Hildegarde's Neighbors

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Title: Hildegarde's Neighbors

Author: Laura E. Richards

Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5259] [Yes,
[wTeh ias rfeil em woraes tfihrastn poonset eyde aorn aJhuenaed 1o7f , s2c0h0e2d]u [leD]ate
last updated: July 31, 2005]

Edition: 10

Language: English

*E**B OSTOAK,R TH IOLDF ETGHAE RPDRE'OSJ ENCEIT GGHUBTOERNSB *E**RG

Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.

THE HILDEGARDE SERIES

Hildegarde's Neighbors

A STORY FOR GIRLS

BY LAURA E. RICHARDS

Author of

"The Margaret Series," "The Hildegarde Series,"
"Captain January,"
"Melody," "Five Minute Stories," etc.

ILLUSTRATED

OT

M.C.G.

IN TOKEN OF THE AFFECTION OF MANY
YEARS.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. THE ARRIVAL

II. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW

III. PUMPKIN HOUSE

IV. HESTER'S PLAYROOM

V. TEA AT ROSEHOLME

VI. ANOTHER TEA-PARTY

VII. IN GOOD GREEN WOOD

VIII. "HANDS ACROSS THE SEA"

IX. MERRY WEATHER INDOORS

X. A NEW LIFE

XI. A NIGHT-PIECE

XII. A-SAILING WE WILL GO

XIII. IN PERIL BY WATER

XIV. ROGER THE CODGER

XV. A MORNING HOUR

XVI. GOOD-BY

HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS

CHAPTER I.

THE ARRIVAL.

"Mamma," said Hildegarde Grahame, flying into
her mother's room,
"I have news for you, thrilling news! Guess what it
i"!s

Mrs. Grahame looked up from her sewing.

"The house is on fire," she said, quietly, "or you
have found a Royal Walnut Moth; or, possibly,
Hugh has developed wings and flown away. None
of these things would greatly surprise me; but in
the first case I must take action, while in either of
the others I can finish this seam."

"Continue your prosaic labours!" said the girl. "The

dress is mine, and I want it."

She sat down, and fanned herself with her broad
straw hat. "It is hot!" she announced with
emphasis.

"And that is the news?" said her mother.
"Astonishing! I should never have guessed it,
assuredly."

"Madam, you are a tease! The big yellow house is
let, and the family is moving in today, at this
moment! NOW, how do you feel?"

"Much the same, thank you!" was the reply. "Slight
amcocreel.e rBautit oitn iso f gtrheea tp unleswe,s , wcitehr tfaeivnleyr,- flHuilsdha;. nDoto hiynogu
know anything of the people?"

Hildegarde quoted:

"'I saw them come; one horse was blind,
The tails of both hung down behind,
Their shoes were on their feet.'

"Mr. and Mrs. Miles Merryweather, six children,
cook, housemaid and seamstress, two dogs, two
cats (at least the basket mewed, so I infer cats),
one canary bird, and fourteen trunks."

l"oDook iIn ug ntdhreorsutgahn td hteh agta pM iisns t hGer ahheadmgee ?h"as been

"You do, madam. And oh, mammina, it was such
fun! I really could not help it; and no one saw me;

and they came tumbling in in such a funny, jolly
way! I rather think we shall like them, but it will be
strange to have such near neighbours."

"I wonder what the Colonel will say!" Mrs. Grahame
commented.

"He is pleased," said Hildegarde; "actually pleased.
He knows Mr. Merryweather, and likes him; in fact,
he has just been telling me about them."

"Hildegarde, you are becoming a sad gossip," said
Mrs. Grahame, severely. "I think you would better
sit down and work these buttonholes at once."

"So that I can repeat the gossip to you," said this
impertinent young woman, kissing her mother
lightly on the forehead. "Precisely, dear madam.
Where is my thimble? Oh, here! Where are the
buttonholes? Oh, there! Well, now you shall hear.
And I fear I have been a gossip, indeed.

"It began with obedience to my elders and betters.
You told me to go down and see how Mrs.
Lankton's 'neurology' was; and I went. I found the
poor old thing in bed, and moaning piteously. I am
bound to say, however, that the moans did not
begin till after I clicked the latch. It is frightful to see
how suspicious a course of Mrs. Lankton always
makes me. I went in, and the room was
hermetically sealed, with a roaring fire in the air-
tight stove."

"To-day!" exclaimed Mrs. Grahame; "the woman
will die!"

"Not she!" said Hildegarde. "I was nearly
suffocated, and protested, with such breath as I
could find; but she said, 'Oh, Miss Grahame, my
dear! you don't know anything about trouble or
sickness, and no need to before your time. A
breath of air, my dear, is like the bellers to my
neurology—the bellers itself! Ah! I ain't closed my
eyes, not to speak of, since you was here last.'

"I tried to convince her that good air was better
than bad, since she must breathe some kind of air;
but she only shook her head and groaned, and told
me about a woman who got into her oven and shut
the door, and stayed there till she was baked 'a
beautiful light brown,' as Mrs. Lincoln says. ''T was
a brick oven, dear, such as you don't see 'em
nowadays; and she was cured of her neurology,
slick and slap; but I don't never expect no such
help of mine, now Mr. Aytoun's dead and gone.
Not but what your blessed ma is a mother to me,
and so I always tell the neighbours.'

"Do you want any more, missis? I can go on
indefinitely, if you like. I stayed as long as I dared,
and managed to hold the door open quite a bit, so
that a little air really did get in; and I gave her the
liniment, and rubbed her poor old back, and then
gave her a spoonful of jelly, and ran. That is the
first part of my tale. Then, I was coming home
through the Ladies' Garden, and I found my Hugh
playing Narcissus over a pool, and wondering
whether freckles were dirt on his soul that came
out in spots—the lamb! And I had to stay and talk