Daisy Buchanan

“ I was more than ever sure that West Point was fairyland. The old spring of childish glee seemed to have come back to my nerves.
"Dinner is just ready," said Mrs. Sandford, meeting us in the hall. "Why, where have you been? And look at the colour of Daisy's face! Oh, Grant, what have you done with her?"
"Very good colour—" said the doctor, peering under my hat.
"She's all flushed and sunburnt, and overheated."
"Daisy is never anything but cool," he said; "unless when she gets hold of a principle, and somebody else gets hold of the other end. We'll look at these things after dinner, Daisy." ”

“ It was most unlike Daisy to make protestations of feeling; just now she was speaking to the one person in the world who could help her, whom in this matter she trusted; speaking to him maybe for the last time, she knew; and moreover Daisy's heart was full. She spoke as she might live years and not do again, when she said, "I'll die on the field of battle."
"That is as the Lord pleases," returned Mr. Dinwiddie; "but how will you fight, Daisy? you are a weak little child. The fight must be won, in the first place." ”

“ Mrs. Sandford went on, "they say the attack has commenced. Firing has been heard from some direction down in Virginia; the doctor told me."
"Mr. Vinton told me."
"Did he? while you were out? and you never mentioned it! Daisy, you are the coolest creature! I envy you for that more than for everything else you have got; though people do say - some people - that Miss Randolph's grey eyes are depths of delight. My dear! whose possible encomiums have I hit in your memory, that your cheeks are taking up the matter with such a delicious rose colour?" ”

“ I bent it slightly; from the delicate petals, from the heart which seemed untouched by a breath, there poured forth a bright shower of liquid dew.
"What about that flower, Daisy?"
"It is a peony, Cornelius."
"Let it."
"Well, I don't think you can prevent it from being one. Peonies will be peonies."
"Who wants to interfere with their rights? and what have peonies to do with our discourse, unless that you look very like one just now? Oh, Daisy! are you sure you like me well enough to marry me?" ”

“ I said.
"What then, my dear? I do not know what you mean. I thought it was mainly cotton."
"It is unpaid labour," I said. "It is hands that ought to work for themselves; and men and women that ought to belong to themselves."
"Slaves," said Miss Cardigan. "But, Daisy, what do you mean?
It's all true; but what can you do?"
"I can have nothing to do with it. And I will have nothing. I would rather be poor, as poor as old Darry and Maria, than take what belongs to them. Miss Cardigan, so would you."
She settled herself back in her chair, like a person who has got a new thought. "My dear child!" ”

“ Nick didn't tell me that. But she was English."
Muriel had turned quickly back. Her interest was aroused. "Yes," she said eagerly, as Daisy paused. "And she?"
"She!" Daisy's voice had a sudden hard ring in it. "She remained faithful to him for just six months. And then she married an Englishman. It was said that she did it against her will. Still she did it. Luckily for her, perhaps, she died within the year—when her child was born."
Daisy rose abruptly and moved across the room. "That was more than a hundred years ago," she said, "and women are as great fools still. ”

“ Isaac obeyed in his half-childish way, but before finishing he stopped. "Yes, I made myself rich, sure enough," he said, with a momentary gleam of satisfaction. "I toiled, and I saved, and I did it all. But I didn't make myself poor. It was that wretched thief, Daisy—as deserves to be hung too."
"We needn't think about him," said Daisy. "He will be punished some day, one way or another. People always are, if they go on in wrong-doing. ”

“ One glance at her face, and I knew she was Basil Hurlhurst’s stolen child fate had brought directly to her father’s home. I questioned her, and she answered she had lived with Taiza Burt, but her name was Daisy Brooks.”
“It is a lie––a base, ingenious lie!” shrieked Pluma. “Daisy Brooks the heiress of Whitestone Hall! Even if it were true,” she cried, exultingly, “she will never reign here, the mistress of Whitestone Hall. She is dead.” ”

“ It is no use to talk that way."
"I am speaking very seriously," said my cousin. "I would shoot him, upon my honour."
"Shoot him!"
"Certainly."
"What right have you to shoot a man for doing no worse than you do? I would rather somebody would knock me down, than do what you did yesterday!" And my heart swelled within me.
"Come, Daisy, be a little sensible!" said Preston, who was in a fume of impatience. "Do you think there is no difference between me and an old nigger?"
"A great deal of difference," I said. "He is old and good; and you are young, and I wish you were as good as Darry. ”

“ I said coolly.
"Weakness!" said the doctor. "Not at all. It is a woman's strength."
"To be misled by her feelings?"
"No; to be led by them. Her feelings tell her where the right is - generally. You are Daisy; but a woman, and therefore perhaps no exception. Or are you an exception? How is it, Daisy?"
"I do not wish the South to succeed, Dr. Sandford - if that is what you mean."
"It is quite enough," he said, "to constitute you a remarkable exception. I do not know three more at this minute, in this cause. You will not have the sympathies of your father and mother, Daisy?" ”

“ The old trees ground their boughs together, and, blown by the wind, the night birds dashed with their wet wings against the door; the screech owl hooted, for the young were washed out of her nest; and the rain leaked under Susan's door sill, ran across the floor, and put out the little fire of brushwood which was burning on the hearth.
And Daisy thought of her father, out alone in this fearful night, and how the cold rain must be dripping into his grave.
She peeped through the window. The sharp, [Pg 48] jagged lightning made the sky look as if it were shattering like a dome of glass. ”

“ Do you like, is it possible that you can like, dirt and vulgarity?"
"I don't think I do," Daisy said gently; "but Preston, I like the poor people."
"You do!" said Preston. "Then it is manifest that you cannot like me." And he dashed spurs into his horse and sprung away, with a grace and life that kept Daisy looking after him in admiration, and a plain mood of displeasure which cast its shadow all over her spirit.
"Here is the trowel, Miss Daisy."
Her messenger had come back, and Daisy recalled to the business in hand took up her reins again and drove on; but she felt deeply grieved. ”

“ Whereupon Dick rushes over with great violence to the spot where his sister is standing, and knocking against her in his efforts to reach the prize first, Doris loses her balance, and clutching wildly at the back of a chair which Daisy is sitting on and tilting back comfortably, down come Daisy, chair, Doris, and nuts, all in an indiscriminate heap on the floor. Loud exclamations arise on all sides, and a pitiful howl is wrung from Daisy, who has planted her hand, in falling, on an almost red-hot chestnut. ”

“ She made up her mind she would certainly go to Rex. She would wait at the depot, and, if Rex did not come in on the early train, she would go back at once to Allendale. Her purse, with twenty dollars in it––which seemed quite a fortune to Daisy––was luckily in her pocket, together with half of an apple and a biscuit. The healthful exercise of rowing, together with the fresh, cool breeze, gave Daisy a hearty appetite, and the apple and biscuit afforded her quite a pleasant lunch.
Poor Daisy! The pretty little girl-bride had no more thought of danger than a child. ”

“ And later on he began sometimes to add, "It was God took the gold, wasn't it, Daisy?"
He was very feeble in mind, and very ignorant also. Daisy was often sorely disappointed to find how little he could understand, how rapidly the impression made upon him one hour would fade away the next. But Mr. Roper, to whom she one day confided her distress, warned her not to expect too much.
"Your father is like a child in many ways," he said, "only with less sense than a child, Daisy, and with no memory. It is of no use to attempt to teach him, as you would teach a man in full vigour. ”

“ It is all very well for the fair, meek hair to say, 'Oh! I'm so quiet;' I say the dark, passionate brow tells me another story, and as Daisy never cries without a reason, I should like to know what she has been crying about."
"Her health affects her spirits, that is all," hastily replied Cornelius; "come up with me, Daisy, it will cheer you." ”

“ She was always gentle now, never sullen, and cheerful sometimes to gayety. The boarders had all taken to petting her—she was a link to bind them together and make them less selfish—and she seemed to appreciate their attentions, though her preference for Robertson was decidedly marked. Even Mrs. Drummond was changing. She often took Daisy on her lap now, and I had seen her brush away a tear when the child tried to smooth out her wrinkles with her tiny hand. ”

“ Why had she allowed, nay encouraged, Daisy to go away for two days? Daisy, at any rate, was company—kind, young, unsuspecting company. With Daisy she could be her old sharp self. It was such a comfort to be with someone to whom she not only need, but ought to, say nothing. When with Bunting she was pursued by a sick feeling of guilt, of shame. She was the man’s wedded wife—in his stolid way he was very kind to her, and yet she was keeping from him something he certainly had a right to know. ”

“ She shook her 120 head but no sound issued from the white lips, and the maid went softly away, closing the door behind her.
Slowly the sun sunk in the west in a great red ball of fire. The light died out of the sky, and the song birds trilled their plaintive good-night songs in the soft gloaming. Still Daisy sat with her hands crossed in her lap, gazing intently at the window, where she had seen Pluma standing with Rex, her husband.
A hand turned the knob of her door.
“Oh, dear me,” cried Gertie, “you are all in the dark. I do not see you. Are you here, Daisy Brooks?” ”

“ Cluett got up, and came over, and stood beside her.
"Not to-night," he said, looking down. The champagne had brought a kind of dull color to his cheeks and forehead. "What do we want with music, kid? Come on—let's be a little friendly, huh?" His strong lean arm slid around her waist.
It was then that Daisy lifted up her face, let all the coquetry pass from it, and regarded him with eyes that were straight and sober.
"Stop it!" she said.
For answer, the arm tightened about her. Nick Cluett leaned to kiss her.
"If you don't stop it," said Daisy, rigid in his arms; "you're no gentleman." ”

“ She would sit upon the mossy rocks, and [Pg 119] think how far down under the earth they had been, and how full they might be of living creatures now; and then bending over the violets that had grown in their crevices, would count their tiny veins, and find how air and sunshine had mixed with the sap to color and perfume them.
All these works of his hands made Daisy feel how near the great God was to her, and that she could never go where he had not been before, and where his eye would not follow her. ”

“ I never saw anybody so improved. My dear, I shall tell all my friends to send their daughters to Mme. Ricard."
"Dr. Sandford," said I, "Mme. Ricard does not like to have the sun shine into this room."
"It's Daisy too," said the doctor, smiling, as he drew clown the shade again. "Don't you like it, Miss Daisy?"
"Yes, of course," I said; "but she does not."
"It is not at all a matter of course," said he; "except as you are Daisy. Some people, as you have just told me, are afraid of the sun." ”

“ I felt certain that more had been between them than mere words, and that Preston found the recollection not flattering, whatever it was; and having come to this settlement of the matter, I looked up at Thorold.
"My gentle little Daisy!" he said. "I will never quarrel with him again—if I can help it."
"You must quarrel with him, if he is on the wrong side," I answered. "And so must I."
"You say you must go immediately back to West Point," said Miss Cardigan. "Leave thanking Daisy's hand, and tell me when you are going; for the night is far past, children." ”

“ And in the midst of such thoughts which possessed me constantly, came thrills of joy that I was there. So we mounted over the shoulder of the Mount of Olives, and the day cleared and brightened as we went on. Then came the ruins of Bethany. I would have liked to linger there; but this was not the time. I left it for the present.
"We must dismount here, Daisy," said papa the next minute. And he set me the example. "Our own feet will do this next piece of road most satisfactorily." ”

“ She stood, with her back against a tree, near Mary Davis, her hand pressed against her side.
"You're tired, Miss," Mary ventured to say; and Daisy, looking round, saw her for the first time.
"Yes, I can't run any more. It gives me a 'stitch,'" said Daisy. "Are you one of the mothers? I don't seem to know you—and yet—"
A puzzled expression came into her face, and she looked earnestly at Mary.
"I'm only just come to Banks, and I haven't got any children," said Mary. "My husband's John Davis, and he's haymaking in the next field." ”

“ Ah, yes! he above all others could help her––he was Pluma’s father––he could stop the fatal marriage. She would not be obliged to face Rex.
Without another word Daisy turned and followed him. Although Daisy had lived the greater portion of her life at John Brooks’ cottage on the Hurlhurst plantation, this was the first time she had ever gazed upon the face of the recluse master of Whitestone Hall. He had spent those years abroad; and poor Daisy’s banishment dated from the time the lawn fête had been given in honor of their return. ”