Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
"It is safe enough. I'm tired of it, and don't care if I never see it
again." And Daisy packed away, and laughed as she smoothed the white
dress in its tray, remembering that it was paid for by the sale of the
old necklace.
"Give it to me, then. I like it immensely; it's so odd. I'll exchange
for anything of mine you choose. Will you?" asked Laura, who seemed bent
on asking inconvenient questions.
"I shall have to tell, or she will think me very ungrateful,"--and Daisy
felt a pang of regret even then, for Laura's offer was a generous one.
"Like G. W., 'I cannot tell a lie;' so I must 'fess' that I sold the old
thing, and spent the money for something I wanted very much,--not
jewelry, but something to give away."
Daisy was spared further confessions by the entrance of Mrs. Vaughn,
with a box in her hand.
"I have room for something more. Give me that, Laura, it will just fit
in;" and taking the little casket, she added, "Mary White wants to try
on your dress, dear. Go at once; I will help Daisy."
Laura went, and her mother stood looking down at the kneeling girl with
an expression of affectionate satisfaction which would have puzzled
Daisy, had she seen it.
"Has the visit been a pleasant one, my dear?"
"Oh, very! I can't thank you enough for the good it has done me. I hope
I can pay a little of the debt next summer, if you come our way again,"
cried Daisy, looking up with a face full of gratitude.
"We shall probably go to Europe for the summer. Laura is a good age for
it now, and we shall all enjoy it."
"How splendid! We shall miss you dreadfully, but I'm glad you are
going, and I hope Laura will find time to write me now and then. I shall
want to know how she likes the 'foreign parts' we've talked about so
much."
"You _shall_ know. We won't forget you, my dear," and with a caressing
touch on the smiling yet wistful face upturned to hers, Mrs. Vaughn went
away to pack the empty jewel-box, leaving Daisy to drop a few
irrepressible tears on the new gown, over the downfall of her summer
hopes, and the longings all girls feel for that enchanted world that
lies beyond the sea.
"We shall see you before we go, so we won't gush now," said Laura, as
she bade her friend good-by, adding in a whisper, "Some folks can have
secrets as well as other folks, and be as sly. So don't think you have
all the fun to yourself, you dear, good, generous darling."
Daisy looked bewildered, and Mrs. Vaughn added to her surprise by
kissing her very warmly as she said:
"I wanted to find a good friend for my spoiled girl, and I think I have
succeeded."
There was no time for explanation, and all the way home Daisy kept
wondering what they meant. But she forgot everything when she saw the
dear faces beaming at the door, and ran straight into her mother's arms,
while Janey hugged the trunk till her turn came for something better.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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