A Romance of the Nursery (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: m ONE SUNDAY The Sabbath peace is in the slumbrous trees. W. E. Henley "TT TELL, little blue maid! are you com- V V ing to church with the others ? " It was father who spoke as Fiametta joined us in the drive that sunny Sunday morning, her first with us. For answer, she thrust her little gloved hand into his, and they walked away together in contented silence. Father, as he said of himself, was " a man of few words"; but Fiametta, although she had not been four and twenty hours amongst us, had already discovered that the big silent squire was a sure refuge for the troubled or perplexed. Even now, when in a market town I chance to see a broad-shouldered figure with trim gaiters and thick, square-toed boots, I seem to feel again the big warm hand close over mine, with, that firm clasp, so infinitely reassuring. Through the haze of years it is not what my father said that I remember so much as the infinite comfort of his presence. It was so safe and restful to be with father. There was a good deal to perplex Fia- metta and much to trouble us that Sunday morning. Our attempts at amusement during the past week had been unusually unlucky; never before had Miss Goodlake seemed so ubiquitous, or opportunities of getting wet and dirty so numerous. And now, with what I have heard a learned scientist describe as " the innate malevolence of inanimate objects," Harry was in disgrace because an abominable fence had retained the seat of his Eton trousers not half an hour ago, and he was walking shamefaced in week-day garb with mother. Moreover the first really lovely day that summer was Sunday. Truly the ways of Providence are inscrutable! An all-too-short five minutes brought us to the church porch, where we stood to watch the sunshine silvering the distant Severn till the be...