CHAPTER IX

THE GHOST

THE next afternoon, when lessons were over, Miss Loder and Christina went out for their walk, and the governess was persuaded to call at Miss Bertha's on the way.

They found the old lady in her garden, trying to cut some holly from a very thick tree.

"Ah!" she said with a little sigh. "Why is it so many good things are kept just out of our reach? All the brightest berries are at the top of the tree."

"Let me cut them," said Miss Loder; "I am a little taller than you."

"Thank you, my dear; I have promised some bits to one or two of the village children, and I am getting it this week instead of next, because I don't like to be overpressed."

"Have you seen Susy, Miss Bertha? She is here, and you said you would know her when she came."

Miss Bertha laughed, and nodded at the eager little face uplifted to hers.

"Yes; Susy and I met yesterday afternoon. She told me she had been to see you. We are great friends already, and she is coming to tea this afternoon."

"And isn't she nice, Miss Bertha?"

"I think she is very sensible for her age; would you be allowed to stay to tea to meet her?"

Miss Loder smiled.

"You are safe, Miss Mordaunt; I'm sure Tina will be delighted. I was sorry we could not welcome Miss Susy yesterday more warmly, but neither Mrs. Maclahan or I felt we could take her on Tina's word alone. Her looks were not favourable."

She cut the holly for Miss Bertha; then left Christina with her, and promised to send down Connie to fetch her home at six o'clock.

"Miss Loder always understands," said Christina, waving her hand to her governess as she departed. "She knows how I like being with you; but I'm sorry she didn't quite understand Susy."

That was a very happy afternoon to Christina. Susy arrived in due time, and had a good tea in the kitchen with Lucy. Then she came into Miss Bertha's sitting-room, and Christina and she had a lot to say to each other. Miss Bertha listened to them, and occasionally put in a word. She promised Susy she would come and see her father and talk to him about keeping from the drink, and the little girl's tired eyes lightened with hope.

"I never has no one to back me up!" she said. "I does so much talkin' to him that he be pretty well tired of it, but it 'ud come fresh and strong from you, mum; an' father be wonderful soft an' reasonable when he be sober."

"And if any one can make wicked people good, it's Miss Bertha!" exclaimed Christina with conviction. "Why, even Puggy wants to do what he ought when Miss Bertha talks to him!"

Susy wanted to know who Puggy was, so Christina enlightened her.

"He's coming home for the holidays next week, and then you'll see him."

"I shall be gone; we won't be here Christmas: our hoss be gettin' well fast."

"Oh, but ask your father to stay. We shall have such a lovely Christmas."

Susy's eyes looked a little wistful.

"I ain't seen no lovely Christmases," she said; "it don't make no odds to me!"

"But doesn't your father give you presents? I have always had some, even when I was alone with Nurse with no one living in our house; and now we're going to have a Christmas tree."

"What's that?"

Christina explained, and Susy listened with interest.

"What else do you do on Christmas Day?"

"We go to church."

"I never goes there."

"Not on Sundays, Susy?"

"No, never."

Christina was genuinely shocked.

"But you ought to if you love God."

"I don't know much about God. I hain't never learnt."

"Tell Susy what you know, Childie," and then Miss Bertha left them together.

For a few moments Christina sat silent, wondering what she did know, and then she said:

"God loves us, Susy, you and me, and He asked Jesus Christ to come down from Heaven and die for us, so that we could go there when we die. He was punished for us."

"I don't see!"

Susy spoke determinedly.

"No one will punish me, I know," she added a little defiantly.

"Oh, but we're so awfully naughty," said Christina. "We really aren't fit for Heaven, and God hates sin, Miss Bertha has told me that. Don't you know that hymn:

"And so He died!—and this is why He came to be a man and die: The Bible says He came from heaven That we might have our sins forgiven."

"I like that; say some more."

So Christina went on:

"He knew how wicked man had been, And knew that God must punish sin; So out of pity Jesus said He'd bear the punishment instead.

"Now God will pardon those who pray, And hate their sins, and turn away . . ."

Susy interrupted her quickly.

"I'll take to prayers," she said; "mother used to pray to God, but I've forgotten all about it. What shall I say?"

"I ask God to forgive my sins and make me a good girl and bless father and mother."

"Yes, I'll remember that. Anythink else?"

"Well, you see," said Christina hesitating, "I ask God about all kinds of things just when I think about them. You see, Susy, He knows everything and can do everything, so it is so nice to ask Him things that it's no good asking people about—I mean things that they can't do. I ask God to make me brave, and keep me from being frightened, and when my inside is bumping and my head buzzing, if I pray it seems to make me quiet at once."

"I wonder now," said Susy reflectively, "if God could change father. It would be awful hard; I s'pect it 'ud be too hard for Him!"

"No, I'm sure it wouldn't!"

And Christina's voice was earnestness itself.

"You ask God every day, Susy, till He does it."

Susy nodded gravely, and then, as children will, they suddenly changed the conversation and began to talk about dolls. The time slipped away too fast.

But when Christina came back to her governess, she said:

"I'm going to see Susy every day till she goes, Miss Loder, for she's going to wait at our lodge gate to see me when we go out for our walk."

"And if we don't go out?" said Miss Loder with a smile.

"Oh, but we will; for mother likes me to go when it's raining!"

Sure enough Susy waited every day to catch a glimpse of Christina and exchange a few words with her, but with the advent of Puggy, Christina found it rather difficult to see so much of her little friend.

Miss Loder went home for the Christmas holidays, and Christina was left very much to herself.

Puggy came home in boisterous spirits. He missed Dawn, and persisted in dragging Christina after him wherever he went. He was in the turret room the first thing, and took Christina to task for its neglected, dusty appearance.

"I haven't come up here since Dawn went," she confessed; "it's so lonely!"

"You're afraid of the ghost! You're a funker!"

Christina got scarlet at the accusation.

"My schoolroom is much more comfortable," she said.

"Just like a girl! They always want to be comfortable the first thing!"

He was as energetic as ever in finding occupation for himself and Christina, but they both missed Dawn intensely.

The day before Christmas Eve, Mr. Maclahan called them down to the stables, and showed them in the stalls two small ponies, one grey, one brown.

"They are for each of you," he said, "and Tina can take her choice. It is a Christmas present from me."

Puggy danced with delight. Christina looked doubtfully pleased.

"Must I ride it?" she asked.

"Yes, I am anxious you should be a good rider, and the sooner you begin the better. These are thoroughly quiet little animals, and if you fall, you will not have far to fall. I should recommend the grey one for you, Tina. We'll have the saddles put on at once, and Barker shall take you up and down the drive with a leading rein."

"Not me!" exclaimed Puggy in dismay. "I can stick on anything. We can go off after adventures now, Tina. Why, we can go miles and miles and miles!"

He was on the brown pony directly it was saddled, and galloped down the drive with a shout of delight. Christina trembled and shivered from head to foot when she was mounted; but she bravely fought her fears, and her father watched her with a gleam of tenderness in his eyes. He knew by this time her great timidity, and he did not want a repetition of her first trial on horseback. His wife came out and joined him as Christina was led down the drive at a foot's pace by the old groom.

"She holds herself well," she remarked.

"Stiff with terror," her husband said. "Perhaps it is rather a cruel experiment, at Christmas time too!"

"Oh, nonsense! She is a different child since I came. And Puggy does her all the good in the world. I am so thankful that dreadful old nurse has gone. She would have ruined any child."

"I fancy Christina has some grit in her small composition," said Mr. Maclahan. "She will lose her excessive timidity as she grows older, I hope."

Four times Christina paced the avenue, and then with a sigh of infinite relief she dismounted.

"Ah, Miss Tina," said Barker, "we shall soon have you agoing out hunting. You'll soon be easy on horseback."

"Not hunting the poor little foxes," said Christina, shuddering. "I could never, never do that."

"You ought to have been born a Frenchy," said Puggy, who was standing by and had heard her remark. "You aren't fit to be an English girl!"

"I'm Scotch," said Christina, with a tiny bit of pride in her tone.

"We're just like the map now," said Puggy reflectively. "You and me joined together, and Ireland away from us. I wish he was here now, but Ena says she's going to have the house full, and heaps of people are coming this afternoon, so there will be no room for him."

"I don't like crowds of people."

The children were walking off from the stables together. Puggy was in an excited frame of mind.

"I do," he said, "and I mean to have some fun with some of them. You'll see!"

"When are we going to have the Christmas tree, to-morrow night?"

"Yes; it's a good thing we had our ponies given to us this morning, but if I had been the Squire, I'd have had them trotted in round the tree, it would have been fine!"

"I'd like Susy to see the tree," said Christina thoughtfully.

"Oh, I'm sick of that gipsy girl."

"She isn't a gipsy!"

"No, she isn't as good. She's no fun at all. A gipsy would dance and tell fortunes. Do you know what I think I'll do after Christmas?"

"No; tell me."

"I'll ride off one morning to London and find Dawn. I heard the Squire say this morning it's only thirty miles, and if my pony is a good one, he ought to do that!"

Christina gasped at the very idea.

"You would never get to London," she said; "you'd lose your way, and your pony would be too tired to go on!"

"Ah," retorted Puggy, "you don't know what I can do if I choose! And if you weren't a duffer, you'd ride off with me."

Christina shook her head.

"I could never ride to London; I should fall off my pony again and again. I know I shall fall when I have to ride alone. He shakes me up and down so!"

"You're no good at all."

Christina accepted this statement meekly. She was always hearing it from Puggy's lips and believed it.

But he always found her ready to wait on him and fetch and carry for him, and now there was no Dawn to take her part, he took advantage of her good nature and rather bullied her.

The atmosphere of the house with the bustle and preparation for Christmas guests infected Puggy with mischievous ideas. He was in and out of every room. He locked up the old butler in his pantry for two hours; he seized a big tray and used it as a toboggan down the front stairs; he abstracted tarts and mince pies from the larder, and finally retired to the turret room after the schoolroom tea, and locking himself in, remained in perfect seclusion for an hour and a half.

Christina was in the schoolroom helping Connie to decorate the pictures with holly and evergreen. Downstairs Mr. and Mrs. Maclahan with their guests were just going into dinner, when they were startled by wild shrieks, and two or three maids came tearing along the passages and down the front stairs in a panic of fright.

"The ghost! The ghost in the turret!"

Tipton, the old butler, turned upon them furiously and drove them into the servants' hall. For a moment young Mrs. Maclahan looked really vexed.

"Of course it is Puggy!" she said. "He deserves a good whipping."

"But," said a young girl, Eva Mowbray by name, "I have always heard there is a genuine ghost in this house. Please don't destroy the illusion. It is so respectable to own a ghost."

"I hope that boy won't be playing pranks with Christina," said Mr. Maclahan as he took his seat at the dinner table. "She will not bear much fright I fancy!"

"She is most likely helping him in the invention," his wife said carelessly. "No, Eva, we really don't own a ghost, or else it is taking time to make its appearance. I have seen no signs of it since I have been here."

The subject was dismissed. Other topics took the place of it, and no more disturbance was heard; but when the ladies came into the drawing-room, Tipton asked Mrs. Maclahan if she could speak to the housekeeper for a moment.

"Miss Christina is taken bad," he explained.

There was a little frown between Mrs. Maclahan's eyes as she rustled upstairs to the housekeeper's room. Mrs. Hallam was seated in her chair by the fire, and Christina was upon her lap. Her face was blue and pinched, her teeth chattering, and her eyes dim and glassy.

"Come in, please, ma'am."

Mrs. Hallam's tone was very indignant.

"Master Puggy ought to be well punished for this. He's dressed himself up in sheet and white mask and frightened two of the maids into hysterics by pouncing out upon them from the turret room; and not content with that, he creeps after Miss Tina as she were going along the passage. She have fainted three times, and I don't seem able to bring her round at all."

"Why don't you give her a drop of brandy, you stupid woman! Dear me, what a bother that boy is! Now, Tina, get up, and don't be silly. It's only Puggy's nonsense! He ought to be ashamed of himself! Get some brandy at once, Mrs. Hallam. Where is Connie? She had better be put straight to bed."

Acting as quickly as she talked, Mrs. Maclahan took Christina off to her bedroom, and by dint of rubbing and making her swallow some hot brandy and water the child at length revived. Mrs. Maclahan did not leave her till she was quite herself again, and then told Connie to sit with her till she fell asleep. She went back to her guests, but did not tell her husband of his little daughter's attack till they were on their way to bed.

He was very angry.

"Yes," she said, "Puggy deserves everything you say. He is keeping out of the way now. Give him a good scolding to-morrow morning; but oh, my dear Herbert, it is a pity that Tina is so timid. What can we do with her? She will never get through life like this."

"I must see her at once."

"Don't disturb her. She is most likely asleep."

But Christina was not. Her father found her lying with wet eyelashes and a damp pillow.

Connie was sitting by the fire reading. He dismissed her, then turned to his little daughter.

"Well, Tina," he said cheerfully, "I am afraid that young scamp has given you a big fright. Didn't you know he was dressing up as a ghost? What? You are not crying? Don't be unhappy. It is all over now." He sat down and lifted her out of her bed upon his knee.

Christina buried her face in his shoulder and began to sob.

"I shouldn't cry, my little girl. It is all over now. Don't think about it!"

"But it isn't over," gasped Christina. "It will never be over. It's no good hiding it up. I shall always be afraid, and that's why I'm so—so miserable."

Her father looked puzzled.

"But you know now that it wasn't a real ghost you saw?"

"It wasn't the ghost," sobbed Christina, "it was the being frightened I minded the most. You said I might be the first to disgrace my family and I have!"

Then the cause of Christina's real trouble flashed across her father's mind.

He laughed and kissed her.

"You are a little morbid, over-conscientious goose!" he exclaimed. "Many grown-up people would have been frightened at that boy's trick. No, Christina, you haven't disgraced your family yet. I will tell you when you have!"

He put her back into bed, and Christina, worn out by her fright and misery and comforted by her father's kiss and words, fell asleep.

The next morning Puggy was summoned to the library. He was much astonished to receive a short but thoroughly severe chastisement from Mr. Maclahan, and retired to his bedroom quite crestfallen.

He did not see Christina till dinner time, and when they met, neither made any allusion to the ghost.