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A CHRISTMAS POSY
by
MRS MOLESWORTH
With illustrations by Walter Crane
[Illustration: GRANDMOTHER DEAR'S OLD WATCH
"Come out here for a moment, Sylvia," she called to her sister; "we can see her as far as the corner--" P. 2]
[Illustration]
London: MacMillan And Co. 1888
TO
MY TWO LITTLE FRIENDS
Julia and Isabel
TWIN-SISTERS
LONDON, _29th February 1888_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
"GRANDMOTHER DEAR'S" OLD WATCH 1
MY PINK PET 28
AN HONEST LITTLE MAN 53
THE SIX POOR LITTLE PRINCESSES 61
BASIL'S VIOLIN 77
THE MISSING BON-BONS 124
LOST ROLLO 147
THE BLUE DWARFS 177
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"GRANDMOTHER DEAR'S" OLD WATCH--
"'Come out here for a moment, Sylvia,' she called to her sister; 'we can see her as far as the corner.'" 2
MY PINK PET--
"One day I was playing as usual in my own little room, when the door suddenly opened." 43
AN HONEST LITTLE MAN--
"Him has one, zank you." 55
THE SIX POOR LITTLE PRINCESSES--
"Ginevra found herself running upstairs, though not so fast as the evening before, for fear of dropping the precious parcel she held in her arms." 71
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Christmas Posy by Mrs. Molesworth
- 2: For Auntie was no longer young
- 3: I wish Auntie had not gone out
- 4: Auntie struggled for self control
- 5: Was beginning to refuse when Sylvia interrupted
- 6: Said the commissaire sententiously
- 7: As the watchmaker next door assured Bernard
- 8: Owner to be found at 99 Avenue Malmaison
- 9: Auntie Auntie dear you are awake at last
- 10: Auntie grandmother dear's own old watch
- 11: At which Molly and Sylvia both laughed
- 12: Children are children even nowadays
- 13: Was desired to look over the dolls and report on them
- 14: Upstairs they all ran Emilia arriving the first
- 15: With the shells for caliphs and weseers
- 16: Emilia put my thoughts into words for me
- 17: Emilia silently held out the shell
- 18: You have made Emilia very unhappy
- 19: It was nothing but a little sugar mouse
- 20: For he saw that Budder had not got one
- 21: How could it be a bear or a woof
- 22: He had been toosing toosing what he would buy
- 23: And below her came Elspeth and Belinda and Baby
- 24: If Aunt Ginevra would come home
- 25: I have my eye on a trusty adherent
- 26: I suppose girls can't live without dolls
- 27: Ginevra burst into the nursery
- 28: What shall I say if Auntie asks for my jug
- 29: Basil shook himself impatiently
- 30: For though Basil was not in some ways a clever child
- 31: Basil hasn't finished his lessons
- 32: Marchcote told me something quite different from that
- 33: Lady Iltyd spoke very earnestly
- 34: Only fancy I have got a pupil at last
- 35: I think Basil truly loves music
- 36: Played by Herr Wildermann alone
- 37: He said half apologetically to Lady Iltyd
- 38: Lady Iltyd did not think of what had
- 39: I will tell Herr Wildermann to morrow
- 40: For as he stood in perplexity his little dog Yelpie
- 41: Then at last the boy ejaculated Herr Wildermann
- 42: Ulric turned his pale face to the boy
- 43: Said Basil that morning when he was starting for school
- 44: Taught Basil more lessons than you knew
- 45: Struggling breathlessly with Towzer
- 46: Great things were evidently expected of Miss Campbell
- 47: And poor Flop wakened in the night
- 48: Towzer and Flop dot just the same
- 49: I saw Miss Maggie after something in there
- 50: For poor Towzer was sobbing bitterly
- 51: Maggie looked at her bewilderedly
- 52: The lesson of the missing bon bons would never be forgotten
- 53: And Persis of course is thirteen
- 54: For Miss Ellis is really very kind
- 55: When we at last started for Wildmoor
- 56: Persis and I had two little white rooms side by side
- 57: But just then Eliza came out with the milk
- 58: Persis and I didn't say anything
- 59: And I couldn't ask Persis afterwards
- 60: Persis and I stood stock still
- 61: Persis to herself and me to myself that we didn't know
- 62: Miss Riverton wants a good home for her dog
- 63: Then Persis had a nice thought
- 64: Rex looked at Olive with a queer expression
- 65: Are there really countries of dwarfs
- 66: For Auntie said they eat roast fir cones for dinner
- 67: Auntie was a truer prophet than she knew
- 68: Auntie told me to be very polite
- 69: And yet bigger than the blue dwarfs
- 70: How could you tell I called you the blue dwarfs
- 71: It grew darker and darker among the trees
- 72: With a little dwarf wife beside him
- 73: Are there no children dwarfs
- 74: She kept bumping and knocking herself against the trunks
- 75: And a sudden recollection seemed to come over the dwarf
- 76: Molesworth's great charm is her realism realism
- 77: With 100 Pictures by LINLEY SAMBOURNE