14 The Brothers.

 

 

“Not just yet, while he seems so strange,
and has not anything very tidy to go in.
There’s your last year’s things, that you’ve
grown out of; I must have them done up for
him.”

So John went off to school by himself that
day ; and when Stephen was told he might
amuse himself as he pleased, he went out into
the garden, and stood leaning over the gate.
He looked so dull that by-and-by his aunt
called him and asked him to help her with
her flowers. She was a great gardener, and
she talked away pleasantly to the boy, ex-
plaining her work to him, and telling him
the names of the plants. Stephen seemed
pleased, though he hardly said anything ; and
the morning was passing pleasantly enough,
when poor Stephen managed to upset a fine
geranium ina pot. It was a beautiful flower,
and had only been set out for a little while to
enjoy the sunshine ; and now it was snapped
right in two, and the blossoms fell like a
heavy head upon the ground!

Mrs. Baynes was fond of her flowers, but
she was much more distressed at the effect of
the accident upon Stephen than upon the
geranium. For the poor child had shrank
back with such a look of terror, and put up