"
"Cis, run with me to that big tree at the foot of the hill. Auntie will
carry the basket," cried Charlie, and the next moment they were off.
"Fine little fellows," said Errington. "I like children."
"I am going to ask Mrs. Ormonde to lend them to me for a few months, for
they are all I have of kith or kin."
"They are not at all like you," returned Errington, letting his quiet,
but to her most embarrassing, eyes rest upon her face.
"Yet they are my only brother's children." Here Katherine paused with a
sense of relief; they had reached a stile where a footway led across
some fields and a piece of common overgrown with bracken and gorse. It
was the short-cut to Castleford, by which Cecil had led her to the
Melford Woods.
"Oh, do come round by the road, auntie," he exclaimed; "perhaps Mr.
Errington will let me ride his horse."
"I do not know if _he_ will, Cis, but I certainly will not. I am tired
too, dear, and want to get home the shortest way I can, so bid Mr.
Errington good-by, and come with me. No, don't shake hands; yours are
much too dirty."
"Never mind; when you are a big boy I'll give you a mount. Good by,
Master Charlie--_you_ are Charlie, are you not? Till we meet at dinner,
Miss Liddell.
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