Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net OLD KENSINGTON BY MISS THACKERAY LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1908. [_All rights reserved_] T'is life whereof our nerves are scant, Oh! life, not death, for which we pant, More life and fuller that I want. Alfred Tennyson. A DEDICATION _TO SOME NEW FRIENDS._ Sometimes new friends meet one along the mid-way of life, and come forward with sweet unknown faces and with looks that seem strangely familiar to greet us. To some of these new friends I must dedicate my story. It was begun ten years ago, and is older than my god-daughter Margie herself, who is the oldest among them. She is playing with her sister and her little cousins in the sunny Eton nurseries. Harry has a crown on. Annie is a queen who flies on errands. Ada and Lilly are Court ladies. My neighbour Dolly and the little Dorotheas, however, have a first right to a presentation copy. It is true that the little ones cannot read, but they need not regret it; for Margie will take them on her knee and show them the pictures, and Georgie and Stella and Molly shall stand round too, and dark-eyed little Margaret can tell them her own sweet little stories, while Francis chimes in from the floor. Eleanor cannot talk, but she can sing; and so can our Laura at home and her song is her own; a sweet home song; the song of all children to those who love them. It tells of the past, and one day brings it back without a pang; it tells of a future, not remorselessly strange and chill and unknown, but bound to us by a thousand hopes and loving thoughts--a kingdom-come for us all, not of strangers, but of little children. And meanwhile Laura, measures the present with her soft little fingers as she beats time upon her mother's hand to her own vague music. 8 Southwell Gardens: _March 20, 1873_ CONTENTS. I. BRICKS AND IVY II. DUTCH TILES III. TO OLD STREET BY THE LANES IV. AN AFTERNOON AT PENFOLD'S V. STEEL PENS AND GOOSE QUILLS VI. DOWNSTAIRS IN THE DARK VII. CLOUD-CAPPED TOWERS AND GORGEOUS PALACES VIII. IMMORTELLES IX. THE BOW-WINDOWED HOUSE X. A SNOW GARDEN XI. RABAN MEETS THE SHABBY ANGEL XII. DOROTHEA BY FIRELIGHT XIII. LITTLE BROTHER AND LITTLE SISTER XIV. RAG DOLLS XV. GEORGE'S TUNES XVI. A WALKING PARTY XVII. 'INNER LIFE' XVIII. AN AUTUMN MORNING XIX. KENSINGTON PALACE CHAPEL XX. RHODA TO DOLLY XXI. CINDERS XXII. MRS. PALMER XXIII. THE TERRACE AT ALL SAINTS' COLLEGE XXIV. ROSES HAVE THORNS, AND SILVER FOUNTAINS MUD XXV. GOOD-NIGHT XXVI. GOOD-MORNING XXVII. LOVE LANE FROM KENSINGTON TO FULHAM XXVIII. UNBORN TO-MORROW AND DEAD YESTERDAY XXIX. UNDER THE GREAT DOME XXX. WAVE OR FLAME XXXI. A BOAT UPON THE WATER XXXII. TRUST ME XXXIII. CIRCUMSTANCE XXXIV. WHITE ROSES XXXV. 'ONLY GEORGE' XXXVI. THE SLOW SAD HOURS XXXVII. IN AN EMPTY ROOM