Produced by Sandra Laythorpe MAGNUM BONUM or, Mother Carey’s Brood By Charlotte M. Yonge LIST OF CONTENTS. I. JOE BROWNLOW’S FANCY II. THE CHICKENS III. THE WHITE SLATE IV. THE STRAY CHICKENS V. BRAINS AND NO BRAINS VI. ENCHANTED GROUND VII. THE COLONEL’S CHICKENS VIII. THE FOLLY IX. FLIGHTS X. ELLEN’S MAGNUM BONUMS XI. UNDINE XII. KING MIDAS XIII. THE RIVAL HEIRESSES XIV. PUMPING AWAY XV. THE BELFOREST MAGNUM BONUM XVI. POSSESSION XVII. POPINJAY PARLOUR XVIII. AN OFFER FOR MAGNUM BONUM XIX. THE SNOWY WINDING-SHEET XX. A RACE XXI. AN ACT OF INDEPENDENCE XXII. SHUTTING THE STABLE DOOR XXIII. THE LOST TREASURE XXIV. THE ANGEL MOUNTAIN XXV. THE LAND OF AFTERNOON XXVI. MOONSHINE XXVII. BLUEBEARD’S CLOSET XXVIII. THE TURN OF THE WHEEL XXIX. FRIENDS AND UNFRIENDS XXX. AS WEEL OFF AS AYE WAGGING XXXI. SLACK TIDE XXXII. THE COST XXXIII. BITTER FAREWELLS XXXIV. BLIGHTED BEINGS XXXV. THE PHANTOM BLACKCOCK OF KILNAUGHT XXXVI. OF NO CONSEQUENCE XXXVII. THE TRAVELLER’S JOY XXXVIII. THE TRUST FULFILLED XXXIX. THE TRUANT XL. EVIL OUT OF GOOD XLI. GOOD OUT OF EVIL XLII. DISENCHANTED MAGNUM BONUM OR, MOTHER CAREY’S BROOD CHAPTER I.--JOE BROWNLOW’S FANCY. The lady said, “An orphan’s fate Is sad and hard to bear.”--Scott. “Mother, you could do a great kindness.” “Well, Joe?” “If you would have the little teacher at the Miss Heath’s here for the holidays. After all the rest, she has had the measles last and worst, and they don’t know what to do with her, for she came from the asylum for officers’ daughters, and has no home at all, and they must go away to have the house purified. They can’t take her with them, for their sister has children, and she will have to roam from room to room before the whitewashers, which is not what I should wish in the critical state of chest left by measles.” “What is her name?” “Allen. The cry was always for Miss Allen when the sick girls wanted to be amused.” “Allen! I wonder if it can be the same child as the one Robert was interested about. You don’t remember, my dear. It was the year you were at Vienna, when one of Robert’s brother-officers died on the voyage out to China, and he sent home urgent letters for me to canvass right and left for the orphan’s election. You know Robert writes much better than he speaks, and I copied over and over again his account of the poor young man to go with the cards. ‘Caroline Otway Allen, aged seven years, whole orphan, daughter of Captain Allen, l07th Regiment;’ yes, that’s the way it ran.” “The year I was at Vienna, and Robert went out to China. That was eleven years ago. She must be the very child, for she is only eighteen. They sent her to Miss Heath’s to grow a little older, for though she was at the head of everything at the asylum, she looks so childish that they can’t send her out as a governess. Did you see her, mother?”