Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Emmy, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: MAMMA . . . HUGGED HIM AS IF HE'D BEEN LOST FOR A YEAR.
AUTHOR OF 'CARROTS,' 'CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'TELL ME A STORY'
=London= MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1902
MAMMA . . . HUGGED HIM AS IF HE'D BEEN LOST FOR A YEAR _Frontispiece_
NO SOONER DID HE CATCH SIGHT OF US TWO WITH HIS UGLY ROUND BEADY EYES . . . THAN HE SHUT UP " " 52
PETE HELD OUT HIS BROWN-PAPER PARCEL. 'THIS IS THE POETRY-BOOK,' HE SAID " " 97
WE HAD NO DIFFICULTY IN FINDING HER BATH-CHAIR " " 108
HE LOOKED AT THE TICKETS . . . 'HOW'S THIS?' HE SAID " " 145
'NOW,' SHE BEGAN . . . DRAWING MARGARET TO HER, 'TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT' " " 159
THE FRILLS HAD WORKED UP ALL ROUND HIS FACE " " 173
WE were all at tea in the nursery. All except him. The door burst open and James put his head in.
'If you please, Mrs. Brough,' he began,--'Mrs. Brough' is the servants' name for nurse. Mamma calls her 'Brough' sometimes, but we always call her 'nurse,' of course,--'If you please, Mrs. Brough, is Master Peterkin here?'
Nurse looked up, rather vexed. She doesn't like burstings in.
'Of course not, James,' she said. 'He is out driving with his mamma. You must have seen them start.'
'It's just that,' said James, in his silly way. 'It's his mamma that wants to know.'
And then we noticed that James's face was much redder than usual. It may have been partly that he had run upstairs very fast, for he is really very good-natured, but it looked as if he was rather in a fuss, too.
Nurse sat very bolt up in her chair, and _her_ face began to get queer, and her voice to get vexeder. Lots of people get cross when they are startled or frightened. I have noticed it.
'What do you mean, James? Please to explain,' she said.
'I can't stop,' he said, 'and I don't rightly understand, myself. His mamma sent Master Peterkin home before her, half-an-hour ago or more, but he hasn't come in, not as I've seen, nor nobody else, I'm afraid. So where he's got to, who can say?'
Nurse stopped him, getting up from her place as she spoke.
'Of course not. Beckett would have seen him in, all right, if he had been,' said James, in a very superior tone. 'He was to run home by himself a bit of a way, as I take it,' he added, as he hurried off at last.