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Her Little IVorld. 



BY 



SARAH E. CHESTER. 







American Tract Society, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



(^yv^M^ Google 




-•- ' • 



COPYRIGHT, 1876, 
BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



•• • •• . • 

• • ••• 



• * ••• » 






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Her Little World. 



CHAPTER I. 

" One to begin, 
Two to show, 
Three to make ready — " 

shouted Jenny, breaking ofif suddenly to peep 
around the posts and down the hall for spies. If 
she had been a boy, or a small girl, what need she 
have cared if all the world saw her perched on the 
back piazza railing prepared for a jump ? But she 
was fifteen and overgrown, and preferred that nei- 
ther John, the servants, nor the neighbors should 
see. She would not have minded John yesterday ; 
but there was a coldness between them since break- 
^ fast this morning. However, he was not looking ; 
Qfj neither was any one else. So with " Four to go !" 
^. she jumped the nine feet between her and the 
^ ground ; and then lay down in the soft green grass, 

Uigitizea oy xjv^v^v iv 



4 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

stretched her long limbs out comfortably, and 
turned her face up to the sun. 

She had not lain there long when she began to 
meditate on a subject which had given her several 
seasons of meditation since breakfast, and that was 
John's speech. For John, on that memorable morn- 
ing of May the eleventh, had actually made a speech. 
She laughed aloud when she thought of it. John 
an orator ! She would as soon have expected it of 
his stuffed owl. 

If he had any opinions on animals, or on mus- 
cular sports, he could find words, few and pointed, 
in which to express them ; and he had been known 
to wax eloquent on the one subject of his own arm. 

" How 's that for an arm, ma'am V' he was ac- 
customed to say to Jenny, baring the ugly member 
to the shoulder, and doubling it to make the muscle 
come out in a hill. " Here 's where you get your 
motive power. Do n't you weep for the enemy of 
that arm .? Feel of it once. Did you ever touch 
anything harder 1 Did you ever see anything pret- 
tier T etc., etc. 

But John a moral lecturer ! John a holder-forth 
on such high themes as manners ! It was a joke to 
be preserved in the family. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. s 

He had beckoned her solemnly from the dining- 
room to the library after breakfast, placed chairs 
with the air of an undertaker, one for her, one op- 
posite for him. Then he had flushed, stuttered, 
stammered, twisted his thumbs, and said, 

"You see, Jen." 

" No, I don't see anything," she had replied, as 
he paused painfully. 

" But you will see, Jen, when I have made my 
points." 

" Well, the points ! the points !" she demanded, 
drumming on his knees with her fists. 

"There," said he, laying the fists back on her 
lap, "you have opened the way for me yourself. 
That is n't ladylike, you know." 

" Oh, is that what you are trying to get at ?" 
she said. " You want to tell me I 'm not a lady, 
Johnny dear.? Well, out with it and let me go. 
There 's a day with its duties before me. I must 
away." 

"Just hold up," said he, taking the fists again 
in his own, which were big, bony, and powerful. 
" Yes, Jen, that 's what I, as an older brother — " 

"One year, six days, by the almanac," she inter- 
rupted. 

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6 HER LITTLE WORLD: 

" Maybe you think that 's polite," said he ; "but 
that 's where you and I differ. What I, as an older 
brother, have been making up my mind for a week 
to say — ^" 

"Seven days make one week," said she. " You 
never could dp it in that time. Say a month, and 
proceed." 

" Your ways," he continued sublimely, but with 
a tongue somewhat disturbed, " are n't altogether — 
that is, you know, the things you do are n't exactly 
ladylike, you see." 

"Bravo!" she shouted. "I call that classic — 
oratory boiled down. Try it again." 

With unruffled amiability he proceeded. " No, 
Jenny, your ways are not like other girls'." 

" You 'd better remember who brought me up !" 
she cried. 

"I own I 'm to blame," he said, rumpling his hair 
to collect his scattered points. " I *ve encouraged 
you, and not seen any harm in it either, you know, 
till I had my attention called to it." 

Jenny ransacked her brain for the name of the 
meddler. She knew that John and her most inti- 
mate friend had had a serious talk on some myste- 
rious subject not many days ago; and she knew 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 7 

that that friend was the only person who had ever 
gravely tried to persuade her to amend her hoyden- 
ish ways. So she shouted : 

"Prink!" 

" Till I had my attention called to it," repeated 
John, once more attacking his hair and blushing as 
he gazed at a fly on the ceiling. 

" It 's a bad sign when you can't look me in the 
eye," said she. 

" You see, Jen — ^" said he. 

"You may be excused to write it down," said 
she. "Then commit it to memory, Johnny, and 
come and recite it, and maybe we '11 get through by 
Christmas." 

" You see, Jen," he roared in a voice of threat- 
ening, "you're as big as mother." 

" Eighth of an inch bigger. Be accurate," said 
she. 

"And fifteen." 

" On the thirteenth day of August last." 

"Now other girls of your age and size don't 
jump and climb around the way you do; and 
throw ! why, you 're sure death to a chicken, if you 
take aim. And shoot! — ^why, there's hardly a fel- 
low in town can beat you. I say you ought n't to ; 

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8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

because, you know, it doesn't make you look the 
way girls should. It gets your face and hands 
tanned^' 

" Write an article on the tanning effects of shoot- 
ing, Johnny." ' 

" You know I mean being out in the sun with- 
out your bonnet." 

"All right. Go on ; it is getting thrilling." 

" It spreads you out, you know, aud gives you 
muscle like a boy, and makes your waist big." 

" Submitted," said she. 

"And, in short, I ought to have put a stop to 
it before. But, as I said, I never had my attention 
called to it till lately. It was fun to me ; and as 
long as we both enjoyed it, I did n*t think about the 
harm it might be doing you. And now, Jenny dear, 
try and tone down a little, wont you ?" 

" Quoted entire from Prinky," said she. 

" Bleach out your hands and face, if you can. 
I don't mean ' toilettine,' or 'bloom of youth,* but 
wear bonnets and gloves occasionally. And, Jen- 
ny, please don't let Davies' boys see you jump off 
the back piazza railing again ; they talk about it." 
"And you let 'em!" 

** I can't spot my men. It came to me indirectly." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 9 

•* Through PrinL" 

" Through your best friend," he said severely. 
'* Some of the fellows say they *ve seen you shoot 
nine feet through the air as if you 'd been blown 
out of a gun. And the story was around that you 
dove from the rocks over the Basin and swam 
across in three minutes." 

•' Much obliged for the suggestion/' said Jenny. 
••I '11 try it." 

** That fable, of course, I nipped in the bud ; it 
was too idiotic to be believed long, anyway. But 
there are facts about you, Jen. Lots of people 
have seen you up trees, and heard you whistling on 
the streets ; and everybody knows how you vaulted 
Turner's high fence when the colts were after 
you." 

" I s*pose it would have been more ladylike to 
stand still an<} let 'em kick the breath out of me," 
said Jenny. 

" Exercise," said John, " is one of the best eow- 
cators ; and nobody *11 deny that the present gener- 
ation of girls would be mightily improved by it. 
But the trouble with you is that you *re not satisfied 
with coming short of a first-class boy. And you 

know, Jen^ all the best authorities are down on that 

2 

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lo HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Somebody or other, talking about the difference in 

man and woman, says that he's for 

« * Valor formed ; 
For softness she, and sweet, attractive grace.' *' 

"Who's been stuffing your head with poetry?" 

"I read it/' 

•• Where?" 

"I — I — don't exactly know the author," said 
John, rather embarrassed by the fact that the let- 
ter in which he had read it was at that moment 
poking a glaring white corner out of his vest pocket. 

" Did Prink write it down for you to learn and 
get off at me .>" 

" No, she did n't." 

" Then there 's a mystery. There 's something 
besides Prink in it when you deliberately take to 
learning poetry. I never knew you quote as much 
as a line from Mother Goose before. Now let go 
my fists, if you please ; and just tell Prink the next 
time she wants to call me a tom-boy, to come and 
do it with her own mouth." 

Then she had risen and stepped loftily away, 
and gone about the business of the day, sore at 
heart ; angry, now at John, and now at Prinky, for 
scheming and plotting about a comrade behind her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. ii 

back, and sometimes wondering if any one besides 
Prinky could possibly be in it 

She went into the parlor that morning, opened 
the blinds, and viewed herself before the long mir- 
ror with unprejudiced eyes. 

Alas ! it was only too true that she had not a 
waist to be enclosed in a pair of hands. Prink's 
father's hands could go around her waist sind the 
thumbs lap. Her father, to be sure, quoted Ve- 
nuses, and called her waist a deformity, but Jenny 
admired it. 

'' It would take the hands of the whole family 
to go around me," thought Jenny. 

And her complexion ? A face which scorned 
the protection of hats except on state occasions, 
which bore the reflected light from a thousand 
waves through days of fishing, could hardly be soft 
and fair. 

Her height ? There was too much of it. " The 
result of over-exercise," she reflected. "Forced 
growth." 

And her hands.? Hands which caught swift 
base-balls without flinching, which rowed for miles 
without blistering, which wielded kehoe clubs with- 
out aching, could hardly be white and small. 

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12 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She grew sober as she gazed. She had forgiven 
John an hour ago. She thought with envy of all 
her girl friends formed "for softness" and "sweet, 
attractive grace." She had admired but never en- 
vied them before ; for as long as she suited John 
'she suited herself. But John, her only brother; 
John, her hero, her comrade, her best-beloved ; 
John, her brother, sister, father and mother in 
one — surely he must be pleased. If he wanted her 
head shaved, shaved it should be ; or her teeth out, 
out they should come. 

So she mentally declared, erect with folded arms 
before the mirror, scowling scorn at her tanned and 
overgrown image. She thought of corsets, of a 
receipt for the complexion she had once noticed in 
the back of the cook-book ; and she turned away 
with desperate purposes in her brain. 

She climbed no trees, she jumped no heights, 
she whistled no tunes that morning ; and early in ' 
the afternoon she went out, with high resolves and 
grave intentions, on the back piazza, to meditate 
upon the change of life she was considering. 

Temptation met her. The piazza chairs were 
hard in the seat and straight in the back ; and one 
must certainly be comfortable to meditate well. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 13 

The grass made a soft couch, and the low limbs of 
the maple-tree a pleasant canopy. They beckoned 
her down. But the way of the stairs was dark and 
roundabout. So she sprang up on the railing, only 
remembering John's caution in time to make sure 
that neither he nor the other "Davies boys" next 
door were looking. 

"Now why," thought she, as she lay in the 
grass, " could n't I have gone around by the stairs 
like other girls } What is the reason I can never 
see a high fence without wanting to jump? or a 
tree without wanting to climb } or a stone without 
wanting to fire it.^" A stone had already crept 
into her palm, for there was a grave and stately hen 
marching by with solemn paces. 

" Come, biddy, help me out," said she, " or there 
is no telling what I may be left to do. What is the 
reason I 'm not as others are } To be or not to be 
a tom-boy ? that 's the question. Whether 't is bet- 
ter to suffer the slings and arrows of Prink's 
tongue, or to take arms against my wicked ways, 
and by opposing end them ? You Ve nothing to 
say } Prepare for consequences !" 

The stone just grazed the tips of the hen's tail- 
feathers ; and she scampered off gayly with such a 

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14 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

sudden downfall of dignity that Jenny laughed 
loudly. 

" There it is again," she thought, sobering sud- 
denly. "I will reform. I'll agree to anything 
John proposes, so long as he '11 agree not to talk me 
over with Prink. I did n't think it of Prink — such 
an old friend." 

Prink, otherwise Miss Margery Barnard, was at 
that moment ringing the door-bell ; and some one 
shortly brought her out on the back piazza, where 
Jenny had last been seen. 

" Peek-a-boo !" she called in a voice that a certain 
admirer had compared to the low notes of a canary. 

" Oh, halloa !" said Jenny coldly. " Come over, 
if you want to see me ; or, no, come around, I mean. 
There are stairs, you know." 

She took a side look upward to discover the 
eflFect of her remark, and she saw pink blushes flick- 
ering becomingly on Margery's fair cheeks. 

"They never 'd show on me at that distance," 
she reflected, as Margery disappeared. " I might 
blush for ever and get no credit, with all this tan 
aboard. Advantages of an untanned skin : good 
background for all your sensitive and ladylike emo- 
tions." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 15 

"Well, you found the way," she said, as Mar- 
gery came out on the grass. 

" Oh, yes," she answered, arranging her skirts 
and taking a seat "What's the matter, Jenny ?" 

Jenny, with her eyes on vacancy, her chin in 
her hands, and her face stony, began to whistle a 
boisterous air. 

"Hurt your feelings, Prink?" she asked sud- 
denly, eying her sternly. 

" I have always said you were a lady, anyway," 
replied Margery, looking back at her with cool 
dignity. 

" Though I was a tom-boy." 

"Yes." 

"I never thought you'd stoop to stuffing my 
own brother up against me," roared Jenny. 

" I never thought you 'd stoop to suspecting me 
of mean meanings in anything I might say about 
you," said Margery. 

"Perhaps you call it friendly to pick up all the 
things you hear against one's character, and agree 
to them, and fill one's own brother's head with 
them," said Jenny. 

"When 'one's own brother' questions and cross- 
questions you, I don't know what you're going to 

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i6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

do," said Margery, with quivering tones and blur- 
ring eyes. 

" Did he begin that talk about me, Prinky Bar- 
nard?" 

"Yes, he did." 

" Then there is a mystery back of it" 

" And when he said we 'd help each other put a 
stop to the talk — ^and perhaps to the cause of it. 
Tommy dear — I'm sure I was willing to do my 
part." 

" The world *s upside down to-day," said Jenny : 
"you and John turned backbiters and moral-reform- 
ers. There's a grand farce going on. What 
part '11 1 take ? Let me see. I wont be backbiter; 
but I declare ?I *11 be moral-reformer too ! I '11 re- 
form you. We 'Jl have a mutual reform. Halloa ! 
crying? I'll give you two minutes to do it up 
m. 

She ducked her head in the grass, for tears were 
something she never would look at deliberately, 
especially when they disfigured the face of a friend. 

"What are you whimpering about?" she said, 
her utterance impeded by the grass which went 
into her mouth as she opened it. " My sins ? If 
that 's all, do n't draw on your reservoirs for further 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 17 

supplies. I'm going to r^orm. I made up my 
mind before you came." 

"You know that isn't it," said Margery. "I 
did n't think — that you 'd begin — to suspect me — 
after so many years — Tommy." 

" Oh, I do n't," said Jenny. " I see through it 
all now. Call that matter settled. But, Prink, if 
my faults worry you, perhaps yours worry me just 
as much." 

She looked out of one eye to catch Margery 
blushing. But no blush appeared, and she conclu- 
ded her hint was not taken. 

" You 're blurry yet," she said. " I sha' n't look 
up till I know you 're through. Come, rally, Prinky, 
and let me out of this smothering griss. Besides, 
I want to talk to you when you get your senses 
back. Tell me when to look." 

" I 'm not crying," said Margery. " And, Jenny, 
I *m sure I know my faults. I do n't deny them. 
I 've let you call me Prink for years, because you 
say I 'm for ever prinking, and have n't any mind 
above ribbons and ruffles." 

" Disown the words !" shouted Jenny. " I never 
went that far." 

" Indeed you did. But never mind. I call you 
3 

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i8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Tommy, too — ^pet for tom-boy — so perhaps weVe 
even there." 

" Let 's talk it out," said Jenny, sitting upright 
" I Ve had a weight on my mind for the last two 
weeks that I 'd like to get rid of. It 's queer that 
just when you and John were planning your attack 
on me I should be trying to get up my courage to 
say something to you. Let this be our first grand 
fight and our last Let 's free our minds once and 
for all. Say everything you Ve got to say, Prinky, 
and I '11 do the same by you ; and let *s for ever 
after hold our peace. I '11 have the hardest of it, 
see if I do n't, when the time comes. You begin." 

"I've nothing more to say, dear, than John 
said." 

"No tender epithets," interposed Jenny, "or I 
shall break down. I 've got a hard duty before me, 
old girl. You 've no idea what I 'm going to say to 
you. Proceed." 

"Tommy—" 

" No pet names, please — ^plain Jane." 

" Jane, then, I have n't anything to accuse you 
of except too much tom-bo)dshness in public. I 
do n't want you ever to do anything again that will 
make people call you rough and rude." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 19 

" Finis ?" 

" Not quite. I think it would be better for your 
own sake if you should take a little more care of 
your ways and your clothes, Tommy ; because you 
know you *11 be a young lady before long, and it 
would be very queer for you to go on then the way 
you do now. I 'd like to have you tone down, just 
for your own sake. Tommy/' 

" Granted that I need it," said Jenny. " What 's 
more, I '11 do it, and you shall help me. Correct 
me as much as you please, and I '11 pay attention. 
Now shut your eyes ; it 's my turn." 

" Prinky — ^no, Margie — ^you are now sixteen. I 
have long noticed that there are snares and pitfalls 
lying in wait for sixteen. Margie, that is the age 
when girls are tempted to be soft ; and the first step 
downward is love-stories. I caught you slopping 
that novel with your tears the other day ; and be- 
sides, I know what it has led to. Margie, you want 
to be a heroine. Do n't deny it. Maybe you do n't 
realize it yourself, but I see it. You have dreamy 
moods, pensive fancies, and poetical thoughts, you 
know, and no end of sickish nonsense going on in 
your head. You think it would be beautiful to be 
engaged to a melancholy youth who rolls his eyes 

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20 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

and waxes his mustache ; and be must have a voice 
like a turtle-dove's, that melts you to tears. Mar- 
gie, that is n't the worst of it all. You are not sat- 
isfied with keeping the little fellow in your head. 
You want to see him meandering around the streets, 
and turning the whites of his eyes up at your win- 
dow. So you're trying to imagine that Willy 
Simms, a boy you 've played tag with, and studied 
the primer with, and slapped in the face for stealing 
your pop-corn, is he. O Prink — excuse me for 
laughing — ^but, O Prink, Willy Simms ! 

"There, I knew you'd cry! I'll have to turn 
my back, for I can't waste time going to grass 
again. 

" Cheer up, Prinky ; there 's hope for you. It's 
lucky I 've got my eyes open, for your mother is 
perfectly blind. She'd take you in hand if she sus- 
pected. Do you suppose she'd ever let Willy come 
hanging round, if she thought you considered him 
anything but a good little simpleton, who ought to 
be treated kindly, on the same principle that you 
wouldn't hurt a fly? She thinks you're both ba- 
bies, as much as you ever were. 

"You see, Prinky, it's lucky we're not all blind. 
I'm going to mother you through this thing, and 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 21 

let her live in ignorance. Shall I tell you how I '11 
do it ? Give you the prettiest little pair of kehoe 
clubs you ever saw — only three pounds to begin 
with — and train your muscle. It 's the surest way 
to bring up a girl's common sense. I have all the 
old Greeks to back me. Why, they did n't believe 
in such a thing as a sound mind in a weak, pale, 
sickly body. They'd have chucked you in the 
river without stopping to wink. Now I'm more 
on their style. I could take my part in the wrest- 
lingmatches and foot-races with any old Greek 
woman of them. I know I'm overdone, Prinky. 
I 've owned that, remember. I need toning down, 
and I 'm going to have it But it 's as plain as day- 
light that you need toning up. Crying yet T 

"No-0-0," answered Margie, with a suspicious 
tremulousness of tone. 

" I 've hurt your feelings, I know I have," said 
Jenny. " But it had to be done. I could n't let you 
go on this way for ever. You 'd have dwindled to 
a sentimental shadow in six months. Do you own 
up, Prink } Will you be cured .^" 

"Ye-e-es," said Margie. 

"You're a hero!" shouted Jenny. "A girl 
that hadn't the hero in her couldn't have borne 

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22 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

« 

all those charges the way you have, and plead 

guilty too. Will you begin with the clubs right 

away, Prinky?" 

•" Yes, Tommy ; but I must go now." 

They rose, and Margie put up her lips. Jenny 

bent her cheek. 

"I suppose I might as well let you go," she 

said ; " then you can weep it out alone. When you 

get more muscle you wont cry so much, Margie ; 

and I '11 be glad of that, for I do n*t believe tears 

are healthy, setting aside their other disadvantages. 

By-by. Remember, you Ve to tone me down and 

I *m to tone you up." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 23 



CHAPTER II. 

" Keep your heels in line, straighten your knees, 
turn your toes out ; stand like a soldier, throw out 
your chest, then lean forward a little, so that your 
weight will come on the balls of your feet ; keep 
your head up all the time, and your eyes straight 
forward, arms close to your sides, elbows in. This 
is the way to take hold of the clubs, Prinky. Now 
try and do what I do." 

It was the first lesson. Chairs and tables had 
been moved out of the way to make a clear arena ; 
and in it Jenny stood swinging a heavy pair of clubs 
with careless ease, while Margie, panting under the 
weight of three pounds, tried to follow her motions. 

They were interrupted by the entrance of a 
small brother with a card in his hand. Margie took 
it, and let Jenny read over her shoulder the name 
of William Simms, with his compliments for a con- 
cert on Thursday evening. Then she tossed the 
card on the bureau and the lesson proceeded. 

" For bearing twisted joints and lack of breath 

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24 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

without a groan I never saw your equal," said Jenny 
by-and-by. " But I must n't let you get too tired." 
She took possession of Margie's clubs. " Here 
they go in the corner till to-morrow. Til carry 
mine home. I want to use them in the morning.'* 

She put on her hat, shouldered the clubs, and 
walked down the stairs by Margie's side. 

" Leave them here, Tommy," said Margie, " and 
I '11 have one of the boys take them over." 

•* Oh, no need," said Jenny. " I can just as well 
carry them." 

" If I should *see a girl who was n't a friend of 
mine swinging a pair of big clubs through the 
streets, I 'm afraid I 'd think uncomplimentary 
things of her," said Margie. "I'd hate to have 
any one think such things of you." 

" The first step in the right path," said Jenny, 
dropping them behind the hall door. "Mark it, 
Prink. Note how gracefully I yield — how gladly I 
follow duty's call. I '11 make a lady yet, perhaps. 
What do you think ?" 

" It looks hopeful," said Margie. 

She put her arm through Jenny's and held her 
back a little all the way down the path, watching 
her lips for something she wanted to hear her say. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 25 

But the lips remained closed to the gate, where 
Jenny said Good-by as if there were nothing beyond 
that farewell on her mind. 

"What about the invitation, Jenny?" said 
Margie. 

*'Well, what about it?" said Jenny. 

"Shalll accept?" 

" Please yourself.** 

" Are n't you going to advise me ?" 

"I think not" 

"But I want you to." 

"Then," said Jenny, crossing her arms on the 
gate, also crossing her feet, and pushing her hat 
back as if to free her mind from a weight, " I sup- 
pose I must 

" However," she continued, " I '11 take a lesson 
first Now, Prinky, just fix me in a ladylike pos- 
ture, wont you ? I know this is n't correct How 
do you do it? Toes turned out or in? Thumbs 
pointing east or west? Elbows at an angle or 
curve ? Curves are most ladylike, are n't they ? 
And what '11 I do with my hands? They're lions 
in the way of my reforming. You can't get around 
those hands. They 're big, black, awful facts, not 
to be trifled with. There was a time I might have 

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26 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

made them what I would ; but now, alas, too late, 
is all my cry." 

"I think cold cream and gloves every night 
would do a good deal," said Margie. 

"And would you advise clothes-pins for the 
joints, or some sort of irons that you could screw 
down to the proper pressure T said Jenny. 

" They're not a bit too large for your size," said 
Margie indignantly, snatching one and patting it 
protectingly. "And see how the fingers taper! 
They're a lovely shape. All they want is softening 
and whitening, and they *11 be beautiful hands !" 

" How 's this for an attitude ?" said Jenny. 
" What 's the effect of a chin gently reclining on 
the tip of a forefinger } Do I look becoming ? 
How *s my smile — ^languishing enough } and does it 
flicker playfully around the right corner of my 
mouth.' or must I smile the other side? Come, 
fix me for a lady. I want to learn elegant atti- 
tudes." 

"Just be natural, dear," said Margie. 

" Now you throw me back to the bottom of the 
pit from which you've dragged me," said Jenny. 
"You couldn't tell me to do a more fatal thing 
than that." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. . 27 

"Come here, then. But don't stiffen out so. 
Can't you be limber? I might as well try to bend 
a wooden doll." 

« Must a lady be limber r 

"It is essential," said Margie; and Jenny's 
bones seemed to go out of her. 

Laughing much over her resistless limbs and 
imbecile expression, Margie turned and bent and 
twisted until she had made quite a pretty tableau 
with Jenny and the gate. 

" Now I wish everybody could see you. I wish 
John could see you," she cried. 

"Oh, it hurts !" said Jenny. "I feel all out of 
joint. But I '11 try and bear it till I *ve said what 
you want. It will be good practice for me, wont it ? 
So it's advice you'll have ?" 

" Yes, Jenny, I want you to tell me what to do." 

"Well," said Jenny, " if he 'd invited me — which 
he would n't — I 'd refuse ; for it goes against me to 
see boy and girl babies around together playing 
they're men and women. I think your fathers and 
mothers ought to take you to places until you get 
out of short clothes. That 's my view of it But 
then it might be as well for you to go with him this 
once and finish him up." 

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28 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

" I would rather decline than have any quarrel," 
ventured Margery. 

" Of course you would, sweetest of your sex," 
said Jenny. " I should n't allow a quarrel ; it would 
be altogether too romantic. What I mean is plain 
common sense. If you treat him just the way you 
ought always to have treated him, take my word for 
it that'll be the end of Willy." 

"Treat him how?" 

" Will you have my Code of Etiquette for Youth 
of Opposite Sexes T 

" If you please," said Margie. 

"Act as if you were both boys, or both girls — 
that's all there is of it. Talk to a boy just exactly 
as you 'd talk to a girl — ^to me, for instance. That 
wont suit Willy, Prink ? Try it and see. Perhaps 
it will be necessary for you to try it in order to get 
rid of him. I think, on the whole, you 'd better go 
Thursday evening. It will g^ve you splendid prac- 
tice to have a last interview with Willy. 

"I've stood in this position till I don't believe 
I'll ever forget it. Wont I astonish John with 
elegant attitude number one ! Can you do it on a 
chair, Prinky, or do you have to have a gate ?" 

"You silly old thing!" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 29 

" Bring up your muscle well between now and 
the concert/' said Jenny, as she walked oflf. " Swing 
the clubs every chance you can get ; and be ready 
for business Thursday evening." 

"I must give her a lesson on dress," thought 
Margie, watching her as she strode away, " Not a 
scrap of color about her anywhere. She shall 
have a scarlet feather. How fearfully her over- 
skirt hangs — every loop out. She must learn that 
strings are put on overskirts for a purpose, and that 
ladies pay attention to their strings." 

A defect in dress was a serious matter to Mar- 
gie. It hiul her as much as a defect in any other 
work of art, or in natural beauty. A robe awry 
was as painful to her eyes as a blight on a flower. 
She was a fine artist in her small way. She could 
not paint pictures, nor mould figures ; but she could 
make daily pictures of herself for the edification of 
her family and friends — ^and all without giving more 
thought and time to the subject than many a girl 
gave who looked like a fright after all her pains. 

People who were not educated to an apprecia- 
tion of her details felt the influence of her general 
effect, and wondered, John among the number, why 
their daughters or sisters could not give them as 

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30 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

much pleasure in as simple a way. Her face did 
not mar the prettiest effects she could achieve, for 
it was always amiable ; it was delicate in outlines 
and tints, and had a peaceful expression which was 
comfortable to see. 

She enjoyed an artistic and becoming suit as 
she enjoyed the lilies and roses in the garden, or 
the pictures in the parlor. But nevertheless she 
sometimes felt that this good gift of hers, this happy 
possession which gave pleasure in her home, was a 
sin ; for Jenny once in a while called her Prink in 
serious earnest, and accused her of making an idol 
of her wardrobe. 

She felt particularly guilty all day Thursday to 
be considering what she should wear that evening. 
Jenny would tell her that on a night when she 
had stern duty to do she should be stern in attire, 
foregoing all the little vanities and trifles of toilet 
that would be more pardonable on another occa- 
sion. 

But she had a lovely little new bonnet, which 
some one — ^was it Willy } — had said looked like a 
cloud just settling on her head ; and towards that 
bonnet her thoughts all day went tenderly roaming. 
What should she wear with it? What would be 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 31 

most harmonious and overpowering with it ? The 
merits of pink and blue, of gold and coral earrings, 
of gloves in the lightest shades of gray and brown, 
fairly persecuted her, and forced her to retire often 
to her room to swing her clubs and strengthen her 
mind. 

She wanted to see Jenny before the evening. 
She needed the tonic of her presence, Jenny 
could nerve her for anything. But the evening 
came and no Jenny had appeared. 

It came soft and hazy, with a mellow sky and a 
sweet, languid air. Margie almost forgot in the 
softness of the evening the harshness of Jenny's 
warning, and her own need of rescue from the per- 
ils of sentimentality. They entirely slipped from 
her memory for one comfortable moment as she 
stood in the doorway — ^as pretty a picture as door- 
way could frame — waiting. 

It was not because she was waiting for Willy 
that the situation pleased her. She was under the 
influence of all the novels she had read for a year, 
steeped in their sentiment; and she had learned 
nothing from them if not this : that to be waiting 
for somebody in one's most becoming robes, in one's 
doorway, under the softest of evening skies, and in 

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32 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

the sweetest of evening airs, is an interesting situ- 
ation. 

But, after all, it was only natural that a small 
portion of the interest belonging to the situation 
should fall upon the somebody who was coming to 
be its hero ; so it happened that when little Willy 
walked briskly up the path Margie's heart beat not 
unkindly towards him. 

No sooner had they said Good evening, how- 
ever, than she remembered that Jenny had spoken 
of him as a "melancholy man;" and being a natu- 
ral student of causes and effects in personal appear- 
ance, she began to look for the causes of his melan- 
choly aspect She was triumphant when she dis- 
covered them in an unusual height of forehead and 
length of chin. 

And he did roll his eyes ! Yes, the pupils went 
sailing from bound to bound of the whites, as he sol- 
emnly informed her that it was a pleasant evening. 

And what a neat little mustache it was, to be 
sure ! So carefully waxed and curled ! 

Even the turtle-dove tones were Willy's. But 
instead of moving Margie to the vicinity of tears, 
she nearly exploded with laughter when he spoke 
of the weather in accents grave and low. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 33 

He seemed a caricature on Jenny's caricature of ' 
him. He was something more absurd even than 
the Willy who stole her pop-corn. All the dreams 
and fancies went out of her head, all the sentiment 
out of the evening air. She wondered how she ever 
for one moment in her imagination could have let 
Willy play hero to her role of heroine. And she 
was so inclined to laugh in his face that she excused 
herself and went up stairs to put on her bonnet. 

It took a long while to put it on, especially as 
she pulled it off and put it on again frequently, 
merely for the amusement of occupying as many 
minutes as possible. When she reappeared down 
stairs there was no time for lingering in the porch, 
and arm and arm in the twilight hero and heroine 
set forth. 

" Since a heroine I was bound to be, and a hero 
I must have, this," thought Margie, " is the conse- 
quence. Where, oh where are your killing eyes 
gone, Willy, and your melting tones and fascina- 
ting melancholy ? It 's queer how, to-night, you 're 
only the little Willy Simms who used to go to Miss 
Dobbins' school." 

Regarding him as that small child, she suddenly 
remembered what had never occurred to her during 

5 

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34 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

their heroic period: how, although she was not 
very good at outdoor sports, she always used to 
catch him at a game of tag ; how she invariably 
held out longest at Hop-on-One-Foot ; and often 
snatched and took him captive when they played 
Prison. 

And she remembered — oh, saddest memory of 
all! — that Willy on being captured would some- 
times express regret by such unmanly things as 
tears. Alas ! she well remembered that she had 
many a time made one of a cruel crowd who pointed 
the forefingers of scorn at him, calling him cry-baby, 
and mockingly proposing that he should run and 
tell his mother, in allusion to an unpopular custom 
which he had. 

How was it, she wondered, that of all her ac- 
quaintances little Willy, with the rolling eyes and 
neat mustache, happened to be her hero.? And 
the humiliating answer quickly came from her own 
brain that the boys who were n't cry-babies, who 
did n't tell their mothers, nor let girls beat them at 
games, were just the boys to decline being senti- 
mental heroes on demand. She fancied John play- 
ing hero for her — ^big, rough, sensible John; and 
she laughed aloud at the absurdity of the idea. So 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 35 

loud was her laugh, so sudden, and so uncalled for 
by any remark of Willy's, that he jumped. 

" Did I frighten you ?" said she. ** I was laugh- 
ing at something I was thinking about What were 
you saying? I beg your pardon. I was thinking 
of something." 

"I said," said Willy — ^and being agitated he 
seemed to squeak. Could those be the turtle-dove 
tones ? — " I said," said he, " that it was a pleasant 
evening. Do you not find it so ?" 

"Oh, yes," said Margie, having a decided im- 
pression that they had settled that question before. 

There was something the matter, Willy did not 
know what, but things were not gliding along as 
smoothly as usual. There was a rough, common- 
place air about everything, which he could not 
understand. 

The trouble could not be with this fair, soft, 
pretty creature beside him, whose kind and gentle 
ways had been leading him to congratulate himself 
for the last fortnight that he had found a kindred 
spirit. 

The trouble certainly was not with the evening. 
That was all that could be desired as to atmosphere, 
and the sky was perfect, . 

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36 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

There was going to be a crescent moon too, by- 
and-by, when they came home ; and he had a pretty 
fancy about the crescent to get o£f. But, although 
a striking thought, well put, seemed to be needed 
at present, he would not be premature. He would 
try the effect of a persuasive, personal question. 

" May I ask," said he, in his mellowest tones, 
" why you are so silent this evening ?" 

Margie reflected a moment. She was under 
orders from Jenny to talk to him just as if he were 
one of her sex ; and she thought it probable that if 
a girl had asked the question, she would answer it 
truthfully. So she answered Willy truthfully, and in 
a clear, matter-of-fact tone, that grated on his ears, 

" I was thinking about the time you stole my 
pop-corn, and I slapped you in the face, and you 
ran and told your mother," she said. " Do you 
remember ?" 

The question was a blow. Willy staggered 
under it. Margie felt him quivering on her arm, 
and feared for a moment that he was going to cry, 
as of old. 

But he rallied, and laughed. It was not exactly 
a merry laugh ; but it served to show that he appre- 
ciated the humor of her abrupt remark. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 37 

When at last he spoke, it was to say, " Do you 
think I could forget old times in which we played 
a mutual part, Miss Margie ?" 

Before Margie could frame an appropriate an-' 
swer they reached the hall ; and after they came 
out she only wanted to get home as fast as possi- 
ble, to get rid of Willy, and forget from that night 
that there ever had been or could be such things as 
heroes and heroines in the world. 

It dawned upon Willy as they walked on that 
the trouble was with Margie, and he felt that it was 
his fate to be disappointed in those whom he fondly 
trusted. But he hoped much from that fancy of his 
about the crescent ; and he waited and waited till 
they reached the gate for an opportunity to bring it 
in naturally. 

The distance and coldness between them in- 
creased each moment. It grew harder after every 
remark for him to speak again. He would gladly 
have said good-night at the. gate and taken his de- 
parture. But really that was a pretty idea of his 
about the crescent. He could not afford to waste 
the delicate fancy. He must not lose this last 
chance to be reconciled. He must not turn coldly 
away when perhaps golden speech would save all. 

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38 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Did you ever notice, Miss Margie," he said, 
with a desperate gasp, "that the crescent moon 
seems to hold the form of a reclining girl — ^young 
lady ? She seems to be passing away ; sitting up 
on her couch with head lying back and hands 
clasped. See, can you not almost trace the out- 
lines of her pale form ?" 

It was more disgust with herself for ever hav- 
ing listened seriously to such talk as this, than dis- 
gust with the poor little fellow's simplicity, which 
made her answer sharply, 

" Is it a conundrum ? I give it up." 

"I beg your pardon," she added quickly. "I 
did n't mean to be rude." 

"We have misunderstood each other," he said 
magnificently. " Good evening." 

It was a last farewell from her first and last 
hero, she felt ; and with a sigh of relief, and a sigh 
for follies departed, she went in — ^a wiser and more 
sensible g^rl. 



y Google 



HER LITTLE WORLD. 39 



CHAPTER III. 

'' She can't bear him/' said Jenny, tossing her 
braids back, and looking up at John from the floor, 
where she sat hugging her knees. 

'' I saw her hanging on his arm, perfectly moon- 
struck, last night, going home from the concert," 
said John, looking down from the bed where he sat 
cleaning a gun. 

" I Ve seen her since then. She stopped in this 
morning on her way to school, and I know she 
dislikes him." 

'' Before I 'd have such a soft for a friend !" 

" She is n't half as soft as a shadow," said Jenny. 
" Before I 'd have a shadow for a friend ! You 
don't make me believe there's any such boy as 
Bob Hall of Bamaby, till I've seen him. He's 
always dodging and skulking out of my way like a 
shadow : in the house for weeks till he hears I 'm 
coming home, then ofif on the lightning express the 
minute he gets the news : my own brother's most 
intimate friend for four months ; only three hours 



y Google 



40 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

away by steam-cars ; always in town when I 'm out 
of it ; never by any accident in it when I 'm in .it. 
Do n't try to tell me that Bob ever lived except in 
your dreams, Johnny. He 's every inch a Dream- 
boy, and never '11 be more nor less." 

" Wait till you see his muscle once," said John. 

" Well, have n't I waited and waited and waited } 
Look here, Johnny, I'm open to conviction yet 
Bring him down within a week and I '11 believe." 

John began to whistle. 

" That 's a guilty Whistle," said Jenny. " You 
can't produce him. He is n't visible to the naked 
eye. Give me a girl who goes with Willy Simms 
instead of a shadow-friend. I've got it!" she 
shouted ; "he's deformed. He has a hump on his 
back, or a twist in his eye, or his nose is put on 
crooked. You don't want me to see him. But I '11 
be all the kinder to him on that account. Bring 
him on, Johnny. Send for him to-day, and I'll 
treat him like a prodigal son." 

'• Much obliged," said John ; " but he happens 
to be one of the best-looking fellows of my ac- 
quaintance." 

"Johnny," she asked, as a last hope, "w he 
bashful?" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 41 

•' Not a bit of it." 

"Then there's only one other explanation. He 
has personal objections to me. He has n't seen me, 
and I do n't suppose you *d prejudice him against 
me ; so it's jealousy — ^pure jealousy — ^just what I 've 
suspected." 

John laughed, but scorned to answer. 

" You 've never been quite so well suited with 
me since you got intimate with him," said Jenny. 
"Nobody's right except him. Margie's too soft, 
I 'm too hard I 'm yoiir big bear, she 's your mid- 
dle-sized bear; but he's your little bear that's 
always * just right' " 

" Hand us a clean rag," said John. 

Jenny passed it up, and as he took one end, she 
held the other firmly till he looked at her. 

" He's a naughty Dream-boy, Johnny," she said, 
" to come between you and me." 

" Idiocy !" said John. " I 'd like to see the indi- 
vidual that could come between you and me." 

"Then what's the mystery, Johnny? Who 
opened your eyes to my faults ? Who 's been ma- 
king you dissatisfied with me, if not the Dream- 
boy?" 

" Can't you believe that it's possible for me to 
6 

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42 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

take an interest in your improvement on my own 
account ?" 

" Oh, yes, after you get it through your head 
that I need improving. But how did that idea 
work its way into your brain ? That 's the question 
I *m interested in. You see you 've always main- 
tained, John, that my style was the Greek style, the 
best style, and the only style for a girl. So I 've 
gone on getting rougher and rougher, not minding 
Margie's hints and appeals, and mamma's sarcasms. 
All I cared for in the world was to suit you." 

'• Then all you care for in the world now ought 
to be to suit me." 

" So it is," said Jenny, embracing his nearest 
boot "True as I live, sure as my name*s Jane 
Stephens, I care for nothing but to please Johnny 
best Look here, and I *11 tell you a secret" 

John looked down. 

She laid her thumb on her lap with the word 
"Corsets;" her forefinger beside it with "Tan- 
eradicator;" her middle finger followed with 
" Gloves and cold cream ;" the third followed that 
with " Strict attention paid to buttons and strings ;" 
and the little finger came down last, with the tri- 
umphant shout, " A lady !" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 43 

"You're a duck," said John. 

"Who was it waked you up, Johnny?" she 
asked, pursuing her advantage as quickly as pos- 
sible. 

"I hope I'm capable of waking myself up," 
said John, with sudden sternness. 

" But that 's just what you 're not, you know," 
said Jenny sweetly. "As many years as we've 
been acquainted, Johnny, I never knew you to wake 
)-ourself up. You can't even do it mornings. Do n't 
I have to bang on your door regularly seven times 
a week, and sometimes resort to ice-water and red- 
hot pokers.^ Revolutions don't sprout in your 
brain, Johnny. It 's a jog-trot brain ; and I say it 
never, never, never came into your head without 
help that I needed reforming. Prink's mild hints 
couldn't have done it either, and of course not 
mamma. It 's the Dream-boy ; and jealousy drove 
him to it. 

"There's no use in your telling me he's above 
such a feeling as jealousy. He may be the noblest 
Dream-boy in the world; but he couldn't help 
being jealous of me if he liked you. I used to de- 
spise jealousy, you know, and think it only belonged 
to small natures ; but I 'm in a continual ferment 

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44 SER LITTLE WORLD. 

of it since the Dream-boy*s shadow darkened my 
pathway and came between you and me." 

"Don't talk that stuff any more," thundered 
John. But his voice softened as he took the top of 
Jenny's head in his hand, shook it roughly, and 
said, " I '11 have to waste a few words on you." 

He leaned over her and laid a hand on each 
shoulder, looking seriously into her upturned face. 

"We 've joked a good deal about Bob," he said ; 
" but I 'm not so thick-headed that I can't see when 
you're in dead earnest. You are jealous of him. 
You 're actually afraid I think as much of him as I 
do of you. Now I want you to understand, once 
and for all, that even if he is the first fellow I 've 
ever cared much about, and though I do think he 's 
the best fellow going, I want you to understand 
that he, or any one else, can never come between 
you and me. We've gone through too much to- 
gether, chicken." 

His clasp on her shoulders tightened, and there 
was a very pleasant look in his big, steady blue 
eyes — z, look which Jenny, familiar with all his 
looks, knew meant a great deal. 

" Do n't ever do such a silly, silly thing as to get 
jealous of me again, Jenny. You 're my sister. I 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 45 

can't say anything more than that It means more 
than anything else to me. I can't think of any- 
thing better than you can put in that word." 

The shining of Jenny's eyes was something 
radiant to see as she answered and thanked him 
without speaking. It would probably have occurred 
to a spectator at that moment that there was more 
between them than just the relation of brother and 
sister; and what it was their next words told. 

"Yes, papa Johnny," said she. 

"All serene, little mother," said he. 

Those were the names they had given each 
other in their times of childish need, when they 
played father and mother to each other, comforting 
and helping, advising and controlling with a wis- 
dom sharpened by their necessities. 

Their father died when they were three and 
four. They missed him as a playfellow, a cham- 
pion, and a lover; and they learned to comfort each 
other after they lost him, for their mother had time 
only to comfort herself. And even that she failed 
to do. So she went cruising after comfort. She 
went to the city, to the mountains, to the seashore, 
and then over the sea. 

There was a competent housekeeper at home, 

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46 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

and various nurses, governesses, and tutors came 
and went, while she tried foreign comforts for six 
years. 

She was a dear mother all those years — a sweet, 
pretty mother, who was coming home some sunny 
summer day to take them up in her lap and pet 
them, and tell them how she had loved and missed 
them day and night, day and night, for six long 
years. They had endless gentle fancies about her ; 
and sometimes, when they saw other children cud- 
dled and caressed, not to be outdone, and to keep 
up their own hearts, they boasted of what waa 
theirs in those pink and blue countries which they 
had hunted out and marked in their geographies. 

She had a rough passage over the sea when she 
came home. The winds and waves wdre against 
her, the din and heat of New York were against 
her, and the journey in the cars — hard seats, soot, 
and cinders — were against her. The throbbing of 
her head was against her, the dust in her garments, 
the jarring her nerves had had, and the untidy as- 
pect of the children, who had beguiled the time of 
watching by g)minastics on the front gate. 

They were full of their mother, so full that they 
could not speak, as they clung and clasped and 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 47 

kissed her, on her hands or skirts, wherever they 
could reach. But she was full of her headache, and 
her weariness, and the trials of her journey. She 
kissed the rough, untidy, sunburnt children with a 
mouth that did not smile, and embraced them with 
arms that did not draw them close nor hold them 
warmly. 

And she did not take them up in her lap at all, 
nor tell them anything about hours when she had 
missed them, and sent her love to them across the sea. 

Perhaps she was not strong enough to hold 
such big, stout children ; and perhaps talking tired 
her. She might be better in the morning. She 
was well enough to take a drive in the morning, to 
hold a consultation with the housekeeper, and to 
receive a visitor, but not to tell them, with her arms 
around them, what they were waiting to hear. 

Every rising sun renewed Jenny's hopes for a 
few days ; but days came and went, and still her 
mother had done nothing more than give them 
morning and evening greetings, and hear occasional 
brief reviews of their customs in her absence. 

So Jenny learned by-and-by to expect disap- 
pointments for her hopes. 

And yet sometimes, when her mother went 

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48 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

away, she was foolish enough to fancy her the 
pretty, tender mother who had been beyond the 
sea. The illusion had lived so many years in her 
imagination that it seemed as if her patient faith 
could not have been quite unfounded ; and she had 
a way, in her dreams and in her mother's long ab- 
sences, of making real to her heart the fancy that 
had comforted her lonely childhood. 

Mrs. Stephens had roamed too much, and reigned 
in too many places, to settle down to a narrow cir- 
cle of admirers in a little country town. Her nerves 
did not grow strong with years, and she began to 
search for health as she once searched for comfort, 
becoming in due time violently addicted to water- 
cures. 

So John and Jenny had drawn very near through 
her distance, and for what they missed in her had 
found all the more in each other. 

" I '11 never be jealous again,"* said Jenny, " even 
of him. But my braiii will puzzle over his beha- 
vior, in spite of me. Now doesn't it look to an 
unprejudiced person as if he wanted to avoid me ? 
You are for ever going over to Barnaby to spend a 
night or day; but he never comes here in that way. 
He never comes at all except when I 'm safely out 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 49 

of the way. It was so queer how he paid up some 
of your little visits in one long one that fortnight I 
was at Aunt Julia's." 

" I had him stay with me because I was so aw- 
fully lonesome. I do n't see any particular mys- 
tery in that" 

" But what did he go flying off for the day before 
I got back r 

" He could n't stay for ever. He might natu- 
rally think that I 'd want to devote all my time to 
you after you 'd been gone so long." 

"I don't see why you don't have him come 
down and spend Sunday with you some time, when 
I 'm so anxious to see him." 

" Do stop talking about him," said John ; " I'm 
sick of the subject. I ask as a special favor, Jen, 
that you '11 drop him and all that talk about him. 
Will you? I'm in earnest. I want you to make 
me a promise to that effect I do n't see any sense 
in your bothering your head so much about my 
motives, and imagining all sorts of mysterious rea- 
sons why I want you to improve. It is natural 
enough that a brother should want his sister to act 
like a young lady when she 's getting to be one. I 
do n't believe I 'd be thrown into such a commotion 

7 

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so HER LITTLE WORLD. 

if you asked me to change my ways. I think I 'd 
go ahead and do it." 

" So you would, Johnny. It would be just like 
you. But you have n't any ways to change," said 
Jenny, rather sadly. "You're a born gentleman, 
I sometimes think I 'm not a born lady." 

" I 'd like to hear any one else make that little 
statement about you," said John. 

" I s'pose I 'd fly into an angry passion and de- 
mand an explanation, would n't I ?" 

" If you left any eyes in his head I 'd be thank- 
ful." 

** But, Johnny, between you and me, I feel discour- 
aged this morning," said Jenny. " Prink 's been at 
me about my clothes, and she sweetly insists that I 
shall learn the mysteries of tapes. I should think 
those old logarithms you hate so could n't be harder 
for you than tapes for me. The dressmaker puts 
'em on my overskirt by the dozen, you know, out of 
pure spite ; and they all wind in and out of each 
other, and cross and criss-cross in a regular laby- 
rinth, each one seeking its mate ; for they belong 
in pairs, and if the right two don't get together 
there 's the mischief to pay." 

" Drop that expression." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. ^x 

"Accept the amendment, Johnny. You may 
beat me if you hear me say a slang word to-dny. 
Well, then, if the right two don't get together 
there's — there's — an embarrassment. Now look 
at me." 

She jumped up and stood on exhibition. A 
white pin was visible in the ruffle of her black 
underskirt, where a rip had taken place yesterday. 
The fulness of her overskirt, intended to be con- 
fined to the rear, being set free from tapes, fell in 
front. Her boot gaped where three buttons were 
missing. Her hair, which hung down in a long, 
heavy, black braid, looked rumpled and wild from 
the curly crown of her head to the end of the braid. 
There was no fault to be found with her attitude, 
for she was straight and full-chested, and her clubs 
had given her ease of motion and grace of posture ; 
but the general effect was painful, and John, view- 
ing her critically, asked in accents of despair, 

" Do you suppose anything could be done ? Do 
you think Margie could teach you ?" 

" There 's something positively pathetic in your 
tones," said Jenny. " Teach me! Why, I can learn 
alone, to please you. I can master even tapes for 
you. Your tones went right to the softest spot in 

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i;2 * HER LITTLE WORLD. 

my heart. Johnny, I *m going away this minute to 
begin my dress-reform." 

" How proud I '11 feel," said John, " when you 
get over being * sloppy.* " 

"Sloppy!" said Jenny. "That's a new word 
you've picked up. Now I'd just like to know 
where you got it." 

To her surprise John Colored deeply, and has- 
tened to correct the expression : 

" How proud I '11 feel to see you trim and in 
shape, like Margie." 

"That marvel you shall soon behold," said 
Jenny, " I '11 take this boot to Miss Goodrich the 
first thing I do, and have the buttons on." 

" Why do n't you sew *em on yourself ?" 

" Think I can't read the signs of the times ? 
Always take your boots around after a letter, 
Johnny. She '11 do anything on top of a letter." 

" Did she get one from him this morning T 

" Saw Michael bring it up with my own eyes." 

She dropped on the floor in a heap, unbuttoned 
and pulled off her boot, rose, and ran away. 

She was obliged to stand in the front hall and 
shout, " Miss Goodrich ! Miss Goodrich I" at the top 
of her voice, before she succeeded in finding her. 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 53 

Then an answer came sharply from the parlor, 
"What do you want?" 

"Who ever thought of finding you in here?" 
said Jenny. " I 'd as soon look for a friend in a 
sepulchre as in these musty, dark old rooms. 
What 'sup?" 

"Your mother's coming home to-morrow." 

"That's the letter you got this morning," said 
Jenny. " Well, I suppose it 's a good thing to have 
mamma come around once in a while, so as to g^ve 
the house a dusting." 

"If you have any complaints to make of my 
housekeeping, please present them to your mother," 
said Miss Goodrich haughtily. "There are other 
houses to keep." 

"So you've mentioned before," said Jenny. 
" But do n't be mad at me. Goody, because I want 
you to do me a favor. See there." 

"You'll have to sew them on yourself," said 
Miss Goodrich. " My hands are full to-day. Your 
mother sent a string of orders as long as the moral 
law." 

"But I can't sew on shoe-buttons. Goody. I 
do n't know how. It makes me paw the air to think 
of it. I believe I 'm going to cry. Come, Goody 

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54 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

dear; I've got a very, very particular reason. 
Wont you, please ?" 

" No, I wont — there ! I can't do everything." 

bhe slammed down a chair, and Jenny went out 
and slammed the door. 

But she came back and opened it, and closed it 
very softly. Then she went away smiling like a 
pleased baby, to think what she could do for John's 
sake. 

Her mind did not rise to the idea of sewing on 
shoe-buttons for his sake until she was up stairs; 
but on the top stair she thought of it, and she stood 
still to consider it. She had never undertaken 
it but once, and then the effect upon her temper 
had beea so serious, and her defeat so ignominious, 
that she had never meant to undertake it any more. 
But perhaps she could do even that for him ! 

She was in the habit of abiding Miss Goodrich's 
time, and as long as her mood was unpropitious 
went buttonless. But she would have to go button- 
less all day to-day ; and she had meant to appear 
before John tidy and shapely that very morning, in 
promise of the total reform that was to be. 

She walked slowly down the hall, thinking. 
She passed her own door. She passed John's door 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 55 

softly, lest he should hear and summon her, for 
her courage was rising, rising bravely to the mag- 
nitude of the undertaking. 

She walked on, and she opened the door that 
led into another passage, and she went to the end 
of that passage, and she opened Miss Goodrich's 
door. 

She crossed the room to the work-basket, slow- 
ly and gravely as became the dignity of the occasion. 
She found a paper of needles and a spool of linen 
thread and a thimble, and three round, black, 
hideous, malign-looking buttons in a little button- 
bag; and then she retraced her steps. 

She went into her own room and locked the 
door, for no one should witness her conflict, nor 
her defeat, if defeated she was to be by shoe-but- 
tons once more. She sat down at the window with 
all her foes in martial array on the sill, and she 
drew a long breath before the battle. 

After that she threaded an enormous needle, 
took the boot in her lap and proceeded to bring boot, 
thread and needle together. All went well till the 
eye met the leather. It had taken vigorous push- 
ing to get the needle through up to the eye, but 
farther than that it positively would not go. She 

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S6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

brought all the strength of her strong right arm to 
bear on it. Go through it would n't, but break it 
did at last, not, however, without slipping back and 
pricking her finger. The blood spirted out in an 
ugly, dark red, little jet. She ground her teeth 
together to keep back an unlady-like remark which 
she wished to address to it briefly and pointedly. 

After that she went to what she considered a 
safe extreme, by taking out of the paper a slender 
needle with a delicate eye and an accommodating 
look. 

Patiently — patiently for John's sake — though 
cold perspiration stood on her forehead, she tried 
once, twice, three, four, five, six, no end of times 
to bite, to squeeze, to twist the end of her linen 
thread small enough to go through the eye. 

And she succeeded at last! She folded her 
hands peacefully in her lap. She was very glad 
she had been patient. She thought she would 
always be patient after that. Patience, she reflect- 
ed, was its own reward. 

Once more needle and leather met. But trouble 
was not yet over, and this time trouble lay at the 
other end, for the fine point yielded, bent and broke 
before going in at all. Point or no point, in her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 57 

anger she pushed it on ; and it broke again in the 
middle. 

That was a turning point in Jenny's reform. 
She felt the crisis upon her. She was provoked, 
discouraged, and helpless. She got up and walked 
to the door. 

But, oh, to be conquered by three little shoe- 
buttons I The ignominy of it ! And John I She 
went back. She sat down again. She tried needle 
after needle, until in process of time she reached 
the right one. Then success seemed to smile on 
her. The victory seemed sure. 

Her thread was double and as long as her arm, 
for she meant that it should serve for all the 
buttons. 

How easily and smoothly needle and thread 
went through the leather and through the button's 
eye She drew the thread out full length, stretch- 
ing her arm to its utmost to do it ; and brought the 
needle back. But on its return half the thread fell 
in with its other half, and they entered into com- 
bination, twining and twisting and knotting together 
in many a bewildering and maddening entangle- 
ment. 

She put her head down in her lap. She could 
8 

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S8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

almost have cried. She knew now what nerves were^ 
the fidgety kind. She had learned the meaning of 
that hitherto mysterious word, "unstrung." She 
thought she would never make fun of nerves any 
more. 

But by-and-by she sat up bravely, took the same' 
needle and a short thread, and began all over again. 

In ten minutes victory was hers I 



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HER LITTLE WORLD, 59 



CHAPTER IV. 

She tossed the boot up in the air; she caught it 
in her arms as it fell, and hugged it ; then she put 
in her foot. 

Whirling around before the glass she got a 
glimpse of her rumpled hair, and snatched the 
brush and a dressing-sack and went briskly to work, 
jerking through tangles without any regard to sen- 
sation. She wondered why her hair could n't have 
^rown nice and smooth and thin, like other girls'. 
She failed to see the advantages of having your own 
hair. She thought it was much neater to take it 
off at night, as you did your clothes, and put it on 
fresh in the morning. But while she reflected she 
made her braid smooth, except here and there where 
a mischievous little curl went astray. Then she 
stirred up a drawer of ribbons till out of the chaos 
she disentangled one suitable to tie it. 

After that she sat down on the edge of the bed 
to consider her dress. She investigated her whole 
stock in the closet, and found so many spots and 

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6o HER LITTLE WORLD. 

rips and tears that she concluded her easiest course 
was to mend the one she had on. That was speedily 
done. A bottle of benzine and a sponge were 
brought from Miss Goodrich's room, and the spots 
attacked and forced to retreat. 

She dove into the ribbon-drawer again, and 
brought forth, after various upheavals, a tie for her 
neck to match the ribbon on her hair — scarlet, the 
color John liked best for her. 

Then there were only the strings. She turned 
up the overskirt. She revolved before the glass. 
She fastened a pair of strings together ; but it was 
evident from the twist which the skirt immediately 
took that they were not destined to be partners. 

" Goody will have to help me out of this," she 
said, unlocking her door. 

She found her again in the parlor. 

" Tie me up behind, please, Goody," said she. 
" That wont take you long. There 's a dear." 

" Long or not," answered Miss Goodrich, " I 'm 
too thankful to hear you ask such a thing to refuse 
you. How neat and nice you look, Miss Jenny; 
but you smell as if you 'd tumbled in a tub of ben- 
zine. Hold up this overskirt while I see if I can 
find the strings. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 6i 

** There now, you look like other folks. It does 
my eyes good to see you in shape." 

"Many thanks," said Jenny, running to the mir- 
ror. '•It didn't take you long, did it? Don't I 
look nice } Is n't it funny, Goody, that it should 
make any difference whether your overskirt sticks 
out in one place or another ? Now I should think 
a puff in front, or on the sides, would be just as 
good as a puff in the back, should n't you ?" 

"I suppose you're trying to get straightened 
out for your mother," replied Miss Goodrich. " I 
do n't know what she 'd say if she saw the state all 
those handsome dresses of yours are in." 

" She 'd say you ought to mend them. What an 
awfully big waist I 've got, have n't I, Goody ?" 

"There is a difference in waists," said Miss 
Goodrich, glancing approvingly down at her own 
scant proportions. "See if you can't keep from 
getting out of kilter till to-morrow noon. Miss Jen- 
ny. Do n't go capering round and tearing yourself 
to pieces again before your mother gets here." 

"No, I wont, Goody," she answered meekly. 
" Do corsets hurt much V* 

" Who said they hurt ?" 

" Oh, I do n't mean yours. I was thinking of 

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62 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

getting some for my own particular use. What 
size should you suppose I *d need ?" 

" Let me see. Mine are nineteens. Twenty ; 
twenty-one; twenty-two" — her ideas gfrowing as 
she gazed. 

"You needn't trouble yourself to go on to a 
hundred," said Jenny. "I'm not a hogshead, 
quite." 

She ran away for her hat, but went first to show 
herself to John. 

" Look !" said she, throwing open his door and 
standing there. 

He turned, looked, laughed, and clapped his 
hands. 

" I want lots of praise, Johnny," she said. " I Ve 
been the goodest girl I ever was. Do you see that 
boot ? I did it I It was an ordeal, I can tell you. 
I was afraid my hair 'd turn gray in an hour. Peo- 
ple's hair does sometimes, you know, with such 
experiences. Don't laugh, Johnny; praise me. 
Give me a laurel crown. I've learned how to be 
patient to-day; and I'll need patience more than 
anything else in the grand reform I 'm going to get 
up for you. You ought to help shout my victory 
over shoe-buttons." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 63 

" I believe you *re sober," said John, as she came 
and sat beside him and looked in his eyes gravely. 
"Whew! benzine!" 

"Yes, there's plenty of benzine about me," said 
Jenny. " But you can't find any grease-spots, John- 
ny Stephens. Sober ! Of course I am. I tell you 
those shoe-buttons were a turning-point in my 
career ; and nobody has such cause to be thankful 
for it as you. Do you think I look very nice, 
Johnny?" 

" You look like a fashion-plate !" declared John 
emphatically, " with the smirk left out, you know, 
and the nose turned up a little." 

"It's a pity about my nose," said Jenny. "I 
don't know why they don't get out a patent nose- 
straightener, instead of wasting all their time on 
steam-engines and sewing-machines. I'm going 
now, Johnny. Do n't praise me very much till I get 
back from the drygoods store and the druggist's. 
You '11 want all your best adjectives then." 

" Do you know that you slipped off without ma- 
king me that promise I wanted f said John. 

" What — about the Dream-boy } It was n't pre- 
meditated. Have it now, Johnny? Here's my 
hand. I promise. By-by. 

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64 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"O Johnny" — putting her head back in the 
door — " can you lend me a dollar ?" 

" You do n't mean to say that last is all gone." 

"Yes, dear. Oh, don't ask any questions, 
please." 

" No need of questions," said John. " It 's given 
some scamp another spree. Charity, as I Ve told 
you before, is all very well ; but when it comes to 
encouraging vice, that's another thing. How 
many loafers, masculine and feminine, are there 
that depend on you for their regular drinks, do you 
suppose ?" 

" Fifty cents, please, Johnny, and I wont ask 
you again." 

" You '11 find a dollar in my purse in the top 
drawer," said John. " I ought n't to give it to you, 
Jenny. It 's ruining you." 

" I would n't ask it, ducky," said Jenny, scam- 
pering across the room to get it, " but it 's towards 
the reform. It 's for tan. There 's a splendid reci- 
pe in the cook-book, and I *m going to have the 
druggist put it up for me. Sure you can spare a 
dollar !" 

She had it already safe in the depths of her 
pocket. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 65 

" If you give that to a beggar I wont give you 
another cent, that *s all," said John. " You *re not 
fit to be trusted with a penny. Ypu ought to have 
a special guardian appointed." 

He shouted the last word after her, for she was 
rapidly increasing the distance between them by 
flying leaps down the stairs. With the cook-book 
under her arm, and her face set steadily toward the 
druggist's, she hurried on, looking neither to the 
right hand nor the left for beggars. 

" Put that up for me, please," said she, laying 
the cook-book open on the counter. 

"Use it with care," said the man, when he 
brought back a bottle. " Read the directions for 
applying." 

" What can I show you, miss ?" asked the next 
salesman whom she approached, in the drygoods 
store across the street 

" Corsets," said Jenny. 

"What size?" 

She reflected that she ought to buy the size she 
wished to be, not the size she was at present. She 
thought she would like to be a little larger than 
Miss Goodrich ; so she called for "Twenty," had 
them charged, and took them home 

9 

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66 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She was very impatient to see her new com- 
plexion. She felt as if a miracle were going to be 
wrought on her ; as if she had only to apply and 
become at once soft and fair. But the cook-book 
decreed that the wash should be used " on retiring." 
So she put the bottle away, and the complexion out 
of her thoughts, till night; then devoted all her 
mind to corsets. 

They needed it all, for they gave her a great 
deal of trouble, with their perplexing strings, and 
their fastenings that would n't fasten. 

She had to draw in her breath and hold it while 
she went through the operation of getting them 
together; and they pinched her so when it was done, 
that it seemed as if her eyes were going to pop out 
of her head. She could not bend right nor left, 
forwards nor backwards. She seemed to be done 
up in irons that were screwing her down to a small- 
er size each moment 

How long she bore it by the clock she could 
not tell, for she was too much engaged with the 
torture to take any note of time. She walked the 
floor, and she groaned inwardly. Once she groaned 
audibly. But why should she be conquered by cor- 
sets any more than by buttons } 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 6j 

Margie came into her mind as a hope. It 
seemed as if she could help her. She looked at 
the clock, saw that it was almost twelve, and seized 
her hat and flew. It had been dark a!I the morn- 
ing, and was raining lightly now; but she did not 
give a thought to umbrella and rubbers. 

She had to wait at the Seminary gate several 
minutes, pacing up and down, in her whalebone 
bonds, like a caged lion. 

"You naughty girl," said Margie, when, she 
came out, taking her under her umbrella. " Your 
shoulders are wet, and your feet too, are n't they ?** 

" Oh, a little," said Jenny. " But that 's nothing 
to—" 

"It's a great deal," said Margie, "when you 
have such terrible colds. Don't you remember 
how sick you were last spring, with your mother 
away ?" 

" Yes, and what a mother your mother was to 
me. I 'm not likely to forget it," said Jenny. 

"And you can't be too careful," said Margie. 
" You must run right home and put on dry things, 
dear. It's a serious matter for you to get wet 
feet." 

" Oh, I tell you wet feet are nothing, colds are 

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68 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

nothing, nothing 's nothing to the torment I 'm in," 
said Jenny. " Margie, is my face turning black ? 
I feel as if my very soul had been driven up to the 
top of my head." 

"What is the matter?" 

" Corsets !" 

"You don't mean to tell me that you, of all 
girls in the world, are laced ?" 

" Yes, I am. Did n't you want me to reform ? 
Did n't you say my waist was tremendous T 

"Never! It's your own ridiculous idea. It's 
just right for your height Father and mother 
hope that your clubs will make mine more like it. 
I do think, for a clever girl, Tommy, you have the 
least common sense about some things. How per- 
fectly silly it was in you ! Our baby would have 
known better. Run home and pull them ofif before 
they kill you. And if I'm going to reform you, 
I *11 give my own orders after this, please.'' 

Jenny darted away through the rain, and did not 
stop till she was in her own room, and the agony 
was removed. 

She remembered Margie's warning, but it did 
not make such an impression that she changed 
either dress or shoes. Occasionally during the 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 69 

afternoon uncomfortable little chills ran up and 
down her back, and there were a few threatening 
sneezes, which, in the light of former sad experien- 
ces, she ought to have heeded. 

She went to bed earlier than usual, for she was 
very impatient to put on the new complexion. She 
found that she had left the cook-book down stairs, 
but she was too tired to go for it, and was sure that 
she remembered all it said. 

Obeying it so far as to close her eyes, she 
poured into her hands the strong lotion, advertised 
to remove " tan, freckles, and all unsightly spots," 
dashed it over her face, and rubbed it in well. The 
only part of the instructions which she had forgot- 
ten was that the wash should be lightly applied 
with a soft rag, and kept at a safe distance from the 
eyes. 

She was surprised at the smarting of her whole 
face, but particularly at the smarting of her eyes, 
for she did not think any of it could have gone in, 
although, to be sure, she had felt a few drops 
plashing up on the lids. 

According to orders she laid linen cloths over 
her forehead, cheeks, chin, and nose, and went to 
bed. In spite of the ache that the corsets had left 

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70 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

behind them, and the burning of her face, she soon 
fell asleep. 

It had not rained since noon, but the air was 
still damp and heavy; and by-and-by a breeze came 
up, and brought the dampness through the open 
window in gusts. By-and-by rain came up, and the 
breeze brought that in too ; and all night long blew 
wet and cold around her bed. 

She tried to toss oflf her discomfort, the heat of 
her face and the chilliness of her body ; and she 
soon sent the linen rags flying in many directions. 

She dreamed of fiery furnaces and ice-cold 
baths alternately till morning, but could not tell 
what was the matter until her first waking yawn. 
Then she knew there was trouble at the corners of 
her mouth, for they refused to stretch beyond a 
certain point She seemed to have on a mask, so 
sti£E had the fiery skin become. " It feels as if some 
one was at it with a carpet-stretcher," she said 
afterwards to John. 

As soon as she opened her eyes she was glad 
to close them again, even against the dull light of 
the rainy morning. 

What a morning for May ! No wonder she 
was coM. She drew the bedclothes up about her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 71 

shoulders. Then she remembered a dear book 
Margie had given her, wondering if she could have 
left it by the open window, and got up to see. 

She found it safe elsewhere ; and since she was 
up, she went to the glass to take a peep at her new 
complexion, hoping much, and yet fearing some- 
thing, from all that stiffness and burning. 

The tan was gone ; no traces of brown remained, 
but instead a delicate red dyed her face from hair 
to chin ! Her lips and cheeks were no redder than 
her nose, her nose no redder than her forehead. 
The color was laid on impartially, not even the 
whites of her eyes being slighted. 

In spite of the disadvantages of her new com- 
plexion, itshideousness and painfulness, she laughed 
long and loudly, and dressed as fast as she could to 
go and let John share the joke. 

He was more hopelessly asleep than usual on 
this rainy morning. All the weight of the heavy 
atmosphere seemed to have settled on his eyelids. 
Jenny shook him, tickled, and pinched him; let 
cold drops of water trickle from the ends of her 
fingers down his neck ; shrieked in his ears, 

" * 'T is the voice of the sluggard, 
I hear him complain ;' " 

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72 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

and was going away disgusted, whe;n he called after 
her that she might have spared herself the yelling, 
the water did it. 

She came back and sat down on the bed, and 
let him get a full view. 

" What in the name of—" 

" Do n't you like it, Johnny ? It 's my new com- 
plexion. All to please you, because you objected 
to tan." 

" Did you spend all that dollar I lent you for 
paint?" 

"Not a cent of it This is out of the cook- 
book." 

" You got it in your eyes I" screamed John. 

"Yes, dear; and they smart so I can hardly 
keep them open. But it's first brown, then red, 
then white. Those are the rounds of the ladder of 
beauty. The redness and the smarting will go away 
together pretty soon, and then I '11 be your lovely 
white sister." 

" They wont go away before noon. Mother 's 
coming at twelve. What '11 she say Y* 

" She wont notice it," said Jenny. " You see if 
she does." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 73 



CHAPTER V. 

At twelve o'clock Jenny sat by the front win- 
dow. John had gone to the d^pot. 

She was cold one minute and hot the next. Her 
bones ached without ceasing. The pain in her 
eyes obliged her to keep them closed and hidden in 
her hands most of the time. The stiff, unmanage- 
able skin on her face did not seem to be any more 
a part of her than the leather in her boots ; and she 
had cause to rejoice that she had learned a practi- 
cal lesson on patience and the discipline of nerves, 
yesterday. 

A vision of the mother who once was coming to 
her from over the sea entered her heart as she sat 
there, and she thought, what if such a mother had 
ever really come home to her. What if she were 
coming home to her now ; to love her and pet and 
nurse her, as Margie's mother once had done ; to 
bathe the fever out of her eyes, and coax it away 
from her forehead with the cool touch of her hand. 

When she heard the carriage wheels she lifted 
10 

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74 ITER LITTLE WORLD. 

her head from her hands and looked out. She felt 
the same sense of satisfaction in the stylish, grace- 
ful figure, stepping regally from the carriage and 
through the gate, that she always felt when she 
saw it for the first time in weeks or months ; and 
the same pride in the handsome face — z, face stri- 
king even at that distance, and with her eyes half 
blinded. 

She rushed out of the house and gave her mother 
a hearty embrace. 

" Gently, my dear," said her mother, in the chilly 
tones that always made Jenny's blood rise. "Be 
careful ; you are on my dress." 

• Jenny fell in the rear, by the side of an atten- 
dant called by John and her The Rubber, for the 
best of reasons. 

"He thinks," said her mother to John, continuing 
the conversation which she had interrupted by her 
untimely embrace, " that it may be the heart. There 
are reasons — oh, how do you do. Miss Goodrich — 
why he thinks there may be organic trouble ; quick- 
ened pulses under excitement, and violent beating 
when I lie awake at night ; and a sensation as if 
there were hearts all over me ; and a consciousness 
of the vital organs which never leaves me. It is 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 75 

exceedingly unpleasant to be always conscious of 
one's own heart." 

"Will you come in the library, mother?" said 
John, throwing open the door. " It was such a dark 
day we had a fire in the grate." 

"Very cheerful," said his mother, "but TU go 
directly to my room. No, I thank you, Miss Good- 
rich; Angeline is sufficient Don t forget the ba^, 
Angeline. My medicine is in it. Did you attend 
to the glasses, Miss Goodrich? Yes, of course. 
Go on, Angeline, Miss Goodrich says you will find 
glasses on the table. Five drops to three tea- 
spoonfuls of water. I am coming." 

" Wont you lunch with us, mamma ?" said Jenny. 
" It is all ready." 

"No, thanks. Angeline will come down for 
mine." V 

She went slowly up the stairs, her well-shaped 
garments following gracefully the graceful motions 
of her figure — as artistic a mother as child could 
desire. But Jenny, watching her with wistful eyes, 
and disappointment in her heart, wished she were 
crooked and deformed, hideous, foolish, anything 
that would draw them nearer. 

She went back to the library and sat down before 

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76 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

the open fire. John was there already, sitting 
before the fire. They looked at the flames, and by- 
and-by they looked at each other. 

"What is the use of taking things that way.?" 
said John. " It is so ailly to expect miracles, and 
be everlastingly disappointed." 

They looked at the flames again ; and after a 
while Jenny said : 

"You see she never noticed my face. What 
did I tell you T 

" She thought it was sunburnt probably," said 
John. 

" She wont come out of her room till dinner," 
said Jenny. " She might have stayed to lunch. The 
table looked so pretty to-day. I fixed the flowers 
myself. Meanwhile I guess I '11 go over and consult 
Margie's mother about my face. Oh, my eyes !" 

"1*11 bring the doctor," said John, jumping up. 

"No you wont!" said she, jumping after, and 
seizing him. "Not any doctors around me." 

"Well I appreciate the sentiment," sajid John. 
" We get enough of them by report to have a nat- 
ural antipathy ; but you need n't pinch through to 
the bone. I wont go. Only something must be 
done right away. May I bring Miss Goodrich ?" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 77 

" I do n*t care. I 'm perishing with cold, John- 
ny ; ■ such little creepy chills inside my bones and 
running up and down my back ; and then in a few 
minutes I 'U be roasting." 

John vanished, and appeared soon with Miss 
Goodrich, who carried a glass of hot lemonade in one 
hand and a cup of camphor and water in the other. 

"Drink this," she said, "and wash your eyes 
well with the camphor and water all day. Like as 
not you '11 be blind from your foolishness. I hope 
you've learned to let well enough alone. A good, 
healthy color like yours did n't need improving." 

"That's the first compliment you ever gave 
me. Goody," said Jenny. " It will help me bear a 
great deal." 

" I '11 miss my mark if you do n't have a great 
deal to bear before you get done with it," said Miss 
Goodrich. 

" How nice and cheerful you are," said Jenny ; 
" such a soothing individual to have around a sick 
person." 

"There are times when plain talk's more to the 
point than softness," said Miss Goodrich. 

"Goody didn't get any letter this morning," 
said Jenny. 

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78 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"You've got a cold on you that's going to 
make pretty work if you do n't look out," said Miss 
Goodrich. "I s'pose you had that window by your 
bed open when the wind changed last night and 
blew up rain, did n't you ?" 

"That's precisely what I did, Goody dear." 

"I can only hope you'll live and learn," said 
she. " I do n't know how many times I 've told you 
that if you would have all out-doors in your room 
nights, you 'd better let it in by a window that do n't 
open right on your bed. However, it 's your cold, 
not mine; but if you don't want to be down sick 
with it, you'll keep in this warm room this wet day, 
especially after taking hot drinks." 

"I'U watch her," said John. "I'll be her 
jailor.'* 

" Poor old soul !" said Jenny, as the door closed 
after Miss Goodrich. " She takes to tears as natu- 
rally as Margie does; but she's. ashamed to have 
me know it, because I do n't. How rosy she got 
around the eyes and nose, did n't she } Nothing 
overcomes her like seeing you or me sick. How 
gruff she had to be to hide it. She '11 hover around 
this room most of the afternoon ; and if I catch her 
at it, she '11 pretend she 's looking for spiders in the 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 79 

hall. Did you ever notice with what a vengeance 
Goody persecutes the spiders, Johnny ? I wonder 
if she's ever been caught in a web herself ? 

" * Will you walk into my parlor ? 
Said the spider to the fly.' 

Do you suppose she ever accepted the invitation 
and got a bite, Johnny ?" 

" I haven't given the subject enough thought to 
risk an opinion," said cautious John. 

" I must ferret out the mystery of those letters 
some day." 

")Vill you promise to stay here till I come 
back ?" said John. 

" If you 're not gone too long, Johnny." 

He came back with her lunch, and argued and 
persuaded as she ate it, until he had her promise 
that she would stay by the fire that afternoon while 
he was at school. 

•* I know it 's going against nature for you not 
to paddle around in the mud on a rainy day; but 
this once, Jenny, deny yourself for me. I '11 come 
out of school as soon as I can, and then I '11 go and 
tell Margie you 're sick," was John's parting speech. 

It was indeed against nature for Jenny to stay 
under shelter on such a day. There was a call for 

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8o HER LITTLE WORLD. 

her in a storm, which she seldom failed to obey. 
She loved to go out and take part in the turmoil 
of the elements ; blowing when the wind blew, let- 
ting it carry her along in the tide of its gusts, her 
ears so close to its murmuring voice that it seemed 
to tell its discontent to her as to a comrade ; whirl- 
ing around when it executed whirligigs on comers ; 
and not refusing to let the rain slap her face, and 
then trickle apologetically over it afterwards; like 
Margie's mother's baby, who slapped and stroked 
her, scolded and cooed to her in the same moment. 
She loved to investigate with her toes the deeps of 
little pools, and experiment on plashing her rub- 
bers to their limits without wetting her boots. 

But the library had its rainy-day attractions for 
Jenny too. One of the chief delights of her wan- 
derings was the coming home, after she was tired, 
to its shelter and society. 

With its four walls of books closing her in, and 
a chosen one down in her lap in the window-seat, 
she became for the time as much ^ part of the 
heroic past as she had been a part of the storm, 
entering into fellowship with the men whose names 
live after them, by as subtle and magic a sympathy 
as she had entered into fellowship with nature. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 8i 

She loved history, more perhaps than Margie 
loved novels; since its charms, once felt, are to 
those of fiction what real physical experiences are 
to the same in a dream. 

There she would sit, with no human presence to 
distract her from the resurrected heroes, and no 
human voice to break the silence, waxing dauntless 
with warriors, eloquent with statesmen, mighty of 
muscle with the Olympic and Isthmian victors, and 
sometimes brave for love's extremest suffering and 
sacrifice with those who endured and died for the 
greatest but gentlest Hero whom her reading taught 
her to revere. 

Forgetting, when she closed her book, that her 
little world in the nineteenth century presented 
opportunities for only very ordinary achievements, 
and was peopled with only ordinary people, of whom 
she was one of the least, she would feel within her- 
self the possibilities of all heroism, and long to go 
about the doing of doughty deeds. 

She sat by the window and watched John out 
of the gate. She was too ill to be tempted to go 
after him, even if she had not promised ; and she 
knew that no heroes could come visiting her through 
the pages of books to-day, for her eyes would not 

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82 HER LITTLE WOULD. 

let her read. Margie was in school, and she had 
not allowed John to stay at home, because she was 
particularly ambitious about his marks at present. 
So she was doomed to an afternoon with her own 
thoughts. 

The very idea of it made her get up and fly 
around the room, searching tables and shelves and 
nooks and corners for entertainment. 

But she found none, and she sat down by the 
fire. The flames hurt her eyes, and she sat down 
by the window. She laid her arms on the sill, and 
put her throbbing, burning head in them. She 
thought what a horrid companion oneself was, and 
that if an enemy wanted to inflict the worst of pun- 
ishments on her, he could n't do better than shut 
her up with her thoughts. 

Some people, she reflected, liked to be alone 
with their thoughts. How was it that they had 
calm, agreeable meditations ? She could not think 
long without stirring up all the mysteries of past 
and future, causes and consequences, for her con- 
sideration ; and many a perplexing question, many 
a speculation, and many a dread would trouble her. 

She never deliberately sat down to purposeless 
thought; and she was never driven to it in wakeful 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 83 

nights, because her healthy body knew no wakeful 
nights. 

But to-day she seemed to be at bay with the 
whims of her own mind ; and she suddenly took the 
blues — ^not a mild melancholy, nor a pensive sad- 
ness -but the genuine black blues. 

She had never had them but twice before in her 
life: once when she was a little girl, and fell ill in 
the afternoon while John was at school. She. had 
thought longingly of the pretty mother far away, and 
how she would nurse her if she were there. Then 
she had begun an intense watch for John. She had 
watched all the afternoon and all the evening, get- 
ting sicker and lonelier and more eager each mo- 
ment, until it grew so late that they said he would 
not come. Everybody agreed that he had been 
beguiled home by some boy, persuaded to stay to 
tea, and finally all night ; but which boy of his 
many friends had done it, and where to go to find 
him, nobody knew. So over her baby soul had 
swept her first experience of utter and hopeless 
desolation. 

The other time was when the pretty mother she 
had loved so long and truly died with the stranger 
mother's coming home. 

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84 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

The wind drove the rain against the window at 
intervals with dismal beatings. She was sick and 
all alone, and the liorror — ^indescribable, but only 
too generally understood — ^surged over her. She 
felt as if she had never done a respectable thing 
in her life, nor was capable of one in future. She 
could not remember any good times past, nor see 
how she could possibly have any in days to come. 

What depressed her more than anything else 
was the consciousness of a presence in the room 
over her head — that mockery of all her dear little 
childish fancies and her maturer hopes. 

It is an instinct of illness to want one's mother, 
which neither time nor distance can teach one to 
outgrow. Many a woman, orphaned long ago, has 
been waked from sick slumbers by her own crying 
for the mother who once held her up in her arms, 
and rocked and sang and petted her pains away. 
It is as natural to want to take hold of a mother's 
hand on the outskirts of the way that leads towards 
death, as to want to take hold of an almighty Hand 
at the other end of the way, when timid feet are 
bidden to step out into the dark. 

Jenny wanted her mother ; not that some one 
should come and fill her place with gentler servi- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 8$ 

ces. She wanted the mother up stairs to be trans-' 
formed into the mother of her old faith. 

It was not her way to sit still and bear as much 
as she had borne in the last five minutes. She 
started up with a spring. But where could she go } 
and what could she do } Her promise to John kept 
her caged in that room. It would be better to be 
in the kitchen than alone here, and she thought 
John could not object to her sitting by the kitchen 
fire if she wore a shawl through the halls. She did 
not stop long to consider, but put on the shawl and 
ran away from herself. 



y Google 



86 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER VI. 

She met Miss Goodrich not far from the library 
door, with a glass in her hand. 

" Where are you going ?" said she. 

*' To the kitchen, Goody," said Jenny. 

'* Take this with you, and drink it while it 's 
hot I was just coming up with it." 

"Thanks, Goody." 

She carried it on to the kitchen, where she was 
received with loud welcomes by the cook, and soon 
followed by Miss Goodrich, who brought a big arm- 
chair from up stairs. 

But Jenny declined the chair, and curled down 
on the floor in a cosey corner by the stove, and 
called for cat and kittens. 

Delia dashed the dish-water from her fingers 
and flew to obey, for Jenny was a favorite in the 
kitchen. 

"Kit, kit, kit!" she piped from the doorstep; 
and four little balls of fuzzy gray came scram- 
bling and rolling down the wood-pile, with their 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 87 

mother close behind, who needed no call but their 
going. 

" This is the cunningest, Miss Jenny," said De- 
lia, selecting a ball so nearly round that it was a 
marvel where its legs and head came from. " Did 
you ever see impudence to beat that in its eyes ?" 

"Never!" said Jenny. "And such a pert little 
nose, too. Turn here 'ou tunning tittens !" 

** She 's spoiled," said Delia. " She 's the moth- 
er's pet ;" which was evident from the concern the 
old cat manifested as she kept near. 

" Does she do nice tricks, Delia } What have 
you taught her T 

" Law ! she do n't need no teaching, Miss Jenny, 
She 's as full of bom tricks as she can hold. But 
you can't get her to play to-day. She 's sick from 
greediness. She ate so much breakfast this mom 
ing that she's been heavy and mopy ever since. 
Why, the greediness o' that cat goes ahead o' any- 
thing you 'd believe. She '11 put her paws round a 
plate and eat her way through it, and not one o* 
them cats dare hinder. Her mother 'd box the 
other ones' ears quick enough if she saw them doing 
the same. But for all her greediness you can't help 
liking her, Miss Jenny, she 's so cunning." 

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88 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" She 's almost as sweet as Mrs. Barnard's baby," 
said Jenny, kissing into her soft, warm fur, and 
cuddling her up in her neck. "But she doesn't 
like me, Delia. See how she tries to squirm out of 
my hands." 

" She wants to be hanging 'round her mother," 
said Delia. " That 's the way of 'em when they 're 
sick; and the old cat isn't satisfied till she gets her 
paws around 'em, if anything 's the matter. That 's 
nature, Miss Jenny. See what a stew the old one 's 
in now." 

A jealous pain shot straight to Jenny's heart 
from Delia's words. 

The old cat was rubbing uneasily against her 
and looking up with troubled eyes, and the little 
one did not return her caresses, nor seem at all 
contented in her hands. 

"Go, then," said Jenny, releasing her, "and 
let 's see what you '11 do." 

She ran straight to her mother, and with the 
petulant airs of the family favorite, proceeded to 
slap and push and poke her into shape for a bed. 

The old cat was perfectly passive, seeming to 
feel that she could have no higher aim in life than 
to make a comfortable bed for her kitten. The 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 89 

only time that she volunteered a motion was after 
the little one had cuddled finally in her breast, to 
fold a paw around her. 

Jenny rose. 

"Don't go, Miss Jenny," said Delia. "Take 
the rocking-chair, and let me fix your feet up on 
another. Stay and be social. I know it 's lonesome 
for you up stairs, sick as you are, and Mr. John 
away ; and a bit down in your mind besides." 

" I 'm restless, Delia," said Jenny. 

" Oh, now, let's see you brighten up like your- 
self. Miss Jenny. I 'd be afraid your time had come 
if I saw you real down-hearted. See how nice and 
cosey I '11 fix you in this comer." 

" Thank you very much ; but I do n't feel like 
sitting still," said Jenny. " I '11 try the library for 
awhUe." 

She wan*ted to get away from that little family 
group. It was less than human — animal, the com- 
monest animal instinct — she thought, for a mother 
to nestle her young. The kitchen was spoiled for 
her. Yet she did not want to go back to the library. 
She walked slowly up stairs. 

She lingered in the hall above, and when she 
reached the banisters she leaned on them, and stood 

12 

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90 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

there. She could not bear to open the library door, 
and she lifted her eyes and looked up. What a 
short way it seemed to a mother — only a flight of 
stairs ; and yet it was a wider distance than the 
ocean had put between them. 

She dreaded the library so much, that with an 
instinct of avoiding it she put her feet on the stairs. 
She was well wrapped in her thick shawl, and too 
warm to be troubled by her promise to John ; so 
she slowly went up, having her bed before her as 
an object, which she thought of with comfort to her 
aching bones. 

There was a large horsehair sofa standing in the 
upper hall, and instead of passing it she sat down 
on it. The house was very still; silence below 
stairs, perfect silence above. The hall had only one 
window, at its end, and on this dark day she sat in 
twilight. But she lingered, because she dreaded 
her own lonely room. 

She pinched herself to take in an appreciation 
of her surroundings, for there was an air of unre* 
ality about ever)rthing. The stupor in her brain 
made it seem as if she were a thousand miles away 
from the objects perceptible to her touch ; and she 
had only to close her eyes to be in doubt whether 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 91 

she were in a dream or out of it. She felt that she 
might do unaccountable things, and must watch 
herself well. 

She knew that what she ought to do was to go 
at once to the library, or else to bed, instead of loi- 
tering about the chilly halls. But her eyes were 
fixed with a fascination on her mother's closed 
door. 

She was thinking how persistently and unmis- 
takably that little kitten down stairs had made its 
needs known to its mother, and urged its claims. 
She was thinking that she had never told her moth- 
er she was sick and wanted her. She was thinking 
that mothers ought to be as kind as cats, if once 
they were made to understand. 

She drew the shawl up around her neck, put her 
head down on the back of the lounge, and closed 
her eyes. Then in her fancies, or in her dreams — 
her waking was so near sleep — ^she saw a miracle 
wrought by love on the other side of the closed 
door. The lines of the face that she had seen hith- 
erto proud and cold were soft and tender, and the 
large eyes warm and kind ; and in her fancy, or in 
her dreams, she had found the way at last to her 
mother's heart On that afternoon, through her 

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92 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

sickness, mother and daughter had learned what the 
words meant for the first time. 

She started at the voice of the Rubber : 

"You look feverish, miss." 

She had moved the door so carefully on its well- 
oiled hinges, and stepped so lightly in her soft slip* 
pers, that Jenny had not heard. 

"How*s mamma?'* she asked, more because 
she felt called on to say something than because 
she cared to propound the question. 

" Quite comfortable, miss, thank you," said the 
Rubber, in tones that were perfectly audible, but 
that it seemed a miracle one should hear, for she 
carried on all her remarks inside her mouth, and 
apparently dispensed with the accompaniment of a 
voice, yet you could not say she whispered. 

" Perhaps you would like to go in," suggested 
she. 

Having suggested it, she seemed to expect it ; 
and Jenny was in such a weak state of body and 
mind that it did not occur to her to disappoint those 
expectations. Compelled by the Rubber's superior 
mental condition, she meekly rose to obey. 

Not that she was unwilling to obey. She had 
arrived at that degree of sof t-heartedness and weak- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 93 

mindedness where she was willing to run all her 
risks over again on the smallest chance. And two 
strong encouragements had suddenly uprisen : The 
Rubber in that dark hall had noticed her fever hues ; 
her mother could not fail to notice them. Her 
mother would be alone. The Rubber so seldom 
left her that she and John were generally obliged 
to say what they had to say in her presence. 

In case of an embarrassment she would have a 
ruse ready. She would ask for a book to read. 

She walked bravely up to the door, forgetting 
how suddenly her courage always fled before her 
mother's gaze, knocked, heard "Come in/' and 
entered. 

Her mother was lying by the window, on a wide 
couch which had been manufactured with especial 
reference to her fastidious joints. It was a bright 
.couch, and a bright afghan was over her, and she 
looked like a picture, of course. She had the artist's ' 
lines about her face and form, and the artist's in- 
stincts for surroundings, that made her, however she 
sat, or stood, or lay, seem just ready for a frame. 

Those personal graces of hers were the secret 
of her powel They were half the secret of Jenny's 
forbearance an3 persistent hopes. She was quite 

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94 ^^J^ LITTLE WORLD. 

unaware of the influence that her mother's mere 
physique had over her mind. But if there had not 
been in her mother's physical loveliness an argu- 
ment to beholders of spiritual loveliness to corre- 
spond, Jenny might long ago have settled down to 
her disappointments and the sufficiency of other 
friendships. If her mother's face had been sharp 
and cross and repellant, she could better have under- 
stood and sooner have accepted and made the best 
of facts. But irresistibly to her mind that beauty 
argued sometimes a beauty of motherliness, which 
had only to be sought in the right way to be reached 
and roused. 

Her mother, and the room's picturesque fur- 
nishing and warmth of coloring, had their usual mag- 
netic influence on her senses as she opened the door. 

Mrs. Stephens held a book in her hands, which 
she moved away from her face on Jenny's entrance. 

She gave her a full look. The effect of her 
eyes was peculiar. There was a conscious power, a 
royal assumption in them sometimes, which over- 
whelmed Jenny with a sense of hopeless inferiority. 

"O Jenny I" she said, in a tone expressive of a 
little surprise, perhaps of a little annoyance; for 
she was interested in her book, and an interruption 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 95 

at the crisis of a story cannot always be graciously 
received. 

She waited a moment, while Jenny stood speech- 
less ; and then, as courtesy demanded, asked her to 
sit down. 

Jenny sanl^ on the edge of the nearest chair, 
and sat perched there, as if she meant to reel and 
roll off any moment She was apt to be awkward 
in the presence of her mother's rebuking grace. 

She did not say she had come to borrow a book, 
and yet surely that little ruse of hers was greatly 
needed, for never was situation more embarrassing. 
Her tongue was like those tongues in dreams, that 
are wordless in defiance of the will that bids them 
speak and the muscles that make them go. 

If she had hardly known before whether she 
was in a dream or out, she could hardly believe that 
she was out of one now. The stillness of the room, 
its magnetism, the strangeness of her errand — a 
daughter come to establish with a mother natural 
relations that had been ignored for years, a daugh- 
ter suing for a mother's heart — and the stupor in 
her brain, all made this place seem more unreal 
than any of the others where she had been. 

But, through her bewilderment, she appreciated 

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96 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

the necessity of escape. She was dizzy sitting on 
the edge of that chair, and she could not move. 
She felt a sudden, lonely, childish pain in her heart ; 
and the rising of something like sobs in her throat 
She would have given anything to be on the other 
side the door. 

She opened her mouth and tried to speak so 
that she might go. 

Her mother had turned her face towards the 
window, and her fingers tapped a little impatient 
tune on her book. 

Jenny looked at her through a mist. What 
was it 1 Tears } She going to cry ! She who had 
never cried a dozen times in her whole life ! 

Mrs. Stephens turned around. She had waited 
attentively to hear what the child had to say ; but 
she could not wait for ever. So she fixed her eyes 
on her again, and broke the awkward silence with : 

"Well, Jenny." 

She must speak then. She was losing self- 
control. She must say something and escape at 
once. She did not think of the book she had 
meant to ask for in such an emergency. She had 
but one thought in her head, and but one word to 
express it in. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 97 

Mrs. Stephens noticed her emotions ; and how 
flushed her face was. She was considering her 
attentively when Jenny, compelled by her steadfast 
gaze to break the silence, opened her lips and gave 
utterance, to the only word her mind suggested, the 
word that was the great perplexity of her brain and 
burden of her heart. It came out with an intensity 
that told the whole story. " Mother!" she said. 

But Mrs. Stephens did not read the whole story. 
She only saw an excited child whom some un- 
accountable emotion had driven to emphatic speech ; 
who had urgent wants to make known, and was 
awkward about telling them. 

"What is it?" she answered. 

But before she could press her inquiry Jenny 
had gone. 

She closed her book. She was disturbed. 

There was an abrupt, ungoverned manner about 
the child which would be a serious defect in her 
some day ; and not at such a distant day, either ; 
for she was getting to be a young lady now. She 
had sadly neglected her duty in not putting her 
under training in some school where special atten- 
tion was given to manners. She would consider 
the subject, and consult authorities. 
13 

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9S HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She opened, her book to take up the crisis ; but 
it was less interesting now than her own thoughts. 
She wondered what the child wanted. Undoubt- 
edly she would come back when she was calmer, 
and explain. She found herself listening for foot- 
steps outside the door. 

What could she have wanted? Possibly she 
had got involved in some small financial troubles, 
and was ashamed to overdraw her allowance. But 
she was not a mother to deny her children money. 
Their guardian had rebuked her more than once 
for her careless liberality. And she thought that 
pecuniary difficulties could hardly have moved Jenny 
so deeply. 

She looked ill. But if she wanted nursing or 
medicine, she would naturally go to Miss Goodrich, 
as she understood her constitution, had taken her 
through all her illnesses, and knew better than any 
one else what to do. Her own delicate health had 
always forbidden her giving much time and thought 
to the children's complaints. 

She was foolish to speculate. Certainly if 
Jenny wanted very much anything that she could 
give her, she would come back and ask for it. She 
ought not to run the risk of a headache by worry- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 99 

ing over the matter. The doctor had particularly 
charged her not to worry during her absence from 
his care. She really must not vex her mind with 
such trifles. If Jenny came back, that would be 
time enough to see what she could do for her. 

So once more she took up her book. But she 
heard that word mother, spoken intensely and 
appeallngly, and could not cease wondering what 
it meant. 

When Angeline came back, she told her to go 
down and ask Miss Jenny what it was she had 
wanted. 

" She says, ' Nothing,' ma'am," reported Ange- 
line on her return. 

"Where is she?" 

"Sitting by the library fire, not looking well, 
ma'am." 

" Go back and ask her if she is not well, and if 
there is an)rthing I can do for her." 

"She says, 'Nothing at all,' ma'am, very deci- 
ded," reported Angeline again. 

" Really," said Mrs. Stephens, closing her book, 
" a story is not worth reading that one has to make 
an effort to keep one's mind on. Angeline, take 
my purse from the upper. drawer and give it to 

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loo HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Miss Jenny, and tell her if there is n't enough there 
she must say so." 

" She do n't want money, ma*am. She spoke up 
sharp," reported Angelina 

"Don't criticise Miss Jenny's manners. You 
may rub my spine, Angeline," said Mrs. Stephens, 
"and see if it will quiet me. I feel nervous this 
afternoon. You know the doctor particularly cau- 
tioned me against excitement." 

" Yes, ma'am," said the Rubber, preparing to do 
duty in her special line of business by removing a 
starched cuff from her right wrist " I thought I 
left you composed, ma'am, when I went down for 
the alcohol." 

The Rubber was gifted in her profession by 
natural magnetism, and skilled by long practice, 
and was a powerful anodyne when taken in suffi- 
cient quantities. She rubbed for an hour this after- 
noon before she could rub out of her patient's mem- 
ory the sound of a word that rang an appeal. 

Mrs. Stephens, with all her conjecturing about 
Jenny's object in calling upon her, had not ap- 
proached the truth, because it was a fact well 
grounded in her mind that Jenny did not love her 
as a daughter should love her mother. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. loi 

She, too^ had felt serious lacks. She had had 
her disappointments too. She had had visions and 
dreams beyond the sea that never came true. 

She had left two pretty babies when she ran 
away from her sorrow, two delicate, daintily-robed 
little things, who were all her exacting taste re- 
quired in person and apparel. 

She had expected to see those same children 
grown up— etherealized possibly by time— on her 
return, for she had spared no pains in sending all 
requisite orders home, and securing proper nurses 
and teachers. And when that rough, tanned, and 
boisterous pair came out to claim kinship, her first 
impulse had been to resent the imposture and de- 
mand her own. 

But after the shock of the first disappointment, 
she could have loved even them, if they had loved 
hen She waited for that voluntary homage which 
she was in the habit of receiving, and which seemed 
her natural due. They waited for that demonstra- 
tive tenderness which they saw lavished on other 
children; and pride rather than forbearance was 
nourished in all their hearts, until they grew sadly 
accustomed to their unnatural relations. 



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loa HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Jenny, sitting over the library fire when the lit- 
tle gusts blowing up through the cracks drove her 
away from the window, and by the window when 
the heat grew intolerable to her eyes, watching for 
John, resolved to be quite contented with his love 
in future. No delusive mother-love should tempt 
her fancy and tamper with her reason again. She 
had played that little farce to the end. 
John had said to her in the morning : 
*' What 's the sense in blaming people for not 
acting out what isn't in them? She likes us as 
well as she can like any one but herself. Do n't be 
so high-flown, and let your imagination make a 
goose of you. You think, because she 's first class 
in looks, she must be first class straight through. 
That *s a girl all over. Reason has to be cultivated 
in girls, like a taste for olives. Never knew one 
bom with either of *em. Now, then, if you go to 
getting romantic and maudlin again, it's your own 
lookout, and serves you right if you 're made mis- 
erable." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD, 103 

The words, which she had only half endorsed 
then, seemed now to her full of practical wisdom. 
Why could n't she have heeded them and escaped 
the mortification of that interview? She con- 
demned herself severely for getting wrought up to 
a state of mind whose natural climax was that cry 
of hers to motherhood. The tears she just ignored. 
They had not fallen, and who could prove that they 
were the genuine article } The sobs she regarded 
angrily as impudent intruders, pushing their way 
where they were n't known nor wanted. The total 
she blushed to remember, and tried to forget. 

Offering her money! through that maddening 
voice of the Rubber's ! How she had wanted to 
throw something at her, when she stuck out the 
purse and mouthed her mother's words over in those 
voiceless tones, which, the marvel of it always was, 
she heard. If one last stroke had been needed to 
finish the whole business, it was that her mother 
should think she went up to her room to cry and 
sob for money ! 

She had been very weak this afternoon — ^had 
not resisted a single emotion that chose to try ex- 
periments on her. It all began with her giving 
way to her thoughts. Rambling, uncontrolled 

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104 H^R LITTLE WORLD. 

thought was at the bottom of half the mischief in 
the world, she believed. She would guard her 
thoughts well hereafter, and never forget the lesson 
of to-day. 

She certainly would not be overcome again this 
afternoon. She did not regard aching bones as she 
flew continually from fire to window and window to 
fire, always keeping watch of the clock. 

Three now. John's school did not close till half 
past, and it might take him another half hour to go 
and bring Margie. She must not expect him till 
four. She would not fear that hour. She would 
move about, and perhaps the next time she heard 
Miss Goodrich's step outside the door she would 
call her in. 

The next time she heard her step she heard her 
voice also, and heard what she said replied to by a 
voice that was gruff and deep, and not a woman's. 
Yet it was neither John's nor Michael's. The con- 
versation was carried on in earnest undertones. 
Perhaps the author of the mysterious letters had 
come around at last, and was pleading for a happy 
termination to his patience. She had not long to 
indulge her imagination on the subject, for light 
tread and heavy tread approached together the 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 105 

library door. The knob was cautiously turned, and 
Miss Goodrich's face put in, with a conciliatory 
smile on it that Jenny knew meant mischief. She 
had been doing something whose consequences she 
trembled to meet. 

" Walk in," said she, opening the door, and let- 
ting Jenny see no less a person on the threshold 
than a doctor I 

She started up. She felt quite equal to annihi- 
lating him, and no fear of results, until she looked 
•in his eye. There she saw danger. He was very 
tall — six-feet-three in his stockings — ^and there was 
a grim suggestion of vengeance to rebellious pa- 
tients about his mouth, which calmed her. 

He could be the gentlest of his kind when gen- 
tleness was needed ; but he knew his subject, and 
he walked to the window, and said in sepulchral 
tones, 

" Come here. Miss Stephens !" 

Jenny was surprised at the swiftness with which 
her feet carried her to him, and the meekness with 
which she turned her eyes to the light when he 
bade her. 

"You've got something in theml" he said. 

"Yes, sir." 

14 

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io6 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

"What?" 

"Awash." 

"Wash!" 

"Yes, sir." 

" Well, what kind — tooth-wash or hair-wash ?" 

"Something for the complexion," said Jenny, 
very faintly. 

"Ah !" said the doctor. " Are you in the habit 
of using rouge r 

"No, sir, I 'm not. I was tanned, and I wanted 
to get rid of it." 

"Bring me the bottle, and I'll see how serious 
this matter is." 

"I '11 get it," said Miss Goodrich. 

She had no farther to go than the hall, where 
she took the bottle from her pocket, it having been 
on a journey in her pocket to the doctor's office. 
There he had smelt of it, pronounced it harmless, 
been informed of all the facts of the case as she 
had them from John, and pledged to secresy. 

Jenny thought Miss Goodrich returned in a 
wonderfully short time. She hoped Jenny would n't 
notice how guilty she looked when she saw the 
doctor smelling critically, exactly as he had done 
at his office. He gave the bottle back to her. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 107 

" Pour it out," he said. 

He looked so tragic as he sat down at the table 
and drew a black case from his inner pocket, that 
Jenny was moved to approach him, and ask feebly, 

"Do — ^you think — I am going — to be — blind f 

"No," said the doctor, "You have escaped 
this time. If you do n't take more cold you wont 
lose your eyes, and no more of your face than the 
skin." 

" Is it going to come off ?" 

"I am afraid there is no help," said the doctor. 
" It is too late for our practice to keep it on." 

"Will I be white then?" 

"More of a pink, perhaps," said the doctor. 
" Take these powders once in four hours." 

He rose and loomed above her high and grim. 
He went to the door, and she thought he was gone, 
when he turned and said, for Miss Goodrich's ben-* 
efit, and in a tone that convinced her his skill had 
but just snatched her from blindness or an early 
grave, 

" It is well I was sent for in time. It is impos- 
sible to* tell what may happen yet in case of ex- 
posure." 

Jenny had no scolding for her benefactress then. 

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io8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Is the room warm enough, Goody, do you sup- 
pose ?" she asked " Had I better have anything 
more on me ?** 

Miss Goodrich rejoiced to see the success of her 
little scheme, and that she had found at last the 
doctor who was a match for Miss Jenny. She had 
tried two others, on the rare occasions in her life 
when Jenny had been ill enough for a doctor, with 
very mortifying results. 

" I think, if we keep about this heat, and you 're 
careful not to throw off anything that's on you, 
and don't sit near the windows, we'll do. Miss 
Jenny." 

" I have to go to the windows once in a while 
to look for John," said Jenny. " It 's the longest 
afternoon I ever spent without him, Goody." 

** Angeline said you 'd been up to see your ma." 

" I did n't stay but a moment. She 's not very 
well, you know." 

"Travelling tires her," remarked Miss Good- 
rich, rather snappishly. 

" Yes," said Jenny. " Going, Goody ?" 

" Just to fetch some jelly for your powder." 

Jenny opened her mouth and swallowed it like 
a good girl, when it was all prepared. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 109 

"I'll be round once in four hours, medicine 
time," said Miss Goodrich. "Is there anything 
you'd like. Miss Jenny?" 

" Nothing but to have you stay and help me 
keep the blues away." 

She had the door open, but she closed it, came 
back, and began to move nervously about the room, 
setting a chair out of the way here and there, twitch- 
ing the table-cover smooth, placing books at angles, 
and finally whisking ofiE imaginary dust with the 
corner of her apron. 

"You make me fidgety, Goody," said Jenny, 

"fussing around that way. Besides I invited you 

to visit me, and visitors do n't do your housework 

for you. I want you to sit down here by the fire, 

* in this big, comfortable chair, and talk to me." 

"Law, Miss Jenny!" said she, "I a* n't one of 
the talking kind." 

"But you can talk, you know," said Jenny. 
"Everybody that's got a tongue and a brain can 
say something. Consult the 'Physiology,' if you 
do n't believe me. Come, sit down. Invalids should 
never be crossed, you know. I may work myself 
into a fever if you keep me teasing much longer." 

"Well, if you're lonesome I spose I might as 

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no HER LITTLE WORLD. 

well be round as anybody else that a' n't Mr. John,- 
or Miss Margie/' said she, dropping into an upright 
chair, and shutting speech in her mouth with a 
snap like a spring lock. 

"John, Margie, Goody, that's the way you think 
it goes .?" asked Jenny. 

"What I said was that all the human race was 
alike to you, after them two," she answered very 
decisively; "and it's all the same whether it's me, 
or Angeline, if you want company." 

As Angeline was her pet aversion she intro- 
duced her name with a purpose. 

"How the Rubber would madden me, sitting 
where you are, squinting her little red blinkers at 
me, and mumbling and hissing," said Jenny. " Why 
I think in the mood I 'm in to-day I should throw 
the inkstand at her, regardless of clothes. I do n't 
believe she 'd budge, do you. Goody ? I wonder if 
you could make her jump. I mean to try it some 
time. She's the most aggravating piece of com- 
posure I ever saw. That voice of hers is water-cure 
style, you know. It's considered the highest ac- 
complishment for a nurse. The softer you can get 
a thing there, the better. I loathe water-cures, 
Goody." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. in 

"So do I!" said Miss Goodrich; "and every- 
thing that comes out of 'em. Except, of course," 
she added, rather frightened as she realized the 
sweeping tendency of her remark, "the lady pa- 
tients." 

"Of course!" said Jenny. "Think, Goody," 
she proceeded, "of having Angeline rub you the 
way she does mamma I Ugh I I 'd as soon have 
snakes crawl over me." 

" And I too !" said Miss Goodrich. " There is n't 
much water-cure about that doctor that came here 
to-day," she ventured. 

" He was a kind of a nice old bear," said Jenny. 

After a moment's pause, in which Jenny looked 
at the fire, she took up again, musingly, the words : 
"John, Margie, Goody. John, Margie, Goody; 
John, Goody, Margie," she said. " I wonder which 
way it goes." 

She cast a glance at Miss Goodrich, to catch 
her twisting her pleased face into scowling lines. 

" You see," said Jenny, " I 've known you a good 
while, and you Vc taken care of me more than any 
one else, and I 've got used to you. John, Margie, 
Goody; John, Goody, Margie. I declare, if I can 
tell which way it goes. John first, of course I John 

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112 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

first and for ever! But after that, whether it's 
Margie, Goody, or Goody, Margie, is more than I 
know. I do believe, Goody, that — ^John out — ^you 
stand equal chances with the world." 

Miss Goodrich looked particularly ferocious at 
that moment, but the rosy tints of eyes and nose 
betrayed her. 

She appeared more speechless than ever; and 
there was another pause. 

"Entertain me. Goody," said Jenny presently. 
"I *m doing all the talking. It's bad for my cold." 

"I'm sure, Miss Jenny, I've nothing to say. 
I 'm not free-spoken. I never was from a child," 
said Miss Goodrich, with considerable softness of 
tones. 

" I '11 tell you what you can do : tell me a story," 
said Jenny, looking at her fixedly. "I'm just in 
the mood for something nice and romantic, Goody." 

She was disappointed not to see a blush, or some 
consciousness of what she meant, in her face. 
She simply looked perplexed. 

" Oh, now. Goody," said Jenny, reaching over 
and laying her hand on hers, " tell me all about those 
letters you get. I '11 never tell. And who knows 
but I could help you ? You have n't a better friend." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 113 

Again the expression of Miss Goodrich's face 
was a surprise to her. It looked sadder, and more 
reflective than she was in the habit of seeing it. 

She hesitated, and seemed moved to speech by 
the hand that lay on hers with the touch of a 
champion. 

" I have thought sometimes, Miss Jenny," she 
said, "that I could tell you. You're so kind to 
trouble that I have thought I could tell you, for the 
sake of telling somebody." 

"Tell me. Goody," said Jenny, gently, more 
anxious to serve her now than curious for the 
romance. " I '11 help you. You see if I do n't" 

Miss Goodrich was opening her mouth when 
her opportunity fled ; for the other two who made 
up the trio of Jenny's best friends, came in. 



15 

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114 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

"Mr. Da vies let me out quarter of an hour 
sooner, on your account," said John. 

" Red as a rose is she !" shouted Margie. " O 
Tom, how funny you look ! You poor, little, naugh- 
ty girl ! I can't help saying, ' I told you so !* like 
the old woman. If you 'd only got dry yesterday, 
as I charged you to !" 

" What 's done is done ; what 's past is gone," 
said Jenny. "Let's be comfortable. Prink. I've 
had torment enough for one day. How are you, 
Johnny ? Miss me any this afternoon ?" 

"I guess you missed me a little," said John. 
" Was it very doleful, you disconsolate boiled lob- 
ster?" 

"Allusions to my complexion are decidedly out 
of place in my mesent condition. The doctor 
thinks I 've had a" rrow escape," said Jenny. 

"Doctor!" said John. 

"Don't try to look so innocent," said Jenny. 
" I see by your eye that you were in the plot. I 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 115 

can always tell when you and Goody Ve been put- 
ting your heads together. What are you laughing 
at, Prink Barnard? I wish you'd go home and 
take John with you." 

" She should n't be teased, the precious baby !*' 
said Margie, with an embrace^ 

"So she shouldn't," said John, with another, 
which, from his arm of iron, and applied directly to 
the throat, threatened strangulation. 

"Will you be kind enough to retire and send 
Miss Goodrich T said Jenny. 

" Bring that lounge up here by the fire, please, 
John," said Margie. " I 'm going to fix her on it 
before I go; and don't mention the fact that I 
brought my baggage." 

" Are you really going to stay all night, Prinky ? 
What will become of little Rose ? Let me see the 
bag before I can believe such good news." 

" Gaze and be glad," said John, swinging it high 
in the air. 

" Little Rose may cry all night if it will do you 
any good," said Margie. " I think you come before 
Rose when you're sick. She'll probably crawl in 
between Patty and Bessie for one night. Mamma 
said that I was to come as fast as I could, and stay 

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ii6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

as long as you wanted me, Tommy. This is Fri- 
day, you know. No school to-morrow." 

" So it is !*' said Jenny. " I had n't thought of 
it before. Your mother's a jewel, Prinky." 

" And how 's our pretty mamma ?" said Prinky. 
'' Is n't it lovely that she happens to be at home 
now while you 're sick } though, of course, she 's so 
miserable herself that she wont be able to take 
much care of you. But it must be lovely just to 
feel that she 's in the house. I wonder if I can go 
up and see her a moment, only long enough to say, 
'How d'ye do?'" 

" I suppose she '11 see you," said Jenny. " She 
always will." 

" Is n't it nice to be a privileged person ? I feel 
quite flatterSd by your mother's kindness to me." 

"You ought to," said Jenny. "She doesn't 
often take such a fancy to any one." 

" I feel as if it were a condescension for her to 
notice me," said Margie. " She 's so different from 
any one else in town. She's like a queen when 
she rides out. Everybody stares. She makes me 
think of all the heroines I ever read about." 

" Heroines be sunk in the Pacific 1" said Jenny, 
rather crossly. " Do n't say heroine to me, Marg." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 117 

"What an old bear it is this afternoon/' said 
Margie. " I shall run away to the pretty mamma 
while it gets pleasant" 

She vanished from the room as gracefully as 
Mrs. Stephens coidd have done it. 

" How she glides 1" said Jenny to John. " That 's 
what takes mamma." 

" Oh, she gets down and kisses her feet," said 
John ; " that 's it. ' Dear Mrs. Stephens, what 
heavenly beauty! Oh, those dusky orbs; they 
make my soul shiver! Oh, that hair of midnight 
hue, and the shine as of the bootblack's brush upon 
it ! Oh, that creamy skin ! that rosebud mouth I 
those carmine-tinted cheeks I those teeth of pearl 1' 
Bah I Did you ever hear her go on, Jen ?" 

"I should think I had," said Jenny. "She 
means it all, poor little Prink ! I know she thinks 
I 'm a stony-hearted daughter — ^bless her innocence I 
She can imagine a stony-hearted daughter ; but it's 
beyond her power to imagine anything out of the 
way in a mother, with such a mother as she has. 
There's one person that understands things per- 
fectly, and no one else ever has or will." 

"Goody," said John. 

"Of course," said Jenny, resolving to make 

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ii8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

an opportunity very soon for that confession of 
hers. 

"I think Mrs. Barnard smelleth it afar," said 
John, 

" Perhaps " said Jenny. " I 've had my suspi- 
cions of her." 

" If we piled on the soft soap she might take a 
fancy to us too," said John. " You have n't seen 
anything of her this afternoon, I s*pose.? Your 
sickness did n't bring her 'round T 

"I've been up there," said Jenny, in rather 
weak tones, looking away from John at the fire. 

She knew that she should . some time confess 
even this latest, most inexcusable folly to him, and 
she thought she should feel better to have it over. 

She was comfortably arranged on the lounge 
where Margie had left her, and John had taken a 
seat at the foot of it. He leaned forward to see 
her eyes. 

"What for.?" he said. 

"It was horribly lonesome here," said Jenny, 
" and I was so nervous." 

"Look out," said John, "you're trespassing on 
mother's territory. She's got a monopoly on 
nerves." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 119 

"And I thought perhaps she ought to know I 
was sick." 

" Did you state the case to her ?" 

" I thought she could see for herself." 

"Well, did you find any miracle had been 
wrought on her eyes ?" 

"No." 

"O Jen, again!" 

"It's the last time, Johnny," said Jenny. 

"It strikes me I've heard that remark some- 
where before," said John. 

" You may believe me or not," said Jenny, " but 
I 'm convinced at last I *ve felt the truth to-day 
so that I can't doubt any more." 

" Seeing that feeling *s believing with you," said 
John, "there's some hope. Feelings are your 
arguments, and when you get a good rousing one 
it's the summing up. Did you have a rouser to- 
day, Jen ?" 

" I canit exactly explain it, Johnny," said Jenny. 
" I was n't up stairs long, and we did n't say a dozen 
words ; but I took it all in as I 've never been able 
to before, and after this I wont want any better 
friend than you as long as I live. I perfectly un- 
derstand mother^s hopeless selfishness at last." 

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120 HER LITTLE WOR^D. 

" Now you *ve struck on a new rock," said John. 
" It *s from one extreme to another with you." 

" Do n't be hard on me, Johnny." 

" Not for the world, chicken. I 'm just medita- 
ting on the golden mean, the happy medium, etc." 

''Pointing little applications at me while you 
do it." 

" Your first eictreme was to fancy mother a deep, 
still well, with springs of tenderness, which, if you 
could only reach 'em, would spout up fountains for 
you ; was n't it ?" 

" Correct, Johnny. There 's genius there." 

" Hold up a minute. I 've got a better one yet 
You see if this does n't just hit it She was an ice- 
berg, a majestic iceberg, with a concealed heart of 
fire, (never mind natural philosophy,) and that fire 
might be made to burst out into a volcano for you." 

"Better yet," said Jenny. "That's it exactly. 
That was just my idea of mother." 

"And now," said John, "we are wiser. Now 
we have put all that childish folly away. Now we 
have the proud, beautiful iceberg minus the volca- 
no, eh?" 

" Right again," said Jenny. 

" Well," said John, " you 're not much better oft 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 121 

than you were before. You 're only at another ex- 
treme. You '11 have to drop your iceberg and all 
your other figures, and get her reduced down to a 
woman, before there's any hope for you." 

"Hope of what?" 

" Oh, I forgot," said John. " I 'm to be all-suffi- 
cient in future. You 're never to breathe vain sighs 
for the love of a beautiful but cold mother again." 

" You do n't seem particularly flattered by the 
honor." 

"I have a cold-blooded way about me of not 
taking much on trust," said John. " It 's a fault of 
mine to like proofs." 

" You 're horrid to-day," said Jenny. " Every- 
body 's horrid, even Margie." 

"Your voice sounds sobby, you goose," said 
John, changing his seat from the foot of the lounge 
to a chair at its head. " I shall come up here where 
I can pinch you if you get maudlin. Bless me if I 
do n't believe I see a tear trying to squeeze its way 
out." 

"You're very much mistaken," said Jenny. 
" My eyes are awfully weak since I got that stuflF in 
them. I wish you wouldn't be so disagreeable 
when I 'm sick." 

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122 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Well, I wont," said John. *' I '11 be real sweet 
and soft. But to resume. Of course I feel flattered 
to be the only object of your preference ; only it 
was rather hard for me to get it through my head 
that you ever could give up a thing you had under- 
taken so long as there was a way to accomplish it." 

"A way r 

"Why, of course there's a way," said John. 
" Do n't they say there 's a way to everywhere ? 
As long as you despise the way, and wont try.it, 
all right But I had a kind of an idea you would n't 
give up beaten, that's all. I argued on general 
principles, from what I 've known of you for a good 
many years." 

" Oh, if you mean soft-soap, I certainly have no 
idea of trying that," said Jenny. 

" Of course with me it 's diflFerent," said John. 
" I made up my mind long ago to take mother as 
she was, a fact of forty years' standing. I have n't 
regarded her as an iceberg, or volcano. I 've sim- 
ply regarded her as a woman filled up to the eyes 
with herself. She has n't a glaring vice, you know, 
that you can name, and challenge and go for. It 's 
just a hopeless habit As far as we can learn from 
relatives she developed a remarkable talent for 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 123 

Jooking out for number one when she was n't much 
more than a baby ; and everybody has helped her 
cultivate it ; her father and mother, and our father, 
by always giving up to her. 

"And there she was, a fact to accept and let 
alone — my way; or to dress up in fictions and fret 
about, and be everlastingly disappointed in, and 
forced to accept at last — ^your way. Now it may 
be that there was a third and better way all this, 
while. My conscience has pricked me to that effect 
sometimes. I have occasionally thought that it 
was n*t just the thing to be on such terms with 
your own mother. You see if we 'd been brought 
up together, Jen, we 'd have got used to each other ; 
but she comes home set in her ways, and finds us 
set in ours ; and we all go on getting setter and 
setter every day." 

" It 's her fault," said Jenny. " You know it is. 
She. could make everything right if she would." 

"Oh, you're considering her side yet," said 
John. 

"Go on," said Jenny. "I'm anxious to hear 
what you can say." 

"I say," said John, "that nobody ever got at 
her but in one way, and that's herself. Look 

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124 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

where Margie stands. There is nobody nearer that 
organ you politely call her heart. How did she get 
there } By petting and flattering ; by being respect- 
fully aware, when she 's with mother, of the exist- 
ence of a single individual on this terrestrial sphere : 
Mrs. Philip Stephens. 

" Now I do n't say the way is worth the pains. 
I 'm not settled in my own mind about that ; though 
I own I've considered both sides of the subject. 
All I maintain is that there is a way — ^which any 
one that was very anxious might try." 

" I 'd like to be good friends with mother, even 
yet," said Jenny. " But, John, I could n't get down 
at her feet the way Margie does. Bah !" 

" Nor I," said John. " It is n't in us. But I do 
suppose, Jen, we might improve on our present 
manners. I keep up this frigid indifference, mum 
as a dummy when I 'm with her ; and you favor her 
with genteel sarcasms and glances of high disdain." 

"Not as much as I used to, do I, Johnny? I 
vowed I'd never say anything impudent, or snap 
my eyes at her again. I did think I 'd managed to 
keep my teeth together pretty well." 

" So you have," said John. " You 've improved 
a good deal since you joined the church. But that 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 125 

was only three months ago, and mother has n't been 
home but once before since then. Yes, you've 
shut your teeth together bravely more than once ; 
but it 's all been spoken in your face, which is n't 
the same as flattery, by any means. 

*' As I said, Jen, it would be perfectly impossible 
for us to fawn and palaver ; but we might occasion- 
ally deal out a neat, little sensible compliment, so 
long as we do appreciate the fact that mother's 
a handsome woman. And then, Jen, we might 
listen! Oh, what a martyr's crown we have to 
win. 

"You needn't blame yourself there, Johnny. 
You 've been a perfect miracle of a listener, to me. 
Think how you've sat it out many a time when I 've 
been obliged to get up and leave the room." 

"I can stand it just twenty minutes by the 
clock," said John ; " without word of encouragement 
or applause leaving my mouth. Just twenty min- 
utes I can manage my face ; and then a yawn is 
sure as fate. But look at Margie. She takes it by 
the hour ; and her face all the time calls for more ; 
and she throws in little helpful suggestions and 
flattering comments. Whether she really does 
enjoy those everlasting yarns of mother's, with 

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126 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

herself as prime heroine — other characters just 
stepping in, you know, when somebody's needed to 
address a compliment to her — or whether she's 
good enough to put it all on, I can't tell." 

" Margie is not only a good flatterer and listener, 
but she's a perfect delight to mamma's eyes too," 
said Jenny. " I believe she thinks she and Marg 
are the two people in the world worth looking at. 
Margie's effect is always pretty, you know. There's 
never anything about her, in dress or manners, to 
offend mother's awfully particular taste. She gets 
the latest styles by instinct, down to hairpins and 
shoestrings; and how she manages it is beyond 
me, for she has little enough money, with all that 
big family on her father's hands ; and as for time, 
she 's always tending babies out of school. Then 
Margie never says or does awkward things, you 
know, John. That 's a great deal with mother." 

"Who know what wonders your dress-reform 
may work ?" said John. " Here 's your way : Style, 
grace, listening, flattery. There 's a certain place a 
certain person wants to get to; and how to get 
there without going in the way that leads there is 
what bothers her. Consistency, thy name is Jane." 

Her powder had by this time taken such effect 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 127 

that she was growing drowsy. She attempted a 
remark, but her mind dwelt weakly on the words, 
" Consistency, thy name is Jane." She frequently 
repeated them, vainly trying each time to take up 
the thread of the conversation from the last wOrd, 
and go on. 

John, seeing her condition, stopped talking ; and 
by-and-by stepped softly out of the room. 



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128 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER IX 

When she awoke her eyes met shadows and 
darkness; but growing accustomed to them, and 
with the help of the firelight, they soon made out a 
figure lying on the hearth-rug. When she stirred, 
the figure sat up. 

" Awake, dear ?" said Margie. 

" Yes," said Jenny. " How long have I been 
asleep ?" 

"It's nearly six. I'm expecting your mother 
down every minute; but I wouldn't have the gfas 
lighted as long as you were asleep. She was afraid 
she would n't be able to come down, Jenny. She 
was a little nervous and troubled about something 
when I went up. I think, from what she said, it 
must worry her not to be able to be with you when 
you 're sick. But she let me comb out her beauti- 
ful hair, and that soothed her wonderfully. Your 
hair is like hers, Jenny." 

" It 's the only thing I inherit from her," said 
Jenny, reflecting as she spoke on the contrast be- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 139 

tween her interview and Margie's in that room up 
stairs. 

" Yes," said Margie. " It 's queer that neither 
you nor John look more like her. You had a nice 
nap, did n't you. Tommy } Do you feel a little bet- 
ter for it r 

** I think so, thank you. You need n't keep it 
dark for me any longer. I 'm not fond of darkness, 
you know. What made you stay here, Prinky? 
You ought to have gone out somewhere till you 
found a bright, cheery place." 

"Oh, I never mind the dark," said Margie; 
*'and I wanted to be here just the minute you 
woke." 

" The dark and your own thoughts," said Jenny. 
" You do n't mind either, and either one could drive 
me crazy. I was wondering this afternoon, Prinky, 
when I was left alone and having such a forlorn 
time with myself, how it is that some people's soli- 
tary thoughts are peaceful and happy." 

" Why should n't they be .?" said Margie. " It 's 
natural, I think." 

"That only shows what a difference there is in 
natures, if it's natural for you and not for me." 

" What do you think about, Jenny T 
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I30 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Oh, for one thing, I think about the people 
that wont go to heaven, and wonder why Grod 
made them when he knew it, and I break my heart 
over them." 

"I used to, too. But, Jenny, I think it's imper- 
tinent to wonder about God's reasons for such things, 
and of course it is very foolish. You can't possibly 
understand till you get an angel's mind. I used to 
break my heart over them ; and a good way to cure 
yourself of that is to think about the troubles of 
people you can help. There are plenty of people 
right near you that it will do some good to break 
your heart over." 

" You are sensible, as usual," said Jenny. " But 
I get dismal over myself too. I detest myself when 
I think me over. Not a thing have I done in the 
last three months, after all my professions." 

" Why, Jenny, you did n't profess that you meant 
to turn the world upside down. I don't think you 
promised to do anything more than your plain duty. 
Haven't you done that.^" 

" I have n't had any duty," said Jenny. " I 've 
been waiting for one to turn up. Oh, of course," 
she continued, seeing the surprise in Margie's face, 
** I 've tried to be a little better natured, and to shut 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 131 

my teeth dowa on my tongue when it got agitated. 
But that 's all. There are n't any chances around 
here to accomplish anything. I've been waiting 
and waiting for one all this time. 

" You know the ' Star/ Margie," she added pres- 
ently. "That taught me better than to go out 
hunting for my own opportunities. I made up my 
mind after that that the best thing I could do was 
to wait at home for one to come to me." 

'• Do n't speak of her," said Margie. " It makes 
me too provoked. The girls at school call her 
* Jenny Stephens' Star* yet. They do n't say much 
before me, though." 

Jenny, in her first religious enthusiasm, had 
gone home every evening from chapel service with 
the injunction ringing in her ears to win a star for 
her immortal crown. She heard that particular 
form of speech so often, and it was so necessary for 
her to work off her zeal fn some way, that, obedient 
to instructions, she deliberately selected her star, 
Bella Potter, whom the girls accused her of choosing 
on account of a weakness of intellect which would 
make her an easy prey. But Bella had proved quite 
equal to understanding Jenny's bold attack upon 
her. She had resented it, sent Jenny away crestf all- 
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132 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

en, and expressed her opinions freely. The conse- 
quences were Jenny's retirement to private life and 
Bella's nickname. 

" Perhaps there is some great thing coming to 
you from way off, some time, Jenny," said Margie. 
" I have often thought you 'd be a good one to give 
some of the great things to. But it does n't seem as 
if God could have left you without anything to do 
while you 're waiting. It has always seemed to me 
as if your own home were the every-day work God 
had got ready for you — just as your mother used 
to fix your sewing, and your teacher plan your les- 
sons, when you were a little girl and did n't know 
enough to choose work for yourself. Your part 
was just to do what you were told, and not waste 
time looking about I 've always supposed that 
God must have ready work in every home, and that 
it was laid out plainly for the people that lived there 
to do. 

" But perhaps I've judged too much by my own. 
If I engineer the children safely through their little 
fights, and help them keep their tempers in order, 
and help mother so that she does n't get worn out, 
it takes every bit of the time I have for work. Once 
in a while I feel as if I 'd like to do great things that 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 133 

would show. But I suppose it is natural to feel as 
if the work that's planned for you, and you've got 
to do, is commonplace. Perhaps it doesn't look 
commonplace to God. 

"Your home is very different from mine, of 
course, Jenny. I ought n't to judge one by another. 
But are you sure there is n't anything to do here 
while you're waiting.^ Isn't there anything you 
can do for your mother ?" 

She was going on to say, " Or for John and the 
servants ?" when the door opened to Mrs. Stephens. 
She did not look as if she needed anything done for 
her, as she came in, self-sufficient in her very car- 
riage. 

Margie jumped from the comfortable chair by 
Jenny's head. 

" You shall have the post of honor," she said ; 
''and I think this is the nicest chair in the room, 
too." 

" Keep it yourself, dear," said Mrs. Stephens. 

"No, indeed," said Margie, leading her to it 
with her arm around her waist, and seating her. 

Jenny fancied herself playing that little part of 
Margie's. 

" And how do you do now, Jenny ?" said Mrs. 

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134 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Stephens. " Angeline," she went on, not pausing 
a moment for Jenny's answer, " told me that she 
saw a physician coming in. Miss Goodrich was 
wise to send for him. It is always wise to put one- 
self at once in a physician's care. The doctor says 
it is perfect presumption for any one outside of the 
profession to give medicine. He says that only 
those who make a special study of such a delicate 
organism as the human frame ought to be allowed 
to have anything to do with it. ' Fancy yourself,* 
he says sometimes, ' attempting to understand your 
own exquisite network of nerves. How is it possi- 
ble for one who has not the natural intuition, with 
the knowledge acquired by a lifetime of study and 
practice, ever to understand the intricate workings 
and apparent cross-purposes of such a peculiarly 
highly-wrought temperament as yours T 

" That is rather a big speech," she said, with a 
charming smile at Margie ; " but I 'm not responsi- 
ble for it I have quoted it literally, I believe. I 
certainly have heard it often enough to be able 
to." 

Jenny choked a sigh, for she knew that was 
only the prelude to what the doctor said. But Mar- 
gie's tender concern saved them from the rest. She 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 135 

seemed much affected by Mrs. Stephens* allusion to 
her network of nerves." 

" Does your head ache now ?" she asked. 

" Not more than usual, dear child," she answered, 
with a sweetness in her voice and a softness in her 
eyes that came there only for Margie. 

Margie rose, stole behind her, and laid her 
hands on her forehead. 

"What a soothing touch your dear little fingers 
have," said Mrs. Stephens, as they went roaming 
over her forehead, careful not to displace the hair 
which had been arranged, each lock with a purpose. 

"Your forehead is as soft and smooth as the 
baby's," returned Margie. 

" How different the touch of a lady's hand is 
from a nurse's." 

" You will have to hire me to nurse you." 

" I 'm afraid that would spoil the charm," said 
Mrs. Stephens. "The difference is between the hired 
touch and the gratuitous." 

" The loving !" said Margie ; " the hired touch 
and the loving ! Then if there weren't any babies 
I 'd nurse you for love." 

" Is your sweetness always to be thrown away 
on babies, dear ?" 

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136 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

'• Oh, I love them," said Margie quickly. " I 'm 
never so happy as when I 'm with the children." 

" Then I shall have to be reconciled to Ange- 
line, and an occasional favor from you." 

"Well train Jenny," said Margie. "I think I 
could teach her to like nursing." 

"It's not an acquired taste, I believe," said 
Mrs. Stephens, in a voice that changed the sub- 
ject. 

"I*m going to run away a moment," said 
Margie. 

There was a pause after she went; but Mrs. 
Stephens was too ^ell-bred often to allow awkward 
pauses, and she found enough to say on the weath- 
er till Margie returned. 

" See what I have stolen from the dinner-table," 
said Margie, when she came back, displaying a scar- 
let geranium. " And see where I *m going to put 
it, Jenny. There! Did you ever see anything 
more complete ? It is just what was needed. Look 
in the glass, Mrs. Stephens. Isn't it lovely against 
that black braid ?" 

" It should be white, dear," said Mrs. Stephens, 
in allusion to the widow's mourning she still wore. 

But she did not take it out. She obediently and 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 137 

coquettishly lifted her chin and turned her face over 
her shoulder towards the mirror. 

" It *s a lovely flower," she said. " I can't speak 
as highly of the braid. You felt the lack of a scar- 
let flower the moment you saw me, and could n't 
rest satisfied until you had it, you little artist. We 
shall hear of your doing great things some day; 
though I do n't know," she continued, with an air 
of moral reflection, " that a woman can do a greater 
thing than make herself delightful to the eyes of 
those who love her. Do your family sit and stare 
at you all the time, little one T 

" Oh, no, Mrs. Stephens," said Margie, blushing 
violently. " I 'm sure there 's nothing to stare at." 

Mrs. Stephens felt that another step would ap- 
proach indelicacy ; and besides, she had wandered 
away from herself quite long enough. So, folding 
her uplifted hands, and looking, with musing eyes 
and a smiling display of teeth, at the fire, she said, 

"That reminds me of an old nurse I used to 
have — an affectionate, absurd creature. She fan- 
cied I was quite a beauty. 'Even a beetle is a 
beauty in the eyes of its mother,' you know, dear," 
(to Margie) " and she was very like a mother to me. 

And so from morning till night it was what she 

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138 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

overheard Mr. So-and-So say about my eyes, or hair, 
or teeth ; or Mrs. So-and-So about my dress, or 
bonnet, until I used to blush to meet people's eyes. 
This little one's pink cheeks and falling lids carried 
me back to those days. You must forgive my 
remarks, dear. I know from experience how awk- 
ward such remarks are." 

"Then I ought to make endless apologies to 
you," said Margie. "But I can't help telling you 
what I think. I never thought of it 's being rude 
before." 

"My darling," said Mrs. Stephens, "if I had 
meant that, can you think I would have spoken as 
I did ? One can only feel pleased and honored by 
the genuine admiration of a child, artlessly ex- 
pressed." 

There was a little pause, and she seemed to 
recall something she had forgotten to say : 

" Of course I always believed that doting old 
creature's own brain was responsible for half the 
speeches. She thought of things she would like to 
have people say about me, and then fancied they 
said them." 

"I'm sure she never made up a word," said 
Margie promptly. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 139 

" She used to put flowers in my hair, too," said 
Mrs. Stephens. " Perhaps that was one thing that 
brought her back to me. She had quite an eye for 
efiFect." 

" You should always have flowers in your hair," 
said Margie ardently. " Could n't Angelinfr^" 

"O dear!" said Mrs. Stephens, breaking into 
a merry laugh, and throwing up her hands, "don't 
mention Angeline and flowers in the same week !" 

"But Jenny can, when you're at home, and 
when she gets well enough to think of any one 
besides herself, poor little girl !" She went over to 
her with one of her quick, quiet motions, and laid 
her hands softly and coolly on both sides of her 
face. " How her poor, dear, little cheeks bum." 

The digression to Jenny did not please Mrs. 
Stephens. It threw her suddenly out of the soft 
and talkative mood she had been in. 

"Jenny doesn't need any lessons on that," said 
Margie, as she took some of the fever out of her 
cheeks into her own hands. "No one can fix 
flowers like Jenny. They have such a wild, natural 
air, as if they were growing outdoors yet. Yes, 
she shall put flowers in the black hair every day, 
and learn how to nurse the pretty mamma." 

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140 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Then we would have a reconstruction, indeed," 
said the pretty mamma, in very mild and careful 
accents. But Jenny's fever heat rose at the words. 

The dinner-bell rang presently. Jenny would 
not go out, and she positively refused to let Margie 
stay with her. When John came in she sent him 
away too. 

" iTou'll promise not to have any dismal thoughts 
then, if I go, wont you T Margie had said. 

" I wont think at all if I can help it,". Jenny had 
answered. 

But she couldn't help it. Everything that 
everybody had said and done seemed to have had one 
tendency that day. Her mind took a review of the 
long, eventful hours since noon; and then it set 
itself at a deliberate task. It went picking up here 
and there the day's definite points, and grouping 
them — or rather they grouped themselves — ^around 
a central figure: the one word that was still her 
mind's perplexity and heart's burden, although she 
thought three hoiirs ago that she had banished it 
for ever from both mind and heart. Mother, moth- 
er, mother, was the word that rang in her head, the 
theme of all her thinking, as she lay there alone. 

"Isn't there anything you can do for your moth- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 141 

er ?*' She heard Margie's question often, and for 
its answer : '^ It has always seemed to me as if your 
own home were the every-day work God had got 
ready for you." 

Had, then, her work been planned for her — ^as 
a teacher plans a lesson, or a mother a piece of 
sewing, for a child not wise enough to choose what 
it shall do — ^all these three months, in her little 
world within four walls? Had there been some- 
thing that God wanted her to do for her mother, all 
this while that she had wanted her mother to do 
something for her? Had there been something to 
do for Miss Goodrich? and for dear old John? 

He had not caught the enthusiasm of that time 
when so many of their friends, moved by the pre- 
sentation of the Redeemer's cross, pledged Him 
love and service for the future. He was not moved 
as easily as Jenny. She had tried, feeling the gra- 
cious Presence in her heart, and praying for its con- 
tinual abiding, to be gentler in her words and ways ; 
and those who knew her best had seen that she did 
not altogether fail. But she had not done what she 
meant to do to win John over to the service — to 
show him what a worthy and honorable service it 
was ; for she had been waiting, waiting all this time 

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142 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

for a great opportunity to come to her from the 
wide world, which should prove her valor and bring 
her renown. 

And had she wasted three whole months, scorn- 
ing God's little opportunities ? Or — and it was a 
pleasant idea that came to her then — were God's 
definitions of words so different from hers that she 
had not known the magnitude of her opportunities ? 
Did he sometimes see greatness where she saw lit- 
tleness, and littleness where she saw greatness ? 

She thought how highly he must esteem the fann 
i]y names when he made use of them to interpret hid 
own nature to human understanding, calling him- 
self " Elder Brother," and promising to pity like a 
father and comfort like a mother. 

She thought that God, when he set " the solitary 
in families," must have done it because he wanted 
them to have good times together — to comfort and 
help, and make each other happy; and that perhaps 
a single discord in a home was a wound to his own 
nature, for whose healing he asked of his disciples 
perfect patience in labor, and pride's crucifixion. 

She thought that there must be in every happy 
home a likeness to his heavenly home that pleased 
him — a very germ of heaven's blessedness ; for it 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 143 

was a "family" up there, and he its Father, for 
whom the whole " was named." Did each harmo- 
nious home, she wondered, help on the reign of the 
universal peace that was to change earth to heaven 
some day ? and was she commissioned to advance 
that reign by establishing peace under a single roof ? 
and did she call it a little thing to do ? 

She had felt sometimes the subtle influence 
going out like a benediction in the air from happy 
homes. She thought that perhaps God only could 
know the far-reaching force and practical benefits of 
such an influence. 

She did not forget Margie and her work, in her 
reflections. There were six little fiery boys and 
girls whom she was always cooling off, coaxing, and 
smoothing down ; teaching them over and over, with 
marvellous patience — every day the same lessons— 
to love and forgive, to be more ready to blame 
themselves than each other; and taking pledges 
from them that when little tempests of rage upset 
their reasons, they would just shut their teeth to- 
gether and count till the storm passed away. She 
could see now that it was not a small thing Margie 
was doing. It was not a small thing to send out 
into the world some day the influence of six self- 
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144 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

controlled, peace-loving citizens, where six antago- 
nists of Christ* s gentle kingdom might have gone 
forth instead. 

And would it not be a great thing if she could 
make a unity of their little family trio which God 
would like to look at, and whose influence would 
have a silent blessing on the world ? 

But by-and-by Jenny's reflections took a very 
practical form. Her thoughts ceased to go roam- 
ing, and she found herself saying over the fifth 
commandment. She observed that it was an un- 
conditional commandment ; that it made no excep- 
tions in favor of children whose parents it was hard 
to honor. 

But the way ! What a little way to God's great 
ends ! Putting flowers in her mother's hair, listen- 
ing graciously to her egotistic prattle, and praising 
her beauty ! She did not like the way. 

And yet she considered it gravely, and she 
talked about it with her Heavenly Father until he 
made it very clear to her mind that, small as it 
looked, it was his way. 

She considered it in her mother's presence after 
dinner, feeling all its hard reality then. 

And when, down by her bed, she had her even- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 145 

ing talk with God, she promised to begin right away 
the work which at last she saw he had ready for 
her to do. 

Margie had jumped into bed, snuggled up to the 
wall, and begun the business of falling asleep, while 
Jenny was still at her prayers. 

"Don't go off to sleep," said 'Jenny. "My 
head's as wide awake as morning.*' 

She shook and pounded her, and then lay and 
thought a while ; not unpleasantly now, for her mind 
was quite comfortable since she came to that un- 
derstanding with God and promised to do his will. 
Still she liked human society, and she shook Mar- 
gie again. 

" Margie, Margie 1" 

" Hush — Rosie," she finally answered. 

"My name's Jane Stephens, at your service. 
Do wake up, you lazy thing. How do you get your- 
self to sleep when you have headaches, Margie ?" 

" Say — ^your prayers," answered Margie, attempt- 
ing to rise, but tumbling back heavily on the pillow. 
" Say your prayers — over and over. It 's like — a 
charm ;" and that was the end of her. 

Jenny thought she might as well try her reme- 
dy ; so she repeated the prayer she had said every 

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146 HER LITtLM WORLD. 

night of her life, " Now I lay me down to sleep," 
etc. ; and when she came to the beginning of her 
own little appendix, " God bless my dear mother," 
she stopped. She said the prayer many times over 
before the monotony of its constant repetition and 
her powder together quieted her brain; but she 
never got any farther in the appendix than that 
first line, and went to sleep at last murmuring, 
" God bless my dear mother." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 147 



CHAPTER X. 

The days went by; Jenny's face got its new 
pink skin, which gradually became a very nice 
shade for a complexion ; her eyes grew strong again, 
and her cold disappeared, leaving no traces behind 
it but slight pains in her side and chest, and a little 
cough. 

Mrs. Stephens never came down to breakfast, 
and Jenny seldom saw her except at lunch and din- 
ner. Sometimes she was driving, for she minis- 
tered to the villagers' artistic tastes by at least a 
daily exhibition of herself in the open carriage; 
sometimes she was receiving and paying visits; 
and sometimes she was alone in her room, where of 
course Jenny never thought of intruding. 

Jenny watched and waited patiently for an op- 
portunity that should prove she had not mistaken 
God's appointed work for her ; and though one did 
not come for many days, she did not give up her 
faith, for the more she talked with God and with 
herself about it, the more she felt convinced that 
she had learned his will. 



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148 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She wanted opportunities while her zeal was 
fresh and impetuous ; and yet she had discovered, 
through her earliest Christian experiences, that a 
quiet, settled purpose is worth more than excessive 
ardor, which often dies suddenly of its own excess. 

She nourished her purpose continually by prayer, 
and by exhorting herself to be of good cheer, and 
each morning awoke to hope and watch again, until 
Miss Goodrich came to her with news. Letters had 
been received from the doctor, she said, expressing 
concern at Mrs. Stephens' protracted absence from 
his supervision, and urging a speedy return. So 
the trunks were soon to be packed and the mistress 
was soon to depart. 

" Going, not to come back perhaps for months I" 
said Jenny, with more sincere regret in her face 
than Miss Goodrich was quite able to understand.*' 

Going, she thought, and taking her opportuni- 
ties away. Going, to carry off the work God had 
given her to do. Going, and taking away her inspi- 
ration, her fervor, her courage, the poor little pur- 
pose that she had been cherishing so hopefully and 
patiently. 

Could she keep it alive for months to come.^ 
Was there any way of keeping it warm and strong ? 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 149 

Could she nourish it day after day, for many days, 
on prayer ? 

It tired her to think of it It would grow so 
naturally and easily by a little practice. It would 
be so hard to make it thrive on vague promises of 
something to do by-and-by. 

But she determined, after deliberate counsel 
with herself and God, not to let it die ; to make it 
live, if ever so feebly, until her mother should come 
home again. Meanwhile she thought God could 
not leave her without any work, and she would look 
about to find something to do for John, Miss Good- 
rich, or the servants. 

She had hoped to be able to help Miss Good- 
rich with that mysterious business of hers, but had 
never succeeded since in getting her wrought up to 
the state of mind where she was willing to be con- 
fidential. 

Letters from Bob Hall of Barnaby had come 
of tener than usual of late ; and when Jenny inquired 
why, John only answered, " Business." 

" Planning a visit for the next time I *m out of 
town, I suppose," said Jenny. " Or perhaps plan- 
ning to get me out of town. Who knows but it *s 
gone as far as that ? I believe you two have de- 
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ISO HER LITTLE WORLD. 

signs for making away with me. That wretch of a 
Dream-boy wants to get my share of the property 1 
I've hit it at last! O Johnny, forgive me. I did 
forget my promise. He 's the sweetest Dream-boy 
that ever lived," 

The day after Jenny heard that her mother was 
going back to the water-cure, she was summoned 
to her room. 

She was surprised when she went in to see Miss 
Goodrich sitting vis-a-vis with her mother, each 
erect and grave in a chair, evidently in consultation 
about her. 

" Sit down, Jenny," said Mrs. Stephens. 

There was a frigidity in her tones that did not 
make Jenny's heart beat with happy anticipations. 

** Mrs. Barnard has made me a visit this morn- 
ing," she said, " and told me that you have a cough 
and constant pain in your side and chest Is it 
so?" 

" Yes, mamma," said Jenny, tempted at first to 
equivocate, but seeing in Miss Goodrich's eye stern 
truth that she feared would betray her. 

" Then instead of complaining to outsiders, why 
did n't you tell me, and let me consult a physician ?" 
said Mrs. Stephens. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 151 

"I haven't complained to outsiders/' Jenny 
burst forthy hardly allowing her mother time to 
finish her remark " If they 've had eyes — '' And 
there she stopped, aware that her first opportunity 
had come. 

Oh, what a flurry her thoughts were in ! How 
many sarcasms her quivering tongue had ready to 
dash off! and how far beyond her apprehension 
was the kingdom coming of " peace on earth, good- 
will toward men !" But she knew enough to stop 
herself, and she shut her teeth together and began 
to count, after the manner of those fiery little Bar- 
nards when their reasons were clouded for a sea- 
son. 

" If they have had eyes to see what your own 
mother had not the heart to see. Finish it, Jenny," 
said Mrs. Stephens. " Say all that you have to say 
about your mother; don't spare me ; and then go 
away by yourself and think if you have been alto- 
gether a dutiful and loving daughter. Go and learn 
something from your friend Margie." 

Jenny went on counting furiously, "Fifty — 
sixty — seventy — eighty," on to a hundred. 

" Mrs. Barnard suggested that you had inherited 
your poor father's fatal tendency," said Mrs. Ste- 

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1S2 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

phens. " I cannot agree with her that your lungs 
are not quite strong. But one cannot be premature 
in consulting a physician ; and if the doctor says 
that we have already waited too long, I shall feel 
that you have been at fault in not acquainting roe 
with your condition. 

" I have been thinking of going away at once," 
she continued. "The doctor urges me to return 
immediately. But I shall not consider myself now. 
I have told Miss Goodrich to have a dressmaker 
sent to me this morning, and I shall order what 
you need to be made in the shortest possible time, 
and when you are ready we will go." 

" Where ?" gasped Jenny. 

" To the doctor, of course. I should not think 
of putting you under any one else's care." 

" Not to the water-cure, mamma !" 

"Certainly. Your distress is flattering. Does 
it seem such a hard thing to spend a short time 
with me T 

"There's a doctor here," said Jenny recklessly, 
too appalled by the awful prospect of being a water- 
cure patient to consider anything but her own peril. 
" I have had him. I think — I think he understands 
me better than any one else could, mamma." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. »S3 

"You had him twice," said her mother; "and 
shut yourself up, refusing him and his me<Jicine, 
when he came the third time, I understand After 
that you would hardly presume to call him again, I 
should think." 

"I'm sure he'd be glad to come, ma'am, if I 
made all smooth," said Miss Goodrich. " He under- 
stands Miss Jenny; and was more amused than 
vexed, I do think." 

"Besides," said Mrs. Stephens, "I have no faith 
in that practice. It's the old, barbarous, wholesale 
practice of a century ago. It is impossible for such 
a man as Doctor Alexander to have those intuitions 
of disease which make the doctor's cures seem 
almost miracles. 

" You will go at once,, please. Miss Goodrich, 
and send the dressmaker to me. I have nothing 
more to say to you, Jenny." 

"Mammal" 

"We will have no further discussions," said 
Mrs. Stephens. "I am not well enough to bear 
anything more this morning." 

Jenny went out the door with a miserable, 
vanquished feeling in her heart. She had had an 
opportunity to please her mother, and she had 

20 

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IS4 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

ofiFended her. Oh, if she only could have kept her 
face conciliatory and filial from the first, and not 
said one word — one single word— ^to offend! If 
she could only quietly and meekly have explained 
away her mother's misapprehensions, and expressed 
no surprise, nor displeasure, when she heard that 
a water-cure was her doom ! 

But she consoled herself by thinking that per- 
haps all those achievements were too much to hope 
for in the very outset ; and that perhaps there was 
something she still might do— might do calmly and 
intelligently, now that her brain was cool. Perhaps 
her opportunity had not quite gone and left her 
without a victory. Perhaps on the other side of 
the closed door whose knob she held in her hand, 
there was something still that she could do. Her 
hope rose high ; then her heart sank low. Face to 
face with her pride she felt what a monster it was 
to attack. For one weak moment pride's crucifixion 
seemed to her an impossible mortal achievement. 

"Oh, help me to do it !" she whispered, with her 
eyes closed. 

Then she opened the door. 

" Mamma," she said, "I beg your pardon for the 
way I spoke. I'm sorry you think I've been talk- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 155 

ing to people. I haven't I didn't know Mrs. 
Barnard thought there was anything the matter 
with me. I'm sure it isn't strange you didn't 
notice, for there wasn't much to notice. I've 
nardly any cough or pain.'* 

The last words were unfortunate. 

" It is too late to beg off, or discuss the state of 
your health/' said her mother. ''I have quite 
decided that the doctor shall see you, and will write 
him at once that you are coming." 

"I didn't want to beg off," said Jenny, with 
trembling tones, for she felt quite discouraged. "I 
never thought of such a thing." 

"Very well," said her mother pleasantly; but 
Jenny felt that her manner dismissed her. 

She did not seem to have accomplished any- 
thing. But perhaps, she thought, it would prepare 
the way for better things ; and perhaps God would 
look at the efiEort, too, as well as the consequences. 

She went away sadly, and she found Miss Good- 
rich waiting for her at the foot of the stairs, looking 
up ; her eyes brimming over, even to two drops, with 
compassion. " O Miss Jenny !" she said. 

Her horror-stricken countenance turned Jenny's 
melancholy to mirth. 

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iS6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"It isn't a funeral yet, Goody/' she shouted. 
"A water-cure may be the next thing to it, but you 
can't say it is one. Perhaps, though, Goody, you 've 
got one on your mind, and that's the trouble. 
Have you already spied the hectic bloom on my 
pallid cheek ? and do you detect an ominous hack 
in my daily bark ?" 

"How can you go on so, Miss Jenny.?" said 
Miss Goodrich. "Levity don't become such sub- 
jects. But I could have laughed myself when Mrs. 
Stephens got talking about lungs! It all came 
from me; and no one knows better than I, who've 
nursed you all your life, what a good, solid chest 
you've got Though that isn't to say that it's 
safe to let any kind of a cold run on. But one day 
I got worked up from your acting so hateful about 
Doctor Alexander, and I went on to Miss Margie, 
and don't know what I didn't say. I saw she 
looked scared; and there's no telling what she 
said to her mother." 

"And you, then — ^you my professed, trusted, 
friend, you champion water-cure hater, you the dead- 
liest mortal foe to Rubbers, you have done it! 
Through you I am to enter a water-cure in the de- 
basing character oE patient." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 157 

•* That's the worst of it!" said Miss Goodrich. 
" If you 'd heard me plead and argue and beg of 
your mother for half an hour before you came in, 
Miss Jenny! I never saw her so set Her pride 
was cut up by Mrs. Barnard's speaking to her. I 
did my best, Miss Jenny. Can't you get out of it 
yourself T 

"Why yes, of course I can," said Jenny. " The 
evil one is tempting me to a way this very minute. 
You know, Goody," and there was a dangerous 
flashing in her eyes, " if I should say I would n't 
go, the whole world could n't make me." 

" In that case," said Miss Goodrich, hope radia- 
ting from her face, "your mother might send for 
Mr. Peters to come down on the first train." 

" So she might," said Jenny. " And he might 
happen to have a pressing engagement that would 
prevent his accepting, and write me a persuasive 
letter instead. 'Poor little man! I believe I'm re- 
sponsible for his being ' no bigger than my thumb.' 
I 've scared him out of a year's growth every time 
he 's come down for an interview, Goody. Think 
how he must rue the day they made him my guar- 
dian ! or put him on the same globe with me, ei- 
ther. He thinks, you know, that I 'm a species of 

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TS8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

hyena. I don't suppose you could make him 
believe that there's a woman's immortal nature 
inside of me. I gave him a wholesome lesson the 
last time he was down, that will keep him from 
meddling with my affairs again. They ought to have 
appointed your old doctor guardian, Goody. Maybe 
I *d have quaked before him. Do you know, I was 
rather disappointed that he went off so quietly the 
other day. I rather thought he 'd break the door 
down, and we 'd have some fun." 

"Oh, how rude that was. Miss Jenny !" 

"Wasn't it?" said Jenny. "Horribly. I'd 
have him in a minute now, if I only could. It 
shows how virtue is its own reward, and vice 
versd — especially vice versA — does n't it ?" 

" Think what you 'd have saved, if you 'd only 
let him cure you !" said Miss Goodrich. 

" Yes, think of it," said Jenny. " Is n't it aggra- 
vating ! But, after all, I do think that a water- 
cure 's a little more than fair pay for the offence. 
I do n't think it quite deserved that much, Goody." 

"You will — ^go— will you.?" said Miss Good- 
rich. 

"Go!" said Jenny. "Would you have me 
defy my own mother ?" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 159 

" No, indeed !" said Miss Goodrich. 

" O Goody, said Jenny, " that was just a trap 
to catch you in a story. I did n't think you 'd fall 
in so easily. You old hypocrite ! You 'd have me 
defy mother and Granny Peters, and all other legal 
authorities, before you'd have me go. I know it 
But I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, you 
poor old dear !" 

" Why .?" asked Miss Goc^ich desperately. 

" Because, Goody," she answered gently, walk- 
ing away towards the library, " I 'm not serving the 
evil one as much as I was." 

But she could not enter the Jibrary and leave 
utter despair on the face behind her. So at the 
threshold she turned and said, 

"Never you mind. Goody. I'll make that 
establishment glad to get rid of me. That doctor '11 
write my discharge in less than a week. And let 
a Rubber come at me if she knows what 's good 
for herself!" 

The wave of her -fist and gleam of her eye 
cheered Miss Goodrich's heart as she went about 
her business. 

It was not until Jenny was quite alone, with 
her mind dwelling thoughtfully on her new pros- 
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i6o HER LITTLE WORLD. 

pects, that she discovered in them a possible an- 
swer to her prayers, the opportunity she had been 
asking God to send. Then she told him that if, 
through being ofiF in a strange place with her moth- 
er, she should be thrown more into her society and 
find the way to her love, she would thank him 
gladly for the little trials of her banishment 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. i6i 



CHAPTER XI. 

''I WISH Bob could see you now and get his 
first impression while that suit 's fresh/' said John at 
the d^pot. '' I never saw you so stupendous. And 
your complexion 's real pretty. How neat your hair 
looks too. And it is wonderful how much cold 
cream and gloves every night have done for your 
hands. Where 'd you get that becoming little red 
feather ?" 

" Margie made me have it," said Jenny. " She 's 
always wanted me to have one. I do n't wish that 
Dream-boy was here, Johnny. I do n't want him to 
come around while I'm gone. I wont have him 
consoling you. I want you to miss me dreadfully." 

But no sooner had the train carried Jenny and 
her waving handkerchief out of sight than John, 
walking dolefully homeward, found the suggestion 
of comfort in her words. The Dream-boy should 
come and console him ! He would send him an 
immediate invitation. So he dropped in at the 
nearest stationer's for paper and envelope and 
wrote: 

21 

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i62 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

•' Dear Bob : I 'm alone again. Jenny off this 

morning. Can't you come down as soon as you 

get this and stay on indefinitely till her return ? 

How about those plans ? In hurry to catch the 

mail. Yours, 

"JOHN STEPHENS." 

And he received as soon as possible the answer : 

'* Dear Jack : Plans are ripe. You may expect 

me to-morrow night at lo : lo. More when I see 

you. Truly, 

" BOB." 

So it happened that in less than three da)'s after 
Jenny's departure, the places she had made vacant 
were acceptably filled by her mysterious rival. 

Not that there was anything particularly myste- 
rious, or shadowy, or dreamy about Bob when once 
he was seen. On the contrary, he was rather in- 
clined to fatness, and his cheeks went so far as a 
jolly rotundity. He had a well-kept, well-fed air, 
and it was evident that he had not lacked the sus- 
tenance of flattery, although he was rather agree- 
ably than obtrusively complacent. He had just 
that degree of good-natured assurance which in a 
boy from seventeen upwards is apt to be winning. 
It had won the hearts of the Stephens establish- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 163 

ment, from Miss Goodrich down. He was as much 
at home in the house as if he were its lawful mas- 
ter, and took all the liberties of an old inhabitant. 

" I Ve investigated from garret to cellar," said 
he to John, as he sat on the library table, with legs 
dangling and swinging, "and know everything that 
belongs to the house except the one thing I want 
to know most. If it was n't for Miss Goodrich's 
testimony, I'd give that sister of yours up as a 
hoax. I s'pose Miss Goodrich may be in the plot, 
though she has an honest cast of the eye. It is n't 
that I do n't believe you 're capable of the fraud. Jack ; 
but I can't quite see your object in getting up that 
particular kind of a one. Now just tell me what 
good it *s done you to make me think you had such 
a relation as a sister all this time. I 'd like to 
know that." 

As John persistently devoted himself to his 
apple, Bob was obliged to continue the conversa- 
tion. 

" Show me any evidences and you may persuade 
me yet," said he. " As I tell you, I 've made friends 
with the house from top to bottom, and not found a 
trace of her. All your fancy-work is the latest 
style of half a century ago. There is n't anything 

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x64 IIER LITTLE WORLD. 

that looks as if there were girls and needles around. 
You can tell whether there 's a girl in the house, 
her age, complexion, and character, from the tidies. 
But the total lack of tidies here says to my mind, 
total lack of girl. I *ve only to see her picture to 
accept the evidence. But you wont show me one, 
except that portrait in the parlor of a chuckle- 
headed baby; and for all I know it may be any 
other baby that was ever bom into the family." 

John was approaching the core, and he lingered 
on it, looking quite absorbed, as if he had never had 
a thought beyond apple-cores. 

"I've hunted for a work-basket," said Bob; 
"but perhaps she keeps them all in her room, 
though a girl generally has one for each room in 
the house. Show me her work-basket, Jack, if you 
want to convince me. Show me her work-basket, 
and I '11 try and explain away lack of tidies and pho- 
tographs, and I '11 tell you her character from it too. 
You can read even more in a work-basket than in 
a tidy." 

" Uwill !" said John, with a hearty compliance 
that rather astonished Bob. 

He tossed the apple-core in the grate and has- 
tened away— hastened up the stairs and to the door 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 165 

of Miss Goodrich's room, where he knocked, and 
receiving no answer, let himself in. He looked 
about till he saw what he wanted, and then turned 
around and went back to the library, bearing a 
huge basket in his arms. 

Its fabric was coarse and yellow, and it was lined 
with a particularly hideous shade of red, and it was 
filled with every useful implement which a house- 
keeper could need as she sewed. There were cards 
of agate buttons, skeins of brown and black linen 
thread ; then there was a big, scalloped cake of 
beeswax, and a pair of shears qualified by size and 
substance to do deadly business. A bunch of shoe- 
strings had its appointed place in a little bag, and 
poked out its brass heads in shining array. There 
was a scarlet tomato pincushion, whose peculiar 
shade against the solferino lining was sickening to 
see ; and a strawberry emery in still another shade 
of red — a good likeness of the fruit in a ripe stage 
of decay. The needle-book was a delicate purple, 
whose tint, with the reds and greens, made alto- 
gether an appalling combination. Miss Goodrich's 
fancy-work, a blue-yam sock knitted as far as the 
heel, lay carelessly on top of a dish-towel which 
was awaiting hemming. 

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i66 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

The basket looked sufficiently hideous to John, 
but he had not a good eye for details, and he was 
in too much of a hurry to pause and remove an 
article. He ran down the stairs and laid his tro- 
phies triumphantly at Bob's feet. 

"Ohr said Bob. 

John had certainly got the best of him ; but it 
was a victory dearly bought — bought at the price 
of every good opinion he had had of the mysterious 
sister. Bob had a very good eye for details ! 

This, then, was the kind of girl she was. This 
accounted for the lack of fanciful achievements, 
wrought by dainty needles, which he had felt all 
over the house. This accounted for John's stub- 
bom silence. No wonder he had not wanted to 
talk about her, poor fellow. No wonder he had 
always spoken of her worth in general terms, and 
obstinately declined discussing details. She was 
worthy, undoubtedly — a good, heavy, plodding crea- 
ture ; but what a sister for the boy ! Sensible in 
them not to get her picture taken, for there was no 
telling but she might be squint-eyed; no, near- 
sighted. That kind of girl was always near-sighted, 
and blinked at you through eye-glasses. Very 
likely she had the snuffles, and talked through her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 167 

nose when she aired her opinions and requested you 
to explain your jokes ; for of course she had opin- 
ions to air, and would not receive a joke without 
mathematical demonstration. 

He saw no indications in the basket of a bad 
temper. She was probably as good-natured as she 
was thick-headed — dead flatness, stupid amiability, 
which went for saintliness with half the people. 
And John was just the one to be fooled. He boast- 
ed of knowing nothing about any girls but Jenny. 
It was his pride never to have had a flirtation. No 
wonder he had n't wanted to try his hand at it, if 
he got his ideas of girls from her. Of course she 
had made him think it was the chief of maidenly 
accomplishments to keep your brother mended. 
John always did look as if that basket had been at 
him. Bob remembered having noticed how soon 
his holes got mended after they came. She was 
the girl who took the stitch in time to save nine. 
What a girl for a sister ! 

Poor old Jack I Bob did not blame him for 
always asking him there when she was away. He'd 
keep her out of sight as much as possible if she 
were his sister. But he saw where the whole mis- 
chief lay. He had freely told John more than once 

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i6S HER LITTLE WORLD. 

what he thought a woman ought and ought not to 
be. He distinctly remembered having described 
his ideal to John in the beginning of their acquaint- 
ance, and how cautiously John had led him on, 
sounding him with cross questions. He had felt 
no restraint in expressing his opinions, because he 
had assumed that John's sister mu&t be all that 
John's sister should be. It had never entered his 
head till to-day that she could be otherwise than 
charming. All the compliments he had paid his. 
ideal in John's presence he had thought, of course, 
were reflecting upon Jenny. 

And yet what was more- common than to see 
such glaring differences between members of the 
same family ? How rashly he had jumped at con- 
clusions. Jack's fondness was what had fooled 
him, for certainly Jack was amazingly fond of her 
by his own statements. How much a matter of 
neighborhood half the fondness was, any way, he 
reflected — mere result of contact. 

' " It takes you a good while to read her charac- 
ter," said John, watching Bob, with folded hands 
hanging between his knees, and eyes bent toward 
the basket. 

He was trying just then to compose a speech 

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;2 



M 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 169 

that should neither be black hypocrisy nor hurt 
John's feelings. He had almost rounded a nice 
period when the rim of an eyeglass in one of the 
basket's little bags caught his notice, and confirmed 
his worst suspicions. He groaned inwardly, and 
waited a moment. 

"That's what you promised me, you know," 
said John : " her character from the basket Come, 
time *s up." 

" You never told me," said Bob, in sweet tones 
that came straight from his compassion, " that she 
wore glasses." 

"No.?" said John. "Did I forget to mentioA 
it?" 

"There's nothing like having a sister that'll 
keep your clothes in order," said Bob cheerfully. 
" Practical turn of mind, has n't she } One of your 
solid, sensible sort ?" 

" That 's it," said John. " Go ahead." 

"You know," said Bob, feeling his position to 
be very painful, " I 've never been able to get a word 
out of you about her. You 've made the general 
statement that she was splendid, and I 've had to 
form my own notions on that." 

"Yes," said John. 

22 

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170 HER LITTLE WQRLD. 

The grave, pensive concern in his face would 
have deceived the most suspicious; and Bob cer- 
tainly was not at all suspicious, for this work-bas- 
ket seemed to him now a reasonable solution of all 
the mystery about Jenny. 

"You haven't told me how she looks, Bob," 
said John. " I suppose you can see her face in the 
basket, too." 

" I see eye-glasses," replied Bob bravely, " and 
infer that she 's near-sighted. Almost every one is 
nowadays." 

" It's strange what a general complaint it's get- 
ting to be." said John. " You could almost think 
it 's contagious, like smallpox. Well, you have n't 
told me how she looks." 

*' Glasses give a woman a substantial, intellec- 
tual appearance," said Bob. " There, I 've gone as 
far as I can. I *11 wait for the rest until you gratify 
my impatience and let me see her, old fellow. I 
should say her most striking point was the point of 
a needle. Now I 'm done." 

"Yes," said John enthusiastically, "just imagine 
her with the weapon always in hand, darning, or 
hemming, or stitching for some one besides herself, 
curving her poor little spine or pricking her poor 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 171 

little fingers on shirts, dresses, or pantaloons, for 
some of her paupers. No wonder she does n't get 
time for fancy-work! That poor little forefinger, 
all stabbed and rough from an everlasting needle I 
Now are you surprised that I claim she 's the best 
sister out, and that words fail me there ?" 

His voice trembled so naturally as his eyes 
sought the floor that Bob was moved to believe 
there might be real beauty of character even in the 
homely owner of that homely basket 

" Poor little Jenny !" said John. " It 's too bad 
she's got weak eyes. If she'd only just obey or- 
ders! But I can imagine her hiding from the 
doctor and stitching away at blue overalls for some 
miserable pauper or other." 

" All the goodness in the family seems to have 
run in one direction," said Bob. 

" Well now I 'm not such a bad fellow," said 
John. "Though I wont claim to come up to 
Jenny's ideas of propriety." 

" I should hope not," said Bob to himself, " or 
none of your friendship on my plate, if you please." 

Aloud he said: "Does she write sonnets, or 
short tales, Jack > Young ladies of her style gen- 
erally have some literary taste." 

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172 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Why I do n't like to brag of my own sister." 
said John. . " But almost every one *s seen the lit- 
tle verses that come out now and then in all the 
country papers under the signature of 'Dotty.' 
Have n't you ever happened to come across any of 
them r 

" Oh yes : ' Dotty,' " said Bob. . " Yes !" 
"I rather like this verse," said John. " It *s not 
exactly festive, but there 's a kind of power about 
it Do you renffember it ? 

«* What is my life? 
What is my doom ? 
life is a mad strife ; 
My doom, the tomb!'" 

He could n't resist the temptation to look up. 
The mixture of helpless credulity, commiseration, 
and disgust on Bob's face was too much for him ; 
and though he made an efiFort to be calm, there 
was a telltale gurgle in his throat. 

" It's a game !" yelled Bob. 

•' Oh my !" said John, his ecstasy bursting out 
into explosions of laughter that left him lying back 
in his chair as we^ as a baby. 

But weak or not. Bob was too furious to be a 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 173 

generous foe ; and he flew at him and boxed him, 
scientifically but mercilessly. 

" Let up !" said John. " Give me a chance to 
get my breath! That's the best one out! I'll 
have to write to Jen to-night Oh well, if you want 
to fight, come on !" 

There were no more words after that. There 
was some loud laughing, and there were shrieks 
and roars ; but there were principally boxes on the 
ear, slaps upon the cheek, well-aimed blows from 
cultivated fists at various parts of the body. There 
were twists of tricky feet that would trip up ; and 
there was a heartiness of embracing that quite out- 
did the usual method of expressing affection. Then 
there was the overthrowing of an inkstand, the up- 
setting of several chairs, and a reckless disregard 
of furniture generally. 

Boot-heels came clattering down the stairs. A 
rush across the hall, and enter Miss Goodrich, eyes 
bulging and face scarlet. 

'• At it again !" screamed she. " I heard you I 
There that inkstand is over ! I knew I 'd be too 
late to save it. How many chairs have you bro- 
ken ? I can tell you one thing : if you smash that 
chandelier again you 11 pay for it out of your pwn 

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174 ^ER LITTLE WORLD. 

pockets. How on earth did my work-basket get 
here? Well!" 

" Oh, the work-basket !" screamed John. " Do n't 
say work-basket to me I Goody, I 've got the best 
one! ril tell you— " 

"You will, will you.^" said Bob, slapping his 
hand over his mouth. 

" If you do n't stop I '11 call the constable ! I 
will !" said Miss Goodrich, boldly rushing upon the 
pair, with a view to separating them. "I wont 
have everything in this house destroyed ! — and I 
mean it! — ^as long as I've kept it! — and had good 
order, too, till Mr. Hall stepped foot in it !" 

" Oh now, Goody," said Bob, actually brought to 
terms by her strategy, " do n't go back on me that 
way! Have n't we always been the best of friends ? 
I leave it to your own conscience if we haven't 
always been the best of friends." 

It was evident that a soft place in her heart was 
touched. She tried not to be mild of tone as she 
answered, 

''You'll do very well when you keep yourself 
under lock and key ; but when you go to tearing and 
bellowing round like a wild bull — that a' n't the 
kind of friends I 'm partial to." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 175 

" Hit me again if you want to, John," said Bob, 
dropping into a chair. "Thrash me unmolested. 
Here 's my other cheek. I 'm a man of peace from 
this hour. Only mind you do n't tell that joke 1 
Mind you do n't tell Miss Goodrich that joke ! I 
mean it I 

" How much are damages this time, Goody ? 
Give me the bill. I '11 send it to my father. That 
tablecloth's done for. It's lucky the ink didn't 
get on the books, or the floor." 

" It was an old rag," said Miss Goodrich kindly, 
as she took it off. " I 've darned it and rubbed out 
spots till there's nothing of it but mended holes, 
and holes that ought to be mended, and more holes 
just coming. We needed a new one badly enough." 

"The chairs seem secure," said Bob, going 
around and examining their legs. "How's the 
work-basket ? Any damage there T 

"Not as I can see. What's it doing here.? 
That 's what I want to know ?" 

" And that 's our little secret," said Bob. " Do n't 
press the question, please. Only do say that you 
forgive me, and we 're friends again, before you go." 

" Sho !" said she contemptuously, as she went 
out the door, embracing her basket 

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176 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

But Bob had seen a friendly twitching at the 
corners of her mouth, and that was all he wanted. 

"Only do say that you forgive me and we're 
friends again," repeated John meekly, reaching out 
a trembling hand to Bob. 

" Just drop it, if you please," said Bob. " All I 
ask is that you 'U shut up on that subject, and re- 
member that I *m going to be even with you yet 
Come on outdoors. The air of this room makes 
your fists tingle for a blow " 

So John said nothing more to Bob of Jenny or 
the work-basket on that day or the next ; but on the 
third day, Bob, ignoring the episode of the work- 
basket, himself introduced Jenny. 

"One thing's plain enough," he said, "and that 
is that your sister 's dodging me. She 's made up 
her mind to be down on me. Not that I blame her, 
you know. I 'm the first rival she 's ever had, you 
say, and it *s natural she should n't like it." 

" I never paid you the compliment," said John. 
" She stands unrivalled. I always told you plainly 
you were only second fiddle." 

" Then it certainly is n't her place to be jealous," 
said Bob. " But she has some reason for avoiding 
me. The more she skips out of the way the more 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 177 

anxious I am to see her, of course. Knowing some- 
thing about the ways of the sex, Jack, if she was n't 
your sister I might suspect it was a little dodge to 
get me interested." 

John was not often roused to anger towards a 
friend ; but he turned and looked at Bob as he ^at 
up pompously in his chair, with the air and expres- 
sion of a lady-killer, and he felt an unwonted flush 
creeping up his cheeks. 

" It is not only because it is my sister you make 
that remark about, but for your own good, that I 
take it up," said John. " You Ve got just one weak 
streak, and if you do n't look out it '11 make a noodle 
of you yet I should think a fellow with all your 
strong points would be above spoiling by female 
palavering. But the way you swallow their flattery 
down is something I can't make agree with the rest 
that I know about you." 

Bob looked at him in perfect amazement, too 
stunned to speak. 

" You see, you 're one of the kind that every- 
body takes a fancy to at first sight. I told you I 
was struck of a heap myself the first time I saw 
you. Perhaps if girls gushed over me I might set 
up as a lady-killer too ; but somehow I hate to see 

23 

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178 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

it in you, Bob. And you might as well know that 
my sister is n't one of the sort you 're used to. I 
just advise you not to try any of your nonsense on 
her, if you do n't want to get squelched." 

"I think the squelching 's been done pretty suc- 
cessfully by her brother," said Bob stiffly. " You 
may knock me down with a feather if I meant any 
incivility to your sister. I beg your pardon, and 
stick to it I did n't." 

" Of course you did n't," said John. " You 've 
just got in the way of those speeches. It's nothing 
but habit. I do n't like the habit." 

" Sorry to offend your tastes," said Bob loftily. 

But they talked it out after that They were 
too good friends to let any difference of feeling or 
opinion grow unpleasantly between them, and they 
came to a fair and comfortable understanding on 
the subject But they banished Jenny from their 
conversation again for a season. 

And when next Bob took up her name, he said 
musingly, as they sat together late one evening, 
holding a bedtime conference, 

"If I haven't seen her actually, Jack, I've got 
her right in my eye. I know just what a gentle 
kind of face your sister must have, and what soft. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 179 

taking manners. I can just see the trim, graceful 
air there is about her. If there's one thing that 
goes against me it 's an ungainly, slipshod girl. I 
can't stand a girl that 's boyish, and sloppy about 
her dress, and slangy. Can you ?" 

" No-o !" said John. " Yes, I remember your 
giving me your views when I first knew you. They 
made quite an impression. You sent me some poe- 
try once in a letter that rather put your ideas in 
shape. Remember it ?" 

« No. What was it ?" 

" Some business about man's being for 

"'Valor formed; 
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace.' '' 

" Oh, yes ; I got that out of our Parser — extracts 
from 'Paradise Lost,' you know." 



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i8o HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XII. 

John and Jenny had agreed to send full accounts 
of their doings to each other while they were sep- 
arated, in the form of weekly letters, as long and 
detailed as possible, which should serve for daily 
consolation until a fresh arrival. 

John had been persuaded to take Jenny's place 
as teacher of the kehoe-club exercise in her ab- 
sence ; and his letters were chiefly notes on Mar- 
gie's progress or otherwise, bulletins of the weath- 
er, and sometimes, when he was desperate for items, 
lists of the edibles they had for breakfast, dinner, 
and tea. He remembered her parting injunction 
about the Dream-boy, and did not mention him at 
all in his letters, waiting to have it out face to face. 

Now Jenny was never obliged to resort to such 
a topic as the weather. She had plenty of items, 
and her only trouble was that when she began a let- 
ter it seemed as if she would never get through. 

This is the first one that John received : 

" Dear Johnny : It *s a whole, long week. Have 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. i8i 

you missed me ? But sentiment will come in bet- 
ter at the close, wont it? So business, to begin 
with. 

" Arrived safely — There, you knew that by my 
sending you a letter. I 'U try again. 

" Well, Johnny, I had quite a remarkable jour- 
ney. Mamma talked all the way, and I listened 
sweetly. Yes, I did. I had practised a smirk in 
front of the glass the night before I came away, and 
I got my mouth fixed in it so that when mamma 
finished talking I could hardly get it out. It was 
four hours, you know. Pretty long for one smirk. 
I pretended all the way that I thought it was a reg- 
ular spree to go to a water-cure ; and I asked mam- 
ma about the doctor and patients, and the things 
they do, as if I cared. You might almost have 
thought I was Margie if you 'd seen how well I suc- 
ceeded. 

" Every once in a while I caught a glimpse of 
myself in the lookingglass at the end of the car. 
Sometimes it was accident ; but more times, I own, 
I nearly twisted my neck off to get a peep. I just 
liked to look at myself, I looked so nice. Do you 
know, Johnny, I do n't so much blame mother for 
not wanting to look at me when I used to be ' slop- 

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i«2 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

py/ I *ll never be sloppy any more. I Ve kept up 
this style ever since I came. I foraged in Goody's 
work-basket before I left home, and got a supply of 
needles and thread; and every time the least bit of 
a hole appears, or a button pops o£f, I go for it on 
the spot. I have to braid my hair over every little 
while, all day, to keep it in order. It is wickeder 
than ever. It acts as if it had seven little imps in 
it, the way it twitches and curls and tangles and 
rumples. But I do n't let it get the best of me. 

" I 'm a puzzle to mother. To see me always 
neat and nice — ^and stylish ! — taking an interest in 
my clothes, and asking her which ribbon she'd 
advise me to wear, is too much for her. 

" She does n't seem a bit ashamed to introduce 
me to all these strangers as ' My daughter.' And 
between you and me, I do n't see why she should be. 
I think I look nice enough now for the President's 
daughter. 

" Johnny, I firmly believe — and I have good rea- 
son for it in my heart — that my coming here just 
happened so that I could have this chance with 
mother. I would never have got the chance at 
home to make things better between us. But here, 
where I 'm a stranger, she has to have me in her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 183 

room quite often ; and when I 'm there we can't sit 
like sticks without saying a word. So she talks, in 
the same old strain, of course; but my manner is as 
different from what it used to be as my clothes are. 
I declare, I do the listening and smiling and com- 
menting almost as well as Margie herself, though 
of course it has n't become natural to me yet I 
have to try my hardest every time. No, not my 
hardest every time. It gets easier with practice. 

" Sometimes mamma looks at me as if she did n't 
know whether I were putting this all on, and had 
some deep object back of it, or not. 

" I don't flatter her much, Johnny. That comes 
harder than the listening. But I have got off a few 
little compliments. They're like fire-crackers to 
her ears, though, and I think it's rather dangerous 
to try them. They seem to rouse her suspicions, 
and I must begin easily there. 

" I do n't put flowers in her hair yet, either ; but 
I '11 be sure and let you know of the first one. And 
now I '11 stop telling you what I do n't do, and tell 
you what I do do. I read to her. She says I have 
a nice voice, Johnny. So I sit by the hour reading 
twaddle. Oh, how sick I 've got of novels. I do n't 
think mother cares for them; she has too much 

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i84 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

brains ; only her mind has got into a lazy kind of 
habits, and she does'n't like to bother to fix it on 
anything that takes much attention. I proposed to 
read Shakespeare to her the other day ; but she said 
he was ' too heavy.' How can anybody have the 
heart to call my dear old Billy heavy ? 

'* Is n't it the best joke about the doctor ? Oh, 
I forgot I had n't told you. Here I have been in 
his domains a week, and never seen his majesty — 
for the best of reasons: he isn't here. He was 
called out of town to a very 'dangerous 'j)atient the 
morning of the day we came. She 's got over her 
crisis now, and he 's coming back to-morrow. I '11 
have richness to write you after my first interview, 
I suppose it will have to be bloody. I hope it wont 
make me fall way back in mother's esteem. 

" I must tell you how it looks here. It 's the 
longest building you ever saw — I mean long both 
ways. I might as well call it big, and done with it. 
But, Johnny, what I mean is, that wherever you 
stand you can't see the end. The halls go on and 
on and on and on. And the walls are very low. 
The ceilings seem as if they were coming right 
down on your head, and it gives you such a smoth- 
ered feeling all the time. Can't you imagine how 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. j85 

it would, to have these fearful lengths of lowness 
back of you and before you ? The rooms are quite 
pleasant, because there 's a window to each room ; 
but the halls, with no windows except at their ends, 
and so much length and lowness, seem like a multi- 
plication-table of forlomity. 

" Oh, I went right off from the joke on the doc- 
ter to the halls. The joke is, that what cough I 
had is gone. An assistant doctor gave me some lit- 
tle tasteless white powders — chalk or corn-starch, 
I could n't tell which. Mamma thinks they cured 
me ; but I give change of climate the credit Any- 
way, I'm perfectly well, and I'm anxious to see 
what the doctor '11 do about it Mother wont let 
me go home till he comes, though she can't help 
believing I 'm well. I think, Johnny, he '11 give me 
a ' base.' You must know, my dear, that we all 
have bases to our brains. I never realized the fact 
before. How ignorant one can be, and live in the 
world for fifteen years. If you have no cerebro- 
spinal sensations, cultivate them at once. You are 
quite out of style. You are miles behind the times, 

'* We have our rules here, Johnny. Each patient 
has the code of laws on a big yellow card, tacked 
upon the inside of his or her door. And rule num- 

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i86 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

ber one, the pA^ of the establishment, whose pen- 
alty is the doctor's tenderest reproach, is that you 
shall not mention your diseases to each other. Pa- 
tients are strictly forbidden to tell and compare 
symptoms, or to engage in any conversation what- 
ever about their own bodies. 

"Of course you know the consequence: they 
do n't talk about anything else ; and if they come 
here perfectly well, they can talk themselves into 
any disease that they or the doctor may particularly 
fancy. He was a cunning man when he made that 
rule the first and strictest. It brings him in a reg- 
ular income. That's what I call business talent, 
Johnny. Whether the patients call on us, or I call 
on them, in their rooms or our rooms, I hear the 
same talk all the time ; and there is never a great 
deal about lungs, liver, etc. 'Base* is the pet 
weakness here. 'Base' is the rage of the season. 
That doctor, if I drive him into a corner, will say my 
brain has got a base, you see if he doesn't. He's 
had the bottom knocked out of his ; that 's what 's 
the trouble. 

"There's no end to the bells here. There's a 
lying-down bell every morning, when, no matter 
what you're doing, you've got to drop; and a wa- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 187 

king-up bell, and a getting-up bell, and a resting bell 
and a bathing bell and a walking bell, and bells for 
raving over the doctor, and comparing ' bases,' and 
all the other business that goes on. Rave over the 
doctor ! Johnny, you ought to hear them I It makes 
me sick. I do n't believe I '11 think he 's quite such 
a saint. The remark is very common here that the 
doctor can do no sin; be lives so far above the 
world. Just wait! We meet to-morrow I 

"The Rubber is such a good one that she finds 
plenty to do outside of our room, and mother lets 
her go. I couldn't stand it if she were all the time 
around, the way she used to be at home. 

"You mustn't think I am very unhappy, Johnny. 
You know I have an object, and that keeps me up. 
I don't get on very fast in the beginning, of course. 
And yet when you think that it's only a week, and 
I sit with mother most of the time, and read and 
talk to her, and she likes to have me, why that does 
seem a good deal to have accomplished in the time, 
doesn't it.? 

"And you mustn't think I am very lonesome, 
Johnny ; because you know who else has this object 
with me ; and I have to talk to Him a great deal 
about it — every hour of the day to keep myself 

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i88 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

fresh for work — and that makes Him seem nearer 
to me, and more my own friend, than ever before. 
Johnny, is n't it wonderful when you think of it, 
that He will be the friend of a girl like me, and let 
me talk to Him about little bits of things whenever 
I feel like it? 

" No, Johnny, I am not very unhappy and lone- 
some ; but after all I miss you dreadfully. Now 
sentiment comes in. I 'm almost through. Do you 
miss me? Do you get real wretched and forlorn 
for me ? or has th^t Dream-boy dared to come and 
comfort you ? Bar the doors ! Do n't you ever let 
him in! You must be as miserable as possible. 
How I wish you could drop a tear! 

" Give my love to everybody, especially Goody, 
please. But don't tell what morsels I send them, 
and what lots and lots to you. Good-by, Johnny.** 

"JENNY." 

This is the second letter that John received : 
"Dear Johnny: He came, he saw — ^you shall 
judge for yourself whether he conquered or not. 

" He sent for me, and I went down ; and there, 
sitting up in a chair by the desk, I saw a smile- 
Nothing else at first ; but in a moment I discovered 
that it had whiskers all around it, bushy, black 

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r""l tit NEW YORK. , 
1 PUBLIC LlBRAf-*'! 

1 






h 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 189 

ones, and that it had heavy eyebrows and a pair of 
spectacles. 

" It got up and slid across the room like an eel, 
and shook my hand with a soft, clammy paw ; and 
then it said something about being glad to welcome 
me. It had just the voice you'd expect a smile to 
have. But the Rubber's is so much like it that I 
wont stop to describe it. I saw, though, that his 
was the original, and hers the copy. His sets the 
example for the establishment. 

"The doctor thought that smile would do the 
business ; but stiffness was nothing to my manner, 
and ice can't express it. 

" Smile and voice together he didn't believe any 
woman could resist ; but I sat up in my chair with 
a look that I think may have shaken his faith in 
himself for a moment. 

"'And what does the trouble seem to be?' he 
asked mellifluously. 

"Now that was generous of him, wasn't it, to 
let me choose my own.? But there wasn't any 
pet disease that I craved, so I let him know that I 
was perfectly well. You should have seen the un- 
concern with which he passed my little statement 
by, and asked me : 

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190 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"'Loss of appetite?' 

"'No, sir!' I answered. 

" Imagine his soft, coaxing tones ; and my mad 
roar all through this conversation. 

"'A sense of exhaustion ?' 

"'No, sir!' 

"'Difficult respiration, perhaps ?* 

"'No, sir!' 

"'Nausea? 

"'No, sir!' 

" ' Is there a dull languor in the head ?* 

"'No, sir!' 

"'A disinclination for active pursuits?' bright- 
ening a little. Think of that question to me I 

"'No, sir!' 

" ' Are the pulses quickened under excitement ?' 

"'No, sir!' 

" ' Is there a distaste for society, and a feeling of 
lassitude ?' 

"'No, sir!' 

" ' Sharp, shooting pains in the limbs ?' persua- 
sively. 

" ' No, sir !' 

" ' But a constant dull ache between the shoul- 
ders r 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 191 

"'No, sir!' 

" ' Is there throbbing in the lower part of the 
head, accompanied by pain ?' — hopefully. 

"I knew what symptons he was getting at 
finally; 

"'No, sir!' 

"'Then,* said he — ^and, Johnny, he had me. 
His cool impudence conquered me. I couldn't 
help taking off my hat to him. ' Then,* said he in 
the most brisk, decisive voice — a perfect settler of 
a tone — ' it is the base of the brain.' 

" And he whisked over to his desk, and began 
to put up powders, and he came back and handed 
them to me — ^and I took them ! 

"There was victory in his eye. There was 
defeat in the very hang of my clothes, and shuffle 
of my feet, as I went out. 

" The way he keeps it up, and talks to mother 
in my presence about the throbbing and pain at 
the base of my brain — which, you know, I distinct- 
ly told him I did n't have — and alludes to my cere- 
bro-spinal tendencies, and discusses symptoms I 
never felt in my life, is something sublime. I 
can't say a word, I 'm so lost in wonder and admi- 
ration. 

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192 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

•• I take his powders regularly — the very same 
chalk, or corn-starch, the other doctor gave ; and I 
don't know but he'll persuade me yet that they 're 
working a magical cure on a disease I never had. 

" I must leave you in a minute because mamma 
wants me. Think of her sending word that she 
wants me to come and entertain her! But she 
has allowed me a little time, to finish ; so I will 
say the rest as quickly as possible. 

'' Mamma has never spoken of the change in me 
until the other day. She has only looked what she 
felt before. But two or three days ago, when I 
was going out of the room, she said, 

'' ' I quite feel as if I had a daughter at last, 
Jenny.' 

'' I was so surprised that all I could say was, 

"'Yes, mamma.' 

"She didn't seem to want anything more of 
me, so I went out 

"But the day after that I was* sitting by her, 
and she gave me a very hard look, and said, 

"'Jenny, I really feel that I must commend 
you. I have always hoped that some day your 
eyes would be opened to the evils of selfishness. 
There is nothing so unlovely in a woman as selfish- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 193 

ness. That fault in your character has troubled 
me. But if you are really determined to conquer 
it, I am sure you will succeed.' 

" What do you think I answered t * I hope so, 
mamma' — ^just as meekly. But I went out of the 
room very soon after. That speech was too much 
for me to tackle in her presence. I had to get 
used to it alone. Johnny, do n't you think I 'm 
improving wonderfully } 

" Suppose any one should ever get hold of my 
letters to you ; what a conceited mummy I would 
seem ! But, Johnny, I never could do a good thing 
in my life, without getting you to praise me, could I ? 

"Here comes the Rubber again. Think of 

being in such demand for mammal I mustn't 

write but one word more, and that's good-by. 

Your loving 

"JENNY. 

"P. S. I can't let this go without settling 
Goody's mind. Be sure and tell her how I stand 
with the doctor, and that the Rubbers keep their 
distance. Tell her I am sta)dng here for mamma." 



25 

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194 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

This is the letter which John received at the 
end of the third week. 

"Dear Johnny: Don't you dare. say another 
word to me about the weather and what you have 
for dinner ! If there is n't any news make up some, 
or fill in with questions. I '11 answer those I have 
on hand. 

" You keep asking me when I 'm coming home. 
When mamma sends me. I feel sometimes as if I 
must go; but then I think I might lose all my 
opportunities, and perhaps I ought n't to want to go. 
I have thrown out hints once or twice ; but mam- 
ma has turned the subject right away. 

" Then you ask me how I can possibly stand it 
here. You must n't forget, Johnny, Who helps me 
and keeps me company while I *m away from you. 
Though you mustn't think any the less that I 
do n't miss you dreadfully and want to see you all 
the time. But I get more and more interested in 
my object Oh, Johnny, I am so glad that you and 
Margie ever put it into my thoughts. 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 195 

" You ask me if I do anything for fun. Yes, I 
spend an hour in the gymnasium, all by myself, 
every day. They wanted me to go in at the regu- 
lar exercise hour. But that I would tit 

"I wish you could see this gymnasium. 
There's no end to the machines — every kind of 
patent lifter and shaker you can imagine: feet- 
pullers and arm-jerkers and neck-twisters and spine- 
wrenchers. They are worked by steam ; and when 
they all get going together — each patient on his 
own particular rack — ^you can think of nothing 
short of the Inquisition. The floor feels like a bil- 
lowy sea under your feet ; and the noise is enough 
to demoralize a sound nervous system — ^not to men- 
tion a weak one I 

"But, as I said, I don't go there as a patient, 
though I occasionally peep in to see the fun. I 
agreed with the doctor and^ mamma to lake my own 
hour every afternoon when the coast was clear. 

" As a proof of my thorough reform let me tell 
you that I put on a gymnasium suit whenever I 
exercise — ^not so much for comfort as to save my 
own clothes. You can remember the time not very 
far back, when I 'd climb a tree in my best silk, 
can't you } 

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196 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

**And then, Johnny, when I get in there, oh 
what fun ! over and under bars, turning somersets 
in the air, swinging up to the ceiling on those iron 
rings ; jumping, vaulting, racing, tearing, twisting 
myself like an eel — I 'm so happy ! 

"You don't mind, do you? I don't think it 
spreads my hands ; and as for my waist — it can't 
be any bigger. Besides, remember what Mrs. Bar- 
nard and Margie say about Venuses. 

" That, Johnny, is all my fun. I take long walks 
every day ; but I miss you more then than any other 
time, because we always used to go together. 

" One day I asked the champion walker of the 
establishment to accompany me. She 's a girl that 
can actually get ofiE from a creep sometimes ; but 
she wouldn't do for me. I kept losing her, and 
having to go back and pick her up. I 'd succeed in 
crawling along with her a few minutes, and the first 
thing I knew I was shooting off again, and then back 
I *d have to come for her. You can tell a patient a 
mile away — only they never get a mile away from 
anywhere — ^by the walk. There 's an unmistakable 
waddle. They act as if their feet were tied up in 
bags. It 's like a sack-race — ^all of them racing to 
see which can make the slowest time, you know. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 197 

" Walking reminds me of a confession I had it 
on my mind to make to you in the other letters. I 
hope you wont be shocked ; but you would n't want 
your sister to die the death of a starving prisoner, 
would you ? 

"Johnny, you know my appetite. I needn't 
enlarge on its dimensions. There are, I am aware, 
refined natures that can thrive on ' airy nothings ;' 
but give me dinners, or I die ! Mamma gets along 
very well here, because she never needs much to 
eat ; and what she does want she orders and has 
prepared by her own special Rubber. But I am 
driven to extremities. 

" So, ' whene'er I take my walks abroad,' I go to 
a nice clean little restaurant and buy my dinner. I 
have to go through a form here, and that sharpens 
my appetite, by laws of repulsion. Mother often 
keeps me a long while after dinner, and when I fairly 
get started I 'm in that state sometimes that I have 
to use moral suasion with my teeth all the way to 
keep them from devouring trees and fences ; and 
nothing but family pride restrains me from drink- 
ing the hot soup the waiter brings me down in one 
gulp. That makes me think of a soup story I 've 
got to tell you. 

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193 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" The waiters evidently consider me a standing 
joke, I suppose the prison-starved look shows 
plainly in my face, and they know where I. came 
from. They are very respectful, never having 
dared to address me but once. They put their 
heads together, composed a joke, and elected a 
spokesman; at least so I judge from the airs with 
which one of them got it off and the rest stood 
around listening : 

" * Miss does n't find warm water flavored with 
oatmeal nourishing for a regular diet,' said he. 

" I wish you 'd seen the look I gave him. He 
has n't opened his mouth to me since. But I thank 
him for the description of our dinners that he has 
put in words for me. There you have it, Johnny : 
warm water flavored with oatmeal for breakfast, 
dinner, and tea. I think when oatmeal is the prin- 
cipal diet, they might at least have it well cooked — 
and be a little more exclusive in regard to flies. 
Truth compels me to state that for dinner we have 
side-dishes of meat and potatoes. But I do n't in- 
dulge. There 's a look that bids me beware. 

"Of course my regular dinners take money, 
and I have to save every penny for myself. I Ve 
learned how to set my teeth and refuse when peo- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 199 

pie come begging of me for their ' objects.' I throw 
out hints about a starving pauper that I have on 
my hands, but I do n't mention that the first letters 
of her name are J. S. 

" Now for the soup story. The other day, John- 
ny, I smelt a smell, savory and feeding. The near- 
est house is across the street, and the street is wide. 
I thought, * What strong soup that is to send its 
bouquet of sweet odors' — onions, carrots, and boiled 
bones — ' all the way over here to tantalize us/ And 
then I realized that soup could n't travel so far in 
that way. And then the idea broke in upon me 
that the smell came from our kitchen. And by-and- 
by — it happened to be near dinner-time — I grew 
equal to putting the smell and our dinner together 
as cause and effect. 

"I felt very grateful to the doctor — ^generous 
provider of onions, carrots, and bones ! — and might 
have rushed recklessly down to the office if my" 
gratitude had n't taken another form of expression. 
An impulse seized me to do something for those 
' objects ' that I had slighted. I felt that they were 
good objects, and that one of them — a box for a 
home missionary — deserved the money that that 
soup would save my laying out for a dinner. 

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200 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" I snatched fifty cents, and ran down stairs to 
the last room on the lower hall ; and I noticed all 
the way that the farther I got from our room and 
the nearer the kitchen, the less soup I smelt, and 
when I went back, that the nearer I got to our room 
and the farther from the kitchen, the more soup I 
smelt. 

" I puzzled over it a little, and then I saw what 
a goose I had been. Some philanthropist from out- 
side had sent in a bowl of soup to one of the pa- 
tients ; and there I was fifty cents out for my silli- 
ness, and where was my dinner coming from ? If 
I'd dared, I'd have gone and asked my money 
back. 

" I thought, if it was a friend, perhaps she 'd go 
shares if I happened to drop in ; so I went softly 
along the hall, taking a sniff at every keyhole, till I 
came to the right one : and whose should it be but 
our next-door neighbor's ! 

" I was very much surprised, for I knew she was 
past soup-eating. They can hardly get her to swal- 
low a mouthful of anything. Johnny, she is nearer 
death than I ever saw any one before. Her strength 
is all gone ; and she 's so thin and pale, with such 
big, hopeless eyes that it makes my heart ache. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 201 

She has three dear little children at home, and she 
longs to go back to them ; but the doctor will hang 
on to her as long as there 's a breath in her body! 
He says it would kill her to go home, and that he 
can cure her in time. She has a soft kind of a hus- 
band, and the doctor gets around him, and between 
them they keep her here. She says she knows it 
would do her good to get home to her babies ; that 
she '11 surely die here, and if she 's got to die at all, 
she wants to be with them when the time comes. 
Poor little woman ! Does n*t your heart ache for 
her too ? 

"Well, before I thought what I was doing I 
knocked at the door, and got in. 

" Johnny, I told you she could n't be eating soup ; 
but she was, not with her mouth, dear — with her 
feet ! She was taking a soup foot-bath. She sat 
propped up in a chair with her feet in a big tin pail 
of it. That 's one way of eating 1 

"I had to laugh. I just sat down in a chair 
and roared. She laughed too, and it did her good. 
But, Johnny, please suggest to Goody that we drop 
the first course from our dinners. 

" In the afternoon I went out — my purse light 
from its late loss — ^and looked about for something 

26 

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202 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

cheap and filling that would keep my teeth off from 
the fat babies on the street 

" As I passed a grocery I smelt a smell that was 
sweeter tKan soup with onions in it : I smelt the 
pure onion. There were the dearest little bunches 
of young onions you ever saw ; and I invested, and 
got some crackers and cardamon seeds, and went 
home. 

"The spree had only one drawback, Johnny, 
and that was your absence. The onions — adjec- 
tives fail me ! You know there is nothing goes to 
your heart like a little, tender, white, baby onion. 

" I took pains to have the windows open, and 
plenty of draughts of fresh air stirring around, so 
that the room and my dothes would n't tell tales ; 
and when I thought I had eaten cardamon seeds 
enough to disguise my breath, I went to mother's 
room to comb her hair. 

"But she smelt my breath in a minute, and 
asked me so many questions, that out came the 
whole story. She did not say anything at all ; but 
I saw she was taking it to heart. 

" I do n't believe I have told you about combing 
her hair. I have done it every day for nearly a 
week. The first time I was so nervous and afraid 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 203 

of hurting her that I pulled ; but the next day she 
told rae I might try it again ; and when I got through 
she made some comparisons between Angeline's 
fingers and mine that were very flattering. So now 
I comb her hair, and I have a real good chance to 
compliment her while I 'm doing it — ^it *s such pretty 
hair, Johnny. And from the hair I can go naturally 
to eyes, complexion, etc. You ought to see how 
she softens toward me when I say those things. I * 
think she loves me a little tiny bit Day before 
yesterday, after I had her hair all arranged, I went 
and begged a scarlet geranium from a lady who has 
ever so many ; and I came back and said, 

" ' I Ve got a flower just like the one Margie put 
in your hair that day at home, mamma. I 'm going 
to see if I can fix it the way she did. Do n't you 
remember she said you ought to have some one to 
put flowers in your hair all the time ? I mean to 
do it after this.' 

"I wish you could have seen the way her big 
eyes looked at me. I couldn't quite understand 
them. She opened her lips as if she bad something 
to say ; but she did n't say it. 

"What did Margie mean in her last letter by 
these words : * How handsome John's friend is. He 

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204 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

has n't honored me with a call ; but I 've seen him 
on the street ' ? Johnny, it can't be the Dream-boy ? 
You can't have been deceiving me ! Please ex- 
plain. By-by, dear, 

"JENNY." 

Very soon after the receipt of this letter, greatly 
to John's surprise another came : 

"Dear Johnny: This is a 'special.' I have 
only waited to get alone, at eleven p. m., to pour it 
out Every word of it is ringing in my head, and 
I want to tell it while I can tell it right. When 
I was combing mamma's hair this afternoon, she 
said, 

" ' Jenny, I have insisted upon your staying here 
these three weeks to gratify a whim of the doctor's ; 
but I shall not allow him to think that I have no 
mind and will of my own. I shall tell him, if neces- 
sary, that he sees so much sickness all the time that 
his eyes get filled with it, till he sees it where there 
is n't any. It is perfectly evident that you are not 
sick, and I am not a mother to permit my child to 
be starved. I was quite shocked- by what you told 
me of your sufferings yesterday. There is no rea- 
son why you should stay here any longer. You 
can go home if you wish.' 

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JSER LITTLE WORLD. 205 

"Johnny, it was almost like being with you, I 
felt so near you for a minute. My heart went pit- 
a-pat. My hands wanted to clap and my feet want- 
ed to dance, and I could hardly keep from hurrah- 
ing. But I determined not to let mamma know 
how glad I was to go, and I said as quietly as I 
could, though I suppose my voice must have sound- 
ed a little agitated, 

"'There's an afternoon train, mamma. Shall 
I go right away and telegraph to John to meet me 
to-night ?' 

" ' You are in a great hurry,' she said. 

"Her tones made me feel guilty. 

" ' I — I 've never been away from John so long 
in my life before,' I said. 

'* ' But you 've been away from your mother most 
of your life,' said she. 

"And then — I don't know why — I felt more 
guilty still. I felt as if it was I who had gone away 
and left her all those years. 

" * But then, of course,' she said, ' I understand 
that there 's a difference between John and me. I 
do n't expect to be what he is to you.' 

" I felt myself getting redder and redder, and I 
could n*t have looked in her eyes, I was so ashamed. 

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2o6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

I was glad I stood behind her; and I put up her 
hair as slowly as I could. 

" * Mamma, I '11 stay/ I said. * I never thought 
of your wanting me to.' 

"'I don't want you to stay," she burst out. 
'It wouldn't give me any pleasure to have you 
here simply as an attendant, against your choice. 
I do n't want you to stay because you think it is 
your duty. If. I regret that your heart doesn't 
keep you, it's only a mother's natural feeling, I 
suppose.' 

" ' I want to stay,' I managed to say. 

" ' Yes, very likely,' said she, 'now that you fancy 
I want it. You have so far conquered your selfish- 
ness in the last few weeks that you would be will- 
ing to give up to me. But that is not it, Jenny. 
Can't you see that it is not the loss of your services 
I am regretting? although I wont deny that the 
services have been much pleasanter than those I 
have had to bear for many years. You cannot ima- 
gine what a luxury it has been to me to be attended 
by a lady, and that my own daughter, who has neg- 
lected me so long. The services have been very 
acceptable, but I can do without them. What 
grieves me is that you have not the natural in- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 207 

stincts of affection toward me which other girls 
have toward their mothers/ 

"'I haveP I stammered out *I am fond of 
you,' 

'' I had finished her hair, and been obliged to sit 
down where we could see each other's faces. You 
know how dignified and controlled her face always 
looks ; but it did n't then, and her voice was queer. 

"*A very little, perhaps, after a month's en- 
deavor,' she said. ' It is the reward of your efforts 
to improve that you should care something about 
me. The natural result of your being kinder to me 
is that you should be able to love me a little. 

" * But, O Jenny, think of your having to try to 
love your own mother! You didn't have to try 
when you were a baby. You used to like to have 
me hold you; and sometimes you used to cry for 
me. I Ve wished more than once this last week 
that you were that little baby, and I could make you 
love me. I ought to have kept you with me, and 
you would have grown up to it I wish I had never 
gone away. It kills me to see you trying so hard. 
It would n't seem so dreadful if you had n't naturally 
a warm, impulsive heart. You can love without 
trying. You do n't have to try to love John. He 

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2o8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

has come between you and me always ; and you Ve 
come between him and me too. You have had 
each other all these years, and I have had no one. 
Think of it ! But you can't. John would have to 
be taken away from you, where you never could 
reach him, for you to understand me. O Jenny, 
can you possibly imagine what it is to be alone t It 
is an awful word. Can you think what it means ? 

"Johnny, I wish you could have seen her face. 
There was n't a tear ; but there was a look I never 
shall forget : I can't describe it. I have seen little 
shadows of it before, but never understood what 
they meant 

"I didn't think of her selfishness then. It 
seemed to me I could never think of it again. I 
only thought of my own. I saw her life, in a flash, 
from the time father left it ; and it was like some 
one shut alone in a dark room where there was n't 
even a window to look out and see the sky. Can't 
you imagine her suffering, shut up all this time 
with herself and her trouble, never finding any 
comfort because she was always groping around 
that little dark room for it, instead of breaking the 
door down and going out where it was ! I did n't 
think about her having shut herself up; I only 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 209 

thought of her being there. I did n't think of her 
faults, I only thought of her suJBFering. And, John- 
ny, God came straight to me in that room, as much 
as he came to Adam and Eve in the garden ; and 
he said : ' I am her judge. You are her daughter ; 
and I made you to love her.' I do n't believe I '11 
ever think of her faults as much as of her su£Eer- 
ing again. 

"It was dreadful to see mamma break down. 
I suppose it is a sight that very few people have 
ever seen. I hope you'll never see such a well- 
controlled person losing self-control, if you don't 
want your heart broken. I felt as if I ought to say 
something ; but my throat was all choked up so 
that it seemed as if I never could speak. 

" ' Jenny, are you afraid of night T she said. * But 
you do n't know what that word means either. You 
do n't know what a night can be I It means nothing 
but sleep to you, I suppose. It means to me the 
possibility of living my trouble over as many times as 
the night is long. Sometimes I have walked the 
floor ; sometimes I have just lain still, going over 
and over and over everything, from the beginning 
to the end, and right back again to the beginning. 
I do n't know what has kept me from being insane. 

27 

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2IO HER LITTLE WORLD. 

That feeling that there was nothing but me and 
my trouble in the world — nothing but me and 
my trouble anywhere — that utter impossibility of 
knowing anything besides— was enough to make 
one mad. 

" * How often I have felt as if the trouble would 
all be cured if some one could only get near me. 
But no one loves me. It is only my face that even 
Margie fancies. If some one could love me^ and get 
near my heart, it would cure that awful lonesomeness. 

"'I have fought hard for my self-control. I 
have n't had many of those nights for a long time 
until this last week. But you have stirred every- 
thing up, Jenny. I could have screamed out some- 
times this week with the aching of that lonesome- 
ness ; and I could have begged you to love me — 
when it nearly broke my heart to see you trying. 
There !' 

" The last word came out with such a gasp that 
I knew it was the end, and that she threw herself 
on my mercy. '^ * 

" But I could ti*t speak, though there was so much 
to say. I suppose it was beyond words — for she 
was my mother, Johnny, and I her daughter, for 
the very first time since I was a baby. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 211 

" My eyes were so full I could hardly see her, 
and my voice was choked with sobs ; but I got my 
arms around her neck and gave her a good hug ; 
and then we cried like two little babies. I could 
feel that her crying was a great deal harder and 
more pitiful than mine, I was broken-hearted over 
her troubles ; but, Johnny, I was broken-hearted, 
too, over the thought that I had my mother at 
last! 

"'Jenny, Jenny,' she s^d, *you are my own 
daughter, you know. Are you ever going to leave 
me alone again } Are you ever going to be so 
cruel as to let that horrible lonesomeness come 
back } Will you stay with me every day ? Will 
you sleep right by me nights when I am afraid } 
Will you go wherever I go } and wait on me ? and 
keep close to me ? and always be kind and nice to 
me, the way you have since you came here ?' 

"I promised her everything she asked. I 
promised over and over. The more she asked the 
more I promised. So, Johnny, you did n't get a 
telegram telling you to meet me this evening. It 
will be ' meet us' when I send it. 

"You see my work is laid out for me a long 
way ahead ; and I know well enough what I have to 

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212 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

do : I 've got to take mother's mind and teach and 
train it away from herself, just as you 'd train a 
baby; because that's the only way to make her 
happy. I'm afraid I can't get near enough her 
heart to cure her lonesomeness until I do that; 
and Johnny, I 'm sure there 's a place, a very near 
place, where I can never get, and where God will 
have to go and stay before she can be quite cured. 

" My first step will be to get her to pack her 
trunks and say good-by for ever to water-cures. 
There's nothing the matter with her except her 
* high-strung, peculiarly sensitive, nervous organiza- 
tion.' The doctor admits that. Of course he in- 
sists that it 's just the organization over which a 
good doctor ought to keep watch. But I '11 convince 
mamma that she does n't want watching ; and that 
she 's got to stop thinking about her body before 
her body'll begin to behave itself. It's just like 
a child that you keep your eye on every minute : 
the more you watch it, expecting it to do something 
out of the way, the more it will oblige you. As 
I 've told you before, half the trouble here is made 
by too much polite attention to bodies. 

*' Mamma only likes the doctor because he fawns 
around her. She knows how absurd he is, as 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 213 

well as I do. I must get her to own it ; and then 
we '11 go marching home ! 

" Then, Johnny, no more letters 1 Then the 
good old times ! 

'' Dear little papa Johnny I How I do want to 
see him ! 

"HIS LOVING LITTLE MOTHER." 



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214 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

*' Can I assist you ?" said Bob. 

He had been in town two weeks, and this was 
*the first decidedly pretty g^rl he had seen. It was 
a remarkable stroke of good luck that the wheel of 
the baby-wagon she was pushing should happen to 
come off just as he met her. 

" Thank you," answered the pretty girl, snatch- 
ing the baby, who set up a wail and proceeded to 
strangle her. 

" I can tie it on, I think," said Bob, stooping to 
examine the wheel, "so that it wont have to be 
carried home. But it wont be safe for the baby ; 
and I '11 carry it if you *11 let me." 

" Thank you very much, but he 's afraid of stran- 
gers," said the pretty gfirl. 

" There," said Bob, having made use of some 
string which he found in his pocket, " that will go, 
I think, I 'm sorry the baby *s timid, but you will 
at least allow me to take the wagon home." 

" Yes, thank you. I 'm afraid I could n't man- 
age both." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 215 

The pretty girl looked up in Bob's face and 
smiled. 

"I shall have to introduce myself, I think," 
she said. " I know who you are very well. You 
are Mr. Hall, John Stephens* dearest friend ; and I 
am his sister's dearest friend." 

"Then I have the honor of meeting Miss Bar- 
nard at last," said Bob, lifting his hat and coloring 
at the same moment that Margie colored, both be- 
ing slightly embarrassed, though certainly not dis- 
pleased, by the consciousness of a mutual adven- 
ture. 

" It is rather strange that I should be fortunate 
enough to meet you in this way, Miss Barnard, 
after having made unsuccessful attempts ever since 
I came to town." 

" Have you tried T said Margie. " I have won- 
dered why John did n't bring you over." 

" I have tried by asking him repeatedly to get 
your permission to bring me, and then to set an 
evening." 

"And did John refuse?" 

" He scorned to take any notice of me. He 
did n't even honor me a with refusal. I could n't 
get him to speak." 

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2i6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" It is evident that he does n t consider me a 
desirable acquaintance for you," said Margie. " Peo- 
ple have to be careful how they introduce their 
stranger friends. You must keep it a secret from 
him that you have met me." 

" It would serve him right for his selfishness," 
said Bob. " It 's a clear case of selfishness. I find 
he 's ready enough to call on you alone." 

" No, indeed !" said Margie. " He comes from 
the strictest sense of duty." 

Bob laughed incredulously. Then with tones 
and glances in whose efficacy he had perfect faith 
because they had served him so well with pret- 
ty girls often before, he said : 

*' I wish all duty was as delightful as that must 
be." 

The tones, the glances, and the words affected 
Margie very disagreeably. They recalled a sense 
of shame she had once felt. They brought back 
to her mind the most mortifying experience of her 
life. She did not like to remember a certain little 
flirtation of hers; and any advances toward flirta- 
tion reminded her of it. Since Margie began to 
devote her leisure to exercise, instead of novels, 
and since Willy Simms, whom she often saw, be- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD, 217 

came to her a parody on all the romances she had 
read, as well as a monument of her foolishness, she 
had had no temptation to flirt with anybody. She 
had put forth some very resolute purposes of will 
since Jenny opened her eyes ; and she was contented 
now to be an object of admiration to her own fam- 
ily and particular friends. 

This was certainly quite a story-book adven- 
ture — an accident, the sudden appearance upon the 
scene of her dearest friend's brother's dearest 
friend — whom she already knew by report, whom 
she had wanted to meet, who had wanted to meet 
her, and whom circumstances had hitherto con- 
spired to keep apart. Yes — ^an unmistakable ad- 
venture. 

And it was just the afternoon for an adventure, 
the loveliest June afternoon one could imagine ; 
and they had met on a beautiful street, under the 
shade of drooping branches. 

He was handsome ; and she — not bad-looking, 
people said. His manners were very agreeable; 
and hers — ^no one had ever called them repulsive. 

It was evident that he thoroughly appreciated 
the occasion, and was disposed to improve its 
advantages. He was quite competent and willing 

28 

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2i8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

to play the part of hero in this little idyl which fate 
and the weather had conspired to get up. 

If it had only been six weeks ago the heroine 
elect would obediently have taken her part and a 
nice little flirtation would have ensued. But the 
heroine was indisposed to-day. 

That thought came into Margfie's head. If it 
had been six weeks ago ! If Willy had been Bob ! 
She had always deeply regretted the insignificance 
of her hero. It was the chief shame of her recol- 
lections. But now the thought came to her quickly 
that perhaps it was a good thing. If Willy had been 
Bob she might have been tempted to continue their 
flirtation. She was not in the least tempted to be- 
gin one to-day. She was only a little disgusted, a 
little amused, and a little sorry for Bob. 

" It is n't delightful to John at all," she said, in 
her most sensible tones— not with an air of pretty 
protestation, nor with an air that challenged con- 
tradiction. " It is a great bore to him. He comes 
because he promised, and because I promised to 
let him." 

" How well she does it," thought Bob. " She 's 
an old hand. I could almost believe she meant it 
myself. It takes these pretty girls to lead you on." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 219 

" That 's such a bold challenge, Miss Barnard," 
he said, with a manner whose gallantry atoned for 
what the words lacked, " that I '11 have to meet it 
with a bold contradiction. Your statement, if you 
will pardon me, is an impossibility." 

" Do n't be absurd," said Margie, very sweetly. 
" Nor take me for a goose," she added very shortly. 

Such a natural, thoroughly boyish and sensible 
expression came over Bob's face that it did Margie's 
heart good. 

She was not angry with him. It was hard for 
any one to be angry with Bob. And she felt as if 
she had known him always. Everybody felt so the 
first time they met him. She was considering the 
pity that a boy with so much honesty and sense in 
his eye, and so much manliness in his appearance, 
should be spoiled by flattery, as she judged from 
their brief acquaintance that he had been. She 
remembered her own danger of being spoiled in the 
same way, and wished that some one could help 
him as Jenny had helped her. 

"Ask John," said she. "Promise first to tell 
me just what he says, and then ask him if it isn't 
a bore to him to come here regularly twice a week 
and give me lessons. Will you do it ?" 

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220 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" I think I 'm safe in promising," he said. 

"When you get his answer and repeat it to me, 
you '11 be convinced perhaps that I 'm not fishing 
for compliments." 

" Indeed, Miss Barnard — ^" 

" Oh, don't deny it," said Margie. " That wont 
make matters any better. There are some girls in 
the world that are not geese, Mr. HalL" 

" I believe you," said Bob. " Shake hands on 
it, will you ?" 

" With all my heart," said Margie, removing one 
from the clasp of the baby's fingers and giving it 
to him. 

" There !" said Bob, " I feel better. You must 
think I 'm a fool ; but I do n't look for sense in a 
pr — I didn't mean to make a compliment then, hon- 
estly. But, you know, you can see how a homely 
girl and common sense can go together. But — ^per- 
haps I 'd better stop before I get in any deeper." 

"I would," said Margie. "And now, Mr. Hall, 
this is the house I live in ; and if you '11 open the 
gate we '11 go in, and you shall be introduced to my 
mamma, for she 's heard all about you, and wants 
to know you. Will you come in the parlor or sit 
on the piazza .^" 

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BER LITTLE WORLD. 221 

"I choose the piazza," said Bob. "It's too 
pleasant to go in the house to-day." 

So Margie left him there, and carried the baby 
up stairs and brought her mother down. 

And Mrs. Barnard felt as if she had known him 
for ever, and took a fancy to him at first sight ; and 
she and Bob so excluded Margie from the conver- 
sation, on account of the mutual fancy they had 
taken, that Margie stole away to see what Rosie 
was crying about 

She followed the faint and distant wail to its 
source, and found the child at the very end of the 
back yard, under a lilac-bush. 

"You ridiculous baby, what are you doing 
there?" she said. "Come out and give me a 
hug." 

" Me wont neiver," was the reply. "Me a toad, 
me are so. Me hate evwybody, me do. Me doin' 
to be toad and live unner here for wever." 

" You 'd better stop crying about it then," said 
Margie ; "because toads can't cry a tear, and some- 
body '11 think you 're Rosie Barnard if you cry." 

"Me are Wosy Barnard too," screamed the 
child. " Me are mine own Wosy Barnard. Now !" 

" Oh, if I thought you were Rosie," said Margie, 

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222 HER LITTLE WORLD 

" I 'd take you up to the house to see the nicest 
gentleman, with a lovely watch in his pocket" 

" Have it dot *ittle wheels what do wound and 
wound and wound ?" asked Rosie, making circles 
with her cunning forefinger as she ran out to Mar- 
gie. " Me want to see him." 

So Margie lifted her in her arms, and laid the 
little rumpled head and wet cheek in her neck, and 
comforted away a lingering sob or two with gentle 
touches. 

"Who was it that made you hate everybody, 
baby } Now tell me very pleasantly," she said. 

" Dat Pat Barnard," said Rosie, trying desper- 
ately not to get furious at the mention of her name. 
** Her a fief, her are. Her stole mine own gin — 
ger — ^bread !" 

"There! there! Don't cry!" said Margie. 
" I *11 make it all right with Patty. And try and be 
a pleasant baby till Patty comes and asks you to 
forgive her. Will you say Yes to her right away, 
Rosie } Give Margie a kiss straight on her mouth, 
and promise to be very pleasant and say Yes the 
minute Patty asks you to forgive her ; will you T 

Rosie put up her lips for an answer ; but Mar- 
gie knew her tricks too well to be satisfied with 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 273 

anything less than " I p'omise/' which she finally 
succeeded in getting. 

" Now we '11 have the face washed and a clean 
apron on, and go and see the gentleman," said 
Margie. 

So when she had made her fresh and sweet, she 
carried her out and introduced her to Bob; and 
Rosie too felt as if they were old acquaintances, 
and took a great fancy to him. 

Leaving him with Rosie on his knee, highly en- 
tertained by her lively little tongue, Margie slipped 
away again presently, to go after Patty, the " fief." 

She soon found her in a neighbor's arbor, where 
she and a comrade were playing " keep house." 

" Come here, Patty," she said. " I want to speak 
to you." 

Patty obeyed with charming alacrity, and a face 
full of smiling impudence, not at all disturbed by 
the fact that the tale of her guilt was written around 
her mouth in gingerbread crumbs. 

There was a gay unconcern about her manner 
when brought to judgment that Margie always 
dreaded to encounter. It was hard to mete justice 
soberly to her, and look upon her misdemeanors as 
anything but cunning little accomplishments. 

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224 HER LITTLE WORLD. . 

" Patty, how could you take your poor little sis- 
ter's gingerbread away from her?" said Margie, lead- 
ing her towards home. 

" Oh, just as easy," she answered brightly. 

" It was stealing r said Margie, in the most aw- 
ful tones she could command. 

" Stealing *s when you lie about it, you know," 
said Patty, as if Margie were but beginning to learn 
the definitions of things, and needed much patient 
instruction. "Stealing's when they don't know 
you did it and they can't catch you. I snatched 
her old gingerbread 'fore all the world. The min- 
ister could a seen me if he'd wanted to look." 

"You are talking in a very naughty and silly 
way," said Margie. " Stealing is taking what does 
not belong to you. Do you think it 's kind to take 
food out of your poor little sister's mouth T 

"Yes; she eats too much," said Patty. "I 
heard you say so lots o' times. She's an awful pig. 
I would n't be fat like her for anything." 

" Run away, Patty," said Margie. " I do n't care 
to talk to a little girl who's been a coward, and then 
is too much of a coward to own it. A brave girl 
would be ashamed to take things away from a little 
baby like Rosie, who couldn't help herself. I'd 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 225 

choose some one of my size if I wanted to do such 
a greedy thing." 

Patty went off with a sprightly gait, singing as 
sne hopped, apparently in the most excellent spirits. 
But Margie knew she had not called her a coward 
in vain, and that in her own time and way Patty 
would redeem her reputation. 

Margie returned to the piazza once more. 

"Excuse me for running off," she said, "though 
I don't believe you either of you know I've been 
away. C-h-i-1-d-r-e-n will get into t-r-o-u-b-l-e some- 
times. I have had a small u-n-p-1-e-a-s-a-n-t-n-e-s-s 
to settle." 

"D-o-g, cat!" shouted Rosie, wishing to let 
Bob know that Margie was not the only learned 
member of the family. 

Bob jumped. 

"You don't tell me!" he said. "Well, now 
let *s have Jehoshaphat, and 1 11 show you how the 
wheels go round again." 

Margie flew to her rescue. 

" You can do something better than spell that 
ugly old word," she said. "You can tell him a 
pretty story, Rosie." . 

"'Bout Dolden-Hair .?" asked Rosie. 
29 

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226 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Oh, I'd love to hear about Golden-Hair/' said 
Bob. 

" Fordot V said Rosie woefully, after a moment's 
pondering. 

" Once upon — ^" prompted Margie. 

" Unce uppony time," began Rosie triumphant- 
ly ; after which she made successful progress. 

She was in the most delightful mood for show- 
ing off, and she gave him stories and songs as fast 
as he demanded them. After each one his shouts 
of applause rang out so loudly and boyishly, that 
Margie laughed to herself when she thought of his 
little speeches on the way home. 

"Now give Mr. Hall 'I had a little husband,'" 

said Margie. 

" * I had a yittle husbum 
No bigger zan mine fum,' 

Rosie began, when a sharp whoop, that seemed to 
be a signal, broke upon their ears. 

"It's Patty," said Margie. 

" Another sister T said Bob. 

"Still another. We're literally seven, Mr. 
Hall — ^four girls and three boys. Now, Rosie, re- 
member the promise, and go and see what Patty 
wants. There she is behind the elm-tree." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 227 

Rosie came back presently with her teeth in a 
big, red apple. 

"May Patty see do wheels do wound?" she 
asked. "Her dood dirl now. Her dim me apple." 

" I wonder where she got it," said Margie. 

" Come here, Patty," called Bob. 

" Come here yourself," she answered, poking a 
wicked little head around the tree at him. 

" She 's our black sheep," said Margie. " Please 
do n't judge of the other children's manners by hers." 

But Bob had immediately accepted her invita- 
tion, and darted toward her, tree. She dodged him 
for a moment, and then ran out into the yard. He 
had a hard time holding her after he caught her ; 
but he bore her to the piazza in triumph on his 
shoulder at last 

She was not as easily won as the other members 
of the family had been. She required persuasion 
to eatablish a friendship with Bob. But after she 
did come to terms Bob began to wonder what new 
variety of character the next little Barnard he should 
meet would present, and to be curious to see all 
those little Bamards yet unknown. 

But he foimd that he had made a first call an 
hour long, and rose reluctantly to go. 

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228 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Do n't go," said Mrs. Barnard. *' Stay to tea, 
and get acquainted with the rest of us." 

" Thank you," said Bob, sitting down at once. 
" How kind you are to an adventurous stranger. I 
wonder what John would say if he knew I was here 
spending the afternoon, and going to stay to tea." 

" It is quite a joke on John," said Mrs. Barnard. 
" We will have to tease him about it" 

"Let's meet as strangers when he introduces 
us, Miss Margie," said Bob. " I 'd like to get off 
something to pay him for a very bad joke he got on 
me a day or two after I came." 

"Well," said Margie, "we'll be strangers, and 
perhaps we'll think of some brilliant revenge." 

By tea-time Bob had discussed with Dick Bar- 
nard the best method of rearing young squirrels 
separated from their parents by force, and had 
called with him upon a small squirrel in such an 
orphaned conditi6n, who resided in a cage in the 
back yard. He had also committed to his keeping 
his four-bladed knife, with the understanding that 
it should remain till called for. He had discussed 
the respective oratorical merits of Demosthenes and 
Cicero with Frank. He had held a solemn confer- 
ence with Bessie on the name to be given to her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD, 229 

new dolL He had, after long patience and perse- 
verance, won over the baby, the most obstinate 
member of the family, to his charms. At the tea- 
table he talked politics with the father. And alto- 
gether Bob felt that he had had a thoroughly de- 
lightful afternoon ; that it was one of the pleasant- 
est adventures which had ever fallen to his lot, 
though adventures fell to his lot frequently ; and 
his intellect had succeeded in accepting the paradox 
of a pretty girl combined with common sense. 

One after another the children went to bed. 
Mr. Barnard strolled off the piazza into the yard 
to smoke the bugs from a precious white rose 
with tobacco, and Mrs. Barnard followed to see 
them die. 

Bob and Margie were sitting on the steps. A 
stillness suddenly fell upon him. Margie made one 
or two trifling remarks, which he did not notice. 

"I was thinking how much good you'd done 
me to-day, Miss Margie," said he. " If there were 
more sensible young ladies there 'd be more sensible 
young men." 

^" If there were more sensible young men there 'd 
be more sensible young ladies," said Margie. 

" Now I 've had the best time here to-day," said 

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23© HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Bob, laughing; ''and how jolly and straightforward 
it 's all been. Generally, when there 's a young lady 
around, there 's more or less simpering and made- 
up talk going on between us. I must own I see the 
fun in it, but it is n't half the fun this afternoon 's 
been.". 

" Do you always lay the blame on the girls ?" 
said Margie. 

" I — I do n't know but I 'm rather inclined to," 
said Bob. " Woman's influence, you know — ^" 

*' Yes, I know that speech," said Margie. " I 'm 

going to compose one on man's influence when I 

get the brains. What would all the men since 

Adam have done without that little speech to crawl 

behind when they get into trouble T 

'< < You can make me what you will ; 
I am in your hands as dough — ' 

I could compose a poem on it, the theme *s so in- 
spiring," said Bob. "But to tell you the truth. 
Miss Margie, since I 'm in a truthful mood, I do 
suppose my own hankering after flattery *s at the 
very bottom of it. I never really thought so till 
Jack put it to me pretty plainly the other day." 

" Is John trying to reform you T said Margie, 
laughing heartily. "I'm Jenny's trophy. She 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 231 

brought me up from the depths. And if I Ve done 
you any good to-day, you mustn't give me the 
credit, Mr. Bob. It all belongs to Jenny. She re- 
formed me." 

" You I" said Bob. Were you ever — '^ 
" Yes, very," answered Margie. " I was as fond 
of admiring glances as you are, not more than six 
weeks ago, too ; and I read so many stories that I 
thought it was quite out of the way not to have a 
constant admirer, young and masculine. So I took 
the only one who had ever acted as if he thought I 
was fascinating. Oh, I wouldn't have any one 
know who he was for the world; but you'd kill 
yourself laughing if you could see him. He 's the 
most absurd little creature. It makes me perfectly 
ashamed to think of it. I do n't know how I could 
have told you. But I suppose I must have wanted 
to make a warning of myself, and try and do some- 
body good the way Jenny did me when I needed 
it. You see I thought it was quite entertaining 
till Jenny gave me a shaking and made me see 
what a goose I was." 

"Well, that's a confession!" said Bob, very 
gleefully. " I 'm much obliged, Miss Margie, and 
I'll try and profit by it But I'm beginning to 

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233 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

think John's sister is a kind of a young Ama- 
zon. 

" Wait till you see her," said Margie. " She 's 
perfectly splendid." 

"She-^isn't — at all — inclined — ^to be mascu- 
line—is she T asked Bob, in fear and trembling lest 
the answer should be Yes. 

" Wait till you see her," said Margie. " She 's 
perfectly splendid T 

" Waiting seems to be my programme in regard, 
to her," said Bob. " But to go back to our subject, 
Miss Margie. How silly it is, when you think of it, 
to deliberately go to work to put on your tones and 
your looks, and to talk made-up speeches. How 
much trouble it would save if boys and girls could 
always talk to each other straight ahead, the way 
girls do to girls and boys to boys." 

" Would n't it I" said Margie. " And the worst 
of it is that the people you can make an impression 
on that way are never worth the pains." 

"That's true," said Bob. "Your sisters and 
cousins, and those that serve you best for friends, 
you 'd never think of trying that nonsense with. 
How they'd laugh at you! Well, I'm going to re 
form for a while and see how I like it. I 'm going 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 233 

to consider the source after this when I get a com- 
pliment for my eyes or my smile. I'll try being 
sensible, and then if I get tired of it, it's easy 
enough to go down the inclined plane again. And 
now let me thank you once more, Miss Margie, be- 
fore I say good-night." 

"No, thank Jenny," said Margie. 

"Accept my thanks. Mysterious Unknown," 
said Bob. 

"What good times we'll all have when she gets 
home," said Margie. "I'm glad you're going to 
stay all summer, Mr. Bob." 

"Thank you," said Bob. "Jack promises me a 
very pleasant summer." 

"The lake makes our summers pleasant," said 
Margie. "We live on the water. Jenny rows 
splendidly ; and John is one of the best sailors in 
town. Mamma will let any of the children go with 
him. Oh, we'll have good times, Mr. Bob, now 
that we've decided not to play at being grown- 
up." 

"That 's it," said Bob. " We 're not much more 
than out of our jackets and short dresses ; and why 
should n't we have the rights and privileges of chil- 
dren a few years yet ?" 

80 

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234 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

He said Good-night soon after, with the parting 

injunction, 

*' Do n't forget that we 're strangers when we 're 
introduced." 

Margie went up to her room, and on the way 
she heard a thump as of some one jumping out of 
bed, then the pattering of feet ; then she saw a white 
vision in the moonlight, on the threshold of Patt/s 
door. 

"What's the matter, Patty? Are you sickT 
she said. 

"I 'm 'most dead holding my eyes open for you 
till that boy went home," said Patty. "I wasn't 
going to sleep 'thout telling you. Catch me." 

« Telling me what, dear ?" 

"Did you see that apple. Miss Margie?" 

" The one you gave Rosie ? Yes. I wondered 
where you got it I was going to ask you." 

" Better ask that Bailey boy," said Patty, kicking 
up her little bare feet as she laughed wildly. " CaU 
me a coward, do you ? Guess he do n't think I 'm 
much coward. Guess he 's higher 'n me — six feet I 
Guess I can take 'em of my size as well as yoiu 
Guess I 'm not such a dretful coward l" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. ^35 

All the while Margie coiild see her little head 
bobbing proudly, and hear contemptuous snifiFs be- 
tween her words. 

"Margie," said she more quietly, running out 
and throwing her arms around her, all ready now 
to receive the praise she had earned, " I thought 
and I thought and I thought what you said, and I 
watched and I watched and I watched, and bimeby 
the Bailey boy came along with a apple ; and I ran 
and I snatched it, and I ran and I gave it to Rosie ; 
and that was worth more 'n all the old gingerbread 
I ever stole, was n't it, Margie ?" 

The three last words were such a sweet and in- 
nocent appeal, that Margie's heart smote her when 
she exclaimed, 

"Why, Patty, did you steal Harry Baile/s 
apple ?" 

" No, I did n't," screamed Patty. " I just grab- 
bed it And you said to take some one of my size, 
and he was lots more 'n my size. Oh, you wicked 
girl, to say I stoled ! Oh, how I scared him ! He 
never dared only to stand still and laugh." 

"But, Patty," said Margie, "you didn't under- 
stand me, darling. I did n't mean to tell you that 
you should take things away from anybody. Put 

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236 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

your arms around my neck, and I '11 lift you into 
bed before your feet get cold." 

She talked to her seriously a few minutes, and 
thought on her peculiar case very seriously afta 
she bade her good-night. She was the most per 
plexing member of her little flock. It seemed some- 
times as if Patty's moral sense had been left out 



y Google 



HER LITTLE WORLD, 337 



CHAPTER XV. 

*• It's the queerest thing I don't hear from Jen- 
ny," said John to Bob. " She's always been prompt 
before. It *s three days after the time for her regu- 
lar letter. If I do n't hear to-morrow I think I '11 
go on the next day. She might be sick, you know." 

" She wont want you around then, if she 's any- 
thing like my sisters," said Bob. " The best thing 
you can do is to compose your mind and keep your 
boots as far away from her as possible. There 's 
nothing makes my sisters so nervous as boots when 
they're out of sorts." 

" My sister is n't nervous," said John. 

"Oh, of course not," said Bob. "Nervousness 
would n't come under the head of perfectly splen- 
did, I suppose. She can row for business, can't 
she, Jack ?" 

" How do you know .^" 

" I H bet she can climb a tree, too," said Bob. 

" Well, whose business is it if she can .>" 

"You need n't get so savage about it," said Bob. 

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238 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

** I know she can swing as heavy a pair of kehoes 
as I can." 

John stared at him. He certainly had never 
told him the weight of her dubs ; and he could n't 
have seen them, for they had been left at Margie's. 

'' Wonder where I got all my information, do n't 
you ?" said Bob. " I know more than that" 

*' I hope you enjoy pumping servants." 

" You 're in a sweet temper to-night," said Bob. 
''It's time a letter or your sister came around; 
or somebody gave you a lump of sugar. You've 
been grumpy for three days." 

*' Ever since that last letter was due," said John. 
"I really am worried. Jenny's always on time. 
And of course the longer she stays away the more I 
miss her. It seems so queer not to have her around. 
The worst of it is I do n't see much chance of her 
coming back, for she 's written me that she 's prom- 
ised not to leave mother again ; and it 's hard to 
move mother from that water-cure." 

" You 've taken a delicate way of preparing my 
mind for the fact that your sister 's made arrange- 
ments to stay away since she heard that I 'd made 
my arrangements to be here this summer. I ex- 
pect to leave town on the ninth of September next 

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HER LITTLE WORLD 239 

On the tenth Miss Stephens will return to her 
home and the arms of her bereaved brother. Jack, 
don't let me deprive you of her. I'll pack my 
trunk and be ofiF to-morrow sooner than take the 
responsibility of keeping you in such a temper' as 
this all summer. It can't fail to end in hydropho- 
bia when dog-days come around." 

'' The least you can do is to stay and console 
me this evening," said John. 

"Don't tempt me I" said Bob. "I'm too anx- 
ious. I hardly dare come in here on an errand for 
fear father '11 drop down upon me. Every letter I 
get he warns me against your wiles. ' Remember 
what you 're away from home for/ he says. ' Hard 
work, to be well done. Do n't fool your time away 
with Jack.' Then he always winds up with a ten- 
der message to Jack." 

•* I appreciate your father's feelings," said John. 
" That 's the reason I do n't urge you to stay around 
more. But I rage internally because you can't, all 
the same. How goes Anabasis ?" 

"It goes against me," said Bob. "Don't talk 
Greek to me, if you please. I 'm lying off just at 
present- I don't mix Anabasis and recreation. 
But look here, boy — I haven't been pumping your 

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240 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

servants. I haven't got quite down to that My 
informant was a lady." 

"What ladies do you know here ?" 

"I have met an occasional individual since I 
came to town." 

• "Well I suppose you've found out all you want 
to about Jenny, then; and your curiosity's satis- 
fied." 

"Yes: I know she's 'perfectly splendid,'" said 
Bob. "You told me yourself that she used clubs 
regfularly. You had to tell me something to ex- 
plain a^y those semi-weekly visits to that pretty 
girl friend of hers." • 

" How do you know she's pretty?" 
^ " No thanks to you," said Bob. " But a fellow 's 
apt to hear of it when there 's a pretty girl in 
town." 

"You'd be sure to hear of it in some way," 
said John. 

"Come, now, that's too thin," said Bob, "your 
going round there twice a week to oblige your sis- 
ter ! I 've never happened to notice that sisters give 
brothers that kind of little commissions. O Jack, 
I did n't think you 'd resort to such a flimsy dodge. 
It 's much too thin." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 241 

John looked as if he heard not But presently 
he said : 

" I suppose I wont have any peace till I take 
you around there. The more I put you oflE the 
more agitated you get on the subject. If it had 
been any other fellow I 'd have taken him to call 
as a matter of course. But I knew you and Mar- 
gie could n't meet without getting up some sort of 
nonsense or other between you ; and you have n't got 
any time for nonsense now, Bob. You do n't want 
to fool away any precious hours at your old tricks. 
Do you know what your father charged me the 
other day when he was down ?" 

"No. What?" 

" Do n't let him see any pretty girls. Keep his 
head level, Jack. Keep his head level ; and I '11 be 
your debtor !" 

" Sounds genuine," said Bob. " I recognize his 
spirit in the words. But what an old dunderhead 
you are to think you could keep me away from any 
one I 'd made up my mind to know. I 'd go round 
there and introduce myself if I was anxious 
enough." 

" Do n't doubt it," said John. "Why, of course, 
Bob, if you'd really like to get acquainted with 

31 

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242 t^ER LITTLE WORLD. 

Margie, I *11 call with you some evening ; but I 
just have a presentiment that you'll make your- 
selves ridiculous over each other." 

" She 's inclined to make herself ridiculous, is 
she?" 

"Rather leans that way," said John; "though 
she 's a nice girl and will outgrow it if she does n't 
get in with some such chap as you first." 

"What a bore it must be for you to have to 
give her those lessons while your sister 's away, if 
you really do n't take to her especially," said Bob, 
determined to come to the object of his visit — ^for 
he had been lately rebuked by Margie for not keep- 
ing his promise and inquiring of John whether or 
not he considered the lessons a bore. 

"Yes, it is," said John; "to have to go around 
regularly, whether I feel like it or not It 's a bore 
to her too; but Jenny couldn't have the lessons 
dropped." 

" Good-night, Jack," said Bob. " I hate to leave 
you alone, boy. You '11 get your letter in the morn- 
ing, probably." 

" It is only half-past eight," said John. 
" I know it ; but I 've got a good hour's work be- 
fore me this evening. I 'd stay anyway if there 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. «43 

was n't an elderly gentleman over in Bamaby that 
might hear of it." 

"Good-night," said John, "I really think I'll 
explain to Davis, and take the morning train, if I 
do n't get a letter by the first mail." 

Bob walked out of the house. It was a clear 
moonlight night, and he saw a carnage coming, of 
which he took no more notice than of the trees and 
fences, until it stopped at the gate toward which he 
was going. He quickened his steps as a lady 
threw open the door ; but before he could arrive to 
help her she had jumped out, leaving another lady 
behind, jerked the gate open, and came up the path 
like a whirlwind, with arms flying. . 

"Johnny !" was her wild cry. 

He stood still, lifted his hat and said, " Good- 
evening," just in time to save her the mortification 
of an embrace. 

"It's the Dream-boy!" said she, falling back 
aghast. 

" It 's the Unknown I" said he. 

Then they laughed a welcome to each other, 
and Jenny dashed by him towards John, the object 
of her mad chase. 

And while they were embracing in the library. 

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244 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Bob hastened to the carriage and introduced him- 
self to Mrs. Stephens. 

"I am delighted to meet you," she said, quite 
genuinely ; for his form and face made a very pleas- 
ant impression on her in the moonlight. " Have 
you just arrived ?'* 

" Oh, no, ma'am I I have been here ever since 
you went away." 

"John hasn't written us about it," said she. 
" We would have been so glad to know that he had 
company." 

" How very queer !" thought Bob. 

"Give her a good hug, Johnny," whispered 
Jenny, as their mother's footsteps approached. 

So John braced up and made his greeting as 
affectionate as possible ; and, not to let his tongue 
be behindhand, he as&ured her, with more warmth 
than wisdom, that he was never so glad to welcome 
her home. • 

" Because I never brought Jenny to you before," 
said she. 

But she was in gay spirits, and she laughed and 
called John an ungallant boy. Then she said with 
a charming nod, 

" Never mind, John ; we shall be introduced and 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 245 

get acquainted, and then you shall like me. You 
know Jenny and I have gone through those forms 
since we have been away together; and we find 
that we are quite nice people. We are getting re- 
ally intimate." 

She gave John's cheek a little pat, which he re- 
ceived with a blush and awkward silence, being 
unaccustomed to the like. 

" I fancy your friend," she said. 

The friend, meanwhile, and Jenny, had, without 
speaking a word, by a common instinct, and in the 
most solemn manner, deliberately stepped under 
the gaslight to view each other, and Mrs. Stephens 
noticed the anxiety with which John awaited the 
result. 

John himself was able to look at Jenny after her 
long absence as if she were some one else's sister. 
He regarded her more critically than ever before ; 
and he saw a frank, winning face, which he thought 
it would be unpardonable in any one to object to 
on account of faults of feature. 

Bob was not disposed to object. He saw that 
she was not a " pretty girl," according to the regu- 
lar standard ; but he was rather glad of that, as it 
would save him some temptations. He thought 

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246 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

John's warning quite superfluous, since no one 
would ever dream of trying softness with Jenny 
after one glimpse of her face. She was a girl to 
have nice, sensible, comfortable times with. It 
vras a great relief to his mind to find that there 
was nothing " sloppy " or coarse about her, as he 
had been led to fear lately. He liked her — ^very 
much. 

Jenny was a little disappointed. But then she 
reflected that it was unreasonable in her to expect 
all boys to have strong, grand faces like her broth- 
er's; and she was sure she should never dislike 
Bob's honest and amiable countenance. 

"Well, Mr. Dream-boy," said she, " I 've caught 
you at last You did n't get ofiE by the lightning 
express this time when you heard I was coming, 
for the reason that I did n't let you know that I was 
coming." 

"I should rather think I'd caught you, Miss 
Unknown," said Bob. "I understand that you 
had n't heard I was in town. You 'd have stayed 
away all summer to avoid me, I suppose. But it 
wont do any good for you to run away, now that 
I 've once seen you." 
" I never ran away from you," said Jenny. " I 've 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 247 

never avoided you. I *ve been crazy to see you. 
It is you that ran away." 

" I beg your pardon," said Bob, " but I Ve been 
kept away from your house, while you were in it, in 
the most pointed manner; and Jack can tell you 
how crazy I 've been to see you." 

''Then it's John himself all this time," said 
Jenny. " It 's the artless Johnny ! No one ever 
suspects him. You wretched boy 1" said she, box- 
ing him affectionately on both sides of his head. 
''I've seen your friend in spite of you. I had 
a presentiment that I 'd gain something if I took 
you by surprise. What do you mean by it t Own 
up everything ! How long has he been here ?" 

" Yes," said Bob, " if you do n't consider me fit 
to associate with your sister, say so." 

"And if you don't consider me fit to associate 
with your friend, say so," said Jenny, slapping his 
cheek so hard that he had to seize her hands. 

" Let go of them at once," said Jenny. " I 've 
got to punish you for such a wicked, deceitful piece 
of business, or you '11 come to a bad end." 

" You 'd no sooner left the d^pot than he wrote 
to me, Miss Jenny," said Bob ; " and I came right 
on, and have been in town ever since." 

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248 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Johnny/* said Jenny, "speak up like a man. 
Now 's your time. If you 've anything to say for 
yourself I give you a chance. Stop pinching my 
thumbs, sir !" 

"Well, Jenny," spoke Mrs. Stephens up from 
the depths of an arm-chair, " I still have my bon- 
net on, and Miss Goodrich has not been informed 
that we are here. I did not plan this surprise, nor 
discharge my maid." 

"So you didn't, momley," said Jenny; "you 
let me plan it, and annihilate the Rubber when 
she proposed to follow us home, didn't you? Now, 
Johnny, you take off mamma's things for her, 
ducky, and make her comfortable while I go and 
stir up Goody. 

" Dream-boy," said she, running back from the 
hall, "are you going to glide away while I am 
gone ?" 

" Not unless you wish it," said Bob. 

" How about that hour's work you 've got be- 
fore you ?" said John. 

" It 's my work," said Bob. " Do you hear this, 
Miss Jenny } It 's the first time he *s ever tried to 
turn me out of the house." 

"Don't you be turned out on my account," 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 249 

said Jenny. ''Stay right there till I come back 
and protect you." 

She was obliged to go to Miss Goodrich's room 
to find her; and there they had a tender, and on 
Miss Goodrich's part, a tearful meeting. 

" Your room and a cup of tea will be ready, and 
all your other wants will be supplied in the course 
of five minutes, momley," said Jenny, when she came 
back. " Did Johnny take good care of you t Is n't 
it nice to be at home again? Aren't you glad 
we 're safely away from that horrid water-cure ? 
This library's a dear, cosey old room. Is n't it nice, 
mamma .^ I was determined to take you by sur- 
prise, Johnny. But then we decided to come so 
suddenly that we rather took ourselves by surprise, 
too." 

" Compose yourself, Jenny," said her mother, for 
she was flying around, her tongue moving rapidly, 
her eyes glistening, and her face flushed with ex- 
citement. 

" I 'm too happy to be composed," said Jenny. 
"Oh, how lovely home is! And what an old 
pigeon that deceitful boy is I" pouncing upon John's 
head, which she squeezed in her arms. 

Bob watched her in a dazed, bewildered way. 

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250 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She was a variety of girl to which he was not 
accustomed. But it suddenly occurred to him 
that this was a family reunion, and he was not a 
member of the family. So he rose to say good« 
night 

As he took his hat, Jenny asked where he was 
going; and learned he was not John's g^est 

" I forgot Jack had n't condescended to tell you 
anything about me," said Bob. " He and my fa- 
ther entered into a conspiracy, and the consequence 
is that I *m your neighbor for the summer. Mr. 
Davis has agreed to cram me for college by Sep- 
tember ; and I Ve got to enter with this boy, in- 
stead of waiting a respectable length of time." 

"Then you and John will go together in the 
fall; and you'll be here all summer, right next 
door," said Jenny. "How nice! I thought, of 
course you'd leave by the first morning train. 
Wont we have fun ! Can you shoot, swim, fish, 
sail, and climb a tree ? I know you can, though, 
by your looks. We have perch, and trout, and 
black bass, and pickerel in our lake. I caught a 
trout that weighed seven pounds once ; but our 
game's nothing better than squirrels and chip- 
munks." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 251 

John rose, came behind Jenny and laid his 
hands over her mouth. 

" Give your throat a rest," he said. " You '11 
have croup before morning at this rate/* 

"I bid you good-evening," said Bob, "It is 
time for me to retire when matters get to that 
state where he wont let you speak to me," 

" I shall find out all his secrets, to-night," said 
Jenny, " and I 'U tell you to-morrow why be 's kept 
us apart" 

" But I may. not see you to-morrow," said Bob ; 
''nor ever again. He'll probably use violent means 
to prevent it." 

"We're two to one," said Jenny. "I'm not 
afraid of him." 

They walked out on the piazza with Bob, and 
watched him beyond the gate. 

"You must be careful h(}w you talk to him, 
chicken," said John, pinching her cheek affection- 
ately. "He's very particular in his ideas about 
girls. Anything like slang or boyishness disgusts 
him." 

" Oh !" said Jenny. " Oh ! I see. It begins to 
dawn upon me. You were ashamed of me, Johnny. 
That's the reason you kept me out of his way." 

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25* HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Ashamed r said John, *'I could never have 
been that. You know I Ve always been satisfied 
with you just as you were. But every man to his 
tastes ; and I wanted you to suit Bob, too. I knew 
how particular he was, and it is natural enough I 
should want my best friend to like my only sister. 
So I thought I 'd keep you out of sight till you 
got toned down, Jenny. I didn't care anything 
about keeping this visit of his a secret I did it 
for fun at first, and my last letter was finished be- 
fore I thought of it. I meant to tell you in the 
very next one." 

"So it's the Dream-boy I've been reforming 
for!" said Jenny. "It is the Dream-boy I've 
worked so hard to be a lady for I It is the Dream- 
boy I 've patched and darned and sewed on buttons 
for ; and learned to tie up overskirts, and brushed 
my hair a dozen times a day for! O Johnny! 
And I 've been so pleased all this time to think 
what I was doing for you ! I '11 tear rags in my 
dresses ! I '11 pull off all the tapes and buttons I 
can lay hands on ! I wont brush my hair for a 
month ; you see if I do I" 

" That '11 please mother !" said John. 

' Oh, but I must pay him," said Jenny. "I '11 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 353 

have to pay himl What can I do? Suggest 
something. He was disgusted with me to-night, 
was he ? I '11 talk all the slang I please before 
himr 

"Well, talk it I" said John. "Forfeit his good 
opinion if you want to ; but do n't let 's have any 
unpleasantness between us. I 'm too glad to get 
you home. You wont go o£E again in a hurry. I 
was down in the depths about you just before you 
came. Now tell me all about everything." 

" Jenny," called Mrs. Stephens. 

" By-and-by, Johnny." 

" Are you her slave ?" 

" No^ dear, her daughter/* 



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254 fl^R LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

But it was not long before John came to regard 
the words slave and daughter as one and the same. 

He and Jenny met at breakfast the morning 
after her return and had a cosey little interview, 
though there was not much time for talking, as 
Jenny was in a hurry to get over to Margie's before 
she went to school. She had not left the table, 
however, when Miss Goodrich came into the room, 
and after having closed the door with more noise 
than was necessary, demanded : 

« What 's become of that Rubber ?" 

*' She *s a fixture in the water-cure for the rest 
of her days, I hope," said Jenny. " I 've got rid of 
her, Goody. I thought of you, too, when I was 
doing it She began to pack up to come home 
with us, in the coolest way, when she heard we were 
going to leave ; but I informed her that mother 
would n't require her services any longer." 

" Who does the rubbing ?" demanded Miss 
Goodrich once more. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. t^^ 

''Your humble servant," said Jenny. 

" I s'pose that *s what you 're wanted for then," 
said Miss Goodrich. ''Your mother says to come 
up stairs as soon as you 've done your breakfast" 

" Tell mother that Jenny *11 be up as soon as she 
gets home. She's going over to Margie's for a 
little while. She 's in a hurry to see her before 
school," said John. 

" No, Goody, tell her I 'm coming right away," 
said Jenny. '' I can wait till noon to see Margie. 
You go over and tell her to come to lunch, John." 

'• Well, Miss Jenny, I did n't think you 'd turn 
out a Rubber so soon t" said Miss Goodrich. 

" Now, Goody," said Jenny, " that 's mean .in you. 
I 've had you in my thoughts all the time when 
I 've been coaxing mother away from the water- 
cure. I thought how proud you 'd be to have me 
get the start of the doctor and the Rubber and 
bring mother home; and instead of praising you 
revile me !" 

" Law, Miss Jenny, your mother will have her 
back rubbed if it aches ; and I 'd rather that cat of 
an Angeline would be 'round than that you should 
go to laming yourself." 

''Look at that wrist," said Jenny, baring it; 

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iS6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" and come and feel of my muscle, Goody. What 's 
the use of such an arm as that if I can't tiirn it to 
account ? I begin to see the advantages of all my 
exercising. It has qualified me to rub." 

" This is a new order of things, I must say !" 
said Miss Goodrich. 

"Isn't it.^" said Jenny. "As mamma says, 
we've been introduced, and got acquainted, and 
taken a fancy to each other, and are growing quite 
intimkte. You don't know what nice times we've 
had together. Goody ; and you remember how I 
hated to go, do n't you ?" 

" Oh, yes, I remember !" said Miss Goodrich ; 
*and I didn't think you were one to be come 
around so easily." 

" Now just stop being such a cross, unreasona- 
ble old thing," said Jenny. " I have n't been come 
around. I 've come around everybody. I worked 
a whole week to make that little doctor appear so 
ridiculous to mother that she'd give up her faith in 
him ; and though I can't say she 's quite done that, 
she did defy him enough to come home for a visit ; 
and I went to work myself. Miss Goody, and packed 
everything that belonged to us ; and there 's noth- 
ing now to draw her back but the doctor's letters — 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 25? 

which I think I'm equal to answering. Why, 
Goody, if you knew what a time I 'd had with doc- 
tors, Rubbers, and all, you 'd be giving me a little of 
the praise I expected from you." 

"Well, well," said Miss Goodrich, "I didn't 
know how it was. You couldn't expect me to 
know without being told." 

" I ought to have let John read parts of my let- 
ters to you," said Jenny; "but Iwas all the while 
intending to write to you myself. The next time 
you sit down to mending. Goody, I '11 come up and 
converse with you about the doctor. 

" Why I had a tilt v/ith him the very last thing 
before I came away. I was standing in the hall all 
ready for the d^p5t, when I felt something jerking 
at my braid ; and there was the Smile behind me. 
He moves around in such a soft, slippery way, that 
you never know he 's anywhere till you put your 
eyes on him. I was so mad that before I thought 
I screeched, 

" ' Stop pulling my hair.' 

"Then he got off something about its being 
such a heavy, beautiful braid ; and too much weight 
on the base of my brain. 

" It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that 
83 

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2s8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

my brain had more base to stand on, and hold up 
weight, than some people's I knew." 

" How polite that would have been," said John. 

" I '11 have the clothes to look over this morn- 
ing ; and any time you want to see me I can go up 
stairs, Miss Jenny," said Miss Goodrich. 

"Well," said Jenny, "we'll have a good time 
freeing our minds by-and-by." 

" And do n't go to worrying about Jenny's hurt- 
ing herself with rubbing," said John. " I *11 trust 
her for stopping when she *s tired." 

"It wouldn't be much like her to tie herself 
down to anything she hated," said Miss Goodrich. 
"But with all the changes I didn't know what 
might n't have happened." 

Jenny kept still ; but she thought that perhaps 
she had some surprises in store for John and 
Goody. She had already learned the strict require- 
ments of those promises she gave her mother, and 
she held a promise sacred. 

She went up to her mother's room. She had 
taken her breakfast in bed, and the chanabermaid 
was busy. 

" Be as quick as you can, Eliza," said Mrs. Ste- 
phens. " My head feels badly." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD, 259 

"Yes, ma'am," said she, dropping the duster 
against the hearth. 

"You are early this morning, mother," said 
Jenny, sitting down on the edge of the bed. 

She saw at once that something was wrong 
with her mother; and yet she had been in such 
good spirits the evening before. 

"Yes," said Mrs. Stephens, "I have had a 
wretched night. There, that will do, Eliza," as the 
duster fell again. " Miss Jenny will finish, I think. 

" How long it takes one to learn," she said, when 
the door had closed after Eliza, " that it is never 
safe to act on an impulse. If I had not left the 
doctor I suppose he could give me something for 
my head." 

" Does it ache, mamma ?" 

" Not as other people's heads ache. It is that 
dreadful sensation that you can't put in words. 
The doctor understands it." 

" Let me bathe it with cologne." 

" No, I do n't want it bathed." 

"Wouldn't it feel better if I brushed your 
hair?" 

"No; you can't do anything for it, unless you 
can keep it from thinking ?" 

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26o HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"I'll read to you," said Jenny, "and get it 
thinking about something new." 

"I 'm tired to death of books/* said her mother. 

" If you only felt like getting up," said Jenny, 
" we might take a little walk. It *s such a lovely 
morning." 

"My dear child, you know I am not able to 
walk." 

" Then we could drive." 

" You seem to forget that people are not in the 
habit of driving when the air is white with dust 
We can't drive until there has been rain. 

"I couldn't help thinking last night, Jenny," 
she said, " how dififerent everything might always 
have been. There need not have been any memo- 
ries of you that would give me pain. I need not 
have had any wretched associations with this house. 
Why should my coming back to it always depress 
me ? I thought last night that it would be quite dif- 
erent, or I should have asked you to stay with me. 
But I kept thinking of the contrast between your 
treatment of me now and hitherto ; and your kind- 
ness now seemed to bring out your past neglect 
more vividly." 

"But that's all over, mamma," said Jenny, try- 
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BER LITTLE WORLD. 361 

ing not to let the impatience she felt get into hei 
voice. " Have n't we loved each other beautifully 
since that day you broke my heart in two telling 
me how lonesome you were, and I promised to be 
your good little daughter ? What 's the use of go- 
ing back ?" 

*' I should be very glad not to think," said her 
mother. " But I could not help remembering how 
many times I had come home without feeling that 
it was my home, knowing there was no love wait- 
ing for me, and envying the mothers whose chil- 
dren loved them." 

" O dear !" said Jenny, in perfect despair. 

'* Run away and make yourself happy, my child,'* 
said her mother. " Do n't let me feel that I am 
clouding your spirits." 

" Do n't be a silly little momley," said Jenny, pat- 
ting her cheeks. " I do n't want to run away, and 
I wont run away. I 'd be ten times cloudier if 
I left you. I want to make you feel better, mom- 
ley, and I *ve proposed everything under the sun, 
and you wont accept. I just wish there was any- 
thing I could do, and I 'd do it Want to see what 
a nice somerset I can turn.^ I learned lots of 
new tricks in the gymnasium." 

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262 HMR LITTLE WORLD. 

" O Jenny," said her mother, " what a surface 
nature yours is !" 

" It 's a great deal more comfortable than a deep 
one," said Jenny. "You just try it, mamma." 

'• You have yet to learn the realities of life," 
said her mother. " Life is n't all play and sunshine 
as girls of your age fancy. How often I have been 
told that my nature is too earnest, and that I go 
too deeply into things. Mrs. Schietlin always 
said so." 

And then followed a story, in whose telling 
she seemed to take comfort, and which Jenny 
heard patiently, although it was rather a sorrowful 
story, and she was tired of sorrowful stories. She 
had heard a great many since her mother's first 
confession let her into the gloomy solitudes of her 
heart Almost every day since then she had been 
presented to new skeletons. Delicacy had always 
restrained her mother from going, with ordinary 
listeners, below the mere recital of adventures, into 
motives and emotional experiences. But Jenny's 
nearness of kinship, and her fresh, genuine, and 
entire sympathy, tempted her to introduce into her 
stories a minor undertone. 

" I remember one morning in Zurich," she said, 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 263 

•* Count Von Gonsehbach had asked me to go row- 
ing. I don't care for rowing in the least; but he 
was very kind ; and indeed, dear, I had no thought 
then of its being anything but the merest friend- 
liness. A dozen a£Fairs of that sort never pre- 
pare one for another. You know what a mother 
Mrs. Schietlin was to me, and that I positively 
made it a rule not to go anywhere without her. 
But that morning she was taken suddenly ill ; and 
I went alone with the count, just because I could n't 
collect my senses soon enough to make up an ex- 
cuse. He had been pursuing me and boring me to 
death for weeks. He had a lovely castle ; and a par- 
ty of us had been out there to spend a day. I assure 
you, my dear, that I was the only woman in town 
who was indifferent to him. But it was as tiresome 
to me as a five-volume novel always to see those 
same languid looks, and hear those same soft tones. 
I used to wish that he would give some of his ad- 
miration to the women who wanted it. 

" Well, Jenny, who could think of him with the 
Alps in sight.' I believe I had been thinking as I 
almost always did, about the wonder of seeing the 
snow, and you in the midst of the summer — green 
trees and sunlight and the warm, blue water all 

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264 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

about you. And I believe when he spoke I was 
trying to see how many white peaks and how many 
bare brown ones I could count. 

" I forgot that there was such a person as Count 
Von Gonsenbach in the world-respecially in the 
boat with me — until I heard his soft voice saying 
something that he had no more right to say than if 
your father had been in Zurich, waiting on the 
shore till I should come home. 

" I have always felt that way, Jenny. I am sure 
I cannot help it if people will gaze at me, and be- 
have as if I were the only woman to be gazed at ; 
but when any one speaks to me in that way I feel 
it as much of an impertinence as if your dear father 
were living. How could I care for any one after 
him ? I have been faithful to his memory every 
hour. 

" ' How dare you, Count Von Gonsenbach ?' I 
said. * Take me home at once !* 

" There was something about that beautiful day, 
Jenny, and all the circumstances, that made it seem 
impossible my troubles could be true. I felt as if 
I must find your father waiting on the shore. The 
lonesomeness was horrible. I shut myself up for 
the rest of the day. I felt what a marked lot 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 265 

how more widowed I was than other 
women. 

" Mrs. Schietlin said afterwards that my nature 
was at fault — too intense; that another woman 
would have found comfort in the count and his 
castle. Oh, why did such troubles happen to me^ 
Jenny.?" 

" Trouble happens to every one, momley," said 
Jenny. 

" Not my trouble," said her mother. 

"Don't talk about it, momley," said Jenny. 
"You sha'n't be lonesome any more. 1*11 stay 
with you all the while, day and night, if you want 
me to." 

" But you cannot be your father, dear," said her 
mother. " He was my idol. He was all the world 
to me. I gave up everybody and everything for 
him. I never thought of any one but him. I 
scarcely knew there was another person in the 
world." 

" I know it, dear," said Jenny. " But the more 
you talk about it the worse it seems, does n't it T 

" Go out and be gay and happy," said her moth- 
er. " You have never suffered, my child !" 

" I want you to talk to me just as long as it 
84 

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266 HER LITTLE WORLDr 

comforts you, momley," said Jenny. "It's only 
for your own sake that I thought it might be bet- 
ter to talk about something else." 

So Jenny spoke ; but she knew that the June 
sunshine was bright and bonny outside of that 
darkened room ; she knew that there were balm and 
sweetness in the morning air ; and that birds were 
calling — birds no freer to flit and fly whither they 
pleased than she had once been. She had wanted 
to greet her home, down to individual trees, flow- 
ers, and kittens, after her long absence; but the 
heart to do it was going out of her. 

She knew that her mother, to whom God had 
given twelve years in which to wrestle with her 
sorrow and manage it for his high design, instead 
of brooding over it still, ought to be out enjoying 
the morning which he had made beautiful for her. 
But she did not dare say anything more, lest her 
motives should be thought selfish. 

When at last she went down stairs, after having 
soothed her mother into slumber, the buoyancy 
seemed to have gone out of the morning ; the sun- 
shine was not as bright as she had fancied it ; and 
she did not feel in sympathy with the birds, nor 
chirp them an answering note back. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 267 

She sat down by the front door, and leaned her 
head listlessly against it. 

She was thinking — ^thinking what good she had 
done. Her mother did not seem any happier, nor 
better. Had she made a mistake ? Oh, no ! Her 
convictions had been too strong, her covenant 
with God too solemn. She would not admit that 
thought. 

She ran away to find Miss Goodrich and sum* 
mon her for their talk. She talked to her about 
the doctor until she made her heart rejoice, and 
brought her own good spirits back. 



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268 HER LITTLE WORLD, 



CHAPTER XVII. 

"Margie's coming to lunch, mamma," said 
Jenny, when her mother awoke. 

The words acted like a stimulant. She was 
quite willing to rise and be dressed, and made 
charming for her pretty little admirer. She was a 
tableau in one of the piazza chairs at 12 o'clock, 
and she was so bright and gay that Jenny marvelled 
at her heights and depths. 

When Margie appeared, and Jenny flew to meet 
her, Mrs. Stephens graciously arose and came down 
the path. She was so blithe as well as beautiful, 
that Bob, on his arrival, thought her the most 
charming woman he had ever met. 

" Let 's go in, Prinky," said Jenny, as she saw 
Bob at the gate with John. " I want to talk, and I 
can't with that strange boy around. Do you know 
him yet T 

" John has never brought him to see me," said 
Margie. 

"Poor fellow," said Jenny, "how much he's 
missed ! It was shabby in John." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 269 

"Your sister ran away when she saw me 
coming," said Bob to John, on the piazza, loudly 
enough for them to hear in the library. " You 've 
done well to get her trained since last night." 

" I suppose he thinks that will bring me out," 
said Jenny. "But he's much mistaken. Horrid 
thing!" 

" Is n't he nice T said Margie. 

"He thinks he is," said Jenny. "I liked him 
well enough until John told me something about 
him." 

" I thought John worshipped him." 

"Oh, he does," said Jenny. "But his tastes 
and mine might differ, I suppose." 

They had been talking in whispers, as they 
were separated from the people on the piazza by 
only the library blinds. 

" Prink," said Jenny suddenly, in quite audible 
tones, " you do n't know what a lot of new tricks 
I've learned since I went to the gymnasium. I 
can do everything now but climb a greased pole. 
When I can do that I '11 feel that my lifework is 
accomplished." 

" Is this the way you 've been taking advantage 
of my absence?" said Margie. "I kept all my 

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270 BER LITTLE WORLD. 

promises to you more faithfully than if you had 
been here. I've never neglected the clubs, and 
I have n't flirted the least bit" Margie's remarks 
were quite audible on the piazza too. 

"I picked up a jolly little tune while I was 
away," said Jenny, proceeding to whistle in a most 
accomplished manner one of the airs of the street 
that was on every small boy's lips just then. 

"Hush, Jenny," whispered Margie. "What 
will John's friend think ? Maybe he is n't used to 
whistling girls." 

"Jenny !" said her mother, " come here." 

"All right, mamma," sang she, bouncing out 
" How are you, Dream-boy ?" 

" Quite well, thank you," said he, rising. " I'm 
glad to And that you are allowed to speak to me." 

" Oh, yes," said Jenny. " John 's decided to let 
me know you. He thinks it may have a refining 
influence. He 's only kept us apart for your sake. 
He was afraid I 'd convert you into a tom-boy. I 
found out all his secrets last nightj* 

" Do n't make a fool of yourself," said John, with 
the blackest glance he had ever given her. 

There was a sauciness and brightness about her 
that were rapidly undermining Bob's rigid ideas. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 271 

" Convert me in spite of him, Miss Jenny," he 
said enthusiastically. " I *11 be a tom-boy, or any- 
thing else, if you '11 agree to do the teaching." 

" You *d have to talk slang !" said Jenny, in aw- 
ful tones, going and standing before him. 

« Hard ! But I 'd try," said Bob. 

" And climb trees." 

He shook his head doubtfully. 

"And whistle." 

" Shocking !" said he. 

"And row and swim and vault fences, and tear 
your clothes to rags, and let your hair go wild — ^and 
everything else I do." 

John got up at this stage of their dialogue and 
stalked by Jenny with the angriest face she ever 
saw him wear. Her mother had already been sum- 
moned to the parlor by a caller. 

"How mad Johnny is!" said Jenny. "He 
never looked at me that way in his life before. 
Come back, Johnny." 

He had turned toward the front door, but at its 
sill he was stopped by Margie. 

" Do n't knock me over, John," she said. " What 
makes you look so black } Introduce your friend 
to me, that 's a good boy. I want to say something 

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273 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

to him, and I suppose I must n't speak without an 
introduction." 

" By no means," said Bob. " It would be highly 
improper. I beg your pardon. I find I have com- 
mitted the error of speaking without one." 

John transferred his amazement and indignation 
to Bob and Margie; for there they stood — stran 
gers ! — ^smiling at each other in the most shame 
less way, after having violated the rules of common 
decency by exchanging remarks previous to intro- 
duction. Not satisfied with boldly smiling^ they 
suddenly, as they gazed, burst into laughter, Bob's 
cheeks swelling up like a fat baby's before the ex- 
plosion. 

" I wish you 'd tell me your friend's name," said 
Margie. "You'll drive me to calling him Smith." 

" Come, Jack, if you do n't think I *m fit to be 
made acquainted with your sister, or your sister's 
friends, tell me why, and I '11 see what I can do 
about mending my ways." 

".I 've nothing to say to you, Margie," said John. 
" You can look after your own manners ; but — ^" 

" Yes, thank you, grandpapa," said Margie. 

"But, Bob, you'd oblige me by being decently 
civil to ladies in my house." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 273 

" He 's foaming at the mouth," said ^ob. " If I 
considered him responsible, I'd have to call him 
out for that remark. It 's you that lacks manners. 
It's extremely uncivil in you not to introduce us." 

''Allow me to present the biggest gander of the 
season to—" 

" You do n't dare say it," cried Margie, capering 
around John in a high state of exhilaration. ''You 
do n't dare call me the biggest goose of the season. 
Do it. I challenge you !" 

Bob was determined not to let John escape 
without formally presenting him ; and so as he 
stepped into the hall he hopped in front of him, and 
said in an aggrieved and quite serious way, 

" If you really have any scruples about introdu- 
cing me, please say so. I do n't like this manner 
you are taking on towards me lately." 

John turned about stiffly. 

" My friend Mr. Hall, Miss Barnard," he said. 

" Delighted to meet you, Mr. Hall," said Margie, 
with a sweeping courtesy. 

"Charmed to have the pleasure at last," said 
Bob, with an obsequious bow. 

"Margie, what's the matter with you?" said 
Jenny. 

35 

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a74 ^E^ LITTLE WORLD. 

" Is that your hat ?" said Margie, snatching it 
from the chair. " How like my brother Dick's." 

" And how is Master Dick ? also Master Frank, 
Miss Bessie, Miss Patty, and Miss Rosie ? And 
how are the squirrel, the dog, the three cats, and 
the parrot ? My compliments to them all, please, 
not omitting the baby." 

" Allow me to present my old friend Mr. Hall, 
Mr. Stephens," said Margie. 

"And me, my fellow pilgrim and adventurer. 
Miss Barnard," said Bob ; after which courtesies 
and bows were addressed to John. 

"Cross ofif the work-basket, Jack," said Bob. 
" I 'm even with you. I *ve taken tea twice at Miss 
Barnard's, and spent three evenings there, in the . 
last fortnight. What nuts it 's been to me to have 
you refusing to introduce me. Do you remember 
that day you picked up a hat from the hall table, 
and said Dick's hat was just like mine } I was be- 
hind the hall door at the moment, holding my sides 
to the best of my ability." 

" Margie," said Jenny sternly, " you told me you 
hadn'thada— " 

" Flirtation ?" said Bob. " She has n't with me, 
Miss Jenny. She fairly ate me up alive when I 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 275 

tried it. We met by chance, the usual way — the 
same way I met you last evening. The bab/s car- 
riage broke down just as I was passing, and I flew 
to the rescue, and Miss Margie knew me, and told 
me who she was." 

" What an adventure !" said Jenny. " Do you 
always have adventures, Mr. Hall? I thought it 
was quite thrilling the way we met" 

" Yes, I do," said Bob. " I believe I was bom 
to them. Call the work-basket square, Jack. I 
told you I 'd get one o£F on you as good as that." 

" It 's very amusing," said John. " I can't quite 
see where the joke comes in, though." 

"I think it's a splendid joke," said Jenny. 
"And so do you, you grumpy old boy. Own up, 
and let 's all be friends. Come, let 's have a grand 
reconciliation. Forgive me, Johnny. I wont do 
so any more. I 've established my reputation as a 
tom-boy with Mr. Hall. That 's all I wanted. You 
believe I'm the genuine article, don't you, Mr. 
H^l.>" 

" I '11 believe anything for the sake of peace," 
sjtid Bob. "Anything to promote the reconcilia- 
tion." 

"But you mustn't believe that. It's not true," 

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276 HER LITTLE WOELD. 

said Margie. "I asked to be introduced to you 
because I wanted to tell you so. I overheard what 
you were saying in the library. You can see proof 
for yourself by looking at her. She 's as neat and 
stylish as anybody." 

" More so," said Bob. 

'' And she put on all that whistling and talk." 

" But she can whistle," said Bob. ''That fact is 
past undoing." 

" She wants you to understand that I'm a re- 
formed character," said Jenny, " and that my con- 
duct to-day is merely a relapse, which she does n*t 
expect to be repeated. You behold in me the work 
of her hands. And the truth about Johnny is that 
he knew how you detested tom-boys." 

" I never detested tom-boys," said Bob. 

John had taken the morning paper, and was 
reading it composedly, lying back in a piazza chair. 
He looked up at Bob when he made that statement. 
But Bob did not happen to look at him. 

"And so," continued Jenny, "as he naturally 
wanted you to like me, he thought he 'd keep me 
out of the way while the reform was going on, arid 
let me burst upon you in full glory after it." 

"Are there any more reformed characters 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 277 

around here ?" said Bob. " You 've reformed Miss 
Margie ; Miss Margie 's passed it on to me ; she 's 
reformed you ; and has no one done anything for 
John? Then I say he's slighted. And I propose 
that we all join in pounding him back to good 
nature." 

Whereupon began an assault upon John, Bob 
and Jenny attacking him with fists, and Margie 
pelting him unceasingly with snowballs, which she 
snatched from a bush at the side of the house. 

" Have you kept your promise yet, Mr. Bob ?" 
she said. ^' Have you asked him that question T 

"What question?" said Jenny. "Let every- 
thing come out before the reconciliation, so that we 
can all start fair from that event." 

"Tell, Mr. Bob," said Margie, "if you think 
best." 

"Yes," said Bob, "he does consider you a 
bore." 

Margie seemed so delighted by the information 
that it was hardly necessary for John to fly into a 
new fury, which he did. 

But by-and-by they had him thoroughly paci- 
fied ; and they stood up. Bob and Jenny, John and 
Margie, vis-k-vis, and proclaimed a reconciliation. 

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278 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

It was that very noon that they organized the 
" Quartette Club ;'* an institution founded upon a 
strictly sensible basis ; whose first principles exclu- 
ded flirtation, sentimentality, and nonsense of all 
sort, and whose object was fun. Boating, fishing, 
hunting, and picnicking excursions were to be its 
outgrowths ; and they voted to admit from one to 
six little Barnards into their company on all such 
occasions as the Four should approve. 

The Quartette Club was the promoter of some 
very pleasant and profitable friendships; and of 
much pleasant and profitable intercourse with na- 
ture, through the summer weeks. 

John's lingering misgivings, his secret disap- 
pointments, were all dispelled one day when Bob, 
at a bedtime conference, said to him : 

"I like a girl with just a dash of boyishness — 
enough for spice, you know. Anything but a tame, 
flat simpering piece of propriety !" 

"What's become of that soft ideal of yours T 

" Oh !" said Bob. " Well, a man can live and 
learn, can't he > I 'm older than I was. I 've had 
my tastes cultivated since your sister came home." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 2jg 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

For a fortnight after Jenny's return John and 
Margie were so busy with preparations for their 
Commencements that the Quartette had few meet- 
ings, and no excursions whatever. As soon as the 
prize essays were finished there were the lessons of 
the year to be reviewed for examination-day, and 
sundry little matters to arrange for the last day. 
Margie had to have a white dress. '' It takes so 
much longer to make a dress out of nothing, or of 
scraps from the rag-bag, than out of goods they 
keep in stores, that I do n't suppose I shall see any- 
thing of you till it 's all over," Jenny said to her. 
John had encouragement to hope that he should 
stand first in general scholarship ; and was spurred 
by Jenny and his own ambition to do his best. 

The mornings of that fortnight were only a 
repetition of Jenny's first morning at home : " My 
mornings among the tombs,'* she called them, 
when she could feel facetious on the subject. Mrs. 
Stephens did not like the glare of summer sunshine 
in hex room, and there was a languor in the sum- 



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38o HER LITTLE WORLD. 

mer air which disinclined her to rise ; so they sat 
in the darkened chamber ; she in bed, Jenny close 
by ; she resurrecting sorrows, Jenny patiently lis- 
tening, day after day. 

Sometimes a fear came over her that Jenny 
was growing tired, and would like to escape from 
the thraldom of her promises — when she would 
make her repeat them, and would be reassured and 
reassured that her daughter loved her. 

Those asseverations never had the effect of re- 
viving Jenny's tender pity. But sometimes when 
she rose suddenly to cross the room, or leave it, 
her mother would call, "Where are you going?" 
with a child's fear of abandonment in her voice, and 
the look in her eyes which Jenny well remembered 
seeing when she first made the confession of a lone- 
ly heart Then the old compassionate love would 
sweep over her, and she would be very gentle and 
patient, and pitiful. 

She always helped her mother dress for lunch ; 
and after lunch she always read to her, as she lay 
in her wrapper on the Couch between the windows. 
She tried often, both by wiles and open petition, to 
substitute history, poetry, essays, or standard novels, 
for light fiction; but she continually failed. Her 

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SEE LITTLE WORLD. c8i 

mother had a quiet persistency against which she 
almost always seemed to fail lately. 

She was growing a little discouraged. Doubts 
and fears were finding their way into her mind. 
Her captivity had physical eflFects which reacted on 
her spirits in moods of depression. She wondered 
frequently now if it were possible that her own 
presumptuous fancies had been guiding her, instead 
of God's hand. 

Not only had she utterly failed to lead her 
mother out of herself, but her sympathy had ac- 
tually encouraged and confirmed her habit of mor- 
bid introspection. She seemed neither happier nor 
better because her daughter had found the way to 
her heart. It was hard for Jenny to believe in a 
progress she could not see ; and yet she was as- 
sured at times that there must be progress, known 
to God, though imperceptible to her. For if she 
were not #oing his bidding how could she account 
for the sweet fellowship she had with him } 

Those physical effects, reacting on her spirits, 
Miss Goodrich constantly and indignantly per- 
ceived. Margie, coming over occasionally for a fly- 
ing visit, began to perceive them. John, busy as 
he was with other matters now, noticed them too. 
36 

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28f HER LITTLE WORLD. 

But he did not worry. He was surprised that 
Jenny's enthusiasm should have carried her so far, 
and he blamed himself a little for permitting it ; 
but he had perfect confidence in his power to put 
the needed check upon her as soon as he should 
have time. 

He had read her letters with allowance, and not 
feared that undue sacrifice would be the result of 
her rash promises, for he considered her quite com- 
petent to take care of her own interests. She was 
preeminently a free creature. The daily confine- 
ment in a darkened chamber of one who loved out- 
door life as much as nature's wild children that 
were born to it; the exactions of a nervous invalid 
imposed upon one whose spirit had always risen to 
arms at the slightest oppressions, were marvels 
John had not looked to see. 

And while he waited for an opportunity to in- 
quire into their causes, he was obliged merely to 
accept them as marvels; for he could not believe 
that Jenny loved her mother well enough to be her 
voluntary slave, and he did not consider her reli- 
gious emotions equal to the results produced. 

When the commencements were over, when 
Margie's dress had been worn successfully and laid 

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HER LITTLE WOULD. 283 

aside, and John had gratified his friends by taking 
the prize for general scholarship, he came up stairs 
one morning to begin business. 

He knocked on his mother's door, and when 
Jenny opened it said, in tones that could not fail to 
be heard as far as the bed, 

"Bob and Margie are down on the piazza. 
There's a glorious breeze, and the Quartette's 
bound for a sail. Hurry up; we don't want to 
waste a whiff of it." 

The way that Jenny's eyes shone for a second 
touched John's heart; then she turned her face 
toward the bed. 

*' Go, my dear," said her mother. 

Jenny did not notice the words. She caught 
the tones, and the look of her mother's eyes. 

" Thank you, momley, but I do n't feel like it," 
she said. " You can take three or four little Bar- 
nards for ballast, John." 

She positively scowled him away from the door. 
But he went away angry, and laid plans for a speedy 
and private interview. 

That evening he demanded Jenny's society; 
but she came down to sit on the piazza, accompa 
nied as usual by her mother. 

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^84 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Jenny," said he, as Mrs. Stephens went in the 
house a moment, "get your hat and come for a 
walk. "Tve got something I want to say to 
you." 

"We can't leave mamma alone," ^aid Jenny. 
" She hates to be left alone evenings." 

"You don't 'think it's anything to leave me 
alone all day long," said John. " You do n't seem 
like yourself any more. I feel as if I 'd buried you 
and planted a weeping-willow over your grave." 

Mrs. Stephens returned ; and as Jenny did not 
heed John's winks, he took his hat in a few min- 
utes, and went out of the gate. 

Bob came over soon after, and he and Mrs. Ste- 
phens devoted themselves to each other, while 
Jenny sat apart in sad silence. 

She felt as if she loved her mother less than 
usual ; she felt angry toward those promises which 
had kept her away from John till she seemed to 
him dead and buried. It had cut her to the heart 
to see him take his hat and go out of the gate. 
The contrast between the present time and the 
good old days, when she and John were free to 
enjoy each other from morning till night, came 
over her sharply ; and it occurred to her that in 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 285 

serving her mother faithfully she had neglected 
him. 

How merry her mother was ; laughing and talk- 
ing and flirting with Bob as if she were of his own 
age. What a gay time they were having. The 
laughter smote on her ears. She rose and went to 
the gate. She thought if she could only find John 
she would walk with him now as long as he wanted 
her ; for Bob could keep her ipother company, and 
if he weren't there she didn't know that she 
should care. Her mother could be happy enough 
when she chose. She did n't think it necessary to 
go down in the depths with all her friends, and drag 
them after. 

Sore at heart, grieved on John's account, dis- 
turbed on her own, by the merry laughter that rang 
all the way down the path, she leaned over the 
gate and looked in the direction John had gone. 
She did not expect to see him, and her surprise 
was as great as her joy when he came sauntering 
into view. It was evening, but she thought she 
should have known the swing of his big shoulders 
at midnight. 

She threw the gate open and flew, and rushed 
upon him breathlessly. 

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286 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" Here I am, Johnny," she said. 

" Minus a hat," said he, taking her hand under 
his arm. " You 11 get cold." 

" This night !" said Jenny. " How can I get 
cold on a scorching July night, goosey-gander ?" 

"Call me some more names," said John. "It 
sounds like old times. You haven't had spirit 
enough to call. any one names lately. Look here, 
Jen, what have you come for } that talk } I want 
plenty of time for it." 

" Do n't let 's have a talk, Johnny," said Jenny. 
" Let 's have a good old visit. Let 's run a race to 
Dr. Jenks' corner, will you .^" 

" No, I wont," said John. " I 'd be ashamed of 
the way I *d beat you. You can't run worth a cent 
since you 've been cooped up in that room so much. 
You 're getting white and peaked and weakly. Jen, 
what makes that scowl between your eyes lately .^ 
Do you have headaches V 

" Sometimes," said Jenny, feeling in John's mere 
tones the comfort of being protected and petted 
and looked after, as she used to be before it took 
all her time to protect and pet and look after her 
mother. 

" It 's something new," said John. 

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HER LIITLE WORLD. iS; 

" Yes," said Jenny. 

" You have the blues, too, do n't you ?" 

"A little," said Jenny. 

"That's certainly something new," said John. 
" Now look here, there 's no use in beating around 
the bush. I 'm too mad, an3rway, to come at the 
thing with arguments. But I can say pretty dis- 
tinctly that you Ve got to stop it right ofif. I wont 
stand any more nonsense. I didn't half believe 
your letters. I thought you were away from me 
and had to have somebody to be fond of, and went 
into the thing head first, as you generally do; and 
that after you got back home you *d cool off, and be 
reasonably attentive to mother, and that we 'd have 
the kind of family feeling all around that we ought 
to have. 

"But, Jenny, it always has to be an extreme 
with you, and extremes, as I've told you a thou- 
sand times, do nothing but harm. Look at the 
state of affairs now. You, for some reason that 
I can't make out, coop yourself up in that dark 
room and mope with mother, encouraging her to 
be miserable, when you told me that your object 
was to train her thoughts away from herself. You 
are deliberately defeating your own plans. 

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288 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"And look at my side of the question. You 
used to think me worth considering. If you're 
satisfied that it's just the thing to give me up the 
way you have, then you *re a changed girl, that 's 
all. I can't tell you how I miss you. It would be 
different if I was n't going off to college next fall. 
But the summer's just slipping away, and I see 
nothing of you, and after September there wont be 
any chances for us. Do n't you think you have any 
duty to me ?" 

•' No," said Jenny, quite pitifully. " Duty is n't 
the word. It 's the thing I 'd like best in the world 
to be with you every minute, and have our good 
old times over." 

" There I hear your voice !" said John, " What 
a tremble it's got in it. That just shows how 
you're changed. It makes me so mad I can't talk 
straight. But I want you to tell me why you do it. 
You 're the last girl in the world I ever thought 
would be imposed upon." 

" I have told you, Johnny." 

" Oh, duty, do you mean } I know you wrote 
me a good deal about that, but I did n't pay much 
attention to it And yet I do n't know but you 've 
got the right stuff in you for a fanatic. Martyr-. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 989 

dom 's nothing better than lunacy, in my opinion. 
Half those fellows that got their reputation up by 
being roasted, chopped, etc., might have saved their 
lives and their souls too, if they 'd just kept their 
beads level I do n't know but you 've got the ele- 
ments of a martyr in you, after all So it 's lunacy 
that's making you do so much harm where you 
want to do good, is it, you misguided little sis- 
ter?" 

Jenny did not answer. She felt crushed by 
John's accusations, for they were a confirmation of 
her own fears. She was so in the habit of accept- 
ing John's opinions as infallible, that they seemed 
to make it sure she had not been guided by God, 
but had been walking wilfully in her own way. 
And yet why had He accompanied her in each 
step of that way, and drawn her near to Him through 
all the patient sacrifices she had made ? God was 
talking to her heart then, and John to her human 
reason. 

^' You 've made me no end lonesome and unhap- 
py, leaving me in the lurch so ; you 've broken down 
your own health and spirits; and you've made 
mother ten times as morbid as she ever was before," 
said John. 

87 

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290 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" I Ve meant well," said Jenny. 

" Oh, horrors !" said John. •' Your voice goes 
right to the soles of my boots. Who'd ever have 
expected to hear you mewing like a sick kitten ? 
Look up here. Do n't duck your head down so 
that I can't get a peep at your face. I see little 
enough of it anyway." 

As Jenny refused to obey, John put his hand 
under her chin and lifted it up ; and there, as he 
expected, he discovered tears, one lying, round and 
shining in the moonlight, on each cheek 

" Now, Jenny," he said, kissing one and then the 
other away, " do n't repeat this business ; for if we 
have any more scenes somebody '11 catch us at it 
and take us for lovers, and you know you 'd never 
live down the disgrace of that. I thought you were 
crying. Why, it 's positively awful the way you 're 
run down lately. You see your nerves are just un- 
strung from what you 've been through. Of course 
you've meant well, only too well, you poor little 
chicken. It 's lucky there are n't any stakes around 
here. You 'd have tied yourself to one and set fire 
to it before this. You've had the best intentions, 
and you've only made mistakes. And now we'll 
straighten everything out. You needn't bother 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 291 

your head about it either. I *I1 run the whole thing 
for you." 

" But, Johnny, you can't do anything," said Jen- 
ny. " I 'm sure I 've been doing what I ought to ; 
you don't know how sure I feel of it in my heart 
most of the time ; and it will all straighten itself 
out if we 're only patient." 

John's dignified silence rebuked her more than 
anything he had said. 

" I did n't mean to make you think that it 's noth- 
ing but duty keeps me with mother, Johnny," she 
said humbly. " I do love her very much. I love 
her better every day. The more I see how dark it 
is inside of her heart the more I pity her, and the 
more I pity her the more I love her. It is n't the 
same kind of love I have for you, papa ; but I sup- 
pose there may be a good many kinds in the world. 
And it is n't the same kind I expected to have for 
my mother. It 's something like the way I used to 
love my dolls — more the way a mother loves a 
child than the way a child loves a mother, I should 
think." 

" Love and duty point in the same direction in 
this case," said John. 

Jenny could not bear his displeasure. She had 

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392 tt£Ii LITTLE WORLD. 

never in her life resisted in the end his stronger 
will. It seemed a violation of their natural rela- 
tions, which would threaten destruction to those 
relations, that she should do so; and she finally 
that evening, against higher than human convic- 
tions, promised to follow his guidance. 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 393 



CHAPTER XIX. 

But she lost the sweet assurance of God's ap- 
proval which had been an under-current of peace 
in her heart, no matter how tired her arms got with 
rubbing, or how much her bead ached, or what fears 
beset her mind. 

John did not make any great demands upon her 
time for a few days. He spent the evenings on 
the piazza with the assembly of family and friends, 
which included Bob generally, and sometimes Mar* 
gie, and was content to monopolize Jenny when Mrs. 
Stephens was asleep or engaged with visitors. But 
he had told Jenny his plans ; and the conscious- 
ness of them, and dread of their announcement, put 
a constraint upon her manner up stairs, and wrought 
the least perceptible coldness between her mother 
and her. Mrs. Stephens did not confide her sor- 
rows quite as freely ; the doctor's name sometimes 
drifted into the conversation ; and even Angeline 
was dragged from a fortnight's oblivion and favor- 
ably mentioned. 



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294 -H^^ LITTLE WORLD. 

"Mother," said John one evening at dinner, 
*' how do you think you 'd like camping out ? I 
have an invitation for you from the Quartette Club. 
Mr. Davies is going away for a week next week, 
Friday, and we 're going to celebrate Bob's vacation 
by camping out across the lake. Wont you come 
and matronize us, and go with us to-morrow to 
choose the place ? Bob is doing extra work so that 
he can get off to-morrow, and we'll start'by seven 
and make a whole day of it, just we four and half a 
dozen Barnards. Margie suggested the baby, but 
I voted him out with very little ceremony." 

" It is hardly necessary for me to go through 
the form of declining," said Mrs, Stephens. 

" Could n't you possibly do it, momley ?" said 
Jenny. 

" Certainly not," said her mother, with a queen- 
liness of aspect that forbade further mention of the 
subject. She seemed so wholly her old sufficient 
self during the rest of the dinner hour that Jenny 
felt as if she had gone back to the motherless 
days. 

Her coldness did not trouble John at all that 
evening. He rather seemed to enjoy it, being in 
an excellent humor. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 295 

But Jenny had never anticipated a day in the 
woods with such depression of spirits. Her mother 
made no allusion to the promises she was going to 
break, and she felt sure that she would not allude 
to them when they were alone. But none the less 
would she know that honorable people keep their 
promises. John might say what he pleased about 
bad promises being better broken than kept, and 
her mother having no right to bind her to anything 
that could do either one of them harm, A promise 
was a promise. And however good his arguments 
might be, there were arguments of her own which 
were demanding a hearing on this critical evening. 

She wanted to be alone with God. She felt 
almost as if he were summoning her to come and 
talk to him about her perplexities. There had 
been a cloud between them lately. She longed to 
find her way through it back to him to-night. She 
began to see that in matters of conscience no one, 
even John, had a right to come between her and 
Christ. "'Shut thy door upon thee, and call 
unto thee Jesus, thy beloved,'" said her heart. 
She must exclude all human rivals from that inter- 
view ; and then she believed that he would reveal 
his will; and if once again she should know it 

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296 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

clearly, she thought that she would do it bravely, 
whatever might oppose. He seemed to be calling 
her away ; but she waited for her mother to break 
up their trio on the piazza. 

Mrs. Stephens arose by-and-by and bade them 
a ceremonious good-night 

''You need not come with me," she said, as 
Jenny prepared to accompany her. " Stay and en- 
joy the moonlight" 

The pang that her formal tones and manner 
sent to Jenny's heart taught her how much she 
had learned to love her poor, unhappy mother. 

She said Good-night to John, and followed her ; 
but when she reached her door it was closed 

She turned away and went into her own room. 
She sat down by the window and rocked and 
rocked. 

To have gone back after so many weeks of pa- 
tient toil to the old relations with her mother was 
a pain that shut out Jenny's selfish regrets for the 
good times she used to have with John. And 
John's claims upon her society were absorbed now 
in the knowledge of her mother's greater need He 
had no soul sick with bitter memories, weak with 
a lifetime's habit, to be healed and helped. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 297 

But as she sat rocking she tried to put all hu- 
man influences away — ^John's opinions and her own 
emotions. She swept and garnished her heart, and 
asked God in. He needed no asking except that 
preparation. As soon as she had made ready, by 
forbidding human intrusion, he came. She had 
only to be quiets docile, and teachable, for him to 
teach her. 

How plainly she saw, now that her vision was 
no longer blinded by John's persuasions, nor her 
own presumptuous doubts, what she ought to do : 
that God wanted her to cling closely to her mother, 
with all the patience and sacrifice of true love ; be- 
lieving, while she felt his approval, that she must 
be doing his will; believing even that apparent 
discouragements were the steps of his progress. 
He rebuked her because she had wanted to walk by 
sight and not by faith ; and because her human 
impatience had tried to hurry the stately coming 
of his kingdom in her mother's soul. 

That invisible kingdom " within" his redeemed, 
he had said, " cometh not with observation." What 
if, without her observation it were already coming 
within her mother ! The hope was so sweet that 
she took it to her heart with the comfort of a reality. 

88 

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298 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She felt brave to do the Lord's will, brave even 
to resist John; but she begged God to let them 
have some good times together in this summer be- 
fore their first long separation; and she begged him 
to make John understand. 

John saw only obstinacy and ignorant zeal in her 
motives, and only harm in the results of what she 
had done. He did not know — how could she tell 
him or any one 'i — of the results to her own soul. 
She had learned through every sacrifice to know 
Christ Through service she had become acquaint- 
ed with her Master, till it almost seemed as if she 
had never known him before. 

Her first acquaintance, which led to covenant 
vows, was like a glimpse one gets under sudden and 
intense emotion into the recesses of a soul ; a near- 
ness that no subsequent distance can ever make 
unreal, and which may have in it the elements of 
love, but is far from being the sweet sufficiency of 
daily fellowship. 

That most wonderful experience of the human 
soul — an actual friendship with One unseen, yet 
personal — had been Jenny's in these weeks of self- 
denial, patience, and prayer. 

She had learned that intimacy with Christ is 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 299 

dependent on obedient service. She had never 
taken one step astray that Christ had not seemed 
less personal to her. Nor had she been able merely 
through penitent confession to find him again, 
divine and human, as in the old days when he 
walked in streets and dwelt in houses, and mortals 
were his neighbors and kinsmen. She had had to 
undo her mistakes as far as possible, to retrieve 
and humbly begin anew, before she could feel bis 
friendship close and real. 

After the way before her looked straight and 
clear she got up and undressed, continually asking 
God to help her in the details, and to keep her 
heart brave. 

She had heard John come up to bed, and she 
saw no light through his keyhole and heard no 
sound when she went exploring. She would not 
disturb him, as he had to rise early, but would 
tell him in the morning when she went to wake 
him. 

She walked softly towards her mother's door, 
and was surprised to discover a light through that 
keyhole. She knocked and went in. She had not 
meant to go in until the excursionists were off the 
next morning, but she was afraid that her mother 

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300 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

might be preparing for one of her wakeful nights, 
and that she'could not allow. 

*'Well, Jenny," said Mrs. Stephens, in tones 
that once would have bound her tongue and set her 
pulses going. 

She was sitting under the gaslight, in a wrap- 
per, holding a book. 

" You naughty little momley," said Jenny brave- 
ly, "why aren't you in bed? There'll be a head- 
ache to-morrow." 

" Undoubtedly," said her mother. 

" Let me put you into bed, mamma." 

Without noticing Jenny's offer Mrs. Stephens 
said, 

*' It was exceedingly imprudent in me to leave 
the doctor without medicine, and to come home 
without a professional nurse. I have always before 
been under his care during my absence from him ; 
but I have no medicine to-night to act as a pre- 
ventive, and the headache will have to come. How- 
ever, it is not probable that the doctor will allow 
me a much longer vacation. I received another 
letter from him this morning." 

" Do n't sit up and read, dear," said Jenny, *' and 
perhaps the headache wont come." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD.^ 301 

Persistent amiability was her only course, for 
she did not dare tell her mother that she was not 
going to-morrow, knowing that she was in just the 
mood to decline her sacrifice. 

'' It is as well to sit up as to go to bed and lie 
awake/' said Mrs. Stephens. 

" Are n't you going to let me sleep with you, 
momley?" said Jenny. "I don't feel a bit like 
staying alone to-night, and you always say I quiet 
you." 

"Certainly, if you wish," said her mother, as 
coldly as ever, but only too glad of a companion for 
the dreary prospect of the night " Get into bed at 
once. You should not have come here in your bare 
feet" 

" Give me that naughty book first," said Jenny, 
laying hands on it " You shall not have a head- 
ache to-morrow." 

Her audacity compelled her mother to yield as 
she took it away. 

"Now pop into bed, momley," said Jenny. 
" This light is going out when I count ten. One — 
two — three — ^scamper !" 

"What a wild creature you are, Jenny," said 
her mother, sitting quite still. 

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302 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

But at the word " ten " she sat in darkness, for 
the light went out promptly. 

" There," said Jenny, " you Ve nothing but moon- 
shine to read by now, and I think you'd better 
come to bed than spoU your pretty eyes, Mrs. Ste- 
phens." 

She arose, tall and stately in the moonlight, 
removed her wrapper, and got into bed without a 
word. But her eyes were watching sharply lest 
Jenny should escape; and when Jenny lay down 
beside her she let her take hold of her band. 

The protection of the child's touch kept the 
ghosts of her sorrows away, and soothed her to 
sleep at last, though she sighed when her dreams 
came. 

Jenny awoke very early to wake John, as she 
had promised. She went through the usual course 
of pounding, pinching, and shaking ; and when he 
was sufficiently awake to understand, she unfolded 
her plans to him, giving him all her reasons, as she 
had rehearsed them in her own mind. He let her 
finish, more because he was too amazed to interrupt 
her than because he wanted to give her a hearing. 
He certainly did not consider her worth a hearing. 
He was utterly displeased and scornful. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 303 

** Go your own way;" he said. *' If you can con 
scientiously spoil the pleasure of our whole party 
for an obstinate whim, why do it. You 're a changed 
girl" 

Jenny walked out of the room. She had said 
all she had to say, and could only ask God once 
more to make John understand. 

Bob was coming over for an early breakfast with 
them. She did not want to go down. She went 
into her own room, and she heard Bob's voice in 
the hall by-and-by, and his exclamations of surprise 
and disappointment when John told him about her. 
She watched the boys and the baskets out of the 
gate, and then dressed and went to her solitary 
breakfast. 

After "that she went up to her mother's room. 
She opened the door softly, expecting to find her 
asleep, for it was earlier than their usual breakfast 
hour; but to her surprise she was sitting dressed 
by her desk, writing a letter. 

" Why, momley, up already T said Jenny. " How 
pale you look ! Has that impudent headache dared 
to come, after all ?" 

"Yes, it has arrived, although I had a quiet 
night," said her mother, still writing. "And I have 

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304 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

only myself to blame. I am telling the doctor to 
expect me on Friday, and to have Angeline in read- 
iness. Are n't you picnickers off yet ? I thought 
you were to start early." 

" They have all gone," said Jenny. " I decided 
not to go." 

" Why T said her mother, turning about 

" Because you would n't go, momley. I 'd rather 
stay with you, if you wouldn't come too." 

"That is not true," said her mother; and she 
laid her unfinished letter away in a portfolio. 

Then she turned and looked at Jenny with sud- 
den emotion in her face. 

" It is not because you like to be with me ; it 's 
because you're willing to suffer for me," she said. 
"I see it all. My eyes have been blind ; but they 
are open now. It is I who have been selfish ! It is 
I who have made the wretchedness in my home ! I 
have seen it often in the last weeks, at times when 
you have thought I was the most selfish, perhaps. I 
have been an unnatural mother. I have sacrificed 
my own daughter. How pale you are getting, Jen- 
ny ; and there is a quiet look in your face that never 
used to be there. You are sadly changed ; and it 
is all my fault" 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 305 

" Why, you ridiculous little mamma !" said Jen- 
ny, patting her hair softly, as if she were a child. 
" You must have a very bad headache this morn- 
ing!" 

" Yes, those thoughts have tormented me ever 
since I began to realize how patient and unselfish 
you were. It was when I saw unselfishness in you, 
Jenny, that I first saw selfishness in myself. My 
convictions have been unsettled since I heard you 
were going to break your solemn promises to me ; 
but they are firmer than ever now. Perhaps I should 
never have confessed them if this sacrifice of yours 
had not taken me so by surprise. I know what you 
have given up, Jenny. I know how you have always 
spent your summers out of doors, and how you long 
to be free. The prospect of this day was like lib- 
erty to a prisoner. Do you think I don't know 
what you have sacrificed } And, as I say, this un- 
selfishness only brings out my own selfishness in 
stronger contrast. I have asked you to love me. 
As if any one could love an unnatural mother !" 

Jenny patted her hair and laughed. 

" But you shall go camping out," she said, " and 
I will do penance while you are away." 

" I do n't want to go camping out unless you '11 
39 

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3o6 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

go, too," said Jenny. " I would not enjoy a minute 
of it." 

" I '11 absolve you from all duty, and you shall 
go with a clear conscience." 

" But you could n't help my missing you, mom- 
ley," said Jenny, 

"Jenny," she said, taking hold of her hands, 
and looking up into her face with an appeal in her 
great eyes that almost brought the tears to Jenny's, 
**do you love me the least little bit — ^not from duty, 
but because you can't help it ? Have you any feel- 
ing for me like that you have for John? Don't 
say so if you have n't. But I can tell the truth 
from your eyes. . Do you think me not quite such 
a monster T 

"I love you dearly," said Jenny, "just for your 
own, own, self. That 's the solemn truth, mamma. 
I do n't believe any girl loves her own mother bet- 
ter than I do mine ; and just for nothing in the 
world but because she can't help herself." 

"Youdidn't use to." 

" Now you sha' n't go back," said Jenny. " Do n't 
let 's ever go back, mamma. You and I have been 
going forward lately ; and if we keep on, we 'U come 
to better and better things for us all the time," 

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HER LITTLE WORLD, 307 

She thought that was a good opportunnity to 
insinuate some suggestions; but her mother re 
pelled the slightest approach to advice. She would 
not take a word of admonition from her child ; and 
as Jenny tried, lamely and timidly to propose that 
she should be made happier by coming out of herself 
and seeking new objects of sympathy, Mrs. Ste- 
phens broke in upon her remarks by calling for her 
portfolio. 

As she tore the letter she had begun to the 
doctor into strips, Jenny made up her mind that 
admonition from child to mother was not an instru- 
ment appointed for her use. 

This wonderful, sudden change in her mother 
seemed to Jenny the crisis of all the good things she 
had hoped and prayed for ; and she felt unspeaka- 
bly grateful that it should have come to-day when 
she so much needed its consoling cheer. She was 
prepared to receive full fruitage of her labors at 
once, with rejoicing. 

For what else could her mother do, now that 
she had turned from her errors, than make progress 
toward better things ? What could be the result 
of the revelation she had had, and the frank and 
humble confession she had made, but an immediate 

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3o8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

adoption of that life which by contrast to her own 
she saw to be desirable ? 

It was not long, however, before Jenny discov- 
ered that her mother had not exactly accepted the 
responsibility of her faults. She was surprised to 
find that she had not the sense of self-condemna- 
tion which her words would indicate. She seemed 
rather to feel herself aggrieved ; to consider her 
selfishness a fatality ; something inflicted upon her; 
a curse to be accepted as an inevitable fact That 
she should have been created selfish, fitted to bring 
unhappiness to her home; that it should be her 
fate to demand sacrifices of her daughter, was an- 
other cross she had to bear, and under which she 
groaned without hope. She did not see, nor wish 
to be shown, that she had the power of remedy 
within herself. 

Four days this new cloud lay blackly over her 
spirits. Instead of reviving the sorrows of the past 
for Jenny's entertainment, she constantly bemoaned 
her inborn tendencies and their unhappy conse- 
quences — ^in a way bewildering to Jenn/s reason, 
and that would have made her hopeless if her faith 
had not been founded on a rock. 

Those days were an excellent trial of her faith, 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 309 

for she had also John's displeasure to bear. He 
treated her with a lofty indifference, a crushing 
superiority, as unlike any treatment she had ever 
received from him before as it was cutting to her 
heart and pride. 

But she prayed to her Heavenly Father all the 
time for better things. She asked him to make 
her trust where she could not see ; and she suc- 
ceeded in clinging to him by loving faith. 

And by-and-by a helpful thought came to her. 



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310 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XX. 

She was bathing her mother's head one morn- 
ing as she lay bemoaning her exceptional lot 
God, she said, had taken all joy out of her life, and 
made it d weariness to herself and a curse to her 
children. 

**ril tell you what it is," said Jenny, in her 
sprightliest tones, "I believe you've got dyspepsia. 
It always makes people down in their minds. A 
good, sensible doctor would revive your spirits 
wonderfully, momley." 

"I have no faith in doctors," said her mother. 

" Of course they can't work miracles," said Jen- ■ 
ny ; " but they must know a great deal more than 
we do. I wish you'd let Dr. Alexander come and 
see you." 

"That gruff old creature!" said her mother. 
" He has no sympathy. He has not the insight" 

"Mamma, that insight's all humbug," said Jen- 
ny. " It's very nice to make up for a lack of com- 
mon sense by pretending you 've got an insight ; 
but it 's something no one can have — especially the 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 31 1 

kind of people that pretend to it. I heard enough 
of that at the water-cure. A man who goes by his 
common-sense, and a practical knowledge of human 
nature, can tell more about you in a minute than 
that doctor in a year. Just try Dr. Alexander, 
wont you ?" 

" I have no objection to receiving a call from 
him if it will afford you any satisfaction," said her 
mother. " I can make my little sacrifices for you, 
too, Jenny," she added playfully. 

Jenny did not give her time to retract before 
she flew out of the house to the doctor's office. It 
was early in the morning, and she found him in, but 
occupied with patients. She rather feared an em- 
barrassing recognition, and was relieved when he 
did not seem to know that he had ever met her 
before. 

He turned and looked at her when the others 
were all gone, as if to discover some symptoms of 
disease. 

" I would like to have you come and see my 
mother, if you please," said Jenny. ' Mrl Stephens, 
79 Pearl street.' " 

" Very well," said he, taking down the address. 

He seemed to require nothing more of her; so 

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312 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

she rose, wishing that he would make it easier for 
her to speak what was on her mind. 

" She is not very sick," she said, as she backed 
off toward the door. 

The doctor looked at her, giving her permission 
to go on. 

" She needs exercise, I think," said Jenny. 

" Very likely," said the doctor ; " most invalids 
do. It's a favorite prescription of mine; but it 
is n't popular. I have to be careful how I give it 
Your mother might turn me out of the house if I 
proposed it ; and I do n't believe I want to be turned 
out of her house again." 

His smile of recognition was so full of good 
humor that Jenny all in one breath poured out her 
regrets and apologies for that rude behavior, and 
her confidences about her mother. 

"Mamma is very unhappy," she said. "She 
has had a great deal of trouble, and she can't help 
thinking about it all the time. She stays in the 
house too much, and doesn't exercise when she 
goes out. I wish you could make her take walks 
instead of always driving; and if you could only 
coax her to ^o in the woods sometimes, I 'm sure it 
would help her to forget things." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 313 

"We'll see what we can do," said the doctor 
encouragingly. " We '11 try and help her to forget." 

With Jenny's suggestions assisting his own per- 
ceptions he soon had a thorough understanding of 
Mrs. Stephens' case; and he began his professional 
services by making himself agreeable in the way 
best adapted to win his patient. He succeeded so 
well that after the first call Mrs. Stephens frankly 
acknowledged to Jenny that she had misjudged 
him. 

"I am sure he would never be bluff or stern 
with me," she said. " He is really charming, Jen- 
ny ; so sympathetic and gallant, and yet with such 
an air of being able to help one. 

She enjoyed the sense of security it gave her to 
be once more under a physician's care, and her spir- 
its rose with each visit. She had a new topic of 
conversation too, which made a pleasant variety for 
Jenny's ears. 

The doctor approached the subject of exercise 
cautiously, and did not prescribe his favorite*rem- 
edy until after several visits. But meanwhile he 
talked eloquently of nature's restoring arts, and 
was quite a poet, Mrs. Stephens said, in his enthu- 
siasm over the healing balm to be found in the 

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314 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

breath of woods and fields and water expanses, for 
sick hearts as well as for sick bodies. 

When he considered himself well enough estab- 
lished in her good graces to exercise authority, he 
told her that he had his first intelligent prescrip- 
tion ready. He had studied her case until he knew 
just what to give her. 

" It 's to be taken in large doses, and it 's hard 
to swallow," he said. "You wont like it; but I 
shall have to insist upon it Air and exercise, Mrs. 
Stephens." 

She did not like it indeed. But there was some- 
thing persuasive even in the doctor's authority, and 
instead of rebelling she sweetly remonstrated. 

" You know I 'm not strong enough for exertion, 
doctor," said she. 

" Strength comes by exertion, my dear madam," 
said he. "You can be well if you only will. It 
depends entirely on yourself. There's nothing 
more the matter with you than with Miss Jenny. 
What *s this I heard you say about camping out V 
said he, turning to Jenny. 

"Oh, nothing," answered Jenny, "except that 
we had made plans for it this week, and gave them 
up because we did n't want to go without mam- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 315 

ma. We were to have started early to-morrow 
morning." 

" Going to have a cabin ?" 

'* Yes, sir. John was going to get one for us 
girls, so that mamma could have slept in a bed. 
The boys were to have a tent." 

" Fly around," said the doctor, "and make your 
preparations. Your mother will be ready to start 
to-morrow morning." 

" O doctor, the idea of my camping out !" said 
Mrs. Stephens. 

"It's an excellent idea," said the doctor, "a 
highly sensible one; and it's my prescription. 
Take it, or discharge me." 

There was an engaging playfulness about the 
defiant air with which he delivered the last remark. 
After reiterating it he departed, to escape argu- 
ments and protestations. 

He left Mrs. Stephens' mind in a perfect tur- 
moil, which Jenny felt powerless to quell ; and she 
determined to call a champion to the rescue. 

Not John, of course. She passed him on the 
piazza, where he was stretched over two or three 
chairs, reading. He took no more notice of her 
than if it had been a cat or a dog crossing his path. 

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3i6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

She could not get used to this treatment from 
dear old John. She felt her cheeks flushing and 
her heart throbbing faster as she ran down the 
steps and around to the side of the house. 

Bob, as usual, was up in his window, which 
overlooked their yard. He sat tipped back in a 
chair with feet outdoors. Jenny did not need to 
call him, for he looked down and saw hen She 
beckoned, and in a minute he was on the other side 
of the fence, 

" Bob, I 'm in trouble," she said. '* I want you 
to help me out." 

" My life's at your service," said he, 

" You know our camping party that we had to 
give up." 

" Yes," said Bob. " I 'm very sorry your moth-> 
er *s not well enough for you to leave her. Jack 
told us you were perfect devotion. We missed 
you 80 much that day across the lake that we took 
a unanimous vote against camping out till your 
mother got better." 

" She 's not exactly sick, you know," said Jenny. 
"She's sad." 

" Had more than her share of hard luck in life, 
hasn't she?" said Bob. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 317 

'' She 's had a good many lonesome years ; and ' 
her poor, little head 's so full of trouble that of 
course it aches a great deal," said Jenny. "But 
now, Bob, I want to tell you all about it. She has a 
sensible doctor at last; and he says she needs 
nothing but exercise and plenty of fresh air to 
make her well. And what do you think he pre- 
scribed to-day.^ Camping out! He has ordered 
our party to take her off to-morrow morning." 

" Good for him 1" said Bob. " Can we get every- 
thing ready in time ? Is John stirring ?" 

"He doesn't know it yet," said Jenny, "I 
have n't told any one but you ; because you see it 
isn't decided, and I don't want to raise John's 
hopes for nothing. It's such a new and stupen- 
dous idea to mamma that she can camp out that 
she 's perfectly stunned by it. She has n't agreed 
to obey the doctor, by any means; and what I 
want you to do is to make her go." 

" I r' said Bob. " You flatter me." 

" I believe you can," said Jenny, " if you coax 
her, and tell her how much we all want her." 

" I can speak pretty urgently on my own ac- 
count," said Bob. " It would add to my pleasure 
wonderfully to have Mrs. Stephens of the party." 

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3i8 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

" Yes, I know it," said Jenny ; " and Margie 
enjoys mamma just as much as you do. It would 
be lovely for us all to have her. If Margie were 
only here I 'd get her to coax, too. But you *11 do 
your best, wont you. Bob ?" 

" Indeed I will !" said Bob. " With my whole 
heart in it." 

" Drop in about lunch time," said Jenny ; " and 
I 'U ask you to stay." 

" Thanks," said Bob. " Most happy to accept** 

Mrs. Stephens, still perturbed in mind, de- 
scended the stairs at the call of the lunch bell, and 
was met in the hall by Bob, rushing frantically 
towards her. 

" You Ve made me the happiest man alive, Mrs. 
Stephens !" he said, shaking hands. " How jolly 
it is going to be I I never anticipated camping out 
with so much impatience before. You '11 receive 
a vote of thanks from the Quartette in due time. 
Will you appoint me special attendant, right-hand 
man } You '11 find me ready, willing, faithful and 
your most obedient at all times." 

" What are you talking about, you crazy boy T 
said she. 

" To-morrow," said Bob ; " ' of all the year the 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 319 

the maddest, merriest day/ You 11 have to be up 
with the sun. We start at seven sharp." 

"Jenny is assuming a great deal," said Mrs. 
Stephens. 

" I 'm doing the assuming, Mrs. Stephens," said 
Bob. " I wont believe that you could disappoint 
us, after getting leave from the doctor and all. 
Margie's Aunt Jane, or Susan, or Matilda or some- 
thing or other, consented to matronize us in case 
we ever should go camping out, if no one else would 
serve. But she '11 be glad to get rid of it ; and 
think of our feelings at the prospect of having 
some one as lively and young as we are in her 
place ! I see consent in your eyes ! 

"You are in altogether too much of a hurry," 
said Mrs. Stephens; "and your flattery is quite 
too transparent You want me because you think 
you can't have Jenny without me ; but I satisfy all 
demands by insisting that she shall go any way." 

" She prefers your society to ours," said Bob. 
" We can't blame her for that, of course ; but she'll 
never go without you ; and even if she would, I 'd 
tease for the pleasure of your company all the same. 
You see if I do n't prove devoted when we get over 
there." 

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320 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"You want suppressing," said Mrs. Stephens. 
" You are a very forward infant. We will dismiss 
the subject." 

But Bob did not drop it for one moment He 
kept up such an incessant fire of argument and 
coaxing that Mrs. Stephens said if she did decide 
to go she should stipulate that he be left behind. 

While it was continuing in full force at the 
lunch table, Margie, obedient to a private summons, 
appeared. She was delighted at the prospect of 
Mrs. Stephens joining their party, and told her so, 
with her arms around her neck, in a most artless 
and effective manner. 

Even John unbent from his dignity to present 
inducements, and make reckless offers of impossi- 
ble luxuries for his mother's comfort in the woods. 
There was such a deafening din as they all plead 
at once that Mrs. Stephens, covering her ears, said, 

"I shall not be responsible if I consent — ^you 
have driven me so nearly insane with your clatter." 

" She says she consents !" cried Bob. 

"Don't be taken in that way," said Jenny. 
" Do n't accept anything short of a Yes. I know 
momley's tricks." 

So they all clamored for the word Yes; until 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 321 

finally she shouted it above the uproar — when the 
uproar was increased tenfold by shrieks of applause. 

" Come on, Jen," said John, just as if he had 
never spoken to her except in that pleasant, famil- 
iar manner, " You and I *11 have to be lively this 
afternoon to get provisions, etc., ready. We'll 
leave those others to see that mother does n't back 
out, while we find Goody." 

It was a very busy afternoon, John and Jenny 
being especially active, and ignoring past differen- 
ces as they planned and worked together. - Either 
Bob or Margie kept guard over Mrs. Stephens most 
of the time, and would not hear a word of recan- 
tation. 

So the next morning, while the dew was- on the 
grass, and the birds were singing matins, and most 
good Christians were asleep in their beds, Mrs. 
Stephens, the baskets, Bessie, and Patty rode down 
to the water, where they were met by Bob, Margie, 
Frank, Dick, John, and Jenny. 

There was no breeze, and they rowed over. It 
was a lovely morning; and Jenny, pulling at the 
oars with her old zest and vigor, carrying her moth- 
er farther and farther from that gloomy room where 
they had been prisoned so many mornings, nearer 

41 

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322 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

and nearer the wild woods, felt almost as if they 
were gaining upon the shores of some promised 
land together. 

Bob had the stroke-oar of their boat ; and, facing 
Mrs. Stephens, he rallied her all the way. upon the 
added improvement in her appearance each mo- 
ment, until, as they landed, he declared she had 
grown ruddy and rugged, and was ten pounds 
heavier when he lifted her out than when he put 
her in. 

She was tired, of course, on their arrival ; but 
they made a couch with the boat cushions under a 
tree ; and she lay in the shade, with the lapping of 
the waves on the sands for a lullaby, until she fell 
into a gentle slumber, where no dark memories 
intruded. 

When she awoke she seemed to have opened 
her eyes in fairy-land, and all the more as she dis- 
covered an elfish attendant — brown-faced, black- 
eyed Patty — ^perched upon a log above her. 

" I 'm watching," said Patty. 

" Well, you 're not exactly one's idea of a guard- 
ian angel," said Mrs. Stephens sweetly ; " but you 're 
a dear little girl to take care of me." 

" Here !" said Patty, thrusting out a flower which 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 323 

had been squeezed up in her hand till its life was 
wilted away. 

"Thank you, dear," said Mrs. Stephens, arran- 
ging it in her buttonhole, with all deference to its 
good intentions. "Did you pick it just for me ?" 

Patty nodded, never once taking her eyes from 
Mrs. Stephens' face, which seemed to charm her. 
They instituted a friendship then and there, which 
proved very useful to Margie, as during their whole 
stay the glamour of Mrs. Stephens' presence could 
subdue Patty's wildest and naughtiest moods. 

Little by little, subtly but irresistibly, the spirit 
of nature grew into Mrs. Stephens' soul. The in- 
fluences of skies and trees ; the solitudes ; the vision 
of far-reaching water, on which the elements wrought 
constant marvels, fair and wonderful to see; the 
abstraction from human arts and artificers; and more 
than all, that lofty presence of Nature which has 
made enthusiasts personify and deify her, and which 
one feels in one's own soul to testify of the divine, 
so filled her entire being that there was as remark- 
able a mental as physical change in her at the end 
of a week. 

That week was a distinct era in Mrs. Stephens' 
life. She not only thenceforward took the regular 

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324 HER LITTLE WORLu. 

morning walks upon which the doctor insisted, and 
accepted every invitation to commune with nature 
and the Quartette in the woods or on the water, 
but she planned and presided over many delightful 
excursions with the pretty generalship for which in 
her girlhood and early married life she had been 
noted. 

It was not long after they came back from the 
first expedition that she silenced Jenny's fears of 
some future return to the water-cure, by writing a 
courteous but very decided letter, to the effect that 
she had found it convenient to place herself under 
the care of a physician in her own home, with 
whose treatment she was well pleaa^ 



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HER LITTLE WORLD. 325 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Gradually the Quartette widened its narrow 
circle and admitted other boys and girls to some of 
its festivities. As Mrs. Stephens, renewed in health 
and mind, began to take up society, she felt its old 
exhilarations, which had been sealed pleasures so 
many years, growing upon her. And by-and-by she 
entered into youthful gayeties in her own home with 
the abandon of her girlhood; finding, if possible, 
greater delight now than then in the admiration of 
honest boys and girls, who said what they meant 
with charming frankness and enthusiasm. She 
opened her house once more and gave little par- 
ties for her children's friends, which culminated 
one evening in the middle of September in a grand 
fete. The lawn was brilliantly lighted with colored 
lanterns hanging from the trees ; there was a band 
of music in the garden ; and everybody said it was 
the loveliest time they ever knew. 

The latter weeks of that summer lived long in 
Jenny's memory. She threw herself into their de- 

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326 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

lights with her usual whole-heartedness ; and she 
was so happy that her troubles were like a dark 
dream which had gone away with the night. All 
cares and troubles seemed to her hideous myths, 
conjured out of diseased brains for the torment of 
healthful souls. She scorned sorrow and sadness. 
She almost scorned one who had the heart to be 
sorry or sad in a world brimful of joy to be had for 
the taking. 

Her efforts, her sacrifices, her pitiful little cross- 
es, that she had thought large and hard to carry, 
seemed out of all proportion now to the reward she 
had received. She felt humbly gjrateful for such 
royal crowning of her feeble faith and works. It 
seemed as if everything were conspiring to show 
her how satisfying earth could be. 

There was perfect harmony in her home. She 
had made unity in their little family trio, as she had 
longed to do when first she took up the labor, yet 
scarcely dared to hope she should be able to do. 
Her mother did not come between her and John. 
Nobody came between any two loving hearts. All 
were one in those happy weeks. 

The "mornings among the tombs" were, of 
course, quite broken up. Indeed, since Mrs. Ste- 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 327 

phens began to enter into alliances with old and new 
friends she had not a great deal of time to devote 
exclusively to Jenny. It was no longer an every-day 
occurrence for them to have private talks with each 
other. And when they did sit down for cosey con- 
versation there were the details of past parties and 
picnics to rehearse, and fresh ones to plan for. 
Mrs. Stephens' health was quite established, and 
relapses into her old disconsolate moods were very 
rare and brief. 

Jenny had delightful visits with Margie that 
summer. Bob grew every day to seem more like 
her very own brother ; and John — ^why that little 
difference between them was bridged over by a 
tenderer, deeper, more beautiful love than they had 
ever known before, or could have known with- 
out it. 

So long as they lived above their difference 
without alluding to it there was an unpleasant con- 
sciousness of its existence in both their minds. 
But one morning John made a full acknowledg- 
ment of his misapprehensions, his conceit, and his 
unkindness. He said frankly that Jenny's instincts 
had been wiser thetl his reason ; that she had been 
•' plucky to heroism" in living up to her convictions, 

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328 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

with everything against her ; and that he had been 
a " pig-headed brute" in his treatment of her. Then 
they " kissed and made up," and were dearer friends 
than ever. 

John was never tired of praising her for the 
miracle she had wrought at home, praising her with 
the understanding that she had finished a complete 
work, in which no critic could find a flaw or an 
omission. 

Everybody praised her. Bob talked about the 
cocoon and the butterfly, and told Jenny she had 
been infringing on Nature's patent to work that 
particular wonder. But he did not seem to think 
that there were greater wonders she could work, 

" We had all made up our minds that the pretty 
mamma was a confirmed recluse," said Margie ; 
" and you have suddenly given her to the world as 
good as new. Is n't it lovely, Tommy, to think how 
different you have made life look to her.^ She 
never has headaches from the blues any more. 
Aren't you proud ?" 

And it did not seem to occur to Margie that 
Jenny could make life look still better, nobler, and 
brighter to her mother. 

Mrs. Barnard, whose views were always clear, 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 329 

and whose judicious praise well worth receiving, 
called her a little magician ; and said she would not 
have believed that Alice Van Sanford could be res- 
urrected. She told Jenny that she had made her 
mother the very person she remembered as a reign- 
ing belle twenty years ago. And Mrs. Barnard 
found no fault. She discovered nothing in Jenny's 
work still remaining to be done. 

But chiefly Goody praised her — Goody who saw 
straight to the roots of things. With eyes and 
nose roseate, and tears glistening, she told her that 
she could almost believe her father was alive again^ 
it seemed so like the old days when the house was 
wide-awake with his " spirits." 

It was only Jenny, Jenny in her heart of hearts, 
Jenny retiring with God to the solitudes of her own 
mind, who was not quite satisfied. 

She knew — often the knowledge came to her 
reproachfully in the midst of their merry-makings — 
that her ultimate work was still undone. She had 
indeed accomplished a great deal, almost all that 
would appear to human eyes ; but God, who seeth 
not as man seeth, and her own heart, knew that 
it was nothing to the real work still before her. 
She was afraid sometimes that she had been mis- 

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330 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

taken about the coming of God's kingdom in her 
mother's soul ; and then again she believed that 
its foundations were laid there; and that very, 
very slowly it was growing towards a goodly struc- 
ture. 

Jenny was one of God's most grateful creatures 
all those weeks. Her heart was full of praises. 
She could never tell her Father enough how glad 
and thankful she was for their happy home and her 
good times. Every joyful emotion of her nature 
was a testimony— often a conscious testimony — ^to 
his kindness. 

But she was in danger of being too well satis- 
fied with present and visible possessions, and 
charmed by them into forgetfulness of the inherit- 
ance eternal and unseen, only to be secured by 
mortal warfare. It was hard, it seemed unnatural — 
and sometimes almost unnecessary — ^to think of the 
body's death, the soul's judgment and endless ex- 
istence, in these days of physical contentment 

And yet, as long as the engrossing, superficial 
delight lasted, Jenn/s mind had its intervals of su- 
premacy, when alone with God it saw all things 
truly; when, considering time and eternity rela- 
tively, she felt the comparative nothingness of 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 331 

time's endurance, and yet the awful dependence 
of the infinite upon the finite. 

When she realized that infinity is but an endless 
consequence, happy or wretched, of an act done, 
or undone, in the body, she felt the necessity of 
knowing whether the two people dearest to her — 
her mother and brother — had in their inmost hearts 
accepted a Redeemer's sacrifice for their salvation ; 
if, indeed, there were laid, deep and '* not with ob- 
servation," in their souls the foundations of Christ's 
heavenly kingdom. 

It seemed to her, at those times, as if each little 
moment of one's little mortal life were worth noth- 
ing but to use in preparing for the real life of the 
soul. And she would determine to be assured very 
soon if it were well with her mother and John. 

John was so good and upright that it seemed 
sometimes as if divine influences might be working 
within him. 

She had no better reason than her own hopes 
for believing that her mother had recently taken into 
her heart an appreciation of Christ's sacrifice, suf- 
ficient to turn her thoughts toward Him lovingly. 
She knew from her own statement, that she had 
never experienced a radical change of purposes 

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332 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

with regard to God and eternal things. She had 
told Jenny that "if one believed the Bible — which of 
course any sensible person must — and tried to be- 
have oneself, that was all that could be expected, 
or was necessary." 

She had been received into the communion of 
the Christian church in her girlhood, under circum- 
stances that brought her many compliments for the 
beauty of her appearance. After her marriage she 
brought a letter of dismissal and recommendation 
to her husband's church. She had always held the 
pleasantest relations with its pastors, giving them 
money liberally for every good work — ^although she 
had excused herself from further service on the 
plea of delicate health. 

Never having felt in her soul the significance 
of the Holy Sacraments, appreciating them with 
her mind only, she considered it no sacrilege — 
on those rare occasions when neither ill health nor 
disinclination kept her at home — to go to the com- 
munion table in becoming attire, and with sweet 
seriousness of countenance. 

It seemed impossible for Jenny to find opportu- 
nity for grave conversation, or to get her mother's 
mind attentive to vital interests; and again and 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 333 

again her solemn thoughts and purposes came to 
nothing. There was inaction and procrastination 
in the very atmosphere of those days. 

As Jenny was not resolute enough to compel 
her opportunities, the time came when God would 
wait no longer, but brought them to her himself. 



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334 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

'^'Two souls with but a single thought, 
Two hearts that beat as Dne.' " 

Sing Bob from the end of the parlor, where he 
stood pulling on some white gloves, and watching 
Mrs. Stephens stealing a bouquet from a basket of 
flowers, for his buttonhole. 

"Margie," called Mrs. Stephens. 

"Yes, Mrs. Stephens," she answered from the 
hall, following her answer quickly — a charming 
vision in white and blue. 

"You will have to attend to that pair at the 
window, dear. Bob and I are engaged." 

Margie ran down the room, where John and Jen- 
ny, with heads close together, were leaning out of 
the window. She knew Jenny's vulnerable point ; 
and she tickled her sides till she jumped and turned 
upon her with her white gloves doubled into fists. 

" Go away, will you, Prink Barnard T she said. 
"John and I have something to say to each other." 

"No.*^' said Bob. "You surprise me. What 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 335 

can you possibly have to say ? Nothing relative to 
parting? Keep close guard, Margie. Til come 
and relieve you in a minute." 

"You nearly made me put my foot through 
that lowest flounce, Prink," said Jenny. "I wish 
you had. See if I did n't split a waist seam." 

"No, you're as whole, and neat, and sweet, and 
pretty as ever," said Margie; "and perfectly over- 
coming in those scarlet ribbons. That 's a lovely 
sash, Jenny." 

" So you 've informed me regularly twice a day for 
the last two weeks," said Jenny. " The idea of its 
taking two weeks to rig a sensible girl out like a 
wooden doll for one evening ! I feel perfectly flat 
in all this toggery." 

" Poor little thing, it should n't be interrupted !" 
said Margie. "What was it doing.' Making its 
last will and testament ? I '11 run away just one 
minute, and let you finish." 

" Do n't give them a second," shouted Bob. 

"Come here, John," said his mother. "You 
shall have a bouquet, too." 

John sauntered towards her ; and soon the length 
of the room was between him and the sister from 
whom he was to be ruthlessly parted to-morrow 

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336 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

morning. He was not pleased to have any distance 
between them — he was offended with any individu- 
als or circumstances that came between them — on 
this last evening. He felt keenly to-night, even 
with all the allurements of college life before him, 
what it was going to be to live without Jenny every 
day. And she, who had not the prospect of divert- 
ing novelties ; who was going to be left behind in 
the places where she had always had John, where 
old associations would continually help her to miss 
him, and nothing would help her to forget him — 
she was quite absorbed with the pain of the near 
parting. 

The fete which was a farewell to the sub-fresh- 
man had been appointed for this night with espe- 
cial reference to the inevitable condition of John's 
and Jenny's minds. 

" They are sure to be down in the lowest depths 
on the last evening," Mrs. Stephens had said to 
Bob and Margie, as they three, and no more, met 
in conclave. •" There is nothing so exhausting to 
the nervous system as a prolonged parting. We 
must n't let them have any last hours and harrow- 
ing final interviews, or we shall all be as dismal 
and unnerved as they. So I propose that for once 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 337 

the Quartette be divided against itself, and that 
the half here present to-day conspire with me for 
the good of the other half. Let us separate those 
two whenever we see them together, and instruct 
all our friends and allies to do the same. And, 
Margie, well keep Jenny running to the dress- 
maker's, and try and get her interested in her new 
robe. And I '11 give them both as much as possible 
to do in helping me with preparations for the fete 
which shall come ofiF on the evening of the fifteenth ; 
the sacred last evening. Let our watchword be. 
Death to parting scenes !" 

So for a week John and Jenny had never sat 
down to talk that their mother, Bob, Margie, or one 
of ^a dozen other friends, and sometimes two or 
three at a time, had not sat down with them. It 
had been the joke of the period to keep them from 
celebrating the obsequies of their approaching sep- 
aration ; and John and Jenny, little as the joke 
pleased them, could only enter into it good-hu- 
moredly, always expecting that in due time they 
would find opportunity to unburden their hearts. 
And here it was the very night before the separa- 
tion, and they could not be left unmolested a mo- 
ment. John was indignant at last. There was 
43 

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338 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

such a thing as carrying a joke too far. They had 
no more than got their heads out that window, and 
exchanged a remark or two on the impropriety of 
appointing a fete for this evening, when Margie 
came meddling. 

In spite of their objections the preparations for 
the fete had gone steadily on, and they were all 
ready now for the guests to arrive. Margie was 
there to help receive, as her gift for spying out and 
introducing strangers was well known to Mrs. Ste- 
phens. She had a talent for entertaining which 
her own daughter would have to acquire as a fine 
art. Bob had been home three days for a farewell 
visit, and returned to spend the night and go on 
with John in the morning. 

John stood up like a stick and let his mother 
fasten a tiny pink rosebud, relieved by a gerani- 
um leaf and some pale heliotrope, in his button- 
hole ; and he listened, with face well controlled, to 
the same advice she had been giving him for the 
last week concerning his behavior this evening. 
If anything had been needed to make him thor- 
oughly mad it was to hear that advice repeated just 
once more. And what business had Margie to 
pipe up } 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 339 

"You needn't feel called upon to take the 
slightest notice of rae, John," said she. " 1 11 ex- 
cuse you from even knowing I 'm here." 

"But go for every forlorn specimen you see 
plastered to the wall, and bring her to public no- 
tice," said Bob. 

" See that you do the same, Bob," said Jenny. 
" Practise what you preach." 

"If you're endeavoring to scare me off from 
you and Margie," said Bob, " I '11 inform you that I 
intend to hang around you as much as I please. 
I 'm not the host, and this is a free country. The 
Quartette seems threatened with dismemberment 
this evening." 

"There is a pair that wont be dismembered if 
they can help it," said Margie. " I detect desper- 
ate intentions in their eyes. We'll have to keep 
strict watch not to be disgraced, Bob." 

"Eternal vigilance is the price of our reputa- 
tion as a Quartette," said Bob. " Suppose you take 
Jenny in charge, Margie, and 1 11 be responsible for 
Jack. If we miss them both at the same time well 
know what 's up, and go in pursuit. You keep one 
eye on Jenny and I '11 do the same by Jack." 

"Very well," said Margie. 

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340 HER LITTLE WORLD 

"You may meet with a reception you wont 
like," said John. " I propose to see something of 
Jenny this evening if I get a chance. You need n't 
have appointed your party for to-night" 

Cries uprose of " O John, you would n't be rude 
in your own hou^ !" " O John, you would n't neglect 
strangers !" " O John, you would n't forget the duties 
of a host !" " O John, you do n't mean that you are 
going to slight that poor, scared little Miss Pinck- 
ney ! You will take particular pains to draw her 
out, wont you .^" 

, He silenced them by saying that he hoped he 
knew the duties of a gentleman. 

But he went through those duties all the even* 
ing with an abstracted, business-like air that was 
far from flattering to charming maidens, his eyes 
seldom losing sight of Jenny. 

It amused him to notice how perfectly foreign 
her aspect was to the scene. She looked no more 
a part of it than if she had been dropped in upon 
it out of the moon. She received the timid advan- 
ces of youth of. tender years with an absent-minded 
stupidity that was fun to John but woe to the lit- 
tle boys. 

John managed by-and-by to get near her and 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 341 

whisper : " Be on the lookout for me, and we *11 slip 
away into the garden." 

Jenny's eyes brightened ; her manner bright- 
ened. She grew quite vivacious. Her persistent 
misunderstanding of Willy Simms* feeblest remarks 
had almost discouraged him from further attempts 
But in the light of the beaming smile she now cast 
on him he felt his heart warmed and his tongue 
freed from a bond. They were in the midst of a 
brilliant flow of repartee when Jenny excused her- 
self to steal away with John. 

"Don't run," she whispered on the piazza as 
John prepared to obey the instincts of a naughty 
child escaped from authorities. "Give me your 
arm ; and if we promenade with dignity maybe 
people wont notice that it *s you and I. Do n't act 
as if you were my brother, Johnny." 

They wended their way with moderated steps 
among the strollers on the lawn ; they passed rus- 
tic seats occupied by pairs, and various trees whose 
encircling seats were also occupied by pairs ; they 
got as far from everybody as possible, found an 
unoccupied seat, and took possession. 

" Now if any one bothers us," said John, " I '11 
mash him without a compunction, party or no 

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343 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

party. I wish I could clean the whole lot of them 
out, and have possession myself for this evening. 
They'll hang around till midnight, I suppose." 

" Not after eleven," said Jenny. " You know 
mamma objects to late hours for people of our age, 
and she has let it be understood." 

" I 've had a thousand things to say for the last 
week," said John; ''and now I've got a chance 
they 're all gone out of my head." 

" Just like mine," said Jenny. 

" We *d better think them up in a hurry," said 
John, " for we wont do any more talking for three 
months." 

"Don't," said Jenny. "You make my blood 
run cold. Three months seems for ever to me. It 
does n't seem to-night as if I could possibly stand 
it, Johnny." 

"Perhaps it's just as well that they haven't let 
us be together, chicken," said John, expressing his 
affectionate emotion by the usual method of pinch- 
ing her cheek. "We wont talk about my going. 
Let's find some other subject." 

" I 'm perfectly lost for a word now I have a 
chance to free my mind," said Jenny. 

" I haven't an idea at my command," said John. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 34;^ 

"Well, Johnny/'^ said Jenny, "we've often 
thought it was talking enough just to sit and look at 
each other. Do n't you know how we think the 
same things sometimes, and can tell what's going 
on in each other's heads, without speaking a word ?" 

" Of course," said John. " Silence is speech to 
kindred minds. It's the highest compliment you 
can pay a person to enjoy sitting still with him, you 
know." 

He took hold of her hand, and having no words 
they sat and thought. But they did not think the 
same things. Even the close clasp of their hands did 
not form a link between their minds. John's mind 
was simply filled with indefinite sadness ; Jenny's 
was actively considering all the painful suggestions 
of a parting. 

Not only did she realize sharply how she was 
going to miss John, what it was going to be to 
want to run to him for a little counsel or comfort 
and know she could not find him, and to have the 
days go on and on so for three months — but she 
realized what important changes those three 
months might work, how they might send him 
back to her something different from the John who 
went away. She felt jealous of any improvement 

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it 



344 ff^R LITTLE WORLD. 

that should make him other than her own old John, 
She felt that if he should return modified by time 
and change of circumstances, it would always seem 
to her as if she had lost something precious which 
she could not find again. 

Of course if she were to be with him while he 
made progress she would have proprietorship in 
each advancing step, and know no change. They 
had concocted certain plans which would have pro- 
vided beautifully against these anxieties of Jenny's 
mind — if only carried out. 

But they were not to be carried out. They had 
planned to close the house and have the family fol- 
low John. There were good schools where he was 
going, and good boarding-houses. But Mrs. Ste- 
phens was immovable. She hated boarding. She 
was just beginning to enjoy her home. She did 
not want to cast her excellent servants adrift And 
she said that Jenny could find all the educational 
advantages she required at present in their semi- 
nary. 

There was one very ugly suggestion in this 
parting which Jenny would have liked to overlook, 
but which she could not keep away from her 
thoughts — the possibility of its being protracted far 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 345 

beyond their expectations. She wondered if in every 
long parting one must not feel the symbol, as well 
as the actual possibility, of death's partings. How 
could one help thinking, when somebody very dear 
was going a long journey, of fatal illnesses and ac- 
cidents that might befall ? 

Then her soul seemed to cry out for a pledge of 
a reunion, somewhere and some time surely to be. 
She wanted a certainty to take away the pain of her 
fears. She wanted any assurance of another meet- 
ing, however distant, to rest her heart upon. 

If she only knew that John and she were fitting 
for the same eternity ! 

She felt that in that certainty there would be 
quieting of her lesser fears. What if this dear hu- 
man face — ^towards which her eyes lifted with an 
intensity of gaze that seemed trying to fix each 
feature in her heart, past forgetting — ^what if it 
were to be marred by accident and paled by death } 
She could bear the thought even of that, if she 
were sure that as long as their two souls should 
live they should live together, in some fair mansion 
already being fitted for their home among the gar- 
dens of God. 

" Are you cold, chicken ?*' said John. 

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346 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

" No," said Jenny. 

" What makes you shiver ? What makes your 
eyes glare so ? They look as if they were going 
to gobble me up." 

"Johnny," she said, pinching the hand she held, 
" suppose something should happen off there, and 
I never should see you again." 

"Don't talk that way, Jenny," said he. "Tm 
more than half inclined to give everything up and 
tie myself to your apron-strings for the rest of my 
life. The manliness is all oozing out of me. Do n't 
help me to be a coward, you old Spartan girL You 
mustn't admit the possibility of not seeing me 
again. Other brothers go off to college ; and not 
one in a thousand but comes back heartier and 
tougher than he went away. Accidents, you know, 
are the grand exceptions to the general rule. Don't 
be doleful, ducky. Of course it's a different thing 
for \is to part from what it is for most brothers and 
sisters. We've been bound closer together by pe- 
culiar circumstances — and not only that, but by 
peculiar natural sympathy, too, I think — don't 

you?" 

Jenny squeezed his hand for answer. 

"And yet," said John, "it is necessary we 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 347 

should be separated ; but we'll both be very busy 
and the four years will slip away quickly ; and 
they're nothing, anyway, compared with all our 
lives together afterwards. And there will be a great 
many vacations. You must think of the vacations ; 
and the times when you come to see me take the 
prizes, Jenny." 

" But you can't be perfectly sure of those things. 
I'd like to have something perfectly sure iox' com- 
fort, something that you would n't have to say 'if* 
or 'perhaps' about ; but would be just like a rock 
under you." 

"Well, I can't warrant my return, you know, 
Jenny, in case smallpox should come around this 
winter; or guarantee* to keep alive if the train 
tumbles down an embankment on top of me; or 
promise to put myself together again like a dis- 
sected map if I'm blown to atoms by the boiler's 
exploding. But I can assure you that all the prob- 
abilities are against any of those things hap- 
pening." 

" But, Johnny, if they should — ^and they might, 
you know — it would n't be too horrible to bear if 
we were sure of something afterwards. Do you 
think we'll both go to heaven, Johnny dear; and 

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348 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

take our walks, and have our talks, and all our good 
times, together there ; and be John and Jenny to 
each other always ?" 

" I 'd like to say Yes to that question," answered 
John. ** Perhaps I *11 be able to some day. I think 
you 've done your best this summer to make your 
' title clear to mansions in the skies.' Is n't that 
the way the hymn goes ? And that reminds me of 
one of the things I 've had on my mind to say to 
you, Jenny. You know I 've never thought much 
of the religion that turns your mind topsy-turvy 
and ends there. You were a little too excited in 
the beginning for me to expect miich good from it 
But I 've watched you and studied you, and your 
religion has stood a pretty fair test this summer. 
I 'm satisfied that it *s genuine — ^perfectly satisfied, 
Jenny. I 'm glad I 've had this opportunity to tell 
you so b^ore I went away. 

'' But I 'm not you, and I never could come at 
the thing the way you have. I've got to take my 
own time, and know what I 'm about, and make up 
my mind deliberately after looking at all sides. 
But I am thinking, Jenny. You have set me 
thinking. I often think what business or profes- 
sion I 'U take up after I get out of college ; and in 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 349 

the same way I think what I *d better do for another 
stage of life. I know it is a good deal more impor- 
tant to choose right and plan right for a life that 's 
always going to last ; but just because it is so im- 
portant I've got to come at it deliberately, with 
my eyes wide open." 

" I do n't see what you have to stop and think 
about," said Jenny. " You only need to make up 
your mind to follow Christ ; and with his help you 
could do that now, iii a minute." 

"Have patience, chicken," said John. "You 
just have faith in that Bible you gave me. I can 
get all the teaching atid help I need out of that ; 
and it'll bring me through one of these days, I 
think. Then I '11 write you about it. And in the 
meantime do you keep your heart up. 

"Well, we've had our parting interview, after 
all, have n't we } And it *s lucky the number 's been 
limited to one. I do n't think I could have stood 
many of them, could you ?" 

" No, indeed," said Jenny. 

" Do you feel a little encouraged, Jenny ?" he 
asked — ^" cheered in your mind the least bit T 

"Oh, yes," answered Jenny, smiling at him. 
' I '11 wait for the letter." 

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3Sd HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Their respite did not last much longer. They 
had exchanged only a few more remarks when they 
heard Bob's voice not far away, inquiring if John 
had been seen in that neighborhood. 

John had no idea of skulking behind a tree. 
He rose and made his presence known as Bob 
came nearer. 

"You 'artful dodger'!" said Bob. "How did 

' you ever get away from me ? You want to skip up 

to the house about as fast as your feet will take 

you. You have n't more than time to save yourself 

from disgrace." 

"All the skipping that's to be done you'll 
please do yourself," said John, "and leave Jenny 
and me alone. It 's not remarkable that we 've got 
a few things to say to each other to-night" 

" But, my dear boy," said Bob, with his hand on 
his shoulder, " you 're missed and inquired for and 
expected, really." 

" You might as well go, Johnny," said Jenny ; 
and he rose and sauntered away. 

"I suppose I wouldn't dare sit down there," 
said Bob, " you 're so mad at me for sending John 
off." 
" I 'm not mad," said Jenny. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 351 

" Only wounded," said Bob, sitting beside her. 
" You 've been having a regular old pow-wow to- 
gether, have n't you ? Wept yourself to a jelly ?" 

" Do n't be vulgar," said Jenny. 

"You might drop a tear on my bier/' said 
Bob. 

".I shall miss you very much, Bob," said Jenny 
gravely, "very much indeed; and whenever you 
come back in vacations I shall be almost as glad to 
see you as if you were really my brother. We 've 
had such good times together this summer, have n't 
we?" 

" Do n't allude to them," said Bob, pulling out 
his handkerchief and sniffing ; " it 's unfeeling." 

" It seems a great deal more than two months 
since that time I first saw you, does n't it ?" said 
Jenny. 

" It seems as if I 'd been hanging around here 
indefinitely," said Bob. "I'm as homesick to go 
away from this house as if I really belonged in it." 

" You do," said Jenny. " This is the Quartette's 
native heath. It was up on that piazza we organ- 
ized Bobby," turning to look in his eyes, "are 
you going to be a good little boy when you get 
away from your big sisters T 

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3S2 BER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Smoking, chewing, drinking, swearing — flirt- 
ing even, I abjure for their sakes/' said Bob. 

"No joking?" said Jenny seriously, for she had 
had pangs of anxiety on Bob's account which she 
need never feel for John. Bob, she knew very 
well, was beset with dangers which were not even 
temptations to John's different organization. 

" Honor bright !" said Bob. 

" Look here," said Jenny, " I '11 bind you. Will 
you wear my colors and do battle for my sake ?" 

"I will, Jenny," said Bob; "and I'm honored 
by your asking it." 

"Scarlet is my color, you know," she said. 
" Now you take this bow, Bob," pulling one off her 
sleeve, "and you keep it, and put it somewhere 
where you'll be reminded what you've promised 
me." 

Bob took it reverently. 

"You'll hear from it," he said, "you certainly 
will, Jenny. I swear allegiance to scarlet Scarlet 
shall be my — ^ 

"Well! well! well!" said Margie, putting her 
head around the tree. " If I ever could have be- 
lieved I should live to see this day ! Jenny missed, 
pursued by authorities, found flirting under a wal« 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 353 

nut-tree ! Jenny of all girls ! and with Bob of all 
boys ! O Quartette, thou art shaken to thy foun- 
dations !" 

She laughed with a provoking merriment 
" Flirting! No indeed !" cried Jenny, snatching 
the little ribbon in the twinkling of an eye. 

But Bob very quietly took it out of her hand 
and put it safely in his pocket. 



45 

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354 ^ER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

"Drive around to the Seminary, Michael," said 
Mrs. Stephens, as they left the depot. 

" Now, Jenny," she said, when they reached the 
Seminary gate, " be resolute, my dear. Go in and 
find out all about your lessons, and try and put 
your heart in them at once." 

Jenny did try ; but her heart had followed John, 
and would not come back at her bidding. She 
made very poor recitations at first, finding it espe- 
cially hard now to get back into the habits of study 
which she had dropped, without leave or license, in 
the middle of the last school year, to take up de- 
sultory historical reading. 

When her mind ought to have been occupied 
with the lessons she was apparently learning, as 
she bent over her books, it was comforted and filled 
with the contents of a letter which she had fast- 
ened between two pages, and which she read over 
and over and over, although she could have closed 
her eyes and recited it. She liked to see the very 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 355 

words John's dear fingers had made. It was not 
sufficient to read their copy in her brain. 

This was not the letter John had promised on 
the last evening. There was no allusion in it to 
their parting talk. Indeed there was hardly room 
for anything more than his graphic and detailed 
description of the arrival. Jenny had nothing to 
skip when she read it aloud to her mother and 
Goody and Margie. 

They four sat in the library and made the room 
ring with laughter over John's account of Mr. Pe- 
ters — ^whom he found awaiting him at the ddpot, 
ready to do the duty of a guardian, in launching 
him into his college career, and steering him clear 
of its first dangers. 

" He was hazed to within an inch of his life,'' 
said John; "and he's particularly afraid they'll 
put me in a coffin and drop me underground, and 
leave me alone at midnight to climb out of a grave to 
the best of my ability. The nervous effects of such 
an adventure he can state, from personal experi- 
ence, to be undesirable ; and he is willing to hang 
around for a week, with a constable, to provide 
against my being buried. I 'd like to see a force 
of sophs strong enough to get me underground !" . 

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3s6 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Mr. Peters, John also said, insisted upon accom- 
panying Bob and him when they .bought their fur- 
niture, and advising with regard to each article. 
And he never failed to improve a pause in the 
conversation by inserting an axiom, concerning the 
attitudes to be observed by freshmen towards 
upper-classmen, the faculty and antagonistic soph- 
omores. 

Mr. Peters was much agitated on the subject of 
societies. 

" The two best ones are rushing us furiously," 
said John; "and Bob and I have pretty nearly 
decided which to join when we get our bids. I 'm 
sorry our tastes do n't happen to agree with Papa 
Peters, as it wounds his tender little heart not to 
be able to have the prospect of giving me a broth- 
er's grip." 

There was a long and thrilling account of a 
desperate row between freshmen and sophomores^ 
which took up the best hours of a night, and from 
which, of course, the freshmen came off conquerors. 
Accounts of those little contests in which the fresh- 
men met with ignominy — ^stamped beneath their 
brows in badges of black and blue — ^were carefully 
suppressed from John's letters ; and Jenny was led 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 357 

to infer that defeat and freshmen were terms no 
man had ever coupled. 

In the second letter they had received their 
bids» made their choice, and been initiated into the 
mysteries of a band of brothers whom eulogy could 
only fail to represent to friends at home. Such a 
constitution as they stood upon, such an organiza- 
tion as they had reared, such aims as beckoned 
them onward and upward — were theirs only, and 
by them only to be attained ! Jenny felt that the 
Quartette was cast into midnight-shade. The let- 
ter was chiefly a eulogy on the society; though, 
as a minor matter, an account of another row, re- 
dounding to the glory of the freshmen, came in. 

Letters continued to arrive ; but Jenny waited 
with hope long deferred for the promised one. 
And meanwhile she was so taken up with John, 
her heart was so sore with missing him, her mind 
so busy continually learning and reciting his let- 
ters ; and she was so anxious and impatient — so 
importunate with Him from whom " cometh down 
every good gift" — ^for a certain letter that would 
ease her heart's sorest pain, and her mind's acutest 
anxiety, that her mother was thrown far into the 
background of her consciousness. She was per- 

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3S8 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

fectly unmindful of the fact that once her mother 
had absorbed her best thoughts and energies, and 
that still she had much to do for her. 

But God was not unmindful. He wanted her 
to finish the work she had begun to do, and had 
so far done well for him. So he led her in a way 
of his devising. 

She came home from school one afternoon 
under Margie's umbrella. But she would not let 
her protect her as far as the gate, having already 
taken her out of her way, when she was in a hurry 
to get to the baby, who was cross with measles. 
She had on her waterproof and rubbers, and she 
ran a block after dismissing Margie. But at the 
gate she felt a temptation to go and have a good 
time with the rainy day ; and she pulled the 
hood of her waterproof up over her hat and walked 
on. 

She blew with the course of the wind, whirled 
about with the eddying gusts, dipped her toes in 
puddles till they touched bottom, lifted her face for 
the rain to splash — ^and held fellowship with na- 
ture's mood which did her good, and made her feel 
more like herself than she had felt since John went 
away. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 359 

When at last she came home, after an hour's 
dissipation, she met Dr. Alexander at the door. 

" Here you are I" said he. " I was just starting 
out on a search for you myself. You have been in 
great demand for an hour." 

"What's the matter.^" said Jenny. 

" Do n't let me see that scared look again," said 
the doctor, " or I sha' n't make use of you. Your 
mother is sick, and she has been fretting for you at 
such a rate that I thought you had better be found. 
Take off those wet things before you go into her 
room ; and wait for my orders before you begin to 
help me." He filled the door with his broad form 
as Jenny would have darted by him. " You must 
not let her get frightened. I want you to quiet her. 
Will you ?" 

"Yes, sir! Yes, sir I" said Jenny, excitedly. 
" But she wont — ^she wont — ^" She could not get 
out the dreadful word die. 

" No, my dear," said the doctor. " Nothing of 
the kind. It's an attack of pneumonia ; and she'll 
be over it soon with the right care. But I don't 
want her frightened ; and I think you can do more 
with her than I can to-day. She doesn't seem to 
have as much confidence in me as usual." 

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36o HER LITTLE WORLD. 

He moved aside, and Jenny ran by up to her 
room, where she made herself quite dry before 
she went to her mother. 

" She's better now/' said Miss Goodrich, an- 
swering her face as she opened the door. 

But she looked very ill to Jenny; and then 
Jenny remembered that she had looked pale that 
morning. She had been too preoccupied to inquire 
about it; and Mrs. Stephens herself had been too 
preoccupied to complain of symptoms of illness ; 
for she was in the midst of reorganizing a club 
which had been long dead, and which was to wake 
up their dull little town in the coming winter. 

She put out her hand. Jenny reached and took 
it in a moment ; and she felt it clasp hers closely. 
As long as the danger and suffering lasted she was 
hardly freed from that close clasp ; and it said a 
great deal to her. It spoke the same language as her 
mother's eyes, which sought hers constantly with 
the supplication of helpless fear. She scarcely 
said, in words, anything more than "I am very 
sick, Jenny," which she repeated often. 

Jenny could only tell her over and over that she 
would soon be better ; that the pain could not last 
much longer ; and that the new medicine the doc- 
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HER LITTLE WORLD. 36 r 

tor had given was going to act like a charm. Gen- 
erally she believed all that she said, and could look 
at her mother with a steady countenance while she 
spoke. But sometimes, when the breathing was 
very difficult, and it seemed almost impossible to 
do such a little thing as draw air into the lungs, 
Jenny felt fear too— like that she had felt with 
John, in the garden, on their last evening ; and she 
thought that, in illness as in absence, one could 
have no rest of heart without assurance that, 
strong and safe beyond all mortal danger, there 
were eternal possessions secured by faith to the 
souls that one loved. 

She blamed herself for delaying to seek that 
assurance in regard to her mother. She thought how 
terribly she would have to blame herself if at any 
moment the struggling breath should cease, and 
there should be only silence to answer her doubts 
for evermore. She found no comfort in her moth- 
er's face, for all the promises she gave her failed 
to relieve the fear of something that was written 
there. 

It was beyond Mrs. Stephens* appreciation that 
her pain could end in restored health. Death is 
apt to seem the only possibility, life the only im- 

46 

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362 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

possibility, in such a close battle for breath. But 
Jenny felt sure that it was not mere bodily death 
she anticipated. She believed that however her 
mother might dread the dissolution of her body 
she must also rejoice for the ending of a widow- 
hood which she had mourned so bitterly, and for a 
reunion that she had awaited so impatiently — ^if to 
her death meant the regaining of her husband. Jenny 
read no rejoicing in her eyes at any time. The 
more she studied their meaning, and interpreted 
the desperate hold of that hand on hers, the more 
she was convinced that through dying her mother 
feared to miss for ever her husband, and 'her neg- 
lected Saviour. 

In spite of Mrs. Stephens' mental agitation — 
which caused the doctor fluctuations of despair — 
the time soon came when she was pronounced out 
of danger. 

It was with a very contrite heart that Jenny 
thanked God for the dear life He had spared ; and 
with a very earnest determination that she promised 
to find out, as soon as possible, if her mother 
needed any help that she could give her. She in- 
tended to wait until her mother was strong again 
before speaking of those fears that had clouded her 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 363 

illness. But her mother was more anxious to speak 
of them than she. 

" Do you think any one will come to disturb us, 
Jenny?*' she said one morning, as she lay weak 
and pale in convalescence. " I want to talk." 

•'There isn't any one to come, momley," said 
Jenny. " But I must n't let you talk. What would 
the doctor do to me T 

"He wont know it," said her mother. "He'll 
only be surprised the next time he comes to find 
how quickly I have got better. He will think it is 
the medicine, Jenny ; but you and I will know that 
it is the comfort you Jiave given me." 

" I hope 1 can comfort you, dear," said Jenny. 

" I thought you would understand when I was 
in such danger," said her mother. " I tried to let 
you know what was the matter. The right word 
from you would have sent all rty fears fi)ring ; and 
then I should have got better at once. My fears 
kept me back more than the disease itself. Jenny, 
why did n't you speak ? Your lips seemed sealed 
to the words I wanted and was all the time ex- 
pecting. Why did n't you tell me that if I died I 
would go to heaven t That was what I wanted to 
know." 

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364 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

"Nobody can tell you that as well as your own 
heart, momley," said Jenny. 

" Perhaps you don't believe it," said her mother. 
" I never thought that that could be the reason why 
you kept still. Am I such a wretch } Do you 
think I am more fit for the other place than for 
heaven?" 

"You are the dearest mamma in the world," 
said Jenny. "But the Bible says fitness doesn't 
have anything to do with it, you know, mamma. 
You never told me whether you felt sure of heaven 
yourself, and how could I know whether to feel 
sure about you ?" 

Jenny was trying to speak wisely, but she felt 
very unwise, and very anxious just to follow the 
promptings of her impulses, and throw her arms 
around her mother's neck and tell her that she was 
too dear and precious a mamma to be in danger of 
endless death. It seemed so indeed, when she held 
her near and looked in her lovely face ; but Jenny 
knew better than to set her own feelings against 
the Bible's plain statements, and she remembered a 
vpr§g which says, " Except ye repent, ye shall all 
likewise perish/' 

" Dear momley !" said she, patting her hand. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD, 365 

" How strangely you act," said her mother. " If 
you think I am doomed to an eternal separation 
from your father, tell me so, and give me your rea- 
sons for sitting in judgment on your mother." 

"I don't sit in judgment, darling," said Jenny, 
" I only can't see down to the bottom of your heart. 
God knows — ^and don't you know too, mamma, 
about your own self ?" 

" I know that I am nervous and disturbed. I 
am morbid without cause. That idea has taken 
possession of me that I am not prepared for heaven, 
and it torments me like a nightmare. I was never 
so ill but once before, when you were born, Jenny. 
I was afraid of dying then ; but your father com- 
forted me. He believed that I was good ; but that 
was before I was tried. My trouble is what has 
made me hard and cold all these years. It has just 
frozen everything womanly and lovely in me. Even 
the selfishness I was born with and reared in ap- 
peared differently before I was so unhappy. But, 
Jenny, I have been better lately, since you have 
been making a mother of me. I have softened and 
warmed and melted into something quite womanly 
under your training. I was getting rather proud of 
myself. And I think that God must approve of 

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366 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

me more than he used to ; for as long as he has 
given me children, he can hardly have anything 
better for me to do than be a good mother to them, 
and that I have tried to be lately, Jenny." 

" You 've been the dearest mother in the world," 
said Jenny. 

" How you keep saying that over, and yet refuse 
to let me think that I can go to heaven," said her 
mother. " I have been feeling so much gentler and 
better and happier than in years past — such a new 
creature, Jenny; and that shows that it must be 
only my own morbid condition that makes me fear 
I am not ready to meet your father." 

" Yes, momley," said Jenny. " If you know in 
your heart that you love Jesus Christ, and that you 
do what he tells you to, you may be sure you are 
ready." 

"You wont say positively that I am ready," said 
her mother. 

"How can I, you unreasonable darling," said 
Jenny, "unless you will open your heart ixA let me 
look in r 

" We wont talk any more," said her mother. " I 
am tired and uncomforted, Jenny. Run away." 

" Let me stay, momley." 

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HER, LITTLE WORLD. 367 

" No, I want to think. I want to be alone, for 
a wonder." 

"That," thought Jenny, having kissed her and 
gone away, " is because God has something to say 
to her all by herself. She does n't know why she 
wants to be alone ; but it is because God has called 
her to come and talk to him." 

" Please comfort her and teach her, dear Jesus, 
for I do n't know how," was the prayer of Jenny's 
heart that day. 



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368 HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

" Mrs. Stephens wants you, Miss Jenny," said 
Eliza, as she came back from a walk, in the after- 
noon. 

She had scarcely, opened the door when her 
mother said, 

"You are right, Jenny. I can tell you — ^you 
can't tell me — what is in my secret heart. I have 
been searching ever since you left me for a little of 
the trustful love which saves souls, and I have n't 
found any — the least bit, Jenny. It would be blas- 
phemy to dare to call the feelings that I have love. I 
want Christ to save me because I am afraid. I want 
him to take me to heaven, not to see Him, but my 
husband. It is my husband that I love and want to 
see. It is n't Christ. I would like to make use of 
Christ. I would like to take advantage of His par- 
don to get in where your father is ; but then I 
would want nothing more of Him. 

"Isn't that wicked, Jenny.? Did you ever 
know anything more dreadful ? But it is the truth, 
the shocking truth." 



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HER LITTLE WORLD^ 369 

" It is a great deal to get at the truth, momley/' 
said Jenny. " It is a long step up. Now if I were 
you I would try and not think of dear papa any 
more. If you can think of nothing but Christ you 
will soon get right with him. You can't help lov- 
ing him if you put every one else away and just 
think about him. You know there's nothing he 
likes better than to teach people who want to 
learn." 

" It is very simple," said her mother. " I have 
not been a communicant for twenty-five years with- 
out learning the orthodox method of conversion. 
I know there must be supreme love for Christ, and 
faith in his atonement, followed, of course, by a con- 
sistent life. And it seems rather strange that I 
should have been a communicant so long without 
ever having my conversion questioned by myself or 
any one else. Jenny, I have never been converted. 
No wonder I did not feel sure of entering into the 
kingdom of heaven when I was so near its gates. I 
was near enough to learn the truth. I am thinking 
of the verse that says, * Except ye be converted and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven.' I never became as a little 
child^ and turned about from all my faults and be- 

47 

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370 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

gan to walk the other way. I was never more wil- 
ful an^' Complacent and self-satisfied than on that 
Sunday when I made those professions ; but I had 
some sentimental, surface experience that I thought 
was very beautiful and devotional; and that of 
course those who received me into the church mis- 
took for something deeper. 

" Jenny, what miracles you have wrought in me. 
I never owned to myself that I was a supreme self- 
lover till this summer; and to-day I am frightened 
by my presumption in daring to commune with 
those who love Christ better than themselves. I 
shall never go to the communion-table after to-day. 
How could I have been so blinded with vanity as 
ever to feel fit to go ? I have thought with remark- 
able clearness of mind since you left me this morn- 
ing, and it is very strange how I have been able to 
recall the Bible verses that I needed." 

" That was God talking to you, mamma/' said 
Jenny. " I knew he was here when I went away." 

"Do you think so, Jenny .^" said her mother. 
" What a strange child you are." 

"I knew he would come and make you love 
him, and make you sure of heaven," said Jenny 
joyfully. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 371 

"My child," said she, "he has neither made me 
love him, nor made me sure of heaven. I am only 
more wretched than before — more hopeless, more 
stony." 

Jenny looked at her with the sadness of a pa- 
tience'that was almost tired out 

" He has not made me love him ; and you can- 
not make yourself love," said her mother, "any 
more than you can make yourself breathe, or the 
wind blow, or the rain come. Little children love 
easily, but not women of my age. I have never 
loved him best. I never shall. I feel convinced 
of it." 

" I shall never stop asking him to make you/' 
said Jenny. "I shall beg him until he does." 

There were hope and comfort in the resolution 
of her tones. Mrs. Stephens clung to the knowl- 
edge that her child was interceding when she dared 
not lift up her own cry unto God. Her soul had 
no cry but this : " Let me into heaven to see my 
husband. Let me in where he is." It was her only 
honest, earnest petition. She dared not offer it lest 
there should be impiety in its selfishness. And she 
would not offer an insincere petition. Her pitiful 
human pride forbade her begging the King of heav- 

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37« ^ER LITTLE WORLD. 

en to make her love him when she felt that it was 
her deepest shame not to love him without com- 
pelling. So she could not pray at all ; and her only 
comfort was the knowledge that her child prayed 
for her. 

Very slowly the days of her convalescence 
dragged along ; and when she ought to have been 
quite strong again, she was only able to sit up and 
walk about a little. The doctor tried his usual 
methods of enlivening her all in vain, and he asked 
Jenny rather reproachfully why she did not cheer 
her mother up, as he bade her. '' She has some- 
thing on her mind, I'm afraid," he said. "You 
ought to be able to get at it. It 's not to be expect- 
ed that she'll confide in me." 

" Momley," said Jenny after that, " I can't bear 
to see you so weak and pale, now when you have 
had time enough to get strong. It is this trouble 
on your mind. I do n't know enough to talk to 
you ; but perhaps if you would send for Dr. Dana 
he could tell you exactly what you want — ^he has 
preached to people and helped their souls for so 
many years." 

" My dear," said her mother, " what more can 
he tell me than the Bible tells me ? Can he have 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 373 

anything more to say to me than God ? I know- 
enough. I only need to act. No human influence 
can make me love God more than your father. 
Keep on praying, Jenny. You are my only hope. 
Talk to God about me ; but do n't talk to me, ex- 
cept to tell me that you are still praying." 

She seemed strangely set apart in these days — » 
indrawn. There was a proud reserve in her man- 
ner, even with Jenny. The dignity of her separa- 
tion from creatures, and the turning of her mind 
towards the Uncreated, overshadowed her. 

They were terrible days, filled with the fear of 
perpetual banishment from her husband, which no 
human sophistries could hush back into the slum- 
ber of years. There was no courage, no peace, no 
brightness in them, no hope, except as she clung 
to the knowledge of her child's intercession, the 
way she had clung to her hand when death threat- 
ened her. 

She read the Bible diligently ; but she found in 
it no other way of salvation than the way of love. 
She read over and over again the tragedy of Christ's 
passion, dwelling upon its crudest details ; and 
she said to herself, " It was all for you ; it was all 
for you," until she awoke the emotion of gratitude 

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374 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

in her breast, and tried to kindle it to love. She 
would fan and nurse the little flame until she was 
almost ready to believe that it was worthy the 
high name of love — ^when pride would bid her com- 
pare it with those vast emotions of tenderness that 
went forth unbidden toward the husband her eyes 
had not seen for years ; and she would scorn to 
offer anything so paltry to the Son of God, who 
laid down his glory and bore shame and agony for 
her sake. 

"Don't compare, momley," said Jenny, when 
her mother once talked long enough with her to 
acquaint her with that experience. " If yo\3x heart 
turns toward God the least bit perhaps he will take 
that for love, and make it grow. 

But her mother answered proudly that she 
would not offer her least and poorest to the Lord 
of heaven ; for her best must be mean enough. 
She would love him well, and love him for himself, 
or not at all. She would not creep into heaven 
through the way of his sufferings, and then scarcely 
thank him. 

*' You love him some, or you could n't feel so 
jealous about the kind of love you give him," said 
Jenny. "All the rest of it will come before long, 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 375 

mamma. It must, you know; because I keep 
asking/' 

The courage and assurance in her tones would 
sometimes rouse such hopes in her mother's heart 
that she would quietly fall asleep at night, expecting 
to awake new-bom to spiritual life — ^as a baby 
awakes to the beginning of earthly life — loving one 
when her eyes opened whom she had not loved 
when they closed. 

And because that love never flooded her soul, 
as the dawn the morning, she would feel discour- 
agement bordering on despair. 

''I am afraid it is too late, Jenny," she said, 
"for me ever to answer 'Yea, Lord,' to the question, 
' Lovest thou me more than these ?' " 

" Perhaps God is waiting for you to pray, too," 
said Jenny. " Perhaps he wants you to ask him 
before he will do it." 

" My whole soul is one prayer now," said her 
mother. " I have got beyond words before I have 
dared to use them." 

" The doctor scolds me all the time," said Jen- 
ny, "for not helping you with the troubles that are 
on your mind." 

" He finds that air and exercise wont reach this 

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376 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

case," said her mother; "though I feel refreshed 
by my drive this morning. I told him he must n't 
ask me any more questions, as I could not talk 
freely to him ; and he said if I did not try some- 
thing to divert my mind he should threaten me 
with consumption, and have me diverted by force. 
I wish I could do something, Jenny." 

" I have thought of that, momley," said Jenny. 
" I have thought that perhaps working for Christ 
would help you more than anything else, now you 
are getting a little bit stronger. I never really felt 
as if I knew him, and got near him, until I began 
to do what he told me to. And as soon as I began 
to obey him, it was wonderful how much better I 
loved him." 

"As soon as you took up your cross and fol- 
lowed him," said her mother, " the way the Bible 
says those who are worthy of him must do ?" 

" Yes," said Jenny. 

" I was that cross." 

Jenny colored. " Mamma dear," she said. 

"Yes, you can say 'Mamma dear,' honestly 
now," said her mother. " That is your reward, my 
blessed child." 

"I am glad," she said presently, "that you spoke 

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BER LITTLE WORLD. 377 

of my working. I have thought of it; but it 
seemed presumptuous in me to assume that I was 
fit. You think, dear, there is a little love in my 
heart. I wont dare call my feeling that; but I 
should like to take up my cross all the same. I 
should like to begin backward if it wont be wrong. 
I should like to take up 'the cross first, and see if 
perhaps the love would follow. I haven't any 
selfish mother to suffer for, and teach how to be 
the true mother God meant to have her; but I 
know a little cross that is ready for me." 

" Take it up, darling," said Jenny. 

" You wont think it is worthy the name," said 
her mother; "but it is the only one I find ready. 

" The love of society used to be a perfect mad- 
ness with me, Jenny. You will never care enough 
for society yourself to know the dangerous fascina- 
tions of reigning and 'charming and riding over 
rivals. Of course, at my age, I could never be 
come absorbed in it as I used to be ; but I could 
very easily allow it to ma^e me neglect more im- 
portant things — as I am convinced I have been 
doing this summer. Its charms have all come back 
to me afresh. I have felt almost a girl again, and 
it has been good for my health and mind to a cer- 

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378 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

tain extent. But I know, that I have gone far 
enough. I was preparing to get in too deeply. 
With this new club, and the sociables, and all — 
whose arrangements I was to superintend — I should 
have left no time for anything else. And, Jenny, 
time is precious in this short life, isn't it.^ I 
learned its value in my illness. I have wasted too 
much already on my selfish sorrow. There is a great 
deal to do for the poor and sick and sinful. There 
are more sufferers than comforters. I want to take 
the time I was going to lavish on mere amuse- 
ment and give it to some one who needs it. I 
want to begin backwards again. Christ said * Feed 
my lambs,' after Peter had answered, ' Yea, Lord,* 
to * Lovest thou me ?' Do you think he will let 
me feed his lambs before I answer, ' Yea, Lord ' T 

"Of course he will, mamma. You wouldn't 
want to feed them if you did n't love him already." 

"It is that word 'more' that I could not say 
' Yes ' to, Jenny. But if you will find me some lambs 
to feed, then I can give a reason for resigning my 
position as president of the club. I will tell them 
that I will help them a little with their entertain- 
ments ; but that I have taken up new objects, and 
cannot give them the attention I had promised. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 379 

It will look very strange, and I shall be called 
whimsical and selfish, and all sorts of things. 
But I must n't mind. Does it seem a very small 
cross to you, Jenny, to dread being misunderstood, 
and to be obliged to make an awkward retreat 
when one has always had the reputation of doing 
things gracefully.? You are not your weak, vain 
mamma, you know." 

" Of course it doesn't seem small !'' said Jenny. 
"But, mamma, you take my breath away! For 
it is the queerest thing I ever heard, that I should 
happen to have a little flock of lambs on my hands 
that I 'm puzzled to death what to do with. It is a 
great secret. I have n't dared tell you. But I 'm 
going to pour out now. You just wait till I come 
back!" 

AH the way along the hall, as she ran to her 
room, her heart sang praises ; for her mother's lan- 
guage was the language of one who loved, and in 
the light of love saw her sins without pride's palli- 
ations or disguises. 

"She will know it is love before long," said 
Jenny to herself; "and she wont have to try to 
put Him first. I will keep still and wait." 



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38o HER LITTLE WORLD. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

" Now, listen," said Jenny, coming back with a 
letter in her hand. " It is from Bob, mamma. I 
got it two or three days after you were taken, sick. 
I 'U read it without skipping. It is headed : 

«'A ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE. 

" ' Dear Jenny : John has given me permission 
to write you on special business, though I am not 
sure I should have waited for his permission. I 
believe adopted brothers have some rights. 

" ' I am the possessor of a secret that I want to 
share with you. I think I should have betrayed 
my trust and confided in you before I came away, 
if I could have got you alone long enough. 

*' ' You know my talent for stumbling on adven- 
tures. If there is a mystery to be unravelled, or a 
secret to be dug up, I generally happen to be around 
at the time the operation is performed, and have a 
hand in it. And as for meetings — I never can meet 
any one in the regular way. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 381 

" ' Meetings being the subject under discussion, 
did it ever occur to you how romantic our first one 
was ; when, " like torrents from a mountain source, 
we rushed." etc. — all by the light of the moon ?' " 

" He likes to tease you," interrupted her mother. 

" He does n't succeed," slid Jenny. 

"'But not to digress. I have unravelled the 
mystery of Goody's letters. I have dug up the 
secret that we have had our fun and our serious 
speculations about, and I must tell it to you. 

" ' One night not long since, from my window 
that overlooked your yard, I saw a man come creep- 
ing around the comer of your house. I turned out 
the gas and kept an eye on him, with a view to pro- 
tecting the family plate. But instead of trying the 
doors and windows he sat down peaceably under a 
tree and proceeded to wait. And before long a 
woman came creeping around the rear corner of the 
house — which woman was no other than Goody. 

" ' I thought I had the richest romance of the 
season — Goody and a lover meeting at moonlight 
by appointment ; and it was all I could do to keep 
the joke to myself. But after I saw the meetings 
repeated on several moonlight nights, and discov- 
ered that Goody always gave the man something, 

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38« HER LITTLE WORLD. 

I began to think he might be a worthless creature 
who was bothering her ; and between curiosity and 
wanting to help her, I rallied her, the first chance I 
got, on her flirtation, when she burst into a weep 
and poured out a tale. 

'' ' It is long and thrilling, and I '11 give it to you 
condensed, for the reason that I am too tender- 
hearted to linger on its details, and also because I 
am limited as to space by your big brother, who at 
present holds suspended over my head a deadly 
weapon — ^provided against sophs — ^ready to let fall 
in case I use up more than my allowance of paper. 
Here is the tale : 

'''Man is her only brother; was promising 
youth; idolized by her; struck down by fever; 
mind left queer ; got violent ; sent to asylum ; been 
skipping in and out of asylums for past ten years ; 
wife ; four children ; wife, dressmaker ; all support- 
ed by dressmaking and housekeeping professions — 
principally housekeeping, says suspicion ; letters 
received from brother in his best moments ; sister's 
joy on receipt of letters accounted for — symptoms 
of restored reason. Lately dismissed from asylum ; 
went home ; wife died suddenly ; did n't inform sis- 
ter; buried wife; sold worldly goods; packed up 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 383 

children ; brought them on to sister ; no visible 
means of support ; threatened with more insanity ; 
family thrown on sister's hands; pride seals her 
lips ; hires small room for family ; '' steals awhile 
away" to see them ; does n't invite them to return 
calls ; stubborn imbecile brother not to be repulsed ; 
pays his moY)nlight visits ; sister afraid he '11 take 
to drink ; watches for return of lunacy ; worried to 
within an inch of her life; wouldn't let under- 
signed help her; too proud; wouldn't let under- 
signed tell; undersigned keeps secret till brain's 
about to burst ; lays the case before adopted sister; 
trusts to her womanly tact. The end. 
" Yours respectfully, 

"'ROBERT RICHARDS HALL.*" 

There were a few lines added, which Jenny did 
not read to her mother : 

" P. S. Jack has just stepped out of the room 
for a moment, having seen my letter in the envelope. 
Before he comes back and I seal it irrevocably, let 
me hasten to say — ^without in the least alluding to 
our flirtation, on which subject I know you to be 
sensitive — that I am true to my colors. Long may 
they wave ! Fraternally, ' " BOB." 

** Jenny," said Mrs. Stephens, " is it true ? Have 

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384 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

you done anything to help them ? I have noticed 
lately that Miss Goodrich looked unusually g^rave 
and thoughtful. Poor creature ! How many years 
she has taken care of my home and been a mother 
to my children, and how little I have ever done for 
her ! Is n't it a shame that this has gone on so 
long without our knowledge ? Bob ought to have 
told us at once.*' 

" I can manage Goody," said Jenny. " I 'm not 
afraid that I wont be able to get around her pride. 
But, mamma, I have n't known how to help her. I 
suppose she principally needs money. I have ached 
to tell you about it ; but I did n't dare worry you 
when you were sick and had so much on your 
mind already. And then I have been so busy 
thinking about you — ^you know I never can think of 
more than one thing at a time — ^and trying to keep 
up with my lessons while I was out of school, that 
I have let myself forget it occasionally." 

" Go and see her right away. Talk to her your- 
self, or bring her to me," said her mother. 

Jenny found her in her room sewing. " How do 
you do, Goody?" she said. "It's an age since I've 
had a chance to speak to you, with everybody's 
going away and getting sick, and all." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD 385 

** Come in and sit down, Miss Jenny," said she, 
clearing a favorite low chair of Jenny's. "The 
sight of you cheers me up." 

"Down in your mind. Goody.?" said Jenny 
gently. " What 's the matter ?" 

"Well, troubles must come to all," said Miss 
Goodrich indefinitely ; " and it 's bilious weather." 

" You look as yellow as a sunflower," said Jen- 
ny. " Eat lemons. Goody, and tell your troubles to 
your friends. Troubles are not worth having if you 
can't tell them to your friends ; and friends are n't 
worth having if they wont help you out of them. 
You 've been helping the Stephens family all their 
lives ; but you 're one of those stuck-up old things 
that wont take what you '11 give. O Goody, Goody, 
how you 've preached pride down to me ever since 
I was that high. It 's such a naughty sin, Goody. 
I shall have to punish it out of you the way you 
used to out of me. 

" I choose the baby !" said she, looking up in 
her eyes and patting her knee ; " and you and mam- 
ma can fight over the rest. I'll adopt the baby. 
But maybe there is n't one. Never mind, I '11 take 
the littlest ; and you must tell me all their ages and 
names right away. I'm perishing with curiosity. 

49 

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386 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

Wont it be fun to have children to look after ? we 've 
all been g^own up for so long. It will be the ma- 
king of mamma. Come, Goody, put on your bon- 
net and let's go and call. I can't wait another 
minute." 

So it came to pass that Miss Goodrich, taken 
by storm, was as meek and tractable as a lamb. 
And when she saw how rapidly Mrs. Stephens 
g^ew better under the excitement of providing food 
and raiment and shelter for a little flock, and how 
much entertainment she found in the children's 
society, she was almost persuaded to believe what 
she was continually told — ^that she conferred great- 
er benefits than she received. 

Various plans were proposed, considered, and 
half adopted, for giving them a home ; but when it 
suddenly became necessary for the father to be 
placed in an asylum, it was decided that Mrs. Ste- 
phens* house was large enough for another family. 
There were several unoccupied back rooms ; and in 
a fortnight from the day when Jenny read Bob's 
letter to her mother, Mrs. Stephens had two of 
them fitted up for the pasture of her flock. 

The children were Esther, eleven ; Katie, nine ; 
Jimmy, eight ; and Alice, three. 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 387 

" My namesake ?" said Mrs. Stephens, the first 
time she saw her, as she snatched the little round 
thing and cuddled her in her neck. She wa3 one 
of those bewitching, dumpling babies that every* 
body instinctively snatches and cuddles. 
- The children were disposed of in school through 
the day, excepting Alice, whom they all were glad 
to have in their way. Out of school hours they 
had free range of the large back yard. Esther was 
quite competent to matronize the other three, as 
she had served for years in the capacity of mother, 
while their mother was out sewing by the day. 

They proved to be very little trouble ; and an 
incalculable blessing to Mrs. Stephens in train- 
ing her life into new habits. She found few idle 
hours to tempt her back into old ways ; for it took 
a great deal of time to superintend the garments 
and other necessities — ^physical and spiritual — of an 
adopted family. She would seldom let Miss Good- 
rich interfere ; and would never allow her to feel 
that they were more hers than theirs. 

The undertaking was considered as quixotic as 
it was astonishing by most of Mrs. Stephens' 
friends — ^and quite an unnecessary sacrifice, when 
there were Homes for the Friendless where the 

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388 HER LITTLE WORLD, 

children could be made comfortable and happy. 
But Margie and her mother, when addressed on 
the subject, always replied, that if Mrs, Stephens 
wished to found, endow and supervise her own Home 
for the Friendless, they thought it a lovely charity ; 
and a very pretty tribute to Miss Goodrich's long 
and faithful service. 

It was not many weeks after the adoption that 
Miss Goodrich received a telegram summoning her 
to her brother. She was with him only a few hours, 
when he died, "in his right mind" — ^so like the 
brother who had been the pride of her girlhood 
that she found more comfort in his dying than she 
had found in all his later yeais. 

Mrs. Stephens' charity had grown too old to be 
a matter of comment before she spoke to Jenny 
again about what lay beneath it, at its springs. 

Jenny came in from school one afternoon, and 
went up to her mother's room, opened the door and 
took a peep. It was very inviting within. There was 
warmth even in the room's vivid coloring for her 
tingling cheeks and toes ; and the open fire sent 
comfortable flashes dancing round the room and 
over its most tempting article of furniture, a fat 
child, who rolled on the carpet 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 389 

^'I was just thinking about you, dear/' said 
Mrs. Stephens. " Do you know that next Sunday 
will be communion ? I am going to my first real 
sacrament. I think the beginning backwards has 
succeeded." 

"You didn't begin backwards, momley," said 
Jenny. '*You must have loved when you first 
wanted to. I think that wanting to love is the 
very beginning of love. Your love has grown big 
and strong with work — that's all." 

"'Yea, Lord,'" said her mother, more as if it 
were He than Jenny, who sat near her, and to whom 
she spoke, " ' thou knowest that I love thee.' 

"I find plenty of lambs to feed," she said. 
" Dr. Dana came to me this morning in behalf of 
some orphan babies ; and I have had a letter from 
a Foundling Asylum. They all seem to under- 
stand that my heart goes out most toward the little 
ones. I don't know whether it's because 'Feed 
my Lambs' is in the same verse with ' Lovest thou 
me mare ' — as if the charge of the lambs were given 
especially to those who had had a hard time con- 
quering that word more — or because it is an in- 
stinct with me to try and atone for neglecting my 
own children when they were little." 

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390 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

They had not talked a g^eat while longer when 
they heard a tap at the door, followed by : 

" May I come in ?" 

" Enter, Margie," said Jenny. 

Jenny .walked down the stairs with her when 
she went away. 

" The pretty mamma gets prettier every day," 
said Margie. " It 's becoming to her to be happy. 
Does n't it seem wonderful how much brighter you 
have made life look to her, Tommy ?*' 

" Take all the credit to yourself," said Jenny. 
" I can trace everything back to our revolutionary 
days ; and you stirred up the revolutions." 

" 1 1" said Margie. " I remember our revolu- 
tionary day ; but I don't know of more than one ; 
and I 'm sure when I began to tone you down you 
began to tone me up." 

" I was n't thinking of that as much as of anoth- 
er," said Jenny. '* Have you forgotten how you put 
it into my head to look for work at home, after I 
had been waiting three months for something tre- 
mendous to come to me from way o£E?" 

"Did I.?" said Margie. "I suppose that was 
because I had always found more than I could do, 
ready for me at home." 

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HER LITTLE WORLD. 391 

"I used to pine to swing a battle-axe," said 
Jennie. "Joan of Arc was nothing to what I 'd be. 
You would laugh, Margie, if you could know what 
big, misty ideas I had about going off big distances 
to do big things, before you told me that people's 
homes were the every-day work God had got ready 
for them. I used to feel as if I lived in a little bit of 
a world, where there was n't a chance to be bold and 
brave ; but I 've discovered that it is too big for 
me. The more work I undertake the more I find. 
The world gjrows faster than I can keep up with 
it" 

"Of course," said Margie, "there are plenty of 
great things that people are called far off to do. 
My idea was that God has every one's work planned ; 
and that doing the right thing is n't as much a 
matter of choosing as of obeying. If we *re only 
willing to see, I suppose God will always show us 
what he has got ready ; and we need n't waste time 
in looking about. It does seem as if almost every 
one's work was near home ; but those who are 
going to be called far off for great things can't pre- 
pare better than by doing the little things at home 
well — can they, Jenny ?" 

" Certainly not !" said Jenny. " That speech is 

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392 HER LITTLE WORLD. 

worthy of a doctor of divinity, Prinky ; and it ex- 
presses my ideas exactly." 

She stood on the piazza with Margie until she 
was in a chill ; and' stopping to warm herself by 
the library fire, she instinctively drew from her 
pocket, and from its envelope, a letter, which she 
was in the habit of reading often when she was 
quiet and alone. It was without signature, but 
was copied in John's hand-writing : 

"When one that was in anxiety of mind, often 
wavering between fear and hope, did once, being 
oppressed with grief, humbly prostrate himself in 
a church before God, in prayer, and said within 
himself, ' Oh, if I knew that I should yet persevere P 
he presently heard within him an answer from God, 
which said, 'If thou didst know it, what wouldst 
thou do? Do now what thou wouldst do then, 
and thou shalt be secure.' 

"And being herewith comforted and strength- 
ened, he committed himself wholly to the will of 
God, and his anxious wavering ceased" 



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