"Hollo! what, a couple of cherubs aloft!" cried a voice from the
road; and looking round, Henry beheld the two Grevilles.
"Yes," he answered; "it's very jolly up here."
"Eh! is it? Riding on a razor, to my mind. Come down, and have a
lark," said Osmond; while Martin, undoing the gate, proceeded to
swing it backwards and forwards, to John's extreme terror; but the
more he clung to the spikes, and cried for mercy, the quicker Martin
swung it, shouting with laughter at his fright. Henry meanwhile
scrambled and tumbled to the ground, and caught the gate and held it
fast, while he asked what his friends had been about. One held up a
scarlet flask of powder, the other a bag of shot.
"You haven't got a gun!"
"No, but we know where gardener keeps his; and the governor's out for
the day. Come along, Hal: you shall have your turn."
"I don't want to go far from home to-day."
"Oh, stuff! What was it Mamma heard, Osmond? That your mother was
ever so much better, wasn't it?"
"I thought it was worse," said Osmond.
"Well, never mind: your hanging about here won't do her any good, I
suppose.
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