X. Dreaming 144 XI. Something New 158 XII. Richmond House gets a Mistress 171 XIII. Awakening 184 XIV. A Dream Coming True 200 XV. Sowing the Wind 215 XVI. Reaping the Whirlwind 233 XVII. Gone 250 XVIII. The Dawn of Another Day 267 XIX. Desolation 283 XX. Found and Lost 298 XXI. Charley's Crime 314 XXII. The Sun Rises 330 XXIII. Over the World 340 XXIV. At Last 354 XXV. "After Tears and Weeping, He Poureth in Joyfulness." 369 XXVI. "Last Scene of All." 382 THE ACTRESS' DAUGHTER. CHAPTER I. CHRISTMAS EVE. "Heap on more wood! the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our Christmas merry still."--SCOTT. "Lor! Lor! what a night it is any way. Since I was first born, and that's thirty-five--no, forty-five years come next June, I never heern sich win' as that there, fit to tear the roof off! Well, this is Christmas Eve, and we ginerally do hev a spell o' weather 'bout this time. Here you Fly! Fly! you little black imp you! if you don't stop that falling asleep over the fire, and stir your lazy stumps, I'll tie you up and give you such a switchin' as you never had in all your born days. Ar-r-r-r! there I vow to Sam if that derned old tabby cat hain't got her nose stuck into the apple sass! Scat! you hussy! Fly-y-y! you ugly little black ace-o'-spades! _will_ you wake up afore I twist your neck for you?" And the speaker of this spirited address--a tall, thin, pasteboard female, as erect as a ramrod and as flat as a shingle, with a hard, uncompromising face, and a hawk-like gray eye, caught hold of the drowsy little darkey nodding in the chimney-corner, and shook her as if she had been a flourishing little fruit tree in harvest time. "P-please, Miss Jerry, 'scuse me--I didn't go for to do it," stammered Fly, with a very wide-awake and startled face. "I wasn't asleep, old Mist--"