The Adventures of Herr Baby

-- -- "he was not there: / We searched the house, the grounds -- in vain; / We searched the green in our despair, / And then we searched the house again. "

It _was_ a good thing grandfather was out, for -- and this was what mother was thinking of -- poor grandfather, though he looked such a fine, tall, gray-haired old gentleman, was not really very strong or well. It was a great deal for him that they had all come abroad this winter, and the doctors had told mother and auntie that anything to startle or distress him might make him very ill indeed. Poor grandfather! I can't tell you what a kind, good man he was. He had stayed a great many years in India, though he would have liked dreadfully to come home, because it was "his duty" he said, and this had made him seem older than he really was, for a hot country is very wearing out to people who are not born to it. And, though he was so fond of his grandchildren, I think if he _had_ a pet among them, it was little Herr Baby. The mere idea of his tiny Raymond -- Baby was named Raymond after grandfather -- being lost, even for an hour or two, would have troubled him dreadfully, and thinking of this, auntie, too, repeated after mother,