The Fairchild Family Read online

  Story of a Holiday

  Henry looked along the road]

  One day a letter came from Mrs. Goodriche to say that she was goingearly the next day to the town, in a hired chaise, and that she hopedto be back again in the evening; she added that, as she should be quitealone, it would be a great pleasure to her to take up Mrs. Fairchildand one of the little people to go with her to town, and she would setthem down again at their gate.

  Mrs. Fairchild thought this a very neighbourly offer, and it was soonsettled that she should go, and take Lucy with her, and that Mr.Fairchild should get the horse he often rode and attend the carriage.

  Lucy very much pressed her mother to take Emily instead of herself, butit was Lucy's turn to go out when there was a scheme only for one, andI don't think that Emily would have taken it from her on any account.So an answer was written to Mrs. Goodriche, and her kind invitationaccepted.

  There was a good deal of talking and settling with Lucy about whatEmily and Henry wanted her to get for them in the town, before theywent to bed. Emily had one shilling and sixpence, and Henry tenpence,and it was of great consequence to them that this money should be spentto the best advantage.

  It was at last settled that Lucy should choose a book for each ofthem--Henry's book was to be about a boy--and the rest of their money,if any was left, was to be spent as Lucy thought might please thembest. So she took their money, and put it into her purse with her own.She had two shillings, and she had settled it in her own mind that shewould buy nothing for herself, but spend some, if not all of it, forher sister and brother.

  The family were all up at six o'clock, and soon afterwards they mightbe seen seated before the open window of the parlour at breakfast,those who were going being quite ready.

  Emily and Henry, who were to be left, were to have no lessons to do,but their father and mother advised them not to tire themselves in theearly part of the day by running about, but to amuse themselves duringthe very hottest hours with something quiet. Mr. Fairchild alsoreminded them that they must not go beyond the bounds in which theywere always allowed to play.

  "I hope we shall be good, mamma," said Emily, "I hope we shall!" AndHenry said the same.

  Henry ran out to the gate to look for the carriage after he had takenbreakfast, and he got to the very highest bar, and looked along theroad, which he could see a great way, because it came down a steep hillfrom Mrs. Goodriche's house.

  It was hardly more than a black speck on the white road when he firstsaw it, and then he lost sight of it as it descended into the valley,and he heard it rattle and jingle before he got sight of it again; butwhen he was sure of it, he ran to the house, and you might have heardLucy's name from the very cellar to the roof.

  Emily was with Lucy in their little room, and she was holding hergloves whilst Lucy tied her bonnet, and she was talking over the thingsthat were to be bought, when their brother's voice came up the stairsas loud and sharp as if a stage-coach was coming, which would not waitone moment for those who were going.

  "I hope we shall not get into a scrape to-day," said Emily: "Henry hasforgotten the day when mamma and papa went out, and we behaved so ill;what can we do to keep ourselves out of mischief?"

  Lucy had no time to answer, for Henry was at the door, and there wassuch a rub-a-dub-dub upon it that her voice could not have been heard.At the same minute the hack-chaise had come jingling up to the gate,and Mrs. Goodriche was looking out with her pleasant smiling face.John, too, had brought the horse to the gate, and everybody whobelonged to the house was soon out upon the grass-plot; the dog wasthere, and quite as set up as Henry himself; and Betty came too, thoughnobody knew why. Mrs. Fairchild got in first, and then Lucy; andeverybody said good-bye as if those who were going were not to comeback for a month; and the post-boy cracked his whip, and Mr. Fairchildmounted his horse, and away they went.

  Emily and Henry watched them till the turn of the road prevented themfrom seeing them any longer; and then Henry said:

  "Let us run to the chesnut-trees at the top of the round hill, and thenwe shall be able to see the carriage again going up on the other side;I saw it come down from Mrs. Goodriche's."

  "Stay but one moment," said Emily, and she ran upstairs, put on herbonnet and tippet, and was down again in one minute, with her doll onher arm and a little book in her hand.

  "Come, come," said Henry, and away they ran along a narrow path, amongthe shrubs in the garden, out at a little gate, and up the green slope.They were very soon at the top of the small hill, and under the shadeof the chesnut-trees. They passed through the grove to the side whichwas farthest from their house, and then they sat down on the dry andbare root of one of the trees.

  For a minute or more they could not see the carriage, because it wasdown in the valley beneath them, and the road there was much shaded bywillows and wych-elms and other trees that love the neighbourhood ofwater, for the brook which turned the mill was down there. But when thecarriage began to go up on the other side, they saw it quite plain;there was the post-boy in his yellow jacket, jogging up and down on hissaddle, and Mr. Fairchild sometimes a little before and sometimes alittle behind the carriage.

  Henry was still in very high spirits; he was apt to be set up by anychange, and when he was set up, he was almost sure to get into ascrape, unless something could be thought of to settle him downquietly.

  Emily had thought of something, and got it ready; but whilst thecarriage was in sight nothing was to be done, for Henry had picked up abranch which had fallen from one of the trees, and as he sat on theroot, was jogging up and down, waving his branch like a whip, andimitating those sort of odd noises which drivers make to their horses;such as gee-up! so-ho! and now and then he made a sort of smacking withhis lips.

  "Are you driving a waggon or a coach?" asked Emily.

  "A coach, to be sure," said Henry; "don't you see that I have got achaise from the Red Lion, and that I am driving Mrs. Fairchild and Mrs.Goodriche and Miss Lucy Fairchild to the town, and here we go on?"

  The carriage was long getting up the hill, for it was a very steep one;but when it had reached the top, it got in among trees again, and wassoon out of sight; and then Emily said:

  "Now, Henry, I am going to curl my doll's hair, and dress her overagain, for she is not tidy, and I have got a little book here which youmay read to me."

  "What book is it?" said Henry.

  "You never saw it," she answered; "mamma found it yesterday in a boxwhere she keeps many old things--she did not know that she had savedit--it was hers when she was a little child, and she supposed that itwas lost."

  "Let me see it, Emily," said Henry.

  "Will you read it to me then?" asked Emily.

  Henry was a good-natured boy, and loved his sisters, and had muchpleasure in doing what they wished him to do; he therefore said atonce, "Yes," threw away his branch of fir, and took the book.

  This little book, which Mrs. Fairchild had found in her old chest,could not have been much less than a hundred years old; it was the sizeof a penny book, and had a covering of gilt paper, with many old cuts;its title was, "The History of the Little Boy who, when running afterthe Echo, found his Papa."

  When Henry had seen how many pictures there were, and when he had readthe title, he was quite in a hurry to begin the story, and Emily was somuch pleased at hearing it, although she had read it before, that sheforgot her doll altogether, and let her lie quietly on her lap.