Eleanora H. Stooke

“ The moon is about to rise."
"Uncle Guy says it makes him melancholy to watch the sky," remarked Felicia; "I wonder why it should. I love to see the moon rise, and the stars come peeping out like eyes. On fine nights at home—I mean where we lived in Bristol—we used to watch for the moon to rise from behind the chimneys, and I used to say, 'Let us guess which chimney-pot the moon will come out of to-night,' for it really looked as though the moon did come out of the chimney." ”

“ Felicia nodded silently, and her mother was satisfied.
"I have given Mrs. M'Cosh instructions how to act. I feel she is one to be trusted, and she has proved herself kind and sympathetic—a true friend in need." Mrs. Renford paused, and her eyes wandered to the flowers on the table—the room was full of their fragrance. "How beautiful those lilies are!" she exclaimed, with a ring of pleasure in her frail voice; "God bless the young lady who gave them to you, whoever she is. They have come like a message from God." ”

“ Felicia paused, her face twitching with emotion, a sensation of indignation against her cousin in her heart. She saw now that Doris would not be sorry if she got into trouble with her grandfather.
"Why are you so unkind to me, Doris?" she demanded at length in a pained tone. "I have done you no harm, but yet you dislike me. We are never alone without you say things to hurt me. Is it because Molly and I are friends? ”

“ Doris asked, her usual reserve of manner deserting her as she realised her cousin had discovered the truth; "of you," she went on scornfully, "who have been accustomed to live in a garret in a common lodging-house? They are right when they call you a ditch flower—"
She stopped, cowed by the flash in her cousin's blue eyes, and turned away with a short, embarrassed laugh, and a shamed expression crossing her face; whilst Felicia with difficulty restrained the passionate words which rushed to her lips, and wisely held her peace. ”

“ Oh, Felicia, if better days come to you, don't let them make you forget the past, and—and—if anyone endeavours to teach you to be ashamed of your mother, remember that, though she was a 'nobody' and not very wise, she loved you and tried to teach you to be a good girl, and—she did the best she could. God doesn't ask more than that, and you know His judgment is not the world's, but infinitely loving and merciful. ”

“ Felicia replied truthfully; "I suppose that is what I ought to have done," she added with a sigh, for the way in which Doris had taken her story had rather alarmed her.
"Of course. Grandfather will say so. Oh, how angry he will be! Nothing upsets him more than to have any order he gives set at defiance. How very foolishly you have behaved, to be sure!"
Felicia was filled with dismay. No other course had presented itself to her mind but to herself befriend the gipsy children; she had thought she could easily explain the matter to Mr. Renford, but Doris had put it in a different light. ”

“ How I should like to see the inside of a caravan, shouldn't you, Felicia?"
"Yes," assented Felicia eagerly; "couldn't we walk to the common by-and-by, and have a look at the caravans?"
"Certainly not," said Mr. Renford decisively; "I forbid you to go near the common, for the less one has to do with gipsies the better. I have a shrewd suspicion that they sup off game from my preserves every night, for they have several lurchers with them, I notice; and lurchers, as a rule, are not kept to do nothing—they earn their living, you may depend. Gipsies are always thieves." ”

“ The swift, observant glance the governess cast upon her seemed quite familiar, as was the smile which lit up her pretty face, and Felicia uttered a glad cry of recognition, whilst her countenance glowed with pleasure.
"I am very glad to make your acquaintance—" Miss Barton was beginning when she paused and looked puzzled. "Have we met before?" she proceeded doubtfully; "I don't think I remember you, my dear." ”

“ Have you wanted me, Uncle Guy? I'll stay with you all day to-morrow."
"I shall not permit that, though I have no doubt you would make an excellent nurse, you are so quiet in your movements, and yet I believe you are naturally a merry little soul."
"I believe I am," Felicia admitted with a soft laugh; "mother was, too, when she was well. Oh, you don't know what fun we used to have together sometimes; we were never dull. Mother used to say people ought to try to make the best of things and be happy, because if they did not it was as though they had no faith in God. ”

“ Renford said to Felicia as they were going home; "and I promised Guy you should spend an hour or so with him this afternoon. Your uncle appears interested in you, and I am sure if your society gives him any pleasure I shall be very glad. Poor Guy! he misses his mother sadly."
"Oh, I know he must!" she cried earnestly, deepest sympathy in her tone. "I am so very sorry for him. It must be terrible to be always ill. Does he never leave the house?"
"Sometimes he may stroll out into the sunshine for a short while, but he never goes outside our own grounds. ”

“ He now bore the affliction of his deformity with resignation, and thought of others instead of simply studying his own pleasure as he had once done. Everyone recognised whose influence it was that had brought about this happy change—everyone, that is, but Felicia herself, who was utterly unconscious that she had come as a God sent blessing to the lonely, melancholy invalid, to widen his sympathies and teach him that, not the circumstances of life, but a wayward faithless heart is the one barrier between man and God. ”

“ Frightened and indignant, Felicia hastened to do his bidding. She spoke to Lion, who came to her immediately, and with her hand on his collar she led him out of the room. In the corridor she encountered Price, and told him what had happened. The old man appeared sorry, and sought to soothe her ruffled feelings.
"You mustn't take notice of anything Mr. Guy may say or do," he said gravely; "he isn't himself when he's in a passion, and he'll be sorry enough to-morrow that he so forgot himself to-day. The fact is, he's had his own way all his life, miss, and his mother spoilt him. ”

“ It seems to me I never can be quite my old self again. Nothing is the same now she is gone."
"I think when one loses someone one cares for very much, one never can be quite as one was before," Mrs. M'Cosh said musingly; "it gives one a solemn kind of feeling to know there's someone who loves one dearly waiting for one in Heaven, doesn't it?"
Felicia agreed; and after another lingering glance around the room, she followed Mrs. M'Cosh downstairs. Thus she said good-bye, for ever, to her attic home. ”

“ Pring gave most of her attention to her brother, being genuinely delighted at his presence. He was in the best of humours, and it astonished Felicia to see how amusing he could be when he chose.
"If only Guy would think less of his affliction and take more interest in the world at large he would be so much better and happier," she overheard the Vicar whisper to her grandfather after dinner, when the brother and sister were carrying on a lively conversation. "I wish we could get him to the Vicarage sometimes." ”

“ M'Cosh. She sat in silence for a few minutes, her brow knitted in a frown. "They seem lonely folks," she went on by-and-by, "without a friend in the place. Felicia—why couldn't her mother have called her plain Mary, or Susan, or Jane, or some sensible name?—was here to beg some boiling water just now, and she looked fit to drop. I expect she'd been at the sewing machine all day."
"Poor child!" said Mr. M'Cosh; "such a bright-looking, pretty little girl she is, too, to be kept shut up in that attic all day long! It's very hard for her." ”

“ I longed to go back to Bristol without seeing my grandfather; but I could not do that because of my promise to mother."
"The Priory ought to be your home. Do you know that though you are only twelve years old, and I am over thirty, you have seen more of life than I have or ever shall?" There was a touch of repine in his tone, and his expression of discontent deepened. "My life has been spent mostly in this sitting-room and the bedroom beyond, so you will not wonder—" He broke off, paused a minute, then added: "You have interested me greatly." ”

“ Neither she nor Molly had ever dined at the Priory in their lives. Then, too, she was jealous of Uncle Guy's showing a preference for Felicia's society; and because, in short, the cousin who she had really pitied, though, truth to tell, she had rather despised her by reason of her mother's lowly birth, appeared likely to become a general favourite.
"I don't believe grandfather would have taken her away from her mother really," said Molly; "that is, not against her mother's wish. Grandfather never means to be unkind, I'm sure. What's the matter with you, Doris? ”

“ Doris is like that, you know; she's jealous of me, too, if she thinks any one likes me better than her. Don't you worry about it."
"Oh, but I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Felicia. "If I had known she would have liked that drive with grandfather so much, I would have asked him to take her instead of me. Did she see much of Uncle Guy before I came?"
"Oh, no!"
"Then why should she mind?"
"Of course there's no real reason why she should, but she does. Mother says jealous people are never reasonable. Never mind her—if she likes to keep herself to herself we'll let her. ”

“ Renford had urged him to come downstairs and dine that night, and he had declined to do so.
"It's all very well for those in good health to say I should bestir myself," he proceeded; "I'm tired of being preached at. It's always the same old lore, first from my sister, then from her husband, and even Doris and Molly keep up the refrain, 'You ought to come out in the sunshine!' Ought I? I think I should be allowed to do as I like. There's Lion at the door, Felicia, you may as well let him in first as last, for he'll keep on scrape-scrape-scrape till you do." ”

“ People in town always welcome a hamper from the country. It is to be sent in your name, remember that."
"Oh, grandfather, thank you! How good of you! Mrs. M'Cosh will be delighted."
The tone of Felicia's voice spoke her pleasure. She caught Mr. Renford's hand and squeezed it gratefully; then, with an abrupt revulsion of feeling, she burst into tears.
"What is it?" her grandfather asked in astonishment. "Why are you crying, my dear?"
"It—it is very foolish of me," sobbed Felicia, "but I was thinking—oh, don't be angry!—how I wished mother was living, and—and I was sending a hamper to her. ”

“ She was very sensitive to ridicule and looked quite confused. "I wish you would teach me the way to be happy, if you know it," he continued in a bantering way; "it's a lesson I unfortunately never learnt."
"Mother used to say that to be happy one must be good and unselfish," Felicia replied in a grave, low voice. "Oh!" she exclaimed with a sudden change of tone, her face breaking into a smile, "did you hear that scrape at the door? It's the dog. ”

“ Guy was eagerly waiting their arrival, curious to learn how Felicia had fared during the day. After supper, which the travellers had found in readiness for them, Felicia had a little chat with her uncle before going to bed.
"It seemed so natural to be in Bristol again," she informed him; "and I almost felt once as though, if I left Mrs. M'Cosh's kitchen and walked upstairs, I should bear the 'whirr-whirr' of mother's sewing machine, and find her sitting at the table at work, and it comforted me to remember she would never be tired or overworked again. ”

“ Felicia decided she would like her aunt, who greeted her with a warmth and goodwill which touched her sorrowful heart, and her cousins expressed themselves glad to see her, too, especially Molly, who sat down by her side and entered into conversation with her at once.
"Do you think you will like living at the Priory?" was the first question Molly asked.
"I—I hardly know," was the doubtful response.
"It's a dear old place. I love it, and so does Doris. I expect you'll be a bit lonely there at first, though, until you get to know grandfather better. You are fond of animals, aren't you?" ”