The Daisy Chain

la Margueri

o you want this afternoon? Ca

have I told you of your imp

said a thin, lank, angular, sallow girl, just fifteen, trembling from head to foot w

verness, taking off her bonnet, and arranging the stiff little rolls of curl at

Flora, a pretty, fair girl, nearl

lips again, but was stifled by Miss Winter's

is coming to the reading." And Flora adde

glad. And

, by which manifestation she of course succeeded in deferring her hopes, by a reproof which caused her to draw herself into a rigid, melancholy attitude, a sort of penance of decorum, b

p as to form a narrow shelf. The fireplace, constructed in the days when fires were made to give as little heat as possible, was ornamented with blue and white Dutch tiles bearing marvellous representations of Scripture history, and was protected by a very tall green guard; the chairs were much of the same date, soli

d. "Oh, Miss Winter, if you would be s

ear!" exclaimed the

ried Ethel. "It is not

before," inte

apa says he'll die. He was in great distress, for his wife has just got twins, and there were l

ket, and some tea and some arrowroot, and a bit of bacon, and mamma says she doe

exed. "How could you car

mean to make the donkey a sumpter-mule, so,

ey are such a set of wild people at Cocksmoo

said Ethel, "we

be no protection. Harry would be getting in

rd was at hom

cliffe will come. I am sure he ca

Miss Winter well knew what she was about, and the governess seemed annoyed. "

t?" sai

king with you, especiall

nk why there should be any harm. Papa took us all out walking wit

my d

een, holding in her hand a pretty little maid of five. "Good-morning. Mis

id your mamma consider what a

said he would answer for it nothing would happe

ead of them. "Oh, Harry!" as the gathers of her frock gave way in the rude grasp of a twelve-year-old boy. "Miss Winter, 'tis all righ

the quarrymen?" hallooed H

m; and while threats were passing among the boys, Margare

there, and said it was not too far for him-besides, ther

was going to speak, when Margaret, trying to appear unconscious of a certain deepening colour in her own cheeks, pre

d Harry. "Are many of you

aid Flora, "and I am sure he did not learn that o

cksmoor?" asked Mary, a bl

suppose I had better wait till after

in age, came between her and Flora, kneeling on one knee on the window-seat, and supporting himself with one arm against the shutter, leaned over her, reading it too, disregarding a tumultuous skirmish going on in that division of the family

ied Harry, dealing out

g them, and bringing out a green sphynx

p lightly and set Tom on his legs again. "Harry! you had better do that again," he

thel-"Crispin, Crispian's

keep those boys in ord

apa calls Saturda

ow voice to Flora, who shook her head, and said confidentially, "He is n

lmost too young to be the mother of the tall Margaret, who followed her. There was a general hush as sh

ery?" said the mother, while the impatient speec

far for you?" said the mother to

nk you, that was not-But

by choosing to stay at home with me. It is no matter for the oth

aved very well,"

mother, smiling. "Well, Har

mamma," answered Harry, "an

put away Henry V., and find the places in their Bibles, "or yo

k, flat, and solid mahogany hand-rail, polished by the boys' constant riding up and down upon it. She was only on the first step, when the dining-room door opened, and there came out a young man, slight, and delicate-looking, with bright blu

th her in a draught," and on she went, while he calle

nd when she was out of hearing, she whispered, "Oh! lucky baby, to have

g boy of three, who evidently considered his deposition from babyhood as a great injury,

. Margaret and Miss Winter especially rejoiced in it on this occasion, the first since the birth of the baby, that she had been able to preside. Under her, though seemingly without her taking any trouble, there was

aloud. The Gospel was that on the taking the lowest place, and when

now sit lo

Master sh

id them hi

hest in th

meaning of 'when He that bade thee

worldly advantage that was

ans that too

iefly to be dwelt on. It is a lesson how those least known and regarded

arnestly at her mothe

, mamma?"

you, indeed, unless you

o put his books into a neat leather case, and Ethel stood thinkin

er, "the love of emin

different ways

ess, riches, rank,

ought to be," said Norman. "I am sure there is nothing lower, or more m

, "but no one fit to s

do, I can tell y

l. "But I'll tell you what I was thinking of, mamma. Caring t

might be bet

thought-"I mean caring to do a thing only because nobody else c

ther you did so than that you read it in Greek, though that is very nice too," she added, smiling, as she put her hand on a little Greek Testament, in which Ethel

order, pulled off her frock, threw on a shawl, and sat down cross-legged on her bed, stitching vigorously, while meantime she spouted with great emphasis an ode of Horace, which Norman having learned by heart, she had followed his example; it being her great desire to be even with him in all his studies, and though eleven months younger, she had never yet fallen behind him. On Saturday, he showed her what were his tasks for the week, and as soon as her rent was repaired, she swung herself downstairs in search of him for this purpose. She found him in the drawing-room, a pretty, pleasant roo

tly," h

into the book. "Oh! no wonder you can't leave of

"I forgot, mamma told me not to read those sto

bit, I'l

fe asked Norman if there was a t

on the upper shelf in the dining-room. Don't you remember papa's t

aying to look at his drawing, and asking what he was making out. He replied, smiling at the impossibility of her und

chool, which had survived the Reformation, and trained up many good scholars; among them, one of England's princely merchants, Nicholas Randall, whose effigy knelt in a niche in the chancel wall, scarlet-cloaked, white-ruffed, and black doubletted, a

ay-the happiest day in the week to the May family, when alone, they had the company at dinner of Norman and Harry, otherwis

had always been an M. D., not a D. D., in the family, owning a comfortable demesne of spacious gar

attachments. He was extremely skilful and clever, with a boyish character that seemed as if it could never grow older; ardent, sensitive, an

ay had been called one morning to attend a gentle

much worse. And extremely ill the doctor found him; a youth of two or three and twenty, suffering under a severe attack of fever, oppressed, and scarcely conscious, so as quite to justify his little brother's apprehensions. H

you been l

died, and there I have been ever since, while he has b

s he in

as been three years in the West Indies, and then he was in the Mediterranean, and now on the coast of Africa, in the Atalantis. You must h

d been like a father to the little boy, showing judgment and self-denial that marked him of a high cast of character. He had distinguished himself in encounters with slave ships, and in command of a prize that he had had to conduct to Sierra Leone, he had shown great coolness and seamanship, in several perilous conjunctures, such as a sudden storm, and an encounter with another slaver, when his Portuguese prisoners became mutinous, and nothing but his steadiness and intrepidity had saved the lives of himself and his

pecimen of fever, and requiting him by the utmost care and attention, while, for their own sakes, he delighted in the two boys with all the enthusiasm of his warm heart. Before the first week was at an end, they had

olitude at the Swan. It was not till he had been drawn in a chair along the sloping garden, and placed on the sofa to rest, that he discovered that th

well, and no one ever came into her room without some degree of rapture about Mr. Ernescliffe. The doctor reiterated praises of his excellence, his principle, his ability and talent, his amusing talk; the girls were always bringing reports of his perfections; Norman retracted his grumbling at having his evenings spoiled; and "the boys" were bursting w

him so like home as Market Stoneborough. He was quite like one of themselves, and took a full share in the discussions on the baby's name, which, as all the old family appellations had been used up, was an open question. The doctor protested against Alice and Edith, which he said were the universal names in the present day. The boys hissed every attempt of their sisters

written Margaret, and at last traced it home to Mr. Ernescliffe, who replied that Flora, without saying why, had desired him to set down hi