they are first-rate.Thank you very much indeed, mamma."
"And you won't over-drive your horses or your horse, will you?" saidmamma. "I suppose Artie will be your regular one, or do you mean tohave a pair--Mary too?"
Leigh did not answer at once.
"I shall drive Artie sometimes, and Mary sometimes, if she likes," hesaid. "But I've, another horse too, better than them."
Mamma did not pay much attention to what he said; she thought he meantone of the gardener's boys or the page, with whom he was allowed to playsometimes, as they were good boys.
"And the p'ram-bilator?" Leigh asked. "When is it coming, mamma? andis it a very nice one? Does it go smoothly? and has it good springs?"
"I think it's a very nice one," mamma replied. She was pleased to seeLeigh so interested about his little sister's carriage. "But it won'tbe here for some days--a week or so--as they have to change thelinings."
"Oh," said Leigh to himself in a low voice, "all the better! I'll havetime to break him in a little."
The next day, and every day after that for some time, Leigh was verybusy indeed. He begged nurse to let him off going regular walks once ortwice, because he had something he was making in the shed, where he andArtie were allowed to do their carpentering and all the rather messywork boys are so fond of, which it does not do to bring into the house.He was not "after any mischief" he told nurse, and she quite believedit, for he was a very truthful boy; but he said it was a secret he didnot want to tell till he had got it all ready.
So nurse let him have his way, only she would not allow Artie to misshis walk too, for she did not think it safe to leave him alone withLeigh, with all his "hammering and nailing and pincering" going on. AndI think nurse was right.
I wonder if you can guess what was Leigh's "secret"--what it was he wasso busy about? He did not tell either Artie or Mary; he wanted to"surprise" them.
The truth was, he was making harness for Fuzzy and trying to teach himto be driven. He had begun the teaching already by fastening the reinsto an arrangement of strong cord round the dog's body, and he was alsomaking better harness with some old straps he had coaxed out of thecoachman. He really managed it very cleverly.
It took him two or three days to get it finished, and in the meantime he"practised" with the cord. Poor Fuzzy! He was a big strong dog by thistime, but still only a puppy. I am sure he must have wondered very muchwhat all the tying up and pulling and tugging and "who-ho"-ing and"gee-up"-ing meant; but he was very good-tempered. I suppose he settledin his own mind that it was a new kind of play; and, on the whole--oncehe was allowed to start off running, with Leigh holding the reins behindhim, trying to imagine _he_ was driving Fuzzy, while it was really Fuzzypulling _him_--he did not behave badly, though Leigh found "breaking himin" harder work than he had expected.
By the fourth day the "proper harness," as Leigh called it, was ready.He had got the coachman's wife, who was very fond of the children andvery clever with her fingers, to stitch some of the straps which hecould not manage to fasten neatly with boring holes and passing twinethrough, though that did for part. And as the coachman did not see thatthis new fancy could do any harm, he was rather interested in it too.So when it was all complete, and Fuzzy was fitted into his new attire,or it was fitted on to him, perhaps I should say, Mr and Mrs Mellor,and the grooms, and two or three of the under-gardeners all stood roundadmiring, while Leigh started off in grand style, driving his queersteed.
"If you had but a little cart now, Master Leigh," said one of the boys;"it'd be quite a turn-out."
"Yes," said Leigh, with a smile; "I mean to get to something like thatsome day. But driving with reins this way is how they often begin withyoung horses, isn't it, Mellor?"
"To be sure it is!" the coachman replied, as he went off, smiling tohimself at the funny notions children take up. "The very idea ofharnessing a puppy." For Mellor had never been in Flanders, you see,nor in Lapland.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
LEIGH'S PLAN.
Ever since the day the children had waited for their father outside theLavender Cottages--the day when it was settled that they were to haveFuzzy--the idea of training the dog to be driven, and making him drawthe perambulator as he had seen Ned drawing the Perrys' old wickercarriage, had been in Leigh's head. That was why he was so interestedabout the new carriage for his little sister.
He was sensible in some ways. He knew it would be no use harnessing thedog into a cart or anything till he had accustomed him a little to beingdriven. That was what had made him think of buying reins. He hadwaited a good while too, till the dog was nearly full-grown and hadgrown pretty obedient to his voice and call. But when he heard that theperambulator was really to be bought, he thought to himself that it wasquite time Fuzzy's "breaking-in" should begin.
For it was now late September. Baby Dolly was close upon her fifth"month-day," as the children called it, and growing so big and livelythat nurse could scarcely manage to carry her any distance withoutfeeling rather tired, as Dolly was very fond of sitting straight up andlooking about her and giving little jumps and springs when Mary or theboys ran up to her. And "Fuzz," as Leigh generally called him--for hethought "Fuzzy" rather a girl's name--was a very big puppy indeed--sobig and playful that, when he came galloping over the lawn to thechildren, Mary used to run behind nurse, if she was there, for fear ofbeing knocked over.
It was fun and affection, of course, and when he stood still Mary wouldpat him and call him "dear Fuzzy," "poor old Fuzzy," quite bravely, butat the bottom, of her heart she was a little afraid of him. And thoughshe did not like to say so to the boys, she often wished that he hadstayed a roly-poly, soft, tumbling-about creature, as he was when shehad first seen him--only a few weeks old.
But Leigh would not have liked that at all, of course.
Well, the driving-lessons went on, and thanks to Leigh's patience, ofwhich he had a good deal when he chose, Fuzz became more manageable, asI said. After a while Leigh found an old remains of a little cart onwheels--it was really a sort of small dray which some of his younguncles had knocked together years ago for dragging wood on--which hemanaged to harness the dog to, to accustom him to feeling somethingbehind him. Fuzz kicked and spluttered and ran away ever so many times;he did not like the rattling noise coming after him, but after a whilehe grew used to it and would scamper off quite merrily, and so fast thatLeigh could scarcely keep up with him. That was the great difficulty--to make him go slowly.
But Leigh was not discouraged.
"It'll be all right," he thought, "when he feels he's pulling somethingheavier."
And still he kept it all a secret, except of course from Mellor and theoutdoor servants, and they did not know anything about his plan for theperambulator.
It came, about ten days after it had been promised. Mary had beengrowing very impatient. She thought it was _never_ coming, and even hermamma was on the point of writing to the place where she had ordered it,to ask why they were so long of sending it, when all of a sudden oneafternoon it arrived.
Everybody admired it extremely. It was really a very pretty littlecarriage, and Baby Dolly liked it very much, to judge by the way shecrowed and chattered in her own sweet baby language the first time shewas tucked into it for a drive.
This was the very morning after it came. For it was luckily a fine,mild day, and the nursery dinner was made a little earlier than usual,so that Baby Dolly should have the best of the afternoon for the firsttrial of her perambulator; and Mary and the boys and the under-nurse andFuzzy were all to go too.
Nurse had a holiday indeed! She began by pushing the new carriageherself, just to make sure that baby would not be frightened. Butfrightened--no, indeed; the little lady chuckled and crowed, and was ashappy as could be. So then nurse let Leigh push it for a while, andthen Artie, and then even Mary for a little bit, though not for verylong, as, though it was beautifully light, it was tiring for her tostretch up her arms, and of course she was too small to see in front ifthe road wa
s getting at all rough, or if there were stones or ruts toget out of the way of.
And then nurse told Emma, the under-nurse (I think I have forgotten tosay that "Little Sarah" was not big enough to help with Dolly, so a newunder-nurse had come), to push it for a while--not that Leigh and Artiewere not most eager to do so, but nurse wanted to make sure that Emmapushed it carefully, for there are two ways of doing even such a simplething as pushing a perambulator, though you might not think it. AndEmma was rather a silly girl, though she was very good-natured.
"Now, we'se _all_ pussed it except Fuzzy," said Mary. She was dancingalong holding nurse's hand and feeling very happy and