wear, and oh how ugly it was! 'Birstle peas' colour they called it, and
how ashamed I was of the time I had to wear it. 'Little miss in her
birstle-peas gown' was a byword in the countryside. No, my Pamela, I
should be sorry to have to dress you in such a gown."

"I'll try not to tear my nice white gowns," said the little girl; "Nurse
said she would mend it, but it would take her a long time. Grandmamma,"
she went on, suddenly changing the subject, "what does a 'charge' mean,
'a great charge?'"

"Yes," said Marmaduke, who heard what she said, "'a _very_ great
charge.'"

Grandpapa's eyes grew brighter.

"Can they be speaking of a field of battle?" he said quickly. But Duke
turned his large wistful blue eyes on him before Grandmamma had time to
answer.

"No, sir," he said, in his slow earnest way, "it wasn't about battles;
it was about _us_."

"She said _us_ was that thing," added Pamela.

"Who said so?" inquired Grandmamma, and her voice was perhaps a little,
a very little, sharp.

"Nurse said it," said Pamela. "It was when us had felled down, and the
old woman was at the door of her house, and she asked if us was hurt,
and Nurse was vexed, and then she said that."