Three Margarets

hat a

y is of

he other girls disapproved highly. They were always out in the garden by half past eight, with breakfast a thing of the past, and the day before them. The stocking-basket generally came with them, and waited patiently in a corner of the green summer-house while they took their "constitutional," which often consisted of a run through the waving fields, or a walk along the top of the broad stone wall that ran around the garden; or ag

illiam t

lliam h

tephen a

chard a

nd any one's not thrilling responsive when the great names were sp

Canute, and said he was an old stupid, "my dear, thi

t see what good it does to bother about him n

ould have been different. We must know, mustn't we, how it all came about that our life is what it is n

played the harp. I don't want to play the harp, and I never saw any one who did. It i

avourite Prince Arthur. When her voice broke in the recital of his piteous tale, Peggy would look up at her coolly

ny one in his senses. It was her own fault a good deal, she tried to think; she did not tell the story right, or her voice was too

time, but-these are things that one has to know something about

th. Ma never had any of what you call education,-she was a farmer's daughter, you know, and had

r, as you do

he yard, but he can't make me see the use of them, and you can't. Now if you would give me

she had no solid geometry to give. Her geometry had been fluid, or

o into a school, of course I shall have to study again and make it up, so that I can. But

y maintained, "when the human beings

an expression, dear,-old fuddy-duddies, was it? I never heard

But soon she felt a warm kiss on her forehead, and Peggy was promising to be good, and to try hard

ight she just climb up now and see wha

s and bull-fights. She sang them with flashing ardour, and the other girls heard with breathless delight, watching the play of colour and feeling, that made her face a living t

reen?" aske

in a fever with these songs of Cuba. I want

h contralto the songs her father used to love: songs of the No

for our ri

fair Scotla

for our rig

saw Ir

d

saw Iris

url herself like a panther in the sun, and murmur with pleasure, and call for mo

hills of the he

corrie that si

ng Flora sat s

plaid and the t

boat with the b

ve, like a bir

ssened, she sigh

e lad I shall n

patience with

e's escape after Culloden, and of how the noble girl, at the risk of her own life, led the prince, disguised as her wai

uld hardly see him for her tears. Then he took off his cap, and stooped down and kissed her twice

hope, madam, we shall meet in St. James

anded Rita. "She had spirit, it appear

azed at he

had done all she could, she had saved hi

ve him! Did she not love

gn; she was a simple Scottish gentlewoman. When he was flying for his life, she was able to befriend him, and to save his life at peril of her own

rug of her shoulders, "I would have gone, if it had

said again, but gently; "my mother was a Scotchwoman, so I feel differently, of course. It is no matter, but I will tell you this about Miss McDonald:

"it must have be

ny fine books, and to have almost no time to read. At home, several hours were spent in reading, as a matter of course; often and often, the long, happy evening would pass without a word exchanged between her father and herself. Only, when either looked up from the book, there was always the meeting glance of love and sympathy, which made the printed page shine golden when the eyes returned to it. Here, reading was considered a singular waste

tter now, Peg

k-of a single

g hill, and how we made believe the clouds were our fairy castles, and each said what she would do when she got there? Rita was going to organise a Sunset Dance, with ten thousand fairies in crimson and

dn't put in all that, Margaret; it would take al

seeing what you

this: "We had an ela

" asked Peggy. "Isn

smallest part. 'Elegant' has two e's, not two a's. But,-Peg

't understand what you mean, Margaret." And Peggy looked injured, and began to hunch her shoulders and put ou

WRITES

ed in that way, Peggy; I do not, indeed. You speak of an elegant dress, or an elegant woman, bu

dely. "I didn't come here t

id Margaret; and she took her book and went away without ano

cousins ever disagreed by so much as a word. There was some unspoken bond that bade them both make common cause before the foreign cousin whom both loved and admired. So when Rita made her appearance beautifully dressed for the afternoon drive or walk (for they could no

factotum, resented the doubt he implied of her skill. It was a silent drive, Margaret alone responding to the remarks of their conductor, as he pointed out this or that beautiful view.

e on the box!" John Strong would say to h

ken my a

e is in