a very wonderful house indeed, and the children
always tried to go past it on their way to everywhere.

The children themselves lived in a large, square, ordinary brown-brick
house among other ordinary brown-brick houses. Their house had a long
garden with tall old trees in it, and so had the other houses. Looking
out of the boxroom window was like looking down on the top of a green
forest, Phyllis always thought. Only now, of course, the trees were not
green any more, because it was nearly Christmas.

'I wish Sir Christopher had a garden to his house,' Phyllis said one day
to the new housemaid.

'There used to be a pleasure-gardens there, I've heard father tell,'
said the new housemaid. 'Quite a big gardens, it was. The gent as owned
it was as rich as rich, kep' his carriage and butlers and all. But when
his son come into the property he sold the gardens for building on, and
only kep' the gate-house--the Grotto they calls it. An' there 'e's lived
ever since in quite a poor way. Nasty old miser, that's what he is!'

'He may be a miser,' said Phyllis, 'but he's not nasty. He carried Mabel
as kind as could be.'

'Have you ever spoke to him since?' demanded the housemaid.

'No,' said Phyllis; 'he always smiles at us, but he's always in a
hurry.'

'That's it,' said the housemaid; ''e's afraid to let anyone inside of
his house, fear they should get to see all the sacks of money he's got
there. And he pokes about and picks things outer the gutters, so he
won't get to know anyone. My young brother he knocked at the door once
to arst for a drink of water--thought he'd get a squint at the inside of
the house while the old chap was gone to draw it. But he shuts the door
in Elf's face, and only opens it a crack to hand him the mug through.'

'It was kind of him to give your brother the water,' said Phyllis.

'Elf didun want the water,' said Alf's sister; ''e'd just 'ad a lemonade
at the paper shop.'

Phyllis had often wanted to do something kind for Sir Christopher, but
she could not think of anything that wasn't just as likely to annoy him
as to please him. If she had known when his birthday was, she would have
put a birthday card under his door; but no one can be pleased at having
a card with 'Bright be thy natal morn' on it when really the natal morn
is quite a different date. She would have taken him flowers at the time
when dahlias and sunflowers grew at the end of the garden, but perhaps
he would not like the bot