aps he wouldn't mind telling me, not even as
much as----" Percy stopped and grew a little red. He was a boy of nice
feelings, not rough and knock-about in his ways like many schoolboys.

"Not even as much as telling _me_, you were going to say," said Ted's
mother, smiling. "Never mind, dear. I daresay it _would_ be easier for
him to tell you, and I am very glad my little boy has such a kind Percy
to talk to. But I think perhaps it is better to say nothing to him. We
may find it out by degrees, and if it is only a sort of fancy--he may
have seen the mountain looking gloomy some evening--it may fade away of
itself more quickly if we don't notice it."

That day was a very bright and lovely one. Ted's mother thought to
herself she would like to do something to make Ted, and Percy too,
"extra" happy, for the weeks had been running on fast--it would soon
be time for Percy, not being a little fish, to go back to school. And
Percy's big sister was with them too just then. She was even bigger than
Percy, so of course Ted thought her _quite_ grown up, though in reality
she was a good many years off being so. She was very nice any way, with
a gentle pretty face and kind eyes, and though she was not very old she
was very clever at telling stories, which is a most delightful thing in
a big sister or cousin--is it not? And she was also able to sing very
prettily, another delightful thing, or at least so Ted thought, for he
_was_ so fond of singing. This big girl's name was Mabel.

And after thinking a while and talking about it to Mabel, Ted's mother
thought the nicest thing would be to have tea in a lonely little nesty
place in the gorge between the mountains that I have told you of. We
were to go there with Ted and Cheviott some day, by the by, were we not?
Well, never mind, Cheviott shall be--that is to say he _was_--of the
gipsy tea-party, so that will come to the same thing, will it not?

They all set off--Ted's father and mother, another gentleman and lady
who were staying for the summer in a cottage not far off, that they
might be near their friends, their daughter who was _really_ grown up,
and Mabel and Percy and Ted. You can fancy the bread and butter there
was to cut, the home-made cake, the tea and sugar and cream that must
not be forgotten. And when all the baskets were ready and everybody was
helping and planning how to carry them, who do you think got hold of the
biggest of all and was trying to lug it along? Who but