Acadians -- History -- Juvenile fiction; Nova Scotia -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction; Vacations -- Juvenile fiction
* * * * *
One dull afternoon Amy and Priscilla, wandering about, found their way
into the Parliament building, and after admiring the stately old
portraits in the rooms of the historical society, spent an hour or two
over some of the old books and papers in the archives. This was
especially gratifying to Priscilla, because she was thus able to satisfy
her curiosity about the exiled Loyalists. Their sufferings seemed all
the more real when written out in detail in these old manuscript
volumes, and as she read, she sighed. The sigh was not wholly for the
miseries of the past. That very morning she had received a letter from
Eunice that had set her thinking.
"I am so glad [wrote Eunice] that you like Halifax. But it
there--in the capital of our Province? Sometimes it seems as
if I should never go anywhere, though Balfour says that he
will send me to college, that I can depend on that. But that
will be only to Acadia, and I shall have to wait so long,
until he has a law practice--and when will that be? Besides,
he thinks now that he may have to stay out of college a
year, if not give it up altogether. It's the mortgage on the
house. There's some kind of trouble about it, and Balfour is
determined not to let it go. It would just break mother's
heart. But I oughtn't to make this a complaining letter,
when one of the pleasantest things this summer--or any
summer--has been my acquaintance with you,--and the others,
too, of course, though I didn't know them so well. Please
give them my love, but the most for yourself.
"Your affectionate
"EUNICE."
Now Eunice was really so fond of Priscilla that nothing was farther from
her thoughts than to make her friend unhappy. Yet such was Priscilla's
sympathy for her Annapolis friend that the remembrance of the letter
made her feel sad, even as she sat with Amy in the old library.
"If papa had only lived," she thought, "I could have asked him to do
something, but now,--why, Eunice herself would be surprised to know how
little pocket money I have. Not that Eunice wants anything, but it would
be so delightful to pay off that mortgage, and then make sure that
Balfour could get through college, and then see him put Eunice through
college, and then perhaps she could come up and take post-graduate work
with me at Radcliffe." Then, amused at the rapidity with which her
thoughts were running away with her, for Priscilla had not yet passed
her own finals for college, she laughed aloud. Unexpectedly the clouds
had been chased away.
"Priscilla," said Amy, "I am delighted to hear you laugh. You have been
altogether too quiet to-day. Surely you are not homesick again."
"Oh, no, not homesick, only thinking."
"Tell me then, so that I may laugh too,--unless it's a secret."
"Oh, no, it's hardly worth mentioning; besides, it has ended in a
foolish wish--if only I had money like Martine!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account