Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. [Illustration: THE NEW DRESS HAD A LARGE INK STAIN ON IT.] HIDDEN SEED: OR A YEAR IN A GIRL'S LIFE. BY EMMA LESLIE Author of "Gytha's Message;" "Glacia the Greek Slave;" "Tom Watkin's Mistake;" &c. _ILLUSTRATED._ [Illustration: Lucem Libris Disseminamus.] LONDON BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. GLASGOW AND DUBLIN CONTENTS. ———— CHAP. I. A RESOLUTION II. THE INVITATION III. THE INKED DRESS IV. THE SOWER AND THE SEED V. THE MUSICAL PARTY VI. A NEW TROUBLE VII. EXPLANATIONS VIII. CONCLUSION [Illustration] HIDDEN SEED: OR, A YEAR IN A GIRL'S LIFE. —————— CHAPTER I. A RESOLUTION. "I AM fifteen to-day—fifteen," and the speaker rose from her seat near the table and walked to the window that opened upon a pleasant old-fashioned garden. "Mr. Rose said on Sunday that we ought early to form a plan for our life work, and I have formed mine—I mean to be a missionary to the heathen." At this point she was interrupted by a knock at the door, and the next minute the housemaid appeared. "If you please, Miss Mabel, your mamma wishes you to begin your music practice now." "Oh, very well, I'm coming, Ann," said the young lady petulantly. But she turned to the window again and went on talking to herself. "How very tiresome it is of mamma to want me to keep on with these lessons! I am almost a woman now, and of what use will music and German be to me by and by? I don't mean to live a frivolous fashionable life. I mean to be of some use in the world, and I must tell mamma to-day that I have promised to help Mrs. Rose with the work among the poor." But now there came another interruption, and her sister Mary, a lively girl about twelve years old, bounced into the room, without the ceremony of knocking at the door. "Now, Mary, go out; this is my room. You know mamma gave it to me to be my own, and you are only to come in when you are invited." "Humph!" exclaimed Mary, standing still and surveying the whole. "I should call it a den, or an old curiosity shop, or a lumber-room."