"My dear," said Edina, bending nearer to her, her sweet voice sounding
like music, "that some grievance or other is especially trying you, I
think I cannot mistake. But oh, remember one thing, and take comfort.
In the very brightest and happiest lot, lurks always some sorrow.
Every rose, however lovely, must have its thorn. We ought not, in the
true interest of our lives, to wish it otherwise. God sends clouds,
Margaret, as well as sunshine. He will guard you whilst trouble lasts,
if you only bear patiently and put yourself under His care; and He
will bring you out of trouble in His own good time. _Trust to Him_, my
dear, for He is a sure refuge."
And when Edina had left, Frank escorting her through the more narrow
streets, Daisy burst into tears, and sobbed bitterly. Indulging this
jealousy might be very gratifying to her temper; but it had lasted
long, and at times she felt ill and weak.
"If God cared for me He would punish that Rosaline Bell," was her
comment on Edina's words. "Lay her up with a broken leg, or
something."
CHAPTER VI.
UNDER THE CHURCH WALLS.
"I cannot buy the bonnet unless you will make the alteration at once.
Now: so that I may take it home with me in the carriage."
The speaker was Mrs. Townley. Daisy was spending the day with her in
Westbourne Terrace, and they had come out shopping. Mrs. Townley had
fallen in love with a bonnet she saw in a milliner's window in Oxford
Street; she entered the shop and offered to buy the bonnet, subject to
some alteration. The proprietor of the business seemed rather
unwilling to make it.
"I assure you, madam, it looks better as it is," she urged. "Were we
to substitute blue flowers for the grey and carry the side higher, it
would take away all its style at once."
Mrs. Townley somewhat hesitated. If there was one thing she went in
for, above all else, it was "style." But she liked to have her own way
also, and thought a great deal of her own taste.
"Three parts of these milliners object to any suggested alteration
only to save themselves trouble," she said aside to Daisy. "Don't you
think it would look better as I propose?"
"I hardly know," replied Daisy. "If we could first see the alteration,
we might be able to judge."
But, to make the change, unless the bonnet was first bought, Madame
François, the milliner, absolutely refused. It would ruin it, she
said, for another customer. Of course she would alter it, if madam
insisted after purchasing the bonnet; but she must again express her
opinion that it would spoil its style.
The discussion was carried on with animation, madame's accent being
decidedly English, in spite of her name. Mrs. Townley still urged her
own opinion, but less strenuously; for she would not have risked
losing the "style" for the world.
"I will call my head milliner," said madame at length. "Her taste is
very superior. Mam'selle, go and ask Miss Bell to step here."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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