Lucy Raymond; Or, The Children's Watchword

oduc

Father, wh

home in life

from my he

ill be

g clusters of houses, a momentary glimpse of distant steeples, a general commotion and hunting-up of ticke

had been sitting beside her, and had occasionally exchanged a kind word with

sked, seeing that she seeme

the hurrying crowd. But no familiar face was to be seen; and the gentleman, who had caught o

hurrying away alone; and her spirits, temporarily excited by the journey, began to sink fast. It seemed so strange

with an eyeglass at one eye and a cigar in his mouth, sauntered along, lightly swinging his cane and looking

ing he was right, he added, with a nonchalan

" Lucy replied, thinking she

d to have been here in time, but thes

, who advanced and asked for

er cousin mentally set her down as "gree

e," he said go

being collected, Lucy and her cousin w

, I suppose?" Lucy ve

p about us all? You've never been in a place as big as th

s hardly more than a v

ite well; she was out

n. Had Stella been coming to visit her, she would have bee

you're all broken up there now?" he added, glancing at her black

that started to her eyes, as the sad realization that she had no longer a home came back to her. Edwin,

site a tall stone house, one of a row all just alike, and looking very monotono

d; and the next moment Stella, looking as pretty as ever, rushed down

nd an unworldly character. Mrs. Brooke never had had-perhaps now never could have-the pure spiritual beauty which had been Mrs. Raymond's chief charm; but she was a graceful, stylish-looking woman, rather languid and unenergeti

with all their softness and winning grace of manner. Sophy was a tall, handsome girl, with a somewhat haughty air, and her greeting was colder and more dignified. She suggested that Stella should take her cousin at once to her room, saying

ered whether it would ever seem home to her. Stella showed her all its conveniences and arrangements for her comfort, and then observed, "But you're not to have

r mamma, you know, who was my Aunt Amy. It sounds odd, doesn't it? Ada and I sleep together, because we get on best; and Sophy can't be tr

. "I always used to think I should li

lla, as the door opened, and a fragile-lookin

my, and be

er felt anything like it before. Amy had fair hair and a colourless complexion; but when the soft grey eyes looked up wistfully a

, kissing her. "And you're going to sleep w

ently had not Stella

erposed her loquacious cousin, "or woul

one, she found relief in a hearty fit of crying. However, she soon remembered she could do something better than that, so she knelt to thank her heavenly Father for His protecting care during her

m. Lucy had dreaded a good deal her introduction to her uncle, of whom she had not a very pleasant impression. He was a brisk, shrewd-looking man, a great contrast to his listless-looking son; and his manner, though patronizing, was not ungeni

them in her deep mourning. "People would notice, and it wouldn't look well," Sophy had said; and this decided the question, though the girls grumbled a good deal at the inconvenience of it, especially at a time of the year when they were us

hings talked about. The tone of conversation, however, was as uncongenial as were the subjects. Edwin had a cynical air, partly real

enefit, upon the classes and masters in the fashionable school to which her cousin was to accompany her, giving her various scraps of information respecting her future classmates, with a list of their foibles and peculiarities amusingly described, but rather wearisome to a stranger. Mrs. Brooke questioned Lucy about her previous studies, looking doubtful when she heard of

oke only said, "I hope you will play better than that, my de

We often sing them

voice, you will soon do better th

Aunt Mary. Then, recollecting that Stella had told her how well Sophy played and sa

her mother and St

near the fire, and absorbed in a sensational

er coldly. "I'm tired, and I'm just at t

said Stella mischievously. "And then, sometimes, if she takes the notio

obliged to you, Stella, not to disturb me;" at which

must be so too. Lucy, I advise you to go to bed at once; and, Stella, don'

in safety through the day-without invoking the same protecting care through the watches of the night-without the acknowledgment of the sins of the day, and the prayer

m going just in a minute," she would say, when Lucy reminded her of what her mother had said, and then she would rush into some new subject. Lucy was tired, and was longing to ha

s she and Sophy came up-stairs. "Stella, how naug

about two or three t

"but I'm sure Lucy would prefer to have t

ready on the dressing-table. "Well, if she hasn't got her Bible out alrea

Lucy simply, though her cheek fl

smiled satirically, t

g," said Ada. "When you've lived in

hleigh! I never knew I did so many wick

e shocked Lucy enough for one night, and it's high tim

ked God for His goodness, and implored His supporting help, and had read a few comforting verses out of her Bible, she did not forget to pray that her cousins, who so little appreciated its treasures of divine counsel and consolation, might yet be