"Are you sure you are not chilly, Master
Colin?" she inquired.

"No," was the answer. "I am breathing long
breaths of fresh air. It makes you strong. I
am going to get up to the sofa for breakfast and
my cousin will have breakfast with me."

The nurse went away, concealing a smile, to give
the order for two breakfasts. She found the servants'
hall a more amusing place than the invalid's
chamber and just now everybody wanted
to hear the news from up-stairs. There was a
great deal of joking about the unpopular young
recluse who, as the cook said, "had found his
master, and good for him." The servants' hall
had been very tired of the tantrums, and the butler,
who was a man with a family, had more than
once expressed his opinion that the invalid would
be all the better "for a good hiding."

When Colin was on his sofa and the breakfast
for two was put upon the table he made an announcement
to the nurse in his most Rajah-like
manner.

"A boy, and a fox, and a crow, and two squirrels,
and a new-born lamb, are coming to see me
this morning. I want them brought up-stairs as
soon as they come," he said. "You are not to
begin playing with the animals in the servants' hall
and keep them there. I want them here."

[[249]]

p248 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p249w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p250

v?