X. A PICNIC AND AN ADVENTURE 164 XI. AT MARSHLANDS AGAIN 182 XII. THE _IGNACIA_ 198 ILLUSTRATIONS Page "We rubbed away the moss and spelt out the words" _Coloured frontispiece_ Making a Sea-side Resort for the Dolls 32 "Dick seized my hand, and dragged me down the hill" 96 "I found myself flung into the stream below" 172 THE FORTUNES OF PHILIPPA CHAPTER I MY SOUTHERN HOME "When we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years." "Must I _really_ go?" "I'm afraid it has come to that, Philippa! I believe I have kept you here too long already. You're ten years old now, growing a tall girl, and not learning half the things you ought to. I feel there's something wrong about you, but I don't know quite how to set it right. After all, I suppose a man can't expect to bring up a girl entirely by himself." My father looked me up and down with a glance of despair which would have been comical if it had not seemed at the same time somewhat pathetic. "I can do the fifth proposition in Euclid," I objected, "and the Latin Grammar as far as irregular verbs." My father shook his head. "That might help you a little if you were a boy in a public school, but it's not all that your mother would have wished. You've not been taught a note of music, you can't speak French or dance a quadrille, and if it came to a question of fine sewing, I'm afraid you'd scarcely know which was the right end of your needle!" The list of my deficiencies was so dreadfully true that I had no excuse to bring forward, and my father continued. "Besides, it's absurd to attempt to educate you in this out-of-the-way spot, where you've no opportunity of mixing with cultured people. I wish you to see England, and learn English ways, and to have companions of your own age." "I think San Carlos is the most beautiful place in the world," I said quickly. "And I don't want any companion but you." "Which shows me all the more that it's time I sent you away," answered Father. "Though it will strain my heart-strings to part with you, I own. It's such a splendid opportunity, too, when Madame Montpellier is returning to Paris and will take charge of you on the voyage. No, Philippa child, I've quite made up my mind. You're to go to England, and you'll please me best by taking it bravely, and trying to learn all you can in the years we must be apart from each other."