kitchen premises
as the servants gazed, with tears of amusement running down their faces,
at _Mr_. Frazer, by the nurse's permission, pacing up and down a sunny
walk in the kitchen garden, with steps slow and grotesquely dignified,
holding the infant warily and tenderly, affirming, when he gave her back
to the nurse, in a self-congratulatory tone, that "little miss" would be
quiet with him when she would be so with no one else; which certainly
might be cause for some wonder, seeing that he would usually accompany
his nursings with such extraordinarily guttural attempts at singing as
were far better calculated to scare any ordinary baby into temporary
convulsions than to soothe it to rest when its slumbers had once been
broken. And how the old man did rejoice when the little thing could
toddle into his pantry! And no wonder that she was very ready to do so,
for Harry had an inexhaustible store of plums, and bonbons, and such
like enticements, which were always forthcoming when little miss
gladdened his heart with a visit. So they were fast friends, and
thoroughly understood each other.

When, however, a son and heir was born, and there was in consequence a
perfect delirium of bell-ringing in the village church-tower, Harry by
no means entered heart and soul into the rejoicings. "Well," he said
with a sigh, "there's no help for it, I suppose. It's all right, no
doubt; but Miss Julia's my pet, and so she shall be as long as my name's
Harry." The new infant, therefore, received none of the attention at
his hands which its predecessor had enjoyed. When pressed by the
housekeeper, with an arch smile on her good-natured face, to take "baby"
out for an airing, he shook his head very gravely and declined the
employment, affirming that his nursing days were over. The name also of
the new baby was a sore subject to Harry. "`Amos,' indeed! Well, what
next? Who ever heard of an `Amos' in the family? You might go as far
back as Noah and you'd never find one. Mr Sutterby might be a very
good gentleman, but his Christian name was none the better for that."
And, for a while, the old man's heart got more and more firmly closed
against the young heir; while Amos, on his part, in his boyish days,
made no advances towards being on friendly terms with the old servant,
who yet could not help being sometimes sorry for his young master, when
he marked how the sunshine of love and favour, which was poured out
abundantly on Miss Jul