A Big Temptation.
"What are you doing with that baby?"A Big Temptation
By
L. T. Meade,
And Other Stories
by
M. B. Manwell and Maggie Browne
Illustrated by
Arthur A. Dixon
| LONDON: | Printed in Bavaria. | NEW YORK: |
| Ernest Nister. | 640. | E. P. Dutton & Co. |
A Big Temptation
By
L. T. Meade.
Netty stood on the doorstep of a rickety old house and nursed the baby.She was ten years old and had the perfectly white face of a child whohad never felt any fresher air than that which blows in a London court.
It is true that the year before she had gone with her brother Ben intothe country. The Ladies' Committee of the Holiday Fund had arranged thematter, and Netty and Ben had gone away. They had spent a wholedelicious fortnight in a place where trees waved, and the air blewfresh, and there were lots of wildflowers to pick; and she had run aboutunder the trees, and slept at night in the tiniest little room in theworld, and in the cleanest bed, and had awakened each morning to hearthe doves cooing and the birds singing, and she had thought then that nohappiness could be greater than hers.
This had happened a year ago, and since then a new[Pg 6] baby had arrived,and the baby was rather sickly, and whenever Netty was not at school shewas lugging the baby about or trying to rock him to sleep. She wasbaby's nurse, and she was not at all sorry, for she loved the baby andthe occupation gave her time to dream.
Netty had big dark-blue eyes, which showed bigger and darker than everin the midst of her white little face. She could talk to the baby aboutthe country. How often she had told him the story of that brieffortnight!
"And you know, baby, there were real flowers growing; we picked them,Ben and I, and we rolled about in the grass; yes, we did. You needn'tbelieve it unless you like, baby, but we did. Oh! it was fine. I had noheadaches there, and I could eat almost anything, and if you never hearddoves cooing, why, you never heard what's really pretty. But never mind:your time will come—not yet awhile, but some day."
On this particular July afternoon the sun was so hot and the air soclose that even Netty could not find it in her heart to be cheerful.
"Oh, dear!" she said, with a deep sigh, "I do wish it were my turn forthe country this year. I would take you with me—yes, I would, baby. Iwouldn't mind a bit lugging you about, though you are getting heavy. Iwish it were my luck to be going this year, but there isn't