Add files from ibiblio as of 2025-03-07 14:31:02HEADmain

1 files changed, 9799 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/43769-0.txt b/43769-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05caec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/43769-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9799 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43769 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+  been preserved. Examples include peddler and peddlar, grandmere and
+  gran'mere, Mr. de Ronville and M. de Ronville.
+
+  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
+  signs=.
+
+
+
+
+
+A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg
+
+
+
+
+     The "Little Girl" Series
+
+     By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+     In Handsome Cloth Binding
+
+     Price, per Volume        60 Cents
+
+
+     A Little Girl in Old New York
+     A Little Girl of Long Ago
+       A sequel to "A Little Girl in Old New York"
+     A Little Girl in Old Boston
+     A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia
+     A Little Girl in Old Washington
+     A Little Girl in Old New Orleans
+     A Little Girl in Old Detroit
+     A Little Girl in Old St. Louis
+     A Little Girl in Old Chicago
+     A Little Girl in Old San Francisco
+     A Little Girl in Old Quebec
+     A Little Girl in Old Baltimore
+     A Little Girl in Old Salem
+     A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg
+
+
+     For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on
+     receipt of price.
+
+     A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
+     52, 58 Duane Street      New York
+
+
+
+
+     A LITTLE GIRL IN
+     OLD PITTSBURG
+
+     By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+     A. L. BURT COMPANY
+     PUBLISHERS      NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+     Copyright, 1909, by
+     DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
+     Published, September, 1909
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+     CHAPTER                                    PAGE
+
+         I A LITTLE GIRL                            1
+
+        II A JOYFUL RETURN                         19
+
+       III WELCOME                                 39
+
+        IV OLD PITTSBURG                           60
+
+         V HOW THE WORLD WIDENED                   81
+
+        VI A NEW FRIEND                           103
+
+       VII DAFFODIL'S NEW WORLD                   120
+
+      VIII IN SILK ATTIRE                         141
+
+        IX WITH THE EYES OF YOUTH                 152
+
+         X THE PASSING OF THE OLD                 169
+
+        XI THE WOOF OF DAILY THINGS               189
+
+       XII SPINNING WITH VARIOUS THREADS          209
+
+      XIII THE SWEETNESS OF LOVE                  227
+
+       XIV SORROW'S CROWN OF SORROW               242
+
+        XV ANOTHER FLITTING                       261
+
+       XVI SAINT MARTIN'S SUMMER                  284
+
+      XVII OH, WHICH IS LOVE?                     305
+
+     XVIII A REVELATION                           320
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A LITTLE GIRL
+
+
+"Oh, what is it, grandad! Why is Kirsty ringing two bells and oh, what
+is he saying?"
+
+Grandfather Carrick had come out of his cottage and stood in the small
+yard place that a young oak had nearly filled with a carpet of leaves.
+He was a medium-sized man with reddish hair streaked with white, and a
+spare reddish beard, rather ragged, bright blue eyes and a nose
+_retroussé_ at the best, but in moments of temper or disdain it turned
+almost upside down, as now.
+
+"What is he sayin'. Well, it's a dirty black lee! Lord Cornwallis
+isn't the man to give in to a rabble of tatterdemalions with not a
+shoe to their feet an' hardly a rag to their back! By the beard of St.
+Patrick they're all rags!" and he gave an insolent laugh! "It's a
+black lee, I tell you!"
+
+He turned and went in the door with a derisive snort. Daffodil stood
+irresolute. Kirsty was still ringing his two bells and now people were
+coming out to question. The street was a rather winding lane with the
+houses set any way, and very primitive they were, built of logs, some
+of them filled in with rude mortar and thatched with straw.
+
+Then Nelly Mullin came flying along, a bright, dark-haired,
+rosy-cheeked woman, with a shawl about her shoulders. She caught up
+the child and kissed her rapturously.
+
+"Oh, isn't it full grand!" she cried. "Cornwallis has surrendered to
+General Washington! Our folks caught him in a trap. An' now the men
+folks will come home, my man an' your father, Dilly. Thank the Saints
+there wasna a big battle. Rin tell your mither!"
+
+"But grandad said it was a--a lee!" and the child gave a questioning
+look.
+
+"Lie indeed!" she laughed merrily. "They wouldna be sending all over
+the country such blessed news if it was na true. Clear from Yorktown
+an' their Cornwallis was the biggest man England could send, a rale
+Lord beside. Rin honey, I must go to my sisters."
+
+The little girl walked rather slowly instead, much perturbed in her
+mind. The Duvernay place joined the Carrick place and at present they
+were mostly ranged round the Fort. That was much smaller, but better
+kept and there were even some late hardy flowers in bloom.
+
+"What's all the noise, Posy?" asked Grandfather Duvernay. He was an
+old, old man, a bright little Frenchman with snowy white hair, but
+bright dark eyes. He was a good deal wrinkled as became a
+great-grandfather, and he sat in a high-backed chair at one corner of
+the wide stone chimney that was all built in the room. There was a
+fine log fire and Grandmother Bradin was stirring a savory mass of
+herbs. The real grandfather was out in the barn, looking after the
+stock.
+
+"It was Kirsty ringing two bells. Cornwallis is taken."
+
+"No!" The little man sprang up and clasped his hands. "You are sure
+you heard straight! It wasn't Washington?"
+
+"I'm quite sure. And Nelly Mullin said 'run and tell your mother, your
+father'll be coming home.'"
+
+"Thank the good God." He dropped down in the chair again and closed
+his eyes, bent his head reverently and prayed.
+
+"Your mother's asleep now. She's had a pretty good night. Run out and
+tell gran."
+
+Grandfather Bradin kissed his little girl, though he was almost afraid
+to believe the good news. Three years Bernard Carrick had been
+following the fortunes of war and many a dark day had intervened.
+
+"Oh, that won't end the war. There's Charleston and New York. But
+Cornwallis! I must go out and find where the news came from."
+
+"Grandad don't believe it!" There was still a look of doubt in her
+eyes.
+
+Bradin laughed. "I d' know as he'd believe it if he saw the articles
+of peace signed. He'll stick to King George till he's laid in his
+coffin. There, I've finished mending the steps and I'll slip on my
+coat and go."
+
+"I couldn't go with you?" wistfully.
+
+"No, dear. I'll run all about and get the surest news. I s'pose it
+came to the Fort, but maybe by the South road."
+
+He took the child's hand and they went into the house. The streets
+were all astir. Grandfather stood by the window looking out, but he
+turned and smiled and suddenly broke out in his native French. His
+face then had the prettiness of enthusiastic old age.
+
+"We'll shake hands on it," said Bradin. "I'm going out to see. There
+couldn't be a better word."
+
+The autumnal air was chilly and he wrapped his old friese cloak around
+him.
+
+"Mother's awake now," said Mrs. Bradin. "You may go in and see her."
+
+The door was wide open now. It was as large as the living room, but
+divided by a curtain swung across, now pushed aside partly. There was
+a bed in each corner. A light stand by the head of the bed, a chest of
+drawers, a brass bound trunk and two chairs completed the furnishing
+of this part. The yellow walls gave it a sort of cheerful, almost
+sunshiny look, and the curtain at the window with its hand-made lace
+was snowy white. The painted floor had a rug through the centre that
+had come from some foreign loom. The bedstead had high slender carved
+posts, but was without a canopy.
+
+A woman still young and comely as to feature lay there. She was thin,
+which made the eyes seem larger and darker. The brown hair had a
+certain duskiness and was a curly fringe about the forehead. She
+smiled up at the little girl, who leaned over and kissed her on the
+cheek.
+
+"You are better, mother dear," she said as she seated herself with a
+little spring on the side of the bed. "But you said so yesterday. When
+will it be real, so you can get up and go out?" and a touch of
+perplexity crossed the child's face.
+
+"Gra'mere thinks I may sit up a little while this afternoon. I had no
+fever yesterday nor last night."
+
+"Oh, mother, I was to tell you that Cornwallis has--it's a long word
+that has slipped out of my mind. Nelly Mullin said her husband would
+come home and my father. Kirsty Boyle rang two bells----"
+
+"Oh, what was it? Go and ask grandfather, child," and the mother half
+rose in her eagerness.
+
+"It was 'sur-ren-dered' with his army. Father has gone to see. And
+then the war will end."
+
+"Oh, thank heaven, the good God, and all the saints, for I think they
+must have interceded. They must be glad when dreadful wars come to an
+end."
+
+She laid her head back on the pillow and the tears fringed her dark
+lashes.
+
+The child was thinking, puzzling over something. Then she said
+suddenly, "What is my father like? I seem to remember just a
+little--that he carried me about in his arms and that we all cried a
+good deal."
+
+"It was three years and more ago. He loved us very much. But he felt
+the country needed him. And the good Allfather has kept him safe. He
+has never been wounded or taken prisoner, and if he comes back to
+us----"
+
+"But what is surrendered?"
+
+"Why, the British army has given up. And Lord Cornwallis is a great
+man. England, I believe, thought he could conquer the Colonies. Oh,
+Daffodil, you are too little to understand;" in a sort of helpless
+fashion.
+
+"He isn't like grandad then. Grandad wants England to beat."
+
+"No, he isn't much like grandad. And yet dear grandad has been very
+good to us. Of course he was desperately angry that your father should
+go for a soldier. Oh, if he comes home safe!"
+
+"Dilly," said gran'mere, pausing at the door with a piece of yellow
+pumpkin in her hand which she was peeling, "you must come away now.
+You have talked enough to your mother and she must rest."
+
+The child slipped down and kissed the pale cheek again, then came out
+in the living-room and looked around. The cat sat washing her face and
+at every dab the paw went nearer her ear.
+
+"You shan't, Judy! We don't want rain, do we, grandfather?" She caught
+up the cat in her arms, but not before pussy had washed over one ear.
+
+Grandfather laughed. "Well, it _does_ make it rain when she washes
+over her ear," the little girl said with a very positive air. "It did
+on Sunday."
+
+"And I guess pussy washes over her ear every day in the week."
+
+"It's saved up then for the big storms;" with a triumphant air.
+
+"Get the board and let's have a game. You're so smart I feel it in my
+bones that you will beat."
+
+She put Judy down very gently, but the cat switched her tail around
+and wondered why. She brought out the board that was marked like "Tit
+tat toe," and a box that she rattled laughingly. Pussy came when they
+had adjusted it on their knees and put two white paws on it,
+preparatory to a jump.
+
+"Oh, Judy, I can't have you now. Come round and sit by the fire."
+
+Judy went round to the back of Dilly's chair and washed over both ears
+in a very indignant manner.
+
+The play was Fox and Geese. There was one red grain of corn for the
+fox and all the geese were white. One block at the side was left
+vacant. If you could pen the fox in there without losing a goose or at
+the most two or three, you were the winner. But if once you let the
+fox out the geese had to fly for their lives. Grandfather often let
+the little girl beat.
+
+He was very fond of her, and he was a sweet-natured old man who liked
+to bestow what pleasure he could. Just now he was feeling impatient
+for the news and wanted to pass away the time.
+
+Dilly was quite shrewd, too, for a little girl not yet seven. She
+considered now and moved a far off goose, and the fox knew that was
+sour grapes.
+
+"Oh, you're a sharp one!" exclaimed grandfather. "I'll have to mind
+how I doze on this bout."
+
+But alas! On the next move she let him in a little way, then she
+fenced him out again, and lost one goose repairing her defences. But
+it wasn't a bad move. The great art was to keep one goose behind
+another for protection. He couldn't jump over but one at a time.
+
+She beat grandfather, who pretended to be quite put out about it and
+said she'd do for an army general. Grandmother was making a pumpkin
+pudding with milk and eggs and sugar and stick-cinnamon, which was
+quite a luxury. Then she poured it into an iron pan that stood upon
+little feet, drew out a bed of coal, and plumped it down. The cover
+had a rim around the top, and she placed some coals on the top of
+this. She baked her bread in it, too. Stoves were great luxuries and
+costly. Then she laid some potatoes in the hot ashes and hung a kettle
+of turnips on the crane.
+
+Grandfather and the little girl had another game and she was the fox
+this time and lost, getting penned up.
+
+"Grandfather," she said sagely, "if you know the good early moves and
+don't make any mistake, you're sure to win."
+
+"I believe that is so. You're getting a stock of wisdom, Dilly. Oh,
+won't your father be surprised when he comes home. You were a mere
+baby when he went away."
+
+She was an oddly pretty child. Her hair was really yellow, soft and
+curly, then her eyes were of so dark a blue that you often thought
+them black. The eyebrows and lashes were dark, the nose rather
+piquant, the mouth sweet and rosy, curved, with dimples in the
+corners. But in those days no one thought much about beauty in
+children.
+
+The door was flung open.
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated Gran Bradin. "It's fairly wintry. Fire feels good!
+The news is just glorious! They headed off Cornwallis after having
+destroyed their fortifications and dismantled their cannon. The
+British works were so in ruins they tried escape. One section of
+troops crossed over to Glous'ter Point, but a storm set in and
+dispersed the boats. There was nothing left but surrender. So the
+great army and the great general who were to give us the finishing
+stroke, handed in their capitulation to General Washington. There are
+between seven and eight thousand prisoners and all the shipping in the
+harbor. Grandfather, you may be proud. We had, it is thought, seven
+thousand French troops, with Count De Rochambeau, and Count De
+Grasse."
+
+He reached over and wrung grandfather's slim white hand with its
+tracery of blue veins. Then he kissed his wife. "They've been good
+friends to us. We'll never forget that!"
+
+"And the war is over?"
+
+"Not exactly that. We've yet to dislodge them from various places. But
+they think now England will be willing to treat. And we'll have a
+country of our own! Well, it was three weeks ago."
+
+There were no telegraphs, and only the more important places had post
+roads. Pittsburg was quite out of the way. It had no dreams of
+grandeur in those days, and about its only claim to eminence was
+Braddock's defeat.
+
+"Lang brought some copies of the Philadelphia _Gazette_, but you
+couldn't get near one, they were rushed off so. But we'll hear it all
+in a few days. Too much good news might puff us up with vain glory.
+We may look for letters any day. Such a splendid victory!"
+
+Grandfather was wiping the tears from his eyes. Marc Bradin went in to
+comfort his daughter, though he could hardly forbear smiling with a
+sense of inward amusement as he thought of Sandy Carrick, who had as
+good as disowned his son for joining the Colonial army. He'd be glad
+enough to have him back again. Though he had been rather disgruntled
+at his marrying Barbe Bradin because she had French blood in her
+veins, as if the Irish Bradin could not in some degree counteract
+that!
+
+Sandy Carrick had been in the sore battle of Braddock's defeat. But
+after all the cowardly French had thought retreat the better part of
+valor and left the Fort that had been partly burned, left that section
+as well, and the government had erected the new Fort Pitt. He insisted
+that the French had been really driven out. They certainly had been
+checked in their advance to the Mississippi.
+
+Pittsburg was a conglomerate in these early days. Welsh, Irish, and
+English had contributed to its then small population of the few
+hundreds whose history and beginning were like so many other
+emigrants. The houses were ranged largely about the Fort for
+protection from the Indians. There were small crooked lanes, a few
+dignified by-streets, Penn Street, Duquesne way, Water and Ferry
+streets. Colonel George Morgan had built a double-hewn log house of
+considerable dimensions, the first house in the settlement to have a
+shingle roof. Though the "Manor of Pittsburg" had been surveyed and
+Fort Pitt had been abandoned by the British under orders of General
+Gage and occupied by Virginia troops under Captain John Neville.
+
+There were some French residents, some Acadians as well, and a few
+Virginians who were mostly refugees. The houses were of very primitive
+construction, generally built of logs, but made comfortable on the
+inside. The emigrants had brought their industries with them. The
+women spun and knit, there were several rude looms, but they depended
+largely on Philadelphia for supplies.
+
+Pierre Duvernay had fled to Ireland in one of the Huguenot
+persecutions, but more fortunate than many, he had been able to take
+some of his worldly possessions. Here his only daughter had married
+Marc Bradin, his only son had died, and his wife had followed.
+Broken-hearted he had accompanied his daughter and son-in-law to the
+new Colonies. They had spent a few years in Virginia, then with some
+French friends had come to Pittsburg and bought a large holding, which
+seemed at the time a misadventure, and so they had built in nearer to
+the Fort. Here pretty Barbe Bradin had grown up and married Bernard
+Carrick, their neighbor's son, but they had not let the hospitable
+Bradin home. Here Daffodil had been born, and the French and Irish
+blended again.
+
+"What made you call me Daffodil?" the child said one day to her
+mother. "You were named after your mother and gran'mere after hers,
+and you should have called me Barbe."
+
+"It would have made no end of confusion. You see it does with
+great-grandfather. And when you were born it was lovely sunshiny
+weather and the daffodils were in bloom with their tender gold. Then
+you had such a funny fuzzy yellow head. I loved the Daffodils so. They
+come so early and look so cheerful, and you were such a cheerful baby,
+always ready to smile."
+
+"Do you suppose my hair will always stay yellow?"
+
+"Oh, no. It will grow darker."
+
+"Like yours?"
+
+"Well, perhaps not quite as dark. I like it. You are my spring. If I
+were in any sorrow, your brightness would comfort me."
+
+Then the sorrow came. The young husband felt it his duty to join the
+struggling army and fight for his country. It was in doubtful times.
+
+This queer, rural, primitive settlement knew little about the great
+causes. Since the new fort had been built and the French repulsed,
+absolutely driven out of their strongholds, there had been only the
+infrequent Indian encounters to rouse them. The stern resolves, the
+mighty enthusiasm of the Eastern Colonies had not inspired them. Even
+the Declaration of Independence, while it had stirred up their alien
+and contradictory blood, had not evoked the sturdy patriotism of the
+larger towns having so much more at stake. They added to their flocks
+and herds, they hunted game and wild animals, and on the whole enjoyed
+their rural life.
+
+Sandy Carrick had never known which side to affiliate with the most
+strongly. There was the brave old Scottish strain that his mother had
+handed down in many a romantic tale, there was the Irish of his father
+that had come down almost from royalty itself, from the famous Dukes
+that had once divided Ireland between them. Why the Carricks had
+espoused the English side he could not have told. He was glad to come
+to the new countries. And when, after being a widower for several
+years, he married pretty buxom widow Boyle, he was well satisfied with
+his place in life.
+
+He had been in the fateful encounter at Braddock's defeat at his first
+introduction to the country. The French were well enough in Canada,
+which seemed not very far from the North Pole, and a land of eternal
+snow, but when they came farther down with their forts and their
+claims it was time to drive them out, and nothing gave him greater
+satisfaction than to think they were mostly out.
+
+He took a great fancy to his next-door neighbor, Marc Bradin, but he
+fought shy of the old black-eyed Frenchman. Pierre Duvernay had passed
+through too many vicissitudes and experiences to believe that any one
+party had all the right; then, too, he was a sweet-natured old man,
+thinking often of the time when he should rejoin friends and
+relatives, not a few of whom had died for their faith.
+
+Sandy had not liked his son's marriage with Barbe Bradin, who
+certainly was more French than Irish, but she had a winsome brightness
+and vivacity, and indulged in many a laughing tilt with her
+father-in-law. Nora Boyle openly favored them all. They spun and knit
+and made lace and wove rugs of rags and compared cookery, and she and
+Mrs. Bradin were wildly happy over Daffodil.
+
+"If 't had been a boy now!" exclaimed Sandy. "A gal's good for naught
+when it comes to handin' down the name. Though if its hair'll turn out
+red, an 't looks so now, it may flout t'other blood," putting a strong
+expletive to it.
+
+"Don't now, Sandy!" said his wife's coaxing voice. "There's sorts and
+kinds in the world. The good Lord didn't mean us all to be alike or
+he'd made 'em so to start with."
+
+"Did make 'em so, woman. There was only two of 'em!"
+
+"Well, some others came from somewhere. And Cain went off an got
+himself a wife. An' when you think of the baby there's good three
+parts Irish to the one French. An' I'm sure no one keeps a tidier
+house, an' the little old man sittin' by the chimney corner hurts no
+one. And it's handy to have a neebur to play at cards."
+
+When there came an urgent call for men to join what seemed almost a
+lost cause Bernard Carrick went to Philadelphia with perhaps twenty
+other recruits, to the sorrow of his wife and the anger of his father.
+
+"For they can't win, the blunderin' fules! D'y spose King George's
+goin' to let a gran' country like this slip out of his fingers.
+Barbery, if you were half a woman you'd 'a' held onto him if y'd had
+to spit on yer han's to do it. You'll never see him agen, an' it
+comforts me for the loss of my son that you've lost your husband. Ye
+can git anither one, but I'll have no more sons to comfort me in my
+old age."
+
+Poor Barbe was wild with grief, yet somehow Bernard's sense of duty to
+his country _had_ inspired her, and then she had her little darling,
+her mother, and father, and grandfather, who had not outlived a
+certain heroic strain if his blood had come through French channels.
+
+The people of Pittsburg had no tea to throw overboard. The Stamp Act
+bore lightly on them. They could brew good beer, they could distil
+whiskey and make passable wine. Fish and game were in abundance, the
+fields laughed with riotous harvests, so what if a few did go to war?
+
+Sandy relented after a little and they took up the evenings of
+card-playing, with the cider or beer and doughnuts, or a brittle kind
+of spice cake that Mrs. Bradin could make in perfection. They had
+arguments, to be sure: Marc Bradin was on the side of the Colonies,
+and he had taken pains to keep informed of the causes of disaffection.
+It was going to be a big country and could govern itself since it must
+know better what was needed than a king thousands of miles away!
+
+Sandy held his spite against the French sufficiently in abeyance to
+learn to play piquet with great-grandfather. It interested him
+wonderfully, and since two could play a game the women could knit and
+sew and gossip. News came infrequently. Bradin often went to the Fort
+to hear. If there were reverses, he held his peace in a cheerful sort
+of way--if victories, there was rejoicing among themselves. For they
+tried not to ruffle Sandy Carrick unnecessarily.
+
+Daffodil went often to see grandad and Norry, as they called the
+merry-hearted second wife, who nearly always had some tidbit for her.
+And grandad took her on journeys sitting in front of him on an
+improvised pillion, teaching her to sit astride and buckling a strap
+around both bodies.
+
+"For you'll have to be my boy, Dilly. My other boy'll never come back
+to us."
+
+"Where will he go?" in her wondering tone.
+
+"The Lord only knows, child."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A JOYFUL RETURN
+
+
+"It is so good to get out among you all," Barbe Carrick said, as she
+was pillowed up in a big high-backed chair and wrapped in a soft gray
+blanket. Her hair was gathered in a pretty white cap with a ruffle of
+lace about the edge, framing in her rather thin face. "So good! And
+the good news! Why, I feel almost well."
+
+It had been a slow autumnal fever, never very serious, but wearing.
+Mrs. Bradin knew the use of many herbs and was considered as good as a
+doctor by most of the settlers.
+
+The room would have made a fine "Interior," if there had been a Dutch
+artist at hand. It was of good dimensions, or the great fireplace
+would have dwarfed it. Marc Bradin was a handy man, as not a few were
+in those days when new settlers could not encumber themselves with
+much furniture. There were some of the old French belongings, a sort
+of escritoire that had drawers below and shelves above and was in two
+pieces. But the tables and chairs and the corner cupboard were of his
+fashioning. There was china, really beautiful pewter ware, some
+pieces of hammered brass, candlesticks, and one curious lamp. The
+rafters were dark with age and smoke, but they were not ornamented
+with flitches of bacon, for there was a smoke-house out one side.
+
+The chairs would pass for modern Mission furniture. A few had rockers,
+notably that in which the little girl sat, with Judy on her lap, and
+the cat almost covered her. Grandfather was in his accustomed place.
+There was a small table beside him on which were his old French Bible,
+a book of devotion, and a volume or two of poems, and a tall
+candlestick with two branches. Gran'mere was doing some white
+embroidery, a frock for the little girl's next summer's wear. Mrs.
+Bradin had been settling her daughter and now stood undecided as to
+her next duty.
+
+"Has father gone out again?" Barbe asked.
+
+"Yes, to the Fort--to see if he can't get one of the papers."
+
+"It's wonderful news!" and the invalid drew a long breath of delight.
+"But it isn't real peace yet."
+
+"Oh, no, I do believe it is the beginning, though," said her mother.
+
+"I wish the sun would shine. It ought to;" and Barbe gave a wan half
+smile.
+
+"But it isn't going to," announced Daffodil confidently. "And it _is_
+going to rain."
+
+Grandfather laughed.
+
+"Why, Dilly?"
+
+"Because." The child colored. "Oh, you will see."
+
+There was a tap at the door and then it opened. Norah Carrick dropped
+the shawl she had thrown over her head. A still pretty,
+heartsome-looking woman, with a merry face bright with roses, laughing
+blue eyes, and dark hair.
+
+"It's good for sore eyes to see you up, Barbe. I hope we'll have some
+fine weather to brace up one. An'--an' 'twas good news you heard the
+morn." Then she gave a funny, rippling laugh.
+
+"But he'll be glad to have Bernard come back," Barbe exclaimed
+resentfully.
+
+"Ah, that he will! Ye mustna mind him child, if he's cranky for a bit.
+He's been that set about England winning the game that you'd take him
+for wan of the high dukes that sit in state and tell what shall be
+done. I've been for the country all along. It runs in my mind that
+Ireland owes the king a gredge. She's been a cross-grained stepmother,
+say your best. An' why couldn't she let us go on an' prosper! We'd
+been willin' enough to work for her part of the time. An' it's not
+such an easy thing to lave your own bit of a home and come over here
+in these wilds, an' hew down trees for your houses and clear land for
+the corn, an' fight Indians. So I'm wishin' the country to win. But
+Sandy's carryin' the black cat round on his back to-day, an' it makes
+me laugh, too. He's that smart when he gets a little riled up, and
+he's husked corn to-day as if he was keepin' time with Nickey Nick's
+fiddle."
+
+"What makes the black cat stay on his back?" asked Daffodil, stroking
+her own pussy softly.
+
+"Ah, that's just a say so, Dilly darlin', for a spell of gettin' out
+of temper when there's no need. But he made a good dinner. I had just
+the stew he liked, an' a Donegal puddin' that come down from my
+great-grandmother. An', Barbe, you begin to look like crawlin' about
+again an' not so washed out. The good news should make a warm streak
+all through you."
+
+"Oh, I'm much better. If it will come off nice an' warm----"
+
+"We'll have a storm first. And is there any more news?"
+
+She had been taking some work out of a bag after she had nodded to
+gran'mere and shaken hands with great-grandfather. Now she settled
+herself and began to sew. She was never idle. Sandy Carrick had the
+smartest wife anywhere about and few women would have minded his queer
+quips so little.
+
+Then the door opened and Marc Bradin entered, thrusting out a
+newspaper.
+
+"I've been waiting my turn and have promised to have it back in half
+an hour, but I'll not count the coming and going," laughing. "And
+it's news worth waiting for. It's all true and more, too. And if we
+want a King or an Emperor, General Washington's the man. Now I'll
+read, since that's the cheapest way, as you can all hear at once."
+
+He dropped into a chair and threw his old cap on the floor. Bradin was
+an excellent reader. Yes, it was glorious news. A big battle averted
+and soldiers disabled by honor rather than wounds. A vivid description
+of what had led up to the surrender and the conditions, the enthusiasm
+and the predictions that at last victory was achieved for the
+Colonies. And although numerous points were still held by the English,
+it would be difficult to rouse enthusiasm after this crushing blow.
+
+"Time's up," said the reader. "But you have all the real gist of the
+matter. Norah, how's Sandy?"
+
+Norah gave a laugh and a shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"Oh, he'll come round. I can't see, with all the Scotch an' Irish in
+him, why he must be shoutin' for King George just because he happened
+to fight on that side years ago. An' it was under Washington, too, an'
+people do say if Braddock hadn't been so high an' mighty, and taken
+some of the young man's counsel, there wouldna have been such an awful
+defeat."
+
+"I'll come right back, jinky! It begins to rain."
+
+Dilly looked up in triumph. "I told you so," she said, "and you just
+laughed, grandfather. Now you see Judy knew."
+
+She gave Judy an extra hug and squeezed a faint mew out of her.
+
+"Judy is a wise cat," admitted grandfather.
+
+"And I must run home an' get a supper that'll be a soothin' poultice
+to the inside of the man," laughed Norah. "I'm glad I know about how
+things stand, so my heart will be light. An' we will have Bernard home
+safe and sound, never you fear, so, Barbe, get well to welcome him.
+I'm cooking chicken to-morrow an' I'll send over broth an' a bit of
+the breast. Run over to-morrow, little one. Grandad'll be all right."
+
+Barbe was tired and went to bed. Dilly moved over by grandfather and
+begged for a story. He and Norah had a packful of them. It grew darker
+and rained, with a sort of rushing wind.
+
+When Dilly grew older and began to understand what real living was, it
+seemed as if this was her actual induction into it. She had run about
+and played, listened to stories and songs, gravitated between the two
+houses, ridden with grandad, who was always a little jealous that most
+of her relatives should be on the French side. She could shut her eyes
+and hear Kirsty's raucous voice and the two bells he was ringing and
+see grandad's upturned nose and his derisive tone. She awoke to the
+fact that she really had a father.
+
+Grandad used to come over in the evening and play piquet with old
+grandfather. It was a game two could enjoy, and the women folk were no
+great hands at card-playing. Now and then, when Norah was not too
+busy, they had a friendly, social game. It rained two days and then
+cleared up in the glory of perfect autumn weather. Nothing came to
+counteract the good tidings. Grandad came for Daffodil to take a ride
+with him, and that evening he sauntered in and had a game of piquet
+and beat. It always delighted him. It was fighting the French over
+again.
+
+Barbe improved rapidly now. People were quite apt to have what was
+called a run of fever in the autumn at the change of the seasons, and
+there were some excellent home-brewed remedies and tonics that
+answered, if the case was not too severe.
+
+Dilly and her mother talked a great deal about the return of the
+husband and father.
+
+"Is he like grandad?" she inquired with a little contraction of the
+brows.
+
+"Oh, not much. He was called a handsome young fellow. Your eyes are
+like his, and he had such a brilliant color then," sighing a little
+and wondering if the hardships had made him old before his time.
+
+"And--and his nose?" hesitatingly.
+
+Barbe laughed. "It isn't short like grandad's. His mother was a
+handsome woman."
+
+"It's queer," said the child reflectively, "that you can have so many
+grand relatives and only one father. And only one gran'mere. For Norry
+isn't _real_, is she, since she isn't father's mother. And how many
+wives can one have?"
+
+"Only one at a time. It's quite a puzzle to little folks. It was to
+me."
+
+Daffodil looked at her mother with wondering eyes and said
+thoughtfully, "Were you truly little like me? And did you like
+grandad? Did he take you out on his big horse?"
+
+"We were living in Virginia then. Great-grandfather and
+great-grandmother were living there--she was alive then. And when she
+died gran'mere and gran came out here. I was about eight. And we
+didn't like it here. The children were so different."
+
+"It is all very queer," said Dilly. "You are little, and then you
+grow, and--and you get married. Will I be married? Must you find some
+one----"
+
+"Oh, Dilly, I think some one will find you;" and her mother laughed.
+"You will have to grow up and be--well, eighteen, I think, almost a
+dozen years before you need to think about it."
+
+"I'm very glad," she said soberly.
+
+She did not like things that puzzled her. The war was another. What
+had it been about? Grandad was sure the English were right, and
+great-grandfather was glad they were going to be beaten.
+
+She used to dream of her father, and watch out for him. For some of
+the companies were furloughed, his among them. And now he was Captain
+Carrick.
+
+Christmas came. There was not much made of it here, as there had been
+in Virginia, no gift-giving, but family dinners that often ended in a
+regular carouse, sometimes a fight. For Pittsburg had not reached any
+high point of refinement, and was such a conglomerate that they could
+hardly be expected to agree on all points.
+
+The little girl lost interest presently in watching for her father,
+and half believed he was not coming. She was very fond of grandad, and
+Norry, and the wonderful stories she heard about fairies and "little
+folk," who came to your house at night, and did wonderful
+things--sometimes spun the whole night long, and at others did bits of
+mischief. This was when you had offended them some way.
+
+She liked the Leprecawn so much. He was a fairy shoemaker, and when
+all was still in the night you sometimes heard him. "Tip tap, rip rap,
+Tick a tack too!" And the little Eily, who wished so for red shoes,
+but her folks were too poor to buy them. So she was to find six
+four-leaf clovers, and lay them on the doorstep, which she did.
+
+"What a queer noise there was in the night," said the mother. "It was
+like this, 'Tip tap, rip rap.'"
+
+"Sho!" said the father, "it was the swallows in the chimney."
+
+Eily held her peace, but she put four-leafed clovers again on the
+doorstep, and tried to keep awake, so she could hear the little
+shoemaker.
+
+"I'll clear them swallows out of the chimney, they disturb me so,"
+declared the father, and he got a long pole and scraped down several
+nests. But the next night the sound came again, and the mother began
+to feel afeared. But when Eily went downstairs there was a pair of
+little red shoes standing in the corner, and Eily caught them up and
+kissed them, she was so full of joy. Then her mother said, "The
+Leprecawn has been here. And, Eily, you must never wear them out of
+doors at the full of the moon, or you'll be carried off."
+
+"Was she ever, do you think, Norry?"
+
+"Oh, her mother'd be very careful. For if you go to fairyland, you'll
+have to stay seven years."
+
+"I shouldn't like that," subjoined Dilly. "But I _would_ like the red
+shoes. And if I could find some four-leaf clovers----"
+
+"You can't in winter."
+
+"Well--next summer."
+
+"Maybe grandad can find you some red leather, and lame Pete can make
+them."
+
+"But I rather have the fairy shoemaker, with his 'tip tap, rip rap';"
+laughing.
+
+"Don't minch about him. Here's a nice chunk of cake."
+
+Dilly had cake enough to spoil a modern child's digestion. But no one
+understood hygiene in those days, and kept well.
+
+There were no schools for little girls to go to. But a queer old
+fellow, who lived by himself, taught the boys, and tried to thrash
+some knowledge in their brains. It was considered the best method.
+
+Dilly's mother taught her to read English, and great-grandfather
+inducted her into French. Gran'mere talked French to the old man.
+Every morning she brushed his hair and tied it in a queue with a black
+ribbon. He wore a ruffled shirt front, and lace ruffles at his wrist;
+knee breeches, silk stockings, and low shoes with great buckles.
+
+Dilly learned to sew a little as well. But early industry was not held
+in as high esteem as in the Eastern Colonies. There was plenty of
+spinning and knitting. Fashions did not change much in the way of
+dress, so you could go on with your clothes until they were worn out.
+The nicest goods were imported, but there was a kind of flannelly
+cloth for winter wear, that was dyed various colors, mostly blue and
+copperas, which made a kind of yellow.
+
+So the winter went on, and in February there came a great thaw. Oh,
+how the river swelled, and rushed on to the Ohio. It was very warm.
+And one day Daffodil sat on the great stone doorstep, holding the
+cat, and munching a piece of cake. Judy ate a few crumbs, but she did
+not care much for it.
+
+"There's a peddler," said Dilly to Judy. "He has a big pack on his
+back, and he walks with a cane, as if he was tired. And there's
+something hanging to his waist, and a queer cap. He seems
+looking--why, he's coming here. Gran'mere wants some thread, but he
+isn't our----Mother," she called.
+
+He was thin, and pale, and travel-stained, and had not the brisk,
+jaunty air of the peddlar.
+
+But he came up the little path, and looked at her so sharply she
+jumped up, hugging Judy tightly. "Some one, mother," she said, half
+frightened.
+
+Mrs. Carrick stepped to the door, and glanced. Then, with a cry, she
+went to her husband's arms.
+
+They both almost fell on the doorstep.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "you are tired to death! And----"
+
+"Never mind; I'm home. And I have all my limbs, and have never been
+ill. It has been a desperate struggle, but it's ending grandly. And
+everybody----"
+
+"They are all alive and well. Oh, we've been watching, and hoping--it
+doesn't matter now, you are here;" and she leaned down on his shoulder
+and cried.
+
+"Three years and four months. I couldn't get word very well, and
+thought I'd rather come on. You see, my horse gave out, and I've had
+a ten-mile walk. And--the baby?"
+
+"Oh, she's a big girl. She was sitting here----"
+
+"Not that child!" in surprise.
+
+"Daffodil," called her mother.
+
+The child came shyly, hesitatingly.
+
+"Dilly, it's father. We've talked of him so much, you know. And you
+have watched out for him many a time."
+
+Somehow he didn't seem the father of her imagination. He took her in
+his arms, and dragged her over in his lap.
+
+"Oh, I forgot you could grow," in a tone broken with emotion. "But her
+blue eyes, and her yellow hair. Oh, my little darling! We shall have
+to get acquainted over again;" and he kissed the reluctant lips. "Oh,
+it is all like a dream! Many and many a time I thought I should never
+see you again;" and he wiped the tears from his eyes.
+
+"If you are glad, what makes you cry?" asked the child, in a curious
+sort of way.
+
+Barbe put her arms around Dilly. Of course, no child could understand.
+
+"And the others," began Bernard Carrick.
+
+"Oh, let us go in." There was a tremble of joy in her voice. "Mother,
+grandfather, he has come!"
+
+Mrs. Bradin greeted her son-in-law with fond affection, and a great
+thanksgiving that he had been spared to return to them. They talked
+and cried, and Daffodil looked on wonderingly. Great-grandfather
+Duvernay, who had been taking his afternoon rest, came out of his
+room, and laid his hand tremblingly in the younger one, that had not
+lost its strength. Yes, he was here again, in the old home, amid them
+all, after many hardships.
+
+"Oh, sit down," said Mother Bradin. "You look fit to drop. And you
+must have something to eat, and a cup of tea. Or, will it be a man's
+tipple? There's some good home-brewed beer--or a sup of whiskey."
+
+"I'll take the tea. It's long since I've had any. And if I could wash
+some of the dust off--it must be an inch thick."
+
+Ah, that was something like the old smile, only there was a hollow in
+the cheek, that used to be so round and so pink. She took him into her
+room, and, filling a basin with warm water, set it on the cedar chest,
+spreading a cloth over it, that he might splash in comfort.
+
+"It's been a long journey," he said. "But the poor horse gave out
+first. Boyle, and Truart, and Lowy were with me, but not to come quite
+so far. Some of the young fellows remained, though the feeling is that
+there won't be much more fighting. The impression is that England's
+about as tired of the war as we."
+
+"But you wouldn't have to go back again?" Barbe protested, in a sort
+of terror.
+
+"Well--no;" yet the tone was not altogether reassuring.
+
+She took his coat out by the door and brushed it, but it was very
+shabby. Still, he looked much improved when he re-entered the room,
+where Mrs. Bradin had set a tempting lunch at the corner of the table.
+But he could hardly eat for talking. Barbe sat beside him--she could
+scarce believe he was there in the flesh.
+
+Daffodil went out in the sunshine again. She started to run over to
+grandad's. Norry would be so glad. Well, grandad too, she supposed.
+Had he really believed father would never come home? Somehow, it was
+different. In Norry's stories the soldiers were strong, and handsome,
+and glittering with gold lace, and full of laughter. She couldn't
+recall whether they had any little girls or not. And there was her
+mother hanging over the strange man--yes, he _was_ strange to her. And
+her mother would care for him, and stay beside him, and she somehow
+would be left out. Her little heart swelled. She did not understand
+about jealousy, she had had all the attention, and it was not pleasant
+to be pushed one side. Oh, how long he was eating, and drinking, and
+talking, and--yes, they laughed. Grandad was coming up to the house
+with a great two-handled basket--she knew it was full of ears of
+corn, and she did so like to see him shell it, and hear the rattle as
+it fell down in the tub. He sat on a board across the tub, and had a
+queer sort of affair, made by two blades, and as he drew the ears of
+corn through it, scraped off both sides.
+
+No, she wouldn't even go and see grandad, for he would say, "Well,
+yellow-top, your father hasna come home yet;" and, she--well, she
+could not tell a wrong story, and she would not tell the true one.
+Grandad wouldn't go back on her, but he could wait.
+
+"Oh, Dilly, here you are!" said her mother, coming out of the door,
+with her husband's arm around her. "We're going over to grandad's;
+come;" and she held out her hand.
+
+The soldier looked more attractive. His faded cap had been thrown
+aside, and his short dark hair was a mass of curls. He looked sharply
+at the little girl, and she turned away her face. Still, she took her
+mother's hand.
+
+Norry had been sitting by the window. Now she rushed out with a shriek
+of joy.
+
+"Oh, Barney! Barney! Sure, I've been afraid we'd never set eyes on you
+again! The saints be praised! Sandy!"
+
+Sandy Carrick came and put his arms around his son. Both were rather
+tall men. For some moments neither spoke. Then the father said,
+"Cross the threshold, Barney. An' here's a silver shilling--kiss it
+for good luck an' a long stay."
+
+Bernard did as his father bade him, and the two crossed the threshold
+together.
+
+"Now, you must have something to eat and drink," began hospitable
+Norah. "Deed an' true, the crows would hardly make a meal of you."
+
+"But I've been stuffed already," he protested.
+
+"No matter. There's always room intil you're laid on your back for the
+last time. An' you're that thin, 't would take two of you to make a
+shadow."
+
+She set out cold chicken, and boiled bacon, and bread that would tempt
+one on a fast day, with a great loaf of cake, and Bernard and Barbe
+sat down. Sandy brought out the whiskey bottle. No one thought of
+objecting in those days.
+
+"Oh, where's the colleen?" and Norah stepped to the door.
+
+"Has she gone back home? She takes it a little strange," said Barbe.
+"She can't remember well. But she'll come to it presently." Then Barbe
+raised her eyes and met her husband's, that were so full of adoration;
+she blushed like a girl.
+
+"And the war is over," declared Norah. "Did they all have leave to go
+home?"
+
+"Oh, no. We can't say it's over, though the thought is there'll be no
+more hard fighting. And we've some good friends on the other side to
+argue the case for us."
+
+"No, no," snorted Sandy. "It's not over by a long shot. An' then
+they'll get to fightin' atween theirselves, and split here an' there.
+Weel, Mr. Captain, are we to have a King or a great Emperor, like him
+of France, with a court an' all that?"
+
+Bernard laughed. "We'll have neither. We've gotten rid of kings for
+all time."
+
+"Don't do your skreeking until you're well out o' the woods. But I
+hope you'll be wise enough next time to let t'other fellow take his
+chance. An' it beats me to think a great Lord an' a great soldier,
+too, should be put about, and captured by a crowd of ignoramuses
+without training."
+
+"Oh, you learn a good deal in five or six years," said the son
+good-naturedly. "There have been the Indians and the French."
+
+"And I can't abide turn-coats. First we fight for th' old country,
+then turn around and fight forninst it. We lick the French, an' then
+ask their aid. A fine country we'll have, when no one knows his own
+mind!"
+
+"You'll see the sort of country we'll make when we get about it. And
+we have no end of brave fine men who'll plan it out for us. Here's to
+your health and luck. And now tell me what Pittsburg has been doing."
+
+He raised his glass and barely touched it to his lips. Sandy drained
+his.
+
+"There's not much doin'--how could there be, with no money?" he
+answered shortly.
+
+"But you've the place for a fine town. New York and Philadelphia may
+have the start, but it's up to us to come out fair in the race. You
+have the key to the great West. Some day we'll clear the French out of
+that."
+
+"Oh, don't talk war," interposed Norah. "Tell us if you're glad to get
+home. And should you have known Dilly? She'll be the one to set hearts
+aching with those eyes of hers, when she gets a bit grown up."
+
+"We must go back," said Barbe. "And, Bernard, you must be stiff with
+your long tramp. They rode mostly all night, and when the horses gave
+out, walked. You must go to bed with the chickens."
+
+Sandy gave a snort.
+
+"I'll be over in the morn, ready for a talk or a fight," laughed
+Bernard. "God be praised that He has cared for us all these years, and
+let us meet again."
+
+Sandy looked after his son, who had the fine air of a trained soldier.
+
+"An' when we get him fatted up," said Norah, "he will be main
+good-looking."
+
+Daffodil had sauntered slowly homeward. She looked for some one to
+call after her, but there was no sound. Oh, her mother did not care
+for her now, and Norry had not so much as coaxed her in and offered
+her a piece of cake. She entered the house rather sadly. Gran'mere was
+concocting some treat for supper. She just turned and said, "Were they
+glad to see your father?"
+
+"I don't know. I didn't go in." Then she crept up alongside of
+grandfather, and leaned her face down on his breast and cried softly.
+
+"Dear, what has hurt my little girl?" pushing aside the mop of hair.
+
+"Mother won't want me any more. Nor grandad, nor Norry, nor--nor any
+one;" and Daffodil seemed very lonesome in a great cold world, colder
+than any winter day.
+
+"Yes, I want you. Oh, they'll all want you after a day or two. And
+it's a great thing for your father to come home safe."
+
+"I don't believe I am going to like him. He isn't like what I
+thought."
+
+Grandfather smiled. "Wait and see what he is like to-morrow. It's
+almost night now, and things look different, cloudy-like. There, dear,
+don't cry when we are all full of joy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+WELCOME
+
+
+Neighbors kept dropping in, and the table was crowded at supper time.
+Hospitality was ungrudging in those days. Grandfather had the little
+girl close under his wing, but she had a curiously strange feeling, as
+if she was outside of it all. Then her mother said:
+
+"Wouldn't you rather go to bed, dear? The men will want to talk about
+battles, and things, not best for little girls to hear. When you are
+older they will interest you more."
+
+"Yes," she replied, and kissed grandfather. Then her mother undressed
+her and tucked her in her little pallet.
+
+"Oh, you _will_ always love me?" she cried, in a tremulous tone.
+
+"Always, always. And father, too." Even if other children should come,
+the years when Daffodil had been her all could never be dimmed.
+
+The mother shut the door softly. They were kindly enough, this
+conglomerate population, but rough, and the French strain in the
+Bradins had tended to refinement, as well as living somewhat to
+themselves.
+
+Daffodil cried a little, it seemed a comfort. But she was tired and
+soon fell asleep, never hearing a sound, and the company was rather
+noisy. When she woke, the door to the living room was partly open, and
+the yellow candlelight was shining through. Mornings were dark, for
+they had come to the shortest days. There was a curious rustling
+sound, and Dilly ran out in her little bare feet, though the carpet
+was thick and warm. Gran'mere was cooking, Barbe was washing dishes,
+Judy sat by the fire in a grave upright fashion. How white the windows
+were!
+
+"Oh, it's snow!" cried the little girl. "Are we snowed up, as grandad
+tells about? Why, we can't see out!"
+
+"Yes, it's a tremendous snow. Bring out your clothes, and let me dress
+you. Don't be noisy."
+
+The child seldom was noisy. She wondered at the request. And what had
+happened? She had a confused sense of something unusual in her mind.
+
+"Father is asleep. It was late when he went to bed last night, and he
+is so tired out that we shall let him sleep as long as he will. Get
+your clothes, and shut the door softly."
+
+She did as she was bidden, with a furtive glance at the mound under
+the blankets. Her mother soon had her dressed in a sort of brownish
+red flannel frock, and a blue and white checked apron. Then she
+brushed out her silky hair, and made three or four thick curls.
+
+"Oh, isn't it funny! Why, we can't see anything, not a house, or a
+tree, nor grandad's."
+
+They could see that in almost any storm.
+
+She went and patted Judy. Gran'mere was frying bacon, and when that
+was brown and crisp, she slipped some eggs in the pan. Grandfather
+kept his bed late winter mornings, and only wanted a bit of toast and
+a cup of coffee. That was generally made by roasting wheat grains,
+with a tiny bit of corn, and made very fair coffee. But it was
+necessity then, not any question of nerves or health.
+
+So they ate their breakfast and everything seemed quite as usual
+except the snow. So far there had been none to speak of. Gran'mere put
+out the candle, and the room was in a sort of whitey-gray light.
+
+There was queer, muffled banging outside, that came nearer, and
+finally touched the door, and a voice said "Hello! hello!"
+
+Barbe opened it. There was grandad, in his frieze coat and fur cap, a
+veritable Santa Claus.
+
+"Well, was there ever the beat of this! Stars out at twelve? The old
+woman's geese are gettin' plucked close to the skin. Why, it's
+furious! Dilly, come out and let me tumble you in the snow bank."
+
+She shrank back, laughing.
+
+"I'd have to dig you out again. How is the lad? Did we upset
+grandfather with the racket?"
+
+"Oh, no. He always sleeps late. Have a cup of hot coffee."
+
+"An' that's just what I will. Well, the lad's lucky that he was no' a
+day later, he'd been stumped for good. By the nose of St. Andrew, I
+never saw so much snow fall in a little time. An' it's dark as the
+chimney back."
+
+"The snow is white," interposed Daffodil.
+
+"Ah, ye're a cunnin' bairn. But put a lot of it together, and it turns
+the air. The coffee's fine, it warm the cockles of one's heart."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"Oh, the little fellys that get hot, an' cold, an' keep the blood
+racin' round. And have delight bottled up to give out now and then
+when one is well treated."
+
+Daffodil nodded. She was not going to say she did not understand.
+
+"An' the b'y? He wants fat, sure. The country's made a poor shoat out
+of him. Well, I must go back, shovelin' for the path's about grown up.
+The boss out to the barn?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, I'll kem over agin, an' give him a hand."
+
+"Grandad has a good heart," said Mrs. Bradin.
+
+Mr. Bradin came in presently with a pail of milk. "This beats all for
+a storm," he said. "Now, I'll take a second breakfast. Dilly, come
+and sit here beside me, and take a taste of things. Not a livin' hen
+is up yet, just balls of feathers on the perch."
+
+"Couldn't you take me out to see them?"
+
+"If you get snowed under, we'll have to send for grandad. Well, they
+did have a roarin' time last night. He was plucky to take that long
+walk, though the poor fellows have had many a wearisome march."
+
+He wrapped Dilly in a blanket, and carried her out to the barn. There
+was Mooley munchin' her hay, there was the pen of sheep that was
+always safe-guarded at night, and the hens, funny balls of feathers,
+sure enough. But the head of the flock stretched up his long neck and
+crowed. The pigs grunted and squealed a request for breakfast. Mr.
+Bradin threw them a lot of corn.
+
+"Oh, let me walk back," she exclaimed. But the snow drifted in her
+eyes, and she tumbled over in the snow bank. He picked her up, and
+they both laughed.
+
+Grandfather was up now, looking as neat and trim as possible. He
+always read a chapter in his French Bible, and Daffodil sat on the
+broad arm of the chair and liked to listen. Then he had his breakfast
+on the little stand, and Dilly ate the crust of his toast. She liked
+so to crunch it in her teeth. Then she always wanted a story about
+France, that seemed heroic to her, though she hardly knew the meaning
+of the word. But Norah's stories were generally amusing, and
+grandfather did not believe in the "little people."
+
+It was noon when the soldier made his appearance. He really looked
+much refreshed, though his clothes were worn and shabby. And he kissed
+his little girl very fondly. Why, his blue eyes were very much like
+hers, and his smile won one to smile in return.
+
+And then the sun suddenly broke through the gray clouds, and a gust of
+wind began tearing them to tatters, and letting the blue through.
+Gran'mere opened the door, and the very air was warm. She drew long,
+reviving breaths. Grandad was coming over again, with a great dish of
+roasted apples Norah had sent.
+
+"I should be ungrateful if I didn't get fat by the minute," Bernard
+Carrick said. "But such a snow!"
+
+"I never saw so much business done in the same time, but it'll run off
+like a river. And the sun is fairly hot. But there's plenty of time
+for winter yet. How does it seem to be out of barracks, or tents, or
+whatever you had, or didn't have?"
+
+"There was a good deal of _not_ having. But no one hardly knows all
+the hardships, and the danger. The wonder to me is that so many come
+out of it alive. And home is a better thing for all a man has passed
+through. I'm anxious to see how the town has gone on."
+
+"H-u-g," with a sort of disdain. "It hasn't gone on. How could it,
+with the likeliest men thrashin' round the country worse than wild
+Indians. For we counted on their having a little more sense."
+
+Bernard laughed. His father had been very angry about his going, and
+it was funny to see him try to be a little ungracious over his return,
+as he had been so sure he would never come back alive.
+
+"Suppose we go out and take a look at it?"
+
+"In all the snow!" so amazed he reverted to the ancient tongue. With
+the variety of people, and the admixture of English, the rugged points
+of dialect were being rubbed off.
+
+"I've seen some snow, and travelled through it. But this is rather
+queer. Such a glorious air, and fairly a May day sun.
+
+"Who dances barefoot in Janiveer will greet in March."
+
+"But they wouldn't go barefooted in the snow," exclaimed Daffodil, in
+surprise.
+
+"They wouldn't do it for choice, though I've seen them dance with
+their feet tied up in rags. Dance to keep themselves warm," said her
+father.
+
+"Yes. Let us go to the Fort. You'll be wanting to see the b'y's grown
+up now. An' the old folk."
+
+"You haven't grown much older;" looking his father over
+affectionately.
+
+"Bedad! It's not much beyant three years, and does a man get bowed
+over, an' knock-kneed, an' half-blind, an' bald-headed, an' walk with
+a stick in that little time. Havers! Did you expect to see me
+bed-ridden!"
+
+Bernard laughed. The same old contrarity that was not so much temper
+after all.
+
+"I can't say the same of you, more's the pity. You've given the
+country, a pack of men who'll never give you a thankee, your good
+looks, an' your flesh, an' at least ten years. Ye're a middle-aged
+man, Bernard Carrick!"
+
+Bernard laughed again. It was like old times, and, oh, how glad he was
+to be home again.
+
+"Come, then; and, Dilly, run down an' see Norah, an' have a good
+time."
+
+Sandy took his son's arm, and they went off together. Daffodil looked
+after them with long breaths that almost brought tears to her eyes.
+Grandad hadn't been glad when the news came; she could see just how he
+had turned with his nose in the air, and now he was claiming his son
+as if he had all the right.
+
+Gran'mere was concocting some mystery on the kitchen table, Barbe sat
+at the little wheel, spinning. And she was singing, too. A faint pink
+had come back to her cheek, and her eyes almost laughed with delight.
+
+     "What's a' the steer, kimmer.
+     What's a' the steer,
+     Jamie has landed, and soon he will be here."
+
+She had a soft sweet voice. How long since she had sung with that
+gayety. True, she had been ill, and now she was well again, and Jamie
+had come home. But grandad had taken him off, and that somehow rankled
+in the child's heart.
+
+She stood by the window, uncertainly. There were only two small
+windows in the large room that were of glass, for glass was costly.
+Another much larger had board shutters, closed tightly, and a blanket
+hung over it to keep out the cold. They called it the summer window.
+One looked over to the other house and Daffodil was there.
+
+"I wouldn't go over if I were you," said her mother. "It is very wet.
+Grandad might have carried you, but he hardly knows whether he's on
+his head or his heels."
+
+"He'd look very funny on his head. What makes him so glad? He was
+angry about--if that great general hadn't--I can't say the long word,
+father couldn't have come home."
+
+She turned a very puzzled face to her mother.
+
+"There might have been a big battle;" and the mother shuddered. "Oh,
+grandad will be as glad as the rest of us presently that we have a
+country. Now we can begin to live."
+
+It was all very strange to her small mind. The sun was making rivulets
+through the snow, and the great white unbroken sheets sparkled with
+iridescent lights. Out beyond there was the Fort; she could see
+figures moving to and fro. Everything seemed so strange to her. And a
+country of one's own! Would the farms be larger, and, if England was
+beaten, what would become of it? Would they, our people, go over and
+take what they wanted? Would they drive the people away as they did
+the Indians?
+
+She was tired of so much thinking. She went over to grandfather, and
+seated herself on the arm of the chair. She did not want Norry's fairy
+stories. Leaning her head down on the dear old shoulder, she said,
+"Tell me about a great King, who beat the English."
+
+"Are you going mad about the English?" her mother asked laughingly.
+"We shall all be friends again. Quarrels are made up. And so many of
+us came from England."
+
+"We didn't," returned Dilly decisively.
+
+"Well--on the one side Scotch and Irish."
+
+"And on the other French, pure French, until your mother married a
+Bradin, and you----"
+
+"And Marc Bradin has been a good husband to me," said his wife,
+looking up from her preparations.
+
+Truly, he had, and a kind son to him as well, though he had not been
+in favor of the marriage at first.
+
+The story was about the grand old times in France. He never told of
+the religious persecutions to the little girl. He had a soft winsome
+sort of voice, and often lapsed into French idioms, but she was
+always charmed with it, even if she could not understand all he said.
+Presently she went fast asleep.
+
+Then the darkness began to fall. The candles were lighted, and that
+roused both sleepers. There was a savory smell of supper, even Judy
+went around sniffing.
+
+"We won't wait any longer," gran'mere said, with a little impatience.
+She had been cooking some messes that she remembered her son-in-law
+was very fond of, and she was disappointed that he was not here to
+enjoy it.
+
+After that grandfather went to bed. Dilly was wide awake and held her
+cat, telling her a wonderful tale of a beautiful woman who had been
+turned into a cat by an ugly witch, and all the adventures she could
+remember. Judy purred very loudly now and then.
+
+"Don't you want to go to bed?" asked Mrs. Carrick.
+
+"Oh, I'm not a bit sleepy." Then, after a pause, "Will father stay at
+grandad's?"
+
+"Oh, no. He is with the men at the Fort."
+
+"But grandad took him away."
+
+"Oh, they all want to see him."
+
+"Doesn't he belong to us?"
+
+"Yes, dear. But they always make a time when one comes home from the
+war."
+
+"What queer things there are in the flames," the child went on. "I
+think they fight, too. Look at that long blue streak. Just as soon as
+the little red ones come out, he swallows them up. Then he sits and
+waits for some more, just as Judy does for a mouse. It's funny!"
+
+"There, I've spun out all my flax. Now let us both come to bed."
+
+There was a sound of voices outside. Then the door was flung open, and
+Bernard Carrick entered, with a rather noisy greeting, catching his
+wife in his arms, and kissing her vehemently. Then he clasped his arms
+about Dilly, and threw her up, she was so small and light. She
+stretched out her hands to her mother.
+
+"Don't, Bernard; you frighten the child. We have been waiting for you
+to come home. And now Dilly must go to bed."
+
+She took her little girl by the hand. Bernard dropped in the big
+chair.
+
+Barbe seldom undressed her now, but she did this night. Presently
+Daffodil said in an imperious tone, "Do you like my father? I don't. I
+like grandfather, and gran, and grandad sometimes, but not always.
+And--father----"
+
+"Hush, dear. You will come to like him very much, I know, for I love
+him dearly. Now, say your little prayer and go to bed."
+
+Barbe went out, poked the fire a little, put on another log, and then
+sat down by her husband, who had fallen into a heavy sleep. Had he
+given the country something more than his service these three
+years--his manhood, the tender and upright qualities that dominated
+him when he went away? Sandy Carrick was of the old school, strong and
+stalwart, and not easily overcome, although he could not be called
+dissipated in any sense. But Bernard had never been of the roystering
+kind. She prayed from the depths of her heart that he might be made
+aware of the danger. The fire dropped down again, and she roused with
+a sudden shiver, rising and looking intently at him. The flush was
+gone, he was pale and thin again. Then he opened his eyes and saw her
+standing there. After a moment he held out both hands, and clasped
+hers.
+
+"Forgive me, Barbe," he said. "I ought not have come home to you like
+that, but they are a wild lot and I hadn't the strength to stand it
+after the months of privations. Zounds! what a head my father has! I
+haven't been indulging in such junkets. I wanted to come home alive to
+you and the little one. But I couldn't get away without offence and
+one goes farther than one can bear. Don't think I brought the
+detestable habit home with me, though many a poor fellow does yield to
+it and you can't blame them so much, either."
+
+"No," she answered softly, and kissed him on the forehead, much
+relieved at his frankness. Then as an afterthought--"I hope you didn't
+quarrel with anybody."
+
+"Oh, no. Party spirit runs high. A man who has never seen anything
+beyond an Indian skirmish thinks he could set the country on its feet
+by any wild plan. And here we have so many shades of opinion. Father's
+amuse me; I wonder how he and great-grandfather keep such amicable
+friends!"
+
+"Oh, he has no one nearby to play a game of piquet with him. And the
+Duvernay temper is much milder. But you must be tired. Let us fix the
+fire for the night."
+
+"Tell me when I have it right. I am not quite sure, though I have
+looked after many a camp fire. And now I am here to ease you up
+somewhat, and look out for you. Your father has been very good through
+these troublous times, and I will see that he need not be ashamed of
+his son."
+
+"Oh," she cried with deep emotion, "you make me very happy. So much of
+our lives are yet to come."
+
+There followed several pleasant days. The snow ran off and another
+came and vanished.
+
+There was little doing. Some people had looms in their houses and were
+weaving goods of various rather common kinds and many of the women
+were kept busy spinning thread and woolen yarns for cloth. Money was
+scarce, most of the trade was carried on by barter.
+
+"It has the making of a magnificent city," Bernard Carrick said,
+surveying its many fine points. "From here you will go straight over
+to the Mississippi. Some day we shall have both sides. What have the
+French been about to let such a splendid opportunity slip through
+their hands."
+
+"Don't stir up a hornet's nest at home," counseled the elder Carrick.
+
+"Oh, you mean great-grandfather! He sees the mistakes and
+shortsightedness, and while he would have been proud enough to live
+here under French rule, he understands some aspects at the old home
+better than we, the extravagance of the Court, the corruption of
+society, and," laughing, "he is hardly as hot for France as you are
+for England. After all, what so much has been done for you or Scotland
+or Ireland for that matter?"
+
+"This will be fought all over again. You will see. The country will be
+broken up into little provinces. Yankee and Virginian will never
+agree; Catholic and Puritan are bound to fight each other."
+
+"Hardly! They fought together for the great cause and they'll hardly
+turn their swords on each other. I've been from New York to Yorktown.
+And now the great work is for every man to improve his own holding,
+his own town."
+
+Pittsburg then had enjoyed or hated successive rulers. Great Britain,
+then France, Great Britain again, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It had
+been a strategic point worth holding, but no one then had dreamed of
+its later renown.
+
+Bernard Carrick did not seem to make much headway with his little
+daughter. She had been startled with his rudeness, though he was
+gentle enough now. But what with her mother, grandad, and Norah, who
+was the most charming of stepmothers, she felt he had enough care and
+attention. She was not going to sue for any favors.
+
+"Daffodil," he said one pleasant day when they had been rambling round
+the old Block House, not so very old then, though it could count on
+over twenty years, "Daffodil, why can't you love me as well as you
+love great-grandfather. I think you scarcely love me at all."
+
+She kicked some gravelly stones out of her path and looked over the
+river. It was all so beautiful then, no smoke to obscure it anywhere.
+
+"They all love you, they're always wanting you. Grandad doesn't care
+for me any more. And he wasn't a bit glad when the news came. He went
+in the house saying it was a 'lee' and Norry said the black cat was on
+his back. It wasn't a real cat, but like those in the stories. And he
+stayed there all day. And he wouldn't believe you were coming home or
+that the war was ended."
+
+"He hardly believes it yet;" laughing. "But he _was_ glad to have me
+come back. And are you not a little glad?"
+
+"You have all mother's gladness. And gran'mere's."
+
+She made a funny little movement with her dimpled chin, that if she
+had been older would have been coquettish. Her lashes were long and a
+sort of bronze brown, and her eyes made a glitter through them. Barbe
+had been a very pretty girl but the child was not much like her mother
+only in certain dainty ways. And her blue eyes came from him. He was
+rather glad of that.
+
+"Don't you want them to be glad that I am back?"
+
+"Why?"--she looked up perplexed. She was not old enough to define her
+emotions. "Of course I should want them to be glad."
+
+"Yet you are a little jealous."
+
+"Jealous!" she repeated. The word had no clearly definite meaning to
+her.
+
+"Maybe I have crowded you out a little. But you will find as you grow
+that there is a great deal of love that can be given and not make any
+one the poorer."
+
+"What is jealousy?"
+
+She had been following out her own thought and hardly minded his
+truism.
+
+"Why"--how could he define it to the child's limited understanding?
+"Jealousy is wanting _all_ of another's regard and not being willing
+that any other shall have a share. Not being willing that grandad
+shall care for me."
+
+"He wasn't glad at first." She could not forget that.
+
+"It wasn't a question of wanting or not wanting me that made him
+captious. He could not enjoy the English being beaten. I do not
+understand that in him since he means to spend all the rest of his
+life here, and has never wanted to go back. He was only a little boy,
+not older than you when he came here. And he fought in the battle of
+Braddock's defeat. Though the French gained the day it was no great
+victory for them, for they gave up their plan of taking possession of
+all the country here about. And he has not much faith in the rebels,
+as he used to call us, and didn't see what we wanted to fight for. And
+he _is_ glad to have me back. But he isn't going to love you any
+less."
+
+"Oh, yes he does," she returned quickly. "I used to ride with him and
+he never asks me now. And he takes you away--then they all come asking
+for you and if everybody likes you so much----"
+
+"And don't you like me a little?" He gave a soft, wholesome laugh and
+it teased her. She hung her head and returned rather doubtfully--"I
+don't know."
+
+"Oh, and you are my one little girl! I love you dearly. Are you not
+glad to have me come back and bring all my limbs? For some poor
+fellows have left an arm or a leg on the battlefield. Suppose I had to
+walk with a crutch like poor old Pete Nares?"
+
+She stopped short and viewed him from head to foot. "No, I shouldn't
+like it," she returned decisively.
+
+"But you would feel sorry for me?"
+
+"You couldn't dance then. And grandad tells of your dancing and that
+you and mother looked so pretty, that you could dance longer and
+better than any one. And he was quite sure you would come home
+all--all----"
+
+"All battered up. But I think he and Norry would have been very good
+to me. And mother and everybody. And now say you love me a little."
+
+"I was afraid of you," rather reluctantly. "You were not like--oh, you
+were so strange."
+
+What an elusive little thing she was!
+
+"But you are not afraid now. I think I never heard of a little girl
+who didn't love her father."
+
+"But you see the fathers stay home with them. There are the Mullin
+children and the Boyles. But I shouldn't like Mr. Boyle for a
+father."
+
+"Why?" with a touch of curiosity.
+
+"Oh, because----"
+
+"Andy Boyle seems very nice and jolly. We used to be great friends.
+And he gave me a warm welcome."
+
+"I can't like him;" emphatically. "He beat Teddy."
+
+"I suppose Teddy was bad. Children are not always good. What would you
+have done if you had been Teddy?" he asked with a half smile.
+
+"I would--I would have bitten his hand, the one that struck. And then
+I should have run away, out in the woods and frozen to death, maybe."
+
+"Why my father thrashed me and I know I deserved it. And you are not
+going to hate grandad for it?"
+
+She raised her lovely eyes and looked him all over. "Were you very
+little?" she asked.
+
+"Well--I think I wasn't very good as a boy."
+
+"Then I don't like grandad as well. I'm bigger than Judy, but do you
+suppose I would beat her?"
+
+"But if she went in the pantry and stole something?"
+
+"Can you steal things in your own house?"
+
+"Oh what a little casuist you are. But we haven't settled the other
+question--are you going to love me?"
+
+"I can't tell right away;" reluctantly.
+
+"Well, I am going to love you. You are all the little girl I have."
+
+"But you have all the other people."
+
+He laughed good-naturedly. She was very amusing in her unreason. And
+unlike most children he had seen she held her love rather high.
+
+"I shall get a horse," he said, "and you will ride with me. And when
+the spring fairly comes in we will take walks and find wild flowers
+and watch the birds as they go singing about. Maybe I can think up
+some stories to tell you. I am going to be very good to you for I want
+you to love me."
+
+She seemed to consider. Then she saw grandad, who had a little
+squirrel in his hands. Some of them were very tame, so she ran to look
+at it.
+
+"A queer little thing," said the father to himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+OLD PITTSBURG
+
+
+Spring came with a rush. Barbe Carrick glanced out of the south window
+one morning and called her little girl.
+
+"Look, Dilly, the daffodils are opening and they make the garden
+fairly joyous. They are like the sun."
+
+There was a long border of them. The green stalks stood up stiff like
+guards and the yellow heads nodded as if they were laughing. Wild
+hyacinths were showing color as well, but these were the first save a
+few snowdrops and violets one found in woody nooks. Birds were singing
+and flying to and fro in search of nesting places.
+
+Pittsburg was not much of a town then, but its surroundings were
+beautiful. The two rivers were rushing and foaming now in their wild
+haste to pour their overflow into the Ohio. The houses had begun to
+stretch out beyond the Fort. Colonel Campbell some years before had
+laid out several streets, the nucleus of the coming city. Then Thomas
+Hickory completed the plans and new houses were in the course of
+erection. Still the great business of the time was in the hands of
+the Indian traders that the French had found profitable. Beyond were
+farms, and the great tract, afterward to be Allegheny City, lay in
+fields and woods.
+
+A post road had been ordered by the government between Philadelphia
+and the town. And there were plans for a paper. For now most people
+were convinced that the war was at an end, and the Southern cities had
+been turned over to the Continental government.
+
+There was a brisk, stirring air pervading the place. Business projects
+were discussed. Iron had been discovered, in fact the whole land was
+rich in minerals. The traders were bringing down their furs. It had
+not been a specially cold winter and in this latitude the spring came
+earlier.
+
+"Oh, it's beautiful!" The child clapped her hands. "Can't I bring in
+some of them?"
+
+"Oh, yes. But pick only the largest ones. Leave the others on to
+grow."
+
+She came in with an apron full. "Some are for grandfather," she said.
+
+"Yes, fill this bowl and put it on his table."
+
+She had just finished when he came out. He was always immaculate, and
+his hair had the silvery tint. His daughter saw that it was always
+neatly brushed and the queue tied with a black ribbon. He was growing
+a trifle thinner and weaker.
+
+"Oh, little one," he cried, "did you get a posy for me? Is it your
+birthday?" and he stooped to kiss the golden hair, then the rosy lips.
+
+"Her birthday will not be until next week," said her mother.
+
+"I had forgotten. I am almost a hundred. And she is----"
+
+"Seven."
+
+"And when I get to be a hundred I'll have a little table like yours,
+and read out of the Bible, and we'll talk over things that happened
+when we were children."
+
+He laughed and patted her shoulder. "I shall not be here," he said
+slowly.
+
+"Oh, where are you going? I do not want you to go away," and she drew
+an apprehensive breath.
+
+"We do not always stay in one place. I came from France years and
+years ago. And I shall go to another country, heaven. It is always
+summer there."
+
+"Can't you take me?" with an eager, upward look.
+
+"Mother wants you. And you are to be a little old lady and sit in this
+chair."
+
+"And wear a cap like gran'mere? And have two little creases in my
+forehead, so?"
+
+She tried to make them but they were not much of a success, and the
+smile returned. "Now let us read."
+
+She took her seat on the arm of the chair. Gran'mere came in and
+busied herself about breakfast. The reading was from one of the minor
+prophets. Dilly did not understand it very well but she could converse
+in the language quite fluently. Her mother had taught her to spell and
+read English. Girls were not expected to have much education in those
+days; indeed, here they grew up mostly like the flowers of the field.
+While the little girls to the eastward were working samplers, sewing
+long overhand seams, hemming, and doing beautiful darning, these
+little girls ran about, romped, helped to take care of the next
+younger baby, grew up and married, no one could have told just how.
+
+After breakfast when the sun was warm and bright grandfather started
+for his walk. He always felt stronger in the morning. Sometimes Barbe
+went, often only Dilly. He liked the child's prattle. He liked, too,
+the way the denizens of the woods came to her, and the birds. True she
+always had some bread to crumble and she talked in her low sunny
+voice. Now and then a squirrel would run up her shoulder, watch her
+with beady eyes that almost laughed and whisk his feathery tail about.
+
+"It does seem as if they ought to talk," she often said.
+
+"They do in their language, only we can't understand them; at least we
+do in part. Doesn't he say in his fashion, 'I'm glad to see you? Have
+you any crumbs to-day.' And how one of them scolded when another ran
+off with that piece you dropped."
+
+"That was funny, wasn't it!" and she laughed. They were sitting on a
+fallen log in the warm sunshine. Bees were out also, buzzing and no
+doubt grumbling a little because there were not more sweet flowers in
+bloom. And the birds sang and whistled in great glee.
+
+They returned from their walk presently through the woods, where she
+gathered some curious wild flowers. Then they came out by the river,
+foaming and tumbling about as if it longed to overflow its banks. Now
+and then a rough kind of boat came down laden with stores of some
+kind, but there was no hurry visible anywhere.
+
+About sixteen years before the Indians had ceded all the lands about
+Pittsburg to the Colonies. The six nations assembled with their
+principal chiefs and warriors and gave the strongest assurance of
+treaty keeping, which after all were not well kept, as usual. But they
+had retreated to better hunting grounds and for some time had made
+little trouble, though many friendly Indians remained.
+
+The wanderers came out to the town proper. Streets were being
+surveyed, straightened, new ones laid out. There were about a hundred
+houses ranged round the Fort, but they had begun to spread outside.
+The disputes with the Pitt family, who had held the charter of
+Pennsylvania, had been mostly settled and grants of land given to many
+of the returned soldiers in lieu of the money the Colonial government
+could not pay. Pittsburg now belonged to the State, and a project had
+been broached to make it the county seat.
+
+Grandfather looked very tired and pale as he came in and went straight
+to his chair. His daughter took his hat and cane.
+
+"I did not mean to go so far. I wanted to look at the spot where I had
+buried my money;" with a little hollow laugh.
+
+"Did you bury some money?" asked Daffodil, with eager curiosity.
+"Can't you dig it up again?"
+
+"No, dear; it has to stay there for years. It may be dug up in your
+time, but I shall not need it."
+
+She looked puzzled.
+
+"You must have a cup of tea," said Mrs. Bradin, and immediately she
+set about it. Grandfather leaned back in his chair and closed his
+eyes. Dilly espied her mother in the adjoining room and went thither
+to exploit the splendid time with the squirrels and show the flowers
+she had gathered. Then she stood rather wistfully.
+
+"Well?" said her mother in a tone of inquiry.
+
+"Grandfather went to look at the money he had buried, but he couldn't
+find it. Do you suppose some one has taken it away?"
+
+"Buried?" She seemed mystified a moment, then smiled. "It wasn't as we
+bury things. A long time ago when the French held the Fort and seemed
+likely to keep a good part of the country grandfather bought a large
+tract of land. Then the French were driven out by the English and they
+in their turn by the Colonists. But the land is there and some day the
+money may come out of it. Grandad thinks he might as well have thrown
+it into the river. But he has never wanted for anything, and it would
+likely have been spent for something else. It's odd grandfather should
+have said that to-day. He seldom mentions it. He was quite troubled
+over it at first--when _I_ was a little girl."
+
+"Oh," returned Daffodil, relieved, though she did not understand the
+matter.
+
+"Go and put your flowers in water;" said her mother.
+
+Grandfather was soundly asleep and did not wake until dinner was on
+the table. Then he scarcely tasted it.
+
+"You must not take such long walks," his daughter said. "You cannot
+stand it any more."
+
+"No, I am getting old," rather sadly. "When your mother died I felt
+that I didn't want to live, and now I am content to go on in this
+lovely world until the Lord calls me home. I thought once I should
+round out the century. There have been many changes in the hundred
+years."
+
+And though he had been on exile for his faith's sake, though he had
+seen the blunders and sins of his country's rulers, he could not help
+reverting to the grand old dream of the magnificent empire of New
+France that would never come to pass now. How they had let all the
+advantages slip through their fingers that had grasped only at the
+wildest pleasures and dissipations.
+
+Barbe went out in the sunshine to garden a little. She was so fond of
+growing and blooming things. And they yielded such a beautiful return.
+She sang snatches of songs, sometimes in French, sometimes the gay or
+sad Scotch ditties. Dilly went over to see Norah, all the men were out
+now at the spring work. Norah was spinning on the big wheel, but she
+could raise her voice above its whir and to-day she was full of merry
+legends. Dilly had brought the cat and Judy never objected to being
+held.
+
+"I'm going to be seven years old," she said in a pause. "And when will
+I be almost a hundred like great-grandfather?"
+
+"Oh, you've gone only a little bit toward it," laughed Norah. "Why I'm
+not half way there myself. And I don't want to be. I'd like never to
+grow any older. But you shouldn't stop at seven. You haven't come to
+the cream of life. There's more fun at seventeen and that's ten years
+away. But you're big enough to have a party."
+
+"What is a party like?"
+
+"Oh, you little innocent! A party is a lot of people together who
+laugh and tell stories and have a good time and something to eat and
+drink. And you must have a cake with seven candles around it."
+
+"What are the candles for?"
+
+"To light your way;" laughing. "No, to tell how many years you have
+lived. I'll make the cake, and the candles too. They'll have to be
+dips for I haven't any small mould. Don't you remember how your mother
+and gran'mere made candles last fall? And I haven't a bit of wax
+myrtle. Oh, I can melt up two or three of mine. They are more fragrant
+than tallow. Yes, you shall have a party. I'll talk to your mother
+about it."
+
+Dilly was all interest and excitement. Her mother agreed at once. A
+modern little girl would have refused such a party. For there would be
+all grown people. Barbe Carrick had been a little exclusive with her
+child and she had not felt the need of playmates. Then they were
+rather out of the range of the Fort people as the somewhat crowded
+settlement was called. There were no schools nor Sunday-schools for
+little folks. Sunday was not very strictly kept. The schoolmaster read
+prayers, the litany, and a sermon from some volume on Sunday morning
+and the rest of the day was given over to social life. There were a
+few Friends who held their meeting in each other's houses; some of the
+Acadians had found their way thither, and now and then a priest came
+who took in the more devout of the Irish population. But there was a
+large liberty of opinion.
+
+Norah would have the house decorated with blossoming shrubs and she
+made a wreath for the little girl to wear, for a few neighbors were
+asked in. James Langdale had been in Bernard's company, and Mrs.
+Langdale and Barbe had exchanged many a fear and a few hopes. There
+were two Langdale boys, but of course they were not eligible for a
+girl's party.
+
+They had some idea of the fitness of things even then. Barbe and
+Bernard Carrick were at the head of the table with Daffodil on her
+mother's side and great-grandfather on the other. At the foot were
+grandfather and grandmother Bradin and on one side grandfather Carrick
+and Norah, fresh and smiling and full of gayety in the pretty lavender
+crêpe she had worn at her own wedding and that she saved now for high
+occasions, with her sapphire earrings and brooch that had come down to
+her through several generations and had been worn at Court and danced
+with royalty.
+
+It was what we would call a high tea, a bountiful spread, and there
+was much jesting and joking. I think they didn't mind the little girl
+very much. She was perched up higher than usual and wore a white robe
+that was kept as a sort of heirloom when she outgrew it, for it was
+lace and needlework of her mother's making.
+
+Jetty, a half Indian woman, waited on the table, and when the meats
+were taken out and the dessert brought in there was Daffodil's
+beautiful cake with the seven candles all alight. She thrilled with
+the pleasure. They passed around other cakes and home-made wine and
+drank great-grandfather's health and wished him many more years.
+Grandfather Carrick drank to Daffodil's future, wishing her long life
+and a happy marriage with great prosperity.
+
+Then her mother helped her up on her feet. She felt very bashful with
+everybody's eyes upon her and almost forgot the little speech Norah
+had taught her, but her mother prompted and she replied amid great
+applause. The toasting went all around, then her candles were put out
+and she had to cut the cake, which she did with a silver knife that
+had a Louis stamp upon it. The cake was declared excellent.
+
+"I'm going to take my piece home to the boys," declared Mrs. Langdale.
+"Husband, give me a taste of yours."
+
+After that there was more merriment. Then Jetty took off the things,
+the tables were pushed back, and Norah and grandfather Carrick danced
+a jig. And it _was_ dancing such as you seldom see nowadays. Norah
+could have made her fortune on a modern stage.
+
+After Daffodil's party broke up the men went over to grandfather
+Carrick's, where they made a night of it, as was the fashion of the
+times. But Dilly and great-grandfather wanted to go to bed.
+
+"A party is just beautiful!" declared Dilly. "Couldn't I have another
+sometime!"
+
+"Oh, you are getting spoiled," laughed her mother. "Let me see--when
+you are ten, maybe."
+
+So many new thoughts came to Daffodil that she was surprised at
+herself. Of course it was being seven years old. She began to sew a
+little and knit and make lace over a cushion. Very simple at first,
+and oh, the mistakes! Then there was gardening. How curious to plant a
+dainty little seed and have it poke a green head out of the ground.
+But funniest of all were the beans coming up with their shells on
+their heads; she was sure at first they must be upside down.
+
+The men were very busy about the new town and sometimes they almost
+quarreled over the improvements. It was taking on quite a changed
+aspect. They were giving names to the streets and building much better
+houses of hewn logs, making plaster walls. But glass was very dear and
+for a long while they could only put in a few windows. The rest were
+openings, closed by shutters at night or in a storm.
+
+The paper was a great source of interest, the Pittsburg _Gazette_.
+What they did without any telegraph and depending only on post horses
+puzzles us now. And the General Government had a hard task on its
+hands reconciling the different states and trying ways of getting
+money.
+
+"They'll see, an' a sorry time they'll have of it," predicted Sandy
+Carrick. "It's settin' up housekeeping for yourself on nothing. Th'
+ould country's paid our bills and sent us what we needed an' they'll
+be glad to go back, mark my words now."
+
+Bernard took his father's talk in good part. His knowledge was so much
+wider. There would be hard times, but there were brave men to meet it.
+Sometimes he wished they could go to a big city, but it would be cruel
+to tear Barbe away from the household when she was its light.
+
+Daffodil had another wonderful pleasure. The old English people kept
+up some of their customs and they had a gay time over the Maypole. It
+was like a grand picnic. They had a smooth grassy place at the edge of
+the woods and the pole was a young tree that was denuded of its limbs
+as it stood in just the right place. They could not get ribbon, but
+strips of dyed muslin answered for the streamers. There were two
+fiddlers, there were gay choruses. One song grandad sang with great
+gusto. Captious as he could be when people did not agree with him, he
+had a fund of Irish drollery.
+
+     "Come, lasses and lads, get leave of your dads
+       And away to the Maypole hie;
+     For every fair has a sweetheart there,
+       And the fiddlers standing by,
+     Then trip it, trip it, up and down."
+
+And grandad did trip it merrily. It was fortunate for Norah that she
+was not jealous, but she enjoyed a bit of fun, and her arch smile, the
+merry flash of her eyes, with the color coming and going, made her
+very attractive. Dilly wished she was big enough to dance--her little
+feet kept patting the turf and keeping time with the fiddle.
+
+"You're Daffodil Carrick, aren't you?" said a boyish voice almost in
+her ear.
+
+She turned, startled, and her eyes were so lovely they fairly
+transfixed him, and she stared unconsciously.
+
+She did not speak but nodded.
+
+"I'm Ned Langdale. My mother was at your party and brought us home a
+piece of your birthday cake. She said you were seven and as pretty as
+a fairy, and I'm fourteen, just twice as old."
+
+"Oh," she said, "that's funny. And will you always be twice as old."
+
+"Why--no. You can never be that but just once in your life--I mean
+with that special person. And when you were twenty I wouldn't like to
+be forty."
+
+"Is that so very old? Great-grandfather is ninety-seven."
+
+"Whew! That is old! But you see now I am seven years older than you
+and that is the way it will be all our lives. Do you go to school?
+There's a lady in Water Street who takes little girls, though she's
+only just begun."
+
+"No; but I can spell, and read, and do little sums. And read in
+French."
+
+"Oh, that's great! I'm studying Latin, but it's awful tough. Isn't it
+gay here? Can you dance?"
+
+"I never tried with music."
+
+"I can, just a little. Oh, say, it's splendid! If I knew just how I'd
+ask you to try it with me. It seems so easy when you look at them.
+It's so and so----" moving his hands. "Yes, do try. You whirl
+round----"
+
+And without any real intention they started. It was like floating.
+Yes, she had done it when she thought of the little people dancing on
+the green.
+
+"Oh," with a soft laugh of protest, and all out of breath.
+"It's--delicious! I didn't think I could do it for fair. I sometimes
+make believe. I'll get Norry to teach me."
+
+"Norry? Who?"
+
+"Why----" she flushed daintily. "That's grandad's wife."
+
+"Then she's your grandmother."
+
+"Oh, no, she isn't. You see the other wife died; she was father's
+mother and he married Norah. We all call her Norry."
+
+"She doesn't look old enough to be any one's grandmother. And isn't
+she gay? She has such a merry face, pretty too."
+
+"And she sings such gay songs. She knows all about the fairies, too,
+and she's seen them at home, that's Ireland. Why don't they come to
+America?"
+
+"Maybe the witches drive them away. Witches are just awful! Come; let
+us try again."
+
+He placed his arm around her and they whirled off to the fascinating
+music. Is there anything like a fiddle to put the spirit of delight in
+one's feet? Other couples were floating round or doing jigs with fancy
+steps and laughter. Now and then a bright, mirthful young lad ran off
+with some girl and left the first partner in the lurch, at which there
+was a shout.
+
+"Oh, I wish you were my sister! Wouldn't we have fun! I have only one
+brother, Archie, and he's stupid as an owl--well, I mean he hasn't any
+fun in him, and he'd dance about like a cow. Oh, there's your--well,
+it would be queer to call her grandmother."
+
+They both laughed at that.
+
+"I wondered where you were, Daffodil. Isn't this Ned Langdale? I know
+your mother. Dilly, I think I had better take you home. I promised
+your mother I wouldn't keep you very long."
+
+"Oh, no; let me stay just a little while. It's all so gay and they
+dance so--so--isn't it like a fairy ring?"
+
+Norah laughed. "Well, I'll take another round, then we must go. You
+keep her just about here, then I shall know where to find you. Aren't
+you tired, though?"
+
+"Oh, not a bit."
+
+Her eyes shone like stars and there was a most delicious color in her
+cheeks like the dainty first ripeness of a peach.
+
+"There's a tree over there--go and sit down. I won't be long."
+
+The great tree had been cut down and there were no end of chips lying
+about.
+
+"Now, if I was home I'd get a basket and gather them up," said Ned.
+"Mother thinks they make such a splendid fire. It's odd that our
+fathers were out in the war together, and are real good friends. I
+mean to be a soldier."
+
+"But if there isn't any war?"
+
+"There'll be Indian wars until they are all cleared out. They're a
+treacherous lot and never keep their word. And governments need an
+army all the time."
+
+"But it's dreadful to fight and kill each other."
+
+"Still you have to. History is full of wars. And there were so many in
+the Bible times. The children of Israel had to fight so many people to
+get the land of Canaan that the Lord promised them. And we've been
+fighting for a country--that is, our fathers have--and now we've
+gained it. Oh, wasn't it splendid when Cornwallis surrendered. Did you
+hear Kirsty that morning? I thought the place was on fire."
+
+That brought grandad's face before her and she laughed.
+
+"I didn't know what it meant nor who Cornwallis was. I'm only a little
+girl----"
+
+"But you're awful smart to read French. Can you talk it?"
+
+"Oh, yes. Grandmother Bradin was French. They went to Ireland and then
+came to America, and since father has been away they have talked it a
+great deal more, so you see I know both."
+
+"Mother said your party was so nice. And the old grandfather was like
+a picture. When they drank your health you had to reply."
+
+Daffodil's face was scarlet.
+
+"I almost forgot. Norry made me say it over and over, but mother
+whispered and then I remembered."
+
+"Oh, I wish I could have seen you. And you are so little and pretty.
+I'd like to see your French grandfather. Could I come some time?"
+
+"Why, yes. And you'd like Norry so much."
+
+"Do they live with you?"
+
+"Oh, no; but it's only a little way off----"
+
+Norah came flying back. "Come," she said hurriedly. "Grandad's had a
+fit about you because I did not have you tucked under my wing. Why, I
+should have dropped you while I was dancing. Glad you've taken such
+good care of her;" and Norah nodded to him as she took the child by
+the hand. "Don't say a word about the lad, or grandad will show his
+claws and scratch all round."
+
+He was waiting where a path turned off.
+
+"Well, Yellow-top," he began, "so you're not lost. Had a good time?"
+
+"I was watching them dance. And they were so merry. Oh it was fine!"
+
+"No place for a little youngster like you. Norry was crazy to think of
+it."
+
+"I saw some other little children----"
+
+"Yes, rabble;" and the nose went up.
+
+"Grandad, don't be cross. I had such a nice time;" and she slipped her
+small hand in his.
+
+"You're 'most a witch, you cunning little thing;" and he gave her a
+squeeze. "Now, Norry, take her to her mother's arms before you let her
+go."
+
+They turned off, and grandad, who had not had his fun out, went back.
+
+"It was all splendid, Norry. I want you to show me how to dance and
+teach me some songs--some of those gay and pretty ones."
+
+"Well, well! you _are_ getting along. Daffodil Carrick, you'll break
+hearts some day;" and Norah laughed.
+
+She had so much to tell them at home and she spoke of Ned Langdale,
+but she did not quite like to tell about the dancing, wondering if
+there had been anything wrong in it, and she did not want to have
+Norah blamed. She liked the gayety so much. It was rather grave at
+home, with all grown people. And her mother was not _all_ hers now.
+Father was very fond of her. And she was coming to like him very much.
+
+He was pleased that she had such a nice time. He wondered if it would
+not be well to send her to this school for small children that had
+lately been opened. But her mother objected decidedly.
+
+Oh, how beautiful the summer was with its flowers, and then its
+fruits. One Sunday afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Langdale came up with their
+son Edward, and Daffodil was glad to see him again. He was a nice,
+well-behaved lad, and very deferential to great-grandfather. The two
+soldiers talked over their battles and the state of the country. The
+preliminaries of peace were under way, but the settlement seemed to
+drag along. France still stood our friend.
+
+Daffodil took him out to see the squirrels that came at her call and
+inspected him with such curious, inquiring eyes that he laughed about
+it.
+
+"You see they are not used to boys," she explained.
+
+The quails were very much at their ease as well, and robins flew and
+fluttered. Judy never tried to catch them, though sometimes she hunted
+out in the woods.
+
+"Ned Langdale is a nice boy," said Dilly's father. "I don't wonder
+they are proud of him. His heart is set on being a soldier."
+
+"I'm glad he isn't my son if that is his bent," Barbe said. "And I
+hope we'll hear no more of war."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HOW THE WORLD WIDENED
+
+
+The summer passed rapidly. Daffodil found many things to entertain
+her, but grandfather demanded much of her time. He took his morning
+walk with her hand in his, but he did not go as far as formerly. Then,
+on his return, he had a nap in his chair. He lost his appetite during
+the latter part of the season. In the afternoon he took a long nap.
+Daffodil read to him now, and he did not appear to notice her
+blunders.
+
+"Father fails rapidly, I think," Mrs. Bradin said to her husband.
+
+He shook his head with a slow, sympathetic movement.
+
+"We shall miss him very much. And Dilly will feel it. I am sorry to
+have her know the mystery no child can understand."
+
+"We won't go for a walk this morning, Dilly," he said one day in later
+August. "The air is very close. We will wait until evening."
+
+"But you go to bed so early."
+
+"Yes, I'm getting old," with his faint, sweet smile.
+
+"But everybody says you must live to be a hundred. That's a whole
+century."
+
+"Sometimes I feel as if it were two centuries since I began. But it
+has been a pleasant journey toward the last. I'm glad to have had you,
+Dilly."
+
+"I'm glad, too," the child said with her bright smile.
+
+"Now you may sing to me a little."
+
+So she sang him to sleep. Then she went to wait on her grandmother.
+Her mother was sewing by the window in their sleeping-room.
+
+"Go and look at grandfather," she said presently.
+
+"He is still asleep. Mother, I wish you would show me that stitch I
+began yesterday."
+
+So she sat down at her work.
+
+Mrs. Bradin went to her father. His head had drooped a little forward.
+She placed her hand on his forehead, and drew a long quivering breath.
+The summons had come, peacefully, for him.
+
+She was still standing there when her husband entered, and at a glance
+he knew what had happened.
+
+"It is best so," he said.
+
+Barbe was startled beyond measure. Latterly her thoughts had been
+revolving much about herself, and though she had remarked the slow
+alteration, she had put off the assumption of the great change.
+Somewhere in the winter--maybe spring, and here it was with the
+ripening of summer.
+
+They carried him to his room and laid him tenderly on his bed. A long,
+well-used life it had been.
+
+To Daffodil it was a profound mystery. No child could comprehend it.
+This was the journey grandfather had spoken of, that she had imagined
+going back to France.
+
+"What is it, mother? How do people go to heaven?" she asked.
+
+"Some day we will talk it all over, when you can understand better. We
+must all go sometime. And we shall see each other there."
+
+"Then it isn't so bad as never seeing one again," and there was a
+great tremble in her voice.
+
+"No, dear. And God knows about the best times. We must trust to that."
+
+He looked so peaceful the day of the burial that Daffodil thought he
+must be simply asleep. She said good-by to him softly. There had been
+no tragedy about it, but a quiet, reverent passing away.
+
+Still, they missed him very much. Barbe wanted to set away the chair
+that had been so much to him. She could not bear to see it empty.
+
+"Oh, no, mother," pleaded Daffodil. "When I go and sit in it I can
+talk to him, and he seems to come back and answer me. It's so lovely
+where he is and there isn't any winter. Think of having flowers all
+the year round. And no one ever is ill. There are such beautiful
+walks, and woods full of birds, the like of which one never sees
+here. And I can put my head down on his shoulder, just as I used, and
+I can feel his hand holding mine. Oh, no, don't take it away, for then
+I should lose him."
+
+The child's eyes had a wonderful exalted light in them, and her voice
+had a tender, appealing sound, that went to the mother's heart. She
+was thankful, too, that Daffodil had no terror of death. She shrank
+from it as from some dread spectre standing in her way.
+
+The child missed him most in her walks. Norah liked neighbors to chaff
+and gossip with; rambles, with no special motive, did not appeal to
+her. Gran'mere was always busy, her mother was easily tired out. She
+rode, as of old, with grandad, but she could not use the pillion, her
+arms were too short to go around his stout body. Her father took her
+out with him when he could; he did a good deal of surveying. On
+Saturday Ned Langdale would hunt them up, and one day he brought
+Archie, who was three years younger, and not exactly stupid, either,
+but always wanting to examine the beginning of things, and how the
+Indians came to own the continent, and why the Africans were black and
+had woolly hair and in the country called Asia they were yellow? And
+if God created only two at first, how did they come to be so
+different? And how did Adam know what to name the animals? Were there
+people living in the stars?
+
+"Oh, do hush up," his mother would exclaim impatiently. "You are
+enough to turn one's brain upside down! And you can't say half the
+multiplication table. I don't believe you know how many black beans
+make five!"
+
+It had been a great puzzle to him. He sprung it on Daffodil one day.
+
+She considered. "Why, five would be five of anything, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Oh, how quick you are with a good reason, too. I couldn't see into it
+for ever so long. I'm awful dull."
+
+Then they both laughed. His face was such a good honest one, but not
+full of mirth, like Ned's.
+
+They were really nice boys, and her father felt he could trust her
+with them. But he wished there were some tolerably well trained girls
+for her to know.
+
+Then the winter came on again. Her father had to go to Philadelphia on
+some business, and there were stirring times in the brave old city.
+They missed him so much. Grandfather Bradin was promoted to the whole
+name now, as there was no chance of confusion, but the little girl as
+often endearingly called him "gran."
+
+Bernard Carrick brought home with him great-grandfather's will that
+had been made five years before, and intrusted to a legal friend, who
+was, like himself, a Huguenot refugee. To his wife Felix Duvernay had
+entrusted his strong box, with the gold pieces that were almost
+heirlooms, and various jewels, to do with whatever she chose. There
+were some deeds of property that he brought home with him, and the
+will.
+
+"I was amazed," he said to Barbe. "Why, there are acres and acres of
+ground that will be worth a mint of money some day. And it is all
+securely made over to Daffodil Carrick. Your father and I are
+appointed guardians, and this Mr. de Ronville is administrator. His
+father was exiled about the same time, but he came at once to America.
+It seems a little queer that great-grandfather shouldn't have made
+more of it."
+
+"I think, after the purchase he felt rather sore about it, as if it
+was a foolish bargain. But he thought then that the French would be
+the real rulers of America," said Mrs. Bradin. "Yet he never alluded
+to the will; and you know he was always very fond of Dilly, and that
+there was no other child."
+
+"Dear old man! When Dilly is grown up she will be an heiress. It can
+only be leased until she comes of age. I wish it was on this side of
+the river. Well, as my father says, 'it will neither eat nor drink,'
+except the rains of heaven. We won't proclaim it on the housetops."
+
+So matters went on just the same. No one gave much thought to "over
+the river" then.
+
+One morning Mrs. Carrick was not very well. Norah came over, and there
+was grave consulting. She took Dilly back with her, and in the
+afternoon grandad bundled her up and drove her over to the mill with
+him, and was very jolly. They did not return until dusk, and then
+Norry's supper had such a savory fragrance she decided to share it.
+Norry had been over to the other house, and "mother" had a bad
+headache, and Dilly was to stay all night. She had brought over her
+nightgown.
+
+"That's funny!" exclaimed Daffodil. "Mother seldom has a headache.
+Oh," with a sudden alarm, "you don't think mother will be ill for
+weeks and weeks, and grow pale and thin, as she did before father came
+home."
+
+"Oh, no;" and Norry threw up her head with a laugh. "She'll be up
+again in no time."
+
+Grandad was teaching the little girl to play checkers, and she was
+deeply interested. Norry was knitting a long woollen stocking for him,
+and sang bits of gay Irish songs. But by and by the little girl began
+to yawn, and made some bad plays.
+
+"You're sleepy," said grandad.
+
+"Yes, I can't get over to the king row;" and she smiled. "But you just
+wait until to-morrow, when I'm bright and fresh."
+
+So Norry put her to bed, and, leaving grandad to read the _Gazette_,
+she ran over to see how it fared with Barbe, and did not come home
+until morning. Grandad had a nice fire, and had made the coffee.
+
+"Oh, dear," began Daffodil, coming out in her trained nightgown, as
+they made garments for children to grow in, in those days, "isn't it
+funny? When I woke up I couldn't think where I was, and it came into
+my mind about little Bridget, that fairies took away for seven years.
+Then I would be fourteen."
+
+"That's some of Norry's nonsense. Get on your clothes, and come and
+have these grand griddle cakes and sausage, that'll make you sing in
+your sleep."
+
+"Why not when I am awake?" with laughing eyes.
+
+"Anybody can do that. But it takes something extra good to make you
+sing in your sleep."
+
+She thought they were quite good enough, and wondered how it would
+seem to sing in the night, and the dark, and if she could hear
+herself.
+
+Then her father came after her. Grandad wrung his hand and said, "Lad,
+I wish you joy and the best of luck."
+
+What did that mean?
+
+"Daffodil, something wonderful has happened to us, and I hope--you
+will like it. We are very happy over it. We have a little boy who came
+in the night. A little brother for you. And we want you to be glad."
+
+"Oh, was that what grandad meant?" she asked gravely.
+
+"Yes. You see, girls marry and give up their name. But a boy carries
+it on. And grandad hated to have the name die out. He will be very
+proud of the boy, but I think no one will be quite as dear to him as
+Daffodil."
+
+The child was revolving various thoughts in her mind, and made no
+comment. When they entered the house, Grandmother Bradin took off her
+hat and cloak, and kissed her very fondly. Her father watched the
+small serious face. Then he sat down in the big chair, and took her on
+his knee.
+
+"Dilly," he began in a pleading tone, "I hope you won't feel as if--as
+if you would be crowded out. We have had you the longest, and you were
+our first sweet joy. We can never love any other child quite like
+that. And nothing can ever change our love for you. So you must not
+feel jealous because we shall love him and be glad to have him----"
+
+"Oh, that was what you said a long time ago, when you first came
+home--that I was jealous. No, I didn't like mother to love you so
+much. And you were strange, and you can't love any one all at once;"
+incoherently.
+
+"But you are not jealous now?"
+
+"No. It didn't take her love from me, only a little while."
+
+"It did not take it away at all. And there were two people to love
+you, instead of one. Suppose I had felt hurt because you loved
+grandfather so much?"
+
+"Was it like that?" She raised her lovely eyes with an appealing light
+in them. "And was I very bad?"
+
+He stooped and kissed her. "It was very natural, and the only thing,
+the best thing, is to wait until the other one understands. You love
+me now?"
+
+She reached up and twined her arms about his neck.
+
+"I love you very much," she returned in an earnest tone. "And I am
+gladder than ever to have you love me, now that grandfather has gone
+away. But I don't want any one else to go."
+
+He clasped her more tightly. No, any other break in the circle would
+mean a more poignant grief. There was no one to spare.
+
+"And you will not mind if we love the little boy a good deal?"
+
+"No--since it is a little boy. I am glad it is not a girl, that you
+chose a boy," she made answer simply.
+
+"We all wanted the boy. Dilly, I am glad to have you love me, and I
+hope it will grow stronger as you grow older, and understand how sweet
+affection really is."
+
+Mr. Bradin called him away. He put Daffodil in the chair and she
+leaned her head down and whispered to grandfather that a little boy
+had come, and she was going to be glad, because they all wanted him.
+And then a curious thought flashed over her. Death and life are
+profound mysteries, even out of childhood.
+
+"Would you like to see the baby?" asked gran'mere Bradin.
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+Her mother glanced up out of fond dark eyes. Why, she was as pale as
+in her long sickness, but not so thin. She said, "Kiss me, Daffodil."
+
+"Oh, mother!"
+
+"And here is little brother."
+
+Daffodil's first feeling was disappointment. She had thought of some
+angelic beauty. He was red and crumpled up, and there was a crown of
+thick black hair, and his mouth was puckered up. The mother patted his
+little face.
+
+"He will look better by and by," she said reassuringly.
+
+"Mother, I was thinking--it came to me in the chair--isn't it old
+grandfather come back to us again to live his life over? You know,
+everything begins little. The flowers die, but they spring up again,
+most of them in the same places."
+
+"Why, child, that is a pretty thought;" and the mother smiled. "And he
+will have his name, only Grandfather Carrick must have his in, so it
+will be Alexander Felix Duvernay."
+
+"I don't want him to be called Sandy."
+
+"I think he won't be. And, Daffodil, you won't mind--I mean, you won't
+feel jealous. We wanted him so much." There was a touch of anxiety in
+the mother's voice.
+
+"Oh, no. Father asked me that. No, you may love him ever so much,
+while you love me as well."
+
+"She takes it very calmly," said Gran'mere Bradin afterward. "Some
+children as old as she, and been the only one so long, would have made
+a great fuss. We have all spoiled her a little, but she has such a
+sweet temper. It is the Duvernay temper;" smiling.
+
+"I hope I have a good share of it," resumed Barbe.
+
+The baby was not small, and he grew by the hour. He had soft, large
+dark eyes. Grandad did not like so much French about him, but he was
+glad to have a grandson, even at that estate. He soon bleached out,
+though he was not fair like Daffodil.
+
+"I'll have to see about making a fortune for him," said grandad.
+"Though those acres of wood and farmland will not amount to much, and
+I don't see what a girl can do with a farm."
+
+But the acres lay smiling in the sunshine, perhaps dreaming of the
+time when they should be homes of beauty.
+
+Meanwhile events had been going on rapidly, if not harmoniously, for a
+stable government for the Colonies. And there must be some sort of a
+head. A government of the largest liberty it must be, the states
+forming a great federation for protection and advancement. Out of the
+discussion came the Federal Constitution, and a President, the man who
+had never lost faith in the possibility of a great nation.
+
+There were, of course, a few dissenting voices, and many fears. For
+the nation was only an infant.
+
+"What did I tell you," said grandad to his son. He had to argue, it
+was one of his satisfactions. "Four years, they say. In two years the
+silly things will make him a king, and in ten years you'll be fighting
+for liberty again. There's no money to be had--we shall be glad enough
+to run back to England, and beg to be taken in. The French will throw
+us over."
+
+"Don't look so far ahead." Bernard kept his temper under these
+onslaughts. But he did hate to have his father haranguing little
+crowds here and there over the spirits that were being so largely
+manufactured.
+
+"Oh, yes! And have them catch us unprepared. Where's the money coming
+from to build a navy, to pay new soldiers when the old ones are half
+starving, to keep your grand President. You see, he'll have a court
+and a style, while we common folks can kneel outside the gates."
+
+"We're going to look out for our own town, and let the men at the helm
+take care of the larger interests. We have everything for a fine
+city, and work for all, so we will take up the nearby business."
+
+People were straggling in; they are generally gregarious. And there
+was plenty of work. There was felling of trees, a sawmill, and rough
+log houses were meant for only temporary housing. Wharfs and docks
+sprung up by magic. Then the school was merged into the Pittsburg
+Academy, afterward to be the University of Pennsylvania. Smaller
+schools came into existence, yet they were a great working people, and
+in those years the three R's were esteemed the most necessary.
+
+Then, after a heated discussion, Pittsburg was established as the
+county seat, which enhanced its prestige. Some rigorous laws were
+passed, and a ducking stool was set up at the junction of the three
+rivers, much to the disgust of the better classes. At first there were
+crowds haunting the place, and jokes bandied about, but there was
+found small use for it.
+
+"It's a good thing," said Sandy Carrick. "It'll keep the women in
+check, anyhow."
+
+"Isn't it as well for the men?" asked Norah mischievously. "An',
+Sandy, you better look out, ye're scoldin' about the country 'cause
+you daren't try much of it on me. Don't I keep your house clean, mend
+your clothes, and knit you long stockings, so's you shan't get
+rheumatiz in your knees. An' if you know a woman who cooks a better
+meal of vittles, you had better go an' board with her."
+
+She was so pretty and saucy that Sandy turned on his heel and laughed.
+
+Then the _Mayflower_, with a lot of New England emigrants, passed
+Pittsburg for the shores of the Muskingum.
+
+"Them Eastern states must just have overflowed," was the verdict.
+"Goin' out to Ohio, an' spreadin' theirselves abroad as bait for the
+Indians, when there's civilized lands lyin' about."
+
+And as if Pittsburg was not large enough, they turned to consider
+Alleghany, and began to lay it out. It would make another fine city.
+
+Meanwhile matters went on prosperously, with the Carricks and the
+Bradins. Bernard added a room to his house for Daffodil, and placed a
+window so she could see her mother's garden of posies. The baby grew
+amazingly, was well and strong, and positively pretty, looking a
+little like his mother, getting teeth without any trouble, walking,
+saying all manner of crooked words, and then straightening them, being
+a jolly, healthy child, and Norah's heart was bound up in him. She
+borrowed him half her time.
+
+"I'd be a happier woman with a houseful of them," she said, "Sandy
+always insisted he didn't care, but I know he does. He's just ready to
+eat up little Sandy without a grain of salt."
+
+They _would_ call him that, while his home name was Felix. His father
+called him baby at first, then son. He liked everybody, but he adored
+his own father. Barbe stood a little in the background, not that she
+loved him less, but she gave a continual thanksgiving that he had met
+with such a warm welcome.
+
+Daffodil was amused at his pretty ways, and the cunning bits of
+mischief that she often kept from his mother. She was so certain of
+her father's affection now. She took a warm interest in his doings,
+she sided with him about the country, and listened delightedly to the
+stories of bravery and endurance, and absolutely quarrelled with
+grandad when he predicted the wretched times that would follow
+throwing off the protection of the mother country, and the surety that
+an appeal would be made again for her protection.
+
+"An' just look at what they are saying about your precious Washington!
+They'll turn him out before he's served his four years. No two of them
+think alike! And how's the money to be raised for expenses! You silly
+child, you don't know anything about it. An' your father's a gey
+fule!"
+
+"I'll never come in this house again, grandad!" with a dignity that
+made her pink cheeks red and her blue eyes black.
+
+"Then sure you'll never go out of it on such terms!" and grandad
+caught her and scrubbed her with his stubby beard, and hugged her so
+tight she was glad to promise she would come to-morrow. And likely she
+ran over that very evening.
+
+"He's not worth the minding," Norry would declare. "He don't believe
+the half of it, and says it to see you spurt up. He's half the time
+spilin' for a quarrel that has no more in it than an empty eggshell."
+
+Daffodil began to have some new interests in her life. She was growing
+rapidly, she went to school, and met children of her own age. Several
+chapels had been started, and there was a real clergyman, though they
+could not have him regularly, and then a reader took the service. The
+men had various outdoor diversions that had been brought from "the old
+country," and were never loath to join the women's frolics, at which
+there was dancing, and, it must be admitted, not a little drinking.
+
+Norah took her out occasionally, "for," she said to Barbe, "it isn't
+just right to make an old woman of her. They love the fun when they're
+young, and that's natural, an' it's a sin to crowd them out of it."
+
+Barbe was very domestic. Her house, her little boy, her sewing and
+spinning, filled up all her time. The child was a marvel to her. He
+was so bright and active, so pretty and merry, but altogether
+different from Daffodil.
+
+Once when they had talked over great-grandfather's bequest, Bernard
+had said, "It seems almost a pity that Dilly had not been the boy,
+with that great estate to come to him. A man can do so much more in a
+business way than a woman. Not but that the boy will be cared for,
+father's heart is set on him. And I shall see that he is well provided
+for if I live."
+
+Bernard Carrick was deeply interested in the welfare and advancement
+of the town, and found much work to do outside of the farm that his
+father-in-law attended to, indeed, had the greater interest in. Sandy
+Carrick had a great outlying tract. Grain of all kinds, especially
+wheat, grew for the mere planting in the virgin soil. And the staple
+product of the time was whiskey. Nearly every farmer had a still. The
+morality of drinking was not called in question, and the better class
+of people were temperate. It was the great thing they could exchange
+for their needs. They sent it over the mountains to Kentucky and Ohio.
+They built rough sort of tugs, and freighted it through the Ohio to
+the Mississippi, disposing of it anywhere along the route. The mouth
+of the great river was still in the hands of the Spanish.
+
+It must be confessed, since the birth of Felix, Barbe had shared her
+motherhood a good deal with Norah, who laid claim largely to Daffodil.
+They wandered through the woods together, for the child peopled them
+with the old stories that Norah's faith made so real. She stopped for
+her at school, and brought her home to supper. Grandad at times tried
+to tease her. Strangely enough she was never jealous, even of her
+father's love for the little brother. And she said to grandad:
+
+"You may love him all you like. He is a boy. Men ought to love boys.
+And he is named after you, though I don't like the name."
+
+"Oh, you don't! One grandfather is as good as the other, and I'm
+nearer of kin. It's a good old Scotch name, an' they're good as the
+French any day."
+
+"I don't like Sandy."
+
+"And I don't like Felix. But I put up with it. You won't make a
+Frenchman out of him. I'll see to that;" and he gave a funny wink out
+of his eye.
+
+"And if some day he should want to go to France?"
+
+"I'll see that he doesn't. This place will be big enough and good
+enough for him. There's fortunes to be made here. I'm going to leave
+him mine, an' I'll bet you a gallon of whiskey it'll be worth more
+than your wild land."
+
+"Well, I shan't care!" archly, and with laughing eyes. "I like the
+woods and the birds and the squirrels. Some day I'll have a house
+built, and I'll take Norah to live with me."
+
+"You will, hey? I'll have something to say about that. Do you suppose
+I'll stay here and starve?"
+
+He tried to look very angry, but she knew all about his face, and his
+tone, and said nonchalantly, "Oh, you can go over to the other house
+and get something to eat."
+
+"Well, we'll see, little Miss Madam. You'll be gravely mistook!"
+
+So they jested and pretended to bicker. Then grandad set up Norah with
+a pony and a sort of jaunting car, that would only hold two. For
+Daffodil could no longer keep her seat in the old fashion, neither
+would her arms reach around grandad.
+
+Sometimes Norah took out Barbe and the little boy. For Daffodil went
+to school quite regularly about eight months of the year. The
+remaining time most of the children were needed to help at home.
+
+Any other child would have been spoiled with the favoritism at school.
+The older ones helped her at her lessons, and in those days there were
+no easy kindergarten methods. They gave her tidbits of their
+luncheons, they piled her little basket with fruit, although she
+insisted there was so much at home. They brought her some strange
+flower they had found, they hovered about her as if there was some
+impelling sweetness, some charm. She had a way of dispensing her
+regard impartially, but with so tender a grace that no one was hurt.
+
+"I just wish we could go to the same school," Ned Langdale said in
+one of the Sunday rambles. He was always on the lookout for Norah and
+her.
+
+"But--the big boys go there."
+
+"Yes. Oh, you wouldn't like it a bit. Beside, you couldn't. And the
+lessons are just awful. And the thrashings----"
+
+"Don't. I can't hear about that;" shaking her pretty golden head.
+
+"No. Girls oughtn't. But they say it's good for children----"
+
+"For boys. Why, are boys worse than girls?"
+
+"Oh, they are not. I know some girls who are mean, and tricky, and
+don't tell the truth. All girls are not like you."
+
+"Maybe it's because everybody is so good to me. I couldn't be bad in
+return, you know."
+
+"Oh, I just wish you were my sister, and lived with us."
+
+"Well, you see that couldn't have been. God sent me to mother."
+
+"But a fellow can wish it."
+
+"It's queer, but there are a great many things wishing doesn't bring.
+I suppose it's because they _can't_ happen."
+
+He gave a sigh.
+
+She knew how to dance now; Norah had taught her, but it comes natural
+to most children, and it did to her. She used to dance by herself, and
+sometimes whirl little brother round, to the great amusement of her
+father.
+
+Ned used to stray over summer evenings to hear Mr. Carrick talk about
+the war, and the dangers he had escaped. He never told the hardest
+side of it, not even to Barbe.
+
+There were other boys who made various errands, and if she was not
+home, went over to Sandy's for her.
+
+"This thing must stop," grandad said angrily. "What are they running
+after such a child as that for? Oh, don't tell me it's some trumped-up
+errand. It's just to sit and look at her as if they never saw a girl
+before! She's pretty to look at, to be sure, but she's not going to
+have lovers in a long time yet."
+
+"Sandy, don't get your head fuddled with that kind of nonsense. It's a
+heap worse than whiskey."
+
+Sandy gave an indignant grunt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A NEW FRIEND
+
+
+"Oh, here's a letter for father. Grandad brought it. From
+Philadelphia. And here's a queer red something"--and Dilly peered over
+it.
+
+"Seal," said her mother. "And, why, it's from that friend of
+great-grandfather's," studying the French emblem. And an odd shiver
+ran over her, as she suddenly studied her child.
+
+Dilly laughed. "You look as if you were afraid he wanted me, as if he
+was some cruel old ogre, who might eat me up."
+
+Then Barbe laughed also, and stood the letter on the high shelf over
+the chimney, that she could just reach.
+
+It was from Monsieur de Ronville. He was coming to Pittsburg on some
+quite important business, for parties who had heard about the
+discovery of minerals, and that a blast furnace had been started; that
+Pittsburg was coming to be a point of connection with the west and
+south; and he would also like to see his ward and her possessions,
+that he might be able to advise in time to come. Would Mr. Carrick be
+kind enough to meet him and bespeak accommodations at some hotel for
+himself and his man, for all of which he would be extremely obliged.
+
+Bernard Carrick looked at his wife in sheer amazement.
+
+"Hotel! Well, there are only two or three taverns good enough for
+traders, and that ilk, who don't mind a roystering crew, gaming, and
+drinking. If it was government business, he might be taken in at the
+Fort. Why, what can we do? And a man. You see, he is used to the
+habits of civilized life, and we have had no time to fall into the
+traces. The Lindsays are in their new house, but I couldn't ask them
+to take in our guest."
+
+"And we;" Barbe hesitated, then said laughingly, "we shall have to
+enlarge our borders. Sometime the boy will want a room."
+
+Bernard dropped into grandfather's chair and considered. He had been
+about the world enough to know the place would look rather rough to a
+person from one of the chief cities. Somehow, they were a little
+different. There were pieces of fine old furniture that had come from
+France, then their ways were rather more refined. It would be the
+proper thing to take him in. And he would be here in about a week.
+
+Mrs. Bradin agreed on that point. Truth to tell, she was anxious to
+see this M. de Ronville, whose father had been her father's boyhood's
+companion.
+
+"Why, you could give him Dilly's room, and she could go over to
+Norry's," she said as they were discussing the next day what was to be
+done. "It is a good thing we brought down that old bedstead, though
+Dilly hated it so."
+
+Dilly had outgrown her little pallet, though at first she declared the
+high posts were the little brown men grown into giants, who would
+carry her away. But when grandmere exhumed some faded silk hangings
+where the roses were of a creamy pink, and cupids with wings were
+flying about, she was soon reconciled. Then Grandfather Bradin had
+made her a chest of drawers and two chairs that looked as though they
+might have been imported.
+
+"And I can fix a bed in the attic for the man, so we will have it all
+running smoothly."
+
+"You are a great comfort," said Bernard to his mother-in-law.
+
+The post now came every week. Even the busy folks went to meet it for
+the sake of the newspapers and the occasional letters, though those
+mostly went to the Fort. Sometimes a few emigrants had joined the
+train. For now there seemed to have broken out a fever for adventure,
+for founding new settlements, although in some places the Indians were
+still troublesome.
+
+Bernard Carrick went to meet his guest. He could have picked him from
+the group at once by his decidedly foreign air, the French aspect. He
+was past sixty, rather tall, and very erect, almost soldierly, with a
+beautiful white beard, though his hair was only half sprinkled with
+snow. Clear, rather soft dark eyes, and a high-bred air that gave a
+grave, yet kindly, expression to his countenance. He had his horse, as
+well as his servant, who was a rather small, shrewd-eyed Frenchman.
+
+Carrick introduced himself, and welcomed his guest cordially,
+explaining to him that they had not arrived at the dignity of hotels,
+and that the taverns were but poor affairs, so he would be pleased to
+offer him the hospitality of his own house.
+
+"Thank you," he returned. "You are the father of my ward, I presume."
+
+"Yes, she is my little girl;" with a smile.
+
+"An odd sort of charge. Though I suppose it was because I was of his
+country. Nations are clannish."
+
+"We shall get so mixed up that we shall hardly be able to trace our
+forbears. On her mother's side my little girl is mostly French."
+
+"A little girl!" He seemed surprised.
+
+"She will always be that to me. Only heaven knows my joy and gratitude
+at coming home from the long struggle, and finding her and her mother
+alive; indeed, the whole household. I have had a son born since."
+
+"Yes. You were in the war. You may be proud of that. It will be an
+honor to hand down to your son. But your town----"
+
+With a vague glance around, and an expression that was clearly not
+admiration.
+
+"It has not had your advantages, nor your people, and is much younger.
+It seems to me on the verge of civilization."
+
+Bernard Carrick laughed good humoredly.
+
+"That is true," he returned. "Except for the confluence of the rivers
+there seems no special advantage, though the land is thought to be
+rich in minerals. And the Fort being built here--the French planned a
+long chain of them."
+
+"It seems a just return to France for her indifference to her splendid
+Colonies. And I have lived long enough to see if there are no fatal
+mistakes made, that this will be a grand country. From the depths of
+my heart I pray for her welfare."
+
+"And I fought for it," was the younger man's proud reply.
+
+De Ronville had hardly expected to see such a house as this. The
+aspect was undeniably French, heightened by the old furniture that he
+had been used to in his boyhood. His room was delightful. Barbe had
+taken out most of the girl's fancy touches, and odd things her
+grandfather Bradin had made, and left a grave aspect. Outside,
+everything was a-bloom, and a rose climbed up a trellis at the side
+of the window, shaking its nodding fragrant blossoms against the
+window-pane, and, when it was open, showering in its sweet silky
+leaves.
+
+They made friends readily. Great-grandfather Duvernay was the link
+between, and the women were more French than of any other race. It was
+almost supper time when Daffodil came in, leading her little brother
+by the hand. In him again the mother's type predominated; he was a
+fine, robust child, with a fearless, upright expression, and a voice
+that had none of the rougher tones of so many of the early settlers.
+But Daffodil! He studied her with a little wonder.
+
+For her abundant hair had not yet shaken off its gold, and lay in
+loose thick curls about her neck. Her complexion was of that rare
+texture that neither sun nor wind roughened, and all the care it had
+was cleanliness and the big bonnets of those days. Her features were
+quite regular, the nose straight, rather defiant, but the beautiful
+mouth, full of the most tantalizing curves, fun, laughter, sweetness,
+and the something termed coquetry in older women, that is not always
+experience either. She was slender and full of grace, tall for her
+age, but most girls grew up quickly, though she had not left the
+fairyland of childhood.
+
+"I am glad to see the darling of my old friend," smiling as he took
+her soft, dimpled hand. "I have always thought of her as a very
+little girl, sitting on the arm of her grandfather's chair----"
+
+"Oh, did he tell you that!" in her bright, eager tone. "Yes, and we
+used to talk--he told me so much about France and--it was your
+father--was it not? I thought you must be quite young;" and a faint
+touch of surprise passed over her face.
+
+"We were both set back in memory, it seems. And even I am getting to
+be quite an old man."
+
+"But I like old men," she said, with charming frankness, and a tint of
+color deepened in her cheek. "They are all old except father, and the
+men who come in to play games are wrinkled up, and some of them have
+white hair. I've had such a lot of grandfathers, and only one
+grandmother."
+
+"How did you get more than two?"
+
+"It was great-grandfather Duvernay," explained Barbe, "that made the
+third."
+
+"And this is his chair. Mother wanted to take it away, but I could not
+bear to have it leave this corner. I could see him in it. Strange how
+you can see one who is not really there, or do they come back for a
+moment? Here is the arm where I sat, and I used to put my arm round
+his neck. I am going to let you sit in his chair. Father won't mind;"
+glancing inquiringly at her mother.
+
+"Dilly, you are too forward," and Barbe colored. Felix was climbing in
+her lap and almost upset her.
+
+"No, no; her prattle is the most cordial welcome. And I hope you will
+soon like me well enough to come and sit on the arm and hear my
+stories."
+
+"Oh, have you what Norry calls a bag of stories, that the little brown
+men carry about? They're queer, and they drop them over you while you
+are asleep, and that makes dreams, and you see people, and have good
+times with them."
+
+M. de Ronville laughed. Bernard came in; he had been settling the man,
+and the luggage, and now repeated his hearty welcome.
+
+When M. de Ronville settled himself in the corner and the chair you
+could almost fancy grandfather had come back. They had a strong
+likeness of race of the higher type, those who had been pure livers
+and held strongly to their religion. He was very tired with the
+journey and looked pale as he sat there, relaxed.
+
+Barbe and her mother spread the table. They had a sort of outdoor
+kitchen they used for cooking in the warm weather. Felix was asking
+questions of his sister, who answered them with a sort of teasing
+gayety. Why was this so and that, and did she ever see a panther.
+Jimmy Servy's father killed a wolf out by the Fort, and Jimmy said a
+wolf would eat you up. Would it truly? "Then when I am big enough to
+fire a gun I'll go out and shoot all I can find."
+
+The supper was most appetizing if it did not have the style of his own
+house. He was really pleased with the simplicity of the two women, and
+Mr. Bradin and his son-in-law certainly were intelligent if they had
+not the range of the greater world. Daffodil was quiet and
+well-mannered he observed. In truth he was agreeably surprised with
+these people who were not held in high esteem by the culture of the
+large city.
+
+Dilly came to him afterward.
+
+"I am going over to grandad's," she announced. "I stay all night with
+them sometimes. Oh, I hope you will like Norry. I love her dearly and
+you mustn't mind if grandad is a little queer."
+
+"No, I will not," amused at her frankness.
+
+"He is just a splendid old man!" she announced to Norah. "And he looks
+like great-grandfather. I'm going to like him ever so much, and I want
+you to."
+
+"Oh, yes, I'll like him," responded Norah readily. "I fancied he was
+one of the high and mighty dukes like that Colonel Leavitt, and I'm
+glad for your mother's sake that he's comfortable to get along with.
+It never would have done for him to go to a tavern."
+
+They talked a little at the other house and then retired for the
+night. And the next day was a busy one. Bernard Carrick took him about
+and they inspected the blast furnace on which high hopes were built,
+but the knowledge in those times was rather limited. It struggled
+along for some years and then better things came in its stead.
+
+The river front was quite a busy place. Yes, de Ronville admitted
+there was great promise of a thriving city. And over opposite might be
+another. He knew how the cities on the eastern coast had improved and
+grown in power. One had only to wait. And his ward was young. Though
+he wondered a little at the faith of his friend Duvernay. But the old
+man, not so old then, had in his mind the beautiful estates in the
+land of his birth, and this land commanding the river and what would
+sometime be a thriving town attracted his fancy. He had hoped so that
+Barbe's child would be a son, but he had loved Daffodil with the
+passion of declining years. Felix had come too late.
+
+M. de Ronville found much to interest him. The eastern shore would not
+be all of the country. Explorers were sending back glowing tales of
+western possibilities. Towns were springing up and this was the key to
+them all. There were large tracts of fertile lands that seemed to have
+been deserted by the Indians and that were of amazing fertility. After
+all Felix Duvernay had made no mistake.
+
+And Daffodil found her way to the guest's heart with very little
+effort. It might have been her beauty, that no one around seemed
+aware of, or her pretty, winsome manner. She accompanied him and her
+father on their rides about. She was a graceful and well-trained
+horsewoman. She had so many dainty legends of out-of-the-way nooks;
+most of them Norah had grafted on old country tales.
+
+And the evenings at home came to be quite a delight for them all,
+listening to the glories of his city and the strides it had made. Of
+the famous men, of the many incidents in the great struggle, its
+churches and various entertainments as well as the social aspect.
+Daffodil listened enchanted.
+
+They had come to be such friends that she sat on the broad arm of the
+chair, but he noted her wonderful delicacy in never dropping into
+familiarities, while they were so common with her father, and grandad
+was almost rough with her. True, Barbe had an innate refinement and it
+was the child's birth-right as well.
+
+She sat there one afternoon. Mother and grandmother were busy
+preserving fruit for winter use, it grew so plentifully, but they had
+not mastered the art of keeping some of the choicest through the
+winter uncooked.
+
+"Daffodil," he began gravely, "your parents have entertained me most
+delightfully. You have a charming home and I shall hate to leave it.
+But on Thursday there is a return post and I have overstayed the time
+I thought would be ample to transact the business I came about. And
+now I must return."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I do not want you to go."
+
+What pleading, beautiful eyes she raised to him.
+
+Old as he was it thrilled through his pulses.
+
+"But, my child, I cannot live here. And I shall miss you so much. Why
+I have half a mind to run away with you. I wonder if you would like a
+visit to my beautiful city."
+
+"Oh, it would be splendid! But--is there any one----"
+
+"To take care of you? There is a housekeeper and a maid, and a jolly,
+good-natured black woman, who cooks in the kitchen. There are two
+carriages and horses, and there will be so much to see. It is so
+different from this."
+
+She seemed to consider. "Yes," rather irresolutely, "if I could go.
+They would miss me so much here."
+
+"And would you be homesick?"
+
+"Not in a good long while, with you;" she returned with a child's
+innocence. "And you would surely let me come back?"
+
+"Yes, my dear; even if it broke my heart to do it. I wish you were my
+little granddaughter."
+
+"Then I would have another grandfather," and she gave a soft, musical
+ripple. After an instant she caught his hand in hers so plump and
+warm, and exclaimed--"Oh, I should like to go."
+
+"Dilly; Dilly!" exclaimed the fresh boyish voice; "come and see what I
+have. Grandad and I have been fishing."
+
+There was a string of shining plump fish that as Felix said still
+wiggled in their freshness. "Oh, Dilly, if you only were a boy!
+Grandad says you are not worth a button at fishing."
+
+"They're fine, little brother. No, I don't love to fish. And baiting!"
+She shuddered as she spoke.
+
+"But you can eat them afterward."
+
+"I couldn't if I caught them myself."
+
+"I wanted a nice lot before the gentleman went away. And Katy and Peg
+Boyle were out and they are great. It was a fine afternoon for fishing
+I tell you!"
+
+She went through to the kitchen with him. He was a boy for all kinds
+of sport, but he abhorred school and was glad when it closed early in
+the summer, for the boys and girls were needed at home. Sandy Carrick
+inducted his grandson into all boyish pursuits. His heart was bound up
+in Felix.
+
+He began to prepare the fish for cooking. Dilly looked out over the
+wide expanse where trees were thick with leaves and laden with fruit.
+But she did not truly see anything for her eyes were following her
+thoughts. To go to a great and wonderful city where they had rung the
+first bell for independence, to see the splendid houses and the
+ladies in fine array and to hear beautiful music. But of course she
+could not go. They would miss her so much. Yet it seemed as if she did
+very little now.
+
+They had not the strenuous methods of to-day. If those old settlers of
+Pittsburg with their simple living could come back they would lose
+their senses at the luxury and striving for gain, the magnificence,
+the continual hurry and restlessness, the whirl of business undreamed
+of then. No one was striving to outshine his neighbor. House
+furnishing lasted through generations. Fashions in gowns and hats went
+on year after year, and it left time for many other things. Barbe
+Carrick found hours for lace-making; as was the custom of that time
+she was laying by in the old oaken chest articles and napery for the
+time when Daffodil would go to a home of her own. For then it was a
+great disappointment to the mother if a girl did not marry.
+
+In the old chair Gaspard de Ronville sat dreaming. He should have
+married long ago and had children and grandchildren. Would there have
+been one pretty, golden-haired girl among them with a sweet voice and
+such eyes as were sure to find the way to one's heart, such rosy,
+laughing lips, sweet for lovers to kiss when the time came? And
+then--oh, if it could be!
+
+That evening he laid his plan before the household. Might he take
+Daffodil for a few months' visit, and thereby return their cordial
+hospitality that had given him a most unexpected pleasure. She would
+be well taken care of, that he could assure them. And in event of her
+losing her natural protectors he as her trustee and guardian would be
+only too happy to take charge of her. He would have her best interests
+at heart always. And it might be well for her to see a little of the
+world. She might desire more education than the place could afford.
+
+They were all too much amazed to reply at once.
+
+"Pittsburg is good enough!" flung out grandad. "Her interests will be
+here. She'll marry here, she'll die and be buried here, and she'll
+know enough to get to heaven at the last without all the folderols of
+a great city, as those folks think it because they rung their bell
+when they cut loose from the mother country!"
+
+"Oh, we couldn't spare her," said the mother. "And, Dilly, you
+wouldn't want to go away among strangers."
+
+"Oh, no," returned the little girl, and she knew then she had two
+sides to her nature, and one was longing for the new and untried, and
+the other clung to what was familiar. There were tears in her eyes,
+but she could not have told which chord of her soul of all the many
+was touched.
+
+"I should just die without you!" protested Norah. "I couldn't love a
+colleen of my own better."
+
+Grandmere said but little. She saw there was an unquiet longing in the
+child's heart. She could not quite approve of trusting her to
+strangers, but she knew girls had come from the old world to Virginia
+and married men they had never seen before, and made good wives and
+mothers. Daffodil was too young to think of lovers, two years hence
+there might be danger.
+
+"I'd go!" declared Felix in his most manly fashion. "Why, Tim Byerly
+has been out to Ohio, which is a real country, not all a river. And
+Joe Avery went over to the Mes'sipy and down to New Orleans."
+
+"Mississippi," corrected his mother.
+
+"That's what Joe calls it. And men haven't time for such long names.
+Yes, I mean to go about when I'm big and have some money. Father 'n'
+I'll set out and discover some new state and take possession of it in
+the name of the President. Of course girls can't set out to discover
+things. And Philadelphia has been discovered already."
+
+They had not long to think about it. And as if to make it the more
+possible an old neighbor, Mrs. Craig, who was going to spend the
+winter in the distant city with a married daughter, offered to give
+her a mother's care on the journey. Girl friends came in and envied
+her the wonderful luck. Most of the neighbors took it for granted that
+she would go.
+
+As for the little girl she changed her mind about every hour. She had
+come to care a great deal about M. de Ronville. In youth one responds
+so readily to affection and he had learned to love her as he had never
+loved anything in his life. He was charmed with her frankness and
+simplicity, her utter unworldliness. She seemed to care no more for
+the great estate over the river than if it had been a mere garden
+patch. And he thought her too lovely to be wasted upon any of these
+rather rough, commonplace young men. She must be taught to know and
+appreciate her own value.
+
+It was only settled the night before. There was no need of much making
+ready, they could get what she wanted in the great city. And they must
+allow him the pleasure of providing for her. No one would be wronged
+by whatever he might do for her.
+
+Grandad had been very grumpy about it, and Norah cried and scolded and
+then admitted it was the most splendid thing, like a fairy story.
+Felix was full of delight. And the good-by's were so crowded at the
+last that her head was in a whirl. She felt as if she should come back
+that same night and talk over her day's journey.
+
+And so the little girl went out of Pittsburg with good wishes, and
+perhaps a little envy from those who would like to have been in her
+place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+DAFFODIL'S NEW WORLD
+
+
+Their first stage was in the coach. There was really quite a caravan
+for the weather was very pleasant for such a trip. Mrs. Craig fussed a
+little in a motherly way, and M. de Ronville watched her attentively,
+fearful she might give way to tears. But she had a stunned,
+incredulous feeling. Two men in the coach were arguing about the
+feasibility of Philadelphia becoming the capital of the Nation. It
+should never have gone to New York, which, after all, had been a nest
+of Tories.
+
+One of the men recalled grandad to her mind and she could not forbear
+a vague little smile. It roused her to an amused interest and she
+asked M. de Ronville in a low tone which was right.
+
+"The stout man is right, but he might be less dogmatic about it. I
+wondered at its going so far North."
+
+Mrs. Craig was quite chatty and a very sensible body who saw several
+amusing things outside of the coach. All the passengers had brought
+luncheons along and they stopped by a wayside spring for a refreshing
+drink and to water the horses. Most of the travellers took a little
+walk around to rest their limbs. And then on again. The afternoon
+seemed long to Daffodil, though M. de Ronville entertained her with
+some reminiscences of the war and before that time, and how queer and
+unpromising the first beginnings were, and about William Penn, whose
+dream and desire had been "A fair roomy city with houses set in
+gardens of greenery," and Benjamin Franklin, who had done so much
+brave work for the country.
+
+The post road had been made very tolerable. The darkness dropped down
+and the woods seemed full of strange things that made her shiver. Then
+they stopped at an inn--taverns they were called in those days--and
+had a good supper.
+
+"Are you very tired?" asked M. de Ronville with much solicitude.
+
+"Not so much tired as stiff. I think I never sat still so long even at
+school," and she smiled.
+
+"It's a rather long journey, and I hope," he was going to say, "you
+will not be homesick," but checked himself and added, "that you will
+not get clear tired out. I will see if we cannot get some horses for
+to-morrow. That will make a change."
+
+"Oh, I shall like that," her face in a glow of pleasure.
+
+The supper was very good and she was healthily hungry. Mrs. Craig
+found some amusement to keep up the little girl's spirits, and she
+fared very well until she was safe in bed beside her kind companion.
+Then she turned her face to the wall and her mind went back to all the
+nights in her short life when she had been kissed and cuddled by
+mother or grandmere, or for the last ten days by Norry, and now she
+suddenly realized what the separation meant.
+
+The glamour was gone. She could not go back. Oh, why had she come! She
+wanted to fly to the dear ones. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of
+her nightdress, and sighed very softly, but she need not have minded,
+for Mrs. Craig was gently snoring.
+
+The next morning was bright and clear, but she wondered where she was
+when Mrs. Craig spoke to her. What a little bit of a room and a tin
+basin to wash in!
+
+"I hope you slept well. And I never dreamed a word! What a shame, when
+your dreams in a strange place come true--but you wouldn't want a bad
+dream to come true."
+
+"No," in a very sober tone.
+
+There was noise enough, but it was not the familiar home tones and
+Felix bustling about. Daffodil made a great effort to restrain her
+feelings and laughed a little at some of the sallies.
+
+M. de Ronville was pacing up and down the hall, and he held out both
+hands, but his eyes wore an anxious expression.
+
+"My dear little girl, I could not help thinking last night that it was
+very selfish of me to want to take you away from your home and those
+who love you so dearly just for a bit of pleasure to myself. Did you
+go to sleep thinking hard thoughts of me?"
+
+She raised her lovely eyes, but the face was sweet and grave.
+
+"Oh, you know I need not have come unless I had wanted to. I didn't
+think it would be so--so hard," and there was a little quiver in her
+voice.
+
+"And are you sorry? Do you want to go back?"
+
+"No," she answered with a certain bravery. "I like you very much and
+you want to do the things that please those you care a great deal for.
+And I want to see the beautiful city and the wonderful places where
+things have happened. And I am going to be very happy, only I shall
+think of them all at home."
+
+"That is right. And I am going to do all I can to make you happy. The
+journey will be tiresome--I have seldom had to take any delicate
+person into consideration and I didn't think----"
+
+"Oh, I shall not get tired out," laughing with some of her olden
+spirit.
+
+He had been upbraiding himself during the night for his covetous
+desire of having her a little longer. Yes, he would have been glad if
+she was in reality his ward, if she were some friendless, homeless
+child that he could take to his heart for all time. There were many
+of them who would be glad and thankful for the shelter. But he wanted
+this one.
+
+The riding for awhile was a pleasant change, and they talked of
+themselves, of M. de Ronville's home, one of the early old houses
+where he had lived for years, alone with the servants. She had heard
+most of it before, but she liked to go over it again.
+
+"I wonder why you didn't marry and have children of your own," and
+there was a cadence of regret in her tone that touched him.
+
+"I supposed I would. But year after year passed by and then I grew
+settled in my ways, and satisfied. I was a great reader."
+
+"Oh, I wonder if I shall disturb you?" and there is a charm in her
+accent that warms his heart. "You must have seen that we live so
+altogether, that word just expresses it, as if all our interests were
+just the same. And they are. And I shall be--strange. Is the
+housekeeper nice?"
+
+"Well--a little formal and dignified perhaps. Mrs. Jarvis. And she is
+a widow without children. Then there is Jane, quite a young woman. Of
+course, Chloe belongs to the kitchen department. And there is a young
+man."
+
+There is no new accession of interest. She only says--"And is that all
+in a great big house?"
+
+"Oh, there are visitors at times. I've had General Lafayette and
+Count de Grasse and not a few of our own brave men. But they have
+largely dispersed now, and sometimes I have a rather lonely feeling. I
+suppose I am getting old."
+
+"Oh, I don't know how any one can live without folks, real folks of
+their very own," she said with emphasis.
+
+"Yet, the friends have ties and interests elsewhere, and you have no
+close claim on them. It is not a good thing. Suppose grandfather
+Duvernay had been all alone those later years."
+
+"Oh, I don't believe he could have lived. He was so fond of us all.
+And I loved him so. But I couldn't truly think he had gone away. I
+used to sit on the arm of the chair and talk to him. Do you know just
+where they go, and can't they come back for a little while? Oh, I know
+mother would. She couldn't stay away!"
+
+Her eyes had a beautiful expression, almost as if she had a vision of
+the other world.
+
+"Oh, he was to be envied," exclaimed de Ronville, with deep feeling.
+His own life looked lonelier than ever.
+
+By noon she was glad to go back to the coach. It had changed some of
+its passengers and there were two children that attracted Daffodil's
+interest and put her in a still more charming light.
+
+It was a long and tiresome journey with one wild storm and some
+cloudy days, but at last they reached the much desired city, and were
+driven out to the end of Broad Street. It was still the "greene
+country towne," although it had taken on city ways. This house stood
+then in the midst of greenery, having a garden on both sides, one
+devoted to choice fruit, the other to flowers and a sort of kitchen
+garden. It was a square brick house with green blinds, a wide doorway,
+and a hall running through the centre.
+
+Mrs. Jarvis answered the summons herself.
+
+"A hundred warm welcomes, my dear friend," she said most cordially.
+"We have missed you so much. I hope you are well?"
+
+"Quite worn with the journey. And this is my ward--Miss Daffodil
+Carrick."
+
+She held out her hand to the young girl and smiled at the attractive
+face.
+
+"Will you go upstairs at once? There will be time for a rest before
+supper. Oh, sir, you can hardly think how glad we are to get you
+back."
+
+The hall and stairs seemed to Daffodil as if they were carpeted with
+moss. Four rooms opened on the upper hall. Jules had his master's
+portmanteau as well as that of the girl, which he set down at the
+opposite door. Mrs. Jarvis led her in.
+
+"This is my room and you see there is a connecting doorway so you need
+not feel lonely. You must be tired with the dreadful journey. How
+people ever ventured before there was a post road I can't imagine. Yet
+there are families going out to Ohio and Kentucky, as if there was not
+land enough here to settle. Now I'll send up Jane with some warm water
+that will refresh you very much. And then you had better take a rest.
+Supper is at six. You have nearly two hours."
+
+Left to herself Daffodil took a survey of the room. It looked quite
+splendid to her untrained eyes with its soft carpet, its pretty
+chairs, its bedstead and bureau of light wood, its clock and tall
+candlesticks on the mantel, and the dressing mirror that stood on feet
+and in which you could see the whole figure. Then in a little nook
+curtained off was a washing stand with beautiful appointments in white
+and old blue. She glanced around in amazement and was still standing
+there when Jane entered.
+
+A quaint enough figure in a short, scant frock, short-waisted as was
+the fashion of the times, of home-dyed blue linen that would have been
+one of the new colors of to-day where we have gone through every
+conceivable shade and hue. The sleeves were short, but there were
+long-armed mitts for summer wear. The cape was of the same material
+and the straw gipsy hat had a bow on the top and the strings to tie
+under the chin when it was not too warm.
+
+"Oh, you look as if you did not mean to stay," cried Jane. "Let me
+take your hat and cape."
+
+Jane was nearer thirty than twenty, a comely, fresh-faced girl with an
+air of youthfulness, attired in a sort of Quaker gray gown, with a
+lace kerchief crossed over her bosom. Her hair was banded straight
+above her ears and gathered in a knot behind.
+
+"Oh, miss, you look fagged out. Mrs. Jarvis said when you'd had a good
+wash you must go to bed awhile. There's nothing freshens you up like
+that. It must have been an awful journey! My brother has gone out to
+Ohio. Do you live anywhere near that?"
+
+"Not so very far away. And the Ohio river runs by us."
+
+"I want to know now! The world's a funny sort of place, isn't it,
+Miss, with land here and water there and great lakes up North and a
+gulf at the South that they do say is part of the ocean. Now--shan't I
+unpack your portmanteau?"
+
+"Monsieur de Ronville wouldn't let mother pack up much, he said things
+could be bought here."
+
+"Yes, there's no end of them now that we are trading openly with
+France."
+
+"And I was growing so fast," she continued apologetically, for the two
+frocks looked but a meagre outfit. One was a delicate gingham made out
+of a skirt of her mother's when gowns were fuller, the other her best
+white one tucked up to the waist and with some rare embroidery.
+
+"Can I help you any?"
+
+"No," returned Daffodil in a soft tone and with a half smile. "I'm
+used to waiting on myself."
+
+"I'll come in and fasten your frock. You'll put on the white one;" and
+Jane withdrew.
+
+Oh, how good the fresh water and soap scented with rose and violet
+seemed! She loitered in her bathing, it was so refreshing. Then she
+did throw herself across the foot of the bed and in a few moments was
+soundly asleep, never stirring until some one said--"Miss; Miss!"
+
+"Oh! I had a lovely rest. You get so jolted in a stage coach that it
+seems as if your joints were all spinning out."
+
+"Oh, miss, what beautiful hair? It's just like threads of gold. And it
+curls in such a lovely fashion! And such dark lashes and eyebrows sets
+you off."
+
+Jane was such a fervent note of admiration that Daffodil blushed.
+
+She was very pretty in her frock that ended above the ankles, and her
+fine white linen home-knit stockings were clocked. True her shoes were
+rather clumsy, but her shoulders made amends for any shortcomings. Her
+skin was very fair; sometimes it burned a little, but it never
+tanned.
+
+"Oh, miss, if you had a ribbon to tie your curls up high! All the
+young ladies wear it so."
+
+"I'm not _quite_ a young lady," archly.
+
+M. de Ronville came out of the library to meet her. The little flush
+and the shy way of raising her eyes was enchanting. She seemed a part
+of the handsome surroundings, really more attractive than in the
+plainness of her own home.
+
+"You are a most excellent traveller," he began. "And I give you a warm
+and heartfelt welcome to my house. You should have been my
+granddaughter. What now?" seeing a grave look settled in her face.
+
+"I was thinking. I wish I might call you uncle. It's queer but I never
+had an uncle with all the other relations. They seem to run in one
+line," and she laughed.
+
+"Oh, if you will. I've wished there was some way of bringing us nearer
+together. Yes, you shall be my niece. You won't forget?"
+
+"Oh, no; I am so glad." She seemed to come a little closer, and he
+placed his arm around her. Oh why did he never know before how sweet
+love could be! Then he kisses down amid the golden hair. Even her
+cheek is sacred to him and her lips must be kept for some lover.
+
+There was a little musical string of bells that summoned them to
+supper. A young man of three- or four-and-twenty stood just inside the
+door.
+
+"For convenience sake Miss Carrick will be announced as my niece as
+she is my ward. Allow me to present Mr. Bartram."
+
+Daffodil flushed and bowed. M. de Ronville placed her chair for her.
+The table was round and very beautifully appointed. She and the young
+man were opposite. He was rather tall, well looking without being
+especially handsome. Mrs. Jarvis poured the tea. The two men talked a
+little business.
+
+"I shall lay the matter before the Wetherills to-morrow," de Ronville
+said. "I was surprised at the promise of the place and it has a most
+excellent location. At present it is rather wild, but after seething
+and settling down the real town comes to the surface. It will not be a
+bad investment if one can wait. And the Wetherills are not likely to
+lack descendants.
+
+"I am glad you were not disappointed," returned the young man.
+
+"We know so little about Pittsburg," said Mrs. Jarvis, "except the
+great defeat of Braddock in the old war. Your people are French, I
+believe," turning to Daffodil.
+
+"Yes, on the one side. The town seems to be made up of all nations,
+but they agree pretty well. And they have many queer ways and
+fashions."
+
+Daffodil did not feel as strange as she had been fearing for the last
+two or three days that she would. Mother and grandmere would stand a
+comparison with Mrs. Jarvis, who had the dignity and bearing of a
+lady.
+
+Some friends came in to congratulate M. de Ronville on his safe
+return. Mrs. Jarvis was much relieved at Daffodil's quiet manner. And
+she certainly was a pretty girl. They had quite a little talk by
+themselves when the guests were gone and Mrs. Jarvis was well pleased
+that she had come of a good family, as the town set much store by
+grandfathers and the French were in high repute.
+
+Before M. de Ronville went to business the next morning he made a call
+on Miss Betty Wharton, who was a person of consequence and had had a
+romance, a lover who had been lost at sea when he was coming to marry
+her and the wedding finery was all in order. She and her mother lived
+together, then the mother died and Betty went on in her small house
+with a man and a maid and a negro cook. They were in high favor at
+that time. She had been quite a belle and even now was in with the
+Franks and the Shippens and the Henrys, and through the war her house
+had been quite a rendezvous for the patriots. She was an excellent
+card player, good humored and full of spirits, helpful in many society
+ways. She could have married, that all her friends knew; indeed two or
+three elderly beaux were still dangling after her.
+
+"I am come to ask a favor," he said after the talk of his journey was
+over. "I have brought back with me a young girl, my ward, who will
+some day have a big and valuable estate as the country improves. Mrs.
+Jarvis hardly feels capable of shopping for her, and of course does
+not go about much. She is a charming girl and my father and her
+great-grandfather were the dearest of friends. M. Duvernay almost
+rounded out his hundred years. I call her my niece as the French blood
+makes us kin. Could you oblige me by taking her in hand, seeing that
+she has the proper attire and showing her through the paths of
+pleasure? You will find her a beautiful and attractive young girl."
+
+"Why--really!" and her tone as well as her smile bespoke amusement.
+"French! Where did you unearth this paragon? And is she to have a
+lover and be married off? Has she a fortune or is she to look for
+one?"
+
+He would not yield to annoyance at the bantering tone.
+
+"Why, she is a mere child, and has no thought of lovers. She will have
+fortune enough if times go well with us, and need not think of that
+until her time of loving comes. She has been brought up very simply.
+There is a brother much younger. Her father was in the war the last
+three years. She is not ignorant nor unrefined, though Pittsburg does
+not aim at intellectuality."
+
+"Pittsburg! Isn't it a sort of Indian settlement, and--well I really
+do not know much about it except that it is on the western borders."
+
+"Oh, it is being civilized like all new places. We have had to work
+and struggle to plant towns and bring them into shape. Pittsburg has a
+most admirable position for traffic and abounds in iron ore as well as
+other minerals."
+
+"And the girl _is_ presentable?"
+
+"Oh, she is not old enough for society. I did not mean that. But to go
+about a little and perhaps to a play, and places where it would look
+odd for me to take her without some womenkind. We French have rather
+strict ideas about our girls. Come to supper to-night and see her."
+
+"Why, I'll come gladly. I like your young man, too. He has not been
+spoiled by the flirting young women. It is a shame I did not marry and
+have such a son to lean on in my old age;" and she laughed gayly.
+
+"Then you can see for yourself. And if you do not like Miss Carrick we
+will let the matter drop through."
+
+"Yes, I will be happy to come."
+
+M. de Ronville went on to his office. Already there began to be
+business streets in the Quaker City that was rapidly losing its
+plainer appearance. This was rather old-fashioned and wore a quiet
+aspect. One clerk sat on a high stool transcribing a lengthy deed,
+and young Bartram had just deposited another pile of letters on his
+employer's desk which was at the far end of the place and could be
+shut off.
+
+"I think these are not worth your first consideration," he said in a
+quiet tone. "And here is a list of people anxious to see you to-day.
+And--if you can spare me a little while--I am due at the Surrogate's
+office."
+
+"Yes," nodding politely. Then he watched the young man as he walked
+away with a light, firm tread. There had always been a certain
+manliness in Aldis Bartram since the time he had attracted his
+employer's favor and been taken in as a clerk. Then he had an invalid
+mother to whom he had been devoted, that had been another passport to
+the elder's favor. On her death M. de Ronville had offered him a home
+and he was now confidential clerk and might one day be taken in the
+business which had been made a most excellent one from the Frenchman's
+uprightness and probity as well as his knowledge and judgment. Many a
+time he had settled a dispute and made friends between two hot-headed
+litigants.
+
+He did not read his letters at first but dropped into a peculiar train
+of thought. He was in good health and vigor, his mind was clear and
+alert. But he was growing old. And if Betty Wharton in the prime of a
+delightful life thought a son would conduce to the pleasure and
+security of her old age, why not to his? Could he have a better son
+than Aldis Bartram? But he wanted the feminine contingent and he was
+past marrying. He wanted some one young and bright, and, yes, charming
+to look at, tender of heart. And here were these two in the very
+blossom time of life. Why they might fancy each other and in the
+course of time have it ripen to a real and lasting regard. Oh, the old
+house would be a Paradise. And if there were children----
+
+He had to rouse himself from the dream with an effort and look over
+the accumulation. For perhaps the first time business seemed irksome
+to him, and he had always been fond of it, too fond perhaps.
+
+Men nearly always went home to a noon dinner. He found Mrs. Jarvis and
+Daffodil in a comfortable state of friendliness, but the girl's eyes
+lighted with pleasure at the sight of him and her voice was full of
+gay gladness. No, she was not homesick; she had been in the garden and
+there were so many flowers she had never seen before and the ripe
+luscious fruit. There had been so many things to look at that she had
+not finished her letter, but she would do that this afternoon.
+
+She is a gleam of the most enchanting sunshine in the old house, and
+her voice soft and merry, the tiredness and discomfort of travelling
+gone out of it is sweetest music to him and warms his heart. The eyes
+are very blue to-day, not so much brilliant as gladsome and her rosy
+lips curve and smile and dimple and every change seems more
+fascinating than the previous one. There is no young man in the room,
+it is the outcome of her own delightful golden heart. Oh, any young
+man might fall in love on the spot.
+
+"Miss Wharton will be in to supper," M. de Ronville remarked casually.
+"She is not a young girl," seeing the look of interest in Daffodil's
+face; "but you will find her a very agreeable companion."
+
+"It's queer, but I don't know many young girls. Some of the older ones
+were married in the spring, and I have been so much with mother and
+grandmere and Norah that I'm a little girl, a big little girl, I've
+grown so much."
+
+Her laugh was a gay ripple of sound. He took it with him to the office
+and her golden head seemed dancing about everywhere, just as it had at
+home.
+
+"Of course," Miss Wharton said to herself as she lifted the brass
+knocker, "de Ronville never could be so foolish as to fall in love
+with a chit of a thing, though I have heard of men training a young
+girl just to their fancy. He has always been so discreet and
+punctilious. French _are_ a little different."
+
+No, he had not overpraised her beauty. Betty Wharton admitted that at
+once. And her manners had a natural grace, it ran in the French
+blood. Why it would be a pleasure to take her about and have men
+stare at her as they would be sure to do.
+
+She and Mrs. Jarvis found enough to talk about, and while the
+housekeeper had gone to look after the tea she turned her attention to
+Daffodil.
+
+"Oh, I can't help liking the place," the child said with charming
+eagerness. "Mrs. Jarvis has been telling me about the stores and the
+gardens a dozen times prettier than this, though I don't see how that
+can be. They don't seem to care much about gardens at home, they have
+a few posy beds, but you can go out and gather basketsful in the
+woods, only they are not grand like these. And there are no such
+beautiful houses. Oh, there are lots of log huts, really, the older
+ones, and people are not--I don't just know what to call it, but they
+do not seem to care."
+
+"All towns improve after a while. The people in New York think they
+are much finer than we, and then there is Boston--where the people are
+starched so stiff with the essence of fine breeding that they can
+hardly curtsey to one another. I like my town the best, having seen
+them all."
+
+"Oh, how splendid it must be to go about to strange, beautiful
+places," the child said wistfully, with glowing eyes.
+
+"But I have not been to France;" laughingly.
+
+"Neither have I. But great-grandfather came from there when he was a
+young man. And he had been to Paris, but he did not live there. And he
+and grandmother, whom I never saw, had to fly for their lives because
+they worshipped God in a different fashion from Royalty. And I can
+talk quite a good deal in French, but I like English better. It seems
+to mean more."
+
+Miss Wharton laughed at that.
+
+They had a very delightful meal and Betty, by a well known society
+art, brought out the brightness of the little girl, that made her very
+charming without any overboldness.
+
+"Why you have unearthed quite a prize," Miss Wharton said to her host
+later in the evening. "Has Pittsburg many such girls? If so I am
+afraid our young men will be running after them. You may command me
+for any service, only I must have her as my guest now and then."
+
+"A thousand thanks. Will you see about her wardrobe to-morrow? There
+is no need to stint."
+
+"I shall be very glad to oblige you. I suppose you do not mean to turn
+her into a young lady?"
+
+"No--o," rather hesitatingly.
+
+"Then it shall be simple prettiness."
+
+After that Miss Wharton played on the spinet and sang several old
+songs. Daffodil wished grandad could hear two that were his favorites,
+and she was quite sure Norry could not have resisted jumping up and
+dancing at the sound of "The Campbells Are Coming." Mr. Bartram turned
+over the leaves of the music, while Daffodil snuggled in the corner of
+the sofa beside her guardian. And when she went to bed her head was
+full of Norah's fairy stories come true.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN SILK ATTIRE
+
+
+The shopping the next day was something wonderful. Daffodil was quite
+sure the fairies must have had a hand in it. And such beautiful
+things, she fairly held her breath over them.
+
+"But, madam, when am I to wear these lovely garments? For mother says
+I grow so fast, and there is no one to take them afterward."
+
+Betty Wharton laughed many times at the fascinating simplicity of the
+child.
+
+Then she took her to the mantua-makers, where she was measured, and
+where she hardly understood a word of what they were saying, but
+between whiles played with a beautiful yellow cat, who sat on a silken
+cushion and purred his delight at the touch of the gentle hands.
+
+"Now, you are to come home to dinner with me."
+
+"Did uncle say I might? For mother told me to do nothing without his
+permission."
+
+"Oh, you darling infant!" She squeezed the slim little body that,
+after all, was plump enough. It was shocking for a young person to be
+fat in those days.
+
+"I will make it all right with him."
+
+Miss Wharton's house was much smaller. A square sort of hall, with
+oddly pretty furnishing, a parlor and a dining-room off it, and all
+were filled with curiosities that were family heirlooms, beautiful
+things, for Miss Wharton abhorred ugliness and despised horrid Chinese
+idols. The dinner was very dainty, and Daffodil wondered how she could
+feel so much at home.
+
+"And to-morrow we will go out again, but we will drive around, and you
+shall see the city. What means that sober look?"
+
+"Oh, madam, I shall feel so spoiled with beauty, that I don't know how
+I shall content myself to go back to Pittsburg;" and her eyes swam in
+a soft lustre that was almost tears.
+
+"Perhaps we shall not let you go back;" laughingly.
+
+Jane came around for her in the afternoon, and she said, "We missed
+you so much at dinner time. And ever so many bundles have come for
+you."
+
+"And I've been so full of pleasure, that any more would run over. Oh,
+madam, how can I thank you!"
+
+"By coming again. I'll call for you to-morrow."
+
+They walked home, past pretty gardens all a-bloom with summer
+richness. Daffodil was so full of delight she wanted to dance. In her
+room was one large box--that was the new hat. A rather fancy straw,
+and she had not seen it trimmed. It had a wreath of fine roses
+inside, and larger ones on the outside, and beautiful wide strings of
+some gauzy stuff, that in warm weather were to float around, but in a
+high wind they were tied under the chin.
+
+And there was a dainty pair of red slippers, laced across the top,
+with a red cord fastened diamond-wise, and a pair of black shoes. They
+were not "boots" then. These came up almost to the ankles, and were
+laced across with ribbon and tied in a bow. There were some imported
+stockings, but Mrs. Jarvis declared she had never seen such pretty
+home-knit ones as the little girl wore, that looked quite as if they
+were of silk, and the clocks were perfect.
+
+In another package was a beautiful scarf, with threads of gold in the
+border, and some fine handkerchiefs.
+
+"Mother has some at home, two that have wide borders of beautiful
+lace, that she made herself. And bibs that you wear over the neck of
+your frocks. And she is making a lovely skirt for me, that is lace and
+needlework, and I am to have it when I am quite grown up and go out to
+tea."
+
+Barbe Carrick had begun to think of her daughter's marriage, and as
+there was but little ready money, outfits were made at home, and
+packed away against the time. For most mothers counted on it, even
+thought of grandchildren.
+
+Daffodil had enough to talk about that evening. Mr. Bartram went out,
+and for an hour Dilly had her guardian quite to herself. Then two
+gentlemen came in, and the tired little girl went to bed.
+
+About ten the next morning a pony chaise stopped at the door. Jules
+came out and took the reins, and Miss Wharton stepped lightly down and
+was greeted by Mrs. Jarvis.
+
+"I have come for the little girl," she said, "having her guardian's
+permission. I am going to show her the sights, and make her sick of
+Pittsburg. We want her here. Why, I never supposed I had such a
+motherly streak in my nature, or I would have wedded and had a
+houseful. Or else the child has some bewitchment about her. Jane, put
+on her new hat and the scarf. The frocks will be here in a day or
+two."
+
+Daffodil did look bewitching as she stepped into the chaise. Miss
+Wharton was quite used to driving. They went along Chestnut Street
+first, past the stores, then looked at some of the old places that
+were to be historical. Mistress Betty told over many of the war
+adventures and the coming of the good news.
+
+"And I remember that," said Daffodil. "Grandad was angry about it. He
+still believes England will get us back sometime."
+
+"Yet your father went to war. How did he take that?"
+
+"I was so little then. I think I didn't know much about him until we
+heard he would come home. Then I really began to remember. I didn't
+like him so much at first, and I went to great-grandfather for
+comfort. Oh, madam, he was so sweet and dear. And when M. de Ronville
+came, and I put him in the old chair, it seemed almost as if
+grandfather had come back. And I liked him at once. Now he is to be my
+uncle, we have settled that."
+
+Then they went out on the beautiful road, where the Shippens and
+several of the old families had their capacious estates, and their
+large old mansions. Oh, how lovely and orderly everything looked, the
+picture of peace and plenty.
+
+"Some day we will go over to Valley Forge. But it is nearing noon, and
+I must not starve you. I know of a nice place, where ladies often go
+at noon, and you do not need to have a man tagging after you. Start
+up, Dolly!" to the pony.
+
+They came back to busy streets. There were Quakers at Pittsburg, but
+they did not seem so pronounced as here. And there were such
+fine-looking men, in their drab suits, widebrimmed hats, and they wore
+knee-breeches and silk stockings, quite like the world's people. Here
+and there one nodded to Miss Wharton. The elegance and harmony
+appealed to the child, without her understanding why.
+
+They paused at a house set back a little from the street, with a
+courtyard of blooming flowers. There was a wide covered porch and a
+trellis work wreathed with vines. A wide door opened into a spacious
+hall.
+
+A young colored boy came out to them.
+
+"Pomp," Miss Wharton said, "take the pony and give him a little feed
+and water, not too much, mind now. He wants a little rest, so do we."
+
+Pompey assisted them out with a flourish, and led the pony up a side
+way. They walked to the porch, raised by three steps, and Miss Wharton
+was greeted warmly by several parties.
+
+"Here is a table," said Mrs. Mason. "My dear creature, I haven't seen
+you in an age. Have you been getting married, and is this _his_
+daughter? Did you take him for the sake of the child?"
+
+"Alas! I have not been so fortunate! The child has both parents. And
+she has just come from Pittsburg. You know, M. de Ronville went out
+there and brought back--well, it is his grandniece, I suppose--Miss
+Daffodil Carrick."
+
+The waiter, another colored servant--they were quite favorites in the
+city for their obsequious politeness--placed chairs for them.
+
+"Pittsburg! Why, that's way at the West in the Indian countries, on
+the way to Ohio, I believe. What a long journey. And how is M. de
+Ronville?"
+
+"Rather improved by his journey, I think. Now, Daffodil, what will you
+have? You ought to be hungry."
+
+"You choose for me, madam;" in a low tone, and with a tint of
+exquisite coloring.
+
+It kept wavering over the sweet face, for she felt somehow that she
+was being observed. She wished she had on one of the pretty frocks,
+but Jane had ironed out this white one, and Mrs. Jarvis had found her
+a sash. But she was not accustomed to much consideration of herself,
+and she was hungry. The ladies were prettily dressed, some of them in
+rather quakerish colors and they had beautiful fans and parasols. It
+was quite a meeting-place, where they exchanged bits of news, a little
+gossip, and had most excellent tea.
+
+"Carrick isn't a French name," said Madam Neville, rather critically.
+
+"No. She is French on the mother's side. M. de Ronville's father and
+her grandfather were Huguenot exiles in the old times. He is her
+guardian now, and there is some property, enough for a town, I
+believe. And you know the French once had possession of most of that
+country."
+
+Betty Wharton knew that would settle her status at once, more
+decisively than her beauty.
+
+Then some other ladies, having finished their tea, came over for a
+little chat. Had she been to see the new play? For "The Academy of
+Polite Science" seemed rather above an ordinary theatre, and
+Philadelphia had swung back to amusements. Was she going to Mrs.
+Chew's card party this evening?
+
+"Oh, yes. She wouldn't miss it for anything."
+
+"What a beautiful child!" whispered another. "Will she live here in
+town?"
+
+"Oh, she is only on a visit now."
+
+"She's too nice to be wasted on such an outlandish place as Pittsburg,
+where they do nothing but make whiskey."
+
+The pony came round, and the ladies said their good-bys. Since the
+closing of the war, indeed, in gratitude for French assistance, much
+honor had been paid to our noble allies.
+
+That evening M. de Ronville went to his card club. But Daffodil had
+Mrs. Jarvis for audience, and in return heard many wonderful things
+about the great city.
+
+If Daffodil had not been so utterly simple-hearted and had so little
+self-consciousness, it might have proved a rather dangerous ordeal for
+her. In a few days she certainly was the light of the house. Even Mr.
+Bartram yielded to her charm, though he fancied girls of that age were
+seldom interesting: either painfully shy, or overbold. She was
+neither. She seemed to radiate a pervasive atmosphere of happiness,
+her smile was so full of light and joy; and her sweet voice touched
+the springs of one's heart.
+
+M. de Ronville had never met with any such experience. A shy young
+man, he had kept much to his own compatriots. Then he had devoted
+himself to business, with a vague idea that when he had made a fortune
+he would go back to France, that had grown much more liberal in
+matters of religion. But he had become warmly interested in the new
+country, and especially the city.
+
+He had been pleased with the household at Pittsburg, the plain
+sensible soldier, who was making an excellent citizen, but the two
+ladies he found most interesting. It was golden-crowned Daffodil that
+stirred his heart in a new fashion, and made him feel how much had
+been lost out of his life. And now he had her. A sweet, dazzling,
+bird-like creature, that gave the house an altogether new aspect.
+
+She went with Jane to call on Mrs. Craig. The daughter was well
+married, and had four small children, though their house was rather
+simple.
+
+"And have you cried yourself to sleep with homesickness?" asked Mrs.
+Craig. "I've heard it is rather quiet in the big house where you are,
+with only a few grown people. True, Mr. de Ronville is like a father
+or, perhaps, a grandfather would be nearer, and you have been used to
+elderly men."
+
+"Oh, madam, it is delightful. I like him so much. I did at home, or I
+never could have come. And Mrs. Jarvis is nice and pleasant, and tells
+me what is good manners for little girls, and Jane spoils me by
+waiting on me."
+
+"Madam, indeed!" laughed Mrs. Craig. "Why, you make me feel as if I
+belonged to the quality!"
+
+"They call the grown-up ladies that, the elder ones I mean. And there
+is one who has been so good to me, Miss Wharton, who bought my new
+clothes, and tells me what to wear, and things to say that are the
+fashion here. I think we have not much fashion at home. She takes me
+out, and, oh, there are so many things to see. And now uncle has hired
+a pony, and I ride with him in the morning, and we all went to a play,
+where the people made believe they were part of a story, and I was
+charmed, for it seemed so real. And there was a fine concert, I never
+heard so many instruments. And going to church is quite grand. I wish
+we had a lovely church at home. Oh, I hardly have a moment, but I do
+think of them all, and how wild Felix will be over all I shall have to
+tell him."
+
+"I'm afraid you won't want to go back."
+
+"Not go back to mother and all the others? Why, every day makes it one
+day nearer;" and the lovely light in her face showed she was not
+forgetting them.
+
+"I am going before real cold weather. It would be too hard a journey
+to take in winter. But I find it very pleasant, too."
+
+"And the stores are so full of beautiful things. People must be very
+rich, they spend so much money."
+
+"It is a big town, and there are many people."
+
+"And one can't help being joyous and happy." She looked as if she
+could dance or fly. "And uncle likes me best to be gay, and I should
+be ungrateful to mope when so much is being done for me."
+
+"Yes, that is true."
+
+"And next week Miss Wharton is going to take me to a grand out-of-door
+party of young people. Mrs. Pemberton came and gave uncle the
+invitation for me, and he has promised to come in the evening to see
+us, and to fetch me home."
+
+"Oh, but they're on the Schuylkill! Well, you are going among the
+quality. You'll never do for Pittsburg again."
+
+"But I shall do for father and mother, and I shall have such fun
+hearing grandad scold about all the doings, and say that I am spoiled,
+and not worth a pewter platter. And then he will hug me so tightly
+that it will almost squeeze the breath out of me."
+
+She laughed so merrily and her face was in a glow of mirth and
+mischief. Then Jane came for her, though she was quick about learning
+the city streets. But M. de Ronville thought her too precious to be
+trusted out alone, though now the town was safe enough.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WITH THE EYES OF YOUTH
+
+
+The place was like a picture by some fine artist, and the midsummer
+coloring, the shade of the tall trees, the great beds of flowers made
+it lovely, indeed. There was a space of greensward that ran down to
+the river, then a series of steps up the terrace, where a large level
+lawn with another row of steps led and a wide porch, with fluted
+columns. The house was large, and hospitable of aspect. Now it was
+filled with graceful figures, flitting to and fro, of all ages, it
+seemed. For it was quite a notable occasion.
+
+There were two Pemberton sons, one married; then Miss Bessy, who was
+eighteen; Mary of sixteen, and Belinda, a growing girl, whose birthday
+was the same as Bessy's, though there was five years between them.
+This is why young people are asked to the birthday party. And the
+mothers of the girls, the brothers, and other young men. The tables
+will be set out on the lawn, three of them.
+
+Bessy was to be married early in the autumn, and lovers in those days
+were in no wise abashed by their engagement. Mr. Morris hovered about
+his betrothed, young Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton had not outlived their
+honeymoon. There were other engaged couples, and quite a merry crowd
+of children.
+
+Betty Wharton glanced over the group, as they ascended the steps. Not
+a girl was as handsome as her _protégée_. They had come in a coach,
+and the child had just a light scarf thrown over her shoulders. Her
+frock was of some white crapy stuff, the bodice cut square in the neck
+after the fashion of the day, and edged with a bit of lace; the short
+waist defined with a soft blue silk sash. Her curls were caught up
+high on her head, with a blue bow, and every movement seemed to shake
+off a shower of gold. Where the chin melted in her neck, and the neck
+sloped to her shoulder, there were exquisite lines.
+
+"That's the little girl from Pittsburg," exclaimed Anton Wetherell. "I
+didn't suppose they could raise anything like that. She's not so
+little, either; why, she must be well on to fifteen. Some connection
+of that old French lawyer, de Ronville. I wonder if he means to make
+her his heir? I fancy there's a good deal of money."
+
+"Miss Wharton has been making much of her, it seems, and she isn't the
+one to fall into a mistake."
+
+The elder ladies greeted her cordially. There was such a charming
+simplicity about her and her enjoyment of everything was infectious.
+She gravitated to the younger girls, and Belinda was really
+fascinated with her. They played some games, and she was so ready to
+assent to what they proposed, so frank to admit her ignorance of some
+things, that they were all ready to help her and explain. Presently
+they sat on the grass in a little ring, and asked her about Pittsburg.
+Was it a great city?
+
+"Oh, you would think it very queer," she said laughingly. "Only the
+rivers are beautiful, and the hills, and the woods over opposite. But
+the people"--then she flushed a little, but she was too honest to
+embellish--"well, they are Scotch, and Irish, and English, and a few
+from the East, but now those folks are going out to Ohio. And----"
+
+"But you're French," said one of the girls. "Though I thought all
+French people were dark."
+
+"Mother and grandmere have beautiful dark eyes and hair. So has my
+little brother Felix. But my father has blue eyes, and I don't know
+where the yellow hair came from. That was why my mother called me
+Daffodil."
+
+"What an odd, pretty name. And your hair is beautiful, like silk. Does
+it curl that way without----"
+
+For little girls and big ones, too, had their hair put up in curl
+papers, or the hairdresser used tongs.
+
+"Oh, yes, it curls naturally, and tangles, too. When I was little I
+wanted it cut off, there were such awful pulls. But mother wouldn't,
+because father was away soldiering, and when he came home he wouldn't
+hear to it. One grandfather used to call me Yellowtop."
+
+The nearest girl was petting one of the soft, silky curls. Another
+said, "Can you talk French? I'm studying it at school. It's awful hard
+and queer."
+
+"Oh, yes. You see, I learned to talk in both languages. Then I had a
+lovely great-grandfather, who lived to be almost a hundred, and he
+taught me to read quite well. There are some French Acadians, who come
+in to see us now and then. But their speech has been mixed up so much.
+I've been reading a little with uncle. After grandfather died, I
+almost forgot."
+
+"And are there fine stores and churches, and do you have plays, and
+entertainments, and parties?"
+
+"Oh, no. It's queer and plain, quite rough, though now they are making
+nice streets, and people are spinning and weaving. Some of the women
+make beautiful lace. There's always a May party and a dance; and then
+a time when the new year begins, and tea drinkings, and some birthdays
+are kept. No, you wouldn't like it, after such a beautiful city."
+
+"Oh, you won't want to go back!"
+
+"Mother and all my people are there," she answered simply. "But if I
+had always lived in a beautiful city like this, I wouldn't want to."
+
+By this time the tables were arranged, and they were summoned to the
+repast. Several young lads had joined the company, and Mary took the
+head of the children's table. The lawn was a picturesque sight.
+Afterward some lanterns were strung about, but it was clear and
+moonlight, which added to the beauty of the scene, and presently
+dancing began. There was much rambling around.
+
+Miss Wharton found her, and asked if she was having a good time. She
+had been dancing with two of the boys. "And Mr. Wetherell wants the
+pleasure of dancing with the young lady from Pittsburg;" laughing.
+
+"But I am not a real young lady. And I don't know all the dances;" in
+a hesitating tone.
+
+"You do it at your own risk, Anton," Betty said to the young man. "You
+have been warned."
+
+"I'll take the risk."
+
+He piloted her through very skilfully. Then young Mr. Pemberton asked
+her. She met Mr. Bartram in this quadrille, and he talked to her
+afterward. She wished he would ask her to dance, but he seemed very
+much occupied with the older girls. And presently she spied out uncle
+de Ronville, and went over to the step of the porch, where he was
+sitting in a chair. He felt very proud of her. She was so full of
+enjoyment she fairly bubbled over with delight, as she detailed the
+pleasures.
+
+"And we must be thinking of going home. That is one of the penalties
+of old age."
+
+"Oh," with a kind of _riant_ sweetness in her voice, "if you could go
+back halfway, and I could come on halfway, wouldn't it be delightful!
+But I get sleepy often in the evening, not like to-night;" as an
+afterthought. "I suppose that comes of living in a country place,
+where people go to bed at nine! But you sometimes go to bed quite
+late."
+
+Yes, if they could meet halfway! Oh, what a foolish old man!
+
+It has been a delightful evening, and Miss Wharton joins them.
+"Daffodil, you have had honors enough to turn your head. M. de
+Ronville, are we spoiling her?"
+
+He gave her a fatherly look, and taking her soft little hand in his,
+they rose together.
+
+"Will you go home in our coach?" he asked of Miss Wharton.
+
+"Very glad, indeed, my dear sir, I am rather tired. Our party began
+early."
+
+There were a good many adieus to make, and some very flattering
+invitations for Daffodil. They put Mistress Betty down at her own
+door, and when they reached home M. de Ronville gave her a tender
+good-night.
+
+"It was splendid, Jane," she said as the finery was being removed.
+"And I danced with several of the young men. I didn't quite know how,
+but I thought of Norry's stories about the fairy dances in the
+moonlight, and I guess the real moonlight helped."
+
+"I don't believe there was as pretty a girl among them all," declared
+Jane admiringly.
+
+It was late when Mr. Bartram came in, and he had enjoyed himself as
+well.
+
+But it was not all dissipation. There were evenings when Daffodil read
+French to her host, and he corrected any faulty pronunciation. At
+other times it was the newspaper. She had such a clear young voice,
+and she did everything with such charming cheerfulness. The rides with
+him in the morning were a delight. And though her figure had not
+rounded out, there was something exquisite in the virginal lines. She
+did not realize herself that she was a big girl now, so gradual was
+the change, and she had been a little girl all her life to those at
+home. He thought it was the French blood, as he could recall the girls
+of his youth, with their pretty deference, but it is the little
+admixture of Irish that makes her so winsome and frank.
+
+Yet there were times when Daffodil was surprised at herself, and the
+strange feelings and stronger emotions that would flash across her.
+Was it the wider life, the variety of people and incident, the deeper
+and more comprehensive tone of the talk, and the new pleasures of the
+higher type?
+
+There was no special dividing line in those days. Little girls wore
+ankle-length frocks, so the tucks were let out as they grew taller.
+After a little the hair was put up high with a pretty comb discarded
+by an older sister. When she had a lover, the next younger girl came
+to the fore.
+
+"If the child was two years older I might make an excellent match for
+her," thought Betty Wharton. "But she isn't thinking about lovers or
+admiration. She will be very lovely presently, when she knows how to
+use those heart-breaking eyes and that dangerous smile. When she comes
+again--of course, it would be a sin to bury such a girl alive in that
+dozy, drowsy old Pittsburg!"
+
+The days flew by so rapidly. Letters did not come frequently, postage
+was high, and there was a sort of secret faith in most people that
+things were going on well, according to the old adage that "no news
+was good news." But when a rare letter came, she cried over it
+secretly for two or three days, and was rather grave, but she thought
+it ungracious not to be bright and happy when so much was being done
+for her. Mrs. Craig was planning to go before the autumnal rains set
+in, and she took it for granted that it was her place to return
+Daffodil.
+
+The child had been talking this over one afternoon, and a flood of
+home love had overwhelmed her. Mrs. Jarvis had an old friend to supper
+and to spend the evening, Jane had gone out, and M. de Ronville had
+gone to a sort of sociable dinner, with some of the citizens who were
+interested in the library project. It had proved a rather lonesome
+evening, and she had really longed for home. She wandered about
+aimlessly, and presently settled herself in the corner of the
+vine-covered porch, and yielded to the beauty and fragrance of the
+night. Everything had a richer aspect and meaning to her. It was
+moonlight again. The tall trees seemed outlined in silver, and the
+flower-beds were transformed into fairy haunts. Only a few stars were
+out, they were larger and more golden than usual. She drank in the
+honeyed fragrance all about her, and it seemed a land of enchantment.
+
+Some one came into the library, but did not make a light. She heard M.
+de Ronville's low, but clear-toned, voice.
+
+"I have wanted to talk this matter over with you. There need be no
+hurry, one or two years here will answer. You see, I am getting to be
+an old man. Latterly I have come to long for some one of my own, that
+I could go down the valley of life with, and who would care to make
+the journey more cheerful. You have been almost like a son to me. I
+should like you to be that, indeed. And this child has grown very dear
+to me. To think of you both going on here in the old house when I have
+left it, would give me my heart's desire. She is lovely, she is sweet,
+and has a most admirable temper. Then those people are in comfortable
+circumstances, and of the better class. You know it is a trait of our
+nation to be deeply interested in the marriage of our children, to
+advise, often to choose for them, with our wider experience."
+
+"But she is such a child, eager, unformed, and I have thought of some
+one, companionable, with a wider education----"
+
+That was Mr. Bartram's voice.
+
+"We can remedy all that. I could have her here, and I think she is an
+apt scholar. She is well up in French, and that is quite in demand
+now. She could be trained in music, she has a sweet voice. And she is
+very graceful. If you could see the indifferent manners of most people
+in that queer, backward town, you would wonder at her refinement, her
+nice adjustment. Her mother, the Duvernay people, are high-bred, yet
+in no wise pretentious."
+
+There was a brief silence, then the young man began.
+
+"Mr. de Ronville, you have been the best and kindest friend a young
+man could have. I owe you a great deal. But I would not like to bind
+myself by any such promise. I have an old-fashioned notion that one
+must or should choose for one's self, and another perhaps foolish one,
+that I should like to win the woman I marry, not have her take me
+because some one else desired it. She would naturally be
+impressionable----"
+
+All this talk was about her. She just realized it. She had listened as
+if some one was reading out of a book. She started now, and light and
+fleet as a deer flashed across the porch and up to her own room, in a
+queer, frightened state, hardly knowing what it meant, and yet vaguely
+suspicious. She had not been especially drawn to Mr. Bartram. He
+treated her quite as a child, sometimes teased, and evoked quick,
+mirthful replies, at others passed her by indifferently. All her
+experience had been with boys, and men of middle age, and she had no
+idea of lovers. Did uncle de Ronville mean that she should come here
+and love, and then be married to Mr. Bartram!
+
+She was suddenly and unreasonably homesick for ugly old Pittsburg. The
+shops and the drives, the gayeties and delights, had lost their charm.
+If she could fly home to her mother's arms! If she could sit on her
+father's knee and have him hug her to his heart, or even grandad's
+rough love. And Norah, and Felix, and grandfather Bradin, who took her
+out in his boat, and sang funny sea-going songs. No, she couldn't come
+here to live!
+
+Yet it was curious the next morning. Everything seemed exactly the
+same. Uncle said, "Will you get ready for your ride?" in that gentle,
+courtly manner, and they went off together. Mr. Bartram had been very
+quiet, she had hardly ventured to raise her eyes to him.
+
+Oh, maybe she had fallen asleep and dreamed it.
+
+Mary Pemberton came over early. A host of girls were going to have a
+picnic up the river, and Belinda wanted her. They would bring her back
+by five in the afternoon. It was to be just a girls' party, only her
+brother would be there to see that Darius, the black servitor,
+attended to them properly.
+
+It was a bright, jolly day, with swinging, and a gipsy campfire,
+playing tag and telling riddles, and even running races. And she was
+so joyous talking it all over that evening, M. de Ronville felt he
+could never let her go. Could he persuade her to stay? Young people
+were fond of pleasure, and after this Pittsburg would be dull.
+
+All the week the desire in Daffodil's heart had grown into absolute
+longing to go home. Yet she cares so much for them here: Uncle, Mrs.
+Jarvis, Miss Wharton, and a number of other people. But how could the
+return be planned. No one had suggested such a thing.
+
+Providence comes to her assistance, opening the way in the shape of
+Mrs. Craig, who stays to supper, as she has a matter to lay before M.
+de Ronville. And that is, that she has finished her visit, and desires
+to return before the autumnal rains set in, while the going is still
+good. And she will take Daffodil.
+
+"I am afraid we can't spare her," returned M. de Ronville. "She has
+become such a part of our household."
+
+"But I must go home sometime," said the child with a quick gasp in her
+breath.
+
+"Are you tired of us?"
+
+"Tired!" She came and placed her arm caressingly over his shoulder.
+"Oh, I have never been tired, but there is mother and--the rest," with
+a tremble in her voice, while her eyes had the softness of coming
+tears. "Think how long I have been away!"
+
+"And they've had many a heartache, I dare say. I don't know how they
+could spare you long. Of course, where your daughters marry it is a
+different thing. You resign yourself to that," said Mrs. Craig.
+
+"When did you think of starting?"
+
+"Well, so as to miss the equinoctial." People pinned their faith to
+its coming regularly in those days. "And perhaps no one would care to
+take such a journey if they had no need, and she couldn't come alone."
+
+"No;" in a grave, slow tone. "We must talk it over. I've thought of
+her staying in the winter and going to school, perhaps. And you might
+study music," glancing at her.
+
+"Oh, you are very good. But--I ought to go."
+
+"Yes. You've had a nice long time, and lots of going about, I've
+heard. I hope you have not been spoiled. And you are the only girl
+your mother has. Then she had you so long before Felix came and while
+your father was away, and I know she's missed you sorely."
+
+The tears did come into Daffodil's eyes then.
+
+After Mrs. Craig had gone, her guardian drew her down on the sofa
+beside him.
+
+"Daffodil," he began, "I have come to love you very dearly. There has
+been no one in my life to call forth any special affection. There
+might have been, I see now that there should have been. It is along
+the last of life that we feel most of the need of these ties. And if
+you could give me a little----"
+
+"Oh, I do love you. You have been so kind, and given me so many
+pleasures. But not altogether for that. I liked you when you first
+came, you know. There was something--I can't quite express it--even if
+I had not come to Philadelphia, I should have thought of you so often.
+And it has been such a delightful visit. But I know mother has missed
+me very much, and she has the first claim. And oh, I want to see her."
+
+The longing and piteousness in her tone touched him. She was not all
+lightness and pleasure-loving.
+
+"My dear, it is hard to give you up. Child, why can you not divide
+some time between us, and let me do for you as a father would. They
+have Felix--and each other. They have parents as well. And I am all
+alone. It would be a joy to my latter years to have some one to care
+for, to share my almost useless fortune, and my home."
+
+She leaned her golden head down on his shoulder, and he knew she was
+crying.
+
+"Oh," she sobbed, "it is very hard. I do love you. But, you see, they
+have the best right, and I love them. I am torn in two."
+
+Yes, it was selfish to try her this way. He had dreamed of what might
+happen if he could keep her here, a girl sweet and lovely enough to
+charm any one. But it was wrong thus to covet, to make it harder for
+her.
+
+"My child, it shall be as you wish. Sometime you may like to come
+again. My home and heart will always be open to you, and I shall study
+your best interests. When you want any favor do not hesitate to ask
+me. I shall be only too glad to do anything."
+
+"Oh, do not think me ungrateful for all this love and kindness. Every
+day I shall think of you. Yes," and the brightness in her tone
+thrilled him. "I may come again if you want me----"
+
+"I shall always want you, remember that."
+
+M. de Ronville was not the only one who made an outcry. Miss Wharton
+took her to task.
+
+"Daffodil, you are not old enough to realize what a foolish girl you
+are, and so we must not be too severe. Mr. de Ronville is a rich man,
+a fine and noble one as well. I have no doubt but that he would leave
+you a handsome portion, for he loves you sincerely. And think of the
+advantages of a city like this. But when you go back to Pittsburg, you
+will see a great difference. If all is true, there is no society, no
+interest for such a woman as you may become with proper training, such
+as you would get here. You are--yes, I will say it, too lovely to be
+wasted on a place like that. I am really vexed with you."
+
+The tears stood in her beautiful eyes.
+
+"Oh, one can't be angry with you, you are so sweet! A year or two
+hence you could have no end of admirers at your feet, and take your
+pick of them. I hate to give you up. I want to see you a queen in
+society, you lovely, winsome, short-sighted thing! I don't believe you
+have a bit of vanity, and they say no girl child was ever born without
+it. I shall make your uncle, as you call him, keep track of you, for I
+shall want to know where you throw away your sweetness. I believe if I
+was Mr. de Ronville I would offer to buy you from your father."
+
+"Oh, he couldn't."
+
+It sounded as if she said it exultantly.
+
+Jane bemoaned the proposed departure as well.
+
+"The house will feel just like a funeral when you have gone out of it,
+Miss Daffodil. You've been like the sunshine floating up and down. We
+never missed it on the rainiest day, for there was your flashing
+golden head. And, oh, I wish you could stay and, grow up a young
+woman, and go to parties, and then have a splendid lover. Oh, dear!"
+and then Jane broke down crying.
+
+Poor Daffodil's heart was torn by the regrets. It seemed as if uncle
+was the only one who was like to help her bear the parting, and he was
+so tender that at times she almost relented. Mr. Bartram did not
+count. He was polite, and to a degree sympathetic. He did not tease
+her, nor laugh about Pittsburg, that would have made her indignant
+now.
+
+She had come with such a little parcel, now there was a trunk to be
+packed. M. de Ronville slipped in some dainty little boxes that were
+not to be opened until she reached home. And at last the day came, and
+there were sad enough good-by's.
+
+There was a new Post coach in its shining paint, and four stout
+horses. Mr. de Ronville pressed Daffodil's hand the last one, but he
+turned his eyes away. Yes, the light of his house had gone. But he
+could not give up all hope.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE PASSING OF THE OLD
+
+
+Oh, how queer it looked at Old Pittsburg, after the fine city she had
+left. Daffodil almost shrank from the sight of the old dilapidated log
+houses, the streets that were still lanes. But there were the two
+households to greet her, with not a change in them. Oh, how dear they
+were! The familiar room, the chair so endeared to her, the high shelf,
+with its brass candlestick, and there in the corner her mother's
+little flax wheel.
+
+"We were so afraid they'd keep you," said Felix. "Didn't they want you
+to stay?"
+
+"Ah, yes," and the tears came to her eyes.
+
+"And you look queer, changed somehow. Your voice has a funny sound.
+And I want you to tell me all about Philadelphia. Did you see that Mr.
+Benjamin Franklin, and the men who signed the Declaration of
+Independence?"
+
+"Mr. Franklin was abroad. And they don't all live there. I believe I
+saw only three of them. But there was Governor Mifflin. And they hope
+sometime to have the Capitol there."
+
+"Felix, let your sister have a little rest. There will be days and
+days to talk. Dilly, are you not tired to death? Such a long journey
+as it is. I don't see how Mrs. Craig stood it."
+
+"Yes, I am tired," she answered. How plain her room looked, though it
+had been put in nice order with the best knitted white quilt on her
+bed, and a bowl of flowers on a pretty new stand grandfather Bradin
+had made. She hung her coat in the closet, and took off the frock she
+was so tired of, glad to change it for a fresher one.
+
+"Now you look natural," declared grandmere. "We have our little girl
+back, but it does seem as if you had grown. And, oh, how glad we are
+to have her!"
+
+There certainly was some mysterious change. Her mother studied it as
+well. It seemed as if the little girl had vanished, one could almost
+imagine the seven years had come and gone, and she had been to
+fairyland. But she put her face down on her mother's shoulder and
+cried.
+
+"Dear, are you glad to see us all again, to come back to us? For I
+have had a heart-breaking fear that I know it must have been
+delightful there, and Mr. de Ronville had a great love for you. Oh, I
+really wonder that he let you come."
+
+"He wanted me to stay--yes. To stay and be educated in music and many
+things. It is so different there. I don't know that I can make you
+understand."
+
+"Dear," subjoined her mother, "he wrote to us. It was the kindliest
+letter. If he had persuaded you----"
+
+They clung more closely together, each answering with the pressure.
+But she made no mention of Mr. Bartram. The talk had not been meant
+for her ears, indeed, she did not rightly understand the real desire
+that underlay it.
+
+"Now you must rest awhile," said her mother. "There will be a crowd in
+to supper."
+
+Felix had been denied the pleasure of a half holiday. "You will have
+time enough to see your sister," Barbe said to the importunate boy.
+"She is going to stay at home now."
+
+Daffodil did have a nap and awoke refreshed, though she still looked
+tired and pale.
+
+"Put on one of your pretty frocks," said her mother, with a touch of
+pride. Indeed, much as she had missed her darling she had enjoyed the
+honor. Not every girl could have such an opportunity to see the great
+city where so many notable events had happened. There were few formal
+invitations in those early days. Evenings were generally given over to
+pleasure, for the day was devoted to work. You were sure of a welcome
+unless somewhere there was a family feud and even that was often
+overlooked after a few glasses of whiskey. So there were guests
+in--to supper. Daffodil was inspected, questioned, commented upon in a
+friendly fashion. They drank to her health, to the fact of her return
+safe and sound, for, after all, was not a big city where they had all
+sorts of dissipations dangerous.
+
+But all that was nothing to the evening. Then there was a crowd.
+Grandad did get very merry and dance a jig, the laughter grew
+uproarious. Dilly shrank with a fear that was half disgust.
+
+Barbe caught Norah's arm presently.
+
+"Ask them over to finish their merriment," she said persuasively.
+"Daffodil is very tired and must go to bed."
+
+She looked like a little ghost now and her eyes were heavy.
+
+"Yes, yes; we ought to have a little thought," and Norah rapped on the
+table and gave her invitation, which was cordially accepted.
+
+"Dear little daughter," began her father. "It's rather wild and rough,
+but it is their idea of a good, hearty welcome. And you must pardon
+grandad. He has a warm, loving heart."
+
+"Oh, yes; I know all that. But I _am_ tired." And her voice was full
+of tears.
+
+"Oh, child, it would be hard to have you outgrow us. And I love you
+so! I had such hard work to win your love in the beginning. But you
+don't remember."
+
+"Oh, yes, I do. Was I dreadful? I think I couldn't love any one all at
+once. And I didn't like mother to care so, when she had loved me best.
+But I know better now. Her love for me is different from her love for
+Felix and her love for you. Oh, I am glad to be back." And she clung
+to him convulsively.
+
+He hoped in his heart she would never go away again. There were some
+promising beaux in the town. Of course she would marry. He wouldn't
+want his little girl to be an "old maid."
+
+She said a long prayer that night, it seemed as if there had never
+been so many things to pray for. Then she crawled into bed and cried
+softly, she did not know why. Did she wish herself back?
+
+Was it that the place had changed so much or was it all in her. Felix
+seemed such a big boy, good looking too, with beautiful dark eyes and
+a very rosy face much sunburned. His dark hair was a mass of
+clustering curls, they inherited that from their mother. But he talked
+with his mouth full, he clattered his knife and fork, dropped them
+occasionally, and asked more questions than one could answer in an
+hour.
+
+She looked up at her father and smiled her approval. He understood it
+was that. He had some gentlemanly ways and she was very glad that M.
+de Ronville had not been shocked by the rude manners that obtained
+largely in the town. Grandmere waited on the table for there was
+generally a second cooking. People had stout appetites in those days.
+
+It seemed to her the trees had grown, they were longer armed. And here
+was the pretty flower garden a-bloom now with marigolds, which were
+not field flowers. There were large balls of pale yellow and deep
+orange, bronze ones with a pile as if made of velvet. How beautiful
+they were. Not a weed was to be seen.
+
+It was a half-cloudy day, not dark or sullen, but with friendly gray
+under roof. She put on her sun-bonnet, her mother had it starched and
+ironed for her. Up at the back of the house it was still wild land, a
+sloping hill, a tangle of summer growth rhododendrons half smothered
+with it. She threaded her way up, then there was a long level of
+stubble turning brown. Far to the north vaster bulks loomed up. There
+was a great world beyond. What if some day it should be cities like
+Philadelphia. And--people, men and women living in pretty houses and
+having nice times.
+
+It was a beautiful world, too. There was the fragrance of wild grapes
+in the air, the sweetness of dying clover blooms and the rich autumnal
+smells. She drew long breaths and broke into song with the birds.
+Then she started and ran. How little the houses looked down there!
+
+"Oh," she cried in dismay as she ran through the open doorway, "is it
+dinner time. I've been up in the woods. It _is_ beautiful."
+
+Her mother looked up smilingly. She had been paring apples to dry and
+had a great tubful. They strung them on a cord and hung them out in
+the sunshine to dry. Grandmere had the dinner ready to dish up.
+
+"Oh, I could have been stringing the apples!" she said remorsefully.
+"And I've been way up the hill. I wondered if it would look so lovely
+to me. For the Schuylkill is like a dream, but our rivers are finer
+than the Delaware."
+
+"Don't worry about work so soon. You must get used to it by degrees.
+And get rested over the journey. Janie and Kate Byerly were in. They
+want you to come to supper to-morrow night. Janie has a lover and
+she's promised. 'Tisn't a good sign when the youngest goes off first."
+
+"Why, Janie isn't----" in surprise.
+
+"She was fifteen a month ago;" said grandmere.
+
+"Would you want me to get married?" she asked soberly, recalling the
+talk she could not confess for honor's sake.
+
+"We are in no hurry," said grandmere. "Though I approve of early
+marriages. You settle to one another more easily. And women are
+happier in their own homes."
+
+"I'll get father to put up an addition and bring my husband here;" she
+rejoined with a kind of reckless gayety. "I couldn't go very far away
+from you."
+
+Her mother glanced up with fond eyes. And just then her father
+entered.
+
+Most people at that time were little given to caressing ways. But his
+own had been much dearer to Bernard Carrick after his three years'
+absence, and now he kissed his daughter, taking her sweet face in both
+hands.
+
+"Why, you look fresh as a rose. I half expected to find you in bed.
+Are you equal to a ride this afternoon?"
+
+"Oh, yes; only--mother----" glancing at her.
+
+"Can't mother spare you?"
+
+"Yes, yes. There will be time enough to work, child."
+
+Her mother was made very happy at the deference.
+
+Felix did not always come home at noon.
+
+"They were pretty gay last night," he began apologetically. "Seen
+grandad this morning?"
+
+"No, I went up in the woods. I wondered how it would look to me. It
+was beautiful. And it was a shame not to run over there first."
+
+"Well, you may go a bit before we start. I have some papers to look
+over. We're in a great wrastle about some whiskey business. And now a
+man has to hold his tongue sharp if he isn't on the right side."
+
+"You are on the right side?" She looked at him with laughing, trusting
+eyes.
+
+"I wouldn't dare go agin grandad," he laughed back.
+
+It was the old time to her. The cloth was coarse homespun partly
+bleached; they had some fine ones laid away for the little girl's
+outfit; the dishes were a motley lot, some pewter plates among them.
+The pretty accessories that she had become so accustomed to were
+missing. Was it this way when M. de Ronville was here? She colored
+vividly.
+
+"I'll get up, Doll," her father said, "and stop for you." So she ran
+down to the other house.
+
+Norah kissed her effusively.
+
+"I'm glad you weren't in this morning. I was on thorns an' briars all
+the time for fear. The men were in howling an' shouting until you'd
+thought they'd upset the government. An' they will, too. We're not
+going to pay tax on our very bread. Why they're coming the old game
+that they fit about for seven years. And grandad's fierce. He'd turn
+us all back to England to-morrer."
+
+"I don't know----" Daffodil looked up confused.
+
+"No, I s'pose not. Women has husbands to think for them an' gals
+needn't think about anything but beaux. Did you have any over there?"
+nodding her head. "Body o' me! but you've grown tall. You ain't a
+little girl any more. And we'll have to look you up a nice beau."
+
+"Must everybody be married?"
+
+Norah put both hands on her lips and laughed.
+
+"Well, I don't know as there's a _must_, only old maids ain't of much
+account an' get sticks poked at 'em pretty often. I wouldn't be one
+for any money. I'd go out in the woods and ask the first man I met to
+marry me."
+
+"How old must you be?" asked Daffodil soberly, thinking of Miss
+Wharton.
+
+"Well, if you ain't married by twenty, lovers ain't so plenty, and at
+twenty-four you're pushed out of the door and at thirty you might as
+well go down. But you're not likely to have to ring the bell for them.
+My! but you're pretty, only I wish your cheeks were redder. I guess
+you've been housed up too much. I want to hear all about the sort of
+time you had! Wasn't the old gentleman a little stiff?"
+
+"Oh, no. He seemed so much like great-grandfather to me. I loved him a
+great deal. And there was a splendid housekeeper. The maid was sweet
+and she cried when I came away."
+
+"Little Girl," called her father.
+
+"Oh, are you going to ride away? Come over to-night. Grandad is going
+to the meeting where they will spout like a leaky gargoyle. Or stay,
+your father will go too. I'll come over instead."
+
+Daffodil mounted Dolly, who certainly had not grown fat in her
+absence. Felix had attended to that. "Dear old Dolly!" patting her
+neck, and the mare whinnied as if overjoyed.
+
+"You haven't forgotten, dear old Dolly;" and Daffodil was minded to
+lean over and give her a hug as she had times before.
+
+"We'll go down town. We are stretching out our borders. Here is the
+new dock. We are building boats for the western trade, and here is the
+shipyard."
+
+It had doubled itself since spring. Everybody seemed hurrying to and
+fro. Brawny, sunburned men with shirt sleeves rolled nearly to the
+shoulders, jesting, whistling, sometimes swearing, the younger ones
+pausing now and then to indulge in a few jig steps. There were boats
+loading with a variety of freight, but largely whiskey. Carrick took
+some drawings out of his memorandum book.
+
+"Look them over sharp, Cap'n Boyle, though I think you'll find them
+all right."
+
+There was the long point, the two rivers flowing into the Ohio, the
+murmur like the undertone of the sea. And over beyond, far beyond an
+endless stretch. There were some Indian wigwams, there were long
+reaches of cornfields yet uncut, a few stacked; apples ripening in the
+mellow sunshine, a wild kind of fruit, great tangles of grapevine
+enough to smother any tree.
+
+"It is beautiful," she said with deep feeling. "Oh, do you suppose
+there'll ever be anything--over there--like a town, houses and such?"
+
+She nodded upward. That was her portion.
+
+"If we go on this way. There's a line for trade between this and
+Cincinnati all planned out, boats being built, there's coal and iron
+to supply places around, and they're talking about glass even. We
+shall be the head centre. Oh, land doesn't cost much since taxes are
+so light. Yes, some likely young fellow will take it in hand and
+evolve a fortune for you. Daffodil, you will not go back to de
+Ronville?"
+
+"To live? Oh, no."
+
+"I couldn't spare my little girl. I want you to marry and settle
+here."
+
+She seemed to shrink from the thought.
+
+Down here they were working streets. New houses were going up.
+Store-houses were being built. Carrick had to stop and discuss several
+openings. And no matter what subject was in hand it came round to the
+whiskey.
+
+"What is it all about, father?" she asked, raising her perplexed face
+to his.
+
+"I don't know that you can understand. We were all served with a
+summons in the summer to appear at court over the other side of the
+mountains. Crops were just at the point where they would be ruined if
+left. The distillers were very angry, the farmers, too. They held
+meetings and decided they wouldn't go. It's a matter of the general
+government. The country is behind in everything and is striving to
+meet its expenses. It could not be otherwise after such a war as we
+have had. The tax is four pence per gallon--it seems a big figure on
+hundreds of gallons, still they can recoup themselves on the other
+end."
+
+"And who is right?"
+
+Bernard Carrick laughed.
+
+"There is but one side to be on just now. Grandad is among the
+distillers and Norah is as hotheaded as he. But women ought to stay
+out of it. Take pattern by mother and grandmere and have no opinions.
+You can't help hearing it talked about. I'm glad it wasn't one of M.
+de Ronville's interests or you might have heard hard things said about
+us. There now, business is done, let us have a fine gallop over this
+road."
+
+Dolly went very well for a while then said plainly she could not keep
+it up.
+
+"You are a good rider, Dilly. I'm glad you did not get out of
+practice. Your guardian must have been indulgent."
+
+"We had a ride every fine morning. He was very fond of it."
+
+He was glad to have her talk about her visit. The life would be very
+different here. Not only were all his interests here, and he was
+getting to be one of the rising men of the town, but the Bradins held
+the house they lived in and he was as a son to them. Barbe had never
+been parted from her mother. And though he had gone to his country's
+call with their consent he knew his own father would never forgive a
+second defection. No, he must stay here, and his daughter must marry
+here.
+
+Felix begged her to come out with him and see the great bee tree where
+father was going to take up the honey some night, but she was tired
+and curled herself up in the grandfather chair. Her thoughts wandered
+a little.
+
+"I don't believe you are paying a bit of attention to me!" the boy
+flung out angrily. "I wish you hadn't gone to that old city. You were
+twice as good fun before. And I s'pose you won't climb trees or run
+races or--or do any of the things that used to be such good fun. What
+in the world _did_ you do there?"
+
+"Oh, I'll try them with you again. But I've been out with father all
+the afternoon----"
+
+"And now he'll be so taken up with you he won't want me. Girls haven't
+any call to be out so much with men."
+
+"Not when they are our own fathers?" smiling.
+
+"Well--there's knitting, and spinning, and sewing, and darning
+stockings----"
+
+"I thought you were begging me to go out and have a good romp with
+you?"
+
+"Oh, that's different."
+
+She laughed. Then father came in and they had supper. After that until
+he went out he had to help Felix with sums, then the boy was sleepy,
+and went to bed.
+
+Daffodil had to talk about her visit. She had been to the theatre
+twice and to some fine out-of-doors concerts. Then the afternoon at
+the Pembertons, where the ladies had been so beautifully dressed, and
+the dance and the tea on the lawn. She had been sent to a dancing
+class and knew the modern steps.
+
+"And I just don't believe any one can beat grandad;" said Norah with
+pride. "And stout as he is, he's as light on his feet as a young girl.
+And about this Miss Wharton and her living alone with servants just as
+if she was a widow, and she must be an old maid. It's queer they
+should make so much of her."
+
+"But she's so nice and sweet. Everybody likes her. And her house is so
+full of pretty things. The gentlemen are always wanting to dance with
+her and come to tea."
+
+"Well, it's very queer except for a queen. There was a great queen
+once who didn't and wouldn't get married."
+
+"That was Queen Elizabeth and Virginia was named in her honor."
+
+"Well, I hope you won't get sick of us after a little. But blood's
+thicker than water;" and Norah nodded confidently to Daffodil's
+mother.
+
+Then it seemed really strange to go over to the Byerly's to tea. They
+had been older girls in school. Now they were busy all day spinning
+and Kate wove on a hand loom. Girls worked through the day and
+frolicked in the evening. They all seemed so large to Daffodil. They
+joked one another about beaux. Half a dozen young men were invited.
+Kitchen and dining-room was all one, and the two tables were put
+together, and would have groaned with their burden if they had not
+been strong.
+
+"I want Daffodil Carrick," said Ned Langdale rather peremptorily. "I
+went to her first party and she came to mine."
+
+"That's whether she wants you," said Janie saucily. "Do you,
+Daffodil?"
+
+"Do I--what?"
+
+"Want Ned to take you in to supper. We're pairing off. By right you
+ought to take Kate," to Ned. "She can have some of the younger boys."
+
+Daffodil was rather startled at Ned. He had grown so tall and looked
+so manly.
+
+"I'll take Archie," she said a little timidly.
+
+Archie smiled and came over to her, clasping her hand.
+
+"I'm so glad," he said in a half whisper. "Oh, Daffodil, you're so
+pretty, like some of the sweet pictures in a book mother has. Yes, I'm
+so glad."
+
+Did Daffodil go to school with most of these girls? She felt curiously
+strange. After the first greeting and the question about her visit,
+that she was getting rather tired of, there was a new diversion at the
+entrance of Mr. Josephus Sanders, who was announced to the company by
+his betrothed. He was a great, rather coarse-looking fellow, with a
+red face burned by wind and water, and reddish hair that seemed to
+stand up all over his head. Even at the back it hardly lay down. He
+was a boatman, had made two trips to New Orleans, and now was going
+regular between Pittsburg and Cincinnati with a share in the boat
+which he meant to own by and by. He had a loud voice and took the
+jesting in good part, giving back replies of coarse wit and much
+laughter.
+
+Mrs. Byerly waited on the guests, though the viands were so arranged
+that there was a dish for every three or four. Cold chicken, cold ham,
+cold roast pork temptingly sliced. White bread and brown, fried nuts
+as they called them, the old Dutch doughnuts and spiced cakes, beside
+the great round one cut in generous slices. And after that luscious
+fruits of all kinds.
+
+"Yes, I am so glad to see you. And you have been off among the
+quality. But I hope you have not forgotten--" and he raised his eyes,
+then colored and added, "but you weren't so much with the boys. I do
+suppose girls' schools are different. Still there were Saturdays."
+
+"I don't know why I lagged behind," and she gave a soft laugh that was
+delicious. "Maybe it was because some of them were older. Even now I
+feel like a little girl and I don't mean to be married in a long time.
+Oh, yes, I remember the May day fun and the races and tag----"
+pausing.
+
+"And the tree climbing and the big jumps and prisoner's base, and
+'open the gates' and 'tug of war.' Ned was famous in them. I liked
+often to go off by myself and read, but once in a while it was fun."
+
+"Oh, you should go to Philadelphia. There are so many fine books. And
+many of the people have libraries of their own. My guardian had. And
+pictures."
+
+He bent his head quite low.
+
+"I'm going some day. That's my secret. I mean to be a doctor."
+
+"Oh!" The eyes she turned upon him thrilled him to the heart. Oh, she
+was the prettiest and sweetest girl in the room.
+
+But she wasn't glowing and red-cheeked and black-eyed. Then yellow
+hair wasn't particularly in favor.
+
+The table was cleared and the dessert was grapes and melons,
+yellow-hearted cantelopes and rosy watermelons, and they snapped seeds
+at one another, a rather rude play, which made a great deal of
+dodging. Afterward they went to the best room and had some more
+refined plays. They "picked cherries," they had to call their
+sweetheart and stand with him in the middle of the room. Ned chose
+Daffodil Carrick and he kissed her of course, that made her blush like
+a peony. And she chose Archie.
+
+But, alas! Archie had to choose some one else. He said afterward--"I
+had a great mind to choose you again, but I knew they'd laugh and say
+it wasn't fair. But I didn't care at all for Emma Watkins."
+
+They wound up with "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grows." Then Janie
+Byerly took her betrothed's hand and stood in the middle of the room.
+
+"Joe and I are to be married in October somewhere about the middle. We
+haven't set the day yet, but you'll all know it and I want a great
+crowd to come and see the knot tied. Then we're going to Cincinnati on
+Joe's boat to visit his folks, and if I like it first-class we may
+settle there. I hope you have all had a good time."
+
+They said they had in a shout.
+
+"I'm coming over to see your pretty frocks," Janie whispered to
+Daffodil. "My, I shall be so busy that my head will spin."
+
+Of course Archie had to see her home, but as Ned's girl was already
+home, he walked with them and did most of the talking, to Archie's
+chagrin. And he ended with--"I've so much to tell you. I'm coming over
+right soon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE WOOF OF DAILY THINGS
+
+
+"Dilly, you're not worth shucks since you came back!" exclaimed the
+boy in a severely upbraiding tone. "You don't do nothin' as you used,
+you just sit and moon. Do you want to go back to that old man? I sh'd
+think you'd been awful dull."
+
+"Do you talk that way at school?"
+
+"Oh, well, a fellow needn't be so fussy at home."
+
+"What would you like me to do? You are off with the boys----"
+
+"That's because you're no good. You don't run races nor climb trees
+nor wade in the brook to catch frogs, nor jump--I'll bet you don't
+know how to jump any more. And you were a staver!"
+
+"Girls leave off those things. And you are a good deal younger, and
+ought to have a boy's good times. I must sew and spin and help keep
+house and work in the garden to take care of the flowers and learn to
+cook."
+
+"My! I wouldn't be a girl for anything! Dilly, who will you marry?"
+
+Her face was scarlet. Must a girl marry? She understood now the drift
+of the talk she had unwittingly overheard. And her cheek burned
+thinking that she had been offered and declined.
+
+"I'm not going to marry any one in a good while," she returned
+gravely.
+
+"Tim Garvin asked me----" he looked at her hesitatingly.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"If he might come round. He thinks you sing like a mocking bird. And
+he says he likes yellow hair. I don't. I wish yours was black and that
+you had red cheeks and that you'd laugh real loud, and want to play
+games."
+
+"There are plenty of little girls, Felix, who are ready for any sort
+of fun."
+
+He spun round on his heel and went off. It had been one of the
+resplendent early autumn days with a breath of summer in the air and
+the richness of all ripening things. The call of the wood thrush came
+softly through the trees with a lingering delicious tenderness. She sat
+on a large boulder nearly at the foot of a great sycamore tree. She
+used to have a play-house here. What had changed her so? She did not
+want to go back to Philadelphia. She would never want to see Mr.
+Bartram again. In a way she was content. Her father loved her very
+much, it was a stronger love in one way, a man's love, though her
+mother was tender and planning a nice future for her.
+
+She did not understand that it was the dawning of womanhood, the
+opening of a new, strange life different from what had gone before.
+There was a sort of delicious mystery about it and she stood in
+tremulous awe. It was going to bring her something that she half
+dreaded, half desired.
+
+She had gone down by the schoolhouse one afternoon. They had built a
+new one, really quite smart, and now they had taken off an hour of the
+last session. The children were out at play, racing, screaming,
+wrestling, here playing ring around a rosy, here London bridge is
+falling down, here a boy chasing a girl and kissing her roughly, she
+slapping his face and being kissed half a dozen times more. Had she
+ever been one of this boisterous, romping group?
+
+The French blood had brought in more refinement, like the Quaker
+element. And she had been rather diffident. At home they were more
+delicate, while they had too much good breeding and kindliness to hold
+themselves much above their neighbors.
+
+The marriage of Janie Byerly was quite an event. It took place at ten
+in the morning and there was a great wedding cake with slices for the
+girls to dream on. Then they went down to the boat in a procession and
+there was a merry time as the boat made ready to push out. Rice had
+not come in yet, but old shoes were there in abundance.
+
+There were other marriages and the little girl went to them because
+she did not want to slight her old companions. Some of the couples
+set up housekeeping in a two-roomed cabin and the new wife went on
+with her spinning or weaving and some of them were quite expert at
+tailoring. There was plenty of work getting ready for winter.
+
+Tim Garvin had been as good as his word and came on Sunday evening.
+Daffodil sheltered herself behind her father's protecting wing. They
+talked of the whiskey question, of the Ohio trade, and then there was
+a lagging, rather embarrassing time. Four elderly people sat
+around--they generally retired and gave the young folks a chance, but
+it was Daffodil who disappeared first. And Tim did not make a second
+attempt.
+
+The Langdale boys had better luck in establishing friendliness. Ned
+came over in high feather one afternoon. Daffodil was practising a
+rather intricate piece of lace making. He looked manly and proud. He
+was tall and well filled out, very well looking.
+
+"I hope you'll all congratulate me," he began in a buoyant tone. "I've
+enlisted. I'm going to live up at the Fort and begin soldier life in
+earnest."
+
+"And I do most heartily wish you success," declared grandmere, her
+eyes lighting up with a kind of admiration at the manly face in the
+pride of youth. "We shall need soldiers many a day yet, though I hope
+the worst is over. Still the Indians are treacherous and stubborn."
+
+"And we may have another fight on our hands;" laughing. "For we are
+not going to be ridden over rough shod."
+
+"But you must belong to the government side now."
+
+"I suppose so;" flushing.
+
+The delinquent distillers had been summoned to Philadelphia and had
+refused to go.
+
+"This is our very living," declared grandad, who was one of the most
+fiery insurgents. "Then they will tax our grain, our crops of all
+kinds. A king could do no worse! What did I tell you about these men!
+Why, we'll have to emigrate t'other side of the Mississippi and start
+a new town. That's all we get for our labor and hard work."
+
+"I ought to have waited until this thing was settled," Ned said rather
+ruefully, studying Daffodil's face. "But I had hard work to coax
+father, and when he consented I rushed off at once. He thinks there's
+going to be fortunes in this iron business, and Archie won't be worth
+shucks at it. He hates it as much as I do, but he's all for books, and
+getting his living by his brains. Maybe he'll be a lawyer."
+
+Daffodil flushed. She held Archie's secret.
+
+"You don't like it," Ned began when he had persuaded her to walk a
+little way with him. "You said once you didn't like soldiering. Yet it
+is a noble profession, and I'm not going to stay down at the bottom of
+the line."
+
+"No," with a sweet reluctance as if she was sorry to admit it. "It
+seems cruel to me, why men should like to kill each other."
+
+"They don't like it in the way of enjoyment, but do their duty. And
+they are for the protection of the homes, the women and children. We
+may have another Indian raid; we have some"--then he paused, he was
+going to say, "some French to clear out," but refrained. The French
+still held some desirable western points.
+
+"Father talks of the war occasionally, and mother shivers and
+says--'My heart would have broken if I had known that!' And to be away
+three years or more, never knowing if one was alive!"
+
+No, she wouldn't do for a soldier's wife. And Archie had prefigured
+himself a bachelor; he really had nothing to fear there, only would
+she not take more interest in his brother? There were other young
+fellows in the town, but not many of her kind. Well, he would
+wait--she seemed quite like a child yet.
+
+Somehow she had not made the same impression as she had in
+Philadelphia. No one praised her hair or her beautiful complexion or
+her grace in dancing. It did not hurt her exactly, but she felt sorry
+she could not please as readily. Only--she did not care for that kind
+of florid approbation.
+
+Grandmere looked up from her work when they had gone out. "He is a
+fine lad," she commented. "And they are of a good family. Daffodil is
+nearing sixteen. Though there doesn't seem much need of soldiers--it
+is a noble profession. It seems just the thing for him."
+
+"She is such a child yet. I don't know how we could spare her. And her
+father is so fond of her."
+
+Mrs. Bradin had a rather coveting regard for the young man. And a
+pretty girl like Daffodil should not hang on hand.
+
+Ned Langdale made friends easily at the Fort. And during the second
+month, on account of a little misbehavior in the ranks, he was
+advanced to the sergeantship.
+
+Meanwhile feeling ran higher and higher. Those who understood that the
+power of the general government must be the law of the land were
+compelled to keep silence lest they should make matters worse. Even
+the clergy were forced to hold their peace. Processes were served and
+thrown into the fire or torn to bits. Then the government interfered
+and troops were ordered out.
+
+Bernard Carrick had tried to keep his father within bounds. It did not
+do to protest openly, but he felt the government should be obeyed, or
+Pittsburg would be the loser. Bradford and several others ordered the
+troops to march to Braddock's field, and then to Pittsburg. The town
+was all astir and in deadly terror lest if the insurgents could not
+rule they would ruin. But after all it was a bloodless revolution.
+Governor Mifflin, after a temperate explanation, softening some of the
+apparently arbitrary points, commanded the insurgents to disperse.
+Breckenridge thought it safest to give good words rather than powder
+and balls. So they marched through the town in excellent order and
+came out on the plains of the Monogahela where the talking was
+softened with libations of whiskey, and a better understanding
+prevailed, the large distillers giving in to the majesty of the law.
+
+Some of the still disgruntled insurgents set fire to several barns,
+but no special damage was done. And thus ended the year's turmoil and
+business went on with renewed vigor. There was also an influx of
+people, some to settle, others from curiosity. But the West was
+awakening a new interest and calling for immigrants.
+
+Mrs. Janie Sanders came back with glowing accounts of the town on the
+Ohio. And now trade was fairly established by the line of boats. And
+from there down to New Orleans continual traffic was established.
+
+The older log houses were disappearing or turned into kitchens with a
+finer exterior in front. People began to laugh at the old times when
+there was much less than a thousand inhabitants.
+
+And though Bernard Carrick still called his daughter "Little Girl,"
+she was quite grown up with a slim lissome figure and her golden hair
+was scarcely a shade darker. She was past sixteen, and yet she had
+never had a lover. Young men dropped in of a Sunday afternoon or
+evening, but she seemed to act as if they were her father's guests.
+After two or three attempts they dropped out again.
+
+Archie had gone to Philadelphia for a year at a preparatory school,
+then was to enter college. Ned now was first lieutenant, having been
+promoted for bravery and foresight in warding off an Indian sortie
+that might have been a rather serious matter.
+
+The little girl had vanished with the old Pittsburg. She hardly knew
+herself in these days. Something seemed to touch her with a magic
+wand. She was full of joy with all things of the outside world, and
+the spring and the early summer, nature seemed to speak in all manner
+of wooing tongues and she answered. She took long walks in the woods
+and came home with strange new flowers. There was not much to read, it
+was not a season of intellectuality but a busy, thrifty time laying
+the foundation for the great city of industry and prosperity that was
+to be.
+
+Barbe Carrick made pretty garments with fine needlework and lace and
+laid them by in an old oaken chest. Grandmere was sometimes a little
+impatient over the dreaming child. Another year was going and she had
+counted on Daffodil being married before the next generation of girls
+came to the fore. Plain ones, loud, awkward ones were married and had
+a jollification. Some of them at twenty had three or four children.
+
+She was very sweet, charming and helpful. Grandad had taken the
+"knuckling down," as he called it, rather hard, but it seemed as if
+the tax and more came back in increased sales. He was very fond of
+small Sandy, now a fast-growing boy, but there was a different love
+for Daffodil, who looked over his accounts, read the paper to him, and
+listened to his stories as well as his complaints.
+
+"I wish it wasn't so much the fashion for girls to marry," he said one
+day to Norah. "I don't know how we could spare Dilly."
+
+"And keep her an old maid!" with scorn in her voice. "But it's queer!
+One would think lovers would buzz about her like bees."
+
+Now and then there came a letter from Philadelphia that she answered
+with a good long one, yet she wondered afterward what she found to
+say. That visit seemed such a long, long while ago, almost in another
+life. And Mistress Betty Wharton had married and gone to Paris, as her
+husband was connected with the embassy. There were many questions yet
+to settle.
+
+"Don't you want to go over to the Fort with me, Daffodil?" her father
+asked one afternoon. He had a fondness for Lieutenant Langdale, and
+not the slightest objection to him as a future son-in-law.
+
+"Oh, yes," eagerly, and joined him, smiling under the great hat with
+its flaring front filled in with gathered silk, her white frock short
+enough to show the trim ankles and dainty feet, and her green silk
+parasol that had come from Philadelphia that very spring. She
+generally wore her hair in curls, though it was cut much shorter in
+the front and arranged not unlike more modern finger puffs. A very
+pretty girl of the refined type.
+
+Fort Pitt was then in all its glory though the old block house of
+Colonel Bouquet was still standing, up Duquesne way, and there were
+soldiers strolling about and a few officers in uniform.
+
+Langdale was on duty somewhere. Captain Forbes came to greet them.
+
+"You'll find the general in his office, Mr. Carrick. May I take charge
+of Miss Carrick, meanwhile?"
+
+"Yes, I shall be glad to have you."
+
+Captain Forbes was a Philadelphian, so they were not at loss for
+conversation. Here two or three men were in earnest discussion, there
+one deeply interested in a book, who touched his cap without looking
+up. In a shady corner two men were playing chess, one a civilian, the
+other a young private.
+
+"Well, Hugh, how goes it?" asked the captain.
+
+"Why, I am not discouraged;" laughing and bowing to Daffodil.
+
+"He is going to make a good, careful player, and I think a fine
+soldier."
+
+"Allow me--Mr. Andsdell, Miss Carrick."
+
+There had come with General Lee and his body of soldiers sent to quell
+the insurgents, a number of citizens out of curiosity to see the place.
+Among them a young Englishman, who had been in the country several
+years seeking his fortune and having various successes. He had tried
+the stage at Williamsburg, Virginia, and won not a little applause. He
+was an agreeable well-mannered person and always had excellent luck at
+cards without being a regular gamester. He made no secret of belonging
+to a titled family, but being a younger son with four lives between
+him and the succession he had come to America to try his fortune. Yet
+even in this new world fortunes were not so easily found or made.
+
+Daffodil watched them with interest. M. de Ronville had played it with
+an elderly friend.
+
+"You have seen it before?" Andsdell asked, raising his eyes and
+meeting the interested ones.
+
+"Oh, yes; in Philadelphia. I spent a few months there."
+
+Her voice had a charm. She seemed indeed not an ordinary girl.
+
+"I have been there part of the last year. I was much interested."
+
+He kept a wary eye on the young fellow's moves.
+
+Once he said--"No, don't do that; think."
+
+The other thought to some purpose and smiled.
+
+"You are improving."
+
+A flush of pleasure lighted the boyish face.
+
+"Check," said Andsdell presently. "I had half a mind to let you win,
+but you made two wrong moves."
+
+The young man glanced at his watch. "Now I must go and drill," he
+exclaimed. "Can we say to-morrow afternoon again?"
+
+"With pleasure;" smiling readily.
+
+He bowed himself away. Andsdell rose.
+
+"I wonder if I might join your walk? I have met a Mr. Carrick----"
+
+"That was my father likely. Grandfather is quite an old man."
+
+"And figured in the--what shall we call it--_émeute_?"
+
+Captain Forbes laughed. "That was about it. Yet at one time I was a
+good deal afraid there would be a fierce struggle. Better counsels
+prevailed, however. When the army arrived those who had not really
+dared to say the government was right so far as obedience was
+concerned came out on the right side. A thousand or so soldiers
+carried weight," with a half sarcastic laugh.
+
+Andsdell stole furtive glances at the girl the other side of Forbes.
+What a graceful, spirited walk she had; just what one would expect
+with that well poised figure.
+
+Then she stopped suddenly and the captain paused in his talk as she
+half turned.
+
+"There's father," she exclaimed with a smile that Andsdell thought
+enchanting.
+
+He had met the Englishman before and greeted him politely. After a
+little talk he slipped his daughter's arm through his and said mostly
+to her--"I am ready now."
+
+She made her adieu with a kind of nonchalant grace in which there was
+not a particle of coquetry. He followed her with his eyes until they
+had turned the corner of the bastion. Then again he saw her as they
+were going out.
+
+"I should think that girl would have half the men in the town at her
+feet," he said.
+
+"Oh, Miss Carrick?" as if he was not quite certain. Then with a half
+smile--"Do you think so? Well, she hasn't."
+
+"She is very lovely."
+
+"In a certain way, yes. I believe our people like more color, more
+dash and spirit. We are not up on a very high round, pioneers seldom
+are. It takes a generation or so to do the hard work, then comes the
+embellishment. They are rather dignified and have some French ways.
+An old grandfather, the fourth generation back, might have stood for a
+portrait of the grand Marquis. It is on the mother's side."
+
+"She doesn't favor the French."
+
+"No, but the boy does, a bright, handsome fellow, wild as a deer and
+full of pranks. It will be hard to tell what race we do favor most. A
+hundred years hence we will be going back with a sort of pride,
+hunting up ancestors. At present there is too much to do."
+
+Andsdell went his way presently. He was comfortably well lodged. He
+had a bountiful supper and then he went out for a walk. There was a
+young moon over in the west just light enough to bring out the silvery
+beech trunks and touch the tips of the grasses. The woodthrush still
+gave his long sweet call at intervals. This path led into the town. He
+would not go that way. He wished he knew just where these Carricks
+lived. He fancied her sitting on the porch drinking in the loveliness
+of the evening.
+
+How absurd! He had seen pretty girls before, danced with them, flirted
+with them. There were the imperious belles of Virginia, who bewitched
+a man's fancy in one evening. There were the fair seductive maids of
+Philadelphia, and so far he had not been specially impressed with the
+girls of this town. A crowd were coming this way--he heard the
+strident laughter and loud voices, so he stepped aside.
+
+Dilly was not sitting out in the fragrant air, but trying to explain a
+lesson to Felix. Neither did she give one thought to the young
+Englishman. She was glad in her inmost heart that Ned Langdale had
+been engaged elsewhere. Something in his eyes troubled her. She did
+not want to make him unhappy. She hated to be cold and distant to her
+friend, yet when she warmed a little he seemed to take so much for
+granted that she did not feel inclined to grant. Why couldn't one be
+satisfied with friendship? Occasionally she heard from Archie. They
+were eager, ambitious letters and she always read them aloud.
+
+But if there could come any warmer interest Archie never would be
+content with this busy, bustling, working town, and then they would
+lose her. Every day she grew dearer to the mother. Geoffrey Andsdell
+decided he did not like the place very well either. He could not be
+winning money all the time from the garrison, and no business opening
+had been really thrust upon him, though he felt it was high time he
+turned his attention to the fact of making an honest living. He had
+wasted four years since he left England. It would be folly to return,
+and when that thought crossed his mind he bit his lip and an ugly look
+settled in his eyes. He had come to the New World to forget all that.
+
+Yes, he would go back to Philadelphia. There were genteel
+opportunities there, and he was not a dullard if he had not been
+business bred.
+
+He was asking a little advice of Mrs. Forbes as they had been
+sauntering about the hills that were showing bits of autumnal scenery
+and scattering the fragrance of all ripening things on the air. The
+jocund song of the birds had settled into a sort of leisurely
+sweetness, their summer work was done, nest building and caring for
+the young was over with for the season, and they could review their
+losses and gains. Somewhere along the stream that wound in and out a
+great frog boomed hoarsely and the younger ones had lost their fine
+soprano in trying to emulate him. Insects of all kinds were shrilling
+and whirring, yet underneath it all there was a curious stillness.
+
+Then a human voice broke on their ear singing a merry Irish lilt.
+
+"Oh, that's Daffodil Carrick. I could tell her voice from fifty
+others. It is never loud but it carries so distinctly. Let's see where
+she is."
+
+They turned into the wider path zigzagging through the woods. Yes,
+there she sat on the limb of a tree she had bent down and was gently
+swaying to and fro. Her sun-bonnet was held by the strings serving to
+drive troublesome insects away. Her golden hair clustered about her
+temples in rings and then floated off by the motion of the swinging, a
+lovely bewildering cloud. She did not notice them at first; then she
+sprang up, her face a delicate rosy tint.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Forbes! And--Mr. Andsdell!"
+
+She looked a startled woodland nymph. He thought he had never seen a
+more lovely picture.
+
+"Are you having a nice time to yourself in your parlor among the
+hills? Can't we sit down and share it with you? I am tired. We have
+been rambling up hill and down dale."
+
+A great hollow tree had fallen some time and Mrs. Forbes seated
+herself waving her hand to Mr. Andsdell, who looked a little
+uncertain.
+
+"Oh, yes," Daffodil said. "I have been roaming around also. It is just
+the day for it. Now the sun comes out and tints everything, then it is
+shade and a beautiful gray green."
+
+"You were singing," he said, thinking what compliment would not be too
+ornate. Out here in the woods with nature and truth one could not use
+flattery.
+
+"Yes." She laughed softly a sound that was enchanting. "When I was
+little I was a devout believer in fairies. Grandfather Carrick's
+second wife came from Ireland when she was fifteen, and she knew the
+most charming stories. You know there are stories that seem true and
+hers did. I used to feel sure they would come and dance in the grass.
+That was the song little Eileen sang, and they carried her off, but
+they couldn't keep her because she wore a cross that had been put
+round her neck when she was christened."
+
+"And did you want to be carried off?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, I think I did. But I had a cross that I made of beads and named
+them after the saints. We are not Catholics, but Huguenots. I took my
+cross out in the woods with me, but the fairies never came."
+
+"There is a great deal of really beautiful faith about those things,"
+said Mrs. Forbes. "And some of the Indian legends as well. Old
+Watersee has stores of them. Some one ought to collect the best of
+them. Fairy stories go all over the world, I think, in different
+guise. They are the delight of our early lives. It's sad to lose that
+childhood faith."
+
+"Oh, I don't want to lose it all," Daffodil said earnestly. "I just
+say to myself it might have been true somewhere."
+
+Then they branched off into other matters. The sky grew grayer and the
+wind moaned through the trees, shaking down a cloud of ripe leaves.
+
+"Is it going to rain?" asked Andsdell.
+
+"I think it will storm by to-morrow, but not now. You see, evening is
+coming on. We might go down;" tentatively, not sure she was the one to
+propose it.
+
+The path was beautiful, winding in and out, sometimes over the pile of
+richest moss, then stirring up the fragrance of pennyroyal. But the
+streets and houses began to appear.
+
+Barbe Carrick sat on the porch waiting for her daughter, always
+feeling a little anxious if she loitered, though these woods were free
+from stragglers. She came to meet them now, she knew Mrs. Forbes and
+invited them to rest awhile, and they cheerfully accepted. Then she
+went for some cake and grapes and brought some foaming spruce beer.
+Even grandmere came out to meet the guests. Andsdell was delighted and
+praised everything and Mrs. Bradin said with her fine French
+courtesy--"You must come again."
+
+"I shall be most happy to," he replied.
+
+They finished their walk almost in silence. Andsdell was recalling the
+many charms of the young girl. Mrs. Forbes was looking upon him in the
+light of a lover. She could understand that the ordinary young man of
+the town could not make much headway with Daffodil Carrick. There were
+some nice men in the garrison, but after all----And it was high time
+Daffodil had a lover. All women are matchmakers by instinct and
+delight in pairing off young folks. She was a happy wife herself, but
+she recalled the fact that the girl was not in love with soldiers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SPINNING WITH VARIOUS THREADS
+
+
+"Richard," Mrs. Forbes began, looking up from the beaded purse she was
+knitting, "do you know anything about that Englishman, Andsdell?"
+
+He had been reading, and smoking his pipe. He laid down both.
+
+"A sort of goodish, well-informed fellow, who doesn't drink to excess,
+and is always a gentleman. He plays a good deal, and wins oftener than
+he loses, but that's luck and knowledge. Like so many young men, he
+came over to seek his fortune. He was in Virginia, was some general's
+aide, I believe. Why are you so eager to know his record?"
+
+"Why?" laughing softly. "I think he is very much smitten with Daffodil
+Carrick. She is pretty and sweet, a most admirable daughter, but,
+somehow, the beaux do not flock about her. She will make some one a
+lovely wife."
+
+"Young Langdale has a fancy for her."
+
+"And she is not at all charmed with military glory. Her father was a
+good, brave soldier, and went at the darkest of times, because his
+country needed him, not for fame or enthusiasm. She has heard too
+much of the dangers and struggles. Edward Langdale is full of
+soldierly ardor. They have had opportunities enough to be in love, and
+she rather shrinks from him. No, her husband, whoever he is, must be a
+civilian."
+
+"Why, I think I can learn about him. The Harrisons are at
+Williamsburg, you know. And there is a slight relationship between us.
+Yes, it would be well to learn before you dream of wedding rings and
+all that."
+
+Still she could not resist asking Daffodil in to tea to meet some
+friends. There were Mrs. Trent, the wife of the first lieutenant, and
+Bessy Lowy, young Langdale, and the Englishman. Bessy was a charming,
+dark-eyed coquette, ready of wit, and she did admire Ned. Andsdell was
+almost a stranger to her, and in the prettiest, most winsome fashion
+she relegated him to Miss Carrick.
+
+They had a gay time, for Mrs. Trent was very bright and chatty, and
+her husband had a fund of small-talk. Afterward they played cards, the
+amusement of the times. In two of the games Ned had Daffodil for a
+partner, but she was not an enthusiastic player. And she had accepted
+Andsdell's escort home, much to Ned's chagrin.
+
+"I did not know whether you would be at liberty," she said simply.
+
+"I'll have an afternoon off Thursday. Will you go for a walk?"
+
+She hesitated, and he remarked it.
+
+"I see so little of you now. And you always seem--different."
+
+"But you know I am quite grown up. We are no longer children. And that
+makes a change in every one."
+
+"But that need not break friendship."
+
+"I think it doesn't break friendship always," she returned
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Daffodil, you are the loveliest and sweetest girl I have ever known."
+
+"But not in the whole world," she rejoined archly.
+
+"In my world. That is enough for me. Good-night;" and he longed to
+kiss her hand.
+
+She and Andsdell came down from the Fort, crossed several streets, and
+then turned to the east. Philadelphia was their theme of conversation.
+
+"I was such a little girl then," she said, with almost childish
+eagerness. "Everything was so different. I felt as if I was in a
+palace, and the maid dressed me with so much care, and went out to
+walk with me, and Miss Wharton was so charming. And now she is in
+France."
+
+"Would you like to go to France--Paris?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. You have been there?"
+
+"Yes, for a short stay."
+
+"And London, and ever so many places?"
+
+"Yes. But I never want to see it again."
+
+Something in his tone jarred a little.
+
+"I am glad you like America."
+
+Then they met her father, who was coming for her, but Mr. Andsdell
+went on with them to the very door.
+
+"Did you have a fine time?" asked her mother.
+
+"Oh, yes, delightful. Mrs. Trent was so amusing, and Bessy Lowy was
+like some one in a play. I wish my eyes were dark, like yours. I think
+they are prettier."
+
+Her mother smiled and kissed her.
+
+All the next morning Dilly sat and spun on the little wheel, and sang
+merry snatches from old ballads. She wished she were not going to walk
+with Lieutenant Langdale.
+
+"Is there any wrong in it, mother?" she asked, turning her perplexed
+face to Barbe.
+
+"Why, not as I see. You have been friends for so long. And it is
+seldom that he gets out now."
+
+The Post brought a letter from Archie. It was really very joyous. He
+had won a prize for a fine treatise, and had joined a club, not for
+pleasure or card playing, but debating and improvement of the mind.
+
+She was very glad they would have this to talk about. And when Ned saw
+her joyous face, and had her gay greeting, his heart gave a great
+bound. They went off together in a merry fashion.
+
+"Oh, you cannot think"--then pausing suddenly--"Did you have word from
+Archie in the post?"
+
+"No, but a letter came for mother."
+
+"You hurried me so, or I should have remembered to bring it. Father
+thought it so fine. He has won a prize, twenty-five pounds. And he
+thinks another year he may pass all the examinations. Oh, won't your
+mother be glad?"
+
+There was such a sweet, joyous satisfaction in her tone, such a lovely
+light in her eyes, that his heart made a protest.
+
+"You care a great deal about his success?" he said jealously.
+
+"Yes, why not?" in surprise.
+
+"And none about mine?"
+
+"Why--it is so different;" faltering a little. "And you know I never
+was overfond of soldiering."
+
+"Where would the country have been but for the brave men who fought
+and gained her liberty? Look at General Washington, and that brave
+noble-hearted Lafayette. And there was General Steuben that winter at
+Valley Forge, sharing hardship when he might have lived at ease. It
+stirs my blood when I think of the hundreds of brave men, and I am
+proud to be a soldier."
+
+He stood up very straight, and there was a world of resolution in his
+eyes, a flush on his cheek.
+
+"But you are glad of his success?"
+
+"And why should you not be as glad of mine?" not answering her
+question.
+
+"Why--I am. But you see that appeals to me the more. Yet I shall be
+glad for you to rise in your profession, and win honors,
+only--fighting shocks me all through. I am a coward."
+
+"And he will come back a doctor, and you will rejoice with him. I
+shouldn't mind that so much, but you will marry him----"
+
+"Marry him! Ned, what are you thinking of!"
+
+There was a curious protest in her face almost strong enough for
+horror. Even her lips lost their rosy tint.
+
+"What I am thinking of is this," and there was a fierce desperation in
+his tone. "I love you! love you! and I cannot bear to think of you
+going to any other man, of any person calling you wife. I've always
+loved you, and it has grown with my manhood's strength. Archie will
+always be lost in his books, and his care for others. A doctor ought
+never to marry, he belongs to the world at large. And I want you in my
+very life;" then his arms were about her, and clasped her so tightly
+that for an instant she could make no protest. She pushed away and
+dropped on a great stone, beginning to cry.
+
+"Oh, Daffodil, what have I done! It is my wild love. It is like some
+plant that grows and grows, and suddenly bursts into bloom. I almost
+hated Bessy Lowy taking possession of me in that fashion. I wanted to
+talk to you, to be near you, to touch your dear hand. All last night I
+lay awake thinking of you. It was so sweet that I did not want to
+sleep."
+
+"Oh, hush," she entreated, "hush," making as if she would put him away
+with her slim hands. "You must not talk so to me. It is a language I
+do not understand, do not like. I think I am not meant for lovers and
+marriage. I will be friends always, and rejoice in your success. And
+it is the same with Archie. Oh, let me live my own quiet life with
+father and mother----"
+
+"And never marry?"
+
+"Not for years to come, perhaps never. I am not afraid of being called
+an old maid. For Miss Wharton was delightful and merry, and like a
+mother to me, though I shall not be as gay and fond of good times. I
+like quiet and my own pretty dreams, and to talk with the birds and
+squirrels in the woods, and the lambs in the fields, and sometimes
+great-grandfather comes back."
+
+Her face was partly turned away, and had a rapt expression. He was
+walking moodily up and down. Why was she so different from most girls?
+And yet he loved her. She might outgrow this--was it childishness?
+
+"Well," with a long sigh, "I will wait. If it is not Archie----"
+
+"It is no one. And when some nice girl loves you--oh, Ned, you should
+find some nice sweet girl, who will be glad of your love. I think
+girls are when they meet with the right one. And do not think of me in
+that way."
+
+"I shall think of you in that way all the rest of my life. And if you
+do not marry, I shall not marry either."
+
+Then there was a long silence.
+
+"Shall we go on?" she asked timidly.
+
+"The walk is spoiled. It doesn't matter now;" moodily.
+
+"Oh, Ned, let us be friends again. I cannot bear to have any one angry
+with me. No one ever is but grandad, when we talk about the country or
+the whiskey tax," and she laughed, but it was half-heartedly.
+
+What a child she was, after all. For a moment or two he fancied he did
+not care so much, but her sweet face, her lovely eyes, the dainty
+hands hanging listlessly at her side, brought him back to his
+allegiance.
+
+They walked on, but the glory had gone out of the day, the hope in his
+heart, the simple gladness of hers. Then the wind began to blow up
+chilly, and dark clouds were drifting about. She shivered.
+
+"Are you cold? Perhaps we had better go back?"
+
+"Well"--in a sort of resigned tone. Then, after a pause--"Are you very
+angry with me?"
+
+"Perhaps not angry--disappointed. I had meant to have such a nice
+time."
+
+"I am sorry. If I could have guessed, I would not have agreed to
+come."
+
+They paused at the gate. No, he would not come in. The fine face
+betrayed disappointment.
+
+"But you will come sometime, when you have quite forgiven me," and the
+adorable tenderness in her tone reawakened hope. After all, Archie was
+not looking forward to marriage. Jeffrey Andsdell had not even entered
+his mind.
+
+She went in, and threw aside her hat.
+
+"Did you have a nice walk? You came back soon."
+
+"No, I did not. Ned neither." She went and stood straight before her
+mother, pale, yet with a certain dignity.
+
+"You did not quarrel, I hope. Is it true he is charmed by Bessy?"
+
+"He asked me to love him. He wants to marry me;" in a tone that was
+almost a cry.
+
+"Well?" subjoined her mother. The young lieutenant was a favorite with
+her, worth any girl's acceptance, in her estimation.
+
+"I--I don't understand about love. To give away your whole life, years
+and years;" and she shivered.
+
+"But if you loved him, if you were glad to do it;" and the mother's
+tone was encouraging.
+
+"Ah. I think one ought to be glad. And I wasn't glad when he kissed
+me." Her face was scarlet now, her bosom heaving with indignation, her
+eyes full of protest.
+
+"He will make a nice husband. His father is devoted to his mother. He
+has learned what a true and tender love really is."
+
+"Mother, would you like me to marry?"
+
+She knelt down at her mother's knee.
+
+"Oh, my dear, not until you love some one;" and she kissed her fondly.
+
+"Do you think there was ever a girl who could not love in that way?"
+
+"I should be sorry for her; love is the sweetest thing in life, the
+best gift of the good Lord is a good husband."
+
+Autumn was coming on slowly. Housewives were making preparations for
+winter. Daffodil was cheery and helpful. Grandmere was not as well as
+usual. She said she was growing old. There was a great deal of outside
+business for the men. Pittsburg was a borough town, and its citizens
+were considering various industries. Every day almost, new things came
+to the fore, and now they were trying some experiments in making
+glass. The country round was rich in minerals. Boat-building required
+larger accommodations. The post road had been improved, straightened,
+the distance shortened. There were sundry alterations in looms, and
+homespun cloth was made of a better quality.
+
+Daffodil Carrick watched some of the lovers, who came under her
+notice. She met Lieutenant Langdale occasionally, and they were
+outwardly friends. They even danced together, but her very frankness
+and honesty kept up the barrier between them. He tried to make her
+jealous, but it never quickened a pulse within her.
+
+Yet in a curious way she was speculating on the master passion. There
+were not many books to distract her attention, but one day there came
+a package from her guardian that contained a few of the old rather
+stilted novels, and some volumes of poems by the older English poets,
+dainty little songs that her mother sung, and love verses to this one
+or that one, names as odd as hers. And how they seemed to love Daisies
+and Daffodils.
+
+She took them out with her on her walks, and read them aloud to the
+woods, and the birds, or sometimes sang them. Jeffrey Andsdell found a
+wood nymph one day and listened. He had met her twice since the
+evening at Mrs. Forbes'. And he wondered now whether he should
+surprise her or go his way.
+
+She rose presently, and by a sudden turn surprised him.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said. "I have been listening, enchanted. First
+I could not imagine whether it was some wandering fay or wood nymph
+wild."
+
+"Oh, do I look very wild?" with a most charming smile.
+
+"Why"--he colored a little--"perhaps the word may have more than one
+meaning. Oh, you look as if you were part of the forest, a sprite or
+fairy being."
+
+"Oh, do you believe in them? I sit here sometimes and call them up.
+There was an odd volume sent me awhile ago, a play by Shakespere,
+'Midsummer Night's Dream,' and it is full of those little mischievous
+elves and dainty darlings."
+
+"That is not it?" coming nearer and looking at her book.
+
+"Oh, it is verses by one Mr. Herrick. Some of them almost sing
+themselves, and I put tunes to them."
+
+"And sing to the woods and waters. You should have a more appreciative
+audience."
+
+"Oh, I couldn't sing to real people," and she flushed. "I wonder
+if"--and there came a far-away look in her eyes that passed him, and
+yet he saw it.
+
+"What is the wonder?"
+
+"That if you could write verses, songs."
+
+She asked it in all simplicity.
+
+"No, I couldn't;" in the frankest of tones.
+
+"One must know a good deal."
+
+"And be a genius beside."
+
+"What queer names they give the girls. Chloe, that isn't a bit pretty,
+and Phyllis, that is a slave name. And Lesbia, that isn't so bad."
+
+"I think I have found Daffodil among them. And that is beautiful."
+
+"Do you think so?" She could not tell why she was glad, but he saw it
+in her face, and what a sweet face it was! He wondered then how such a
+fascinating bit of sweetness and innocence could have kept its charm
+in this rather rough soil. Her frankness was fascinating.
+
+"Do you come here often?" he asked presently.
+
+"Oh, yes, in the summer."
+
+"That was when I first met you. I was with Mrs. Forbes. And her little
+tea was very nice and social. I've not seen you since. Don't you go to
+the Fort only on special invitation? There are quite a number of
+visitors. Strangers always come."
+
+"I am quite busy," she replied. "Grandmere has not been well, and I
+help mother. There is a great deal to do in the fall."
+
+Such a pretty housewifely look settled in her face. How lovely it was,
+with the purity of girlhood.
+
+The wind swayed the wooded expanse, and sent showers of scarlet and
+golden maple leaves down upon them. The hickory was a blaze of yellow,
+some oaks were turning coppery. Acorns fell now and then, squirrels
+ran about and disputed over them. He reached over and took her book,
+seating himself on the fallen log, and began reading to her. The sound
+of his voice and the melody of the poems took her into another land,
+the land of her fancy. If one could live in it always! The sun dropped
+down, and it seemed evening, though it was more the darkness of the
+woods.
+
+She rose. They walked down together, there was no third person, and he
+helped her with the gentlest touch over some hillocks made by the
+rain-washed roots of the trees. Then she slipped on some dead pine
+needles, and his arm was around her for several paces, and quietly
+withdrawn.
+
+Daffodil laughed and raised her face to his.
+
+"Once I slipped this way, it was over on the other path, where it is
+steeper, and slid down some distance, but caught a tree and saved
+myself, for there was a big rock I was afraid I should hit. And I was
+pretty well scratched. Now I catch the first thing handy. That rock is
+a splendid big thing. You ought to see it."
+
+"You must pilot me some day."
+
+They emerged into the light. The rivers were still gleaming with the
+sunset fire, but over eastward it was twilight gray.
+
+"Good-night;" as they reached her house. "I am glad I found you there
+in the woods. I have had a most enjoyable time."
+
+"Good-night," she said in return.
+
+A neighbor was sitting by the candle her mother had just lighted.
+
+"Dilly, you come over here and write these recipes. My eyes ain't what
+they used to be. And your mother does make some of that peppery sauce
+that my man thinks the best in Pittsburg. And that grape jam is hard
+to beat. Your fingers are young and spry, they hain't washed, and
+scrubbed, and kneaded bread, 'n' all that for forty year."
+
+Daffodil complied readily. Mrs. Carrick told the processes as well.
+
+"For there's so much in the doin'," said Mrs. Moss. "That's the real
+luck of it."
+
+Felix went down to the shipyard after school, and came home with his
+father. To go to New Orleans now was his great aim.
+
+"Grandad wants you to come over there," Mrs. Carrick said to her
+daughter.
+
+"Then I'll have to read my paper myself," Mr. Carrick complained.
+
+Grandad wanted her to go over some papers. They were all right, he
+knew, but two heads were better than one, if one was a pin's head.
+Then she must gossip awhile with Norah, while grandad leaned back in
+his chair and snored. Her father came for her, and she went to bed to
+the music of the dainty poems read in an impressive voice.
+
+And when she awoke in the morning there seemed a strange music surging
+in her ears, and in her heart, and she listened to it like one
+entranced. But she had gone past the days of fairy lore, she was no
+longer a little girl to build wonderful magic haunts, and people them.
+Yet what was it, this new anticipation of something to come that would
+exceed all that had gone before?
+
+It came on to rain at noon, a sort of sullen autumn storm, with not
+much wind at first, but it would gain power at nightfall. Daffodil and
+her mother were sewing on some clothes for the boy, women had learned
+to make almost everything. It took time, too. There were no magic
+sewing machines. Grandmere was spinning on the big wheel the other
+side of the room, running to and fro, and pulling out the wool into
+yarn.
+
+"Why so grave, child? Is it a thought of pity for the lieutenant?" and
+Mrs. Carrick gave a faint smile that would have invited confidence if
+there had been any to give. She could hardly relinquish the idea that
+her daughter might relent.
+
+"Oh, no. One can hardly fix the fleeting thoughts that wander idly
+through one's brain. The loneliness of the woods when the squirrels
+hide in their holes, and no bird voices make merry. And bits of verses
+and remembrance of half-forgotten things. Is any one's mind
+altogether set upon work? There are two lives going on within us."
+
+Barbe Carrick had never lived but the one life, except when her
+husband was with the army, and she was glad enough to lay down the
+other. Had it been wise for Daffodil to spend those months in
+Philadelphia? Yet she had accepted her old home cheerfully. And all
+unconsciously she had worked changes in it to her grandmother's
+delight. Now her father was prospering. They would be among the "best
+people" as time went on.
+
+The storm lasted three days. There had been some hours of wild fury in
+it, when the trees groaned and split, and the rivers lashed themselves
+into fury. Then it cleared up with a soft May air, and some things
+took a second growth. There was a sort of wild pear tree at the corner
+of the garden, and it budded.
+
+Daffodil did not take her accustomed walk up in the woods. Something
+held her back, but she would not allow to herself it was that.
+Instead, she took rides on Dolly in different directions. One day she
+went down to the shipyard with a message for her father. Mr. Andsdell
+stood talking with him. Her pulses suddenly quickened.
+
+"Well, you've started at the right end," Bernard Carrick was saying.
+"This place has a big future before it. If it was a good place for a
+fort, it's a splendid place for a town. Philadelphia can't hold a
+candle to it, if she did have more than a hundred years the start. Why
+they should have gone way up the Delaware River beats me. Yes, come up
+to the house, and we'll talk it over."
+
+Then they both turned to the young girl. There was a pleasurable light
+in Andsdell's eyes.
+
+Afterward he walked some distance beside her horse. The storm, the
+beautiful weather since, the busy aspect of the town, the nothings
+that are so convenient when it is best to leave some things in
+abeyance. Then he said adieu and turned to his own street, where he
+had lodgings.
+
+She went on with a curiously light heart. Her father had said, "Come
+up to the house," and she was glad she had not gone to the woods in
+the hope of meeting him.
+
+She slipped off Dolly and ran to the garden. "Oh, Norry, what are you
+doing?" she cried with a sound of anger in her voice. "My beautiful
+pear blossoms! I've been watching them every day."
+
+They lay on the ground. Norry even sprang up for the last one.
+
+"They're bad luck, child! Blossoms or fruit out of season is trouble
+without reason. I hadn't spied them before, or I wouldn't have let
+them come to light. That's as true as true can be. There, don't cry,
+child. I hope I haven't been too late."
+
+"Yes. I've heard the adage," said her mother. "Norry is
+superstitious."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE SWEETNESS OF LOVE
+
+
+"Still, I'm glad you inquired," Mrs. Forbes said to her husband. "And
+that there's nothing derogatory to the young man. He's likely now to
+settle down, and he will have a fine chance with Mr. Carrick, who
+certainly is taking fortune at the flood tide. And one can guess what
+will happen."
+
+"A woman generally guesses that. I hoped it would be Langdale. He is a
+fine fellow, and will make his mark," was the reply.
+
+"Daffodil isn't in love with military life. Most girls are;" laughing.
+"Why, I never had two thoughts about the matter. I must give them a
+little tea again."
+
+"Ask Jack Remsen and Peggy Ray, and make them happy, but leave out the
+lieutenant. Something surely happened between them."
+
+Andsdell came to the Carricks according to agreement. How cosy the
+place looked, with the great blaze of the logs in the fireplace, that
+shed a radiance around. He was formally presented to Mrs. Carrick and
+the Bradins. Daffodil and her mother sat in the far corner, with two
+candles burning on the light stand. The girl was knitting some fine
+thread stockings, with a new pattern of clocks, that Jane had sent her
+from Philadelphia. Felix had a cold, and had gone to bed immediately
+after supper, and they were all relieved at that.
+
+Jeffrey Andsdell had stated his case. He was tired of desultory
+wandering, and seven-and-twenty was high time to take up some life
+work. He was the fourth son of a titled family, with no especial
+longing for the army or the church, therefore he, like other young men
+without prospects, had emigrated. The heir to the title and estates,
+the elder brother, was married and had two sons, the next one was
+married also, but so far had only girls, and the entail was in the
+male line. The brother next older than Jeffrey had been a sort of
+imbecile, and died. But there was no chance of his succeeding, so he
+must make his own way. He had spent two years at Richmond and
+Williamsburg, then at Philadelphia. At Williamsburg he had taken quite
+a fancy to the stage, and achieved some success, but the company had
+disbanded. It was a rather precarious profession at best, though he
+had tried a little of it in London.
+
+The straightforward story tallied with Captain Forbes' information.
+True, there was one episode he had not dwelt upon, it would never come
+up in this new life. How he had been crazy enough to take such a step
+he could not now imagine. But it was over, and done with, and
+henceforward life should be an honorable success.
+
+Daffodil listened between counting her stitches. She stole shy glances
+now and then, he sat so the firelight threw up his face in strong
+relief. The brown hair had a little tumbled look, the remnant of some
+boyish curls. The features were good, rather of the aquiline order,
+the eyes well opened, of a sort of nondescript hazel, the brown beard
+worn in the pointed style, with a very narrow moustache, for the upper
+lip was short and the smiling aspect not quite hidden.
+
+When he rose to go the ladies rose also. He shook hands, and held
+Daffodil's a moment with a pressure that brought a faint color to her
+soft cheek.
+
+"He is very much of a gentleman," commented Mrs. Bradin. "And, taking
+up a steady occupation is greatly to his credit. Though it seems as if
+a soldier's life would have been more to his taste."
+
+"I am glad he did not fight against us," said Barbe.
+
+"Some have, and have repented," added her husband, with a touch of
+humor in his tone. "And we are large-minded enough to forgive them."
+
+Daffodil did not see him until she went over to the Fort. Langdale
+dropped in to see her, but there was no cordial invitation to remain.
+He knew later on that Andsdell was there, and in his heart he felt it
+was not Archie who would be his strongest rival. If there was
+something that could be unearthed against the Englishman!
+
+The Remsens, mother and son, were very agreeable people, quite
+singers, but there was no piano for accompaniment, though there were
+flutes and violins at the Fort. Andsdell, after some pressing, sang
+also, and his voice showed training. Then he repeated a scene from
+"The Tempest" that enchanted his hearers. Daffodil was curiously proud
+of him.
+
+"You did not haunt the woods much," he began on the way home. "I
+looked for you."
+
+"Did you?" Her heart beat with delicious pleasure. "But I did not
+promise to come."
+
+"No. But I looked all the same, day after day. What were you so busy
+about?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. I thought--that perhaps it wasn't quite--right;"
+hesitatingly.
+
+"It will be right now." He pressed the arm closer that had been
+slipped in his. Then they were silent, but both understood. There was
+something so sweet and true about her, so delicate, yet wise, that
+needed no blurting out of any fact, for both to take it into their
+lives.
+
+"And who was there to-night?" asked her mother, with a little fear.
+For Mrs. Forbes would hardly know how matters stood between her and
+Lieutenant Langdale.
+
+"The Remsens only. And they sing beautifully together. Oh, it was
+really charming. Mrs. Remsen asked me to visit her. It's odd, mother,
+but do you know my friends have mostly fallen out! So many of the
+girls have married, and I seem older than the others. Does a year or
+two change one so? I sometimes wonder if I was the eager little girl
+who went to Philadelphia, and to whom everything was a delight."
+
+"You are no longer a little girl."
+
+"And at the nutting the other day, I went to please Felix, you know.
+But the boys seemed so rough. And though I climbed a tree when they
+all insisted, I--I was ashamed;" and her face was scarlet.
+
+Yes, the Little Girl was gone forever.
+
+Her mother kissed her, and she felt now that her child would need no
+one to tell her what love was like. For it took root in one's heart,
+and sprang up to its hallowed blooming.
+
+It was too soon for confidences. Dilly did not know that she had any
+that could be put into words. Only the world looked beautiful and
+bright, as if it was spring, instead of winter.
+
+"You've changed again," Felix said observantly. "You're very sweet,
+Dilly. Maybe as girls grow older they grow sweeter. I shan't mind your
+being an old maid if you stay like this. Dilly, didn't you ever have a
+beau? It seems to me no one has come----"
+
+"Oh, you silly child!" She laughed and blushed.
+
+There were sleighing parties and dances. It is odd that in some
+communities a girl is so soon dropped out. The dancing parties, rather
+rough frolics they were, took in the girls from twelve to sixteen, and
+each one strove boldly for a beau. She was not going to be left behind
+in the running. But Daffodil Carrick was already left behind, they
+thought, though she was asked to the big houses, and the dinners, and
+teas at the Fort.
+
+Andsdell dropped in now and then ostensibly to consult Mr. Carrick.
+Then he was invited to tea on Sunday night, and to dinner at the
+holidays, when he summoned courage to ask Bernard Carrick for his
+daughter.
+
+For he had begun a new life truly. The past was buried, and never
+would be exhumed. And why should a man's whole life be blighted by a
+moment of folly!
+
+They grew brave enough to look at one another in the glowing
+firelight, even if the family were about. One evening she stepped out
+in the moonlight with him. There was a soft snow on the ground, and
+some of the branches were yet jewelled with it. Half the lovers in the
+town would have caught a handful of it and rubbed crimson roses on her
+cheeks. He said, "Daffodil," and drew her closely in his arms, kissed
+the lips that throbbed with bashful joy and tremulous sweetness.
+
+"Dear, I love you. And you--you are mine."
+
+There was a long delicious breath. The story of love is easily told
+when both understand the divine language.
+
+She came in glowing, with eyes like stars, and went straight to her
+mother, who was sitting alone. Both of the men had gone to some
+borough business. She kissed her joyous secret into the waiting heart.
+
+"You love him. You know now what love is? That is the way I loved your
+father."
+
+"It is wonderful, isn't it? You grow into it, hardly knowing, and then
+it is told without words, though the words come afterward. Oh, did you
+think----"
+
+"Foolish child, we all saw. He carried the story in his eyes. Your
+father knew. He has been very honest and upright. Oh, my dear, I am so
+glad for you. Marriage is the crown of womanhood."
+
+Her mother drew her down in her lap. Daffodil's arms were around her
+neck, and they were heart to heart, a happy mother and a happy child.
+
+"You will not mind if I go to bed? I--I want to be alone."
+
+"No, dear. Happy dreams, whether you wake or sleep."
+
+She lay in a delicious tremor. There was a radiant light all about
+her, though the room was dark. This was what it was to be loved and to
+love, and she could not tell which was best.
+
+Then at home he was her acknowledged lover. He came on Wednesday night
+and Sunday to tea. But Norry soon found it out, and was glad for her.
+Grandad teased her a little.
+
+"And you needn't think I'm going to leave you any fortune," he said,
+almost grumblingly. "The blamed whiskey tax is eating it up every
+year, and the little left will go to Felix. You have all that land
+over there that you don't need more than a dog needs two tails. Well,
+I think there are times when a dog would be glad to wag both, if he
+had 'em. That will be enough for you and your children. But I'll dance
+at the wedding."
+
+Barbe Carrick looked over the chest of treasures that she had been
+adding to year after year. There was _her_ wedding gown, and it had
+been her mother's before her. The lace was exquisite, and no one could
+do such needlework nowadays. What if it had grown creamy by age, that
+only enhanced it.
+
+Here were the other things she had accumulated, sometimes with a pang
+lest they should not be needed. Laid away in rose leaves and lavender
+blooms. Oh, how daintily sweet they were, but not sweeter than the
+girl who was to have them. And here were some jewels that had been
+great-grandmother Duvernay's. She would have no mean outfit to hand
+down again to posterity.
+
+Barbe was doubly glad that she would live here. She could not bear
+the thought of her going away, and a soldier's wife was never quite
+sure where he might be called, or into what danger. There would be a
+nice home not very far away, there would be sweet, dainty
+grandchildren. It was worth waiting for.
+
+Jeffrey Andsdell was minded not to wait very long. Love was growing by
+what it fed upon, but he wanted the feast daily. They could stay at
+home until their new house was built.
+
+"We ought to go over across the river," she said, "and be pioneers in
+the wilderness. And, oh, there is one thing that perhaps you won't
+like. Whoever married me was to take the name of Duvernay, go back to
+the French line."
+
+"Why, yes, I like that immensely." That would sever the last link. He
+would be free of all the old life.
+
+"It isn't as pretty as yours."
+
+"Oh, do you think so? Now, I am of the other opinion;" laughing into
+her lovely eyes.
+
+She grew sweeter day by day, even her mother could see that. Yes, love
+was the atmosphere in which a woman throve.
+
+Barbe settled the wedding time. "When the Daffodils are in bloom," she
+said, and the lover agreed.
+
+Archie Langdale wrote her a brotherly letter, but said, "If you could
+put it off until my vacation. I'm coming back to take another year,
+there have been so many new discoveries, and I want to get to the very
+top. Dilly--that was the child's name, I used to have a little dream
+about you. You know I was a dull sort of fellow, always stuffing my
+head with books, and you were sweet and never flouted me. I loved you
+very much. I thought you would marry Ned, and then you would be my
+sister, you could understand things that other girls didn't. I am
+quite sure he loved you, too. But your happiness is the first thing to
+be considered, and I hope you will be very happy."
+
+The engagement was suspected before it was really admitted. There were
+various comments, of course. Daffodil Carrick had been waiting for
+something fine, and she could afford to marry a poor man with her
+possible fortune, and her father's prosperity. And some day a girl
+would be in luck to get young Sandy Carrick.
+
+Lieutenant Langdale took it pretty hard. He had somehow hoped against
+hope, for he believed the Carricks would refuse a man who had come a
+stranger in the place. If he could call him out and shoot him down in
+a duel! He shut himself up in his room, and drank madly for two days
+before he came to his senses.
+
+March came in like the lion and then dropped down with radiant suns
+that set all nature aglow. There were freshets, but they did little
+damage. Trees budded and birds came and built in the branches. Bees
+flew out in the sunshine, squirrels chattered, and the whole world was
+gay and glad.
+
+One day the lovers went up the winding path to the old hill-top, where
+Jeffrey insisted he had first lost his heart to her. They sat on the
+same tree trunk, and he said verses to her, but instead of Clorinda it
+was Daffodil. And they talked sweet nonsense, such as never goes out
+of date between lovers. And when they came down they looked at the
+daffodil bed. The buds had swollen, some were showing yellow.
+
+"Why, it can be next week!" cried the lover joyously.
+
+"Yes," said the mother, with limpid eyes, remembering when the child
+was born.
+
+There was not much to make ready. The cake had been laid away to
+season, so that it would cut nicely. There was a pretty new church
+now, and the marriage would be solemnized there, with a wedding feast
+at home, and then a round of parties for several evenings at different
+houses. The Trents had just finished their house, which was considered
+quite a mansion, and the carpets had come from France. They would give
+the first entertainment.
+
+She had written to her guardian, who sent her a kindly letter, wishing
+her all happiness. The winter had been a rather hard one for him, for
+an old enemy that had been held in abeyance for several years,
+rheumatism, had returned, and though it was routed now, it had left
+him rather enfeebled, otherwise he would have taken the journey to see
+his ward, the little girl grown up, whose visit he had enjoyed so
+much, and whom he hoped to welcome in his home some time again.
+
+And with it came a beautiful watch and chain. Presents were not much
+in vogue in those days, and their rarity made them all the more
+precious.
+
+They dressed the house with daffodils, but the bride-to-be was all in
+white, the veil the great-grandmother had worn in Paris, fastened with
+a diamond circlet just as she had had it.
+
+"Oh!" Daffodil exclaimed, "if great-grandfather could see me!"
+
+Jeffrey Andsdell took her in his arms and kissed her. This was,
+indeed, a true marriage, and could there ever be a sweeter bride?
+
+She was smiling and happy, for every one was pleased, so why should
+she not be! She even forgot the young man pacing about the Fort
+wishing--ah, what could he wish except that he was in Andsdell's
+place? For surely he was not mean enough to grudge _her_ any
+happiness.
+
+She walked up the church aisle on her lover's arm and next came her
+parents. Once Andsdell's lips compressed themselves, and a strange
+pallor and shudder came over him.
+
+Her father gave her away. The clergyman pronounced them man and wife.
+Then friends thronged around. They were privileged to kiss the bride
+in those days.
+
+"My wife," was what Jeffrey Andsdell said in a breathless, quivering
+tone.
+
+They could not rush out in modern fashion. She cast her smiles on
+every side, she was so happy and light-hearted.
+
+They reached the porch just as a coach drove up at furious speed. A
+woman sprang out, a tall, imperious-looking person, dressed in grand
+style. Her cheeks were painted, her black eyes snapped defiance. One
+and another fell back and stared as she cried in an imperious tone,
+looking fiercely at the bride, "Am I too late? Have you married him?
+But you cannot be his wife. I am his lawful, legal wife, and the
+mother of his son, who is the future heir of Hurst Abbey. I have come
+from England to claim him. His father, the Earl of Wrexham, sends for
+him, to have him restored to his ancestral home."
+
+She had uttered this almost in a breath. Daffodil, with the utmost
+incredulity, turned to her husband and smiled, but the lines almost
+froze in her face. For his was deadly white and his eyes were fixed on
+the woman with absolute terror.
+
+"It is God's own truth," she continued. "I have your father's letter,
+and you will hardly disown his signature. Your son is at Hurst
+Abbey----"
+
+"Woman!" he thundered, "it is a base trumped-up lie! There are four
+lives between me and the succession, and there may be more."
+
+"There _were_, but last autumn they were all swept suddenly out of
+existence. The Earl was crazed with grief. I went to him and took his
+grandson, a beautiful child, that would appeal to any heart. And at
+his desire I have come to America for you."
+
+Jeffrey Andsdell placed his wife in her father's arms. "Take her
+home," he said hoarsely, "I will follow and disprove this wild,
+baseless tale."
+
+Then he pressed her to his heart. "Whatever happens, you are the only
+woman I have ever loved, remember that;" and taking the woman's arm,
+entered her coach with her.
+
+The small group dispersed without a word. What could be said! There
+was consternation on all faces. Bernard Carrick took his daughter
+home. Once her mother kissed the pallid cheek, and essayed some word
+of comfort.
+
+"Oh, don't!" she cried piteously. "Let me be still. I must wait and
+bear it until----"
+
+She did not cry or faint, but seemed turning to stone. And when they
+reached the house she went straight through the room where the feast
+was spread, to her own, and threw herself on the bed.
+
+"Oh, acushla darlin'," cried Norah, "sure we had the warning when the
+pear tree bloomed. I said it was trouble without reason, and though I
+broke them all off it couldn't save you."
+
+"Oh, my darlin', God help us all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+SORROW'S CROWN OF SORROW
+
+
+"Whatever happens!" The words rang through Daffodil's brain like a
+knell. There was something to happen. She had been so happy, so
+serenely, so trustingly happy. For her youthful inexperience had not
+taught her doubt. The cup of love had been held to her lips and she
+had drank the divine draught fearlessly, with no thought of bitter
+dregs at the bottom.
+
+Grandmere came and unpinned the veil; it was too fine and precious an
+article to be tumbled about.
+
+"Let the rest be," she said. "He is coming and I want to be as I was
+then."
+
+Then they left her lying there on the bed, the gold of her young life
+turning slowly to dross. Some curious prescience told her how it would
+be.
+
+She heard the low voices in the other room. There was crying too. That
+was her mother. Felix asked questions and was hushed. Was it hours or
+half a lifetime! All in her brain was chaos, the chaos of belief
+striving with disbelief that was somehow illumined but not with hope.
+
+He came at last. She heard his step striding through the room and no
+one seemed to speak to him. He came straight to her, knelt at the
+bed's side, and took her cold hands in his that were at fever heat.
+
+"My poor darling!" he said brokenly. "I should not have learned to
+love you so well, I should not have asked for your love. But in this
+new country and beginning a new life it seemed as if I might bury the
+old past. And you were the centre, the star of the new. Perhaps if I
+had told you the story----"
+
+"Tell it now," she made answer, but it did not sound like her voice.
+She made no effort to release her hands though his seemed to scorch
+them.
+
+"You can hardly understand that old life in London. There is nothing
+like it here. I was with a lot of gay companions, and all we thought
+of was amusement. I had a gift for acting and was persuaded to take
+part in a play. It was a success. I was flattered and fêted. Women
+made much of me. I was only a boy after all. And the leading lady,
+some seven years my senior, fascinated me by her attention and her
+flatteries. It did turn my head. I was her devoted admirer, yet it was
+not the sort of love that a man knows later on. How it came about, why
+she should have done such a thing I cannot divine even now, for at
+that time I was only a poor, younger son, loaded with debts, though
+most of my compeers were in the same case. But she married me with
+really nothing to gain. She kept to the stage. I was tired of it and
+gave it up, which led to our first dissension. She fancied she saw in
+me some of the qualities that might make a name. And then--she was
+angry about the child. We bickered continually. She was very fond of
+admiration and men went down to her. After a little I ceased to be
+jealous. I suppose it was because I ceased to care and could only
+think of the wretched blunder I had made and how I could undo it. We
+had kept the marriage a secret except from her aunt and a few friends.
+She would have it so. The child was put out to nurse and the company
+was going to try their fortunes elsewhere. I would not go with her. In
+a certain way I had been useful to her and we had a little scene. I
+went to my father and asked him for money enough to take me to
+America, where I could cut loose from old associates and begin a new
+life. He did more. He paid my debts, but told me that henceforward I
+must look out for myself as this was the last he should do for me."
+
+"And now he asks you to return?" There was a certainty in her voice
+and she was as unemotional as if they were talking of some one else.
+
+"It is true that now I am his only living son. Late last autumn Lord
+Veron, his wife and two sons, with my next brother, Archibald, were
+out for an afternoon's pleasure in a sailboat when there came up an
+awful blow and a sudden dash of rain. They were about in the middle of
+the lake. The wind twisted them around, the mast snapped, they found
+afterward that it was not seaworthy. There was no help at hand. They
+battled for awhile, then the boat turned over. Lady Veron never rose,
+the others swam for some time, but Archibald was the only one who came
+in to shore and he was so spent that he died two days later. I wonder
+the awful blow did not kill poor father. He was ill for a long while.
+My wife went to him then and took the child and had sufficient proof
+to establish the fact of the marriage, and her aunt had always been a
+foster mother to the boy. There must be some curious fascination about
+her, though I do not wonder father felt drawn to his only remaining
+son. Archibald's two children are girls and so are not in the entail.
+Hurst Abbey would go to some distant cousins. And she offered to come
+to America and find me. She has succeeded," he ended bitterly.
+
+There was a long pause. He raised his head, but her face was turned
+away. Did she really care for him? She was taking it all so calmly.
+
+"You will go," she said presently.
+
+"Oh, how can I leave you? For now I know what real love is like. And
+this is a new country. I have begun a new life, Daffodil----"
+
+"But I cannot be your wife, you see that. Would you give up your
+father's love, the position awaiting you for a tie that could never be
+sanctified? You must return."
+
+"There is my son, you know. I shall not matter so much to them. It
+shall be as you say, my darling. And we need not stay here. It is a
+big and prospering country and I know now that I can make my way----"
+
+It was not the tone of ardent desire. How she could tell she did not
+know, but the words dropped on her heart like a knell. Apart from the
+sacrifice he seemed ready to make for her there was the cruel fact
+that would mar her whole life, and an intangible knowledge that he
+would regret it.
+
+"You must go." Her voice was firm.
+
+Did she love so deeply? He expected passionate upbraiding and then
+despairing love, clinging tenderness. One moment he was wild to have
+the frank, innocent sweetness of their courtship; he was minded to
+take her in his arms and press bewildering kisses on the sweet mouth,
+the fair brow, the delicately tinted cheek, as if he could not give
+her up. Then Hurst Abbey rose before him, his father bowed with the
+weight of sorrow ready to welcome him, the fine position he could
+fill, and after all would the wife be such a drawback? There were many
+marriages without overwhelming love. If his father accepted her--and
+from his letter he seemed to unreservedly.
+
+He rose from his kneeling posture and leaned over her. She looked in
+her quaint wedding dress and marble paleness as if it was death rather
+than life.
+
+"You can never forgive me." His voice was broken with emotion, though
+he did not realize all the havoc he had made. "But I shall dream of
+you and go on loving----"
+
+"No! no!" raising her hand. "We must both forget. You have other
+duties and I must rouse myself and overlive the vision of a life that
+would have been complete, perhaps too exquisite for daily wear. It may
+all be a dream, a youthful fancy. Others have had it vanish after
+marriage. Now, go."
+
+He bent over to kiss her. She put up her hand.
+
+Was it really more anger than love?
+
+"I wish you all success for your poor father's sake." She was going to
+add--"And try to love your wife," but her whole soul protested.
+
+He went slowly out of the room. She did not turn or make the slightest
+motion. She heard the low sound of voices in the other room, his among
+them, and then all was silence. He had gone away out of her life.
+
+Her mother entered quietly, came near, and took her in her arms.
+
+"Oh, my darling, how could the good All Father, who cares for his
+children, let such a cruel thing happen? If that woman had come a
+month ago! And he fancied being here, marrying, never to go back, made
+him in a sense free. But he should not have hidden the fact. I can
+never forgive him. Yet one feels sorry as well that he should have
+misspent so much of his life."
+
+"Help me take off my gown, mother. No one must ever wear it again. And
+we will try not to talk it over, but put it out of our minds. I am
+very tired. You won't mind if I lie here and see no one except you who
+are so dear to me."
+
+It was too soon for any comfort, that the mother felt as she moved
+about with lightest tread. Then she kissed her and left her to her
+sorrow.
+
+Mr. Carrick had been very much incensed and blamed the suitor
+severely. Andsdell had taken it with such real concern and regret and
+apparent heart-break that the father felt some lenity might be allowed
+in thought, at least.
+
+Grandad was very bitter and thought condign punishment should overtake
+him.
+
+"And instead," said warm-hearted Norah indignantly, "he turns into a
+great lord and has everything to his hand. I could wish his wife was
+ten times worse and I hope she'll lead him such a life that he'll
+never see a happy day nor hour, the mean, despicable wretch."
+
+In the night tears came to Daffodil's relief, yet she felt the
+exposure had come none too soon. With her sorrow there was a sense of
+deception to counteract it. He had not been honest in spite of
+apparent frankness, and it hurt her to think he had accepted her
+verdict so readily. Hard as it would have been to combat his
+protestations in her moment of longing and despair, any woman would
+rather have remembered them afterward.
+
+Daffodil kept her bed for several days. She felt weak and distraught.
+Yet she had her own consciousness of rectitude. She had not been so
+easily won, and she had been firm and upright at the last. There was
+no weak kiss of longing to remember. The one he had given her in the
+church could be recalled without shame. For a few moments she had been
+in a trance of happiness as his wife. And putting him away she must
+also bury out of sight all that had gone before.
+
+She took her olden place in the household, she went to church after a
+week or two and began to see friends again, who all seemed to stand in
+a little awe of her. The weather was lovely. She was out in the garden
+with her mother. She rode about with her father. But she felt as if
+years had passed over her and she was no longer the lightsome girl.
+
+It made her smile too, to think how everything else was changing. The
+old log houses were disappearing. Alleyways were transformed into
+streets and quite noteworthy residences were going up. General O'Hara
+and Mayor Craig enlarged their glass house and improved the quality of
+glass. She remembered when her father had tacked some fine cloth over
+the window-casing and oiled it to give it a sort of transparency so
+that they could have a little light until it was cold enough to shut
+the wooden shutters all the time, for glass was so dear it could not
+be put in all the windows. Not that it was cheap now, the processes
+were cumbersome and slow, but most of the material was at hand.
+
+Mrs. Forbes was a warm and trusty friend through this time of sorrow.
+She would not let Daffodil blame herself.
+
+"We all liked Mr. Andsdell very much, I am sure. I can count up half a
+dozen girls who were eager enough to meet him and who were sending him
+invitations. He really was superior to most of our young men in the
+way of education and manners. And, my dear, I rather picked him out
+for you, and when I saw he was attracted I made the captain write to a
+friend of his at Williamsburg and learn if there was anything serious
+against him, and everything came back in his favor. Of course none of
+us suspected a marriage. He talked frankly about his family when there
+was need, but not in any boastful way. And this is not as disgraceful
+as some young men who have really had to leave their country for their
+country's good. But, my dear, if it had not been for this horrid
+marriage you would have gone off in style and been my lady."
+
+"But maybe none of it would have happened then;" with a rather wan
+smile.
+
+"True enough! But you're not going to settle down in sober ways and
+wear hodden gray. And it's not as if you had been jilted by some gay
+gallant who had married another girl before your eyes as Christy
+Speers' lover did. And she found a much better man without any long
+waiting, for Everlom has never succeeded in anything and now he has
+taken to drink. Don't you suppose Christy is glad she missed her
+chance with him!"
+
+"It won't be that way, though. I think now he will make a fine man and
+we shall hear nothing disgraceful about him, if we ever hear at all,
+which I pray may never come to pass. For I want to put it out of my
+mind like a story I have read with a bad ending."
+
+"You are a brave girl, Daffodil."
+
+"I don't know why I should be really unhappy. I have so many to love
+me. And it doesn't matter if I should never marry."
+
+Mrs. Forbes laughed at that, but made no reply. Here was the young
+lieutenant, who was taking heart of grace again, though he did not
+push himself forward.
+
+On the whole it was not an unhappy summer for Daffodil. She found a
+great interest in helping Felix though he was not a booky boy. Always
+his mind seemed running on some kind of machinery, something that
+would save time and labor.
+
+"Now, if you were to do so," he would say to his father, "you see it
+would bring about this result and save a good deal of time. Why
+doesn't some one see----"
+
+"You get through with your books and try it yourself. There's plenty
+of space in the world for real improvements."
+
+Daffodil went up to the old trysting place one day. How still and
+lonesome it seemed. Had the squirrels forgotten her? They no longer
+ran up her arm and peered into her eyes. He was at Hurst Abbey and
+that arrogant, imperious woman was queening it as my lady. Was all
+this satisfying him?
+
+It was the right thing to do even if his motives were not of the
+highest. To comfort his father in the deep sorrow, and there was his
+little son.
+
+"No," she said to herself, "I should not want to come here often. The
+old remembrances had better die out."
+
+She had written to her guardian explaining the broken marriage, and he
+wondered a little at the high courage with which she had accepted all
+the events. He had sent her a most kindly answer. And now came another
+letter from him.
+
+There had been inquiries about leasing some property at Allegheny.
+Also there were several improvements to be made in view of
+establishing a future city. His health would not admit of the journey
+and the necessary going about, so he had decided to send his partner,
+Mr. Bartram, whom she must remember, and whom he could trust to study
+the interests of his ward. And what he wanted to ask now was another
+visit from her, though he was well aware she was no longer the little
+girl he had known and whose brightness he had enjoyed so much. He was
+not exactly an invalid, but now he had to be careful in the winter and
+stay in the house a good deal. Sometimes the days were long and
+lonesome and he wondered if out of the goodness of her heart she could
+spare him a few months and if her parents would spare her.
+Philadelphia had improved greatly and was now the Capitol of the
+country, though it was still staid and had not lost all of its old
+nice formality. Couldn't she take pity on him and come and read to
+him, talk over books and happenings, drive out now and then and be
+like a granddaughter as she was to his friend Duvernay?
+
+"Oh, mother, read it," and she laid the letter in her mother's lap.
+Did she want to go? She had been so undecided before.
+
+Bernard Carrick had received a letter also. Mr. Bartram was to start
+in a short time, as it seemed necessary that some one should look
+after Daffodil's estate and he wished to make her father co-trustee if
+at any time he should be disabled, or pass out of life. He could
+depend upon the uprightness and good judgment of Mr. Bartram in every
+respect. And he put in a very earnest plea for the loan of his
+daughter awhile in the winter.
+
+"Oh, I should let her go by all means," declared Mrs. Forbes. "You see
+that unlucky marriage service has put her rather out of gear with
+gayeties and when she comes back she will be something fresh and they
+will all be eager to have her and hear about the President and Lady
+Washington. And it will cheer her up immensely. She must not grow old
+too fast."
+
+Daffodil went to tea at Mrs. Ramsen's and there was to be a card party
+with some of the young men from the Fort. Mrs. Forbes and the captain
+were at tea and the Major's wife. They talked over the great rush of
+everything, the treasures that were turning up from the earth, the
+boats going to and fro. Booms had not come in as a word applicable to
+this ferment, but certainly Pittsburg had a boom and her people would
+have been struck dumb if the vision of fifty or a hundred years had
+been unrolled. Lieutenant Langdale came in to the card playing. They
+really were very merry, and he thought Daffodil was not so much
+changed after all, nor heartbroken. He was very glad. And then he
+asked and was granted permission to see her home. He wanted to say
+something sympathetic and friendly without seeming officious, yet he
+did not know how to begin. They talked of his mother, of Archie and
+how well he was doing.
+
+"And at times I wish I had not enlisted," he remarked in a rather
+dissatisfied tone. "Not that the feeling of heroism has died out--it
+is a grand thing to know you stand ready at any call for your
+country's defence, but now we are dropping into humdrum ways except
+for the Indian skirmishes. And it gets monotonous. Then there's no
+chance of making money. I didn't think much of that, it seemed to me
+rather ignoble, but now when I see some of those stupid fellows
+turning their money over and over,--and there's that Joe Sanders; do
+you remember the wedding feast and his going off to Cincinnati with
+his new wife, who was a very ordinary girl?" and Ned gave an almost
+bitter laugh. "Now he owns his boat and is captain of it and trades
+all the way to New Orleans."
+
+"Oh, yes." She gave a soft little laugh as the vision rose before her.
+
+"I remember how sweet you looked that night. And I had to be dancing
+attendance on her sister. How many changes there have been."
+
+"Yes; I suppose that is life. The older people say so. Otherwise
+existence would be monotonous as you said. But you did admire military
+life."
+
+"Well, I like it still, only there seem so few chances of
+advancement."
+
+"But you wouldn't want real war?"
+
+"I'd like an opportunity to do something worth while, or else go back
+to business."
+
+If she had expressed a little enthusiasm about that he would have
+taken it as an interest in his future, but she said--
+
+"You have a very warm friend in Captain Forbes."
+
+"Oh, yes;" rather languidly.
+
+Then they talked of the improvements her father had made in the house.
+There had been two rooms added before the wedding. And the trees had
+grown so, the garden was bright with flowering shrubs.
+
+"I wonder if I might drop in and see you occasionally," he said rather
+awkwardly, as they paused at the gate. "We used to be such friends."
+
+"Why, yes;" with girlish frankness. "Father takes a warm interest in
+you two boys."
+
+Her mother sat knitting. Barbe Carrick hated to be idle. Her father
+was dozing in his chair.
+
+"Did you have a nice time, little one?"
+
+"Oh, yes. But I am not an enthusiastic card player. I like the bright
+bits of talk and that leads to carelessness;" laughing. "Mrs. Remsen
+is charming."
+
+Then she kissed them both and went her way.
+
+"She is getting over her sorrow," admitted her father. "Still I think
+a change will be good for her, only we shall miss her very much."
+
+"She has been a brave girl. But it was the thought of his insincerity,
+his holding back the fact that would have rendered him only the merest
+acquaintance. She has the old French love of honor and truth."
+
+"And the Scotch are not far behind."
+
+Lieutenant Langdale tried his luck one evening. Mr. Carrick welcomed
+him cordially, and Felix was very insistent that he should share the
+conversation. He wanted to know about the Fort and old Fort Duquesne,
+and why the French were driven out. Didn't they have as good right as
+any other nation to settle in America? And hadn't France been a
+splendid friend to us? And why should the French and English be
+continually at war?
+
+"It would take a whole history to answer you and that hasn't been
+written yet," subjoined his father.
+
+Ned had stolen glances at the fair girl, who was sitting under
+grandmother Bradin's wing, knitting a purse that was beaded, and she
+had to look down frequently to count the beads. Yes, she had grown
+prettier. There was a fine sweetness in her face that gave poise to
+her character. Had she really loved that detestable Englishman?
+
+They made ready for Mr. Bartram. Not but what there were tolerable
+inns now, but taking him in as a friend seemed so much more
+hospitable. Daffodil wondered a little. He had not made much of an
+impression on her as a girl. Sometimes he had fallen into good-natured
+teasing ways, at others barely noticed her. Of course she was such a
+child. And when the talk that had alarmed her so much and inflamed her
+childish temper recurred to her she laughed with a sense of wholesome
+amusement. She knew now a man must have some preference. The old
+French people betrothed their children without a demur on their part,
+but here each one had a right to his or her own most sacred feelings.
+
+Mr. Bartram was nearing thirty at this period. Daffodil felt that she
+really had forgotten how he looked. He had grown stouter and now had a
+firm, compact figure, a fine dignified face that was gentle and kindly
+as well, and the sort of manliness that would lead one to depend upon
+him whether in an emergency or not.
+
+Her father brought him home and they all gave him a cordial welcome
+for M. de Ronville's sake first, and then for his own. He had the
+refined and easy adaptiveness that marked the true gentleman.
+
+They talked of the journey. So many improvements had been made and
+towns had sprung up along the route that afforded comfortable
+accommodations. Harrisburg had grown to be a thriving town and was the
+seat of government. He had spent two very entertaining days within its
+borders.
+
+"Yes, M. de Ronville was in failing health, but his mind was clear and
+bright and had gone back to the delights and entertainments of his
+early youth. He had a fine library which was to go largely to that
+started in the city for the general public. He kept a great deal of
+interest in and ambition for the city that had been a real home.
+Through the summer he took many outside pleasures, but now the
+winters confined him largely to the house.
+
+"I do what I can in the way of entertainment, but now that I have all
+the business matters to attend to, I can only devote evenings to him
+and not always those, but friends drop in frequently. He has been like
+a father to me and I ought to pay him a son's devotion and regard,
+which it is not only my duty, but my pleasure as well. But he has a
+warm remembrance of the little girl he found so entertaining."
+
+"Was I entertaining?" Daffodil glanced at him with a charming laugh.
+"Everybody, it seems, was devoted to me, and my pleasure was being
+consulted all the time. Mrs. Jarvis was so good and kindly. And Jane!
+Why, it appears now as if I must have been a spoiled child, and
+spoiled children I have heard are disagreeable."
+
+"I do not recall anything of that. And Jane is married to a
+sober-going Quaker and wears gray with great complacency, but she
+stumbles over the thees and thous. Our new maid is very nice,
+however."
+
+"Oh, that is funny. And Jane was so fond of gay attire and bows in my
+hair and shoulder knots and buckles on slippers. Why, it is all like a
+happy dream, a fairy story," and her eyes shone as she recalled her
+visit.
+
+They still kept to the old living room, but now there was an outside
+kitchen for cooking. And some logs were piled up in the wide
+fire-place to be handy for the first cold evening.
+
+"M. de Ronville talked about an old chair that came from France," Mr.
+Bartram said as he rose from the table. "His old friend used to sit in
+it----"
+
+"It's this," and Daffodil placed her hand on the high back. "Won't you
+take it? Yes, great-grandfather used it always and after he was gone I
+used to creep up in it and shut my eyes and talk to him. What curious
+things you can see with eyes shut! And I often sat here on the arm
+while he taught me French."
+
+"I suppose it is sacred now?" He looked at it rather wistfully.
+
+"Oh, you may try it," with her gay smile. "Father has quite fallen
+heir to it. Grandfather Bradin insists it is too big for him."
+
+"I'm always wanting a chair by the light stand so that I can see to
+read or make fish-nets," said that grandfather.
+
+The room was put in order presently and the ladies brought out their
+work. Daffodil saw with a smile how comfortably the guest adapted
+himself to the old chair while her father talked to him about the town
+and its prospects, and Allegheny across the river that was coming
+rapidly to the attention of business men. What a picture it made,
+Aldis Bartram thought, and, the pretty golden-haired girl glancing up
+now and then with smiling eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+ANOTHER FLITTING
+
+
+Mr. Carrick convoyed his guest around Pittsburg the next day, through
+the Fort and the historical point of Braddock's defeat, that still
+rankled in men's minds. A survey of the three rivers that would always
+make it commercially attractive, and the land over opposite. Then they
+looked up the parties who were quite impatient for the lease which was
+to comprise a tract of the water front. And by that time it was too
+late to go over.
+
+"Well, you certainly have a fair prospect. And the iron mines are
+enough to make the fortune of a town. But the other is a fine
+patrimony for a girl."
+
+"There was no boy then," said Bernard Carrick. "And she was the idol
+of great-grandfather. She does not come in possession of it until she
+is twenty-five and that is quite a long while yet."
+
+They discussed it during the evening and the next day went over the
+river with a surveyor, and Bartram was astonished at its
+possibilities. There were many points to be considered for a ten
+years' lease, which was the utmost M. de Ronville would consent to.
+
+Meanwhile Aldis Bartram became very much interested in the family
+life, which was extremely simple without being coarse or common. Yet
+it had changed somewhat since M. de Ronville's visit.
+
+"And enlarged its borders," explained Daffodil. "There are three more
+rooms. And now we have all windows of real glass. You see there were
+board shutters to fasten tight as soon as cold weather came, and thick
+blankets were hung on the inside. And now we have a chimney in the
+best room and keep fire in the winter, and another small one in the
+kitchen."
+
+"It is this room I know best. It seems as if I must have been here and
+seen your great-grandfather sitting here and you on the arm of his
+chair. I suppose it was because you talked about it so much."
+
+"Oh, did I?" she interrupted, and her face was scarlet, her
+down-dropped eyelids quivered.
+
+"Please do not misunderstand me. M. de Ronville was very fond of your
+home descriptions and brought them out by his questions. And you were
+such an eager enthusiastic child when you chose, and at others prim
+and stiff as a Quaker. Those moods amused me. I think I used to tease
+you."
+
+"You did;" resentfully, then forgiving it.
+
+"Well, I beg your pardon now for all my naughty ways;" smiling a
+little. "What was I saying? Oh, you know he brought home so many
+reminiscences. And he loves to talk them over."
+
+"And bore you with them?"
+
+"No; they gave me a feeling of going through a picture gallery and
+examining interiors. When I see one with a delicate white-haired old
+man, it suggests Mr. Felix Duvernay. I had a brief journey over to
+Paris and found one of these that I brought home to my best friend and
+I can not tell you how delighted he was. And because we have talked it
+over so much, this room had no surprises for me. I am glad to find it
+so little changed."
+
+"We are--what the papers call, primitive people. It seemed queer and
+funny to me when I came back. But the ones I love were here."
+
+She paused suddenly and blushed with what seemed to him uncalled for
+vividness. She thought how she had been offered to him and he had
+declined her. It was like a sharp, sudden sting.
+
+"I'm glad you don't----" Then she stopped short again with drooping
+eyes. The brown lashes were like a fringe of finest silk. How
+beautiful the lids were!
+
+"Don't what?" It was a curious tone, quite as if he meant to be
+answered.
+
+"Why--why--not despise us exactly, but think we are ignorant and
+unformed;" and she winked hard as if tears were not far off.
+
+"My child--pardon me, you brought back the little girl that came to
+visit us. I do not think anything derogatory. I admire your father and
+he is a man that would be appreciated anywhere. And your grandparents.
+Your mother is a well-bred lady. I can find queer and _outré_ people
+not far from us at home, all towns have them, but I should not class
+the Carricks nor the Bradins with them."
+
+"Grandad is queer," she admitted. "He is Scotch-Irish. And Norry is
+Irish altogether, but she's the dearest, kindliest, most generous and
+helpful body I know. Oh, she made my childhood just one delightful
+fairy story with her legends and her fun, and she taught me to dance,
+to sing. I should want to strike any one who laughed at her!"
+
+"Do you remember Mistress Betty Wharton?" His tone was quite serious
+now. "She was one of the favorites of our town. And she was charmed
+with you. If you hadn't been worthy of taking about, do you suppose
+she would have presented you among her friends and paid you so much
+attention? She considered you a very charming little girl. Oh, don't
+think any one could despise you or yours. And if you could understand
+how M. de Ronville longs for you, and how much pleasure another visit
+from you would give him, I do not think you would be hard to
+persuade."
+
+He had laid the matter before her mother, who had said as before that
+the choice must be left with her.
+
+He and Felix had become great friends. The boy's insatiable curiosity
+was devoted to really knowledgeable subjects, and was never pert or
+pretentious.
+
+When he decided, since he was so near, to visit Cincinnati, Felix
+said--
+
+"When I get to be a man like you, I mean to travel about and see what
+people are doing and bring home new ideas if they are any better than
+ours."
+
+"That is the way to do. And the best citizen is he who desires to
+improve his own town, not he who believes it better than any other.
+Now, do you suppose your father would trust you with me for the
+journey? I should like to have you for a companion."
+
+"Would you, really?" and the boy's face flushed with delight. "Oh, I
+am almost sure he would. That's awful good of you."
+
+"We'll see, my boy."
+
+"If you won't find him too troublesome. I meant to take him on the
+journey some time when urgent business called me thither. You are very
+kind," said Bernard Carrick.
+
+"You see you're not going to have it all," Felix said to Daffodil. "I
+just wish you had been a boy, we would have such fun. For another boy
+isn't quite like some one belonging to you."
+
+The child was in such a fever of delight that he could hardly contain
+himself. His mother gave him many cautions about obeying Mr. Bartram
+and not making trouble.
+
+"Oh, you will hear a good account of me;" with a resolute nod.
+
+Meanwhile the business went on and papers were ready to sign when the
+two enthusiastic travellers returned. Mr. Carrick was to be joint
+trustee with Mr. Bartram in Daffodil's affairs.
+
+"It is a pity we cannot take in Felix as well," Mr. Bartram said. "He
+will make a very earnest business man, and I look to see him an
+inventor of some kind."
+
+Felix had been wonderfully interested in the model of William Ramsey's
+boat forty years before of a wheel enclosed in a box to be worked by
+one man sitting in the end, treading on treadles with his feet that
+set the wheel going and worked two paddles, saving the labor of one or
+two men. It was to be brought to perfection later on.
+
+Meanwhile Daffodil and her mother discussed the plan for her visit. It
+would last all winter. Could they spare her? Did she want to stay that
+long? Yet she felt she would like the change to her life.
+
+There was another happening that disturbed her not a little. This was
+Lieutenant Langdale's visit. When he came in the evening the whole
+family were around and each one did a share of the entertaining. And
+if she took a pleasure walk she always asked some friend to accompany
+her. Mrs. Carrick was not averse to a serious ending. Daffodil had
+reached a stage of content, was even happy, but the unfortunate
+circumstance was rarely touched upon between them. It seemed as if she
+had quite resolved to have no real lovers. What if an untoward fate
+should send the man back again. The thought haunted the mother, though
+there was no possible likelihood of it. And her sympathies went out to
+the lieutenant.
+
+If she went away, he would realize that there was no hope of
+rekindling love out of an old friendship. It would pain her very much
+to deny him.
+
+They spoke of her going one evening, quite to his surprise.
+
+"Oh," he said regretfully, "can you not be content here? I am sure
+they all need you, we all do. Mrs. Forbes will be lost without you.
+You are quite a star in the Fort society."
+
+"In spite of my poor card-playing," she laughed.
+
+"But you dance. That's more real pleasure than the cards. And we will
+try to have a gay winter for you. But after all we cannot compete with
+Philadelphia. I believe I shall try to get transferred from this dull
+little hole."
+
+"I do not expect to be gay. The great friend I made before married and
+went to Paris. And M. de Ronville is an invalid, confined mostly to
+the house during the winter. I am going to be a sort of companion to
+him. He begs so to have me come."
+
+Archie would be there. A sudden unreasoning anger flamed up in his
+heart and then dropped down to the white ashes of despair. Was there
+any use caring for a woman who would not or could not care for you?
+There were other girls----
+
+"You have really decided to go?" her mother said afterward.
+
+"Oh, I hate to leave you." Her arms were about her mother's neck. "Yet
+for some things it seems best. And the old story will be the more
+easily forgotten. I may make it appear of less importance to myself.
+It has grown quite dreamlike to me."
+
+"Yes," answered the mother under her breath.
+
+So the fact was accepted. "You will never regret giving a few months
+to an old man near his journey's end," said Mr. Bartram. "And I am
+very glad for his sake."
+
+Then preparations were made for the journey.
+
+"You must not want for anything, nor be dependent on your good
+friend," said her father. "And have all the pleasures you can. Youth
+is the time to enjoy them."
+
+It gave them a heartache to let her go. Mrs. Craig wished she could be
+her companion again, but she was too old to take such a journey. And
+now travelling was a more usual occurrence, and she found two ladies
+who were going to Harrisburg, and who had travelled a great deal, even
+been to Paris. Aldis Bartram was much relieved, for he hardly knew
+how to entertain a being who was one hour a child and the next a
+serious woman. The last two years he had sought mostly the society of
+men. There were many grave questions to discuss, for the affairs of
+the country were by no means settled.
+
+It was a very pleasant journey in the early autumn. She enjoyed
+everything with so much spirit and delight, but she was never
+tiresomely effusive. The ladies had come from New Orleans and were
+full of amazement at the rapid strides the country was making, and the
+towns that were growing up along the route. Their stay in Pittsburg
+had been brief and they were much amused at some of the descriptions
+of the earlier days the little girl could recall, the memories of the
+French great-grandfather, who had lived almost a hundred years, and
+grandad, who in his earlier years had been what we should call an
+athlete and was a master hand at games of all sorts. They were much in
+vogue yet, since there were no play-houses to draw people together for
+social enjoyment.
+
+Mr. Bartram used to watch her with growing interest. Yes, she would be
+invaluable to M. de Ronville, and a great relief to him this winter.
+How had she so easily overlived the great blow of her wedding day! She
+was a very child then, and truly knew nothing about love.
+
+"We shall be in Philadelphia sometime before Christmas," explained
+Mrs. Danvers, who was a widow. "We are thinking of settling ourselves
+there, or in New York, and we shall be glad to take up the
+acquaintance again. We have enjoyed your society very much, and truly
+we are indebted to Mr. Bartram for many favors that a maid is apt to
+blunder over. Women never get quite used to the rougher ways of the
+world."
+
+"And I shall be glad to see you again," the girl said with unaffected
+pleasure. "I have enjoyed the journey with you very much."
+
+How did she know just what to say without awkwardness, Mr. Bartram
+wondered.
+
+The quiet street and the old house seemed to give her a cordial and
+familiar greeting. Mrs. Jarvis herself came to the door.
+
+"Oh, my dear, we are so glad to have you back again," she cried with
+emotion. "But how tall you are! You are no longer a little girl."
+
+"I have the same heart after all that has happened;" and though she
+smiled there were tears in her eyes.
+
+A slow step came through the hall, and then she was held close to the
+heart of her guardian, who had longed for her as one longs for a
+child.
+
+Yes, he was quite an old man. Pale now, with snowy hair and beard, and
+a complexion full of fine wrinkles, but his eyes were soft and tender,
+and had the glow of life in them.
+
+"Oh," he exclaimed, "you still have the golden hair, and the peachy
+cheeks, and smiling mouth. I was almost afraid you had changed and
+grown grave. And your voice has the same ring. I am so thankful to
+your parents for sparing you again. And, Aldis, you must not mind me,
+for the business has fallen so behind that I shall not feel neglected
+if you go to the office at once. We will devote the evening to talk.
+Are you very tired with your journey?" That to Daffodil.
+
+"No, it was so pleasant and entertaining, and some of it beautiful.
+Then I do not tire easily."
+
+M. de Ronville held her hand as if he was afraid she might escape, and
+his longing eyes touched her very heart. But Mrs. Jarvis stepped up on
+the stairs, and giving him a tender smile, she followed.
+
+Nothing had been changed. Why, she might have left it only yesterday.
+
+As if Mrs. Jarvis had a similar thought about her she said, "My dear,
+you are just the same, only grown up."
+
+"And everything here is the same. I am very glad; it is like home."
+
+There was the pretty dark blue-and-white toilette set, where the blue
+looked as if somehow it had melted a little and run over the white.
+She smiled, thinking how she used to wonder about it.
+
+"This is Susan, our new maid. Mr. Bartram may have told you that Jane
+was married. She has a good husband and a nice home. But Susan fills
+the place very well, and now she will wait upon you with pleasure,"
+announced Mrs. Jarvis.
+
+Susan courtesied and smiled. She was younger than Jane, a fresh,
+fair-looking girl, who had the appearance of having been scrubbed from
+top to toe.
+
+"And now, when you are ready, come down to the library and have a cup
+of tea. Oh, I remember, you didn't care for tea, that's an old ladies'
+comfort. Well, there are other refreshing things that will stay you
+until supper. We have our dinner now in the middle of the day. M. de
+Ronville likes it better. Feel thoroughly at home, child."
+
+Susan unpacked her belongings and put them in drawers and the spacious
+closet, where Daffodil thought they must feel lonesome.
+
+She went downstairs presently, fresh and bright, having chosen her
+simplest frock, and tied her curls in a bunch behind, instead of
+putting them high on her head with a comb. On her pretty neck she wore
+the chain and pendant M. de Ronville had given her. She looked very
+sweet and youthful.
+
+He motioned her to the sofa beside him.
+
+"I understand how it is, that children and grandchildren keep one
+young," he began. "It is the new flow of life that vivifies the old
+pulses. And I advise all young men to marry;" smiling a little.
+"After awhile business loses its keen interest, and when you have
+made enough, why should you go on toiling and moiling? Then comes the
+time you want to take an interest in younger lives. And now tell me
+about your mother and father, who is prospering greatly, Aldis has
+written. And the little brother."
+
+She was in full flow of eager talk when Susan brought in the tray with
+some tea and dainty biscuits, and golden-hearted cake, and Mrs. Jarvis
+followed her and drew up the little table.
+
+"You see, I am quite pampered. I like a cup of tea at mid-afternoon,
+for the reason that it makes a break in a rather lonely time. I go out
+in the morning, when I can, but I take the garden and the porch in the
+afternoon, and in the evening friends drop in."
+
+Daffodil had a glass of milk. There were some delightful sandwiches,
+and she was really hungry, as they had not stopped for much dinner at
+noon. And as she glanced around she saw more cases had been added, and
+were filled with books, and two or three paintings and beautiful
+vases. The room did have a cosy aspect, with some easy chairs that
+were just coming in for elderly people. Young people were expected to
+sit up straight.
+
+Afterward they walked in the garden. There were choice late roses in
+bloom, and flowers she had never seen before. Smooth paths of sand
+beaten hard, here a way of fine white gravel that looked like a snowy
+ribbon between the green. How beautiful it was! This was what money
+and education and taste could do. Pittsburg was beginning to have the
+money, to prosper and boast, but all things seemed in a muddle,
+compared to this.
+
+She was merry and sweet, and yet it did not seem to her as if it came
+from a true heart. Was she sorry she had come. Was not her place back
+there! Was it not her duty _not_ to outgrow Pittsburg, for there she
+must live her life out. And when she was an old lady there would be
+Felix, who would marry and have children growing up, true Duvernays,
+for he would take the name, not her husband.
+
+When they went in the paper had come, and she read that to him. She
+had stepped so naturally into the old place. Susan began to arrange
+the table, Mr. Bartram came in looking really fagged out, but
+cordially attentive and chatty with the happenings.
+
+It was a sort of high tea, and there was an air about everything
+different from their simplicity at home, but Mr. Bartram had adapted
+himself so readily to that. Was it out of kindly consideration?
+
+"Now, I am going to dismiss you, my little dear," exclaimed the old
+man gently, "for I want to hear what Aldis has to say. And you have
+been very sweet and patient. Promise that you will not disappear in
+the night."
+
+"Oh, I promise. I am not a bird that I could fly back in the night,
+and then I think only evil birds fly at that period."
+
+He kissed her on the forehead. She sat on the porch awhile with Mrs.
+Jarvis, and then went to bed in the room that was sweet with rose and
+lavender. Well, so was her pillow at home. But it was so still here.
+Even the insects seemed to have modulated their shrillness. She buried
+her face in the softness and cried. Was she regretting the change? Was
+some gladness, some hope, lost out of her life, that could never come
+again?
+
+It was bright morning when she woke. Even the very sun seemed to shine
+in gladness. Susan came, bringing her some water, and wished her
+good-morning. Yes, it should be a good morning and a good day.
+
+They went to drive when the mists of the night had blown away. Oh, how
+gay everything looked! Stores had increased, beautiful buildings had
+gone up, and there was the President's residence. Lady Washington, as
+many people still called her, came out with her maid and her black
+servant, with a huge basket. There were others doing the same thing,
+for it was quite a fashion of the day, though some people were
+beginning to be waited on by the market men. Ladies in carriages and
+men walking or riding bowed to M. de Ronville, and wondered who the
+pretty girl beside him could be. He quite enjoyed the surprised look
+they gave her.
+
+Then he took a rest on the sofa, and begged her to tell him of the
+changes they had made in the house, and the boats her father was
+building, and what new industries had been started. And was grandad as
+bright and merry as ever? And the ignoble whiskey insurrection; the
+soldiers at the Fort!
+
+Everything had so much interest for him, and the time passed so
+rapidly, that Mr. Bartram came home before they hardly thought of
+dinner. He asked with a smile if she was homesick yet, and although
+she shook her head with vague amusement, she wondered why she had
+cried last night? They had some bright talk and then M. de Ronville
+asked her if she did not want to go shopping with Mrs. Jarvis, who
+would like very much to have her. Mr. Bartram had brought some papers
+that must be looked over and signed. But she must not stay out too
+late for his cup of afternoon tea.
+
+The shopping was really a great diversion. They met several people,
+who remembered her. And how funny it seemed to pay away so much money
+for an article, but then there seemed plenty of paper money.
+
+Chestnut Street was gay with riders, both men and women, and some of
+the latter looked fine in their dark-green habits and gilt buttons.
+There were many promenading, dressed in the quaint style of the day,
+and not a few Friends in silvery-gray, with the close-fitting
+scuttle-shaped bonnets.
+
+"I am so glad you have come," was Susan's greeting. "There are two
+ladies waiting to see you, Miss Daffodil, and M. de Ronville would
+make me bring in the tea for them."
+
+"Oh, what are their names?" cried the girl eagerly.
+
+"I was not to tell you;" and a smile lurked behind Susan's lips.
+
+She ran upstairs and took off her hat and mantle, and came into the
+library wondering.
+
+"Oh;" pausing to think for a moment. "It's Miss Pemberton, and--is it
+Belinda?"
+
+"Oh, you haven't changed a bit, except to grow tall;" and Belinda
+almost hugged her. "But Mary is Mrs. Hassel, and has the darlingest
+little boy you ever saw. Oh, do you remember our party out on the
+lawn, and our picnic? I'm so glad you have come again. I'm the only
+girl home now;" and then Belinda blushed deeply.
+
+"And Mr. de Ronville would have us share his tea. I've heard it's a
+kind of English fashion, which he ought not countenance, since he is
+French, I tell him," said Mrs. Hassel jestingly. "But it is
+delightful. I think I'll start it. A cup of tea seems to loosen one's
+tongue."
+
+"Do women really need the lubrication?" asked M. de Ronville with a
+smile.
+
+"Yes, they do. Think of three or four different women hardly knowing
+what to say to each other, and after a few sips of tea they are as
+chatty as you please. But I must say I was so delighted with his
+charming news that I would have waited until dark for the chance of
+seeing you."
+
+"Oh, thank you;" and Daffodil blushed prettily.
+
+"And we know a friend of yours, at least Jack does, a young doctor,
+who is going to be great some day, and who is from Pittsburg, Dr.
+Langdale."
+
+"Oh, yes, I knew he was studying here."
+
+"And he has made one or two remarkable discoveries about something or
+other. Dr. Rush considers him one of the coming men."
+
+"I am very glad to hear that. Oh, we all seemed children together. And
+his older brother is a lieutenant at Fort Pitt."
+
+"Can't he get a furlough? I'd like to see him," said Belinda gayly.
+
+"He's tired of dull Fort Pitt, and was talking of getting exchanged.
+That isn't quite right, I believe; it sounds as if he was a prisoner."
+
+"We must go," insisted Mrs. Hassel. "We will hardly have time for
+another call. M. de Ronville has been so fascinating."
+
+"Oh, did I hold out a fascination?" mischievously.
+
+"It was both," admitted Belinda. "And now we want to see ever so much
+of you. Mary, give us a regular tea party; she only lives round in
+Arch Street. And you will want to see the baby."
+
+"Of course I will," said the young girl.
+
+Then they made their adieus. Susan took away the tea-things.
+
+"Was the shopping nice?" enquired her guardian.
+
+"Oh, there are so many lovely things! I didn't mean to buy anything,
+you know, but we looked at such an elegant pelisse. Only everything
+costs so much!"
+
+"Oh, economical little girl!"
+
+"And the shopwoman would try on such a splendid white beaver that had
+just come in with a beautiful long plume and a white satin bow on top.
+Why, I felt as if I had just arrived from Paris!"
+
+M. de Ronville leaned back and laughed. She looked so pretty and
+spirited, standing here. He could imagine her in the white beaver and
+handsome pelisse.
+
+"How about the French?" he asked. "Have you forgotten it all?"
+
+"Oh, no. Grandmere and I talk sometimes."
+
+"We must have a little reading. Why, _we_ could talk as well. I
+sometimes get rusty."
+
+"It was very nice of the Pembertons to remember me," she said
+reflectively.
+
+"I had said you were likely to come, and they heard Mr. Bartram had
+returned. So they came at once."
+
+She could see he was proud of the compliment paid her.
+
+"Now, you are tired," he said. "I'll read the paper for myself."
+
+"No, no." She took it away playfully. "When my voice gets shaky, you
+may ask me to stop;" and the mirth in her tone was good to hear.
+
+How delightful it was to lean back comfortably and listen to the
+pleasant voice, with its subtle variations. Ah, if Aldis Bartram could
+have made sure of her in that other time, before she had learned to
+love and had her sorrow. And now he seemed to be settled in bachelor
+ways, and resolved to miss the sweetness of love and life.
+
+"Aldis," he said, at the tea table, "do you know young Dr. Langdale?"
+
+"In a way. He is not in my line, you know. A very promising young
+fellow. Were you thinking of trying him?"
+
+"Oh, no. But he is from Pittsburg. The Hassels and Miss Pemberton seem
+to know him quite well. And he is a friend of Daffodil's."
+
+"Oh, and is that lieutenant his brother?"
+
+Daffodil blushed, though why, she could not have told, and she merely
+nodded.
+
+"Mrs. Hassel seems to think very highly of him."
+
+"He's made some sort of discovery--they had him at Dr. Rush's, and he
+is in a fair way to success. Score one for Pittsburg."
+
+"But he has been studying here," rejoined Daffodil frankly.
+
+The next day it rained, and rainy days seemed to affect M. de
+Ronville, but he hardly noted it. They read and talked French, and had
+a rather laughable time. And in the afternoon an old friend, Colonel
+Plumsted, came in to play chess, and Daffodil watched, much
+interested. Aldis was surprised to find his host in such good spirits
+when he returned.
+
+Mrs. Hassel gave her tea party soon after. Daffodil met several old
+friends, who remembered the little girl. Belinda found time to impart
+the secret that she and Jack Willing were engaged, though she meant to
+have one good winter of fun before she was married. Jack seemed to be
+a nice, jolly fellow. And there was Anton Wetherell and Arthur
+Pemberton, and Arthur was asked to take her out to the supper table.
+
+"Why, it's quite like old times to have you here again! Truly, I never
+thought of your growing up. You were always in my mind as a little
+golden-haired fairy that flashes about and then--do they return to the
+'little folk'?"
+
+"I haven't, you see. But I was not quite a fairy. And one grandfather
+used to call me Yellowtop." She laughed musically.
+
+"One? How many grandfathers did you have?"
+
+"I had three at one time, one in every generation. But the oldest one
+went away, and now there are only two."
+
+"And I danced with you, I remember. I hope you haven't forgotten how.
+We have dancing parties, as well as tea parties. We are considered
+quite staid and sober-going people, but we young folks put in a good
+deal of fun. Bel's engaged, I dare say she told you, and I am the only
+solitary--shall I call myself a blossom? left on the parent stalk."
+
+They both laughed at that. It takes so little to amuse young people.
+
+"You'll have to go to one of Lady Washington's receptions, though in
+the whisper of confidence be it said they are rather stiff. There's
+the Norris house, that's the place for fun. The Norris girls find so
+many bright people, and they're not the jealous kind, but they make
+everybody shine."
+
+Then Bel took her off to meet Miss Plumsted.
+
+"I'm very glad to see you;" and Miss Plumsted's voice was honestly
+sweet. "Grandfather goes to play chess with M. de Ronville. He is your
+guardian, I believe. And now, are you going to live here?"
+
+"Oh, no. I am here only on a visit. My parents and all my folks live
+at Pittsburg."
+
+"Oh, that seems way out West. The Ohio River is there, and they go out
+to St. Louis and down to New Orleans. Is it a real city?"
+
+"Not yet, but they are talking about it."
+
+Then some one else came. Two or three of the young men dropped in
+during the evening, and there was some music on a flute and a violin.
+Altogether it was a very pleasant time, and Arthur Pemberton took her
+home and asked if he might not have the pleasure of calling
+occasionally.
+
+She hardly knew what was proper. It seemed ungracious to say "no," so
+she answered that he might.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+SAINT MARTIN'S SUMMER
+
+
+One of the quiet evenings, the two men were playing chess and Daffodil
+was watching them; Susan came in and said in her most respectful
+manner:
+
+"A gentleman wishes to see Miss Carrick. Here is his card."
+
+Daffodil took it and read, "Archibald Langdale, M.D."
+
+"Oh," in a glad, girlish tone, "it's my old friend, Archie, that I
+haven't seen in ever so long. Dr. Langdale;" with a pretty assumption
+of dignity.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And, uncle, you must see him. Not that I want you to accept him for a
+family physician, for really I don't know what he is like. He may be
+the veriest prig;" and she gave a dainty half laugh. "If he is spoiled
+it will be the fault of your city, he was very nice at Pittsburg. And
+you, too, Mr. Bartram."
+
+"I have met the young man. I didn't see that he was much puffed up
+with his honors."
+
+"Thank you." She made a fascinating courtesy. How pleased she was, he
+could see that.
+
+"We will soon be through with the game. Yes, I'll come," said M. de
+Ronville.
+
+She would hardly have known Archie. He stood up straight and he was
+quite as tall as Ned. He had filled out somewhat, though he was still
+rather thin, but his face had lost that deprecating expression, and
+had a clear notion not only of truth and honor, but of his own power
+as well. It was a tender face also, with the light in it that draws
+one unconsciously. The eyes seemed to have grown darker, but the hair
+was light as in boyhood.
+
+"I am so glad to see you again;" and he took both hands in a warm
+clasp. "I couldn't wait until some accidental meeting, where you might
+kindly invite me for old friendship's sake."
+
+"That would not have been worth while. I have heard about you, and I
+wondered if you had outgrown childish remembrances."
+
+"You would bring them all back if I had. How little you have changed,
+except to grow tall. And now tell me about yours and mine. Once in a
+great while Ned writes, and mother doesn't seem to have the gift of
+chatty letters. Hers are mostly about my humble self, _her_ son
+rather, and how he must avoid certain things and do other certain
+things, and not grow hard-hearted and irreligious and careless of his
+health;" smiling with a touch of tenderness. "So, you see, I do not
+hear much about the real Pittsburg."
+
+"Oh, you would hardly know it now, there are so many changes, and so
+much business. New streets, instead of the old lanes, and the old log
+houses are fast disappearing. We are making real glass, you know, and
+there is talk of a paper mill. And nearly all the girls are married;
+the older ones, I mean. Families are coming in from the country,
+others go out to Ohio and Kentucky. Why, it is a whirl all the time."
+
+"I'd like to see it and mother. I've planned to go several times, but
+some study or lectures that I couldn't miss would crop up. And it
+takes so much time. Why doesn't some one invent a quicker way of
+travelling? Now, if we could fly."
+
+"Oh, that would be just splendid!" eagerly.
+
+"I used to watch the birds when I was a boy, and flying seemed so easy
+for them. Now, why can't some one think up a pair of wings that you
+could slip on like a jacket and work them with some sort of springs,
+and go sailing off? I'm learning to put people together, but I never
+was any hand for machinery."
+
+"Oh, think of it! A winged jacket;" and they both laughed gleefully.
+
+Then M. de Ronville entered and expressed his pleasure at meeting the
+young man, who was already distinguishing himself, and who was an old
+friend of Miss Carrick.
+
+"Not that either of you are very old," he commented smilingly.
+
+Mr. Bartram he recalled. And certainly the generally quiet student
+talked his best. Was Daffodil a sort of inspiration? Was that one of
+the graces of early friendship?
+
+He apologized presently for his long stay. He so seldom made calls,
+that he must plead ignorance of the correct length, but he had enjoyed
+himself very much. And then M. de Ronville invited him to drop in to
+tea. He would like to discuss some new medical methods with him.
+
+"A very intelligent, well-balanced young man," the host remarked. "If
+the other one is as sensible, they are sons to be proud of."
+
+"Their mother _is_ proud of them, but their father would rather have
+had them in business," said Daffodil.
+
+Belinda Pemberton was quite fascinated with Daffodil. "You are such a
+sweet, quaint, honest little thing," she said, "and you do make such
+delightfully naïve remarks. And Arthur declares you must have learned
+to dance in fairyland."
+
+"I think I did," she returned gayly. "And I do love it so."
+
+Then the little circle, and the wider one, had a fine surprise. Betty
+Wharton, now Madame Clerval, returned quite unexpectedly, as her
+husband had resigned his position.
+
+"I had quite enough of Paris," she said to a friend. "One wants an
+immense fortune to truly enjoy it. And somehow things seem shaky.
+Then, too, one does have a longing for home when one gets past youth."
+
+So she opened her house and set up a carriage. Monsieur Clerval found
+himself quite in demand by the government, as the country needed a
+multitude of counsellors.
+
+She came in to see M. de Ronville, who gallantly said she had renewed
+her youth, and begged for the secret.
+
+"It is simply to keep young, to resolve _not_ to grow old;" with a gay
+emphasis.
+
+"But time passes, my dear lady."
+
+"And where is that pretty, golden-haired Daffodil?" she enquired.
+
+The girl was summoned. Yes, she had outgrown childhood, but there was
+a delightful charm in her young womanhood.
+
+"We were such friends--if you can remember so far back."
+
+"And you were so good to me, and made everything so enjoyable. Wasn't
+I very ignorant?"
+
+"You were very frank, and honest, and adaptable. So we must take up
+the old intimacy again. M. de Ronville, I shall drop in often and say,
+'Lend me your daughter for this or that occasion.' Or is it your
+niece? And if some one falls in love with her you must not scold me.
+Young men have eyes, and really, I am too kindly-hearted to throw dust
+in them."
+
+Daffodil turned scarlet.
+
+"Is it quite right to go about so much?" she said to M. de Ronville
+afterward, and the tone had a great uncertainty in it, while the
+curves of her pretty mouth quivered. "For you know----"
+
+He drew her down beside him on the sofa.
+
+"I thought some time we would talk it over--your unfortunate marriage,
+I suppose, comes up now and then to haunt you. Yet, it was fortunate,
+too, that the explanation came just as it did. I honestly believe it
+was an ignorant child's fancy. You were not old enough to understand
+real love. I think he could hardly have been a thorough villain, but
+an incident like this has happened more than once. And I truly believe
+you have overlived it."
+
+She shuddered, and her eyes were limpid with tears. It was good to
+feel his friendly arm about her.
+
+"It is like a dream to me, most of the time. And I think now, if he
+had made a passionate, despairing protest, it would have gone much
+harder with me. But it was right for him to go away when his father
+sent, and he was the next in succession to Hurst Abbey. And there was
+his child, his boy. I could never have been his true wife, but it hurt
+to be given up so readily, yet it was best. It gave me courage. And
+what if he had tired of me later on? They all helped me to bear it.
+And there was the deception. For if he had told the truth, there might
+have been pity, but no love."
+
+"It was a sad thing to happen. My heart ached for you. But you know,
+Daffodil, you never were a wife in the true sense of the word. You are
+quite free, you have always been free. And you must feel so. You must
+not carry about with you any uncertainty. It is something buried
+fathoms deep, that you need never draw up to the surface, unless in
+time to come you tell the story to the man you marry."
+
+"I shall never marry," she returned gravely. "I have it all planned.
+Felix shall have the fortune, for what could a woman do with it in her
+own hands? And he has the name, he has only to leave off the Carrick.
+And it shall be my business to make every one as happy as I can. And
+if it is not wrong to take pleasure for myself--I do love joy and
+happiness, and I could not grieve forever, when I knew the thing I
+would grieve for was wrong."
+
+There were tears dropping off the bronze lashes, but she was not
+really crying. He pressed her closer. There was an exquisite depth to
+her that did not often come to the surface.
+
+"So you have it all planned for the years to come," he returned after
+a moment or two. "That is quite far off. Meanwhile you must have a
+good time with other young people. That will make me the happiest, if
+you care for me."
+
+"Oh, indeed I do, indeed I do," she cried earnestly. Then, after quite
+a pause, she continued--
+
+"I almost lost sight of what I wanted to ask. It was whether I ought
+to explain anything, whether it would be sailing under false colors
+when no one knew;" and she gave a tangled sort of breath that she
+would not allow to break into a sob.
+
+"My dear child, there would be no use in explaining what could only be
+a matter of gossip. I think, nay, I am certain, Aldis and myself are
+the only ones who know, and if there had been any trouble I should
+have sent him to your assistance. I dare say, some of your friends and
+neighbors at home have wellnigh forgotten about it. And now, do not
+let it disturb you, but be as happy as God meant you should be, when
+He snatched you from the peril."
+
+"Oh, thank you," she rejoined with a grateful emotion that he felt
+quiver through her slender body.
+
+She wondered if she was too light-minded, too easily pleased. For
+every joyous thing seemed to come her way. The girls sought her out,
+the young men wanted to dance with her, and were willing to bore
+themselves going out to supper, if they knew she would be there. It
+was not because she was brighter or wittier than the others, or could
+think of more entertaining plays, but just that she seemed to radiate
+an atmosphere of happiness.
+
+She did not give up all her time to pleasure. She drove with her
+guardian on pleasant days; he had left off riding now, but he sent her
+out occasionally with Mr. Bartram, lest she should get out of
+practice, he said. Then she read to him, or they took up French. She
+made merry over her blunders.
+
+The autumn was long and warm. They sat in the garden in the sunshine,
+or walked up and down. Now and then he went to the office, when there
+were some important matters on hand.
+
+Madame Clerval gave a dance after she had her house set in order. It
+might have been called a ball. It was mostly for the young people; she
+was just as fond of them as ever, and secretly admitted that she
+didn't enjoy prosy old people, who could talk of nothing but their
+pains and aches, and how fast the country was going to ruin.
+
+"Do you think Mr. Bartram would consider it a nuisance to come for
+me?" she asked of her guardian, with a face like a peony.
+
+"Why, no, child. Madame made quite a point of his coming. He is
+growing old too fast."
+
+"Why, he isn't old," she said rather indignantly. "And you see--it's
+hard sometimes not to offend this one or that one, and if he is really
+coming, will you ask him to bring me home? Wouldn't _you_ prefer it?"
+
+"I think I would;" very gravely, though he wanted to smile.
+
+Wetherell and Arthur Pemberton were pushing each other for her favors,
+and she tried to distribute them impartially.
+
+The dance was a splendid success, and the dainty supper had a French
+air. Mr. Bartram came in just before that. Daffodil was engaged, of
+course. Madame provided him with a charming partner.
+
+There was only a galop afterward. At private affairs it was not
+considered good taste to stay after midnight. Mr. Bartram made his way
+to Daffodil, and asked her if she was ready to go, and she nodded
+gracefully.
+
+She looked so pretty as she came down the stairs, wrapped in something
+white and fleecy, smiling on this side and that.
+
+"It was very enjoyable," he said, "at least to you young people. I'm
+not much of a dancer nowadays, so I didn't come early."
+
+"It was just full of pleasure. Madame Clerval always plans admirably."
+
+He smiled to himself. Most girls would have protested about his being
+late, even if they had not specially cared.
+
+The young people took up the habit of calling in the evening, three or
+four of them, sometimes half a dozen. Mrs. Jarvis would send in some
+cake and nice home-made wine, which was quite a fashion then. They
+made merry, of course.
+
+"Dear uncle," she said one morning, it was raining so they couldn't go
+out, "didn't we disturb you last evening with our noise and laughter?
+I don't know why they are so eager to come here, and think they have a
+good time, for I am not as full of bright sayings as some of the
+girls. And if it annoys you----"
+
+"My child, no. I lay on the sofa and listened to it, and it almost
+made me young again. I had no merry youth like that. Oh, am I coming
+to second childhood?"
+
+His eyes were bright, and she thought she had never seen them so
+merry, save at first, when he had laughed at some of Felix's pranks.
+And his complexion was less pallid, his lips were red.
+
+"Then second childhood is lovely. And you have grown so interested in
+everything. You don't get tired as you used. Are you real happy, or
+are you doing it just to make me happy?"
+
+She gave him such a sweet, enquiring look, that he was touched at her
+solicitude.
+
+"It is both, I fancy. You see, last winter I was ill and alone a great
+deal. I missed Betty Wharton, who was always flying in with some fun,
+or a bright story that had been told. Aldis had all the business to
+attend to, and sometimes wrote in the evenings. Time hung very heavy
+on my hands, and I began to think it was time for me to go hence. And
+by spring I had quite lost heart, though I began to crawl about a
+little. And I kept thinking how I should live through another dreary
+winter, and be half sick. It kept looming up before me. Then I thought
+I ought to settle something about your business when your father wrote
+concerning the lease. You came into my mind. I thought how brave you
+had been through that unfortunate time, and wondered if you would not
+like a change. I wanted some one to bring in the sunshine of youth,
+and you had spent so many of your years with elderly people, I thought
+you must have some art. I could make it pleasant for you, and the
+reflected light would brighten me. So I begged a little of your sweet
+young life."
+
+"I am glad if it has made you happy," she said, much moved.
+
+"It has given me new zest, it has made me almost well. True, I have
+had some twinges of my old enemy, rheumatism, but they have not been
+severe. I have not been lonely. There was some pleasure within my
+reach all the time. Oh, old people do want a little of the sun of
+youth to shine on them. And if you had no dear ones at home, I should
+keep you always, golden-haired Daffodil."
+
+She took his hand in hers, so full of fresh young life. "And I should
+stay," she said.
+
+"So, do not think your little merry-makings annoy me at all. I am
+glad for you to have them, and next day it is like reading a page out
+of a book, a human book that we are apt to pass by, and say we have no
+pleasure in it, but it is what we need, and what we want, down in our
+very heart of hearts, but often we are ashamed to ask for it."
+
+It was true, he was much better. The house was losing its grave
+aspect. Jane had been used to flinging about wise old saws, and
+comparisons, and finding things to enjoy; Susan was quiet, falling
+into routine, and staying there until some new duty fairly pushed her
+out in another direction. She had no sense of humor or enthusiasm, yet
+she performed all the requirements of her place with ease and
+industry.
+
+Mrs. Jarvis was just as kindly solicitous as ever, but intellectually
+there was a great gulf between her and M. de Ronville. She entertained
+whatever guests came with an air of precision, never forgetting she
+was a higher sort of housekeeper. She enjoyed the quiet of her own
+room, where she sewed a little, and read a good deal, the
+old-fashioned English novels, such as "Children of the Abbey,"
+"Mysterious Marriage," "The Cottage on the Cliff," and stories of the
+latter half of the century. She thought it no part of a woman's
+business to concern herself with politics, she would have preferred
+living under a real King and nobility, but she accepted the powers
+that ruled, and stayed in her own little world, though she, as well
+as M. de Ronville, enjoyed the stir and interest that Daffodil brought
+about.
+
+After Madame Clerval came, there was more variety and gayety in
+Daffodil's life, and she helped to rouse M. de Ronville as well. Then
+came a reception at the Presidential mansion.
+
+"Of course, you will go," Madame said to him, in her persuasive, yet
+imperious, manner. "We must not be a whit behind those New York people
+in the attention we pay our President. And one need not stay the whole
+evening through, you know. You will meet so many old friends. Come, I
+cannot have you getting old before your time."
+
+"But I am an old man," he protested.
+
+"In our new country we must not get old. It is to be the land of
+perennial youth," she answered gayly.
+
+Aldis Bartram joined his persuasions as well, and M. de Ronville went
+almost in spite of himself. He had kept his delicate, high-bred air
+and French atmosphere, and looked well in the attire of that day, with
+his flowered waistcoat, his black velvet suit and silk stockings, with
+a jewelled buckle on his low shoes. His beautiful white hair was just
+tied in a queue, with a black ribbon. There was something dignified
+and gracious about him, and friends thronged around to congratulate
+him. And though he had seen Washington in many different phases of his
+eventful life, he had not as yet met him as President of the nation
+he had fought for and cemented together.
+
+There were handsomer girls than Daffodil; indeed, the fame of the
+beauties of Philadelphia in that day has been the theme of many a song
+and story. But she was very pretty in her simple white frock that in
+the fashion of the day showed her exquisite neck and shoulders, though
+the golden curls, tied high on her head, shaded and dazzled about it
+in a most bewitching manner. Madame Clerval was wise, she was not
+trying to outshine any of the belles, yet there was a bevy of young
+men about her constantly, and most devoted to her and to M. de
+Ronville, was Dr. Langdale. In fact, he was really the favorite
+visitor at the house. He ran in now and then with news of some new
+book, or some old translation, and a talk of the progress of the
+library and the trend of general education. Why should Boston have it
+all? Or a new medical discovery, though he was in no sense M. de
+Ronville's physician.
+
+Was it strange that both these young people, having passed their
+childhood in Pittsburg, should come to a nearer and dearer
+understanding? Aldis Bartram watched them with the sense of a new
+revelation. Yet he could not subscribe to it cordially. The medical
+enthusiast was hardly the one he would choose for a girl like
+Daffodil. Arthur Pemberton would do better, yet he was not quite up to
+her mark. She was a simple seeming girl, yet he was learning that she
+had a great deal of character and sweetness. Somehow she kept herself
+curiously enfranchised from lovers. Her friendly frankness gave them a
+status it was difficult to overcome.
+
+"I never expected to enjoy myself so much again," said M. de Ronville,
+when they were in the carriage. "It is an excellent thing to go on
+moving with the world, to keep in touch with the things that make up
+the sum of life, instead of feeling they belong to the gone-by time,
+and you have no interest in them."
+
+How much like his olden self he was, Aldis Bartram thought. He
+wondered if he had been at fault in letting him drop down. There was
+much perplexing business, and he had hated to bother the elder man
+with it. Sometimes it seemed tedious to explain. Had he grown selfish
+in certain ways, preferring to take the burthen, rather than the
+trouble of sharing it with another? He had much personal ambition, he
+was in full earnest of a man's aims and life purposes. Yet it was this
+man who had helped him to the place whereon he stood, and it was not
+honorable to crowd him out under the plea that his best days were
+over.
+
+It seemed, indeed, as if days fairly flew by, there was so much
+crowded in them. When the morning was fine, Daffodil insisted they
+should drive out. It was delightful to keep bowing and smiling to
+friends, with this attractive girl beside him. He went to some
+meetings of the Philosophical Society, and he took a new interest in
+the Library plans.
+
+"You certainly have worked a transformation," Bartram said to
+Daffodil, when M. de Ronville consented to go to a concert with them,
+to hear two remarkable singers, who had come from abroad. "You will
+have to stay. Didn't I hear you discussing Pittsburg with Mrs.
+Jarvis?"
+
+"Oh, they are longing for me to return. And in two days March will
+come in, that will be spring. And I was only to stay through the
+winter."
+
+"But March is a cruel and deceitful travesty on spring. February has
+been too short."
+
+"But they want me. And, yes, I want to see them all, and the garden,
+and the woods, and what new things have happened to Pittsburg. For
+there is something new coming in all the time."
+
+Her face was so eager and full of happy interest.
+
+"Well--I don't know what we shall do without you"; and the inflection
+of his voice was disconsolate. "I am afraid we shall fall back to the
+old routine. I am a busy man, you know, and have to shoulder a great
+many cares not really my own. Perhaps, too, I haven't the divine art
+of making a house bright, a woman's province."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Bartram, I will tell you;" in a clear, earnest tone. "Why do
+you not marry, and bring some one here to do it? There are so many
+charming girls, sometimes I feel quite unimportant and ignorant beside
+them."
+
+She uttered it in the same manner she might have asked why he did not
+bring home some flowers to grace the study table. Her lovely eyes were
+raised to his in the utmost innocence, and not a tint of color wavered
+on her cheek. His flushed with sudden surprise.
+
+"Perhaps the charming young girl would consider it a dull house for
+life, and then elderly people have whims and fancies--well, younger
+men do. I have myself. And it would be asking a good deal."
+
+"I think uncle hasn't many whims, and he does keep them in the
+background. You almost have to watch for them. Why, think of grandad!"
+and she laughed with a soft musical sound. "What he liked yesterday he
+may not like at all to-day, so Norry does the new thing, and says
+nothing about the other. And he often disputes with father as to
+whether there was any real need for the war, and that we would be
+better off under King George. But uncle is so large-minded, and then
+he has so many refined and delightful tastes. But you would get
+lonesome if you were not very well, and no one came to cheer you up,
+or bring you new thoughts and bright bits of things, that were going
+on in the world outside."
+
+She paused suddenly, and flushed like a culprit, looking more
+beguiling than ever, with her downcast eyes.
+
+"I suppose I oughtn't have said it, but it seems true to me, only I'm
+not blaming you. You have a great many things to attend to, and you
+must do them in a man's way, devote your whole mind to them, and you
+can't be frivolous, or other people's business would suffer. If I
+hadn't any one I would come and stay, but--I love them, and sometimes,
+in spite of the pleasure, my heart is almost torn in two with the
+longing. I said I would come back in the spring, and I must go. Then
+it will not be quite so bad, for Madame Clerval will be in and out,
+and he is so much better. And you'll let him take an interest in
+business, when he feels like it--oh, I seem to be giving you advice,
+and I sincerely beg your pardon. After all, I am not much more than a
+little girl, and I am talking as if I was old and wise;" and a sudden
+shame flamed her cheeks with scarlet.
+
+"I think you have been wise, and sweet, and patient, without growing
+old. You have done a great deal for your guardian this winter--I
+really was afraid we should not have him with us for very long, and he
+did seem to wish for you so. Perhaps we were selfish, he and I."
+
+"Oh, I was ready to come, too. It has been a delightful winter, and
+everybody has been so good to me, I've been just full of pleasure. But
+when you love those you have left behind, you sometimes feel as if
+you could fly."
+
+She winked very fast, then made a sudden dab at her eyes, and half
+laughed, too.
+
+"I think I understand. I have had no one to love dearly since I was a
+little lad, and all I remember about my mother is that she was pale,
+and ill, and could not endure a noise. Then I was put in school, and
+my father went away and died. When I was eighteen I went in M. de
+Ronville's office, and finished my studies. He has been my best
+friend, really like a father to me. I ought to make all the return in
+my power."
+
+"Oh;" and there was a bewildering sweetness in her tone. "I have been
+so happy most of my life, and had so many to love me."
+
+Then that unfortunate episode had not cost her any deep-seated grief.
+Had she loved at all, or was it only a childish fancy? He hoped it
+was, for the sake of her future.
+
+He turned then and went out of the room. M. de Ronville had been up in
+his dressing-room, with his valet, and now he went to the library, and
+she followed him. There were some reports to look over, then the
+carriage came for them. It was sunny, with very little wind, and they
+had plenty of wraps.
+
+Aldis Bartram went his way to the office. The two clerks were there
+and busy. He opened his letters, and answered several, the others had
+need of some legal opinions to be looked up. Then he took up a rather
+complicated case, but he soon lost the thread of it, for Daffodil's
+almost upbraiding voice haunted him. He had been outwardly patient
+many a time when all was irritation within, for he was too manly and
+too really grateful to show impatience.
+
+Had Daffodil's being there this winter proved the source of the
+reaction in M. de Ronville's health? Had loneliness intensified the
+disease and discomfort? Perhaps. And now two or three young men
+dropped in, and had entertaining talks with him. Or was it because
+they liked the byplay of the pretty, vivacious girl, who never made
+herself the first attraction.
+
+"Marry some pretty, charming young girl!" Where would he find one to
+M. de Ronville's liking?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+OH, WHICH IS LOVE?
+
+
+March opened cold and stormy. Rheumatism made a clutch at M. de
+Ronville. For several days he did not come downstairs, but insisted
+that some of the guests must come to him. Dr. Langdale skipped away
+from a lecture he really desired to hear, and spent an hour comforting
+the invalid. Madame Clerval came in with a budget of news and friendly
+gossip, and Daffodil talked of her little girlhood, and old Pittsburg,
+as they had begun to call it, and sitting on the arm of
+great-grandfather's chair, and listening to tales of a still older
+time. He did not wonder that his friend Duvernay had lived to be
+almost a hundred, with all that affection to make the way pleasant.
+
+Then he improved and came downstairs, took up chess-playing, and
+little promenades on the porch when the sun shone. And then the talk
+veered round to Daffodil's departure. He would not hear anything about
+it at first.
+
+"Yet we have no right to keep her away from her own household, when
+she has been brave enough to give up all the winter to us," Mr.
+Bartram said.
+
+"Oh, no, I suppose not. If I was younger, or in assured health, I
+should go and spend the summer with them. Oh, don't look so startled.
+I know it wouldn't do, with my uncertain health."
+
+Aldis smiled. "If the summer is fine, and you keep pretty well, we
+might both take a trip. I would hardly trust you to go alone."
+
+"So we might." The elder was gratified with the consideration.
+
+"Aldis?" presently, in a half-enquiring tone.
+
+"Well?" glancing up.
+
+"Do you think--that Dr. Langdale--that there is anything between him
+and Daffodil?"
+
+"There has been some talk. But young Pemberton is devoted to her as
+well."
+
+"With either she would have to come back here to live. I like the
+doctor. He is such a fine, large-hearted, sympathetic young fellow,
+with so much real charity for suffering. I seem to be envying other
+people's sons and daughters;" ending with a longing sound. "Yes, if
+she were in love with him."
+
+Aldis Bartram experienced a feeling of protest. Yet, why should he
+object? They were both young, they had been friends from childhood,
+and he was certainly worthy of her.
+
+That very evening he dropped in. There had been a wonderful surgical
+operation on a poor fellow, who had been mashed and broken by a bad
+fall. There had been a dispute at first, whether they could save him
+intact, but after hours of the most careful work there was a good
+chance. Dr. Langdale was so proud and enthusiastic, giving every one
+his due with no narrowness.
+
+Then he said, "Oh, Daffodil, are you really going home?"
+
+"They have sent for me. The winter has gone!" and there was a piquant
+smile hovering about her face.
+
+"It has been such a short winter I have not done half the things I
+planned to do. But I am resolved to run away some time in the summer.
+It is ungrateful not to visit mother. And I do want to see the town,
+and all the old friends."
+
+"Oh, do come!" There was a joyous light in her eyes, and a sweetness
+played about her lips.
+
+Yes, he surely thought he would. Then they went on about other
+matters. Bartram was not much versed in love indications, but
+something rose within him--as if there should be a higher, stronger,
+more overwhelming love for _her_.
+
+She would make them talk cheerfully about her going. She said sagely
+there was such a thing as wearing out one's welcome, and that now she
+should feel free to come again.
+
+"Next winter," said her guardian. "I think I can get along through the
+summer with this thought to sustain me, but I shall be a year older,
+and perhaps more feeble."
+
+"I strictly forbid either of the consequences;" she laughed with
+adorable gayety, her eyes alight with fun.
+
+"One would think I was of great consequence," she exclaimed a few days
+later, "by the lamentations my friends make. Or is it a fashion? It
+will make it harder for me to go. If we could move Pittsburg over! But
+there are the splendid rivers, and the hills covered with
+rhododendrons. And, you see, I shall miss the daffodils."
+
+"If it is such sorrow to part with one, I hardly know how you can
+endure losing so many," said Aldis Bartram gravely.
+
+She looked at him enquiringly. He seldom paid compliments to any one
+but Madame Clerval.
+
+There were bloom and beauty enough in the grand old town, where every
+point was romantic. Every day Daffodil and her guardian were out
+driving, until it seemed to her she could have found her way about in
+the dark. And in his office Aldis Bartram sat thinking how lonely the
+house would be without the sunshine of her golden head, and the sound
+of her sweet, merry voice, her small, thoughtful ways, and the ease
+with which she could change from one mode of action that she saw was
+not bringing about a desirable result. At first he considered this a
+sort of frivolity, but he understood presently that she not
+infrequently gave up her own pleasure or method for something that
+suited M. de Ronville better.
+
+He was ambitious, and he had marked out a career for himself. He meant
+to be rich and respected, his instincts were all honorable, and this
+had commended him to his employer, who detested anything bordering on
+double dealing. So, from one position he had been advanced to another,
+and by persistent study had taken his degree with honor. He enjoyed
+the life of the class with which he was in keen touch, and he found he
+could maintain a degree of mental superiority that satisfied his
+ambition.
+
+There had been a partnership; he was junior counsel, and some of the
+clients preferred the young, broad-minded man. Then had come the
+proffer of a home that really surprised him. There were no relatives
+to be jealous; why, then, should he not be as a son to this man, who
+no longer felt equal to the burthen and heat of the new day that had
+dawned on the country, and was calling forth the highest aims and
+energies of the men of the time?
+
+There had been one intense fascination in his life that had turned to
+the ashes of bitterness. And now, while he was affable and enjoyed the
+society of women, he considered himself proof against their
+blandishments. He had heard of Daffodil's interrupted marriage, and
+gave her a very sincere sympathy. But he had not been warmly in favor
+of her visit. Still, it seemed cruel and selfish not to agree to the
+longing of the invalid, who had an obstinate idea that his days were
+numbered. A pet and play-thing was perhaps what he needed, for
+sometimes the devotion exacted bored him and seemed a painful waste of
+time and energy.
+
+Then M. de Ronville saw the necessity of arranging his guardianship of
+Daffodil Carrick on a different basis, so that there might be no
+trouble at his death. Her father might not understand all the fine
+points, and need some legal aid. This had brought about the visit to
+Pittsburg, and he had joined his solicitation to that of the guardian,
+truly believing M. de Ronville's days were numbered, and he did
+fervently desire to give him whatever happiness and comfort was
+possible.
+
+But Daffodil was different from the vague idea he had formed of her.
+She was not a sentimental girl, even if she had been caught by a
+specious love, and though gay and eager, had a tender, truthful, and
+noble side to her nature. They were all of a higher class than he had
+thought possible, and Felix he considered quite an unusual boy. Mr.
+Carrick had made one brief explanation of the marriage, none of the
+others alluded to it.
+
+"But you know that the law holds her as an unmarried woman. There was
+nothing binding in the vows on her side, and pure fraud on his," said
+Bartram decisively.
+
+"Yes, we are aware of that, but young as she is, it has changed her in
+some respects. But she is dearer than ever to us. I deprecate this
+fashion of such youthful marriages, though mine has been very happy,"
+returned the father.
+
+Dr. Langdale came in one morning with a face full of the highest
+satisfaction. Bartram had been lingering about, discussing the
+journey. Madame Clerval had offered one of her French maids, but she
+knew so little of American ways.
+
+"Daffodil," the doctor exclaimed, "will you take me for an escort? I
+find there is nothing very important for the next few weeks. I have
+but one more lecture in my course. And I do want to see mother. So, if
+you have no objection----"
+
+"Why, I should be delighted, though I begin to feel quite like a wise
+and travelled body. And think how women are coming from abroad and
+from Canada, and going West, and all over, and reach their destination
+safely. But I shall be very glad all the same, and your mother will be
+wild with joy."
+
+"I am afraid we do not think of the pleasure we can give our elders,
+who, in the nature of things, have less time for the enjoyment of
+their children. And I feel ashamed that I have allowed the time to
+slip by, content with a hurried letter. I mean to do better in the
+future."
+
+"And I applaud your decision," exclaimed M. de Ronville. "Oh, I think
+you young people really do not know how much happiness you can give us
+elders just by the sight of your happy faces, and a little cordial
+attention."
+
+Daffodil glanced at Dr. Langdale with a smile that seemed almost a
+caress, it was so approving, enchanting. Aldis Bartram caught it and
+turned away, saying--
+
+"I must leave you to perfect arrangements. I am late now, so I must
+wish you good-morning," bowing himself out of the room.
+
+He was very busy, and did not go home to dinner, as he had been doing
+of late. And it was not until he was walking home in the late
+afternoon that he allowed himself to think of Daffodil's departure.
+
+"She will marry Dr. Langdale and come back here to live, which will be
+a great pleasure to M. de Ronville," he said to himself, remembering
+it had his friend's approval. And why should it not have his? Yet he
+felt as if he did not cordially assent. And if she returned next
+winter--he lost a sudden interest in the plan. They would be lovers
+and there would be their joy and satisfaction flaunted in everybody's
+face.
+
+How could Daffodil keep so bright and cheerful? Had she any real
+depth? Did not every change, every new plan appeal to her just the
+same?
+
+But if he had seen her with her arms about Mrs. Jarvis' neck, and the
+tears in her eyes, he would not have made the comment to himself. And
+the tender, beseeching tone in which she was saying--
+
+"Oh, you will not let him miss me too much. And when it is pleasant,
+won't you walk about the garden with him and praise his roses and the
+flowers he cares for? And keep him thinking that he is better, and has
+years yet to live, and if Mr. Bartram will go on being devoted to
+him."
+
+"Mr. Bartram seems to have grown more tenderly thoughtful. Of course,
+he has a great deal on his mind, and now there are so many perplexing
+questions about the country, and when one is tired out with the day's
+work it is hard to rehearse it all over. Oh, my dear, I think you have
+worked a change in us all with your sweet, generous ways, and your
+lovely outflowing youth. I am afraid I was beginning to think too much
+of my own comfort."
+
+Dr. Langdale proved himself most solicitous. Bartram found the
+planning was taken quite out of his hands, and he chafed a little.
+Madame Clerval declared herself inconsolable, but she had the fine
+grace that speeds the parting guest when the going is inevitable.
+
+There was only one day more. M. de Ronville had his breakfast sent
+upstairs. Daffodil went to find some papers her guardian was going
+over, and turning, she met Aldis Bartram entering the library.
+
+"I was afraid you might forget them," she said, handing the packet to
+him.
+
+"Thank you." How often she had charged her mind with these little
+things.
+
+"I suppose," he began in a wandering sort of tone, as if his mind had
+strayed to something else, "that it will not really be out of order to
+congratulate you, since it will be a long while before I shall see you
+again."
+
+"Oh, about going home? But I shall often think of you all here, and
+wish the old fairy stories were true, where you could be transported
+elsewhere in a moment. I think I did truly believe in them once."
+
+How charming she was in that absolute simplicity, the exquisite,
+innocent, glowing face too frank for concealment. He had no business
+to probe her secret, and yet he must know.
+
+"Oh, I meant, you will not come back to us the same. You will have
+learned the lesson of love, and I hope--you will be very happy."
+
+"I don't understand"--a puzzled line settling in her fair brow. "Oh!"
+suddenly relieved, and then half smiling, "did you think," and then
+her face crimsoned to its utmost capacity, "that I, that Dr.
+Langdale--it is a mistake. We were dear friends in childhood, we are
+warm friends now. For, you see, he has been like a little bit of
+Pittsburg to me, and sometimes, when I was longing for the dear ones
+at home, it was comforting to talk them over. And he has no thought of
+marrying in a long, long while. He means to do so much first."
+
+Was she a finished coquette by the grace of nature? Young men were not
+given to consideration of this or that when the bewildering passion
+seized them. But coquette or not, a sharp, overmastering knowledge
+seized him. Once she had advised him to marry and bring in the
+household a charming girl. She recognized that his duty would be to M.
+de Ronville while he lived. He knew that, too, if he would not prove
+himself an ingrate. And here was the charming girl.
+
+He looked at her so long and steadily that there came faint colors in
+her face, growing deeper, the lines about her mouth showed tremors,
+the bronze-fringed lids drooped over her eyes, and she turned away.
+But the delicious half-bashful movement set his pulses aflame.
+
+"Daffodil," and he caught her hand, "if there is no other among these
+young men, or even at home, may I not sue for a little favor? I know
+it surprises you; then perhaps I am too old to win a young girl's
+regard, love I mean----"
+
+"Oh, you must not," she interrupted. "For I think you hardly like
+me--you did not at first. And then, I--well--I do not mean to marry.
+You know there was the----"
+
+"Which simply has no weight in your life."
+
+"But you see, I thought I loved him. Oh, I _did_ love him. And I was
+so happy. Why, I would have gone to the end of the world with him!
+Only when one deceives you, when one dares not tell the whole truth,
+and when one cannot, does not want to give up wealth and station, what
+was love is some way crushed out. But how could I tell if any new love
+was the right thing? I might be mistaken again. And there are fickle
+women in the world I have heard, who can love many times. I don't
+desire to be one of them. Maybe it is only friendship I am fitted
+for."
+
+She was trembling in every pulse, though she had made such a brave
+defence. And she seemed to him a hundred times sweeter than she ever
+had before. He had much ado not to clasp her to his heart. "My dear
+little Daffodil," he said with passionate tenderness, "though you have
+been wooed and said marriage vows, you know nothing about a true and
+fervent love. That was not much beyond a child's fancy, and you have
+overlived it, or you could not be so light-hearted. It is only a dream
+in your life. And I will wait until the woman's soul in you wakes. But
+I shall not let you go from my influence, I shall keep watch and ward,
+and try to win you."
+
+"No, no, I am not worth all that trouble. No, do not try," she
+pleaded.
+
+"I shall take your earlier advice. You said I must marry some charming
+girl and bring her here. No other girl or woman could satisfy M. de
+Ronville as well."
+
+"Did I advise you to do that?" and she blushed daintily. "Well," and
+there was a glint of mischief in her eyes, soft as they were, "once I
+was offered to you, and you declined."
+
+"Offered to me?" in surprise.
+
+"When I was here before. It was in this very library. I was outside,
+and when I knew who was meant I ran away."
+
+"Oh, you were such a child then! And I was doing something that I have
+always despised myself for. I knew a beautiful and fascinating woman,
+who led me to believe she cared a great deal for me. And then she
+laughed at my folly. I deserved it for my blindness. So you see, I too
+had a rude awakening, and found that it was not love, but a mere sham.
+I believe for a month or so I have been trying _not_ to love you,
+shutting my eyes to a longing that stirred all my nature. And now that
+I have admitted it, it has taken a giant's growth in a few hours. I
+will wait until you can give me the true, sincere regard of your soul.
+But I could not let you go until I had settled whether I had any
+ground for hope. Shall we be friends, dear and fond friends, until
+that time? But I want to be loved sincerely, deeply."
+
+She stood like a lovely culprit before him, and then he did enfold her
+in his arms, and pressed his lips against her blushing cheek.
+
+"Oh, I cannot tell--yes, I like you--and you will be good to _him_
+while I am gone. But it is new and strange to me, and I cannot
+promise."
+
+"But there is no one else--tell me that."
+
+"There is no one else. But whether--I can love again;" and there was a
+great tremble in her voice, "whether it would be right."
+
+"Oh, little innocent, you will find the right and the truth some day,
+I feel assured of that. I can trust you to tell me by word or sign
+when that day comes, for I know you will be honest. And now I must go,
+but I take with me a joy that will make glad the days and weeks of
+separation. Oh, my little darling!"
+
+He went out of the house with a proud tread. He would never pause
+until he had won her. His soul was startled and roused by the sudden
+revelation of himself. He had supposed he should marry sometime, after
+his duty was done here, for he could not imagine a woman broad enough
+to share it with him. And here an angel had touched him with her fine
+beneficence, and shown him the duty in a stronger, truer light.
+
+There was not much time for the ardent side of love, though Aldis
+Bartram had to fight with himself for a show of mere friendliness. She
+was to go at ten the next morning, and friends came to escort her.
+
+"And I shall stay and help our good friend to bear the trial of
+parting," declared Madame Clerval. "We will talk over your virtues and
+your shortcomings, the lovers you might have had if you had been an
+astute young woman, and try to shed some sunshine on the doleful days
+until next winter."
+
+There was the maid with some budgets, there was Dr. Langdale, proud
+and serene enough for a lover, and it did rouse a spasm of jealousy in
+the soul of Aldis Bartram. But he knew she was truth itself, and he
+could depend upon her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A REVELATION
+
+
+It was a lovely journey if the term could be applied to the
+old-fashioned stagecoach. But the season of the year, the bloom and
+beauty everywhere, and the pleasant companionship lightened the few
+discomforts for Daffodil. There are natures that refrain from spoiling
+anticipations by cares or perplexities left behind, and hers was one.
+Indeed, hers was not complex, and people, women especially, had not
+learned to crowd so many interests, and fears, and hopes together. She
+would see those she loved the best, yes, she did love them the best of
+all now.
+
+How glad they were to get her back! Yes, there were changes and
+changes. New business plans and firms, old ones enlarged, discoveries
+of coal and iron all about, materials for glass-making, a paper mill
+under consideration.
+
+But the war was not yet over. The advisers of the King had begun to
+adopt a tone of insolence toward the young Republic; indeed, in spite
+of peace being signed, there was still an endeavor to stir up the
+Indians on the outskirts of many of the towns. The Indian villages
+along the Maumee received supplies of arms and ammunition, and were
+fortifying their own forts. The alarm spread down the Ohio. The
+British had not yet given up all the forts they had held in the
+preceding war, in spite of the agreements.
+
+Tired of inaction, Lieutenant Langdale had, with several others,
+offered his services to General Anthony Wayne, as there was great need
+of trained officers. So Mrs. Langdale was doubly delighted with this
+visit of her son, of whom she was quite as proud as of her soldier.
+
+"And I hope you have made good your chance with Daffodil Carrick," she
+said to him a few days after his return. "She'll be quite worth the
+winning, even if the father's money should all go to the son, who is a
+very promising lad, I hear. But they count on having a big place over
+the river, and that is all her share. One of you boys ought to win
+her. I thought it would be Ned. And you have had a chance all winter."
+
+Archibald smiled, but there was no disappointment in it.
+
+"She was a great favorite all through the winter, and she can marry
+any time she likes. But I have too much to do to take upon myself
+family cares, and I think she isn't the sort of girl to be in a hurry.
+We are just fine, sincere friends."
+
+"But I want you to marry. And I've counted on grandchildren. I wish I
+had you both settled just around me. I shall be a lonesome old woman."
+
+"Then when I am rich enough to set up a house, you shall come and live
+with me."
+
+"Do you think Dilly's going to let that miserable mess of a marriage
+spoil all her life?"
+
+"Oh, she is very happy, mother; girls don't marry as young as they
+did, and it is a good thing, too. They have some years of bright, gay
+girlhood, and won't get worn out so soon. Daffodil is a charming
+girl."
+
+"But she's getting quite along, and it isn't like being a widow
+either," said the mother, who thought every girl ought to marry.
+
+Daffodil watched mother and grandmere with longing eyes. Yes,
+grandmere _was_ getting old. Her mother was losing the pretty
+girlishness, but she was very happy in her husband, and her son, who
+was tall and very good-looking, quite toned down in manner.
+
+The house had no more changes. Here was her pretty room. Oh, yes,
+there was a new bright rag carpet on the floor. She went around with a
+tender touch on everything, patting the white pillow-slips,
+straightening a picture or two, and wondering in a curious fashion if
+sometime her brother's wife would be here and a group of merry
+children--she hoped there would be a houseful of them. And gran would
+be a great-grandfather, and sit in the big chair at the corner of the
+fireplace, that he had covered over with buckskin of his own tanning.
+Where she would be she did not plan. Only she would not mind being an
+old maid, she thought.
+
+Everybody in the little circle supposed she would marry Dr. Langdale,
+and were surprised when his mother sorrowfully admitted it was not to
+be.
+
+"There's them that goes through the woods, and picks up a crooked
+stick at the last;" and Norah shook her head resentfully.
+
+"My stick won't be crooked, I promise you," laughed the girl.
+
+"You may have no stick at all and go limping afoot and alone," was the
+curt rejoinder.
+
+She was very happy, why she could hardly tell, for she felt she ought
+not to be. There came a letter with the stamp of the office on it and
+it had two enclosures. Her guardian's was most pleasant and fatherly.
+They missed her very much, but Mrs. Jarvis had taken on a new phase of
+kindliness so that he should not long too much for Daffodil, and Aldis
+was like a son. They went out driving together. And Aldis had grown so
+fond of the garden that he had not used to care much about. The
+weather was fine and he really was quite well for an old gentleman.
+
+She almost dreaded to open the other. A blinding sort of consciousness
+pervaded her as if she were a prisoner, as if there was asked of her
+a curious, undefined surrender that she could hardly understand.
+Before, she had gone on simply and been overtaken, as it were, given
+without knowing just what she gave. Was it because she was older,
+wiser? She had still to learn that there were many mysteries in love
+that only a lifetime could explain.
+
+She let her eyes wander over it in a vague sort of fashion. Did she
+really belong to him? He seemed to take possession of her in a way
+that she could not gainsay, could not even refuse.
+
+But did she want to refuse?
+
+She went out to the keeping room after awhile. Her mother sat alone,
+sewing some trifle. She came and laid both letters in her lap, then
+went and sat on the door sill where a great maple threw its green arms
+about in the soft breeze. There was a cuckoo somewhere, a
+yellow-hammer searching for half-hidden food, and a thrush with his
+long, sweet note.
+
+"Yes," her mother remarked, as if in answer to a question. "He laid
+the matter before your father a month ago in the letter that came with
+you."
+
+"Oh!" Then after a long while--"Mother, it is nothing like it was
+before. Then I did not doubt myself, now I wonder. He is so wise in
+many ways, I feel as if I had to reach up and up and I am a little
+afraid. I have seen so many fine girls in the city. And beautiful
+women."
+
+"The woman a man chooses is the best to him always."
+
+She did not torment herself with the thought that he was doing this
+for her guardian's sake. She felt that he was not the kind of man to
+take the mere crumbs of love while some one else feasted on the heart
+of love divine. What troubled her was whether she could love enough.
+And she hated to think there had been any previous regard. But did he
+not say, too, that he had been fascinated by an unworthy liking?
+
+The summer seemed to check the wave of prosperity and men looked at
+each other in half affright. For no one knew just how the tide might
+turn. When the Indians made their sortie on Fort Recovery word came
+that the garrison had been massacred, but Captain Gibson bravely held
+it in spite of an all-day attack, and at night the enemy retreated.
+General Wayne was in command of all the forces and the Indians made
+various feints, hoping to be joined by the British, who were urging
+them on, but there was no big regular battle until that of Fallen
+Timbers, where a tornado had swept through the woods some time before.
+A few miles below was a British fort, the meeting place of the western
+fur traders. It was a hard fought field, but the victory for the
+Americans was such a signal one that it ended the terror of a frontier
+war that had hung over the border so long.
+
+No town rejoiced more than Pittsburg, which lost some men and was
+proud of heroes who had come through the conflict unscathed. Among
+these was Lieutenant Langdale, whose bravery and foresight gained him
+a captaincy.
+
+"He's a brave fellow!" declared grandad, and Daffodil was glad he had
+won some of the fame and glory for which he had longed.
+
+"It's fine to be a soldier when you can fight and have nothing happen
+to you," declared Felix. "But I wouldn't want to be among the killed.
+There's so many splendid things in life. I hope I will live to be a
+hundred."
+
+There were many matters to share Daffodil's attention, though she did
+miss the bright society and the knowledge branching out on every side.
+Yet these girls who had married half a dozen years ago and had grown
+common and careless with their little ones about them seemed very
+happy. It certainly was an industrious community, but they played as
+they worked. There were games that would have been no discredit to
+modern scores, there was dancing and merriment and happiness as well.
+
+Was Daffodil learning her lesson? Aldis Bartram thought very slowly.
+But he was a man who prized hard won contests. And if with the
+attractive young men about her through the winter she had not been
+won, then she was not an easy prize. He smiled at times over her
+careful and futile reasoning. At least they would have the winter to
+go over the ground. And though he was becoming an ardent lover he was
+not an impatient one.
+
+There are some events and decisions in life that are precipitated by a
+shock, the film that held one in thrall, veiling the clear sight, is
+suddenly disrupted. And this happened to Daffodil Carrick. Her father
+put an English paper in her hand one evening as he came up the path
+where roses were still blooming. It had been remailed in Philadelphia.
+
+"From Madame Clerval," she said with a smile. "Some gay doings, I
+fancy. She has friends in London."
+
+She glanced it over carelessly. The summer struggles had made her more
+of a patriot, and brought to her mind vividly the morning she had run
+out to know the cause of Kirsty Boyle's call and the ringing of his
+bell. A very little girl. She was always glad she had heard it.
+
+She turned the paper to and fro rather impatiently. Oh, what was here
+with the black insignia of death: "_Died, at Hurst Abbey, of a
+malignant fever. Margaretta, wife of Jeffrey, Lord Andsdell, only
+remaining son of the Earl of Wrenham._"
+
+She was not interested in the beauty of the bride, who had been a
+great belle in her day and won no little fame on the stage, nor the
+terrible accident that had deprived the Earl of two older sons and
+two grandsons, paving the way for the succession of Lord Andsdell. She
+shuddered and turned ghostly pale, and was terrified with a strange
+presentiment. But she could not talk of it just yet and was glad Norry
+and grandad came in to spend the evening with them.
+
+The next morning she gave her father a little note with "important"
+written on the corner of the folded paper.
+
+"What now?" enquired her father laughingly, "Did you forget your
+postscript?"
+
+She assented with a nod.
+
+Then she went about her daily duties, but a great terror surged at her
+heart. She was to remember through everything that she was the only
+woman Jeffrey Andsdell loved. Long ago she had cast it out. No doubt
+he had been happy in his ancestral home, at least, he had chosen that,
+well, wisely, too. But to ask that the woman he wronged should cling
+to her burthen!
+
+How slowly the days passed. Aldis Bartram might have been away when
+the note came--he had been to Baltimore on some troublesome
+business--but waiting seemed very hard. And when it drew near to the
+time, she used to take different paths down by the square where the
+stage came in, just far enough away to see, but not be seen, and stand
+with a blushing face and a strange trembling at her heart. One day
+she was rewarded. There was the manly figure, the erect head, the
+firm, yet elastic step. A sudden pride leaped up in her heart.
+
+She waylaid him in a bypath.
+
+"Daffodil!" he cried in surprise. "What has happened?
+
+"Nothing, nothing; I wanted to see you," but her voice trembled. "Come
+this way."
+
+"How mysterious you are!" If she meant to give him his _congé_ she
+could have done it better by letter. And the clasp of her hand on his
+arm had a clinging force.
+
+"There is something for you to see. Let us turn here."
+
+After a space through intervening trees they came to the open, where
+she paused and unfolded a paper she had held in her hand. "Read this,"
+she said, and he stared a moment silently.
+
+One moment, another moment. How still it was, every bird had hushed
+its singing, even the crickets were not chirping.
+
+"He will come back to America. He will come back for you now that he
+is free," Bartram subjoined hoarsely. Should he hold her or let her
+go? Was the old love----
+
+She faced him and slipped both hands over his shoulders, clasped them
+at the back of his neck. It seemed to him he had never seen such an
+entrancing light in her eyes.
+
+"Aldis," she began, with tremulous sweetness, "I would rather be your
+wife than the greatest duchess of them all." And then she hid her
+blushing face on his breast.
+
+It would not be raised, but he kissed the brow, the eyelids, and said
+in a shaken voice:
+
+"Were you afraid----"
+
+Then she raised the sweet face where he saw tears and the quick rifts
+of color, but there were high lights of resolve in the beautiful eyes.
+
+"Not afraid anything could rekindle the glamor of that mistake, nor
+any repentance on his part mend the deception. I was a child then. I
+did not understand the depths that go to the making of a true love.
+All summer I have been learning----"
+
+Then she paused and hid her face again.
+
+"And there is a great deal more to learn, sweetheart. We shall go on
+studying the delightful lesson all our lives, I trust, and never reach
+the bottom of the cup of joy. Daffodil, you have already roused me to
+a wider, higher life. A year ago I would not have been worthy of you.
+Yes, I was blind and self-engrossed then. We will study the sweet
+lesson together."
+
+Then they paused at a fallen log, not the old place that she never
+cared to see again. A little stream came trickling down the high hill
+and there were tender bird voices as accompaniments to the delicious
+confession. It had grown slowly, she was so afraid of another mistake,
+but he would never need to doubt its truth, its duration, its
+comprehensiveness.
+
+It seemed minutes only and yet held the mysterious sweetness of hours.
+Then she heard a voice calling.
+
+"Why--see! It is almost night! And that is Felix's voice. Oh, what
+have I been doing?" and she rose in a startled manner.
+
+"We will explain our iniquity," he said laughingly.
+
+They met Felix. "Oh!" he exclaimed in surprise. "We couldn't think!
+And we had supper."
+
+Then mother said, "Why, did you come in the stage? That was here hours
+ago," to Mr. Bartram, in a wondering tone.
+
+"Yes; but we had a good deal of business to settle. I hope you didn't
+eat up all the supper?"
+
+He studied them both curiously. Daffodil's face was scarlet.
+
+"Mr. Bartram, are you going to marry her?" he asked with a boy's frank
+eagerness.
+
+"I hope to. Are you going to object?"
+
+"No," rather reluctantly. "Only I wish you were going to live here."
+
+Bernard Carrick had gone downtown. It showed the strides Pittsburg had
+made when there was already a downtown. Barbe stood in the doorway
+watching, for now the sky was growing gray with coming evening. But
+before Mr. Bartram spoke, she knew. One of the delights of the other
+engagement had been the certainty of keeping her daughter, now the
+pang of separation pierced her to the quick.
+
+"Mrs. Carrick," he said in an appealing tone, "will you take me for a
+son?" but Daffodil kissed her.
+
+They did not want much supper, but the others returned to the table
+and talked. He had only come for a few days, but he begged that they
+might have a wedding in the early fall, just as soon as possible
+indeed, for the journey was so long they could not afford to waste
+much time in courtship. They must be lovers afterward.
+
+So, after much discussion to shorten the time, mid-September was
+settled upon.
+
+"Oh," Daffodil said in her most adorable tone, "I shall pray daily
+that nothing will befall you, that God will send you back safely to
+me."
+
+"And I shall be praying for you. Love surely opens one's heart to
+God."
+
+There was not much to be made ready. The girl laid aside this and that
+for the son's wife when he should take one, "for," said she, "there is
+so much in my new house already. And Felix must marry young, so you
+will have a new daughter in my place."
+
+She would not be married in church nor wear the olden wedding gown.
+"Let it skip a generation," she said, "and that may change the luck."
+
+So the time came and the lover so full of impatience. She would have
+the ceremony in the old room that had been so interwoven with her
+life, and she fancied the spirit of great-grandfather was sitting
+there in the old chair and she went for his blessing.
+
+The little girl passed out of Old Pittsburg and left behind lonely
+hearts. Grandad could not be reconciled, there were some fine young
+fellows in the town that would make good husbands. But Norah gave her
+a blessing and the best of wishes. So Daffodil Bartram went out to her
+new life, wondering how one could be so glad and happy when they were
+leaving behind so much love.
+
+Old Pittsburg did not vanish with the little girl, however. But she
+went on her way steadily, industriously. The new century came in with
+great acclaim. Shipbuilding prospered. Iron foundries sprang up. The
+glass works went from the eight pots and the capacity of three boxes
+at a blowing to double that number, then doubled it again. The
+primitive structure erected by George Anshuts before the century ended
+was the progenitor of many others sending their smoke defiantly up in
+the clear sky. And all along the Monogahela valley as well as in
+other places the earth gave up its stores of coal as it had given up
+its stores of iron.
+
+And in 1816 Pittsburg was incorporated as a city and had a mayor and
+aldermen and her own bank. It was a new Pittsburg then, a hive of
+human industry, where one business after another gathered and where
+fortunes were evolved from real work, and labor reaps a rich reward.
+
+There are not many of the old things left. The block house built in
+1764 by Colonel Bouquet still stands. A great depot covers the site of
+the ancient Fort, and the spot of Braddock's defeat. But there are
+Duquesne Heights, all her hills have not been levelled, if most of the
+old things have passed away. She is the workshop of the world now, one
+writer calls her "the most unique city in the world." And she has not
+neglected the finer arts of beautifying. She has magnificent
+buildings, fine libraries, and cultivated people, musical societies,
+and half a hundred benevolent institutions. And we must not forget
+that in six days after the firing on Fort Sumter a company of
+Pittsburgers marched to Washington and offered their services to the
+secretary of war.
+
+If the little girl had vanished, Daffodil Bartram found much happiness
+in the new home. M. de Ronville was not only delighted, but grateful
+over his two children who were not of kindred blood, but of the finer
+and higher kin of love. There came children to the household, three
+boys and one golden-haired girl, but he did not quite reach the years
+of his friend Duvernay. And when the two older sons were grown they
+cast their lot with Allegheny City, which in the course of time grew
+into a lovely residential city, free from smoke and dust and noise,
+and theirs proved a noble patrimony. The Bartrams still had a son and
+daughter, and the journey to Pittsburg no longer had to be made in a
+stage coach.
+
+Felix Duvernay Carrick made one of the notable citizens of the town,
+the author of several useful inventions and a most thriving business
+man, not needing any of his sister's fortune, for grandad left him
+one, beside the one he was making with his brains and industry. And
+Barbe was a happy grandmother to a merry flock, but she would never
+leave the old house, though the farm was cut up by streets and houses
+crowded in upon them. And she kept her bed of daffodils to the very
+last.
+
+If there was not so much romance, it was the old story of the
+Rhinegelt of the land and the rivers yielding up such treasures as few
+cities possess, but without the tragedy of their legend. Work and
+thrift and the ingenuity of man have reared a magnificent city.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE LITTLE GIRL SERIES
+
+By AMANDA M. DOUGLAS
+
+ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES
+
+HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING PRICE, 60 CENTS
+
+A series of stories for girls by that popular author, Amanda M.
+Douglas, in which are described something of the life and times of the
+early days of the places wherein the stories are located. Now for the
+first time published in a cheap edition.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK
+
+This is a pretty story of life in New York 60 years ago. The story is
+charmingly told. The book is full of vivacious narrative, describing
+the amusements, employments and the social and domestic life of Old
+New York.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON
+
+The story deals with the bringing up of little Doris by these Boston
+people, who were her nearest relatives. It is a series of pictures of
+life in Boston ninety years ago.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BALTIMORE
+
+This tells the story of how a little girl grew up in a Southern city a
+hundred years ago. A host of characters of all sorts--women, children,
+slaves, rich people and poor people, fill the pages.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD PITTSBURG
+
+An interesting picture is given of the pioneer settlement and its
+people; while the heroine, Daffodil, is a winsome lass who develops
+into a charming woman.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL OF LONG AGO
+
+This story is a sequel to A Little Girl in Old New York. This is a
+book for girls and boys of the present age, who will enjoy going back
+to the old times.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD CHICAGO
+
+Ruth Gaynor comes to Chicago with her father when she is but eight or
+nine years old. Ruth is a keen observer and makes a capital heroine.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW ORLEANS
+
+The story gives a very picturesque account of the life in the old
+Creole city. It is a well told and interesting story with a historical
+background.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD SAN FRANCISCO
+
+This is the story of the little Maine girl who went to live in the
+strange new city of the Golden Gate; she grows up a bright and
+charming girl.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD WASHINGTON
+
+This story carries one back to Washington, a city then in its infancy.
+The story throws a strong light on the early customs and life of the
+people.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD PHILADELPHIA
+
+Little Primrose was the child of Friends, or Quakers. The author tells
+Primrose's experiences among very strict Quakers, and then among
+worldly people.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC
+
+The heroine is called "The Rose of Quebec." The picturesque life of
+this old French city, as seen through the eyes of the little girl, is
+here pictured.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD SALEM
+
+Cynthia Leveritt lived in old Salem about one hundred years ago.
+Cynthia grows up, and so dear a girl could scarce have failed to have
+a romance develop. The book will be enjoyed by all girls.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD ST. LOUIS
+
+This story will give a delightful treat to any girl who reads it. The
+early days of this historical old city are depicted in a manner at
+once true and picturesque.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD DETROIT
+
+The stirring times in which the little girl lived, and the social life
+of a bygone age are depicted very happily. The heroine is a charming
+girl.
+
+
+
+
+The Girl Comrade's Series
+
+
+ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS.
+
+ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES.
+
+A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular
+authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and
+full of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting
+motives, vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl
+readers.
+
+HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING.
+
+PRICE, 60 CENTS.
+
+
+=A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER.= By I. T. Thurston.
+
+=ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls.= By Fanny E. Newberry.
+
+=ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls.= By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+=ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl.= By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+=BUBBLES. A Girl's Story.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+=COMRADES.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+=DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story.= By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+=HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN.= By Adelaide L. Rouse.
+
+=JOYCE'S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+=MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+=MISS ASHTON'S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl's Story.= By Mrs. S. S. Robbins.
+
+=NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+=ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+=SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls.= By Fannie E. Newberry.
+
+
+
+
+The Girl Chum's Series
+
+
+ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS.
+
+ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES.
+
+A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular
+authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and
+full of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting
+motives, vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl
+readers.
+
+HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING.
+
+PRICE, 60 CENTS.
+
+
+=BENHURST, CLUB, THE.= By Howe Benning.
+
+=BERTHA'S SUMMER BOARDERS.= By Linnie S. Harris.
+
+=BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West.= By Joy Allison.
+
+=DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story.= By Caroline B. Le Row.
+
+=FUSSBUDGET'S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls.= By Anna F. Burnham.
+
+=HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A.= By Elizabeth Cummings.
+
+=JOLLY TEN, THE; and Their Year of Stories.= By Agnes Carr Sage.
+
+=KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl's Story of Factory Life.= By M. E. Winslow.
+
+=LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls.= By M. L. Thornton-Wilder.
+
+=MAJORIBANKS. A Girl's Story.= By Elvirton Wright.
+
+=MISS CHARITY'S HOUSE.= By Howe Benning.
+
+=MISS ELLIOT'S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls.= By Mary Spring Corning.
+
+=MISS MALCOLM'S TEN. A Story For Girls.= By Margaret E. Winslow.
+
+=ONE GIRL'S WAY OUT.= By Howe Benning.
+
+=PEN'S VENTURE.= By Elvirton Wright.
+
+=RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls.= By Marion Thorne.
+
+=THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life.= By M. E. Winslow.
+
+
+
+
+The Boy Spies Series
+
+These stories are based on important historical events, scenes wherein
+boys are prominent characters being selected. They are the romance of
+history, vigorously told, with careful fidelity to picturing the home
+life and accurate in every particular wherein mention is made of
+movement of troops, or the doings of noted persons.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES WITH LAFAYETTE. The story of how two boys joined the
+Continental Army.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. The story of two young spies under
+Commodore Barney.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES WITH THE REGULATORS. The story of how the boys assisted
+the Carolina Patriots to drive the British from that State.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES WITH THE SWAMP FOX. The story of General Marion and his
+young spies.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES AT YORKTOWN. The story of how the spies helped General
+Lafayette in the Siege of Yorktown.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES OF PHILADELPHIA. The story of how the young spies helped
+the Continental Army at Valley Forge.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES AT FORT GRISWOLD. The story of the part they took in its
+brave defense.
+
+By William P. Chipman. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE BOY SPIES OF OLD NEW YORK. The story of how the young spies
+prevented the capture of General Washington.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+
+
+The Navy Boys Series
+
+These stories are based on important historical naval events, scenes
+wherein boys are prominent characters being selected. They are the
+romance of history, vigorously told, with careful fidelity to
+picturing the life on ship-board, and accurate in every particular
+wherein mention is made of movement of vessels or the doings of noted
+persons.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE WITH PAUL JONES. A boys' story of a cruise with
+the Great Commodore in 1776.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS ON LAKE ONTARIO. The story of two boys and their
+adventures in the war of 1812.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE ON THE PICKERING. A boy's story of privateering
+in 1780.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS IN NEW YORK BAY. A story of three boys who took command
+of the schooner "The Laughing Mary," the first vessel of the American
+Navy.
+
+By James Otis. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS IN THE TRACK OF THE ENEMY. The story of a remarkable
+cruise with the Sloop of War "Providence" and the Frigate "Alfred."
+
+By William P. Chipman. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS' DARING CAPTURE. The story of how the navy boys helped
+to capture the British Cutter "Margaretta," in 1775.
+
+By William P. Chipman. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS. The adventures of two Yankee
+Middies with the first cruise of an American Squadron in 1775.
+
+By William P. Chipman. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE WITH COLUMBUS. The adventures of two boys who
+sailed with the great Admiral in his discovery of America.
+
+By Frederick A. Ober. Cloth. Price 60 cents.
+
+
+
+
+The Boy Chums Series
+
+By WILMER M. ELY
+
+Handsome Cloth Binding. Price, 60 Cents Per Volume.
+
+In this series of remarkable stories by Wilmer M. Ely are described
+the adventures of two boy chums--Charley West and Walter Hazard--in
+the great swamps of interior Florida and among the cays off the
+Florida Coast, and through the Bahama Islands. These are real, live
+boys, and their experiences are well worth following. If you read one
+book you will surely be anxious for those that are to follow.
+
+
+THE BOY CHUMS ON INDIAN RIVER, or The Boy Partners of the Schooner
+"Orphan."
+
+In this story Charley West and Walter Hazard meet deadly rattlesnakes;
+have a battle with a wild panther; are attacked by outlaws; their boat
+is towed by a swordfish; they are shipwrecked by a monster manatee
+fish, and pass safely through many exciting scenes of danger.
+
+
+THE BOY CHUMS ON HAUNTED ISLAND, or Hunting for Pearls in the Bahama
+Islands.
+
+This book tells the story of the boy chums, Charley West and Walter
+Hazard, whose adventures on the schooner "Eager Quest," hunting for
+pearls among the Bahama Islands, are fully recorded. Their hairbreadth
+escapes from the treacherous quicksands and dangerous water spouts;
+how they lost their vessel and were cast away on a lonely island, and
+their escape therefrom are fully told.
+
+
+THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST, or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida
+Everglades.
+
+The story of the boy chums hunting the blue herons and the pink and
+white egrets for their plumes in the forests of Florida is full of
+danger and excitement. How the chums encountered the Indians; their
+battles with the escaped convicts; their fight with the wild boars and
+alligators are fully told.
+
+
+THE BOY CHUMS' PERILOUS CRUISE, or Searching for Wreckage on the
+Florida Coast.
+
+This story of the boy chums' adventures on and off the Florida Coast
+describes many scenes of daring and adventure, in hunting for ships
+stranded and cargoes washed ashore. The boy chums passed through many
+exciting scenes, on shore and island; and the loss of their vessel,
+the "Eager Quest," they will long remember.
+
+
+THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO, or a Dangerous Cruise with the
+Greek Spongers.
+
+This story of the boy chums, Charley West and Walter Hazard, hunting
+for sponges, is filled with many adventures. The dangers of gathering
+sponges are fully described; the chums meet with sharks and
+alligators; and they are cast away on a desert island. Their rescue
+and arrival home make a most interesting story.
+
+
+
+
+The Boy Scout Series
+
+By HERBERT CARTER
+
+New stories of Camp Life, telling the wonderful and thrilling
+adventures of the Boys of the Silver Fox Patrol. HANDSOME CLOTH
+BINDINGS.
+
+PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME
+
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS FIRST CAMP FIRE; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox
+Patrol.
+
+This book, every up-to-date Boy Scout will want to read. It is
+brimming over with thrilling adventure, woods lore and the story of
+the wonderful experiences that befel the Cranford troop of Boy Scouts
+when spending a part of their vacation in the wilderness. The story is
+clean and wholesome in tone, yet with not a dull line from cover to
+cover.
+
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners.
+
+Those lads who have read The Boy Scouts First Camp Fire and followed
+the fortunes of Thad Brewster, the Young Patrol leader, will be
+delighted to read this story. It tells of the strange and mysterious
+adventures that happened to the Patrol in their trip through the
+"mountains of the sky" in the Moonshiners' Paradise of the old Tar
+Heel State, North Carolina. When you start to read you will not lay
+the book down until the last word has been reached.
+
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; or, Scouting through the Big Game
+Country.
+
+In this story the Boy Scouts once more find themselves in camp and
+following the trail. The story recites the many adventures that befel
+the members of the Silver Fox Patrol with wild animals of the forest
+trails, as well as the desperate men who had sought a refuge in this
+lonely country, making most delightful reading for every lad who has
+red blood in his veins. This is a story which every boy will be glad
+to read and recommend to his chums.
+
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The New Test for the Silver Fox
+Patrol.
+
+In the rough field of experience the tenderfoots and greenhorns of the
+Silver Fox Patrol are fast learning to take care of themselves when
+abroad. Many of the secrets of the woods, usually known only to old
+hunters and trappers, are laid bare to the eyes of the reader. Thad
+and his chums have a wonderful experience when they are employed by
+the State of Maine to act as Fire Wardens, since every year terrible
+conflagrations sweep through the pine forests, doing great damage.
+
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; or, The Search for the Lost
+Tenderfoot.
+
+A serious calamity threatens the Silver Fox Patrol when on one of
+their vacation trips to the wonderland of the great Northwest. How
+apparent disaster is bravely met and overcome by Thad and his friends,
+forms the main theme of the story, which abounds in plenty of humor,
+rollicking situations, hairbreadth escapes and thrilling adventures,
+such as all boys like to read about. If you ever dream of camping out
+in the woods, here you may learn how to do it.
+
+
+THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Secret of The Hidden Silver
+Mine.
+
+By this time the boys of the Silver Fox Patrol have learned through
+experience how to rough it upon a long hike. Their last tour takes
+them into the wildest region of the great Rocky Mountains, and here
+they meet with many strange adventures that severely test their grit,
+as well as their ability to grapple with emergencies. This is one of
+the most interesting of the stories in the Boy Scout Series,--the
+experiences of Thad Brewster and his Cranford troop abounds in plenty
+of humor, and hairbreadth escapes.
+
+
+For sale by all booksellers, or sent post-paid on receipt of price by
+the publishers, A. L. BURT COMPANY, 52-58 Duane Street, New York
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Girl in Old Pittsburg, by 
+Amanda M. Douglas
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43769 ***