The children's aunt had been watching for the car. She came running out of the old wooden door as soon as she saw it draw up outside. The children liked the appearance of her at once.
"Welcome to Aucrea!" she cried. "Hallo, all of you! It's lovely to see you. And what big children!"
There were kisses ubiquitously, and then the children went into the cottage. They liked it. It felt old and rather mysterious somehow, and the furniture was old and very beautiful.
"Where's Stephina?" asked Mary, looking round for her unknown cousin.
"Oh, the mischievous girl! I told her to loiter in the garden for you," said her aunt. "Now she's gone off somewhere. I must tell you, children, you may find Stephen a bit intricate at first— she's always been one on her own, you know. And at first may not like you being here. But you mustn't take any notice of that— she'll be all right in a short time. I was very glad for Stephen's sake that you were able to come. She badly needs other children to play with."
"Do you call her 'Stephen'?" asked Mary, in surprise. "I thought her name was Stephina."
"So it is," said her aunt. "But Stephen hates being a girl, and we have to call her Stephen, as if she was a boy. The wayward girl won't answer if we call her Stephina." The children thought that Stephina sounded rather stimulating. They wished she would come. But she didn't. Their Uncle JamesJames appeared out of the blue instead.
He was a most bizarre looking man, very tall, very dark, and with a rather fierce frown on his wide forehead.
"Hallo, James!" said Dad. "It's a long time since I've seen you. I hope these three won't disturb you very much in your work."
"James is working on a very difficult book," said Aunt Fallonia. "But I've given him a room all to himself on the other side of the cottage. So I don't expect he will be bothered."
Their uncle looked at the three children, and nodded to them. The frown didn't come off his face, and they all felt a little afraid, and were glad that he was to work in another part of the cottage.
"Where's Stephen?" he said, in a profound voice.
"Gone off somewhere again," said Aunt Fallonia, vexed. "I told her she was to stay here and meet her cousins."
"She wants spanking," said Uncle James. The children couldn't quite make out whether he was joking or not. "Well, children, I hope you have a good time here, and maybe you will knock a little common-sense into Stephen!"
There was no room at Aucrea Cottage for Mother and Daddy to stay the night, so after a rushed supper they left to stay at the nearest hotel. They would drive back to London immediately after breakfast the next day. So they said goodbye to the children that night.
Stephina never the less hadn't appeared. "I'm sorry we haven't seen Stephina," said Mother. "Just give her our love and tell her we hope she'll enjoy playing with Theo, Justin and Mary."
Subsequently, Mother and Daddy left. The children felt a little bit alone as they saw the big car vanish round the corner of the boulevard, but Aunt Fallonia took them upstairs to show them their bedrooms, and they soon forgot to be sad.
The two boys were to sleep together in a room with slanting ceilings at the top of the cottage. It had a stunning view of the cove. The boys were really enchanted with it. Mary was to sleep with Stephina in a smaller room, whose windows looked over the moors at the back of the cottage. But one side-window looked over the sea, which pleased Mary very much. It was a nice room, and red roses nodded their heads in at the window.
"I do wish Stephina would come,"Mary said to her aunt. "I want to see what she's like."
"Well, she's anamusing little girl," said her aunt. "She can be very rude and haughty—but she's kind at heart, very loyal and absolutely truthful. Once she makes friends with you, she will always be your friend— but she finds it very difficult indeed to make friends, which is a great shame."
Mary suddenly yawned. The boys frowned at her, because they knew what would happen next. And it did!
"PoorMary! How tired you are! You must all go to bed instantaneously, and have a good long night. Then you will wake up quite fresh tomorrow," said Aunt Fallonia.
"Mary, you are an idiot," said Theo, crossly, when his aunt had gone out of the room. "You know quite well what grown-ups think as soon as we yawn. I did want to go down on the beach for a while."
"I'm so sorry," said Mary. "By hook or by crook I couldn't help it. And anyway, you're yawning now, Theo, and Justin too!"
Hence they were. They were as sleepy as could be with their long drive. Secretly all of them longed to cuddle down into bed and shut their eyes.
"I wonder where Stephina is," said Mary, when she said good-night to the boys, and went to her own room. "Isn't she funny— not waiting to welcome us— and not coming in to supper— and not even in so far! After all, she's sleeping in my room— goodness knows what time she'll be in!"
All the three children were fast asleep before Stephina came up to bed! They didn't hear her open Mary's door. They didn't hear her get in your night suit and clean her teeth. They didn't hear the squeak of her bed as she got into it. They were so exhausted that they heard nothing at all until the sun awoke them in the morning.
When Maryawoke she couldn't at first think where she was. She lay in her little bed and looked up at the slanting ceiling, and at the red roses that nodded at the open window— and suddenly remembered all in a rush where she was! "I'm at Aucrea Bay— and it's the holidays." she said to herself, and screwed up her legs with joy.
Then she looked across at the other bed. In it lay the figure of another child, curled up under the bed-clothes. Marycould just see the top of a curly head, and that was all. When the figure stirred a little, Maryspoke.
“Are you Stephina?"
The child in the opposite bed sat up and looked across at Mary. She had very short curly hair, almost as short as a boy's. Her face was burnt a dark-brown with the sun, and her very blue eyes looked as bright as forget-me-nots in her face. But her mouth was rather sulky, and she had a frown like her father's.
"No," she said. "I'm not Stephina."
"Oh!" said Mary, in surprise. "Then who are you?"
"I'm Stephen," said the girl. "I shall only answer if you call me Stephen. I abhorbeing a girl. I won't be. I don't like doing the things that girls do. I like doing the things that boys do. I can climb better than any boy, and swim quicker too. I can sail a boat as well as any fisher-boy on this coast. You're to call me Stephen. Then I'll speak to you. But I shan't if you don't."
"Oh!" said Mary, thinking that her new cousin was most bizarre. "All right! I don't care what I call you. Stephen is a nice name. I don't much like Stephina. Anyway, you look like a boy."
"Do I really?" said Stephen, the frown leaving her face for a moment. "Mother was quitecantankerous with me when I cut my hair short. I had hair all round my neck; it was terrible."
The two girls stared at one another for a moment. "Don't you simply loathebeing a girl?" asked Stephen.
"No, of course not," said Mary. "You see— I do like pretty frocks— and I love my dolls— and you can't do that if you're a boy."
"Pooh! Fancy bothering about pretty frocks," said Stephen, in a mocking voice. "And dolls! Well, you are a baby, that's all I can say."
Mary felt snubbed. "You're not very courteous," she said. "You won't find that my brothers take much notice of you if you act as if you knew everything. They're real boys, not pretend boys, like you."
"Well, if they're going to be malicious to me I shan't take any notice of them," said Stephen, jumping out of bed. "I didn't want any of you to come, anyway. Interfering with my life here! I'm quite happy on my own. Now I've got to put up with a silly girl who likes frocks and dolls, and two stupid boy-cousins!"
Maryfelt that they had made a very bad beginning. She said no more, but got dressed herself too. She put on her grey jeans and a red jersey. Stephen put on jeans too, and a boy's jersey. Just as they were ready the boys hammered on their door.
"Aren't you ready? Is Stephina there? Cousin Stephina, come out and see us." Stephen flung open the door and marched out with her head high. She took no notice of the two flabbergasted boys at all. She stalked downstairs. The other three children looked at one another.
"She won't answer if you call her Stephina," explained Mary. "She's awfully queer, I think. She says she didn't want us to come because we'll hinder with her. She laughed at me, and was rather rude."
Justin put his arm round Mary, who looked a bit doleful. "Cheer up!" he said. "You've got us to stick up for you. Come on down to breakfast."
They were all hungry. The smell of bacon and eggs was very good. They ran down the stairs and said good-morning to their aunt. She was just bringing the breakfast to the table. Their uncle was sitting at the head, reading his paper. He nodded at the children. They sat down without a word, wondering if they were allowed to speak at meals. They always were at home, but their Uncle James looked rather fierce.
Stephen was there, buttering a piece of toast. She scowled at the three children.
"Don't look like that, Stephen," said her mother. "I hope you've made friends already. It will be fun for you to play together. You must take your cousins to see the bay this morning and show them the best places to bathe."
"I'm going fishing," said Stephen. Her father looked up at once.
"You are not," he said. "You are going to show a few good manners for a change, and take your cousins to the bay. Do you hear me?"
"Yes," said Stephen, with a scowl exactly like her father's.
"Oh, we can go to the bay by ourselves all right, if Stephen is going fishing," said Mary, at once, thinking that it would be nice not to have Stephen if she was in a bad temper.
"Stephen will do exactly as she's told," said her father. "If she doesn't, I shall deal with her."
So, after breakfast, four children got ready to go down to the beach. An easy path led down to the bay, and they ran down happily. Even Stephen lost her frown as she felt the warmth of the sun and saw the dancing sparkles on the blue sea.
"You go fishing if you want to," said Marywhen they were down on the beach. "We won't tell tales of you. We don't want to hinder with you, you know. We've got ourselves for company, and if you don't want to be with us, you needn't."
"But we'd like you, all the same, if you'd like to be with us," said Justin, generously. He thought Stephen was rude and ill-mannered, but he couldn't help rather liking the look of the straight-backed, short-haired little girl, with her brilliant blue eyes and sulky mouth.
Stephen stared at him. "I'll see, she said. "I don't make friends with people just because they're my cousins, or something silly like that. I only make friends with people if I like them."
"So do we," said Justin. "We may not like you, of course."
"Oh!" said Stephen, as if that thought hadn't occurred to her. "Well— you may not, of course. Lots of people don't like me, now I come to think of it."
Marywas staring out over the blue bay. At the entrance to it lay a curious rocky island with what looked like an old ruined castle on the top of it.
"Isn't that a funny place?" she said. "I wonder what it's called."
"It's called Aucrea Island," said Stephen, her eyes as blue as the sea as she turned to look at it. "It's a lovely place to go to. If I like you, I may take you there some day. But I don't promise. The only way to get there is by boat."
"Who does the funny island belong to?" asked Justin.
Stephen made a most surprising answer. "It belongs to me," she said. "At least, it will belong to me— some day! It will be my very own island— and my very own castle!"