Harry again took refuge in the open air, and, more frightened and confused at every step, made his way towards the Great Changes. EN, yard leading to the garden. Here there -was not the same dismal loneliness, but stil} greater seemed the confusion and Fack’s Rabbits, | disorder. In the centre of the yard, under cover of the horse-mill roof, there were at least a dozen cows lying down flarry’s Rash Wrsh. eet aN STERN SLE nag Saas lazily chewing the cud, and gazing calmly out through their large thoughtful eyes; scores of cocks and hens were pecking and scraping in the snow, or crowing hoarsely in defiance of each other; and as to Jack’s lop-eared rabbits, there were not scores but hundreds of them bobbing in and out of old sheds and outhouses, or pursuing each other in wild skirmishes across the yard, | This strange sight, and the thought of Jack’s delight and pride at being the possessor of so many rabbits, gave a mo- mentary check to poor Harry’s stupefied terror. He tried to choose some of them, and catch them, but they were wary and swift of limb, and, after several fruitless efforts, he was obliged to give up and rest himself, sitting down on the old stone trough by the pump, for his knees trem- bled, his feet ached with the cold, and the sleet, which was still falling in long slant. ing lines from the heavy clouds above, seemed to cut him through and through y Great Changes. Sees How long he sat there, leaning his poor tired head against the iron handle, he could not tell ; the cold had so numbed him, he did not care to move, and the thought of returning to the empty deso- late house was more dreadful to him than anything else. There was some com- panionship at least in the cows and the fowls and the lop-eared rabbits. But what would it be when night came on again, and the red sun behind the snow- clouds gave no more light? And Harry, suddenly thinking of this, covered his face with his hands, and, though he was a hero, a soldier, a brave boy, to whom tears were a real pain and a more real disgrace, he burst out into such loud and piteous sobs, that even the cows stopped ‘chewing the cud to listen, and the hens, who had been pecking at his little blue toes in the snow, fled from him in fear and surprise. All the long morning not one soul had entered the vard, usually alive with work- Harry's Rash Wish, ———. men, and resounding -with cheery farm sounds of the flail, or the whetting of the scythe, or the tinkle of the milk-cans. Not a human footstep had been hear in the lane close beside him, or the whistle cf a passer-by; it was as if the whcie place had been suddenly forsaken in the night, and some ban had fallen upon it. Supposing he were to wander a little way down the road, and see if all were changed in the outer world, as well as in his own home and his own house ? He could not feel more lonely and miser- able than he did now, go where he would, and he might meet with some one who would have pity on him and give him shelter in his helpless, lonely condition. So at length, the sun being now on the decline, and the darkness coming on with giant strides, Harry rose from beside the pump and walked straight cut through the gap in the hedge inte the lane beyond. This lane led to the main rcad on the one side, and right up the mountain on Great Changes. Le EEE the other, and for some seconds he hesi- tated which way he would go, but at length something determined him to choose the more secluded of the two roads, and without further delay he turned, tired as he was, and breasted the furzy hill. It was a puff of blue smoke curling up from a distant cabin roof on the mountain- side that had attracted poor Harry's attention, and made hope stir suddenly in his breast. Had he not often read in books before now of lost children, poor wandering babes, being called back to life and energy by the sight of just such a wreath of pale smoke emerging from a hut where lived some good old dame or tender-hearted ruffian? Was it not so with Willy the Woodman and his dog Czesar ? And did not Hop-o’-my-Thumb, when he had given up all for lost, spy just such a friendly beacon, and find rest and cheer for the night? And as each fresh tale of fairy lore rose up comfort Flarry’s Rash Wash. ingly before his mind, he quickened his pace, and passed on through the still drifting snow and increasing darkness to the cottage on the moor. Not one living soul did he meet on al! this long and toilsome walk. All the cabins by the roadside were deserted, and most of them in ruins ; not a creature wished him God speed, or held out a welcoming hand. It was like walking through a dead world, without life or sound, save when an owl screeched at him from the ivy, ora startled rook flapped about overhead in the snow- Jaden branches. At last—yes, at last—after, oh! such a weary climb—Harry came in full view of the cabin. No light burned as yet within its window, but still up from the chimney issued a ghostly cloud cf smoke. Harry now having reached the longed- for goal, aimost feared to advance farther. What if out of the darkness were to spring some creature more terrible than the dark- ness itself—some evil gnome or black Great Changes. enchanter? But this was not the ex- perience of little bewildered Willy, nor the fate that awaited the other heroes and heroines of his favourite books; and gathering up all the courage left within his little perished frame, Harry pushed open the gate that separated the cabin from the road, and, going up the narrow path, knocked timidly at the door. At first there was no answer, nor till the knock was repeated many times did he hear any one move within ; but at last there was a stir, a kind of groan, and a trembling voice cried querulously, “Eh! what’s that >—what’s that a- knockin’ itself against the door? I can- not rise to see. Some poor wild thing, driven, na doot, by the cold to seek shelter within; but I canna rise to see. _ Be off with you, whate’er you are, and do not come troublin’ me more.” But Harry could not turn back now. If he did not find the rest and shelter he had so long toiled for, he felt he must flarry's Rash Wish. lie down and die. The sleet was coming down more pitilessly than ever, and a piercing wind had sprung up upon the moors. No, there was no turning back ; he must go and seek the fate within, let it be what it might. Once again, therefore, Harry knocked, and pushing against the door with all his force, it slowly yielded to his pressure, the rusty hinges creaked, the panels groaned at the unusual strain put upon them, but still the opening grew wider and wider, till at length he stood inside the portal, trying with dazed eyes and beating heart to fathom the darkness within. That there was some living inhabitant of the cabin he could not doubt; he had heard the voice, and he could even dis- tinguish already something in shape an form like a human figure crouching on a bench by the side of a waning fire; but whether it was some homely countryman, ready and willing to give him heip when — Great Changes. he should hear his sad tale, or some evil being lying in wait for his destruction, he could not by any means discern. Whatever it was, let it be man or woman, witch or enchanter, the opening of the door did not seem to make any impression upon it, for there. was no movement of surprise, or raising of the angry querulous voice he had heard when outside. All the energies of the strange being seemed centred about the fire, for as Harry still looked earnestly in its di- rection, he could see two long shrivelled arms stretched out over the embers, and the head bent low down almost to the knees, as if to draw in with its breath the dull heat emitted by the dying fire. “Tt must be the Old Man of the Mountain, of whom I was reading yes- terday in my fairy-tale book,” murmured Harry to himself with a shudder, as a sudden leap of flame in the grate re- vealed still more clearly the outlines of the figure before him. And a strange 4 Flarry's Rash Wish. — figure it was, with shoulders twisted and distorted, a long grey beard hanging almost to its very feet as it leaned for- ward, and matted locks of white hair, which nearly hid from sight a face wrinkled and yellow like a withered apple. “The Old Man of the Mountain, the ‘ Old Man of the Mountain, it can be no other! Had not I better make my escape before he looks up and discovers me, and perhaps leaps upon my back and strangles me?” muttered Harry, anxiously; and he gazed from the figure to the open door, ‘where the sleet was still beating in re- . morselessly, and from the door to the aged figure in front of him. Yes, it was better to make his escape if he could, even in the face of the cold and the wind, the snow and the darkness, and the utter loneliness without: with the warning of Sindbad the Sailor before his eyes, it were folly to remain within the reach of such a heartless man as this; Great Changes. — death itself might be even more to be desired than to be chained to such a being for life. At this moment, while Harry hesitated whether to go or stay, the figure moved, it raised its head, withdrew its hands from their outstretched position over the fire, and looked Harry full in the face. Harry would have made his escape now if he could, but he could noz; his numbed feet and legs seemed to have lost all power of movement, and he stood opposite the old man, as if frozen to the spot, gazing into the ‘re in an agony of fright. Harry's Rash Wish. ee a. ere ©. ee CHAPTER IV. A VERY OLD MAN. GND sucha strange 2 old face as it was, wrinkled and sunken and care- worn, and with eyes tnat looked at one as it were through a fog, but which, cloud- ed by age or trouble, seemed to conceal no angry fire or cruel revengeful purpose. Nay, there was something curiously simple in the face of the old mzn, almost like a child’s, as he sat gazing and gazing at Harry ina sort of amazement, and by- and-bye stretching his hands out over A very Old Man. Harry's head, as he had done a moment before over the fire, he murmured some- thing which Harry could not hear, and tears came up into his dim eyes and ran down his cheeks. At this Harry seemed to lose all fear, and he began to question his companion, to ask him his name, and to know if he might remain under the shelter of his roof for the night ; but he received to all his questions never an answer, save that _the old man drew him nearer and nearer -as he spoke, and gazed at him still more earnestly, muttering to himself all the while words which to Harry’s ear had no meaning. “A hundred years—ay, a handred years since I saw the like; a hundred years, my pretty one, since I saw a face like thine ;” and so on, the same words, it might be a score of times. But presently he seemed to notice that Harry's feet and hands were numbed with cold, and that he needed warmth and shelter ; for with tottering steps he rose flarry’s Rash Wish. Bt a SPER ts Pa and closed the open door, and threw some wood upon the fire, and having done this, he drew the child down on the settle beside him, and began to chafe his little hands between his own horny palms, and muttering still for ever to himself the same words,—“ A hundred years—ay, a hundred years and full, since I saw the like.” “Since you saw what?” asked Harry at length, driven to despair by the mono- tony of his companion’s remarks, and hoping to gain some information; “what is it you have not seen for a hundred years?” “ The like o° thee—the like o’ thee; I have not seen the face o’ a child like thee for nigh a hundred year.” . “Why, what is there curious about me?” asked Harry, uneasily; “how am I unlike other children ?” “Poor innocent,” murmured the old man compassionately, “he speaks o’ other children, as if he had seen a many o’ them. 1 very Old Man. Why, dear heart, one has not seen the smilin’ face o’ a babe i’ this wicked world for a hundred year—not for a hundred year, and a lonesome world it has been without them; all the bright laughs, and the innocent tears, and the pretty dimples in their cheeks all gone, all flown away in the little babies : it was a’most enough to break one’s heart, to see all the empty cradles a-standin’ by the fireside, and the mothers a-walkin’ about wi’ nothin’? their arms, and no song of love in their mouths, instead o’ singing their wee ones to sleep on their breasts wi sweet songs and kisses.” “T don’t understand what you mean,” said Harry, plaintively, as he noticed tears ising again in his companion’s eyes; “why, I am not very old, and I have seen hundreds and thousands of children and babies. Why, I have a little sister of my own who is only a few days old.” “Then, if that be so,” replied the old man, gloomily, “thou must have dropped Larry's Rash Wish. into a strange world in the middle o’ the night ; thou must have fallen fro’ the sky i? the flakes of snow, or risen from thy grave i’ the kirk- * yard, for not one babe has been born in this world of ours for a hundred years, not for a hundred yearssincethe night when the fairies walked abroad i’the fields and houses, and granted many a wicked wish to them as had wicked The Old Man. wishes i their mouths and hearts.” “When was that ?—tell me more about it all,’ asked Harry eagerly, as some dim recollection came creeping over his mind, which made him feel unhappy and ill at ease: could it be possible that he had really passed into some new world in the A very Old Man. middle of the night, or could he have been sleeping in his grave, or elsewhere, for a hundred years, and that now that he was awake again all he loved were gone, dead, perhaps, and buried—his mother, his father, Jack—oh! not Jack —Jack, with his rosy cheeks and ringing laugh, he could not be dead and gone and hidden from sight! and the baby— the little cosy baby with the dimple in its cheek, and the tiny hands stretched out so helplessly! All these strange sad thoughts had arisen like ghosts them- selves to haunt him, and he waited eagerly but fearfully for the reply to his question, “When did all this hap- pen?” “Tt happened o’ a night—-let me see,” and the old man paused a moment and ran his fingers through his long grey hair —“ay, it happened just a hundred year ago, come last night. The fairies, they say, do fly in swarms o’ nights when the moon is at her full, and play their pranks 4 flarry's Rash Wish. all over the earth with beast and fowl and suchlike, and then they come creepin’ at dead o’ night into the houses, and makin’ such mischief as is in their power to make, granting to silly folk their silly wishes, and harmin’ those besides who never harm them. However, as I heard tell, for I was but a lad then, just turned o’ fifteen—ay, you may look at me wi’ your wide-open eyes in wonder, lad, for a hundred and fifteen years old I am this blessed day. I would I had died when I was a babe, I do,” broke in the old man with a sob, “for to live on all alone 7’ the world is weary work, without seeing the face o’ a living being. But to finish what I had in my mind to tell you. One of these nights, with the big moon a-glowin’ in the sky overhead, they all came a- buzzin’ and a-swarmin’ about the country- side here, and seeing what harm they could do quiet folk, till by-and-byea host of them walked in at twelve o’ the clock to a house down yon ?’ the valley, where A very Old Man. there lived, I heard tell, an honest gen- tleman and his wife and some little folk.” “And what ?” asked Harry, with eyes which blazed red in the firelight, and cheeks whiter than the snow outside; “and what—what—what were you going to say?” flarry’s Rash Wash. “Eh, dear lamb, don’t thee a-look at me so; it were better I told thee no more; I feel thy wee hand a-tremblin’ like a bird.” “Go on—go on,” urged Harry, “I must hear it all.” “Well, an thou must, thou must, I suppose,” replied the old man, sadly ; “I was never a good hand at contradicting o’ children, and as I say, there was a wee chap had fallen asleep 7’ his cot, with some foolish wish in his mouth, for I cannot a-think he had it a rightly set in his head; he had some foolish wish, as I say, on his lips, as how he would there were no more babies i’ the world, or something o’ the kind, and likea poor innocent lamb he bleated out his idle fancy to some one who sat by him, and the fairies, who were a-clustering round his head like a swarm o’ bees, just caught up the very words as he spake them, ‘he would that no more babies would be sent into the world ;’ and so, as I was told, they not only A very Old Man. carried out his silly babbling words, but they made away wi’ the poor child him- self, at least his cot was empty next morning, and though his father and mother hunted the world up and down, they never saw his pretty face again. Some said as how the nurse was also to blame, for she had wished the fairies would make the little chap invisible ; but, be that as it may, they never saw him more—never, never: they stole the pretty bird from his nest, they did, the thieves——” “What was the boy’s name?” asked Harry, in a voice so low, so sac, so trem- bling, it would never have reached the old man’s ears had it not been so full of pain. “ His name—nay, I misdoubt if I can call it to mind, but bide a bit and I will try. There is many a thing as happened long ago I remember better than I do o’ late years, but bide a while and 1 will try.’ ” Larry's Rash Wish. And while he waited Harry’s poor little brain seemed to spin round and round with misery: the empty nursery at home—the forsaken house—the lonely world—the biting cold and drifting sleet, with no one to love him or care for him but this one old man, who soon must die himself, and all for why ? “Ay, ay, I mind it now, I mind it now ; his name was——’” But before the words could Save the old man’s lips, Harry leaped from the bench with a scream: his pain was too great to bear any longer, his agony of mind too keen for endurance. ‘“ Don’t say it was Harry, don’t say it was me!” he shrieked, with such bitterness, that the old man seemed to shrink and wither away from before his sight, the walls of the cabin rocked, the snow seemed to hiss outside in its fury, and then some one shouted into Harry’s ears with a voice which sounded like a peal of thunder, “ Awake, Master Harry! awake, it is A very Old Man. time for you to get up, you have slept quite long enough!” Ay, one would think so; a hundred years is a good long sleep for a little boy of five years old; and as Harry awoke and rubbed his eyes in utter bewilder- ment as to where he was, where was he, think you? Why, in his own snug nur- sery : the fire was burning brightly in the shining grate; the kettle, not the snow, was hissing on the hob ; the tea was made already, and slices of nice white bread and butter were cut and temptingly laid upon a plate; the cradle was in a corner by the fire; nurse, singing happily, sat plying the rockers with her foot: how cosy, how bright, how comfortable they all looked! And so our old friend Harry had his breakfast in bed, Lizzie gave it to him on a little tray, and nurse laughed as she poured out his tea, and said he must have been dreaming in the night, he tumbled about so. and screeched like, and she did Harrys Rash Wish. not wish to rouse him in the morning, as he seemed to have fallen into an easier sleep. And so he had been dreaming, poor Harry, though he did not tell nurse what the terrible dream was all about; but, when he was washed and dressed, and his curls were all combed out and smoothed, before he left the nursery he paused and leaned over the little pink- lined cradle where his sister lay fast asleep, and looking at her for a long time, he stooped down and gave her such a kiss on her little dimpled cheek, that nurse looked up in amazement; but Harry in his own heart knew why. N.W. DALZIEL BROTHERS, CAMDEN PRESS, oo eee ; RR a A