My attorney, Mr. William H. Ward, tells me that he recently met a Mr.
Bond who sent you to Primrose Hall thinking you were the daughter of
Lavinia Flint. But you are not the right one, and I am, so you see you
will have to resign your supposed rights in favor of me. Mr. Ward is
dictating this letter for me to write; and as soon as I hear from you I
shall go straight to Plainville, and as I have proper identifications
of all sorts, I shall claim my birthright.
Yours very truly,
Lavinia Lovell.
"It is just as I thought, Cloppy," said Ladybird, shaking the moppy dog,
and looking straight into his blinky brown eyes; "it is just as I
thought, and we are not Flints, after all; but goodness gracious me,
Cloppy, I'd rather be a Flint than anything else in this world, and I'd
rather be Lavinia Lovell than--than--than _Ladybird_, though I never
realized it before."
A deep sob interrupted this last utterance, and Ladybird flung her face
down on the little dog and cried bitterly.
But after a time she calmed herself and said:
"We are not to be downed, you and I, Cloppy, and so we will answer this
Miss Lovell's letter quite as it calls for."
With great dignity, Ladybird went to her little desk and wrote the
following note:
Miss Lavinia Lovell,
My dear Miss Lovell:
I suppose what you say is true, and if it is, then you belong to my aunts
and I don't. But all I have to say is, you come right straight here, and
Chester and Stella and my aunts and I will see about it.
Yours very truly.
Ladybird Lovell.
With a sigh of successful attempt, Ladybird sealed her letter, and laid
it on the hall table to be mailed. Then she went into the drawing-room,
where her aunts were.
"Aunt Priscilla," she said, addressing the elder of the Flint
ladies--"aunty, why do you think I am the daughter of your sister?"
"Ladybird," said Aunt Priscilla, smiling kindly at her, "what new
crotchet is in your head now? You know Mr. Bond told us that you were the
daughter of our sister Lavinia and Jack Lovell, to whom she was married
fifteen years ago."
"Yes; but, aunty," said Ladybird, "Jack Lovell might have had two wives;
and I might be the daughter of the second wife, you know. How would that
be?"
"Ladybird, you're crazy," said Miss Priscilla. "You're often crazy, I
know, but this time you're crazier than ever. Have you any reason to
think Jack Lovell was married twice?"
"I have, aunty," said Ladybird, solemnly, and she handed to her aunt the
letter which was signed Lavinia Lovell.
Miss Priscilla read it through, and then saying, "Dorinda!" she handed it
to her sister.
Miss Dorinda Flint was slow. She carefully read the letter through three
times before she handed it back to her sister, and then she said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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