The Daughters of the Little Grey HouseTaggart, Marion Ames
General
The Daughters of the Little Grey House
Taggart, Marion Ames
Families -- Juvenile fiction
"She goes from glory to glory, revelling in admiration, luxury and all
the honey-pots of the world open in a row, pouring their sweetness
over her," said Rob. "Mardy will not let her marry till spring, you
know, but I suppose she will be with Arthur's aunt a great deal this
winter--this aunt took Arthur's mother's place when she died, you
remember, don't you? So it is really like letting Prue go to her future
mother-in-law. Mardy can hardly help it. Besides, Prue is nearly beside
herself with happiness, and the only fly in her honey is that she can't
afford to dress like the girls she meets, but even that trouble will
drop off when she is Arthur's wife. Isn't it strange that Prue should
have got what she wanted, when she aimed at something so far beyond her
reach, apparently?" And Rob sighed unconsciously.
"It is a great joy to know that all three of you dearest girls are
finding such perfect joy," said Cousin Peace, while Polly climbed into
Rob's lap at the sound of the sigh.
"Hester has done a nice thing, did you know it?" asked Rob, as if
anxious to get the conversation into safe waters.
"Hester does nothing but nice things," said Miss Charlotte. "What is
this particular one?"
"She has persuaded her father to rent three rooms in Myrtle Hasbrook's
house for the Baldwins to use when they come to Fayre. Since Green
Pastures is succeeding and is a permanent institution Hester made her
father see they ought to have a place in Fayre that was their own. By
taking Myrtle's rooms they add enough to her little income to secure
her. I think Hester is really a magnificent girl!" Rob spoke with
warmth, and Miss Charlotte as warmly assented.
"But my dear Robin made it possible," she added, with her loving touch
on Rob's hair.
"Oh, I didn't want the house; it wasn't good in me to refuse it," said
Rob, rising to go. "The little grey house and Mardy, isn't that enough
to satisfy any girl?"
"It is a great deal, but it is natural to want to round our lives,
Robin," said her cousin. "I am a happy and blessed woman, dear, and my
life was marked out for me when my eyes were closed to all visions,
except those of dreams. But I am a happier woman for having my little
Polly. Each life has its meaning, every one her limitations and she
is a blessed woman to whom the whole meaning of life comes, offered
in such love and honour and security that she may take it fearlessly,
and through it reach up to the highest ends. To go without bravely and
cheerfully when that is one's vocation is noble, Rob, but to receive,
gratefully, on one's knees, and to enjoy the fulness of all living is
not a thing to turn from, dearie, for in its highest form it is the lot
of few."
"You who never married are the best, the most peaceful, the most
comforting of women. Even Mardy has had a hard life, in some ways, and
does not seem so lifted above sorrow and loss as you," said Rob.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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